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Cokeysmoke posted:Hi there - I'm most likely going to university in a month, and I'm looking for the standard all-round laptop. Notes, general internet use, and perhaps a bit of gaming (although it's usually low-intensity games, no BF3 or anything). I'm in the UK which is why I'm asking, as I'm unsure if my choices were the same as in America. My budget is £500-£600; $775-$930 according to Google. Of course if there are any suggestions that end up cheaper I won't refuse. It's only the Thinkpad range that's really recommended by this thread. You should check out the UK lenovo outlet website, I haven't looked for a while but there are often really good offers on there. I got a new (not refurbished) x230 for £550 which is about half price, I'd think that would be a good choice for uni if you can stand 1366 x 768 resolution. Not Haswell, of course.
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Aug 12, 2013 16:06
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knox_harrington posted:It's only the Thinkpad range that's really recommended by this thread. You should check out the UK lenovo outlet website, I haven't looked for a while but there are often really good offers on there. I got a new (not refurbished) x230 for £550 which is about half price, I'd think that would be a good choice for uni if you can stand 1366 x 768 resolution. Not Haswell, of course. I'll have a look at that - thank you for the info! Much appreciated.
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Aug 12, 2013 17:02
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QuarkJets posted:^^^ Oh, I didn't even see your post there. This looks like a good laptop overall, but ditch the SLI graphics; it's an extra $200 over a DVD device (which can be useful) and generally SLI graphics in laptops are always a bad idea unless you're some sort of mobile GPU fetishist. I've also got a coupon code for you if you order this week: I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm a fetishist, but I'm not averse to spending an extra few hundred for performance (hence the ol' Sager). As far as the optical drive goes, eh - I can't remember the last time I used the one in my current laptop, though I'm sure I'll regret that down the line. Maybe saving the $200 and putting it towards replacing the 750GB drive with an SSD wouldn't be a terrible idea, though - what's the ease of upgrade on them?
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Aug 12, 2013 17:51
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Get the SSD.
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Aug 12, 2013 18:00
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SSD is always a great choice. I have a $35 USB DVD-RW that is shared between all of my desktops and laptops. It gets enough use that I made a dust cover for it (really). It's a Samsung model, works great, link is in the OP.
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Aug 12, 2013 18:06
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Mu Zeta posted:Get the SSD. Or I could do both! Although I do wonder just how hot it'll get now.
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Aug 12, 2013 18:17
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Just got my Yoga. I'll write up a review some time tonight if I have time. If anyone has any specific questions they want answered about it feel free to ask. First impressions are pretty good, although the keyboard is a bit mushier than I would have liked, and the touchpad is predictably crap. The fans are quiet normally, but you can hear them if you're in a quiet room and they're running full tilt. The only other annoying thing I've found is that having the end/home/pg up/pg down keys right next to enter and backspace keys will be frustrating until I get used to the layout. The screen is fantastic though, viewing angles are great and the folding/rotation seems to work quite well.
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Aug 12, 2013 19:31
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Deathlove posted:I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm a fetishist, but I'm not averse to spending an extra few hundred for performance (hence the ol' Sager). As far as the optical drive goes, eh - I can't remember the last time I used the one in my current laptop, though I'm sure I'll regret that down the line. SLI builds are always on the far-end of the Cost/Performance curve, you're really not getting much (aside from a lot of extra heat) for your $200. It's poor value, is all. An SSD provides a significant performance boost and provides great value if you want performance. If you get a hard drive caddy for the optical bay then you can ditch the DVD drive and have the 1TB drive for extra space and the SSD for software. I think that this would be the optimal performance/price configuration with minimal heat. If you desperately want a bit of extra GPU power then by all means, get the SLI.
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Aug 12, 2013 19:33
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Save yourself thermal headaches and get a single card solution with the power you want and not SLI
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Aug 12, 2013 19:52
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Has anyone used the Ideapad Y410p? Reviews are kind of all over the place, but it seems to hit the performance/portability sweetspot I'm looking for. I'm mainly concerned about battery life. Some reviews are saying 3-4 hours with brightness at 25% but they don't say what they were using it for. It's gonna be plugged in while gaming, so if I can get closer to 5 when working/browsing the web, then I'm happy. Also, how difficult would it be to install an SSD in there? I really don't need a DVD-RW.
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Aug 12, 2013 20:25
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:Has anyone used the Ideapad Y410p? Reviews are kind of all over the place, but it seems to hit the performance/portability sweetspot I'm looking for. Seriously? Go back just one page.
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Aug 12, 2013 20:30
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Bob Morales posted:Seriously? Go back just one page. Well gently caress me, I thought those were about the y510p. Sorry!
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Aug 12, 2013 20:40
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They're basically the same laptop. They have pretty good internals at a pretty good price point without being as bottom of the barrel as a Sager/Clevo. Other lines worth looking at are the Asus G-series and the Razer Blade, although the latter is significantly more expensive.
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Aug 12, 2013 20:45
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I EVER SPENT
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InstantInfidel posted:They're basically the same laptop. They have pretty good internals at a pretty good price point without being as bottom of the barrel as a Sager/Clevo. Other lines worth looking at are the Asus G-series and the Razer Blade, although the latter is significantly more expensive. Thanks for the tip, but the Asus G series still hasn't upgraded to Haswell, and the Razer at $1800 is just not worth it (plus it apparently runs stupidly hot). I think the main drawback for the Y410p is that its battery life is not the best, but everything else clicks.
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Aug 12, 2013 21:03
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When I ask about gaming laptops, the consensus is that I can build a more powerful desktop PC for the same money. I was wondering: is it possible to build a gaming desktop that is as powerful *and* uses less wattage than a laptop for the same money? Reason being that my fridge and laptop have been 95% of the wattage in my house for years, so I was looking into solar panels. My laptop power brick maxes out at 90w with a GTX 260m in it, but comparable desktop GPUs seem to take twice the wattage alone as my entire laptop.
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Aug 12, 2013 21:14
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:Thanks for the tip, but the Asus G series still hasn't upgraded to Haswell, and the Razer at $1800 is just not worth it (plus it apparently runs stupidly hot). Asus G series has been updated with Haswell. G750JX is the model number. I only know this because mobiletechreview posted up a review on youtube the other day and I saw it on my feed.
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Aug 12, 2013 21:27
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Zero VGS posted:My laptop power brick maxes out at 90w with a GTX 260m in it, but comparable desktop GPUs seem to take twice the wattage alone as my entire laptop.
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Aug 12, 2013 21:36
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comper posted:Asus G series has been updated with Haswell. Thanks for the tip, but that's a 17 inch laptop. I'm looking exclusively at 13-15 inches (that's what she said).
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Aug 12, 2013 21:40
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If it fits your price/size range, a few of us have Sager's and are quite pleased with them. I'm actually working on a one year review post of mine.
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Aug 12, 2013 22:19
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:Thanks for the tip, but that's a 17 inch laptop. I'm looking exclusively at 13-15 inches (that's what she said). Looking at your original post, I think you really should consider an mITX desktop. Get a second video cord and power cable for your living room as well as a wireless mouse and keyboard from Logitech (you can mix and match and only need a single wireless dongle) and you'll be good to go. Get a large SSD and boot times will be negligible. An $800 desktop will be solvent for a much, much longer time than an $800 laptop. Sager is worth looking into if you plan to use your laptop as a desktop replacement, but then you might as well get a desktop anyway. edit: wait, if you just want to play older steam games, then you don't even need a dedicated video card. Look for a laptop with a CPU that has either HD5000, HD5100, or HD5200. Any of those will laugh at the large majority of steam games (and the ones they can't play would probably run like dogshit on a 750M anyway).
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Aug 12, 2013 23:26
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InstantInfidel posted:Looking at your original post, I think you really should consider an mITX desktop. Get a second video cord and power cable for your living room as well as a wireless mouse and keyboard from Logitech (you can mix and match and only need a single wireless dongle) and you'll be good to go. Get a large SSD and boot times will be negligible. An $800 desktop will be solvent for a much, much longer time than an $800 laptop. But which laptops actually have HD5000+ right now? Basically just Macbooks?
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Aug 13, 2013 01:06
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Remember when we all thought there would be a flurry of Haswell laptops in June? What the gently caress happened?
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Aug 13, 2013 01:20
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QuarkJets posted:But which laptops actually have HD5000+ right now? Basically just Macbooks? MacBook Airs.
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Aug 13, 2013 01:25
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Mu Zeta posted:Remember when we all thought there would be a flurry of Haswell laptops in June? What the gently caress happened? If I were to guess, probably massive overstocks of Ivy Bridges due to the significant drop in PC sales in the last few quarters.
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Aug 13, 2013 01:30
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Mostly stuff we know already, but here's the T440s final specs:
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Aug 13, 2013 01:49
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How does the US price usually compare to the HK price? That non-touch i5 looks pretty drat sweet, and that's only about $1000 at today's conversion rate assuming there's no other price difference between regions.
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Aug 13, 2013 01:55
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QuarkJets posted:
I got approved for a Dell credit card, so I was eyeing the new Alienware 14 today. I need to find some comparisons on the new Intel 5000 gpu since a new MacBook Air would really be nice and give me no reason to sell it once I get better and/or don't die. I even searched on YouTube for someone running OSX on the Alienware. 
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Aug 13, 2013 02:02
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Wait, so you're "forced" to get dedicated graphics with the T440s? (I am ok with this) Also interesting they're going with a consumer chip rather than some quadro model... Time for  I guess.
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Aug 13, 2013 02:15
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Bob Morales posted:What exactly do you want/not want? Where are you seeing this price? The apple for edu site shows it at $1,049.00. I'll literally buy two right now for $899.
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Aug 13, 2013 02:19
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Srebrenica Surprise posted:Mostly stuff we know already, but here's the T440s final specs: So the touchscreen is 1600x900 and more expensive, the "low end" display is non-touch but 1920x1080  I added in USD since about two other people will bother converting those prices. Keep in mind the B&N price is about 25%-30% off MSRP. So probably in the $800-$850 range to launch? Trending downwards towards december.  That samsung series 9 is looking pretty sweet right now.
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Aug 13, 2013 02:30
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Seamonster posted:Wait, so you're "forced" to get dedicated graphics with the T440s? (I am ok with this) I'd prefer integrated - and what's with soldering 4GB on the motherboard?
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Aug 13, 2013 02:30
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Seamonster posted:Wait, so you're "forced" to get dedicated graphics with the T440s? (I am ok with this)
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Aug 13, 2013 02:30
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Seamonster posted:Wait, so you're "forced" to get dedicated graphics with the T440s? (I am ok with this) This is bizarre to me as well, you'd think they would have an enterprise level model at a low low price. Come on X1 carbon Haswell update come on.
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Aug 13, 2013 02:31
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Hadlock posted:So the touchscreen is 1600x900 and more expensive, the "low end" display is non-touch but 1920x1080 The Samsung is going to be like $5-600 more though, isn't it? Also, what's so bad about that non-touch resolution? I'm seriously interested in the T440s now.
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Aug 13, 2013 02:40
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unpronounceable posted:It's not even a particularly good dGPU though. I'd much rather just the integrated graphics, but in a CPU with a larger power envelope. And here I was hoping for a 28W Haswell T440s with integrated Iris 5100 GPU.
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Aug 13, 2013 02:43
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Inspector_71 posted:The Samsung is going to be like $5-600 more though, isn't it? The non-touch 1080p resolution is great. It's just not available as a touch screen which I guess some might want.
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Aug 13, 2013 02:52
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Mu Zeta posted:The non-touch 1080p resolution is great. It's just not available as a touch screen which I guess some might want. Oh, I think touch screens on non-convertibles are worthless anyway.
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Aug 13, 2013 03:10
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C'mon yoga update...
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Aug 13, 2013 04:18
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Mu Zeta posted:The non-touch 1080p resolution is great. It's just not available as a touch screen which I guess some might want. Who? I've never seen much of a use case for touch on a standard laptop.
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Aug 13, 2013 05:38
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evilweasel posted:Who? I've never seen much of a use case for touch on a standard laptop. No clue. The companies keep trying to push it on people.
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Aug 13, 2013 05:46
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