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shrughes posted: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. They're all over the place. I got a killer deal on my T430s last year (high res screen, backlit keyboard, SSD etc for around $1000NZ) but they seem really pricey at the moment - admittedly not as bad as Australia. The problem with Apple gear in New Zealand is their after sales support is appalling - there aren't any proper Apple stores here so it isn't like other countries at all.
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Jul 24, 2013 04:15
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Doctor rear end in a top hat posted: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. A weight of 6 pounds is nothing to me, even if it was double that I still wouldn't be bothered by the weight. It wont be to far form a power point and if battery life becomes a issue I'll look into getting a bigger battery and as for the last bit yeah OK I'll keep that in mind if I ever lose my ability to work out how to not trip over things 
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Jul 24, 2013 04:33
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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 $$$) Hadlock posted:Underscoring this. I'll setup the escrow account, I just need two weeks notice. Lenovo takes about 9 days to ship anyways.  It would be illegal to sell laptops this way, as you'd be avoiding the Australian VAT by doing this; the VAT is a big chunk of the price difference. You're supposed to pay VAT when you import goods from abroad, even if it's just in a backpack, but it's really easy to get away with not paying the VAT on a per-person basis. A business avoiding the VAT, on the other hand, is going to get shut down before long and the owners of that business would get hosed.If you did set up a scheme where you made sure that all of your taxes were properly paid, you'd probably be running on razor thin margins or a loss.
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Jul 24, 2013 04:36
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QuarkJets posted:
GST is 10% in Australia, the price increase on the laptop quoted is 58% and it's not even the worst offender.
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Jul 24, 2013 04:59
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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 People just reading this thread: don't be this guy and pay way, way too much for a lovely laptop that is good at nothing at all.
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Jul 24, 2013 05:37
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I EVER SPENT
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InstantInfidel posted:People just reading this thread: don't be this guy and pay way, way too much for a lovely laptop that is good at nothing at all. He could have gotten a very capable MBA for that price.
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Jul 24, 2013 05:42
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Doctor rear end in a top hat posted: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. Agreed. He should have got a chrome book or a MacBook Air 11. What an idiot. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Jul 24, 2013 05:44
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Ok guys could you explain to the idiot what about a MBA is better?
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Jul 24, 2013 06:15
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Its vastly better at being a laptop - that being portability, battery life and durability. It will also feel a fair bit snappier in day to day usage because the SSD makes way more of a difference there than a quad core CPU and 16GB of RAM
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Jul 24, 2013 06:34
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Also even obsolete Apple stuff holds onto resale value ridiculously well, unlike extreme gaming laptops where a couple years later the hinges are cracked and the bezel is broken in two places. There's a little hyperbole in this thread sometimes but the only thing worse in build quality are $399 best buy shitboxes and those at least can't really overheat like hell anymore like dGPU laptops do. Even if you want to stick with native Windows system for battery life, replaceable batteries, etc, it's also really silly to drop $1,200 on a system when the new ThinkPads are coming out soon-ish and the T440 will probably offer a Quadro version of the 740M (or at least the probably-Quadro-730M in the T440s) and a 1920x1080 IPS screen. edit: T440/T440s/T440p/T540 lineup looks pretty set in stone. Wonder if the W series is getting dropped. vv I didn't see the AU thing (there was certainly enough talk about it in the last few pages!), still stands for most dropping $1k+ right now tho Srebrenica Surprise fucked around with this message at 07:30 on Jul 24, 2013 |
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Jul 24, 2013 06:51
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Srebrenica Surprise posted:Even if you want to stick with native Windows system for battery life, replaceable batteries, etc, it's also really silly to drop $1,200 on a system when the new ThinkPads are coming out soon-ish and the T440 will probably offer a Quadro version of the 740M (or at least the probably-Quadro-730M in the T440s) and a 1920x1080 IPS screen. Not that I'm defending his choice but it's been well established that being in Australia ThinkPads/Lenovo are hilariously overpriced, the i7 t430 with 1600x900 non ips screen and no SSD costs over $2300 (although on special now for the bargain of $1900).
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Jul 24, 2013 07:26
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The i5 is $1424AUD - still missing the SSD though. I don't think dual core i7s are worth it in general, even at the $180 premium on the MBA
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Jul 24, 2013 08:38
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dissss posted:I don't think dual core i7s are worth it in general, even at the $180 premium on the MBA It's a bit different for the Haswell MBA as the difference in clock speeds between the i5 and i7 is the largest it's ever been, benchmarks have it at 25-30% increase in single threaded performance at very little cost to battery life/thermals.
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Jul 24, 2013 08:50
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Its still unlikely to be worthwhile - if you need to do any actual heavy lifting then the MBA isn't the right system to start with, better off with something with a full voltage CPU that can get rid of heat better
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Jul 24, 2013 09:14
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Looking over a MBA I can see the attraction in the frame, the super long battery life and the light weight. but the latest 13' MBA I can get has 1.3GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz 4GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM 256GB Flash Storage Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide (English) Accessory Kit All for $1317 Or a Thinkpad T430 again nice frame, light weight and long battery life i5-3230M Processor (3.20GHz, 3MB Cache, 1600MHz) with Intel HD Graphics 4000 14.0" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready 4 GB DDR3 - 1600MHz (1 DIMM) 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm DVD Recordable 8x Max, Dual Layer, Ultrabay Enhanced w/ SW Royalty for Windows 8 Battery:6 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70+ all for the pricy sum of $1424 WITH a $200 ecoupon to get better specs they both would cost allot more While mine for $1299 has; i7-4702 CPU - Thats a quad core Gforce gt 740m 2gb ddr3 17' 1920x1080 full HD non-glare type - far as i can tell the screen looks fantastic and smooth 16gb DDR3 ram 1 TB HDD and a blue-ray player - nether of the others come with one While the MBA and Thinkpad smash out my laptop in terms of battery life and weight, nether are things that I am worried about, CPU, GPU, ram and HDD space (albeit on a 5200RPM drive i will admit) , I'm sure I could find a 9 cell battery to increase the battery life, but needing a long battery life wasn't something I needed. Levono price gouge here in AUS (40-60% price mark up) so i have no interest in being ripped off. I hate the OS on macs, and i would rather stick to windows because my main intention for the laptop is to learn to use and practice Solidworks and refine my skills with AutoCAD too along with word processing stuff. Games and movies are just things that i may do on my downtime while at uni. And looking at benchmarks for the HD5000 and the GT740M the latter comes out ahead. Taking out weight/size ( not a issue for me), battery life (again not a issue for me) and the RPM speed of the HDD (If and when that becomes a problem i can change it for a 7500RPM HDD or a SSD or even see how a RAMchache would go seeing how i have 16GB of ram) What about this laptop warrants such a reaction that some people have shown?
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Jul 24, 2013 11:54
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Michymech posted:Looking over a MBA I can see the attraction in the frame, the super long battery life and the light weight. That Geforce 740 is going to be quite under-powered for 3d work and is in the same class as the high end integrated 5000 series graphics on Haswell chips, at 1080P it will be quite slow. The CPU is a low voltage variant in a 17" laptop. MSI is known for its notoriously poor build quality. For the same price you can get something that completely destroys the MSI in terms of performance, even in Australia. Like this thing: http://www.affordablelaptops.com.au/contents/en-us/d44_gaming-laptop-notebook-desktop-replacement.html or this http://www.affordablelaptops.com.au/contents/en-us/d450_metabox-clevo-w230st-laptop-notebook.html LurkingAsian fucked around with this message at 12:32 on Jul 24, 2013 |
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Jul 24, 2013 12:26
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Ha well a pity I didn't know about that website, ah well i doubt I could return this thing so I'll make the most of what I have 
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Jul 24, 2013 12:52
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I'm probably gonna get the latest Macbook Air, is it worth it to upgrade to 8GB ram and/or the i7 chip? I'm mostly going to be surfing the net, watching videos, writing reports and using photoshop to edit images, probably all at the same time. And maybe editing and rendering short videos on FCP once in awhile.
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Jul 24, 2013 13:18
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mania posted:I'm probably gonna get the latest Macbook Air, is it worth it to upgrade to 8GB ram and/or the i7 chip? I'm mostly going to be surfing the net, watching videos, writing reports and using photoshop to edit images, probably all at the same time. And maybe editing and rendering short videos on FCP once in awhile. Michymech posted:I hate the OS on macs, and i would rather stick to windows because my main intention for the laptop is to learn to use and practice Solidworks and refine my skills with AutoCAD too along with word processing stuff. Games and movies are just things that i may do on my downtime while at uni. And looking at benchmarks for the HD5000 and the GT740M the latter comes out ahead.
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Jul 24, 2013 13:47
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Hadlock posted: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. That's nothing, with Win 8 Enterprise you can downgrade all the way down to Win 95/NT. 
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Jul 24, 2013 13:52
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EAT THE EGGS RICOLA posted:That's nothing, with Win 8 Enterprise you can downgrade all the way down to Win 95/NT. Just because you're licensed doesn't mean you get the drivers! It would be funny to see Windows 95 running on a Surface.
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Jul 24, 2013 13:55
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Bob Morales posted:Just because you're licensed doesn't mean you get the drivers! I think even the latest Thinkpads still get XP drivers, at least for now. Also: 
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Jul 24, 2013 14:13
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Cream_Filling posted:I think even the latest Thinkpads still get XP drivers, at least for now. I would totally use that interfaDEHUMANIZE YOURSELF AND FACE TO YOSPOS
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Jul 24, 2013 14:59
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It's missing the old Microsoft Exchange Inbox icon
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Jul 24, 2013 15:48
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I read OP and did some research on Haswell and I'm still somewhat unsure of what I need to be getting. I need a laptop primarily for law school, so taking notes, running exam software, and commuting. I'm not super concerned about weight, but I also don't expect to even get at 15" screen, much less a 17". I take the bus, so I won't be using the laptop on my commute, but I'm also not walking super far. My usage will be something like what follows: 1 - Notes/School-Work/Email/Chat (60% of usage) 2 - Netflix and sports streaming (30% of usage) 3 - Gaming (10% of usage) At the moment the newest game I even own is Crusader Kings II http://www.crusaderkings.com/support/system-requirements I pretty much only play Paradox games, so graphics are decidedly a secondary concern. I checked out a handful of the recommended Lenovo models and I didn't see anything running Haswell. Am I just looking incorrectly? I've used Macs my entire life at home, and PCs at work, and I like Windows 7 enough that I wouldn't mind getting a PC if it was cheaper. My biggest priority is really longevity and reliability. I'm not going to be absolutely broke, but pretty close to it, so replacing in the next 3 years is really undesirable. I'd love to spend $800 or so, but if its gotta be $1100 to get the macbook then I'll do it. I'm open to any and all advice. Let me know if I've left out critical details. Edit - I have considered getting a desktop and a chromebook, but I don't know anyone who has used primarily a chromebook for taking notes or exams. Does anybody have any input on whether or not that sucks? Young Hegelian fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Jul 24, 2013 |
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Jul 24, 2013 15:55
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Young Hegelian posted:I read OP and did some research on Haswell and I'm still somewhat unsure of what I need to be getting. Ok so basically Lenovo have a few specific models people like, those models have not yet been updated to Haswell. Your computer needs can be met (hardware spec-wise) by anything resembling a computer, but either way the T430 is still the recommended one. If you have time to wait (a month or two), then get the T440, which would be the Haswell version of the T430. The benefits to waiting would be: Better on-board video for likely the same price (current gen onboard video is fine for what you need though), option for better screen (people aren't really sure about this one, but it's looking likely), and better battery life.
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Jul 24, 2013 16:21
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The T440 (or is it the T440s?) also has an internal 3-cell battery so you can swap without powering down.
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Jul 24, 2013 16:22
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Brut posted:Ok so basically Lenovo have a few specific models people like, those models have not yet been updated to Haswell. I hate that time is a factor, but I probably can't continue using my current laptop for reliably taking notes, and school starts in a month. That being said, if we're talking about hundreds of dollars in difference in quality between 430 and 440, I might be able to find a compromise solution. That $750 price-tag for the T430 is really appealing. Do I need to spring for any of the better hardware on it?
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Jul 24, 2013 17:03
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The T430 will be fine, but if I were you I would wait until you're a week or so away from school to make sure the T440 isn't right around the corner. A 1920x1080 screen (looking like it will be an option on the T440) will be much nicer for Paradox style games with their big UIs. And if you're planning on ever wanting to have multiple documents visible at the same time the extra real estate is a huge benefit. I imagine you're almost always going to be referencing case files or whatever while writing documents? You might also consider a T530, which has a 1920x1080 option.
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Jul 24, 2013 17:18
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Kreez posted:The T430 will be fine, but if I were you I would wait until you're a week or so away from school to make sure the T440 isn't right around the corner. A 1920x1080 screen (looking like it will be an option on the T440) will be much nicer for Paradox style games with their big UIs. And if you're planning on ever wanting to have multiple documents visible at the same time the extra real estate is a huge benefit. I imagine you're almost always going to be referencing case files or whatever while writing documents? I think I am going to run with this advice and wait as long as I can. I have a month of being unemployed before school starts and I'd really hoped to get my fill of gaming before-hand, but it looks like its just not to be. Thanks for the help! I'm still open to any input on this that anyone has to offer.
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Jul 24, 2013 17:35
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Trip report: my fiancée decided not to wait for Haswell and bought an IdeaPad Yoga 13. We are quite satisfied. The two downsides are that the trackpad sucks and it heats up a bit more than the thick laptops we're used to. The convertibility is more useful than I would have thought, I've already borrowed it quite a bit to play Civ 5 in touch mode. I'm a little worried about how long the hinge will last if she's constantly switching back and forth to tablet mode but otherwise I'm impressed.
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Jul 24, 2013 19:04
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SurgicalOntologist posted:Trip report: my fiancée decided not to wait for Haswell and bought an IdeaPad Yoga 13. We are quite satisfied. The two downsides are that the trackpad sucks and it heats up a bit more than the thick laptops we're used to. The convertibility is more useful than I would have thought, I've already borrowed it quite a bit to play Civ 5 in touch mode. I'm a little worried about how long the hinge will last if she's constantly switching back and forth to tablet mode but otherwise I'm impressed. How responsive do you find the touchscreen as compared to a smartphone or iPad?
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Jul 24, 2013 20:46
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My Haswell XPS 12 just arrived. I plan to do a write-up for this thread, when it goes up depends heavily on how much activity I'm able to get through online dating over the next two days. (I should have something lined up for Thursday, and I may do something on Friday too. So maybe push it to Saturday. But if my luck holds out and prove me to be a loser yet again, maybe sooner.) Right now, I'm running Windows Update before I load a backup image of the system onto my USB flash drive. Anyone have any questions? For reference, this is the bottom-level $1200 model with the i5, 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD. Anyone have a game they want me to test on the Intel HD 4400? Anyone want to give me free accessories that use NFC so I can actually make use of the feature? (Is there an affordable mouse that can do that?)
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Jul 24, 2013 20:50
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I feel like the XPS 12 is gimmicky, and I'd be worried about breaking that tiny frame around the swiveling screen, thereby ruining my weird $1200+ laptop/tablet hybrid. Is the frame actually pretty sturdy? The smaller screen with a lot of power is really alluring, to me. e: Note that I'm a big dumb oaf and I broke one of the hinges on my 15" Inspiron just through normal use QuarkJets fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Jul 24, 2013 |
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Jul 24, 2013 21:35
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SurgicalOntologist posted:Trip report: my fiancée decided not to wait for Haswell and bought an IdeaPad Yoga 13. We are quite satisfied. The two downsides are that the trackpad sucks and it heats up a bit more than the thick laptops we're used to. The convertibility is more useful than I would have thought, I've already borrowed it quite a bit to play Civ 5 in touch mode. I'm a little worried about how long the hinge will last if she's constantly switching back and forth to tablet mode but otherwise I'm impressed. How much heat are we talking? I'm probably going to take the plunge and get one of these when I head back to school in a little over a month. I always use a mouse so I'm not too worried about the trackpad. My current laptop idles at around 52C, so anything under that would be nice. How loud are the fans in general use (ie web browsing)? Echoing the question about how responsive the touch screen is, as well. I don't know how much you leave it unplugged, but do you know how long approximately you get on battery just browsing the internet? If I get one it's primary use will probably be taking notes in class/SSH sessions so I'm curious.
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Jul 24, 2013 23:10
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QuarkJets posted:I feel like the XPS 12 is gimmicky, and I'd be worried about breaking that tiny frame around the swiveling screen, thereby ruining my weird $1200+ laptop/tablet hybrid. Is the frame actually pretty sturdy? The smaller screen with a lot of power is really alluring, to me. The Inspiron 15 basically has poo poo hinges that are so fragile my grandma will break them over time.
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Jul 24, 2013 23:32
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So would this mean anything for laptops in terms of battery life for dGPU's? http://www.anandtech.com/show/7169/nvidia-demonstrates-logan-soc-mobile-kepler
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Jul 25, 2013 00:30
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fookolt posted:So would this mean anything for laptops in terms of battery life for dGPU's? That's targeted to something like a tablet or maybe an AppleTV at the most for gaming
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Jul 25, 2013 00:36
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jototo posted:How responsive do you find the touchscreen as compared to a smartphone or iPad? Equally responsive or nearly so, maybe a bit less precise, but all I've done in touch mode is play Civ 5 so it's not much experience with it. WHERE MY HAT IS AT posted:How much heat are we talking? I'm probably going to take the plunge and get one of these when I head back to school in a little over a month. I always use a mouse so I'm not too worried about the trackpad. My current laptop idles at around 52C, so anything under that would be nice. How loud are the fans in general use (ie web browsing)? Echoing the question about how responsive the touch screen is, as well. I don't know how much you leave it unplugged, but do you know how long approximately you get on battery just browsing the internet? If I get one it's primary use will probably be taking notes in class/SSH sessions so I'm curious Like, it's uncomfortable to have in your lab on a hot day, but it's doable. I doubt you'd notice from above, i.e. the keyboard, and it's certainly not hot enough to melt your table or anything like that. Where are you pulling that 52C from? I'll download CPU-Z or something and check the temps. I don't think we've once run down the battery, it can take at least 3-4 hours in Civ 5, but I'll have her do an experiment and let it run down and see how long it lasts. Ninja edit: fans are very quiet.
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Jul 25, 2013 00:45
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Bob Morales posted:That's targeted to something like a tablet or maybe an AppleTV at the most for gaming drat, so I guess they can't scale it up to laptops. That's a shame.
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Jul 25, 2013 00:59
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