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I recently got given an oldish laptop without a hard drive. It's a HP Compaq nc8230, and it's worked fine (apart from the speakers being hosed) with an ubuntu live cd. I'm trying to figure out what hdd to get for it, since I don't currently have a laptop. It was missing the drive caddy, and I've ordered one to replace it. What I can't figure out is whether it needs an IDE drive or a SATA. Various websites seem to say it needs IDE, but the BIOS has a "SATA mode" setting. Anyone got any idea about this model?
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# ? Dec 16, 2013 02:12 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 23:28 |
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AlphaDog posted:I recently got given an oldish laptop without a hard drive. It's a HP Compaq nc8230, and it's worked fine (apart from the speakers being hosed) with an ubuntu live cd. Open it up to make sure (probably one whole screw keeps the HD cover on) but I am guessing it's IDE since it has a Pentium-M. Creep around Craigslist for an 80GB drive because buying a new 160GB or larger drive (the biggest you can go with 2.5" ATA is 320GB) is going to cost you $100+ and you might as well just buy another used laptop for that much.
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# ? Dec 16, 2013 02:55 |
I appreciate the points made. I wanted a big screen/resolution because I don't plan to buy a monitor in the next year or two due to moving around (possibly to another country). I looked at the B&N link 1080p Y510 and it starts at 849 plus I'd have to pay tax/shipping. This was 700 with no tax/shipping. It would have kept adding up to go with the Lenovo. I read the slickdeals thread about this and people were not reporting any major issues. A lot of the Amazon reviews are mixed too. Some good, some bad. We'll see what happens! Thanks for the help guys.
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# ? Dec 16, 2013 03:20 |
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Bob Morales posted:Open it up to make sure (probably one whole screw keeps the HD cover on) but I am guessing it's IDE since it has a Pentium-M. Yeah, that's what I feared. I think I have an old 2.5" IDE drive somewhere, and if not I can take one out of another semi-working laptop that's a bit older. How do I actually tell whether it's SATA or IDE though? I'm unfamiliar with laptop stuff in general. fake edit: Also, I'm now slightly unsure exactly what model this laptop is. The model number on the screen bezel is nc8230, but the HP service tag on the bottom says it's an nc8430, and a sticker placed near the keyboard says it's "Centrino Duo" rather than Pentium-M. real edit: I looked in the BIOS again, and it's a HP Compaq nc8430, Intel Core2 T7200. I assume it's had the screen and/or lid replaced at some point, it used to be a corporate laptop but my mate grabbed it for me when they were chucking it out. In the BIOS, under System Config > Device Config, there's an option for SATA Native Mode enable/disable. I assume that means it's a SATA drive I need? Or is it some retarded setup where the optical drive is SATA and the HDD is still IDE? Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 06:49 on Dec 16, 2013 |
# ? Dec 16, 2013 06:46 |
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All the drive caddies being sold for that model are SATA. You should be free to use an SATA drive of the correct size (You're going to have to figure that out yourself.) Right. Yeah, the BIOS should be fine to trust. Especially if it is reporting the Core2. As far as the physical size of the HDD, 2.5" has been standard for years, it would be good if you had one to test out the caddy with once it arrives. P.N.T.M. fucked around with this message at 07:26 on Dec 16, 2013 |
# ? Dec 16, 2013 07:17 |
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I think it's OK - the spec sheet for the 8430 lists the drive as SATA, and 8430 is the model reported by the BIOS. I was originally googling 8230 because that's the model that's on the screen bezel. I figure there's very little chance the BIOS is reporting it as the wrong model number, so assuming it's an 8430, I'm good to go with a SATA drive, which is awesome. IF it doesn't fit, gently caress it, I'll just mount the little drive in my fiancee's desktop as extra storage, which she needs anyway.
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# ? Dec 16, 2013 07:20 |
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AlphaDog posted:How do I actually tell whether it's SATA or IDE though? Look at the connector. If it's a big rectangle of holes, it's IDE:
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# ? Dec 16, 2013 07:27 |
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Fathis Munk posted:So the ASUS T100 doesn't get bogged down by normal internet/youtube/office usage ? I should say I don't own one, and i've only ever played around with a friend of mines a little bit, but it was really zippy. Some of the more extensive tests of it I've seen have placed its performance at equal to, or around 25% or so slower, depending on the test, than a last gen core i3 mobile processor. Play around with one some at a store. They cut some corners to be as cheap as they are, but on the whole I've been impressed enough that I kinda want to pick one up myself, and I already own a surface pro 2.
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# ? Dec 16, 2013 10:26 |
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I'm seriously thinking of getting a laptop within the next couple months. My budget is going to be right around $1300, and I want a 13" that can play games (WoW, Civ 5, Steam games, etc) decently well, and allow me to watch dumb streams on Twitch, Netflix etc but is also fairly portable. I currently have my eye on the Lenovo Y410p (which my partner got earlier on this year, and loves), but I've been hearing good things about the Acer Aspire V7-482PG, and I'm wondering how they compare, plus if there's any big hardware changes I should be waiting on since Haswell is already out. I know the Acer is lighter and supposedly has a better screen, which would be a serious plus for me, but I'm worried about the fact that it only comes with the stupid 24GB caching SSD + HD option. Would I be able to replace the hard drive myself with something more decent? Also, since I'm not planning to keep the laptop for more than a couple years, do I need to worry about build quality, warranties and support and so on? I ask this more wrt the Acer, since Lenovo seems to have decent support. Lastly, I know an MBA or MBP is out of my price range (or at least it would be for what I want a laptop for), but I can't help drooling after one anyway. The screens on those things, goddamn. Flash is still terrible on OSX, though, right? I'd be wasting my time saving up for one, right??
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# ? Dec 16, 2013 17:26 |
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babydonthurtme posted:I currently have my eye on the Lenovo Y410p (which my partner got earlier on this year, and loves), but I've been hearing good things about the Acer Aspire V7-482PG, and I'm wondering how they compare, plus if there's any big hardware changes I should be waiting on since Haswell is already out. Given the huge difference between Lenovo's Thinkpad line and the Ideapads, and the separate support, I don't think there's much reason to worry about the build quality or support in relative terms. The Ideapad is built (and supported) like a regular consumer laptop, not like a Thinkpad, and so if you're already considering it the V7 is, from all accounts, equal to or better build quality. Macbooks are fantastic but they won't play games nearly as well as either of these systems. You might check HD5000 benchmarks. The T440p or the P645 might be options to look into, although if you're only keeping them for a couple years and you care about graphics performance you're probably better off getting a cheaper system and saving the rest to buy another one down the road. e: Here's a good review of the V7, although it's the upgraded version with the i7 and a 1TB drive, that doesn't affect much. e2: also see the P34G which might be a nice system too Srebrenica Surprise fucked around with this message at 23:26 on Dec 16, 2013 |
# ? Dec 16, 2013 17:45 |
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The Mushkin Enhanced Atlas Deluxe mSATA 240GB SSD is currently $194, and the Samsung Evo 2.5" SATA 250GB is $169. You also have to hope that the mSATA slot in the V7 is SATA3 6.0Gbps. It probably is, but some manufacturers don't have it that way. (Assuming you are looking at the the second-tier 13" MBPr model) If you buy a MBP, you are going to be sitting there with $1600 less in your bank account, saying "Boy, this is a swell laptop." And that's it. You will have a hard time finding a reason to ever want to upgrade it. Chances are, as a normal user, you'll have very little problems with a hard storage limit of 256GB, but if you do, there are plenty of external options. You will most likely never use Thunderbolt, except on the rare occasion you need to dongle it out to something like VGA or a hub of some manner. It will leave you in want of nothing. It just works really darn well. If you opt for the $1300 model, you will not be as happy. 128GB max storage, and 4GB of RAM...its meant to be a work horse with very little room to play. All MBP models are meant to be for work, not for play. Any sales pitch you see, detailing their graphical prowess is really just meant to say "These machines will run Final Cut Pro X like a demon..." The Apple emphasis on streamlined functionality is all for professionals to appreciate, and consumers to lap up. The application ecosystem on MacOS does have cross-over programs, but for the most part you will be sustained by the native applications. It is a new environment for most and it has its perks, but you wont find yourself any more satisfied with the laptop beyond it looking and running like a champ for years. One thing it wont do is play many games. The machine is definitely meant for more work than play; AAA titles are often not accessible on MacOS.
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# ? Dec 16, 2013 18:36 |
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babydonthurtme posted:I'm seriously thinking of getting a laptop within the next couple months. My budget is going to be right around $1300, and I want a 13" that can play games (WoW, Civ 5, Steam games, etc) decently well, and allow me to watch dumb streams on Twitch, Netflix etc but is also fairly portable. I currently have my eye on the Lenovo Y410p (which my partner got earlier on this year, and loves), but I've been hearing good things about the Acer Aspire V7-482PG, and I'm wondering how they compare, plus if there's any big hardware changes I should be waiting on since Haswell is already out. Unless you need a Mac for some specific reason, then I'd say yes, you'd be wasting your time saving up for one. You should buy a cheaper laptop that suits your needs, such as the Y410p or that Acer that you mentioned. If you're interested in a faster hard drive, upgrading to an SSD yourself should always be an option unless it's an Apple product. Try googling around on that Acer, see if others have been able to install their own SSDs or if the product manual describes how to remove the hard drive. I'll bet that it's actually pretty easy, just like on the Y410p. A couple of years is plenty of time for any laptop with any build quality, so that's not something that you should have to worry about on that time scale.
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# ? Dec 16, 2013 19:53 |
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I haven't seen this model mentioned here, and finding reviews online right now is providing me with zero results. Does anyone have anything to say about the ThinkPad T540p? I'm in the market for a new machine, this seems like it would suit my needs but any experience would be helpful. Thank you.
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# ? Dec 16, 2013 21:05 |
Anyone know how MSI's build quality is and/or what their screens and maybe keyboards are typically like? I have an amazing desktop and want a "laptop" that can play games as well as a laptop reasonably can; the 750M looks pretty lovely even in SLI compared to the 770 or 780M for modern games. I don't care about shinies, but it seems like anything short of a 770 is hard-pressed to get good fps at any settings in games like BF4. I don't care about battery life or prettiness or whatever, I'm not going to be carrying it around or trying to use it on an airplane or anything, just want to be able to play games since I could be away from home for a week or two or three at a time. It's so tempting to drop like $3K on a Sager with SLI 780s and a handful of drives in it, I see there are some crazy desktop replacements out there now, but I couldn't live with myself if I spent twice as much on a laptop as my desktop is worth, since I'll still be using my desktop most of the time. But I see nicely specced but ugly MSIs and Toshibas for like $1300 and that's not impossible to justify given I'm posting this from a 3 year old netbook... edit: actually, pretty much ignore that post, I just double checked and it's possible to get a Sager with a 770M for $1200-1300 which sounds like a pretty fantastic deal, unless anyone has other ideas? Straker fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Dec 16, 2013 |
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# ? Dec 16, 2013 21:05 |
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So I got an Acer C720 Chromebook, and I'm pretty pleased aside from the fact that the RAM is directly on the board and therefore not user replaceable. What the hell, Acer? Not cool.
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# ? Dec 16, 2013 23:09 |
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Philip Rivers posted:So I got an Acer C720 Chromebook, and I'm pretty pleased aside from the fact that the RAM is directly on the board and therefore not user replaceable. What the hell, Acer? Not cool. This is a fairly common thing these days especially in Ultrabooks and all Chromebooks.
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 00:00 |
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Straker posted:Anyone know how MSI's build quality is and/or what their screens and maybe keyboards are typically like? I have an amazing desktop and want a "laptop" that can play games as well as a laptop reasonably can; the 750M looks pretty lovely even in SLI compared to the 770 or 780M for modern games. I don't care about shinies, but it seems like anything short of a 770 is hard-pressed to get good fps at any settings in games like BF4. I don't care about battery life or prettiness or whatever, I'm not going to be carrying it around or trying to use it on an airplane or anything, just want to be able to play games since I could be away from home for a week or two or three at a time. I get good fps in every modern game that I have tried on the 750m, who or what is telling you otherwise?
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 00:04 |
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Philip Rivers posted:So I got an Acer C720 Chromebook, and I'm pretty pleased aside from the fact that the RAM is directly on the board and therefore not user replaceable. What the hell, Acer? Not cool. I've recommended those to several people, who have all been seriously impressed with them (as was I). But yeah, that's kind of a thing now. I've been trying to find a MSRP 4GB one and they're sold out everywhere.
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 00:06 |
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I was actually quite shocked when I looked at some old netbook in the closet and found a RAM access panel on the bottom.
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 00:48 |
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Sendo posted:This is a fairly common thing these days especially in Ultrabooks and all Chromebooks. Swappable ram makes them too thick. So do ethernet ports.
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 00:58 |
QuarkJets posted:I get good fps in every modern game that I have tried on the 750m, who or what is telling you otherwise? I don't need ultra settings but 1080p would be nice... what are you running stuff at (and thanks for the response regardless)?
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 01:07 |
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Aphrodite posted:Swappable ram makes them too thick. If the Vaio Z could squeeze in an ethernet port then I don't see why others can't. Similarly, they could fit a RAM slot into the motherboard without significantly affecting thickness if they're willing to cut a hole in the motherboard, but I doubt that's a standard component. The thing is, 99% of consumers aren't going to swap RAM, especially now that everything has 4 GB. I wish they did have ethernet ports, though -- I managed to save a relative of mine $500 every month or two in "tech support" expenses by telling them to plug their laptop in directly with an ethernet cable instead of trying to use wireless when the router was 6 feet away.
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 02:02 |
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shrughes posted:If the Vaio Z could squeeze in an ethernet port then I don't see why others can't. The Vaio Z is still considerably thicker than most current Ultrabooks, hell we're reaching the point where USB ports are the limiting factor in thickness.
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 02:27 |
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Srebrenica Surprise posted:Macbooks are fantastic but they won't play games nearly as well as either of these systems. You might check HD5000 benchmarks. The T440p or the P645 might be options to look into, although if you're only keeping them for a couple years and you care about graphics performance you're probably better off getting a cheaper system and saving the rest to buy another one down the road. P.N.T.M. posted:You also have to hope that the mSATA slot in the V7 is SATA3 6.0Gbps. It probably is, but some manufacturers don't have it that way. P.N.T.M. posted:(Assuming you are looking at the the second-tier 13" MBPr model) QuarkJets posted:Unless you need a Mac for some specific reason, then I'd say yes, you'd be wasting your time saving up for one. You should buy a cheaper laptop that suits your needs, such as the Y410p or that Acer that you mentioned.
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 03:13 |
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Heya, heres a post i made elsewhere.quote:I'm looking at getting a new Windows lappie and wondering what brands or makes might be best. I'm in Australia if it makes a difference, and wanna keep costs under a grand. I don't care too much about physical weight or size, I'd prefer its workings be reasonably beefy. I'd use it mostly for storage, work, and some smaller games and light photoshopping. Should I just try to go for the default thinkpad recommendation from the OP? I've never even heard of them before.
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 06:19 |
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Corridor posted:Should I just try to go for the default thinkpad recommendation from the OP? I've never even heard of them before. Under a grand is pretty tough to get something decent in Australia to the point that I can't even think of anything to recommend that's current gen, the Lenovo/ThinkPad stuff in the OP doesn't really apply as none of that is available here or if it is it's much more expensive.
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 06:37 |
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Lame. Would it cost tons to ship from the US? Australia why are you such fuckers about consumer tech
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 06:52 |
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Mr Hands Colon posted:I haven't seen this model mentioned here, and finding reviews online right now is providing me with zero results. Does anyone have anything to say about the ThinkPad T540p? I'm in the market for a new machine, this seems like it would suit my needs but any experience would be helpful. Thank you. I don't think anyone has one yet. There are some general dislikes about the direction the new Thinkpads are going (case design, lack of mouse buttons, numeric keypad) but it should still be a solid system e. Also the preference here is for smaller models - even the T440p is a lot more portable and you don't really lose anything going down a size (same choices of resolutions either way)
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 06:54 |
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Corridor posted:Lame. Would it cost tons to ship from the US? Amusingly (to me) a lot of models are actually cheaper in New Zealand (in NZD) than they are in Australia despite our currency being far weaker.
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 06:59 |
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Straker posted:Everything that I've seen, I just looked for some random review real quick and found http://www.notebookcheck.net/Battlefield-4-Benchmarked.105583.0.html I certainly don't run them at Ultra Preset AA:4x MS, which is probably where you're looking because that's the only choice for 1080p benchmarks (and then they have a useless column for 1024x768 resolutions ) The 1366x768 High Preset is probably about the worst case of what you could expect at 1920x1080 Medium Preset: around 30 FPS, easy to play and still quite pretty. Try this article, instead; the 755M is what comes in every Y510p and it can play just about anything at medium settings without issue, but it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. The GT-750M performs only slightly worse but plays everything fine (with the notable exception of CoH2 for some reason) If you don't need ultra settings at 1080p then you don't need anymore more powerful than the 755M
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 07:09 |
No, I was just looking at the 768p figures and I mean, there's no way it'd run at higher framerates at 1080p at the same settings, which is why I said 1080p would be nice but that I don't need ultra Thanks though, I thought the y510p also had a 750M, seems like the 755 might be worth considering!
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 07:20 |
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You might also consider a 1600x900 14" display. That's what I have on my Y410p. It has the same GPU as the Y510p, has approximately the same pixel density as the Y510p, but it gets slightly better performance simply because of the slightly smaller resolution. I also prefer the smaller size of a 14" laptop vs 15.6"
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 07:33 |
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Mr Hands Colon posted:I haven't seen this model mentioned here, and finding reviews online right now is providing me with zero results. Does anyone have anything to say about the ThinkPad T540p? I'm in the market for a new machine, this seems like it would suit my needs but any experience would be helpful. Thank you. If your use-case calls for the T540p, then no one here is going to tell you otherwise. The reason reviews are so scarce is because that model debuted less than a month ago, but it is part of a very respected line of laptops. If you are unsure, please state your needs and someone can probably point out a better fit. babydonthurtme posted:I just wish laptop manufacturers could catch up to Apple's build quality, there's really something to be said for sweet engineering that doesn't compromise too much on performance as well. I understand it's difficult since they're working with smaller form factors etc, but I just want my ThinkMacBookPro now Its nigh-impossible. Apple only has to care about 2 laptops (with various parts in each), the MBA and the MBP. With all of their resources and brain-power, they have a very special advantage when it comes to creating performance machines. They can focus on user experience, beveled edges and everything in between because they only have to care about 2 models. It isn't easy, and what they do is great, but there isn't a company creating PC laptops that has managed to do the same, and there really shouldn't be. Sony does "designer" laptops (and electronics for that matter) really well, but its the exception that proves the rule. Corridor posted:I don't care too much about physical weight or size, I'd prefer its workings be reasonably beefy. I'd use it mostly for storage, work, and some smaller games and light photoshopping. So Australia pricing is whack a doodlie high. A previous poster in this thread opted for the Thinkpad Edge series, which are "Affordable" (read: Between $500 - >$1000AUD, less durable materials used in construction). The E540 has a $799 model which fits your case, with two caveats. 1. It only has HD4600 graphics. A lot of people discount integrated graphics, but HD4600 can handle Skyrim on low setings etc etc. Small games should be fine. 2. The screen resolution is 1366x768 on a 15.6" screen. It's going to feel like a magnifying glass sometimes. It is a touch-screen, so there's that. AND There is the 14" L440 for $899 A more durable build if the sales pitch is to be believed. Same graphics, same resolution, NOT A TOUCH SCREEN. I stress the touch screen because right now there are three ways to use Windows 8 on a laptop:
It's important to understand that with a touchscreen, Win8 is a very interesting step forward for PCs. Without a touchscreen, the new interface becomes a nuisance, one which only takes a few hours of tweaking to nullify. I am currently running Win8.1 and I only ever see the Metro UI when I purposefully want to. Otherwise, my Win key shows me a list of all my programs.
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 07:33 |
QuarkJets posted:You might also consider a 1600x900 14" display. That's what I have on my Y410p. It has the same GPU as the Y510p, has approximately the same pixel density as the Y510p, but it gets slightly better performance simply because of the slightly smaller resolution. I also prefer the smaller size of a 14" laptop vs 15.6"
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 07:48 |
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P.N.T.M. posted:I stress the touch screen because right now there are three ways to use Windows 8 on a laptop: 4. Buy a Windows 8 laptop with a touchscreen, relaise the touchscreen is a terrible gimmick THEN tweak Windows 8 to actually work as it should (doesn't take long). Seriously touchscreens don't belong on laptops - there is no reason to use one when you have room for much more convenient input devices
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 08:14 |
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Straker posted:Ooh, I kinda wanted a bigger screen since it doesn't have to be very portable, but $770 for a 900p Y410P and 755M seems pretty compelling. Already have a 250GB SSD on the way too since newegg had a targeted 24 hour 15% off promo... is there anywhere to get official ultrabay caddies at a reasonable price or do I just buy whatever off ebay and hope for the best? The caddies are just as cheap on Amazon, and often cheaper, but you get a real retailer and can do chargebacks and the like. Get the 9.5mm caddy, not the 12.7mm one Here's one: http://www.amazon.com/2nd-Drive-LEN...+ultrabay+caddy
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 09:10 |
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shrughes posted:If the Vaio Z could squeeze in an ethernet port then I don't see why others can't. Similarly, they could fit a RAM slot into the motherboard without significantly affecting thickness if they're willing to cut a hole in the motherboard, but I doubt that's a standard component. The thing is, 99% of consumers aren't going to swap RAM, especially now that everything has 4 GB. I'm with you, I think the Vaio Z was fine. We're getting to a point with laptops that's akin to that with phones. We keep making it thinner for no good purpose. I've never, ever thought my Vaio Z12 was heavy in any way (~1.4kg) yet it has room for an optical drive as well as its built in RAID SSDs. (I replaced the optical drive now with another SSD). My girlfriend's Vaio S13 (Premium, Magnesium/Carbon Fibre, i7-3540M!) is also a wonderful thing, and knowing down the line I could swap the optical drive out for another large SSD is icing. My preference is for light (<1.6kg) laptops that are 13" that have discrete graphics, no touchscreen, matte finish preferable, etc.. and a DPI that's usable at 100%. So 13" 1600x900 is basically perfect in my eyes. Nothing grabs my attention that much right now, and I'm happy with the Z still. HalloKitty fucked around with this message at 10:49 on Dec 17, 2013 |
# ? Dec 17, 2013 10:38 |
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Sendo posted:The Vaio Z is still considerably thicker than most current Ultrabooks, hell we're reaching the point where USB ports are the limiting factor in thickness. No, it's thinner than most current ultrabooks. Also, if you're thick enough for a full-size USB port, then you're thick enough for an ethernet port. Heck, most ultrabooks could fit an ethernet port without even needing a hinge, if they didn't feel the need to taper their edges.
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 12:27 |
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P.N.T.M. posted:It's important to understand that with a touchscreen, Win8 is a very interesting step forward for PCs. Without a touchscreen, the new interface becomes a nuisance, one which only takes a few hours of tweaking to nullify. I am currently running Win8.1 and I only ever see the Metro UI when I purposefully want to. Otherwise, my Win key shows me a list of all my programs. Thanks for all the info but I was very much hoping to get a machine without Win8
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 16:04 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 23:28 |
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Windows 8 with Classic Shell is like a better Windows 7. I have never used the Metro interface, except when I go full tablet mode to watch Netflix, read Kindle books, or play silly touch games. This should be in the OP somewhere.
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# ? Dec 17, 2013 16:09 |