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Naffer posted:Do you have any issues with the body flex that some of the reviews have complained about? I'm looking at this notebook too, especially since it's so light. It honestly doesn't bother me at all. I realize it's because it's made of carbon fiber which actually helps with its durability. I'm not paranoid about it scratch or denting like if I had a MBA. Plus the carbon fiber makes it awesomely light. It makes other ultrabooks feel heavy in comparison. I'd recommend playing with one yourself in person to see if it bothers you. I got it in black and it looks so slick!
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Jul 3, 2013 02:04
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VorpalFish posted:I just looked at the 11 inch model of that, and it's almost perfect, except they don't offer a processor option with the GT3 GPU configuration. Anyone know if the laptop I'm looking for exists yet? (probably not I'm really picky) MBA has GT3. Otherwise the Asus Zenbook Infinity which will be out later this year.
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Jul 3, 2013 02:14
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How long would I have to wait for lenovo to put out a laptop that can play ARMA 3, X: Rebirth and Company of Heros 2 comfortably (Rust as well I guess)? Maybe even Star Citizen. If that game turns out good... I just realized I'm looking at this from the wrong angle. It should be more about the games specifically I want to play rather than getting the best hardware and hoping for the best. I could care less about having to play it with lowered settings. Just when I say play them comfortably being able to play at a decent frame rate. Also not having to lower options too low so that they hinder gameplay when lowered beyond a certain point(like view distance in the ARMA series) NeoSeeker fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Jul 3, 2013 |
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Jul 3, 2013 02:25
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sports posted:Have you heard of a Retina MacBook Pro? I had one actually  The MacBook definitely has a much better screen, marginally better battery life, and much nicer touchpad. I'm not sure how the construction/feel stacks up.However, 15" is too big of a footprint for me and if you look at the GPU comparison on the first page, the GTX 765M takes a big ol' dump on the GT650M when it comes to gaming. The Razer is also a bit lighter. 14" is the very biggest I want to go with something I don't want stuck on a desk. 13" would be even more ideal, but I imagine there's no way Razer's going to pull that off without breaking some laws of thermodynamics. fookolt fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Jul 3, 2013 |
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Jul 3, 2013 03:10
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fookolt posted:I had one actually Aand you're sure you need to get a GPU and compromise portability of the laptop?
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Jul 3, 2013 03:22
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fookolt posted:I had one actually Aren't the two pretty much the same size? The screen in the Macbook is 16:10 vs. 16:9 on the Razer, so that extra inch probably doesn't translate to much more size.
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Jul 3, 2013 03:33
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VorpalFish posted:I just looked at the 11 inch model of that, and it's almost perfect, except they don't offer a processor option with the GT3 GPU configuration. Anyone know if the laptop I'm looking for exists yet? (probably not I'm really picky) You should take a look at this Anandtech article: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7072/intel-hd-5000-vs-hd-4000-vs-hd-4400 The quick summary is that the 5000 in the low power packages used in the MacBook air barely outperforms the old Ivy bridge 4000 in most benchmarks, even though it's more than twice the GPU on paper. It's limited by power usage when part of the lower-power chips. That's probably why you're going to see a lot of 4400's out there and few 5000's. I suspect that the reason Intel gave the Iris 5100 chips a different name (when they really differ only by allowed TDP) is that the GT3 GPU configuration is really power constrained in the 17W chips and will perform much better in the 28W chips.
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Jul 3, 2013 03:42
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VorpalFish posted:I just looked at the 11 inch model of that, and it's almost perfect, except they don't offer a processor option with the GT3 GPU configuration. Anyone know if the laptop I'm looking for exists yet? (probably not I'm really picky) I hate to keep bringing up the same model time after time, but it's what I've been researching for myself: the XPS 12 refresh may fit what you're looking for, if you're willing a minor sacrifice on weight. - 12" screen, 12.48" total width - The current version is 3.5 lbs. The Haswell is reportedly 3.33ish. - 1080p screen. Research tells me the current model is IPS. (I can try to confirm this when I'm at work tomorrow.) Logic would dictate Haswell version will have it too. - There will be an i7 version with GT3. i7-4650U. Problem is, you'd probably end up paying a bit of a premium for the convertable touch tablet design, which is something you aren't looking for. I suspect more and more laptops are going to be getting that kind of design, though. Naffer posted:You should take a look at this Anandtech article: ...huh. That's weird. Why such a varying distance in the MBA review? Borderlands 2 gets a few percentage points, but Tomb Raider gets 40%? Revol fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Jul 3, 2013 |
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Jul 3, 2013 03:48
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Revol posted:I hate to keep bringing up the same model time after time, but it's what I've been researching for myself: the XPS 12 refresh may fit what you're looking for, if you're willing a minor sacrifice on weight. The XPS 12 is a baller laptop, it's only drawback is the price, however it's made of loving carbon fiber, materials design and build quality dictate the (well deserved) price. If you were looking for a touchscreen 13" macbook air and wanted apple build quality, this is a correct avenue to look down. Best Buy had them in stores at one point earlier this spring, they still might. I don't normally recommend Dells, but this one is a real class-act.
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Jul 3, 2013 04:00
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Revol posted:...huh. That's weird. Why such a varying distance in the MBA review? Borderlands 2 gets a few percentage points, but Tomb Raider gets 40%? This is total speculation on my part, but maybe the Tomb Raider benchmark is pretty light on the CPU and that leaves power headroom for the GPU to take up? Regarding the XPS 12, I just wish there wasn't so much bezel on that design. It almost looks like they could have done a 13.3" screen in the same frame.
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Jul 3, 2013 04:31
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I have trouble trusting a Dell. I've only ever heard horror stories about their consumer line and I see them constantly coming into the shop where I work for repairs. I'm trying to decide between grabbing an XPS 12, Vaio Pro 13, or Yoga 13 (when it gets released with haswell). I like my vaio now, and the pro does look really slick, but I also want the tablet mode of the other two for when I want to just sit on the couch and browse in full screen with the keyboard folded away or do whatever other tablet stuff. I'm hoping the yoga 13 gets refreshed fairly soon. I'd like to pick something up by September for the new school year.
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Jul 3, 2013 04:41
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WHERE MY HAT IS AT posted:I have trouble trusting a Dell. I've only ever heard horror stories about their consumer line and I see them constantly coming into the shop where I work for repairs. I'm trying to decide between grabbing an XPS 12, Vaio Pro 13, or Yoga 13 (when it gets released with haswell). I like my vaio now, and the pro does look really slick, but I also want the tablet mode of the other two for when I want to just sit on the couch and browse in full screen with the keyboard folded away or do whatever other tablet stuff. I'm hoping the yoga 13 gets refreshed fairly soon. I'd like to pick something up by September for the new school year. I have the Vaio Pro 13 and I would highly recommend it based on my limit usage. I'm waiting for the mini Surface tablet to come out which I feel like will be the perfect combination. The Vaio Pro for work and the mini Surface for couch and bed browsing.
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Jul 3, 2013 04:47
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doomtuba posted:I have the Vaio Pro 13 and I would highly recommend it based on my limit usage. I'm waiting for the mini Surface tablet to come out which I feel like will be the perfect combination. The Vaio Pro for work and the mini Surface for couch and bed browsing. I heard it's good, and I do love my current sony. Maybe I'll head over to the sony style at the mall when I'm in Toronto next and try one out.
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Jul 3, 2013 04:57
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Naffer posted:You should take a look at this Anandtech article: Hmm, I guess decent GPU performance in a 15 watt package was too much to hope for. Maybe I'll jump on the sony after all. Thanks everyone!
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Jul 3, 2013 05:31
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The 11" MBA is just an unbelievably sexy laptop and I would trade all sorts of performance and usability to have one. Which I would if the x230 wasn't over $400 cheaper when I bought. Don't hold one if you don't want to be owning one.
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Jul 3, 2013 05:50
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I need some advice on a notebook for a young relative who needs a student computer. Rough guidelines: * Around $500 or less * Must have a built-in optical drive * I'd like it to have a decent CPU and 4GB RAM, with support for 8GB. Don't want it to age badly. * It should have solid build quality and support from the manufacturer. The future owner lives more than 100 miles away from any major city so it wouldn't be convenient to get it fixed. I'm a Mac guy so I don't know the options on the PC side all that well. Based on the OP's ThinkPad love, I'm looking at the ThinkPad Edge E531. With the current coupon code it looks like I can get a 15.6" Ivy i5 for $530, which isn't bad at all. So, some questions: ThinkPad Edge: Good, bad, crap? The OP is understandably all about X/T/W series elitism, but those are rather outside the price range. Lenovo support: Good, bad, crap? Are there good alternatives from sources like Dell or HP? BobHoward fucked around with this message at 06:37 on Jul 3, 2013 |
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Jul 3, 2013 06:34
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You can get a T430 shipped for $638.78 and will last your student all four years of college. Parts, screens, batteries, keyboards are super cheap and plentiful if they ever need a replacement. Total cost of one $640 laptop vs two $500 laptops is about $350. The edge has no metal frame Lenovo support is as equally awful as their competitors, Thinkpad support is through IBM and generally noted as best in industry
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Jul 3, 2013 06:42
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sports posted:Aand you're sure you need to get a GPU and compromise portability of the laptop? For the construction, screen size, and the quad-core, I don't see nothing like it out there. Still, I'll be waiting for the refresh.
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Jul 3, 2013 07:02
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Hadlock posted:You can get a T430 shipped for $638.78 and will last your student all four years of college. Parts, screens, batteries, keyboards are super cheap and plentiful if they ever need a replacement. Total cost of one $640 laptop vs two $500 laptops is about $350. I'm totally onboard on the value of spending a bit more up front. It's not my money being spent, though. I may be able to push for a nicer machine (and possibly help fund it), so it's good to get an idea what the differences between the lines are. Now that you've pointed the T430 out, I've played with the configurator and found that you can upgrade to 1600x900 for $20, which is definitely a point in its favor. On the other hand you have to pay $30 to add a camera, and the Edge comes with one included. I assume that parts for the T430 cheap and plentiful because it's basically the mass produced generic corporate brick? Are parts still easy for the Edge? If it's to be a T430, is there any point in not upgrading to the Intel 2x2 B/G/N WiFi? It costs $0 over the default 1x1 "ThinkPad" radio, which is slightly odd. Lenovo's configurator is amazing.  Under security software it's showing me this:Norton Internet Security 2013 - 90 day trial - Indian Government[add $999,999.00]
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Jul 3, 2013 09:29
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BobHoward posted:If it's to be a T430, is there any point in not upgrading to the Intel 2x2 B/G/N WiFi? It costs $0 over the default 1x1 "ThinkPad" radio, which is slightly odd. No, that's definitely the right upgrade to make.
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Jul 3, 2013 11:23
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I'm having trouble deciding my best course of action in regards to getting a new laptop. Haswell sounds great in my head, but my patience is waning and I'd really like to have a laptop available for my summer class. I'm looking for a laptop I can use for:
In the past I had a Zenbook UX31A provided by my previous employer. I loved the portability and the screen and while I wasn't a fan of the keyboard at first, it grew on me. The touchpad was always poo poo. I'd love that kind of portability in my new laptop, but I'm at a crappy community college where teachers all bitch if you have a laptop on the desk, so I'm unlikely to take it to class with me. I'd still like to relatively easily cart it around the house and probably take it to work with me. Ideally, I'd dump a zillion GB of memory into my desktop computer and use that for my VMs, but I really want to be able to take them with me to work and on trips and don't think a remote access setup would work since the wife and her nephews use it during the day to watch videos and play games on the TV when I'm at work. I initially looked at Macbook Air and Thinkpad x230, then I took a look at the T430/530 after I considered the possibility of carrying VMs around on it. I liked the look of the MBA, but it looked like memory and storage weren't quite up to my desire and the price really turned me off, not to mention that I've never been a fan of OSX. Right now I'm considering getting a T430/530 and just putting in an SSD and 16GB of memory and moving the 500GB drive to the expansion bay at my leisure. Is the 1920x1080 panel in the T530 worth the extra $200 and weight of the larger laptop, or would I be better off with T430 or even the X230? Is the "Premium HD" screen in the X230 worth $80? Finally, with my
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Jul 3, 2013 17:34
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The XPS12 laptops look like a decent deal, and they seem to be 20% for the 4th, but not in time for the Haswell refresh 
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Jul 3, 2013 17:45
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FogOgg posted:I'm looking for a laptop I can use for: Make sure you get an i5-3320 or better, it has vt-d enabled which will improve VM performance considerably The screen really is that much better. Current gen will meet your needs. If you need a bigger battery google "x230 slice battery"
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Jul 3, 2013 17:49
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How does the X1 fare against the X230. The x1 looks like it has a much sleeker form factor, but is it a pile of poo poo?
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Jul 3, 2013 18:47
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Anti-Derivative posted:How does the X1 fare against the X230. The x1 looks like it has a much sleeker form factor, but is it a pile of poo poo? The X1 Carbon? It is not a pile of poo poo. It has a nice screen, better than the bad T430 screens that people talk about, and it has a the new "good" Thinkpad trackpads. They are good. The T431s is an alternative to the X1 Carbon that's worth considering. The screen's not as good, but it more battery life and accessible slots. Wait for Haswell?
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Jul 3, 2013 19:16
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Anti-Derivative posted:How does the X1 fare against the X230. The x1 looks like it has a much sleeker form factor, but is it a pile of poo poo? I handled a friend's X1. It seemed pretty delicate, and I didn't like how glossy the screen is.
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Jul 3, 2013 19:38
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If you don't really care about portability is this a good bang for you buck in today's Haswell world? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba...=specifications Anything else I should be looking at at the $800 price point or lower?
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Jul 3, 2013 20:04
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Anti-Derivative posted:How does the X1 fare against the X230. The x1 looks like it has a much sleeker form factor, but is it a pile of poo poo? It's thinner mostly. I've dropped it a few times and spilled a bunch of water on it and it shrugs that off like a regular Thinkpad. I haven't seen the X230 in person yet but the X1 has a decent screen (for a TN panel) and a good trackpad (red dot is still better). Battery life isn't great, I get about 5 hours max with the screen half dimmed. The thinness means you only have 2 usb ports and a mini DisplayPort. Everytime you want to connect VGA or Ethernet you need to fiddle with adapters and hope it works. No docking port (!) and the USB 3.0 dock has a crappy graphics chip in it that makes it slow as balls. I don't know how Mac people deal with this because all this adapter and cable plugging business pisses me off to no end. Get the X1 if you haul it around a lot and need a bigger resolution / care about weight or thinness. I mostly take it with me when doing hand luggage only travel. Or wait for the Haswell refresh of the T431s whatever it's going to be called, but that could be a while out.
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Jul 3, 2013 20:26
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Pryor on Fire posted:If you don't really care about portability is this a good bang for you buck in today's Haswell world? That laptop sucks for reasons outlined in the OP. You need to tell us what you want to do with a laptop before anyone can tell you what brand or model is best suited to your needs.
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Jul 3, 2013 21:09
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I EVER SPENT
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I hate coming in here over and over again bugging you guys with stupid questions, but I'm going to drop some serious cash on a device I'm going to be stuck with for years, most likely. I'm pretty much torn between a nice Thinkpad (530, X230/X1 probably), a Dell XPS 12, and the Sony Vaio Pro 13. I wasn't really even looking at the XPS12 until today, but I can get a pretty well setup one for ~1k and that seems fairly competitive. I just hate buying something right before the new tech drops, but that is probably why I can snag a ~$1600 msrp laptop for that little. Is there any reason the 12 is recommended over the 13 or other models? I like the portability but if I'm doing coding and stuff additional screen real estate is invaluable. FYI, I'm pretty deadset against the Vaio because I hate all the stupid poo poo Sony has pulled over the years (a good portion being the crap they preload on the laptops) and don't really want to give them my business as a result. I'm happy to see they have an option when buying the laptop to get that poo poo removed now, but it shouldn't be an optional feature for gently caress's sake!
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Jul 3, 2013 21:53
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Delta-Wye posted:I hate coming in here over and over again bugging you guys with stupid questions, but I'm going to drop some serious cash on a device I'm going to be stuck with for years, most likely. Well if you want to wait a few days the Haswell XPS12 starts shipping out on July 9th: Endgadget link about the xps12 haswell refresh and some other dell things
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Jul 3, 2013 21:55
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Delta-Wye posted:I hate coming in here over and over again bugging you guys with stupid questions, but I'm going to drop some serious cash on a device I'm going to be stuck with for years, most likely. Yeah, wait for Haswell. My new job's offering either a rMBP or a T430s and I think the T430s is the better choice for engineering work though the rMBP certainly is sexy. I'd say the X240 or T440 would be the way to go when they finally launch. T430s is just a slimmer / 3 less battery cell flavour of the T430 right? Still a lovely TN screen?
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Jul 3, 2013 22:14
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movax posted:T430s is just a slimmer / 3 less battery cell flavour of the T430 right? Still a lovely TN screen? Yep, with what looks at first glance to be less robust and harder to service design in the pursuit of thinness and less weight. I'd take a way optioned up T430 over a T430s having seen both.
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Jul 3, 2013 22:18
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movax posted:Yeah, wait for Haswell. My new job's offering either a rMBP or a T430s and I think the T430s is the better choice for engineering work though the rMBP certainly is sexy. I'd say the X240 or T440 would be the way to go when they finally launch. Yeah, the only reason not to wait is I can get this for ~1k quote:Processor: Intel Core 3rd Generation i7-3687U Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.30 GHz) Not a bad kit for the price even if it's not the newest and shiniest.
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Jul 3, 2013 22:43
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If money were no object and I were looking for something similar to the razer blade 14" (but not necessarily requiring a quad core i7 but definitely a discrete GPU of some sort) that was not as gaudy as the" razer blades garish green logo and weighed less than 5 lbs what sort of options would I be looking at? Just browsing newegg and I found this : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152408 seems almost too good and makes me nervous when it's so cheap and light compared to razer 14". SoggyGravy fucked around with this message at 23:14 on Jul 3, 2013 |
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Jul 3, 2013 23:02
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SoggyGravy posted:If money were no object and I were looking for something similar to the razer blade 14" (but not necessarily requiring a quad core i7 but definitely a discrete GPU of some sort) that was not as gaudy as the" razer blades garish green logo and weighed less than 5 lbs what sort of options would I be looking at? http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/662161-thin-light-11-14-notebooks-gaming-worth-compendium-2013-update.html That might help. My dream laptop is a 13.3-14" Haswell with an Iris 5100, a Thunderbolt port for eGPU, and a really high quality display and keyboard. Basically, I'm waiting for the next MacBook Pro Retina 13
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Jul 3, 2013 23:13
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fookolt posted:http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/662161-thin-light-11-14-notebooks-gaming-worth-compendium-2013-update.html Awesome link and even has the laptop I added in my own post thanks! Still reading it but seems like there are a lot more competitors to the blade than most of the media would have you believe.
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Jul 3, 2013 23:16
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The razer blade is lighter than that one? It's also much slimmer and has a bigger battery and a much nicer build quality. MSIs are pretty much just chunks of plastic. That said, if the logo on the Razer bothers you that much you should be able to get it off easily enough. You can de logo stuff without scratching it with a sugar cube (I haven't seen the razer blade in person so I don't know how the logo is on there, though. It may not be possible.) Edit: the razer blade is about a third of a pound lighter and is 1/5th of an inch thinner at it's thickest than the MSI is at it's thinnest. I don't know about that particular model, but a guy in my program has a similar MSI laptop and it's loud as all hell, as well. If that matters to you.
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Jul 3, 2013 23:21
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It does and reading that thread about the build quality explains a lot. I am hearing some positive chatter on this Clevo W230ST but no idea when it is out yet. The indecisive man that I am, I am now looking at the razer edge as an option. I guess I am a sucker for their marketing, wish I could have a conversation with someone who owned one of these things or at least could try it for a week or two to know if it would meet my needs. SoggyGravy fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Jul 3, 2013 |
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Jul 3, 2013 23:26
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The one really important thing to think about is something you unfortunately can't easily get from a list of specs: build quality and industrial design. Like WHERE MY HAT IS AT said, MSI is all plastic chunks. Of course, opinions vary, but I personally feel that if you're going to spend more than a grand on something, you want something that doesn't feel like it will break apart if you look at it wrong.
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Jul 3, 2013 23:51
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