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Scarecow
May 20, 2008

3200mhz RAM is literally the Devil. Literally.
Lipstick Apathy

Magic Underwear posted:

Myabe I'm not up on Australian pricing but I don't know how any laptop could be worth $2400, let alone one with a platter drive and what seems to be a middling GPU.

Well the same model with a i7-3520m instead in the states comes to US1,394
Got to love :australia: prices

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Sendo
Jul 26, 2011

Michymech posted:

Wether or not this is over kill for my needs. At aus $2,389 is the money is pay for this good value?

ThinkPad/Lenovo are horrendously overpriced in Australia and their support is also the worst of all manufactures, I don't really know what alternative to recommend however. I guess it really comes down to how much of a difference is there between an older/slower NVS based card or a gaming GPU like the 650m for CAD work.

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

Michymech posted:

Well the same model with a i7-3520m instead in the states comes to US1,394
Got to love :australia: prices
If it lets you, I would drop back down to Windows 7, and drop back to 4GB of RAM (and then buy the other 4GB off Amazon or something for 1/2 the price). Also it's very much worth upgrading the wifi card to at least the 6205--even in Aussie land that should be a cheap upgrade.

Scarecow
May 20, 2008

3200mhz RAM is literally the Devil. Literally.
Lipstick Apathy
Seems to be that way :(. I'm looking on msy.com and they have a "gaming laptop" with
4th gen i7-4700mx
Windows 8
16gb of ddr3 ram
128gb SSD + 750GB SATA
nvidia GT 750M with 2gb DDR5
17.3" full hd led screen and a blueray player

GE70-20C-037AU is the model
And all that for 1699

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

Michymech posted:

So I'm needing to get a laptop for school and I plan to using it as my main system for doing soildworks 3D, wordprocessing stuff and a bit of gaming, LoL, minecraft, maybe darksouls, I was looking on the Lenovo website and came up with this

ThinkPad T530
Display Type:15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080)
System Graphics:NVIDIA NVS 5400M Graphics
Hard Drive:500GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpmAt aus $2,389 is the money is pay for this good value?

For $2000 aus I will fly from the united states to your house and deliver this to your door, and I'll come out about even on the airfare. Let me know when you want this delivered. Seriously. I've always wanted to go to Australia. Same goes for anyone in Europe where the price difference is $600+

Sendo
Jul 26, 2011

Michymech posted:

Seems to be that way :(. I'm looking on msy.com and they have a "gaming laptop" with

If a Geforce GPU will be sufficient then maybe look at an XPS 15 with the 640m? (can upgrade to an SSD yourself later).

You really don't want a 17" behemoth for school purposes.

Seamonster
Apr 30, 2007

IMMER SIEGREICH
XPS 15 is a slick, decently sturdy package but there's throttling issues with the quad core and wifi problems as well.

Scarecow
May 20, 2008

3200mhz RAM is literally the Devil. Literally.
Lipstick Apathy
Yeah I think I'm going to go with this one
http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=10816

4th gen i7-4702
Windows 8
16gb ram
750gb SATA
Gt 740m
15" screen
All for 1149

mastershakeman
Oct 28, 2008

by vyelkin

Hadlock posted:

For $2000 aus I will fly from the united states to your house and deliver this to your door, and I'll come out about even on the airfare. Let me know when you want this delivered. Seriously. I've always wanted to go to Australia. Same goes for anyone in Europe where the price difference is $600+

My sister flew from Melbourne to Chicago and back, and while in Chicago picked up a ThinkPad I'd ordered for her. Her plane ticket plus American ThinkPad cost less than what she would have paid to buy the same thing in AU. It's insane.

calusari
Apr 18, 2013

It's mechanical. Seems to come at regular intervals.
I am curious to know whether or not the i7-4702MQ is worth getting over the 4700MQ. The former is listed as having a TDP of 37W while the latter is 47W. They are most likely the same chip, right? The 4702MQs are just binned higher so they can run at a slightly lower speed (3.2 GHz vs 3.4 GHz) while using markedly less power? So you get an increase in battery life without sacrificing much performance? Is this correct?

SoggyGravy
Jul 14, 2008

MAXIMUM
OVERGOON

calusari posted:

I am curious to know whether or not the i7-4702MQ is worth getting over the 4700MQ. The former is listed as having a TDP of 37W while the latter is 47W. They are most likely the same chip, right? The 4702MQs are just binned higher so they can run at a slightly lower speed (3.2 GHz vs 3.4 GHz) while using markedly less power? So you get an increase in battery life without sacrificing much performance? Is this correct?

seems to be the general concencus

Tamayachi
Sep 25, 2007

Did you think about it?


Yes. Yes you did.
I'm looking for a laptop that can run Guild Wars 1 and/or Team Fortress 2 while staying around the 500 dollar range. I'm not looking for anything spectacular since I have my desktop for that, just something I can take with me to a Starbucks or buddy's house for some LAN gaming. That said, I no next to nothing about laptops but saw this for a Back To School sale, would it fit the bill?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Lenovo---15.6%26%2334%3B-Laptop---4GB-Memory---500GB-Hard-Drive/9130065.p?id=1218990135826&skuId=9130065

QuarkJets
Sep 8, 2008

calusari posted:

I am curious to know whether or not the i7-4702MQ is worth getting over the 4700MQ. The former is listed as having a TDP of 37W while the latter is 47W. They are most likely the same chip, right? The 4702MQs are just binned higher so they can run at a slightly lower speed (3.2 GHz vs 3.4 GHz) while using markedly less power? So you get an increase in battery life without sacrificing much performance? Is this correct?

That's what the benchmarks generally show, yes. The 4700MQ gets a tiny bit better performance but uses more power.

BobHoward
Feb 13, 2012

The only thing white people deserve is a bullet to their empty skull

Hadlock posted:

Here is my care-cat post from the last thread, I've also updated one of the OP posts with some more link spam and price history of thinkpads. At some point if I get bored at work I will graph Thinkpad price fluctuations over time.

code:
-Phones-
3.5"  640 - 325 ppi high end iPhone 5
2.9"  640 - 329 ppi mid rang iPhone 4

fyi you got these oddly wrong. The iPhone 5 has a 4.0" 640x1136 326ppi display, the 4/4S a 3.5" 640x960 326ppi display. Basically they decided to change from a 3:2 aspect ratio to 16:9 to match movies/TV, kept one dimension constant (whether measured by pixels or inches), and therefore kept the PPI constant too.

Seamonster
Apr 30, 2007

IMMER SIEGREICH

mastershakeman posted:

My sister flew from Melbourne to Chicago and back, and while in Chicago picked up a ThinkPad I'd ordered for her. Her plane ticket plus American ThinkPad cost less than what she would have paid to buy the same thing in AU. It's insane.

Sweet gentle jesus...you should start a courier service and just buy thinkpads for Aussies in bulk overseas, do the whole country a favor (and make $$$)

Twerk from Home
Jan 17, 2009

This avatar brought to you by the 'save our dead gay forums' foundation.

Tamayachi posted:

I'm looking for a laptop that can run Guild Wars 1 and/or Team Fortress 2 while staying around the 500 dollar range. I'm not looking for anything spectacular since I have my desktop for that, just something I can take with me to a Starbucks or buddy's house for some LAN gaming. That said, I no next to nothing about laptops but saw this for a Back To School sale, would it fit the bill?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Lenovo---15.6%26%2334%3B-Laptop---4GB-Memory---500GB-Hard-Drive/9130065.p?id=1218990135826&skuId=9130065

Hi. When you say you're "not looking for anything spectacular", are you OK with a plastic pile of poo poo with iffy construction, a bad touchpad and screen, below average battery life, and excessive noise and heat? If you answered "yes" to all of these questions, then you might be a candidate for a cheapo AMD laptop like the one you posted! If you are OK with all of these things, you may as well see how low you can go, as this $285 after rebate one also will play Guild Wars and TF2: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231019

If you want something that's better built, more powerful CPU, and better battery life you'll need to up your budget to around $600 at a minimum unfortunately. If your budget really cannot go above $400 at all, then an AMD laptop is your best bet for gaming extremely cheaply.

Twerk from Home fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Jul 23, 2013

Calidus
Oct 31, 2011

Stand back I'm going to try science!

Michymech posted:

So I'm needing to get a laptop for school and I plan to using it as my main system for doing soildworks 3D, wordprocessing stuff and a bit of gaming, LoL, minecraft, maybe darksouls, I was looking on the Lenovo website and came up with this

ThinkPad T530
Wether or not this is over kill for my needs. At aus $2,389 is the money is pay for this good value?

I am going to assume if you going CAD stuff your in engineering or a similar field, college engineering departments tend to have more computer labs with filled with $2000 workstations and CAD software than they do sophomore Civil Engineers(email your adviser ask questions!), So I wouldn't really worry about running SolidWorks on you person laptop. At 2k AUS you could look into buying a portable laptop(Macbooks air?) then use the left left money to buy a console or start a desktop fund. Looks like you could realistically buy a Macbook air, a PS4(when released) and a nice TV for $2000 AUS. Then you would still have $400 left over for bus fair to and from campus to use the lab computers.

Tamayachi
Sep 25, 2007

Did you think about it?


Yes. Yes you did.

Weinertron posted:

Hi. When you say you're "not looking for anything spectacular", are you OK with a plastic pile of poo poo with iffy construction, a bad touchpad and screen, below average battery life, and excessive noise and heat? If you answered "yes" to all of these questions, then you might be a candidate for a cheapo AMD laptop like the one you posted! If you are OK with all of these things, you may as well see how low you can go, as this $285 after rebate one also will play Guild Wars and TF2: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231019

If you want something that's better built, more powerful CPU, and better battery life you'll need to up your budget to around $600 at a minimum unfortunately. If your budget really cannot go above $400 at all, then an AMD laptop is your best bet for gaming extremely cheaply.

Yeah, I just saw that in the OP. $600 is something I can manage if anyone here has any recommendations?

khazar sansculotte
May 14, 2004

Starting August 11 I'm going to be living on the road for a job for about 6 months. I need a laptop that's lightweight ("ultrabook" I guess, but I don't care whether it has a touch screen unless they're just totally awesome in some way that I haven't imagined yet) with long battery life and solid build quality (including a good keyboard, touchpad, etc.) that won't make my eyes bleed if I have to look at it for 6+ hours at a time. I'll be doing basic internet stuff, office applications, light web design/programming work, and Netflix/10+ year old games when the day is done.

I really like the sound of the new MBAs, but I will probably need to run Windows sometimes and I've heard that the battery life outside of OSX is not so great. Are there any Windows machines out now (or that I could get my hands on around the 11th) that are comparable? I'm hoping to spend about $1000, but I can go up if necessary.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

Seamonster posted:

Sweet gentle jesus...you should start a courier service and just buy thinkpads for Aussies in bulk overseas, do the whole country a favor (and make $$$)

Underscoring this. I'll setup the escrow account, I just need two weeks notice. Lenovo takes about 9 days to ship anyways.

Bob Morales
Aug 18, 2006


Just wear the fucking mask, Bob

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

Ronald McReagan posted:

I really like the sound of the new MBAs, but I will probably need to run Windows sometimes and I've heard that the battery life outside of OSX is not so great. Are there any Windows machines out now (or that I could get my hands on around the 11th) that are comparable? I'm hoping to spend about $1000, but I can go up if necessary.

What will you need to do in Windows? Run some weird one-off program? You can always just fire it up in VirtualBox or something.

GZA Genius
Jan 29, 2009
So after trying to find price points for everything I present my "what do you think about my laptop setup" list:

T430

Intel Core i5-3230M Processor (3.20GHz, 3MB Cache, 1600MHz) with Intel HD Graphics 4000
Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)
14.0" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
Intel HD Graphics 4000
4 GB DDR3 - 1600MHz (1 DIMM)
720p HD Camera with Microphone
500GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
9 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70++
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN (I figured take the highest quality one if you are going to be traveling around quite a bit?)

Total cost: $756

I am adding: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model CT2KIT51264BF1339- $77

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD3 mSATA 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)- $120

=$953 plus shipping etc.

So basically 1k for this setup. I'm assuming the mSATA is just as capable performance wise as a regular SATA drive? Also, would there be a significant boost to my wireless strength with the highest option?

Nitramster
Mar 10, 2006
THERE'S NO TIME!!!

Seamonster posted:

Sweet gentle jesus...you should start a courier service and just buy thinkpads for Aussies in bulk overseas, do the whole country a favor (and make $$$)

When I worked at Office Depot there was this russian dude that would go to every store in the area and buy as many of the most discounted laptops we had every sunday night, he'd send them back to russia and his brother would sell them. It's very doable.

InstantInfidel
Jan 9, 2010

BEST :10bux: I EVER SPENT
The mSATA slot runs at SATA2 speeds, but you won't notice any difference. It'll still be fast as poo poo.

However, get another mSATA drive, one recommended in the SSD megathread. The Crucial M4 has had some pretty serious firmware issues, and I don't think is recommended any more. Also, get 1 stick of RAM, you can pretty safely mix and match as long as the speeds match up. If you're concerned, get one 4GB stick of Samsung- I believe they still ship with Samsung RAM.

Bob Morales
Aug 18, 2006


Just wear the fucking mask, Bob

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

Nitramster posted:

When I worked at Office Depot there was this russian dude that would go to every store in the area and buy as many of the most discounted laptops we had every sunday night, he'd send them back to russia and his brother would sell them. It's very doable.

Whenever I put old junk laptops on craigslist (Think P4, Turion, etc) for $20 this little Chinese guy always picks them up, working or not. Sends them back to his family.

khazar sansculotte
May 14, 2004

Bob Morales posted:

What will you need to do in Windows? Run some weird one-off program? You can always just fire it up in VirtualBox or something.

I'm not 100% sure yet, but I am pretty confident I will at least need to run Access.

edit: I'm also pretty sure that I will not ever need to run Windows for 8+ hours at a time. How much worse is the MBA's battery life on Windows?

khazar sansculotte fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Jul 23, 2013

Bob Morales
Aug 18, 2006


Just wear the fucking mask, Bob

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

Ronald McReagan posted:

I'm not 100% sure yet, but I am pretty confident I will at least need to run Access.

edit: I'm also pretty sure that I will not ever need to run Windows for 8+ hours at a time. How much worse is the MBA's battery life on Windows?
If you're just going to run access, fire it up in VMware/Parallels/VirtualBox.

khazar sansculotte
May 14, 2004

Bob Morales posted:

If you're just going to run access, fire it up in VMware/Parallels/VirtualBox.

I'm almost sold. I should be getting a bit more info this week about what'll be expected of me (and hence the computer). Just for my own edification, what would be some use cases where I would definitely want to run Windows itself?

Bob Morales
Aug 18, 2006


Just wear the fucking mask, Bob

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

Ronald McReagan posted:

I'm almost sold. I should be getting a bit more info this week about what'll be expected of me (and hence the computer). Just for my own edification, what would be some use cases where I would definitely want to run Windows itself?

Playing vid'ya games and stuff.

I was just browsing the 2011 Air benchmarks and the battery differences were only about 20% or so running Windows 7 instead of OS X. On a 12-hour battery that's not going to affect you too much.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

I bet you could run Civ 4 under virtualization with no perceivable slowdown. Virtualized Windows is laughably fast on modern hardware, especially office/ productivity apps. Virtualized Windows XP boots in under 30 seconds even on cheap commodity hardware

Hadlock fucked around with this message at 23:18 on Jul 23, 2013

mastershakeman
Oct 28, 2008

by vyelkin
This is getting into forecasting the future territory with respect to the W & T440/540 lines, but is there any indication those laptops will be Windows 8 only?

OXBALLS DOT COM
Sep 11, 2005

by FactsAreUseless
Young Orc

mastershakeman posted:

This is getting into forecasting the future territory with respect to the W & T440/540 lines, but is there any indication those laptops will be Windows 8 only?

Well neither has even been officially previewed or confirmed, but them being Windows 8 only is extremely unlikely considering their mainline is still aimed at big corporate IT departments and basically all of those everywhere are just barely finishing the switch to Vista/7. I expect they'll sell 7 licenses until Microsoft forces them to stop.

Bob Morales
Aug 18, 2006


Just wear the fucking mask, Bob

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

mastershakeman posted:

This is getting into forecasting the future territory with respect to the W & T440/540 lines, but is there any indication those laptops will be Windows 8 only?

Lenovo won't do that - too many customers using Windows 7. Consumer-oriented machines, yet, but not the T-series.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

A lot of companies are happy just to have finally transitioned off of XP. There would be rioting in the streets. If you can't buy Win7 on your current laptop, often you can buy the laptop with downgrade rights. I'm sure someone's head at Microsoft Marketing exploded when they were tasked with that one.

Hadlock fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Jul 24, 2013

SoggyGravy
Jul 14, 2008

MAXIMUM
OVERGOON
Well I plugged the trigger. Went with the one place that offered not only 4702 but low voltage ram:

Lucid Logix MVP Mobile: Lucid Logix MVP 2.0 Mobile Increase your graphics performance, a $54.99 Value
Mobile Chassis: MYTHLOGIC Chaos 1313 Chassis (Clevo W230ST)
What da Puck??: Gargoyle Beer Money - Single
Exterior Finish: Rubberized Finish
Mobile Display: 13.3" Full HD (1920x1080) Matte IPS LCD
Monitor Calibration: Free MYTH Professional Monitor Color Calibration
CPU: Intel Core i7-4702MQ 2.2GHz, 6M L3 Cache, 22nm, DDR3L-1600MHz, Quad-Core Mobile Processor
Thermal Compound: Free IC Diamond Thermal Compound
System Memory: 8GB (2 x 4GB) , PC3-12800, 1600MHz SODIMM (Low Voltage)
Video Adapter: NVIDIA 765M 2048MB GDDR5 DX11 GPU with Optimus Technology / Embedded Intel HD Graphics
Hard Drive: Samsung 256GB 840 PRO Series SATA III 6Gb/s Solid State Drive
Keyboard: Standard Backlit Keyboard - Chiclet
Network Card: Onboard Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbits/sec) LAN subsystem
Wireless Card: Intel Centrino Advanced-AC 7260 2*2 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n + BT 4.0 350/867MB Total Bandwidth
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth 4.0 Only With Intel 2230/6235/7260 AND Killer 1202 Wireless
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium
Anti-Virus Software: Microsoft Security Essentials
MYTHLOGIC Assurance: MYTH Lifetime Assurance with Lifetime Labor + 1 Year Parts Warranty, 1 Yr 2-Way Shipping Cont US
Phoenix Upgrade Plan: Lifetime Phoenix Upgrade Plan
FREE MYTHLOGIC T-Shirt Pick a size: MYTHLOGIC Tribal T-Shirt - Medium
MYTHLOGIC System Media + Mousepad: MYTH Mousepad and System Media

Will have more updates when it arrives! If I made some critical error that I was too stupid to notice let me know and I can probably still change it up.

mmm11105
Apr 27, 2010
If anyone is interested Lenovo has for some reason put up the T440s manual on their support site already at http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail.page?DocID=UM018201 . The manual mentions NFC and Multi Touch on "some models"

EDIT: Also mentions M.2, but specifically for LAN/WAN cards, not solid state storage.

mmm11105 fucked around with this message at 02:28 on Jul 24, 2013

lampey
Mar 27, 2012

If you are in Australia, the macbook air 13 starts at $1250. That's a lot better than 2000+ for a dell/thinkpad.

shrughes
Oct 11, 2008

(call/cc call/cc)
I've also heard of reasonable prices for the MBA 13 in New Zealand. It was a bit less than the U.S. price after the exchange rate. I'm not sure what Thinkpads cost there, though.

Scarecow
May 20, 2008

3200mhz RAM is literally the Devil. Literally.
Lipstick Apathy
Well I couldn't help myself and when I got to the shop and seen the 15' model they had only had a lovely screen in it I grabbed the MSI CX70-20D

i7-4702 CPU
gt 740m 2gb ddr3
16gb DDR3 ram
1 TB HDD
17' FHD 1920x1080 non-glare type
blueray player
hd webcam
got it for $1299
and yes i am aware that it is a 17' but so far i have had no issue with the size and there wont be many times i wont be able to have it on a surface other then my legs

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butt dickus
Jul 7, 2007

top ten juiced up coaches
and the top ten juiced up players

Michymech posted:

Well I couldn't help myself and when I got to the shop and seen the 15' model they had only had a lovely screen in it I grabbed the MSI CX70-20D

i7-4702 CPU
gt 740m 2gb ddr3
16gb DDR3 ram
1 TB HDD
17' FHD 1920x1080 non-glare type
blueray player
hd webcam
got it for $1299
and yes i am aware that it is a 17' but so far i have had no issue with the size and there wont be many times i wont be able to have it on a surface other then my legs
You left off that the HDD is 5400 RPM, the whole thing weighs 6 pounds and only has a 6-cell battery. So enjoy 22 minutes of gaming until you have to plug it in and then trip over the cord and pull it to the floor where it breaks into 43 pieces.

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