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I picked up an Asus UL80-vT from amazon recently for $700 with a $100 gift card included. So far I've been mostly very happy with it (my previous machine was a Dell Inspiron 9300 from 2005 which was starting to deteriorate). All the reviews about the bad trackpad are true.. when it works it works fine, but it has these really tempermental fits where it just stops being responsive for 30 seconds at a time, and it can throw me into a conniption to not be able to move the mouse cursor a few pixels to the left or right. Having said that, it doesn't happen all the time. The one button mouse isn't actually obtrusive at all. Plus, you can get all of your left clicking done on the track pad which drastically decreases your need for the mouse button. The viewing angle that some people complained about is not a big deal. If you wanted a computer with a wide enough viewing angle that lots of people could crowd around and watch a movie, then you just got the wrong computer. Other than that, I find the form factor to be fairly slick. It's a little lightweight at times, but generally I'm pretty happy with this machine, and at that pricepoint it can't be beat.
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| # ? Dec 21, 2009 16:39 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 18:18 |
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Sup Inpsiron 9300 buddy. I've been looking at the UL80-VT after getting tired of lugging around the BEAST that was the 9300. The viewing angle issue does concern me, but after spending almost 5 years with the dinosaur dell, I'm willing to trade all of that for a laptop that can get nearly 12 hours battery life and still have a little more muscle than your average netbook. The Asus U series is very intriguing and I'm trying to make a decision between the UL30, UL80, and the UL50 as the laptop of choice. G-III fucked around with this message at Dec 21, 2009 around 16:54 |
| # ? Dec 21, 2009 16:49 |
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G-III posted:Sup Inpsiron 9300 buddy. I've been looking at the UL80-VT after getting tired of lugging around the BEAST that was the 9300. The viewing angle issue does concern me, but after spending almost 5 years with the dinosaur dell, I'm willing to trade all of that for a laptop that can get nearly 12 hours battery life and still have a little more muscle than your average netbook. After the 17" 9300, it was really kind of scary to sit down with such a small, compact machine. After only a day or two it started to feel like a good fit, and even though it won't quite be able to host a movie night the way the 9300 used to, it comes up with other advantages (like, golly, being able to loving carry it from room to room, or take it friends houses, or sit with it on my lap without burning myself) that more than make up for it. I could definitely recommend going to best buy, going into the control panel on the computer and fiddling with the mouse controls, then sit there for like 15 solid minutes and get a feel for it before you take the dive.
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| # ? Dec 21, 2009 17:03 |
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Killgasm posted:I received my Lenovo G450 last Thursday and I have a couple of observations: Hey that's funny, I ordered a G450 the Sunday after Black Friday. It was scheduled to ship a week later, so I called in to cancel on Cyber-Monday because I wanted a netbook. The guy in billing said he'd take care of it, and three hours later it suddenly ships. Wow, thanks for taking care of it by bumping it up you rear end in a top hat. I called in later and there was no record of my last call (how mysterious!). I had to argue to get out of paying 15% restock fee. Next time I just won't buy direct from any company not named "Apple" or "Dell."
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| # ? Dec 21, 2009 19:23 |
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mecca posted:Unfortunately I likely need to spend the extra cash on a 17" laptop because as it is, they want a screen bigger than 15", my mom needs a numeric keypad for accounting, and they don't always remember to turn off the monitor or printer when they're done using their current desktop PC, so it may be wise to minimize the amount of electronics they have to interact with. Although its good to know I won't need to get them a bunch of upgrades like the C2D cpus. If your parents need portability then I would suggest getting a secondary netbook or small laptops and keep the desktop as primary computer. Then get a USB connected numpad if they have need for accounting stuff while portable.
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| # ? Dec 21, 2009 20:08 |
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Jewmanji posted:I picked up an Asus UL80-vT from amazon recently for $700 with a $100 gift card included. Really? They gouged the price then, it's up to $823 without any card right now. I'm holding out a few weeks and hoping for a post-holiday deal on one of the UL series, they look really nice
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| # ? Dec 21, 2009 23:50 |
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I need a laptop for general purpose use and for producing music. I've had a netbook for the longest time and absolutely love the small size, long battery life, and general convenience but need something with enough processing power to do more than run Chrome. So basically what I'm looking for is a laptop that comes as close to being a netbook without sacrificing anything, price or power. Basically, what is the a good small 'real' notebook that isn't more expensive due to its size and has all the power of a 15 to 17 inch notebook.
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| # ? Dec 22, 2009 05:47 |
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Anacostia posted:So basically what I'm looking for is a laptop that comes as close to being a netbook without sacrificing anything, price or power. Basically, what is the a good small 'real' notebook that isn't more expensive due to its size and has all the power of a 15 to 17 inch notebook. This is an absolutely crazy thing to ask for. You just can't have small, light, powerful, and cheap. If you do find one please share it with all the rest of us. The closest thing you may find is the Lenovo X200. They have passable CPUs in a 12-inch almost netbook form factor. Expect to pay around $1000, a little less if you use coupons for a decent one. They don't have an optical drive, so if you need that they are not a good option. If you have a netbook already, why not build a desktop? A desktop would be dirt cheap and far more powerful than laptops.
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| # ? Dec 22, 2009 06:03 |
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Anacostia posted:I need a laptop for general purpose use and for producing music. I've had a netbook for the longest time and absolutely love the small size, long battery life, and general convenience but need something with enough processing power to do more than run Chrome. What are the specs on your current netbook, and what are you doing that you don't have enough power for?
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| # ? Dec 22, 2009 09:04 |
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Can anybody help me out? I'm looking for a laptop that A) is under $1000 B) 14-15 inches C) has a decent battery life (at minimum 3-4 hours) D) can play somewhat recent games on low-med (i.e. L4D) B and C are the most important because this is going to be college computer, but I'd really love to play games on it seeing as how the only computer I've ever owned is a piece of poo poo. The laptop I have my eye right now it the ASUS X83VP-X1. Are there any other laptops at this price point that perform better?
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| # ? Dec 22, 2009 15:56 |
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oblomov posted:Alienware m15x is another possibility but it's pricier. I doubt you will have time to get anything else in. Most custom shops won't get it to you by 18th, I believe. (yet another similar laptop roughly within that range is the Sager NP8690)
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| # ? Dec 22, 2009 23:29 |
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Any recommendations for the ideal college laptop? I've looked at the retailers recommended but nothing jumps out - they all seem pretty comparable. I basically want to use Office, play a few games occasionally and use Photoshop on the side. A dedicated GPU is useful but not a deal breaker. I've been looking at the Dell Inspiron and the HP Pavilion mainly, but does anyone have any other suggestions? EDIT: Oh, and not looking to spend more than $1200.
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| # ? Dec 23, 2009 01:09 |
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I really like the UL50Vt-X1 deal on newegg. Low voltage dual core, switchable discrete graphics and comes with a free 16 Gb Zune. If I didn't already have an iPod and didn't have to pay tax for Newegg (why did they have to set up shop in California...) I would be all over that.PaulC posted:Really? They gouged the price then, it's up to $823 without any card right now. I'm holding out a few weeks and hoping for a post-holiday deal on one of the UL series, they look really nice The UL30, 50 and 80 are pretty similarly specced except for screen size and all go for 800 or more. 820 for the UL80 is actually about right, unless I'm thinking of a different model. The Amazon deal was $800 + 100 gift card, smaller denomination gift cards for the other models. showdown fucked around with this message at Dec 23, 2009 around 02:04 |
| # ? Dec 23, 2009 01:31 |
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Regicide posted:I want a gaming latop... yeah, I read the OP. I built a really good gaming desktop and loved it for the year I had it before I sold it and joined the Army. I am currently on leave looking to purchase a laptop before I go to Korea. I'm a whore for my PC games... I looked up a laptop on Newegg using one of the reccommended brands in the OP. What do y'all think of this? I know it's ridiciously expensive but it's got a lot of space, and although I don't know much about laptops looks as if it'd run anything I throw at it. I just picked up an Asus G72GX-RBBXO from Best Buy for under $1200. 17.3 monitor, 500GB, GTZ 260M 1 gig video card and 6 gigs of ram with P8700 DuoCore cpu. Just farting around with it right now.
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| # ? Dec 23, 2009 04:36 |
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InterceptorV8 posted:I just picked up an Asus G72GX-RBBXO from Best Buy for under $1200. 17.3 monitor, 500GB, GTZ 260M 1 gig video card and 6 gigs of ram with P8700 DuoCore cpu. Just farting around with it right now. That is an incredible deal, congrats! Better value than than the i7 and 260M I posted earlier, the GPU is all that really matters on a gaming laptop.
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| # ? Dec 23, 2009 05:17 |
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Weinertron posted:That is an incredible deal, congrats! Better value than than the i7 and 260M I posted earlier, the GPU is all that really matters on a gaming laptop. Yeah the closest Toshiba I could custom build was over $350 more and it had the 230 card in it.
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| # ? Dec 23, 2009 05:19 |
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Weinertron posted:That is an incredible deal, congrats! Better value than than the i7 and 260M I posted earlier, the GPU is all that really matters on a gaming laptop. This is not entirely correct. More and more newer games are multi-threaded. You will be CPU locked at some point. Asus G72Gx-RBBX09 is a great deal if you can find it. To the questions on quality. IMO, Sager will have the best speed, Asus the best warranty, Alienware the best structural design (like a tank). Edit: Good Asus warranty would be for non-bestbuy models.
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| # ? Dec 23, 2009 06:29 |
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oblomov posted:This is not entirely correct. More and more newer games are multi-threaded. You will be CPU locked at some point. Asus G72Gx-RBBX09 is a great deal if you can find it. But the laptop he bought has a very fast dual core. There are a grand total of 10 or so games out there that can actually use a quad core, and none require it. Games won't be needing quads for a long time to come. Intel is even launching some new desktop dual-cores in the near future.
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| # ? Dec 23, 2009 06:33 |
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Shalinor posted:What's the build quality like between ASUS, AlienWare and Sager? Any particular reason to choose one over the others beyond price? I had a Sager (DU47U, bought from PC Torque) and just got an M15x. Both look great to me, though to be fair I've heard good things about Asus too. It is kind of shocking given their history, but since Dell took over Alienware, you can get good deals on the Alienware if you wait for a special or have a Dell coupon. The M15x ended up being the same price as the G51J-A1 for me.
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| # ? Dec 23, 2009 17:29 |
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I need a PC laptop to use in the field with customized software; apparently it doesn't work to well on a Mac running Parallels (according to this company's IT department, don't ask). In any case, here's my requirements: - Light - Good battery life - Performance more or less unimportant; running lightweight software and web apps - Usable keyboard and trackpad I was thinking a netbook might actually fit the bill here. What are the better models out right now? Looking to spend <$400.
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| # ? Dec 23, 2009 18:50 |
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Samsung NC10 is pretty good. Personally, I like the Lenovo one. There was an 11" ASUS with a nice keyboard and a fairly large screen for a netbook, but I haven't had a chance to try it out.
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| # ? Dec 23, 2009 19:29 |
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Samsung models seem to be pretty decent overall. It just seems Samsung focuses on Asia and Europe, at least judging by Notebookreview and I've never seen one in real life.
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| # ? Dec 24, 2009 05:15 |
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I was seriously considering getting this here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7-044-_-Product
It's listed on Newegg for $650, but they have the same one at Walmart for $500. But then I read this review from PC Magazine: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2355970,00.asp giving it an exceptionally low score, so I'm sure there's something better out there. I was thinking about going with the Acer 1410-2285 or Gateway EC1435u netbook, but considering the price, I wanted to see what I could get in a laptop by spending an extra hundred bucks. Looking for something similar to the dm3 but without the suck. I'm trying to get a sub $500 laptop to use for school and hooking up to the TV via the HDMI out to watch HD movies and play ROMS/old games. Any recommendations? EDIT: Apparently, after still more research, I'm looking for a CULV notebook. What are some good ones that fit under $500? Gumball Dad fucked around with this message at Dec 25, 2009 around 03:53 |
| # ? Dec 25, 2009 03:22 |
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Also looking for a good college laptop that doubles as a "decent" gaming system. I'm planning on buying it within the next month. Just needs: -Decent bat. life (3-4 hours) -$600-$800 (w/o warranty; I can cover that) -Location of purchase doesn't matter (so long as it's a trusted retailer) -Can play "modern games" (L4D2 would be the most GPU-intensive game I'd play) EDIT: While I'm at it, anyone got good suggestions for laptop shoulder bags or backpacks? Priss In Plate fucked around with this message at Dec 25, 2009 around 04:07 |
| # ? Dec 25, 2009 04:01 |
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This is currently the machine I use right now. Right now it lags a bit at the more graphic heavy sites. I'm running Windows 7 64-bit with aero turned off. If I were to upgrade the ram to 4GB from 2GB, would I see a difference in performance or would it really not change anything because of some other part of the system being lovely?
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| # ? Dec 25, 2009 13:27 |
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Gumball Dad posted:I was seriously considering getting this here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7-044-_-Product The DM3 will do that. PC mag just went retarded on the review and tried to treat it as a full sized laptop. That machine is rocking Amd's version of a CULV. Compared to Intel's offering the cpu will be slightly slower but the gpu will kick the rear end of anything Intel even thought about putting out. If you're still wondering check out hexus's review of the MSI Wind u230, its rocking the same internals and it gets pitted against a atom machine and culv so you can see how it will do.
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| # ? Dec 25, 2009 13:43 |
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Gumball Dad posted:I was seriously considering getting this here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7-044-_-Product In the under-$500 category you're looking at the Acer/Gateway dual-core CULV options. If you were originally looking at that HP, I'd spring extra for this. The Asus UL30 is considered the best CULV laptop right now and it has the best battery life out of all of them. Priss In Plate posted:Also looking for a good college laptop that doubles as a "decent" gaming system. I'm planning on buying it within the next month. This laptop is just a little bit above your price range but it's got great battery life and can play games too. It gets about 40 FPS in Left 4 Dead 2 on native resolution from the benchmarks I've seen. On the integrated graphics it can get above 7 hours of battery life.
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| # ? Dec 25, 2009 14:11 |
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Godzilla07 posted:In the under-$500 category you're looking at the Acer/Gateway dual-core CULV options. If you were originally looking at that HP, I'd spring extra for this. The Asus UL30 is considered the best CULV laptop right now and it has the best battery life out of all of them. What the heck? The laptop you listed for goes for $780 compared to the $500 laptop he was looking at. The extra $280 gets a slower processor and WAY WORSE gpu. The only thing it has better than the DM3 is battery life. Gumball Dad, if you want a culv netbook/laptop get the DM3. Its a good deal for the money. The only reason it got a bad review from PC Magazine is they tried to review the laptop like it had a normal dual core processor. I bet if you see them review a culv processor they wouldn't call it slow even though the Neo l335 is faster than all but the SU9300. However if you're wanting something with a screen smaller than 13" I would recommend going to the netbook thread and see what the recommend. However if you do want something with a smaller screen I would recommend looking at the MSI Wind U230. It should be out in a couple of weeks and it has pretty nice specs as well.
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| # ? Dec 25, 2009 14:44 |
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Priss In Plate posted:Also looking for a good college laptop that doubles as a "decent" gaming system. I'm planning on buying it within the next month. Core 2 Duo T6600 (2.2GHz) Radeon 4650 1GB 14.1 WXGA Screen 4 GB RAM 320GB HD DVD Multi Gigabit LAN & b/g/n Wifi $800 ($700 with mail-in rebate)
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| # ? Dec 25, 2009 18:27 |
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Where can I get a replacement keyboard for my sager np2090?
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| # ? Dec 25, 2009 21:27 |
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Both of the options I'm looking at are quite nice. Seems like Asus is the way to go, and in a month, the other could be in my price range ($640 at the moment, with $50 of my next paycheck going to my fund).  Godzilla07 posted:Asus laptop with switchable GPU How exactly does this work? Does it switch to the dedicated card when you're using a GPU-intensive program? Priss In Plate fucked around with this message at Dec 25, 2009 around 22:57 |
| # ? Dec 25, 2009 22:48 |
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Need a Laptop that can handle graphic editing well - After Effects, Photoshop. Looking for a price around 500, or 600 Thinking of this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7-044-_-Product Any opinion on good laptops for graphic editing?
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| # ? Dec 26, 2009 01:23 |
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Hello laptop goons. I'm trying to figure out whether it's possible to upgrade my laptop's video card, because its being wimpy and won't run games as well as I would desire. The main issue is I can't find out whether my particular laptop even has the ability to easily change the graphics card, mostly because of confusion with the model number. It's an ASUS I got from BestBuy, and it has a nVidia 9300M. On the bottom it says both ASUS X83V and X83VB-X2- looking at online websites the second one matches my specs, so I assume that's what I have. Can I actually upgrade the video card on this thing? What's the price range for mobile video cards? As much as I'd like to build a new desktop system for games, I'm short on cash and provided the laptop cards aren't a bajillion dollars I'm pretty sure my other components are good enough so that a GPU upgrade will hold me for now.
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| # ? Dec 26, 2009 23:33 |
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Default answer: no you can't and if you could it's not worth it.
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| # ? Dec 26, 2009 23:35 |
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Drox posted:Default answer: no you can't and if you could it's not worth it. Power/overheating/tinkering with tiny sensitive electronics issues, I assume? Cost/benefit in the shitter?
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| # ? Dec 26, 2009 23:38 |
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Even if yours is one of the kind that can be replaced, odds are you won't be able to find a better one for a reasonable price.
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| # ? Dec 26, 2009 23:58 |
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GruntyThrst posted:Power/overheating/tinkering with tiny sensitive electronics issues, I assume? Cost/benefit in the shitter?
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| # ? Dec 27, 2009 02:07 |
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Laptop graphics cards are literally soldered to the motherboard in most cases. So no, it is not possible to upgrade your graphics card in your laptop.
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| # ? Dec 27, 2009 05:24 |
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Ok it's new laptop time for me. What I'm looking for is something 13-15" with decent speed and graphics. I'm mostly going to be using Photoshop, Lightroom, AutoCAD, Vectorworks & 3D Studio Max though for most of this I'll have it connected to an external screen, keyboard and mouse. I know a dedicated desktop would work better but something I can take to client presentations is in order really.
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| # ? Dec 27, 2009 21:52 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 18:18 |
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OK, I need some help here. Part of my Christmas present to my sister is to help her get her first laptop. She's mostly going to be using it for web/email/Facebook and watching TV shows online and stuff, but estimates she will be carrying it around a fair bit too. Her absolute maximum budget is $850, but she'd rather have some breathing room for a good case, a higher-capacity battery, etc. We went to a few retail stores to look at what they had and see how they stack up in person (not to buy). She instantly fell in love with the Sony Vaio NW series because of the funky plastic chassis thing, which really did seem pretty nice. Knowing her, she definitely needs a durable laptop, but she was turned off by the blockiness of the Lenovos and Thinkpads I showed her. The Vaio, however, looks good, and still seems pretty tough, and it has a good keyboard. Overall, she really likes the thing and wants one and I can't see anything wrong with it. Has good but not overkill specs, Win7 64bit, etc. She also thinks the 15" size is just right and doesn't want anything much smaller. Bigger would probably be a minus, too, for added weight and decreased portability. The problem: its price scrapes the upper end of her budget once you factor in the cost of warranties, which are pretty drat important for a laptop. On Newegg, she can get the laptop for around $750 shipped SANS WARRANTY. Only the 30-day replacement warranty comes with that price. The $60 replacement extension is for one year and the $90 is for two years, but this is still really expensive for her. At Best Buy it was like $770 sans warranty, and I dread to think of what their warranties are like. My question, then, is this: are there any cheaper machines out there that are made of a similar material to the Vaio NWs, but maybe with weaker specs or non-Sony? I know Sony loves to jack their prices up because of the brand, which I did warn her about. She isn't concerned about specs so much as the look and feel of the laptop, so something with a lower-end CPU or less RAM or a smaller hard drive wouldn't be a big deal. Her current computer (desktop) is ancient junk and I don't think she cares about which OS she uses at all. It's more about how it feels and the quality of its construction. She hates the glossy crap most laptops are made out of, as it scratches easily and shows fingerprint smudges. The nice thing about the Vaio was that it seemed much more resistant to that kind of stuff and also was a bit tougher than the junky plastic HPs and Dell Inspirons etc. I really want to avoid the cheapo consumer-aimed lines since they are so prone to physical deterioration, especially in the hands of someone like my sister, who inevitably is pretty hard on her electronics. Is there, then, a kind of laptop out there with a similar texture to the NW series (or at least non-glossy) but without the high price tag? If we could even get the thing down to $600 before warranties, that would be a big help. However, having broken her heart by showing her how much warranties cost, I think I might be able to talk her back into a Lenovo or a Dell Latitude or even a Thinkpad if I can show her one that will save her a couple hundred bucks or more. Another caveat is warranty service. If she can get a good warranty but has to ship it overseas to South Korea or something, it probably won't work out. She wants to be able to send it to some place in the states so it will come back fast. Thanks a lot for any suggestions! We'd really appreciate it. Buff Skeleton fucked around with this message at Dec 28, 2009 around 00:06 |
| # ? Dec 28, 2009 00:03 |
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