if you're spending $2000 i'd recommend a macbook, simply because they're the most solid computers even if overpriced
I wouldn't say they're any more solid that a top of the line ASUS, Falcon Northwest, or Lenovo.
Especially Falcon, where $2,300 nets you a GTX670M, i7, 750GB hdd, etc. and are truly hand-crafted, custom built laptops with immaculate internal components and build quality.
Honestly, for the money, I'm hard pressed to recommend a MacBook over anything unless you're hardwired into the iEcosystem.
okay reviews are saying my notebook should be getting 5-6 hours of battery life for web faffing about
something is amiss
I really don't want to get rid of it, its got a gorgeous IPS screen and can be used as a tablet which would make up for the other shortcomings if the thing wasn't crying about being low power after 90 minutes
override367 on
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
okay reviews are saying my notebook should be getting 5-6 hours of battery life for web faffing about
something is amiss
Power settings?
If you've got a high amount of background processes it's going to kill your battery life. Also, if you've got the thing on High Performance that may also be effecting your battery life.
I just installed lenovo's power management app and set it to balanced, given the amount of heat it was putting out doing even things like watching a video it wasn't feeling right
the processor shouldn't be kicking up to 2.6 on 4 cores when its only at 20% usage
Edit: strange, with Lenovo's power tool running it got five hours in my battery benchmark tool while transferring data over wifi in the background
thats 2.5 times longer than just having it set to balanced with windows 8's power management, I don't even know what in the fuckity fuck could be the reason for that, other than perhaps it was set to have the Lenovo tool manage it and with it not running, it defaulted to high performance or something? Idk
Alright, let's see if I can't narrow the field down a little more. I'm not concerned with weight, I'll be moving the laptop around campus but the trips are short and I am a husky fellow capable of carrying a potentially 8lb brick around. I'm just looking to get the most bang for my buck hardware wise. I know there is no such thing as future proof , but I'd like something that will be able to competently run apps and games at modest or better settings for at least 3 years.
I'm looking for between a 15 and 17 inch screen, and screen quality does matter to me. High resolutions and color accuracy are things I look for.
It's going to be nigh impossible to get a laptop that can run games at modest or better settings for 3 years that isn't about 8 pounds or that doesn't have serious heat issues due to the fact that a high end graphics card frankly puts out piles of heat and needs hefty cooling
Something that should be good for a while though (although I dunno about running games at medium+ settings 3 years from now), would be something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230405. For your price range you can get that all the way up to a geforce 680M I believe which is much faster but will drain any laptop battery dead in five seconds
Gorgeous 1080p IPS screen, reasonable battery life, etc. Problem is it weighs like 7 pounds! Basically if you want a desktop replacement, it's not going to be a .9 inch thick smecksy ultrabook
Personally rather than a desktop replacement I'd go for something like this one:
It's 14" 1600X900, much lighter, unfortunately probably at least 20% slower in games, and if it's on your lap and you're playing BF3 it will incinerate your genitals, you have been warned, but that's the trade off
override367 on
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
Alright, let's see if I can't narrow the field down a little more. I'm not concerned with weight, I'll be moving the laptop around campus but the trips are short and I am a husky fellow capable of carrying a potentially 8lb brick around. I'm just looking to get the most bang for my buck hardware wise. I know there is no such thing as future proof , but I'd like something that will be able to competently run apps and games at modest or better settings for at least 3 years.
I'm looking for between a 15 and 17 inch screen, and screen quality does matter to me. High resolutions and color accuracy are things I look for.
Yes, the laptop of your dream exists, but not quite in the configuration you are looking for.
Couple of things to consider:
A 1366x768 display, which is sorta meh on the resolution front, will be a more efficient display when it comes to playing games. The 1080p version of my laptop can barely chug out 20 fps on Diablo 3 with all settings maxed, whereas my homely 1366x768 version is a smooth 60+ at all time (capped at 60 to keep down heat).
Even the 680M video card isn't quite up to the task of running higher end games in max settings at the native resolution. Plus, a lower density display may save you $100-$150 or could be used as a tradeoff for higher end components elsewhere for the same price point. Unless you're planning on going the SLI laptop route, in which case be prepared to pay the big bucks.
If you absolutely MUST have an HD screen on your laptop, just know that some of the higher end games (or even the games a few years from now) will more than likely run fairly horribly on it in native resolutions. The friend of mine with the 1080p version of my laptop can't even run XCom on max settings on that resolution without some moderate choppiness, and that game isn't exactly a ball buster in the resource department.
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Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
Alright, let's see if I can't narrow the field down a little more. I'm not concerned with weight, I'll be moving the laptop around campus but the trips are short and I am a husky fellow capable of carrying a potentially 8lb brick around. I'm just looking to get the most bang for my buck hardware wise. I know there is no such thing as future proof , but I'd like something that will be able to competently run apps and games at modest or better settings for at least 3 years.
I'm looking for between a 15 and 17 inch screen, and screen quality does matter to me. High resolutions and color accuracy are things I look for.
I've used two different 17-inch "desktop replacement" laptop as my primary computers for the past 4-5 years up until recently, because I traveled so much for work and I didn't really have the dedicated space at home. See below for a list of cons (previously one superlong paragraph):
-Let me tell you that a 17-incher is not conducive to any sort of convenient travel or space-limited use. Forget trying to use it on a plane, and even if you have a desk or a table available, you end up taking up so much space that you will barely have room for anything except the laptop in front of you.
-And you might think that 7+ lbs is nothing, but let me tell you, it wears on you really quick if you walk for longer than 15 minutes, particularly if you want to be super-trendy and use a messenger/laptop back instead of a backpack or rolling bag. (Also, some power adapters are ridiculously large & heavy as well, so keep that additional weight in mind when traveling.)
-Don't expect more than 2-3 hours of battery life, tops, if you're doing anything intensive like playing games.
-Another caveat is that these things pump out a tremendous amount of heat (and noise) when you use them for gaming and the like. There's no way to avoid it, and you would be surprised how quickly everything around you gets hot when it's being shoved out of a tiny space in front of you in a ventilation-limited area. The people around you probably won't appreciate it (or the noise).
-And given the amount of heat and general wear/tear put on these types of laptops, chances are it will eventually break down on you after 2 years, tops.
-That is, assuming you are still satisfied with its performance on newer games at that point. Which you probably won't be, because by that time the system will have issues staying cool and video cards are usually the first things to become obsolete (and also happen to be one of the things you can't replace).
All that being said, since I mainly used the 17-incher in sedentary, spacious places like hotel rooms and coffee joints, it was nice to have the larger HD screen available to do things like watching movies, playing games, or doing real detail work (diagrams, huge maps, large excel spreadsheets, long lines of code, etc. etc. etc.). But otherwise, it was frankly a PITA to travel with.
If you can, I'd recommend a hybrid approach. If you just want something to take to class or study sessions, a 14" or 15" would be ideal. (In fact, I'd recommend going 14" because the convenience will probably outweigh the additional screen size at that point.) Then I'd keep your larger monitor, along with all your other existing desktop peripherals (keyboard + mouse, etc.) at your living space for when you want to hunker down and get real stuff done or watch something on a bigger screen. As long as the video card in the laptop supports "1080p-level" resolution output to an external display, you can just plug the sucker in and do your thing. Ideally you could even get a docking station of some kind.
That solution should potentially be cheaper than going all-out and buying both a desktop and a laptop, which would actually be the ideal recommendation. But if you can, take a long, hard look at your requirements and ask yourself what you're really going to be doing with the laptop. A cheap travel rig that will run Microsoft Office, surf the net, and play movies for you is not going to be all that expensive, and is probably a better use of your funds than spending the premium on a gaming-based laptop rig. Keep in mind that gaming desktop is going to be cheaper and will perform better than any comparable laptop.
At the risk of being repetitive, the only reason you will want a huge gaming laptop is if you: don't have the dedicated space and time for a desktop of some kind AND do have access to the dedicated space/time elsewhere (while traveling) to play games. If you don't meet both of these needs, I'd strongly recommend going with one of the other two options, preferably the desktop + laptop combo.
I agree wholeheartedly with #3 except that $1500 is pretty friggin high for a gaming desktop unless you're going 680 SLI because you really want more FPS than the human eye can see (you can always add another later)
A gaming desktop + something like an asus ultrabook, or if you must have something that can game, for $600-$700 you can get a 15.6 inch with a 7760 or something in a 1366X768 package
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Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
I agree wholeheartedly with #3 except that $1500 is pretty friggin high for a gaming desktop unless you're going 680 SLI because you really want more FPS than the human eye can see
No, not really? As a budget for a full system including monitor, speakers, and KB&M, that'll build you a nice upper mid-range Intel quadcore tower with an SSD and a GTX670.
Thanks for the advise guys. I'm going to consider some more options before making a purchase. I have a recently built mid-range desktop that I might just upgrade to be a better gaming rig. I just use my laptop a lot what with work and class and personal use that I wanted to pick up something quality. There are certainly a lot of options in the $1000-$2000 price range that would satisfy my various needs.
Ok this even sounds like a stupid question to me, but if I get a laptop that has a 3D screen, I am stuck with the glasses, all of the time? Or can it display 2D as well? I'm not sure how that works.
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Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
If it can't do 2D as well as 3D, I'll cut off my own dick, eat it raw, film the act, and post a link to the video here.
Looks like I'm due for a new work laptop. It's for programming and web development (not design, but I work with designers so color is semi-important). I've been on a Dell Vostro 17" for almost 2 years now. The screen is okay, but colors are kinda washed out. I do like having a separate numpad, but the keyboard has always felt really cheap (it sorta bows in in the middle). It's a dual core i5 with 8GB ram, and power-wise it's fine. I only ever notice bad performance when I've got a windows virtual machine running, which, duh.
What I'm not fond of is the size of it - I drive a vespa to work, and this thing is a beast to carry on my back. I'm probably going to drop down to a 15" screen, but get an external monitor and keyboard. Here's what I'm looking at:
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E530 ($734)
Stock model with processor and ram updates
======================
System components
Intel Core i5-2520M Processor (3M Cache, 2.50GHz)
Windows 8 64
15.6" W HD (1366x768) AntiGlare, Midnight Black
Intel HD Graphics (WWAN or mSATA capable)
8 GB DDR3 - 1600MHz (2 DIMM)
Keyboard US English With Number Pad
720p HD Camera
320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer w/ SW Royalty for Windows 8
6 cell Li-Ion Battery 48WH - 75+
65W AC Adapter - US (2pin)
ThinkPad b/g/n Wireless & Bluetooth 4.0 (1x1 BGN & BT 4.0)
Any input? I don't have a hard price limit, but I'd like to show some respect by not dropping a $1500 quote in my boss's lap for a machine that far outperforms what I need.
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Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
If you're going to dock to an external monitor and keyboard, could you go down another size and get a 13 inch model?
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Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
I'd definitely upgrade to an SSD. I recently made the switch for both a work laptop and my personal desktop, and the performance difference is huge, now that it seems like everything has a built-in loading time. The increased physical durability is also a nice bonus for the laptop, because heaven forbid the spinning plates get jostled during air turbulence.
If I had to commute on a scooter I'd take a look at an ultrabook, though would likely have to take smaller HDD capacity and lose the optical drive. I've an X1 carbon and I basically take it everywhere, whereas before I never shlepped around a laptop during lunch or after hours. There are plenty of options sub-$1K, but if you need a lot of heavy lifting a traditional laptop will do the job better.
Could I get the same kind of performance out of some ASUS laptop or another brand for the same price or less? I want to stick with a 17" screen, as this is a desktop replacement type of deal, and I'd like it to run current games and look ok, but not ULTRA AWSOME settings and resolutions.
Mostly I play WoW and stuff like Borderlands 2/Shogun 2. Being able to run Rome Total War 2 at nice settings would be good too.
With CES now passing us I was hoping someone might be able to point me towards some recommendations to replace my old 14" Inspiron.
Keeping in mind I have a gaming PC at home, I tend to travel for a few months out of the year for work/pleasure and am looking for something that can accompany me. I suppose this narrows me down to ultra portables and convertibles.
As far as use goes, organizing pictures, multimedia, surfing, light/med gaming (so I'm looking beyond integrated intel 4000 graphics) and programming (which is why I can't get a straight up tablet). I'll need something I can fit in my backpack and won't destroy my back carrying it around. I'm thinking around 13-14" maybe 15, but they start getting heavier at that point. I'd be willing to pay more for a nice screen and quality materials.
In a perfect world there'd be a nice, light and slim tablet I could play PC games on at reasonable settings with a detachable/stowable keyboard and wireless mouse. Something that I could just grab sans-keyboard to chill on the couch with and watch movies/browse. No idea if that exists.
Obviously I'd be sacrificing a bit of performance (I have a desktop for cutting edge stuff) and a bit of battery life.
Heya laptop thread, I need...I guess numbers and suggestions. Replacing my old Lenovo T60p, which I love, and love the "nub mouse" on, so kinda want to stick with lenovo, but could be convinced to go elsewhere if the $$:Stats ratio is right. So, the needs/uses: Mostly, I need something that can run Word, Excel, and Powerpoint all at the same time snappily. I'm often multi-tasking for school work. Thus I know to prioritize processor and ram, but have no idea what #'s are good anymore/what I should be paying. I'd also like to be able to netflix in HD sometimes without it catching fire. So, what am I looking for in the sub 1k range?
Also, if it matters, I plan on putting windows 7 on it.
I'm finding conflicting information on whether or not ASUS laptops come with a recovery disk or a recovery partition. Does anyone have any first hand experience?
Also, I'd like to put in a SSD for this thing at some point, so I get everything setup and then can I make some kind of backup that could be used to recovery to the SSD after it's installed?
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Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
You could just use your Windows product key to download an .iso of your OS and make a thumbdrive installer, I think.
The user manual indicates it has a recovery partition, and on some models the system ships with capability of generating recovery DVDs.
To migrate you install from the mechanical disk to an SSD you'll need some way of connecting the SSD to the laptop (like an enclosure or a USB/SSD adapter) and disk cloning software. Some SSDs come as a kit that includes the cloning software and a transfer cable.
Thanks, I'll check that when the time comes for the SSD. I guess I'm going to see if I like WIndows 8 and then if not, use some Win7 Pro CDs I have from a desktop I'm replacing.
The user manual indicates it has a recovery partition, and on some models the system ships with capability of generating recovery DVDs.
To migrate you install from the mechanical disk to an SSD you'll need some way of connecting the SSD to the laptop (like an enclosure or a USB/SSD adapter) and disk cloning software. Some SSDs come as a kit that includes the cloning software and a transfer cable.
Both of my Asus laptops have recovery partitions instead of discs. You can make your own backup disc though either via Windows itself, or there's probably a way to do it via the Asus system tools.
Honestly I've found the partitions a lot more convenient than discs; though if you have the HDD die, well....
@Grove are you in the US? Edit: Also size/form factor requirements?
Yeah, sorry. In the US. Size doesn't matter and I don't know enough about form to really comment, other than a standard laptop is fine. I don't need to carry it into the field or anything, just stays at the hotel/office.
I've been looking at the Sony Vaio's, but I'm not sure how much of a Sony tax there is. I have a couple other buddies looking as well.
I'd love to order it by tomorrow if I go with Amazon.
I'm trying to do a crash course on laptop research right now, but I'm failing miserably as I'm having to pack for four months and do everything else required to leave the country.
I knew I was headed there, I just thought it wasn't until March. A good surprise I guess.
@Grove are you in the US? Edit: Also size/form factor requirements?
Yeah, sorry. In the US. Size doesn't matter and I don't know enough about form to really comment, other than a standard laptop is fine. I don't need to carry it into the field or anything, just stays at the hotel/office.
I've been looking at the Sony Vaio's, but I'm not sure how much of a Sony tax there is. I have a couple other buddies looking as well.
I'd love to order it by tomorrow if I go with Amazon.
I'm trying to do a crash course on laptop research right now, but I'm failing miserably as I'm having to pack for four months and do everything else required to leave the country.
I knew I was headed there, I just thought it wasn't until March. A good surprise I guess.
I got a Sony Vaio S15 and I'm pretty happy with it. But it's backed up with my desktop gaming computer so it might not be the best choice for you. Something less thin might have a better GPU. Like this Lenovo that I remember seeing recommended back when I was looking. Maybe it's still a good choice or maybe not.
I'm pretty cheap so I don't think there was any kind of huge cost to having the Sony name.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
I got a Sony Vaio S15 and I'm pretty happy with it. But it's backed up with my desktop gaming computer so it might not be the best choice for you. Something less thin might have a better GPU. Like this Lenovo that I remember seeing recommended back when I was looking. Maybe it's still a good choice or maybe not.
I'm pretty cheap so I don't think there was any kind of huge cost to having the Sony name.
That Lenovo actually looks ok. What do people think about Lenovo? My last laptop was one but I had serious issues with it in regards to all of their proprietary software that comes pre loaded. I removed a lot of it, but there was all sorts of weird shortcuts built in that I could never get my head around. It made writing scripts a fucking bitch because it would just open a document in the middle of a sentence. I guess I can always buy a wireless keyboard to and mouse to go with it though.
But yeah I'm definitely looking to game quite a bit on it. Gonna pre load everything I have on Steam to it. Basically I'm in Johannesburg for 8 weeks before production...which after visiting this September is a very, very dangerous place. I will not be going out at night and need to have something to do.
The ROG Asus luggable Bigity posted is a nice laptop gaming rig, in stock and you can probably get it before Friday.
The problem with gaming laptops is the form/weight issue. With a desktop it doesn't matter how big or heavy, it's pretty easy to optimize once you've decided to hone in on a resolution.
With gaming laptops you've all kinds of tradeoffs. Like the Dell/Alienware 11z(?) was pretty popular, cause it put it in a 11.6" screen form factor and the 1368x768 (or whatever) res meant a lesser discrete GPU would suffice.
It's the right price point, good amount of RAM and has Windows 7 already installed. I do get fairly confused with video cards as I almost never am able to keep up with the numbering systems, ha.
@Grove very similar, would have to look very closely to descriptions to say what the differences are, but that's the same platform.
If you had more time I'd shop around more and maybe look at VARs for ODMs (like xoticPC). But IME Asus has pretty good build quality and newegg should get it to you given your time constraints.
Ordering my ASUS tomorrow!!! Well technically it's the wife's, but mine will come shortly after.
EDIT: Ordered! Woot!
Sorry, I haven't bought a new computer, much less a pretty nice one in awhile.
Bigity on
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Gabriel_Pitt(effective against Russian warships)Registered Userregular
edited February 2013
*edit* Actually, the better request for help might be, what are the minimum specs I should be looking at, especially since I've been looking at the build-your-own options?
All right, I have been out of the tech game long enough that all the blinking lights and bright colors have left me totally confused (and that's just on the cases), but after getting the power cord of my Acer Netbook wrapped around my shoe, and launching it across the kitchen hard enough to make it explode when I tried walking away, I find myself needing a new laptop post host.
My requirements are pretty simple - unlike the Acer, the laptop I'm looking for needs to be able to play buffered youtube videos without skipping. If I've got videos on the hard drive, it should be able to play them back without hanging. When using Word or Open office, a five second hang after the keystrokes when trying to use the word processor is not cool. Choking on Firefox is no good either (can you sense a certain amount of latent frustration with my old system?:) )
So, in summary, low price is my biggest selling point. It doesn't need to run games, just basic office suites, and if it can stream Netflix or play digital movies while I'm traveling, that'd be great too. Light, with decent battery life. I've been looking at Newegg, and Costco's HP build your own laptop, but there are just so many options and choices I'm just bewildered. Especially since I'm not married to windows, and am intrigued by the Mac Air, although I'm hoping to get something way under $1k in terms of price.
Short and sweet:
Screen: under 14"
HD: Any size
Memory: enough to make it work
Accessories: mic, camera, wifi. Doesn't even need an optical drive, although one would be nice.
As for specs,
Really any modern CPU should be good enough. Say Intel i3/i5/i7 or AMD A6/A8/A10. At any given price point the AMD chips have less CPU horsepower but better multimedia/gaming capability.
4 Gigs of memory should do, 8 might be nice but if you are configuring your laptop they often charge way too much for extra memory.
For the hard drive you have a serious choice: A laptop with an SSD will be super responsive, boot really fast, etc. A platter drive will hold a lot more porn/steam games and will be cheaper. There are also laptops with SSD cache drives and hybrid drives which might be a good compromise.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Posts
I wouldn't say they're any more solid that a top of the line ASUS, Falcon Northwest, or Lenovo.
Especially Falcon, where $2,300 nets you a GTX670M, i7, 750GB hdd, etc. and are truly hand-crafted, custom built laptops with immaculate internal components and build quality.
Honestly, for the money, I'm hard pressed to recommend a MacBook over anything unless you're hardwired into the iEcosystem.
something is amiss
I really don't want to get rid of it, its got a gorgeous IPS screen and can be used as a tablet which would make up for the other shortcomings if the thing wasn't crying about being low power after 90 minutes
Power settings?
If you've got a high amount of background processes it's going to kill your battery life. Also, if you've got the thing on High Performance that may also be effecting your battery life.
the processor shouldn't be kicking up to 2.6 on 4 cores when its only at 20% usage
Edit: strange, with Lenovo's power tool running it got five hours in my battery benchmark tool while transferring data over wifi in the background
thats 2.5 times longer than just having it set to balanced with windows 8's power management, I don't even know what in the fuckity fuck could be the reason for that, other than perhaps it was set to have the Lenovo tool manage it and with it not running, it defaulted to high performance or something? Idk
I'm looking for between a 15 and 17 inch screen, and screen quality does matter to me. High resolutions and color accuracy are things I look for.
Something that should be good for a while though (although I dunno about running games at medium+ settings 3 years from now), would be something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230405. For your price range you can get that all the way up to a geforce 680M I believe which is much faster but will drain any laptop battery dead in five seconds
Gorgeous 1080p IPS screen, reasonable battery life, etc. Problem is it weighs like 7 pounds! Basically if you want a desktop replacement, it's not going to be a .9 inch thick smecksy ultrabook
Personally rather than a desktop replacement I'd go for something like this one:
http://www.excaliberpc.com/622839/gigabyte-u2442f-cf2-14-ultrabook.html
It's 14" 1600X900, much lighter, unfortunately probably at least 20% slower in games, and if it's on your lap and you're playing BF3 it will incinerate your genitals, you have been warned, but that's the trade off
Yes, the laptop of your dream exists, but not quite in the configuration you are looking for.
Couple of things to consider:
A 1366x768 display, which is sorta meh on the resolution front, will be a more efficient display when it comes to playing games. The 1080p version of my laptop can barely chug out 20 fps on Diablo 3 with all settings maxed, whereas my homely 1366x768 version is a smooth 60+ at all time (capped at 60 to keep down heat).
Even the 680M video card isn't quite up to the task of running higher end games in max settings at the native resolution. Plus, a lower density display may save you $100-$150 or could be used as a tradeoff for higher end components elsewhere for the same price point. Unless you're planning on going the SLI laptop route, in which case be prepared to pay the big bucks.
If you absolutely MUST have an HD screen on your laptop, just know that some of the higher end games (or even the games a few years from now) will more than likely run fairly horribly on it in native resolutions. The friend of mine with the 1080p version of my laptop can't even run XCom on max settings on that resolution without some moderate choppiness, and that game isn't exactly a ball buster in the resource department.
I've used two different 17-inch "desktop replacement" laptop as my primary computers for the past 4-5 years up until recently, because I traveled so much for work and I didn't really have the dedicated space at home. See below for a list of cons (previously one superlong paragraph):
-Let me tell you that a 17-incher is not conducive to any sort of convenient travel or space-limited use. Forget trying to use it on a plane, and even if you have a desk or a table available, you end up taking up so much space that you will barely have room for anything except the laptop in front of you.
-And you might think that 7+ lbs is nothing, but let me tell you, it wears on you really quick if you walk for longer than 15 minutes, particularly if you want to be super-trendy and use a messenger/laptop back instead of a backpack or rolling bag. (Also, some power adapters are ridiculously large & heavy as well, so keep that additional weight in mind when traveling.)
-Don't expect more than 2-3 hours of battery life, tops, if you're doing anything intensive like playing games.
-Another caveat is that these things pump out a tremendous amount of heat (and noise) when you use them for gaming and the like. There's no way to avoid it, and you would be surprised how quickly everything around you gets hot when it's being shoved out of a tiny space in front of you in a ventilation-limited area. The people around you probably won't appreciate it (or the noise).
-And given the amount of heat and general wear/tear put on these types of laptops, chances are it will eventually break down on you after 2 years, tops.
-That is, assuming you are still satisfied with its performance on newer games at that point. Which you probably won't be, because by that time the system will have issues staying cool and video cards are usually the first things to become obsolete (and also happen to be one of the things you can't replace).
All that being said, since I mainly used the 17-incher in sedentary, spacious places like hotel rooms and coffee joints, it was nice to have the larger HD screen available to do things like watching movies, playing games, or doing real detail work (diagrams, huge maps, large excel spreadsheets, long lines of code, etc. etc. etc.). But otherwise, it was frankly a PITA to travel with.
If you can, I'd recommend a hybrid approach. If you just want something to take to class or study sessions, a 14" or 15" would be ideal. (In fact, I'd recommend going 14" because the convenience will probably outweigh the additional screen size at that point.) Then I'd keep your larger monitor, along with all your other existing desktop peripherals (keyboard + mouse, etc.) at your living space for when you want to hunker down and get real stuff done or watch something on a bigger screen. As long as the video card in the laptop supports "1080p-level" resolution output to an external display, you can just plug the sucker in and do your thing. Ideally you could even get a docking station of some kind.
That solution should potentially be cheaper than going all-out and buying both a desktop and a laptop, which would actually be the ideal recommendation. But if you can, take a long, hard look at your requirements and ask yourself what you're really going to be doing with the laptop. A cheap travel rig that will run Microsoft Office, surf the net, and play movies for you is not going to be all that expensive, and is probably a better use of your funds than spending the premium on a gaming-based laptop rig. Keep in mind that gaming desktop is going to be cheaper and will perform better than any comparable laptop.
At the risk of being repetitive, the only reason you will want a huge gaming laptop is if you: don't have the dedicated space and time for a desktop of some kind AND do have access to the dedicated space/time elsewhere (while traveling) to play games. If you don't meet both of these needs, I'd strongly recommend going with one of the other two options, preferably the desktop + laptop combo.
TL;DR - Pick One*:
1) ~$2,000 17" Gaming Laptop
2) ~$1,700 15" Gaming Laptop + $300 Monitor
3) ~$1,500 Gaming Desktop + $500 Regular Laptop
*Prices may vary depending upon need, location, availability, and general shopping prowess (duh)
A gaming desktop + something like an asus ultrabook, or if you must have something that can game, for $600-$700 you can get a 15.6 inch with a 7760 or something in a 1366X768 package
No, not really? As a budget for a full system including monitor, speakers, and KB&M, that'll build you a nice upper mid-range Intel quadcore tower with an SSD and a GTX670.
That's good, because I can't say I'm a fan of 3D with the glasses. It's great at Sea World with the kids, not so great sitting at my desk.
What I'm not fond of is the size of it - I drive a vespa to work, and this thing is a beast to carry on my back. I'm probably going to drop down to a 15" screen, but get an external monitor and keyboard. Here's what I'm looking at:
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E530 ($734)
Stock model with processor and ram updates
======================
System components
Intel Core i5-2520M Processor (3M Cache, 2.50GHz)
Windows 8 64
15.6" W HD (1366x768) AntiGlare, Midnight Black
Intel HD Graphics (WWAN or mSATA capable)
8 GB DDR3 - 1600MHz (2 DIMM)
Keyboard US English With Number Pad
720p HD Camera
320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer w/ SW Royalty for Windows 8
6 cell Li-Ion Battery 48WH - 75+
65W AC Adapter - US (2pin)
ThinkPad b/g/n Wireless & Bluetooth 4.0 (1x1 BGN & BT 4.0)
Any input? I don't have a hard price limit, but I'd like to show some respect by not dropping a $1500 quote in my boss's lap for a machine that far outperforms what I need.
Specifically, the 2nd one from the left.
Could I get the same kind of performance out of some ASUS laptop or another brand for the same price or less? I want to stick with a 17" screen, as this is a desktop replacement type of deal, and I'd like it to run current games and look ok, but not ULTRA AWSOME settings and resolutions.
Mostly I play WoW and stuff like Borderlands 2/Shogun 2. Being able to run Rome Total War 2 at nice settings would be good too.
With CES now passing us I was hoping someone might be able to point me towards some recommendations to replace my old 14" Inspiron.
Keeping in mind I have a gaming PC at home, I tend to travel for a few months out of the year for work/pleasure and am looking for something that can accompany me. I suppose this narrows me down to ultra portables and convertibles.
As far as use goes, organizing pictures, multimedia, surfing, light/med gaming (so I'm looking beyond integrated intel 4000 graphics) and programming (which is why I can't get a straight up tablet). I'll need something I can fit in my backpack and won't destroy my back carrying it around. I'm thinking around 13-14" maybe 15, but they start getting heavier at that point. I'd be willing to pay more for a nice screen and quality materials.
In a perfect world there'd be a nice, light and slim tablet I could play PC games on at reasonable settings with a detachable/stowable keyboard and wireless mouse. Something that I could just grab sans-keyboard to chill on the couch with and watch movies/browse. No idea if that exists.
Obviously I'd be sacrificing a bit of performance (I have a desktop for cutting edge stuff) and a bit of battery life.
Also, if it matters, I plan on putting windows 7 on it.
I'm finding conflicting information on whether or not ASUS laptops come with a recovery disk or a recovery partition. Does anyone have any first hand experience?
Also, I'd like to put in a SSD for this thing at some point, so I get everything setup and then can I make some kind of backup that could be used to recovery to the SSD after it's installed?
Also, that's a hell of a laptop!
To migrate you install from the mechanical disk to an SSD you'll need some way of connecting the SSD to the laptop (like an enclosure or a USB/SSD adapter) and disk cloning software. Some SSDs come as a kit that includes the cloning software and a transfer cable.
I'm looking to replace my laptop and I don't know a ton about them. I primarily use a desktop and only use my laptop when I travel.
But I'm headed to South Africa for 4 months...possibly leaving this Monday, Feb. 11. So I need a quick replacement.
I had a Lenovo which was a, I need a laptop tomorrow purchase from years ago.
I've got $1500 to spend. I would like to have gaming capabilities and preferably Windows 7. Plus I need it by this Friday at the latest.
I looked on Amazon and Fry's, but I just know so little about Laptops. Thanks for the help guys!
Both of my Asus laptops have recovery partitions instead of discs. You can make your own backup disc though either via Windows itself, or there's probably a way to do it via the Asus system tools.
Honestly I've found the partitions a lot more convenient than discs; though if you have the HDD die, well....
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
Yeah, sorry. In the US. Size doesn't matter and I don't know enough about form to really comment, other than a standard laptop is fine. I don't need to carry it into the field or anything, just stays at the hotel/office.
I've been looking at the Sony Vaio's, but I'm not sure how much of a Sony tax there is. I have a couple other buddies looking as well.
I'd love to order it by tomorrow if I go with Amazon.
I'm trying to do a crash course on laptop research right now, but I'm failing miserably as I'm having to pack for four months and do everything else required to leave the country.
I knew I was headed there, I just thought it wasn't until March. A good surprise I guess.
I got a Sony Vaio S15 and I'm pretty happy with it. But it's backed up with my desktop gaming computer so it might not be the best choice for you. Something less thin might have a better GPU. Like this Lenovo that I remember seeing recommended back when I was looking. Maybe it's still a good choice or maybe not.
I'm pretty cheap so I don't think there was any kind of huge cost to having the Sony name.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
That Lenovo actually looks ok. What do people think about Lenovo? My last laptop was one but I had serious issues with it in regards to all of their proprietary software that comes pre loaded. I removed a lot of it, but there was all sorts of weird shortcuts built in that I could never get my head around. It made writing scripts a fucking bitch because it would just open a document in the middle of a sentence. I guess I can always buy a wireless keyboard to and mouse to go with it though.
But yeah I'm definitely looking to game quite a bit on it. Gonna pre load everything I have on Steam to it. Basically I'm in Johannesburg for 8 weeks before production...which after visiting this September is a very, very dangerous place. I will not be going out at night and need to have something to do.
Plus SA internet sucks.
The problem with gaming laptops is the form/weight issue. With a desktop it doesn't matter how big or heavy, it's pretty easy to optimize once you've decided to hone in on a resolution.
With gaming laptops you've all kinds of tradeoffs. Like the Dell/Alienware 11z(?) was pretty popular, cause it put it in a 11.6" screen form factor and the 1368x768 (or whatever) res meant a lesser discrete GPU would suffice.
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G75VW-DS71-17-3-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B007Z92SKE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1360088992&sr=8-2&keywords=ROG+asus
@Djeet is this the one you were referencing?
It's the right price point, good amount of RAM and has Windows 7 already installed. I do get fairly confused with video cards as I almost never am able to keep up with the numbering systems, ha.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
If you had more time I'd shop around more and maybe look at VARs for ODMs (like xoticPC). But IME Asus has pretty good build quality and newegg should get it to you given your time constraints.
EDIT: Ordered! Woot!
Sorry, I haven't bought a new computer, much less a pretty nice one in awhile.
All right, I have been out of the tech game long enough that all the blinking lights and bright colors have left me totally confused (and that's just on the cases), but after getting the power cord of my Acer Netbook wrapped around my shoe, and launching it across the kitchen hard enough to make it explode when I tried walking away, I find myself needing a new laptop post host.
My requirements are pretty simple - unlike the Acer, the laptop I'm looking for needs to be able to play buffered youtube videos without skipping. If I've got videos on the hard drive, it should be able to play them back without hanging. When using Word or Open office, a five second hang after the keystrokes when trying to use the word processor is not cool. Choking on Firefox is no good either (can you sense a certain amount of latent frustration with my old system?:) )
So, in summary, low price is my biggest selling point. It doesn't need to run games, just basic office suites, and if it can stream Netflix or play digital movies while I'm traveling, that'd be great too. Light, with decent battery life. I've been looking at Newegg, and Costco's HP build your own laptop, but there are just so many options and choices I'm just bewildered. Especially since I'm not married to windows, and am intrigued by the Mac Air, although I'm hoping to get something way under $1k in terms of price.
Short and sweet:
Screen: under 14"
HD: Any size
Memory: enough to make it work
Accessories: mic, camera, wifi. Doesn't even need an optical drive, although one would be nice.
All assistance is appreciated.
Maybe something like this.
As for specs,
Really any modern CPU should be good enough. Say Intel i3/i5/i7 or AMD A6/A8/A10. At any given price point the AMD chips have less CPU horsepower but better multimedia/gaming capability.
4 Gigs of memory should do, 8 might be nice but if you are configuring your laptop they often charge way too much for extra memory.
For the hard drive you have a serious choice: A laptop with an SSD will be super responsive, boot really fast, etc. A platter drive will hold a lot more porn/steam games and will be cheaper. There are also laptops with SSD cache drives and hybrid drives which might be a good compromise.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)