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Inspector_666
Oct 7, 2003

benny with the good hair

shrughes posted:

Actual pictures of a T440p spotted: http://imgur.com/a/oNdw1

Ugh why the gently caress would they use that touchpad/nipple setup. I had to use one of them today on a client's machine and it was hideous.

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Tom Guycot
Oct 15, 2008

Chief of Governors


GreenNight posted:

Anyone get a Surface 2? Work gave me one for "business" but all I'm gonna do is throw Steam on it. Any good Windows 8.1 touch enabled games? I heard Civ5 works pretty well with a touchscreen.

This is from a couple pages ago, but I didn't really see an answer. I assume you mean a surface PRO 2 since you wouldn't be installing steam on an ARM device. I picked up a SP2 a few weeks ago, not really intending to use it for any games, but decided to try some games on it just out of curiosity. So I'll give you a rundown on some of the things I tried.

-Payday 2, was just baaaaaarely playable for me on low settings and low resolution. If it was even slightly slower I would say its unplayable, but as it is its just good enough that I can reasonably play it if im desperate.
-Fallout new Vegas, I bumped the settings down to medium, plugged in a 360 controller, and it runs silky smooth. Its a few years old but its extremely playable, and if I just grab a bluetooth clone xbox controller will be a really slick setup when I'm away at hotels or visiting family, since I never played it when it came out.
-Skyrim, on low settings was also very playable.
-Civ V is just fantastic with its touch enabled controls. I end up playing this most days on the train because it controls in tablet mode as slick and natural as any ipad, or android purpose built game. Also runs very smooth.


So, not any machine I could recommend if you want to game, but it will do quite nice in a pinch (especially if you have a bluetooth gamepad). If you're really looking to game on it, i've heard installing updated drivers direct from intel will speed things up a little, but at the cost of heat/battery optimization as the drivers from microsoft update. All in all I'm amazingly impressed with the SP2 overall.

evilweasel
Aug 24, 2002

Tom Guycot posted:

-Civ V is just fantastic with its touch enabled controls. I end up playing this most days on the train because it controls in tablet mode as slick and natural as any ipad, or android purpose built game. Also runs very smooth.

I read for the original surface pro it had problems with dpi scaling enabled - the touch controls would be off compared to the image, and you had to manually disable dpi scaling each time to make it work. I take it that's no longer the case?

Tom Guycot
Oct 15, 2008

Chief of Governors


evilweasel posted:

I read for the original surface pro it had problems with dpi scaling enabled - the touch controls would be off compared to the image, and you had to manually disable dpi scaling each time to make it work. I take it that's no longer the case?

Must be, because i have dpi scaling on and its always been flawless. maybe this was something 8.1 fixed and the original SP wouldnt have the dpi issue anymore either after upgrading? vOv

GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

Yeah, Pro 2 - Civ5 sounds pretty great on it. I'll give it a shot. Been playing Kings Bounty and that has worked well in highest settings - no touch, but the trackpad works fine. The font can be small, but it's manageable.

tijag
Aug 6, 2002
So, the Lenovo Y510p might be perfect if I can put an SSD in that ultrabay, and if the RAM is easy to upgrade in it.

If I can upgrade the RAM, what RAM do I need?

If I can put an SSD in it, what all do I need besides the SSD to do that? Can I just get a standard SSD to put in there?

cyxx
Oct 1, 2005

Byon!

Gwaihir posted:

Microsoft themselves has a tool that creates USB installers from windows ISO images. You download the tool + windows image, plug in a drive, then run the tool and it will format the drive and extract the installer to it. Installing from a USB3 drive to an SSD will take barely 5 minutes. I haven't touched a dvd in forever, and it's great.

Now I just have to work on getting a dell win8 ISO, thanks!

Apparently I'm bad a computering because managed to strip a torx screw after getting my ssd in there and I can't open the back panel. am I hosed?

butt dickus
Jul 7, 2007

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

cyxx posted:

Apparently I'm bad a computering because managed to strip a torx screw after getting my ssd in there and I can't open the back panel. am I hosed?
Were you actually using a Torx driver or were you trying to work it with a flathead? If you were using a something other than the correct driver, a Torx bit will probably still work, they're hard to completely strip. If you actually stripped a Torx screw (which is pretty impressive) then there are still a few ways to get it out.
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/02/the-12-best-ways-to-remove-stripped-screws/

cyxx
Oct 1, 2005

Byon!

Doctor rear end in a top hat posted:

Were you actually using a Torx driver or were you trying to work it with a flathead? If you were using a something other than the correct driver, a Torx bit will probably still work, they're hard to completely strip. If you actually stripped a Torx screw (which is pretty impressive) then there are still a few ways to get it out.
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/02/the-12-best-ways-to-remove-stripped-screws/

I swung by Frys in 18 degree weather to get a cheapo torx driver, even though the manual said I only needed a phillips for the XPS15.

I'm not sure how I stripped it, I wasn't using that much force and it just stripped. It's tiny too (T4) I think so none of the methods in the link would work that well (or at least I'm too scared to try it)

Inspector_666
Oct 7, 2003

benny with the good hair

cyxx posted:

Now I just have to work on getting a dell win8 ISO, thanks!


I assume the computer came with Windows 8? You can just get in touch with Dell support and they will send you a thumbdrive.

QuarkJets
Sep 8, 2008

tijag posted:

So, the Lenovo Y510p might be perfect if I can put an SSD in that ultrabay, and if the RAM is easy to upgrade in it.

If I can upgrade the RAM, what RAM do I need?

If I can put an SSD in it, what all do I need besides the SSD to do that? Can I just get a standard SSD to put in there?

A standard SATA3 SSD drive works, but you also need to get a caddy that holds the drive in the ultrabay. There are a bunch of them, pretty much any 9.5mm hard drive caddy should do. This one should work

8GB of DDR3 RAM should be plenty for a very long time, but there is one slot open. I don't know much about upgrading the RAM but it should be relatively easy to do. How much RAM were you thinking you'd need?

tijag
Aug 6, 2002

QuarkJets posted:

A standard SATA3 SSD drive works, but you also need to get a caddy that holds the drive in the ultrabay. There are a bunch of them, pretty much any 9.5mm hard drive caddy should do. This one should work

8GB of DDR3 RAM should be plenty for a very long time, but there is one slot open. I don't know much about upgrading the RAM but it should be relatively easy to do. How much RAM were you thinking you'd need?

8GB is problably plenty, and I don't need to upgrade that at the moment, I'm more interested that I could if I needed to.

So that caddy that you linked + this SSD and I'm good to go?

Is there a tool for transferring the OS to the SSD?

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!

tijag posted:

8GB is problably plenty, and I don't need to upgrade that at the moment, I'm more interested that I could if I needed to.

So that caddy that you linked + this SSD and I'm good to go?

Is there a tool for transferring the OS to the SSD?

You could go big with an 8GBx2 RAM kit for 16GB if you really want

Use Macrium Reflect (Free) to copy your OS to the new drive.

cyxx
Oct 1, 2005

Byon!

Inspector_666 posted:

I assume the computer came with Windows 8? You can just get in touch with Dell support and they will send you a thumbdrive.

Just got off the phone with them and they are sending over Win8 on a flash drive. Thanks!

theDOWmustflow
Mar 24, 2009

lmao pwnd gg~
Are Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales for laptops actually sales or are they "sales"? I remember looking at some purported "deals" which were cheaper because the models had shittier specs.

WorldWarWonderful
Jul 15, 2004
Eh?
After a tonne of waffling on what to get (laptop died recently and it needs replacing), I think I've finally settled on the new Yoga 11s. Now it's just seeing if I can hold out for a Canadian sale. I just figured that each device has a compromise, and the resolution is probably the one I can ignore the easiest. As nice as the Surface Pros are, I'm a huge laptop-on-my-lap user and after trying the new Surfaces out I just can't get behind it, and need something more traditional.

Now to find out the battery life. That resolution hurts though :(

Edit: Yoga Pro 2 is only 30 dollars more and has a much higher resolution (although less ram) so I'd probably go with that instead. But the processor eats more power aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh.

WorldWarWonderful fucked around with this message at 01:19 on Nov 14, 2013

spwrozek
Sep 4, 2006

Sail when it's windy

WorldWarWonderful posted:

After a tonne of waffling on what to get (laptop died recently and it needs replacing), I think I've finally settled on the new Yoga 11s. Now it's just seeing if I can hold out for a Canadian sale. I just figured that each device has a compromise, and the resolution is probably the one I can ignore the easiest. As nice as the Surface Pros are, I'm a huge laptop-on-my-lap user and after trying the new Surfaces out I just can't get behind it, and need something more traditional.

Now to find out the battery life. That resolution hurts though :(

Edit: Yoga Pro 2 is only 30 dollars more and has a much higher resolution (although less ram) so I'd probably go with that instead. But the processor eats more power aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh.

I bought the 11s last week. It is pretty nice. I don't find the resolution being a problem at all (the screen is smaller anyways). If you are just interneting around the battery last about 7-8 hours. I haven't had a chance to check it out while gaming and such though.

nerdrum
Aug 17, 2007

where am I
Just got a Samsung Ativ book 9 plus (the worst named laptop in the industry)

the 3200x1800 resolution is great aside from the fact that photoshop even with dpi scaling to 200% is so unbelievably small that it's useless. Is there a per app DPI faker like they have on android phones that can allow this thing to not look like a pile of poo poo or require me to downscale the resolution to 1080 to make it usable?

Chris Christie
Dec 26, 2012

by FactsAreUseless
Can a kind computer-parts literate goon(s) help me out?

I want to buy a new laptop that can play/display games at least as well as my current 4 year old PC.

Current Laptop:

HP Pavilion dv7 Circa 2009
-6GB ram
-Nvidia GeForce GT 230M
-Core i7 Q 720 @ 1.60 GHz

I want to minimize price, so I'm not looking to increase performance unless it doesn't cost me anything i.e. my pc is so outdated that even base level current hardware will look better. What I have plays games like Skyrim or Batman well enough for me and certainly better looking than on my XBOX.

I have no idea what current parts are equal to or better than what I have for running games.

Looking at amazon, Core i5 @ 1.80 GHz seem to be popular in the $500-$600 range pcs, 8gb ram, and the graphics cards are called mobile Intel HD. Is this as good as what I have?

If not, what current popular/common processors and graphics cards are?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT:

Found One I like for $599:

AMD A10-5757M 2.5GHz (4MB cache)
6 GB DDR3 RAM
750 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
15.6-Inch Screen, AMD Radeon HD 8750M Graphics

For the same price you can get the same laptop with an i5 1.8GHz and an Nvidia 720M graphics card, but comparisons I googled say both the AMD 8750 and the A10-5757 are superior.

Sound good if I'm satisfied with the performance of an Nvidia 230M and an i7 1.60 GHz ???

Chris Christie fucked around with this message at 04:28 on Nov 14, 2013

Naffer
Oct 26, 2004

Not a good chemist

nerdrum posted:

Is there a per app DPI faker like they have on android phones that can allow this thing to not look like a pile of poo poo or require me to downscale the resolution to 1080 to make it usable?

Not really. If an application doesn't report itself as DPI aware, windows 8.1 will automatically use bitmap scaling to scale it. If an application tells windows that it IS DPI aware, then Windows will believe it. There is no way to override this, which means that applications that report themselves as being DPI aware but suck at scaling will be broken in just the way you describe. It's primarily the fault of the individual applications for pretending to be DPI aware when they really aren't, and partially the fault of Windows for believing applications that claim to be DPI aware and not providing a way to override that.

89
Feb 24, 2006

#worldchamps
Sorry to bother about this again, kinda urgent but we're about to buy a Lenovo y510p for my girlfriend for grad school/gaming. Running $760 from that link in the OP. Sale ends in a few hours...can we do better for that price?

89 fucked around with this message at 03:39 on Nov 14, 2013

SeaGoatSupreme
Dec 26, 2009
Ask me about fixed-gear bikes (aka "fixies")

89 posted:

Sorry to bother about this again, kinda urgent but we're about to buy a Lenovo y510p for my girlfriend for grad school/gaming. Running $760 from that link in the OP. Sale ends in a few hours...can we do better for that price?

Not really. Pull the trigger and enjoy.

Srebrenica Surprise
Aug 23, 2008

"L-O-V-E's just another word I never learned to pronounce."
Buying a Y510p when the only gaming needed, from your post history, is going to be Minecraft seems a little.. excessive? The GT 755 is like "running Battlefield 3" graphics, which isn't ideal for a school environment. Wouldn't a T430 or something be better suited? Lenovo "sales" are continual and random, so you might want to do a little more research rather than getting pressured into a 6lb behemoth.

GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

Is there any reason I shouldn't get a Lenovo G710 for my Dad? He only does web browsing and email. $475 seems pretty drat good.

chocolateTHUNDER
Jul 19, 2008

GIVE ME ALL YOUR FREE AGENTS

ALL OF THEM
Ah gently caress. Does anyone know what happened to the HP Touchsmart 11? It dissappeared off their website :(

Lanky Coconut Tree
Apr 7, 2011

An angry tree.

The angriest tree
What's a good laptop for below 1k. I would like an ssd, maybe 128 gb. Runs Dota2 well. Can run and switch between VM's chugging to a halt. I'll only be running one VM though.

I'll just be using this as my movie and dotes machine, some messing around with a Mac VM if that's possible.

Also it should be available internationally.

theDOWmustflow
Mar 24, 2009

lmao pwnd gg~

GreenNight posted:

Is there any reason I shouldn't get a Lenovo G710 for my Dad? He only does web browsing and email. $475 seems pretty drat good.

If that's all he's doing why not get this? http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2351976

"" posted:

The Windows 8 OEM copy is $99 as well, so you're already at $185, haha. They're basically giving you the rest of the laptop for $45!

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!

theDOWmustflow posted:

Are Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales for laptops actually sales or are they "sales"? I remember looking at some purported "deals" which were cheaper because the models had shittier specs.

They are generally poo poo. Super cheap plastic cases, low end configs with 2 or 3GB of RAM, Celeron or Pentium CPU (or even worse, AMD's low end crap) etc.

But my mom's 15" $299 Acer is still kicking from 3 Christmases ago. I dropped in 4GB RAM and a 120GB SSD though.

GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.


No poo poo - looks perfect.

Twerk from Home
Jan 17, 2009

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

Lanky Coconut Tree posted:

What's a good laptop for below 1k. I would like an ssd, maybe 128 gb. Runs Dota2 well. Can run and switch between VM's chugging to a halt. I'll only be running one VM though.

I'll just be using this as my movie and dotes machine, some messing around with a Mac VM if that's possible.

Also it should be available internationally.

You want a $1000 machine with an SSD that runs OSX and plays Dota? How about a Mac?

Also, you'll need to let us know what country you're in, because laptop pricing varies wildly and "available internationally" isn't specific enough.

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!

chocolateTHUNDER posted:

Ah gently caress. Does anyone know what happened to the HP Touchsmart 11? It dissappeared off their website :(

HP pulled the Chromebooks because of a charging problem -

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/11/reports-of-overheating-chargers-halt-hp-chromebook-11-sales/

So maybe someone fat-fingered it or they just weren't selling and they took them offline.

Lanky Coconut Tree
Apr 7, 2011

An angry tree.

The angriest tree

Weinertron posted:

You want a $1000 machine with an SSD that runs OSX and plays Dota? How about a Mac?

Also, you'll need to let us know what country you're in, because laptop pricing varies wildly and "available internationally" isn't specific enough.

The majority of my time will be spent in Windows. 1000 is the limit, preferably something below that. And I'm in Malaysia.

antiga
Jan 16, 2013

Bob Morales posted:

Black Friday stuff

I'm in the market for an outlet thinkpad, am I being dumb by waiting for BF? I vaguely recall there being a sale last year.

QuarkJets
Sep 8, 2008

tijag posted:

8GB is problably plenty, and I don't need to upgrade that at the moment, I'm more interested that I could if I needed to.

So that caddy that you linked + this SSD and I'm good to go?

Is there a tool for transferring the OS to the SSD?

Yes, and yes. I would recommend trying to get your hands on an OEM Windows Install disc (or USB stick) and just starting fresh, though

Nickelodeon Household
Apr 11, 2010

I like chocolate MIIIILK
Well, after a ridiculously long-time fighting with Lenovo over a defective laptop, they've finally agreed to issue me a refund. That said, I'm in the market for a new laptop again. I know the T430 is the default go-to in this thread, but they're poo poo and have defective wifi adapters (or at least ones that aren't compatible with Win8). I'm not opposed to another Lenovo, but I'm pretty much soured on the T430 at this point.

Recommend me a good laptop that:
Base price under $750
Windows 7

Which options/features should I be trying to obtain; which should I avoid?

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

spregalia posted:

Well, after a ridiculously long-time fighting with Lenovo over a defective laptop, they've finally agreed to issue me a refund. That said, I'm in the market for a new laptop again. I know the T430 is the default go-to in this thread, but they're poo poo and have defective wifi adapters (or at least ones that aren't compatible with Win8). I'm not opposed to another Lenovo, but I'm pretty much soured on the T430 at this point.

Recommend me a good laptop that:
Base price under $750
Windows 7

Which options/features should I be trying to obtain; which should I avoid?

You should buy a $30 Intel wifi adapter instead.

But you need to rethink your requirements, because your only requirements are "most common OS on Earth" and "runs 4 year old operating system".

Weight? Battery life? Intended usage?

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!

Don't you have to have a certain wifi card to work with the BIOS of the T-series? Or do you mean buy the 'good' OEM wifi card for that model?

chocolateTHUNDER
Jul 19, 2008

GIVE ME ALL YOUR FREE AGENTS

ALL OF THEM

Bob Morales posted:

HP pulled the Chromebooks because of a charging problem -

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/11/reports-of-overheating-chargers-halt-hp-chromebook-11-sales/

So maybe someone fat-fingered it or they just weren't selling and they took them offline.

The Touchsmart 11 wasn't a Chromebook, though :v: it was their 11.6 inch screen notebook option.

http://www.officedepot.com/a/produc..._Tablets_898526

^^^ it was cheaper on HP's website though.

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

Bob Morales posted:

Don't you have to have a certain wifi card to work with the BIOS of the T-series? Or do you mean buy the 'good' OEM wifi card for that model?

The "good" OEM card, though I'm pretty sure that any Intel card will work in a T-series anyway.

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shrughes
Oct 11, 2008

(call/cc call/cc)
Apparently the T440p doesn't have a BIOS option to disable the 730M:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/737159-t440p-first-impressions-4.html#post9448143

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