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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!

Seamonster posted:

New rMBPs just dropped. Iris Pro standard on the 15 although 750m is optional. Dell needs to cut prices on the XPS 15 RIGHT THE gently caress NOW.so my poor rear end can afford one

The non-Retina 15" MacBook Pro isn't in the store anymore, either :(

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evol262
Nov 30, 2010
#!/usr/bin/perl

Bob Morales posted:

The non-Retina 15" MacBook Pro isn't in the store anymore, either :(

It's dead, Jim. They're all dead.

Yudo
May 15, 2003

Bestbuy is offering the Macbook air 11.6 in for $900. I never thought I would buy a Mac, but a decent processor, screen and a 128 GB SSD in a tiny package is very appealing, and I'm not sure there is a PC equivalent for the price that is not a POS.

Anyways, anyone own one of these that would be willing to offer some insights? I will be using it mostly for word processing, presentations and perhaps some light "on demand" data analysis/number crunching.

Otherwise I am stuck looking at the Lenovo 430 and Dell 14 7000 which are both a great deal larger.

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!

evol262 posted:

It's dead, Jim. They're all dead.

It was kind of the biggest ripoff ever but still. It was a great machine :(

Naffer
Oct 26, 2004

Not a good chemist

Yudo posted:

Bestbuy is offering the Macbook air 11.6 in for $900. I never thought I would buy a Mac, but a decent processor, screen and a 128 GB SSD in a tiny package is very appealing, and I'm not sure there is a PC equivalent for the price that is not a POS.

Anyways, anyone own one of these that would be willing to offer some insights? I will be using it mostly for word processing, presentations and perhaps some light "on demand" data analysis/number crunching.

Otherwise I am stuck looking at the Lenovo 430 and Dell 14 7000 which are both a great deal larger.

Best Buy has been selling the Haswell version of the Yoga 11s for $800. It comes with an IPS display. The CPU is a Y-series Haswell processor though, which is an even lower power version than the U-series in the MBA. I'd say that it's a pretty decent PC equivalent since you trade the U series CPU for a Y series+IPS display. The CPU and GPU will definitely be slower than the MBA though. Otherwise they're similar (4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 3 pounds).

Yudo
May 15, 2003

Naffer posted:

Best Buy has been selling the Haswell version of the Yoga 11s for $800. It comes with an IPS display. The CPU is a Y-series Haswell processor though, which is an even lower power version than the U-series in the MBA. I'd say that it's a pretty decent PC equivalent since you trade the U series CPU for a Y series+IPS display. The CPU and GPU will definitely be slower than the MBA though. Otherwise they're similar (4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 3 pounds).

Oh awesome, thanks. I have a reasonably powerful home desktop and an office workstation, so I really don't need much CPU wise. SSDs I think are much more important to making a machine feel fast. I'll take a look at the Lenovo.

Edit: I didn't realize the 11s got a Haswell update. I had seen the Yoga 2 Pro; it looks great but I can't justify spending that much on what will be a go everywhere typewriter/calculator.

Yudo fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Oct 22, 2013

Djimi
Jan 23, 2004

I like digital data

Bob Morales posted:

It was kind of the biggest ripoff ever but still. It was a great machine :(
I just bought a used one with 2 years warranty left, in perfect condition. 2.6GHz w/ 16GB RAM, 1GB Video. It is a great machine, and I haven't even put in my 256GB SSD yet. I like the $1,000 savings too.

Yudo
May 15, 2003

One other question: is "Turbo Boost" still a thing? I was going to buy a 32-64 GB memory stick for extra space and to transfer files, but for "Turbo Boost" I would prefer a SDHC card.

Naffer
Oct 26, 2004

Not a good chemist

Yudo posted:

Oh awesome, thanks. I have a reasonably powerful home desktop and an office workstation, so I really don't need much CPU wise. SSDs I think are much more important to making a machine feel fast. I'll take a look at the Lenovo.
I just looked at some benchmarks and I didn't realize how different they were:
PassMark i5-4210Y: 2269
PassMark i5-4250U: 3586

If this benchmark is representative, the U-series Haswell processor in the i5 MBA (which is on the slow side of U-series CPUs) is almost twice as fast as this Y-series CPU. I don't know if this is important to your use case, but I figured you should know so that you can make an informed decision. I suppose that means that Haswell doesn't scale down well from 15W to 11.5W. It's possible that the 4210Y benchmark I found was from one of its tablet implementations, in which case it might be more thermally limited than in the Yoga 11s. It's hard to know without a Haswell 11s review.

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!

Yudo posted:

Bestbuy is offering the Macbook air 11.6 in for $900. I never thought I would buy a Mac, but a decent processor, screen and a 128 GB SSD in a tiny package is very appealing, and I'm not sure there is a PC equivalent for the price that is not a POS.


The 11" Air is badass if you can live with 1366x768 (it will run a 27" monitor no problem at your desk, though)

Yudo
May 15, 2003

How big of a deal is 1366x768 on an 11.6" display? As an aside, I can't understand how that is the standard resolution on 15" laptops...

Civil
Apr 21, 2003

Do you see this? This means "Have a nice day".

Yudo posted:

How big of a deal is 1366x768 on an 11.6" display? As an aside, I can't understand how that is the standard resolution on 15" laptops...

It works great. It was fine on my windows laptop before this one, and it's great on my air.

Every now and then, I hit a web element that is a little inconvenient at 768px high, but most devs are considerate enough not to do that, since it is a very, very common laptop resolution.

And thunderbolt/minidp to vga/dvi/hdmi cables or adapters are cheap and plentiful.

GrizzlyCow
May 30, 2011

TheStampede posted:

He just wants something handy for DM'ing D&D and playing casual games when he's away from his gaming desktop. I'm trying to steer him to an i5 with better bells an whistles all around.

One more quick question. The satellite said it has "Intel HD" graphics, but no reference number. I thought it should be "Intel HD 4000" or similar. I was having a hard time telling what generation i7 it was (I'm assuming 4th...). What is an acceptable model for casual gaming? Intel HD 4000+? I just want to make sure I'm steering him to something acceptable.

It depends on the processor. Celeron and Pentium class Haswell processors have just the plain Intel HD graphics. It isn't anything special. It's fine for the most basic tasks, but you're not playing any games on it. Processors with the -Y suffix offer the Intel HD 4200. It should perform better than Ivy Bridge's Intel HD 4000, but I would need to check some benchmarks to make sure.

Most mobile processors will have either the Intel HD 4400 or Intel HD 4600. These are pretty much equivalent to discreet mobile gaming graphics cards in performance: will play some modern games, but don't expect running any AAA games on any reasonable settings or resolution.

The Intel HD 5000 is rarer than the above two. It's performance is between the HD 4400 and HD 4600. It's closer to the HD 4600 if that helps. Like above, expect to run most modern games on Low settings @ 1366x768.

You'll probably won't be buying any mobile processors equiped with Iris iGPU. Nonetheless, the Iris Graphic 5100 isn't much ahead of the Intel HD 4600 in terms of performance; however, the Iris Pro Graphic 5200 is pretty much equivalent to a low-midrange dedicated mobile graphics card.

All that said, depending on your definition of casual, any Core Haswell processor, ix-4xxx(Y/U/M), should do the trick. If your friend needs more performance, look for one with a processor equipped with the Intel HD 4600 or HD 5000. If you care about battery life, avoid anything with a dedicated graphics card, or at the very least, make sure to get a laptop with Optimus technology.

Wikipedia has a list of which processors get which iGPU.

Hope that was helpful.

hotsauce
Jan 14, 2007

Yudo posted:

Bestbuy is offering the Macbook air 11.6 in for $900.

I picked up an 11" Haswell w/256 gigs 4 days ago at BB for $999. Was "open box" but literally had never been used (1 battery cycle out of the box). Not bad. I love it for traveling.

I usually buy everything from BB as open box. They are mostly remorse returns that are hundreds off from retail. Full return policy and 1-yr Applecare w/ the option to extend. At worst, the 1-yr Applecare may be like 11 months depending on if it was ever activated and when it was returned. But it's a good deal to go open box if you want to save a bit.

butt dickus
Jul 7, 2007

top ten juiced up coaches
and the top ten juiced up players
The X240 is up on Lenovo's site. The base model is $1050. Looks like the only screens for it are 1366x768 with an IPS option, so I guess I'm still waiting for the T440s.
For some reason the B&N site shows it at $1500 when you bring it up, but then goes back down to the same price as Lenovo's main site when you start configuring. No coupons yet.
http://shop.lenovo.com/barnesnoblegold/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x240/

WHERE MY HAT IS AT
Jan 7, 2011
Looks like the yoga 2 pro is about to drop in :canada:, it's up on the site now but prices haven't been filled in. Here's hoping I can get one and it won't take ten years to ship.

Twerk from Home
Jan 17, 2009

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

Doctor rear end in a top hat posted:

The X240 is up on Lenovo's site. The base model is $1050. Looks like the only screens for it are 1366x768 with an IPS option, so I guess I'm still waiting for the T440s.
For some reason the B&N site shows it at $1500 when you bring it up, but then goes back down to the same price as Lenovo's main site when you start configuring. No coupons yet.
http://shop.lenovo.com/barnesnoblegold/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x240/

Apple dropping the entry-level retina Macbook Pro to $1300 is really going to put the screws to premium ultraportables like this, especially because Apple includes the SSD in the base model.

The X240 with the IPS screen and base i3 CPU: Web price: $1,129.00

VorpalFish
Mar 22, 2007
reasonably awesometm

I thought there was supposed to be a 1080p option. Regardless, looks like they did go ahead and move to ulv for the x240, and not even a gt3 gpu option. Feeling pretty good about caving and getting a refurb x230 instead of waiting.

Naffer
Oct 26, 2004

Not a good chemist

Weinertron posted:

Apple dropping the entry-level retina Macbook Pro to $1300 is really going to put the screws to premium ultraportables like this, especially because Apple includes the SSD in the base model.

The X240 with the IPS screen and base i3 CPU: Web price: $1,129.00

Their pricing is definitely pretty reasonable. for $1500 you get an i5 with Iris 5100 graphics, 8GB of RAM, a 256 GB SSD and a 2560 by 1600 display. That's essentially everything the Zenbook Infinity was supposed to offer when it appeared.
Comparisons:
Yoga 2 Pro: i7, HD4400, 8GB, 256GB, 3200*1800 display, ~$1300-1500
Samsung 9 Plus: i5, HD4400, 4GB, 128GB, 3200*1800 display, ~$1400
Acer Aspire S7: i5, HD4400, 8GB, 256GB, 1080p display ~$1400
Vaio 13 Pro: i5, HD4400, 8GB, 256GB, 1080p display ~$1500

Naffer fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Oct 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!

hotsauce posted:

I picked up an 11" Haswell w/256 gigs 4 days ago at BB for $999. Was "open box" but literally had never been used (1 battery cycle out of the box). Not bad. I love it for traveling.

I usually buy everything from BB as open box. They are mostly remorse returns that are hundreds off from retail. Full return policy and 1-yr Applecare w/ the option to extend. At worst, the 1-yr Applecare may be like 11 months depending on if it was ever activated and when it was returned. But it's a good deal to go open box if you want to save a bit.

Plus you get reward zone points. I am a big fan of BB open box especially now since you can search al the stores near you instead of just one at a time

sourdough
Apr 30, 2012

Naffer posted:

Their pricing is definitely pretty reasonable. for $1500 you get an i5 with Iris 5100 graphics, 8GB of RAM, a 256 GB SSD and a 2560 by 1600 display. That's essentially everything the Zenbook Infinity was supposed to offer when it appeared.
Comparisons:
Yoga 2 Pro: i7, HD4400, 8GB, 256GB, 3200*1800 display, ~$1300-1500
Samsung 9 Plus: i5, HD4400, 4GB, 128GB, 3200*1800 display, ~$1400
Acer Aspire S7: i5, HD4400, 8GB, 256GB, 1080p display ~$1400
Vaio 13 Pro: i5, HD4400, 8GB, 256GB, 1080p display ~$1500

Yeah, but if you don't need the i7, the Yoga 2 Pro with i5/8/256 is $1150-1200. The MBPs are definitely priced competitively with the rest of that crowd, though.

Butt Soup Barnes
Nov 25, 2008

What? The Yoga 2 i5/4/128 is $1,000 and the i7/8/256 is $1,200. More expensive directly from Lenovo but they have a coupon that brings it down closer to Best Buy's price.

P.N.T.M.
Jan 14, 2006

tiny dinosaurs
Fun Shoe
The x230 is also having a deal (Light and Thin models) that will only last through tomorrow. I got a model with bells and whistles and the low-end i5 for a grand total of $840.

The x240 has some nice perks, some being the power-bridge technology, the keyboard optimized for Win8, and new m.2 sockets internally, but it also looks like they gimped it horribly if the stats sheet is right.

Naffer
Oct 26, 2004

Not a good chemist

Butt Soup Barnes posted:

What? The Yoga 2 i5/4/128 is $1,000 and the i7/8/256 is $1,200. More expensive directly from Lenovo but they have a coupon that brings it down closer to Best Buy's price.

I thought about listing that price but because you can't order it online for that price I opted to list the Lenovo price instead, which last I checked was about ~1300 with a coupon. I probably should have listed the $999 i5 version from Best Buy too, since that's really inexpensive for what you get.

Butt Soup Barnes
Nov 25, 2008

Naffer posted:

I thought about listing that price but because you can't order it online for that price I opted to list the Lenovo price instead, which last I checked was about ~1300 with a coupon. I probably should have listed the $999 i5 version from Best Buy too, since that's really inexpensive for what you get.

Oh, I didn't realize they still aren't letting you order the i7 version online. But you can still buy the $999 one from Best Buy's website.

Yudo
May 15, 2003

I'm sorry to keep asking of this thread; thanks for all the advice so far.

Just to cover all the bases: I have a bit of a mental block that is keeping me from clicking "buy" on either the MBA 11 or Yoga 11s. Namely, the 1366x768 panel. Not that I think I'll be counting pixels, but 768 is wierd and that resolution has caused me problems in the past with applications that did not scale (e.g. the bottom getting cut off irreparably).

I can get "student" pricing on the entry level Sony VIAO Pro 11. At about $1000 its more than I would ideally like to spend, but it has a 1080p screen and is absolutely tiny. Battery life seems good too and there is an easy way to supplement it externally if need be.

Any opinions on the VIAO 11? I need this thing to last 2 years; I can't commit to a 1366x768 screen for that long.

some kinda jackal
Feb 25, 2003

 
 

WHERE MY HAT IS AT posted:

Looks like the yoga 2 pro is about to drop in :canada:, it's up on the site now but prices haven't been filled in. Here's hoping I can get one and it won't take ten years to ship.

The real question is whether they'll make you get one with that weird bilingual keyboard.

WHERE MY HAT IS AT
Jan 7, 2011

Martytoof posted:

The real question is whether they'll make you get one with that weird bilingual keyboard.

The answer is always yes :( Maybe I'll just drive to buffalo and buy one at best buy :v:

sourdough
Apr 30, 2012

Butt Soup Barnes posted:

What? The Yoga 2 i5/4/128 is $1,000 and the i7/8/256 is $1,200. More expensive directly from Lenovo but they have a coupon that brings it down closer to Best Buy's price.

Oh, I didn't realize the $1200 one from Best Buy was i7, my bad. There aren't any in stores around me anyway. The $1150 from Lenovo is definitely i5.

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."
Hey guys, I'm back after about three days with the HP Chromebook 11.

Pros:

Excellent keyboard. It's very responsive, no flex, etc. full sized
Very lightweight, easy to hold in one hand and walk around
Chrome OS is perfectly fine for everything except steam gaming. writing/reading office docs is seamless.
Startup is lightning fast, as fast as waking from sleep on my Toshiba L755d-s5218
Build quality seems great. It's hard to tell so soon, but no creaks or bends. It has a metal frame so that may help.
The speakers are loud and not at all tinny compared to other laptops. I would say the sound was on par with the JBL speakers in my briefly owned Y510P. One of the best laptop speakers I've ever heard, and it's in the keyboard with no muffling!
WOW. The IPS display is outstanding on this thing. Blacks are VERY deep. Blacker than my nexus 4. Just incredible. The colors are vivid and really pop, and it can get very bright. Viewing angles are great as well. It has a much better screen than the y510P, despite it being 650 dollars less.
Speaking of price, 280 dollars!? Are you kidding me!?

Cons:
Trackpad is okay at best. I feel like it drags compared to my Toshiba. I'd prefer it to be very slick. It's a giant clickpad, so it's nice not having to make sure I'm on the left or right to click. One finger click for left two for right. You get used to it quick. Scrolling is done via two finger drag.
Sealed in battery/keyboard means when either goes, so does the computer.
Whoever decided to sell this thing with a usb charger should be fired. It's awful. It charges comically slow, and even though I'm using the charger right out of the box, the computer claims I have a lower powered charger, and suggests I use the one that came in the box. Sometimes it loses charge while plugged in, like right now as I type this. Terrible decision, just awful.
To go alongside that is the battery life. I'm one who always leaves his screens on full brightness, so take this with a grain of salf, but I'd say 3-3.5 hours is fair for battery life, which is below average.
Last, but not least, the processor. What a turd. I wasn't expecting much, but the ability to render video instantly? Yes. What is this, 2003? There's a definite lag between video and audio processing when youtube videos start up, which is usually corrected about 10 seconds in. Sometimes, the video rolls with neither video nor audio. Switching from video to video often results in this desynchronization again. I'm assuming this is the processor's fault. Hoping against hope it's somehow fixed in a Chrome OS update. Webpages are slightly laggy, but not excessively so compared to my Toshiba. Facebook actually scrolls better. I would have easily paid another 100 bucks for something like the new Haswell Celeron processors, or even a snapdragon 800.

Overall, the best bang for your buck in the low end market, and the best laptop screen I have seen period. It's a must buy for the non-gaming display freak.

Edit:

I forgot to say, I'll answer any questions you have.

Socrates16 fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Oct 23, 2013

shrughes
Oct 11, 2008

(call/cc call/cc)

Socrates16 posted:

Trackpad is okay at best. I feel like it drags compared to my Toshiba. I'd prefer it to be very slick. It's a giant clickpad, so it's nice not having to make sure I'm on the left or right to click. One finger click for left two for right. You get used to it quick. Scrolling is done via two finger drag.

That seems to be the case on all Chromebook devices (that I can think of). Can you also three-finger click to open a link in a new tab or close tabs?

Socrates16 posted:

I'm assuming this is the processor's fault.

I don't remember that specific audio sync problem on my Samsung Chromebook (which I think has the same or worse processor) but YouTube was kind of slow-feeling, but ultimately it worked. I could double-check that.

butt dickus
Jul 7, 2007

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

shrughes posted:

That seems to be the case on all Chromebook devices (that I can think of).
AnandTech said this about the one in the Pixel

quote:

Speaking of that touchpad, it remains frustrating that so few players in the notebook space have nailed touchpads. It should be particularly embarrassing to other notebook manufacturers that this is Google’s first attempt, and they’ve done an excellent job. The large glass trackpad offers a novel tactile experience after so much time with Apple’s units, but is no less well performing. Taps and clicks are registered without fail and the scrolling experience with the touchpad is smooth and easy. Once again, the settings to activate more complex gestures on the touchpad are buried deep within chrome://flags/ so they’re not quite ready for primetime. But they offer something that Chrome has dearly needed, real multitasking.

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."

shrughes posted:

That seems to be the case on all Chromebook devices (that I can think of). Can you also three-finger click to open a link in a new tab or close tabs?

I just tested it. No.

Edit:

Oh, and it is the exact same processor as the Samsung you owned.

Socrates16 fucked around with this message at 04:26 on Oct 23, 2013

sports
Sep 1, 2012
Seems like fully-fledged Windows setups are hovering around the same cost as Macs.

Shoefish
Sep 29, 2005
captain haggis mcnipplesworthy
I'm looking to replace my netbook and its horrible 1280x600 resolution. It's mainly for gaming at work, I just want to be able to play things like FTL and Space Chem without bits being cut off. Price isn't much of an issue, just needs to be small and windows based for Steam.

Would something like http://www.umart.com.au/newindex2.phtml?bid=2 be good?

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness
That link doesn't go anywhere, so it's hard to say. How much higher resolution were you looking for, and is weight or battery life a factor for you? Or is this like a "sit on your desk all day plugged in and never goes anywhere" type deal?

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




When you say price isn't much of an issue, how not much of an issue. Give us a ballpark figure.

Dell XPS 12, maybe? Although 12.5-inch screen might be too big if you're looking for true netbook-sized.

MikeJF fucked around with this message at 09:03 on Oct 23, 2013

Shoefish
Sep 29, 2005
captain haggis mcnipplesworthy
Balls, sorry, that's the Asus T100 transformer book. Price range anything up to $800. Weight and battery life are not an issue, it's only for sitting on my lap and keeping me awake during the night shift.

Shoefish fucked around with this message at 09:18 on Oct 23, 2013

Vivian Darkbloom
Jul 14, 2004


So, any 13-14" Haswell laptops with specs comparable to the new MacBook Pro, super high-res aside?

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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!

Vivian Darkbloom posted:

So, any 13-14" Haswell laptops with specs comparable to the new MacBook Pro, super high-res aside?

The new Pro without the high-res screen is basically the Air.

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