Laptop Megathread: Your laptop doesn't have Haswell? More like Hasbeen~

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Laptop Megathread: Your laptop doesn't have Haswell? More like Hasbeen~

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Russian Bear: Dec 26, 2007

What is the thread's consensus on the Lenovo Yoga?

# ? Aug 24, 2013 01:02

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 14:43

signalnoise: Mar 7, 2008; i was told my old av was distracting

Russian Bear posted:

What is the thread's consensus on the Lenovo Yoga?

I curious to know how obnoxious it is to use it as a tablet with the keyboard on the back

# ? Aug 24, 2013 01:15

Goober Peas: Jun 30, 2007; Check out my 'Vette, bro

signalnoise posted:

I curious to know how obnoxious it is to use it as a tablet with the keyboard on the back

It was a dealbreaker for me. I also looked at the Acer Aspire convertible, but it was too big, heavy and the trackpad placement above the keyboard was frustrating to use. I ended up with a Sony Duo13.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 01:33

GrizzlyCow: May 30, 2011

Krakkles posted:

Are there any relatively small laptops (15" would be absolute max, and even then, I'd rather not...) that have decent screen resolution?

Budget isn't much of an issue ... I'd spend 2k for the right laptop.

Anything besides the small screen that's wrong with it? Also, what is the screen size of your MBP? Throwing in a SSD does wonders to speed up an older computer, but if you're not having performance issues, then it is not absolutely necessary.

What are you planning to use your laptop for?

Also "full-sized"? Do you mean that as opposed to tenkeyless or smaller keys?

If you're wanting something on the lighter side, you'll be wanting a Haswell-based laptop. Otherwise, you should wait until Lenovo's new Haswell Thinkpads are released. They should be showing up soon.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 01:49

Aphrodite: Jun 27, 2006

Krakkles posted:

Are there any relatively small laptops (15" would be absolute max, and even then, I'd rather not...) that have decent screen resolution?

I currently use an MBP (pre-Retina) for work, and I've been debating going back to windows, but my must-haves are small size (I travel for work, so I'm literally carrying this every day), decent screen resolution (I'd like 1920x1080 at a minimum, Retina-ish would be nice too), a full-size keyboard (I have big hands), and decent performance.

On that last, I'm comfortable with upgrades, so if I need to throw memory and an SSD in it, that's no problem.

I'm looking at upgrading in the next ... maybe 6 months or so? I'm kind of trying to put it off as long as possible ... I've had this MBP since 2011, and it's still largely adequate, I just find myself wishing for more screen size.

Budget isn't much of an issue ... I'd spend 2k for the right laptop.

Well the Samsung Ativ Book 9 is 3200x1800 on a 13 inch screen.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 02:01

WHERE MY HAT IS AT: Jan 7, 2011

Russian Bear posted:

What is the thread's consensus on the Lenovo Yoga?

signalnoise posted:

I curious to know how obnoxious it is to use it as a tablet with the keyboard on the back

It's not obnoxious at all once you get used to it. I do find that for lap browsing it's better to use it in what's called stand mode, where the keyboard is folded back, like a laptop in reverse, almost. That said, it works perfectly fine as a tablet.

The keyboard is somewhat mushy on it, but other than that, build quality is fantastic. I can pick it up by one corner and carry it around and it doesn't at all feel like it's going to break. As far as battery life, I get 6-7 hours out of it if I'm just listening to music and reading magazines/websites or what have you. It's really really quite light, and unless you're in a dead quiet room you can't hear the fans at all, even under load. The only portion that ever gets a little warm when gaming (or what passes for gaming on a laptop) is the upper left hand corner of the keyboard. The WiFi range isn't anything to write home about, though, so keep that in mind. My only other issue thus far with it has been the service that controls when the keyboard and mouse disable themselves based on screen position broke itself and could only be fixed with a factory reset. The touchpad is surprisingly good for a windows laptop, although you do have to watch it when you move your mouse right, if you swipe from too far to the left it will thing it's the windows gesture to switch windows which can be a pain in the rear end. If anyone has any specific questions about it I'd be happy to answer. I'm still not entirely convinced I'll be keeping mine, though as that Samsung ultra high res one looks amazing and I tend to use my computer more as a laptop than anything else.

Krakkles posted:

Are there any relatively small laptops (15" would be absolute max, and even then, I'd rather not...) that have decent screen resolution?

I currently use an MBP (pre-Retina) for work, and I've been debating going back to windows, but my must-haves are small size (I travel for work, so I'm literally carrying this every day), decent screen resolution (I'd like 1920x1080 at a minimum, Retina-ish would be nice too), a full-size keyboard (I have big hands), and decent performance.

On that last, I'm comfortable with upgrades, so if I need to throw memory and an SSD in it, that's no problem.

I'm looking at upgrading in the next ... maybe 6 months or so? I'm kind of trying to put it off as long as possible ... I've had this MBP since 2011, and it's still largely adequate, I just find myself wishing for more screen size.

Budget isn't much of an issue ... I'd spend 2k for the right laptop.

When you say full sized, what do you mean? Do you need a number pad or something, or? As far as light and high res take a look at the ativ book 9 plus which despite it's dumb name has a 3200 * 1800 res screen.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 02:05

Krakkles: May 5, 2003

GrizzlyCow posted:

Anything besides the small screen that's wrong with it? Also, what is the screen size of your MBP? Throwing in a SSD does wonders to speed up an older computer, but if you're not having performance issues, then it is not absolutely necessary.

What are you planning to use your laptop for?

Also "full-sized"? Do you mean that as opposed to tenkeyless or smaller keys?

If you're wanting something on the lighter side, you'll be wanting a Haswell-based laptop. Otherwise, you should wait until Lenovo's new Haswell Thinkpads are released. They should be showing up soon.

It's a 13" MBP, 1280x800 resolution.

I use it primarily for work, which means it gets dualbooted to windows, but other than that, just runs email/web-browsing/document editing.

The current PC is plenty fast, it just bothers me that the screen resolution is so low.

Full size keyboard meaning, simply put, "Mac like". I've used a lot of smaller PC laptops, and they all seem to have very tightly spaced keys. No desire/need for a 10key, but I need to be able to comfortably type.

I'll check out that samsung.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 02:06

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

Krakkles posted:

It's a 13" MBP, 1280x800 resolution.

I use it primarily for work, which means it gets dualbooted to windows, but other than that, just runs email/web-browsing/document editing.

The current PC is plenty fast, it just bothers me that the screen resolution is so low.

Full size keyboard meaning, simply put, "Mac like". I've used a lot of smaller PC laptops, and they all seem to have very tightly spaced keys. No desire/need for a 10key, but I need to be able to comfortably type.

I'll check out that samsung.

Is there any reason you'd look down on the T440s, once it's released in the near future? 1920x1080 IPS, 14", under 4lbs, good performance (on paper, anyhow), and likely to be more durable than almost any other comparable laptop, especially at $1000 or so?

# ? Aug 24, 2013 02:23

GrizzlyCow: May 30, 2011

Krakkles posted:

It's a 13" MBP, 1280x800 resolution.

I use it primarily for work, which means it gets dualbooted to windows, but other than that, just runs email/web-browsing/document editing.

The current PC is plenty fast, it just bothers me that the screen resolution is so low.

Full size keyboard meaning, simply put, "Mac like". I've used a lot of smaller PC laptops, and they all seem to have very tightly spaced keys. No desire/need for a 10key, but I need to be able to comfortably type.

I'll check out that samsung.

Yeah. For what you want, you'll probably want to wait. In September, a lot of Haswell laptops will be unleashed, and hopefully in October the Macbook Pro Retina refresh will be released.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 02:24

Russian Bear: Dec 26, 2007

WHERE MY HAT IS AT posted:

It's not obnoxious at all once you get used to it. I do find that for lap browsing it's better to use it in what's called stand mode, where the keyboard is folded back, like a laptop in reverse, almost. That said, it works perfectly fine as a tablet.

The keyboard is somewhat mushy on it, but other than that, build quality is fantastic. I can pick it up by one corner and carry it around and it doesn't at all feel like it's going to break. As far as battery life, I get 6-7 hours out of it if I'm just listening to music and reading magazines/websites or what have you. It's really really quite light, and unless you're in a dead quiet room you can't hear the fans at all, even under load. The only portion that ever gets a little warm when gaming (or what passes for gaming on a laptop) is the upper left hand corner of the keyboard. The WiFi range isn't anything to write home about, though, so keep that in mind. My only other issue thus far with it has been the service that controls when the keyboard and mouse disable themselves based on screen position broke itself and could only be fixed with a factory reset. The touchpad is surprisingly good for a windows laptop, although you do have to watch it when you move your mouse right, if you swipe from too far to the left it will thing it's the windows gesture to switch windows which can be a pain in the rear end. If anyone has any specific questions about it I'd be happy to answer. I'm still not entirely convinced I'll be keeping mine, though as that Samsung ultra high res one looks amazing and I tend to use my computer more as a laptop than anything else.

Thanks for the quick review. I am just deciding if I really need a laptop that is also a tablet. My t61 finally died, I am just seeing what is out there. X series looks interesting.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 02:38

Krakkles: May 5, 2003

DrDork posted:

Is there any reason you'd look down on the T440s, once it's released in the near future? 1920x1080 IPS, 14", under 4lbs, good performance (on paper, anyhow), and likely to be more durable than almost any other comparable laptop, especially at $1000 or so?

That sounds pretty amazing.

So I'll wait until Haswells hit the market, then look at the Ativ, T440, and MBP iterations.

Thanks, guys!

(The Ativ looks nice, but I think in this case because I'm not desperate to upgrade, I'll wait until more options come out and see what I like.)

# ? Aug 24, 2013 02:54

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

Hadlock posted:

Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus is announced for August 18th (next saturday)

It's basically a 13" macbook air with Windows 8 driver support. And a 3,200x1,800 pixel QHD+ screen. So it's basically a windows native 13" macbook air retina.

With touch. With IPS. I mean, look at that sexy viewing angle. It's a macbook air with all the new improvements.

$1300

Several people in here post about Samsung 7, 9 series, buy them, and never return, that's a pretty strong recommendation for a device.

http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/pcs/NP940X3G-K03US

Jumping on the Aitv bandwagon here

# ? Aug 24, 2013 02:56

Krakkles: May 5, 2003

Any clue when it will actually be available? Everything I can find says it's announced but gives no estimate when I can actually buy one ... or what a fully specc'd model might cost.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 04:20

Sendo: Jul 26, 2011

Krakkles posted:

Any clue when it will actually be available? Everything I can find says it's announced but gives no estimate when I can actually buy one ... or what a fully specc'd model might cost.

Amazon has the base i5 model shown as September 10th.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 04:43

Lord Hawking: Aug 8, 2002; SHUT UP!
SHUT UP!
SHUT UP!!!

Cream_Filling posted:

Standard advice is Thinkpad or Mac, and of the two I'd lean Thinkpad in your case because they still have VGA outputs and they are less attractive theft targets than Macs. Depending on when you need it, something like the T430 is pretty much designed for your use case and is in your budget. But Haswell is just around the corner and obviously the longer you wait the more computer you'll get for your dollar.

Thanks, that's where I was leaning, too. My experience with laptop purchasing is woefully limited to helping others not pick the dumbest options possible while ordering from Dell, so I'm glad to have consensus. Having seen Hadlock's post about the T440s, I think I'll just wait the three weeks for its release, unless there's some reason it wouldn't fit my requirements that I haven't noticed (I am slightly worried that I couldn't see a DVD drive in the sample photos on the Lenovo website).

# ? Aug 24, 2013 05:39

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

Lord Hawking posted:

Thanks, that's where I was leaning, too. My experience with laptop purchasing is woefully limited to helping others not pick the dumbest options possible while ordering from Dell, so I'm glad to have consensus. Having seen Hadlock's post about the T440s, I think I'll just wait the three weeks for its release, unless there's some reason it wouldn't fit my requirements that I haven't noticed (I am slightly worried that I couldn't see a DVD drive in the sample photos on the Lenovo website).

That's because there isn't one. As the T440s is the "slim" variant, it ditches an optical drive in order to save space and weight. I'm not sure what your use scenarios are, but most people don't really use an optical drive more than once in a blue moon, so you may want to give consideration to how often you actually need one. You can always get a USB external drive, or wait for the T440/T440p/whatever to drop, which will very likely have optical drives (at least as options).

# ? Aug 24, 2013 05:51

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

The total number of times you'll want to/need to use an optical drive will be vainishingly small. That is what USB thumb drives are for.

I picked one of these up because I had a lot of downtime away from an internet source for netflix, it worked out great, its $30 and it meets all the optical drive needs for all of my computers.

It's a Samsung model, goes for about $30 shipped. Works great and deals well with the dirt and grit that accumulates in bags, travels well too.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 06:17

Lord Hawking: Aug 8, 2002; SHUT UP!
SHUT UP!
SHUT UP!!!

OK, I was totally not getting what the "s" stood for. I show DVD movies to my students once every couple of months or so, so it might be worth it to ditch the drive for day-to-day use and just pick up a USB drive separately. Considering that I usually have access to an old school DVD player + projector, I might not even need one at all, come to think of it.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 06:23

AnonymousGuest: Jul 24, 2007

bull3964 posted:

I would start by cracking it open and removing the CMOS battery for 60 seconds to clear the bios.

Removed the CMOS battery for couple minute and still same.

QuarkJets posted:

Does the battery charge at all? There have been many reported cases of ruined laptop batteries from one vrius or another.

What kind of laptop is it?

Fully charged. Dell Latitude D630

This is turning out to be way out of my league...Not much I can do for her at this point. I can't even format the HD because laptop won't boot up at all. :argh:

# ? Aug 24, 2013 07:46

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

WAG, but he probably flashed the bios with some random data and bricked the device. I would contact dell and see if they have a recovery plan to reflash the bios, but your friend is probably boned.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 08:59

Leal: Oct 2, 2009

I'm looking to replacing my laptop, I need it mainly for work trips when I'm out of the house. Of course I'd like to be able to pass the time playing games on it, at most all I want is to play Final Fantasy 14 on their laptop standard settings (I guess this would be low? Thats what its called) I looked up laptops good for playing it, and I found a link for this

What do goons think? I don't need anything fancy for work, just be able to connect to wifi and watch videos. But I don't want to be bored when I'm sitting around the hotel and would like to play FF14 or X3 Albion Prelude.

EDIT: Or if you can suggest something else, I'd say at most I wanna blow $550

EDIT: gently caress disregard I thought I was on the US version of Amazon and this would run me over 700 bucks. Well can any goon recommend me such a laptop similar to the one linked?

Leal fucked around with this message at 09:56 on Aug 24, 2013

# ? Aug 24, 2013 09:49

hypoallergenic cat breed: Dec 16, 2010

I'm trying to get a laptop for school but don't even know where to start. I know what I want though, something <$900, with Windows 7, that can play Skyrim on the low setting. I know everyone says to wait but I need a laptop now, have any recommendations?

# ? Aug 24, 2013 15:23

Socrates16: Aug 21, 2012; "Mr. Roark, we're alone here. Why don't you tell me what you think of me? In any words you wish. No one will hear us."
"But I don't think of you."

Hadlock posted:

Jumping on the Aitv bandwagon here

Sadly, it's got a 3rd generation i5 processor for some reason.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 15:23

Mu Zeta: Oct 17, 2002; Me crush ass to dust

No it doesn't

# ? Aug 24, 2013 15:28

Socrates16: Aug 21, 2012; "Mr. Roark, we're alone here. Why don't you tell me what you think of me? In any words you wish. No one will hear us."
"But I don't think of you."

Their website says 4th generation but here it says 3rd generation http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DVFMDN8/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_at_ws_us?ie=UTF8

Edit: it appears that the product description for the processor says 3rd generation but the spec list has the 4th generation Somebody in marketing needs to get fired haha

Socrates16 fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Aug 24, 2013

# ? Aug 24, 2013 15:57

Naffer: Oct 26, 2004; Not a good chemist

Hadlock posted:

Jumping on the Aitv bandwagon here

I'd buy that tomorrow if it came with 8GB of RAM, even if it was $1450 instead.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 18:24

fookolt: Mar 13, 2012; Where there is power
There is resistance

Naffer posted:

I'd buy that tomorrow if it came with 8GB of RAM, even if it was $1450 instead.

Yep...What the hell is up with these nice rear end ultrabooks even being offered with 4GB in 2013 anymore? I can understand it if we're talking about cheaper laptops, but if you're spending $1200 or more on a laptop, I feel like 8GB should be the minimum expectation.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 18:30

Krakkles: May 5, 2003

Yeah, as I looked through the specs, that turned me off the Aitv.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 18:37

Goober Peas: Jun 30, 2007; Check out my 'Vette, bro

My best guess is the drive for lighter weight and smaller form factors is leading to more on board components, which are driving costs up.

My Duo 13's 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB are integral and not replaceable.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 19:33

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

Goober Peas posted:

My best guess is the drive for lighter weight and smaller form factors is leading to more on board components, which are driving costs up.

My Duo 13's 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB are integral and not replaceable.

Sure, but the price and size difference of a 4GB package vice an 8GB one is pretty small, especially in what are supposed to be flagship products.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 19:35

Naffer: Oct 26, 2004; Not a good chemist

DrDork posted:

Sure, but the price and size difference of a 4GB package vice an 8GB one is pretty small, especially in what are supposed to be flagship products.

I expect they'll offer 8 GB along with something like a 256gb ssd and an i7 so they can add 400 to the price for an upgraded model.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 19:56

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

I don't doubt it. I'm just saying that the size and price of an 8GB module vs a 4GB are not the reasons they're opting not to include it.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 20:05

Sonic Screwdriver: Mar 6, 2008; ...more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly...
timey-wimey...stuff.

It's time to set my gal up with a new laptop. Doing some research and reading the OP I'm liking the look of the Lenovo ThinkPad X230.
Her requirements are pretty simple: Internet, media, and basic photo editing. But she'd also like to be able to play some low/mid level games like Civ 5, Minecraft, and The Sims. High graphics settings not required.
We are looking at the $600-$1000 range, 13" or smaller, with the best battery life and weight we can get.
Am I right to be looking at the X230 as a good solution? Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 20:39

Hughmoris: Apr 21, 2007; Let's go to the abyss!

I'm a bit out of touch with current laptop features. Is HDMI or DVI out standard on most laptops these days? I want to buy a laptop for the standard usage but I also want to be able to connect it to my HDTV use it to stream NFL Sunday Ticket.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 21:08

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

Most laptops have VGA + either HDMI or miniDP (display port)

HDMI, miniDP and DVI are all interchangeable, they're just different physical formats for the same standard. Adapters are a couple bux each. I use this guy with my thinkpad to do mDP to HDMI with my thinkpad, and I have a cheapo mDP -> DVI cable I use to plugin to legacy DVI displays.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 21:15

butt dickus: Jul 7, 2007; top ten juiced up coaches
and the top ten juiced up players

Everyone who uses old-rear end projectors should just have to buy a goddamn adapter. I don't understand why D-sub ports didn't go away with serial and parallel ports.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 21:21

Boner Slam: May 9, 2005

Hadlock posted:

Sorry. I guess I should rephrase that, 1366x768 is acceptable if you're only doing those things, medium resolution is always preferred if you have the budget for it.

Dell is capable of making excellent machines, but they don't sell them for less than $1000 unless you find one on fire sale. Latitude is not one of them.

Latitude is not a good Dell? Is that not their top range ?

# ? Aug 24, 2013 21:35

JRay88: Jan 4, 2013

Disco Nixon posted:

I'm trying to get a laptop for school but don't even know where to start. I know what I want though, something <$900, with Windows 7, that can play Skyrim on the low setting. I know everyone says to wait but I need a laptop now, have any recommendations?

Just FYI when I was looking 3 weeks ago there was almost nothing that had windows 7. The only ones available with 7 were leftover from the last model year. Anything new is almost definitely going to have 8 on it.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 21:51

The Rat: Aug 29, 2004; You will find no one to help you here. Beth DuClare has been dissected and placed in cryonic storage.

Just ordered one of these. Hopefully it turns out better than the X230 refurb I got from the Lenovo outlet that only had a wireless range of 4 feet.

# ? Aug 24, 2013 23:08

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 14:43

GrizzlyCow: May 30, 2011

Disco Nixon posted:

I'm trying to get a laptop for school but don't even know where to start. I know what I want though, something <$900, with Windows 7, that can play Skyrim on the low setting. I know everyone says to wait but I need a laptop now, have any recommendations?

Is there any reason you're specifically avoiding Windows 8? If you say anything about the UI, you can just install 'Classic Shell' to make it just like Windows 7.

Edit:

Hey guys. Question. Are Sagers any good? Their NP2650 laptop has Core i7 4700MQ and with 8GB cost about $805.

GrizzlyCow fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Aug 24, 2013

# ? Aug 24, 2013 23:21

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Laptop Megathread: Your laptop doesn't have Haswell? More like Hasbeen~

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