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And you can get much better stuff now at a much better price than you could in 2006, when I did two years of travel hell.
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Jan 1, 2014 21:20
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Hey all, Looking into buying a laptop mostly for photoshop purposes and day to day work and don't plan on doing any gaming. Do I need something with a dedicated videocard or will an onboard card do the trick?
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Jan 1, 2014 21:52
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sanosuke21 posted:Hey all, You don't need dedicated graphics but you do need a good quality display - this is going to seriously narrow down your choices
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Jan 1, 2014 22:51
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dissss posted:You don't need dedicated graphics but you do need a good quality display - this is going to seriously narrow down your choices Photoshop can do operations that are GPU accelerated too. I have no idea how that scales or what is reasonable for it, though.
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Jan 1, 2014 22:53
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HalloKitty posted:Photoshop can do operations that are GPU accelerated too. I have no idea how that scales or what is reasonable for it, though. Photoshop is perfectly usable with just onboard. It is not, however, usable with a cruddy display.
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Jan 1, 2014 22:55
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I'm glad that most companies finally got the message about using nice displays in their latops, but I wish they had gone with 16:10 instead of 16:9. I would just buy a macbook but I actually like touchscreens 
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Jan 1, 2014 23:07
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Chop Suey posted:I read through this thread a few months ago and went back and forth... back and forth... never pulling the trigger. I really need to make a decision now. Laptop is for the wife. Anyone have thoughts on this? Is this ok or am I paying to much / not getting what I need?
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Jan 1, 2014 23:33
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That's a bit much to pay for a Zenbook that's a generation old, though the laptop itself is one of the best last generation ultrabooks. I don't really have a better suggestion for you, maybe one of the new 14" Thinkpads would be decent. There also might be an Acer (V7? Not sure) that has gotten decent reviews and would be under $800. You're basically paying a premium for the display with the Zenbook, also, so if she'll use it with the monitor often you can go for something with a Haswell and a poorer display.
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Jan 2, 2014 01:08
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vty posted:When my entire job/freelancing/etc is wrapped around a device I carry every day you can be damned sure I'm going to splurge on it. I've never had a laptop that wasn't in the $1400-2k range. Typically MBPs, Vaio Zs and most recently the 2013 Samsung S9 (pre-ATIV). Makes total sense. My employer provides thinkpads and in my 1 year of service I haven't heard of one breaking. But thinkpads get recommended here a lot to people who just use want a laptop for the couch and I think that's maybe a bit excessive. As for me I'd like a nicer display and more pep rather than being space rated and vibration proof machine that will last far longer than is useful or necessary. I still have an old thinkpad from the mid 90's in a box somewhere that is in perfect physical and mechanical shape but obviously too slow to do anything, and has been for over a decade. Is there no middle ground where a machine can survive 6 years of use without falling apart but isnt needlessly built to outlast a space station? l
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Jan 2, 2014 01:49
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(Location dependent) if you wait for a decent sale you can get a Thinkpad for a pretty competitive price and they've even (only recently) started providing some decent display options.
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Jan 2, 2014 02:44
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RVProfootballer posted:That's a bit much to pay for a Zenbook that's a generation old, though the laptop itself is one of the best last generation ultrabooks. I don't really have a better suggestion for you, maybe one of the new 14" Thinkpads would be decent. There also might be an Acer (V7? Not sure) that has gotten decent reviews and would be under $800. You're basically paying a premium for the display with the Zenbook, also, so if she'll use it with the monitor often you can go for something with a Haswell and a poorer display. Thanks for the input. I'm guessing she would use the monitor less than the actual laptop. I avoid Acer because I bought one back in 2009 and it started falling apart in 6 months and broke down within a year. Had it repaired at a service center for free and then it broke again within a month or two (issue with the motherboard/power supply). Haswell would be nice, but 99% of the time she will be using it near an outlet so the power savings aren't that big of a deal. Do you know much about that graphics card on the zenbook (Intel GMA HD)? It's my main concern.
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Jan 2, 2014 04:48
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The intel graphics are fine, see the third or fourth post on the first page it walks you through framerates for various games. As long as your mom doesn't need to play battlefield 4 she should be fine for doing regular mom things.
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Jan 2, 2014 04:52
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Hadlock posted:The intel graphics are fine, see the third or fourth post on the first page it walks you through framerates for various games. As long as your mom doesn't need to play battlefield 4 she should be fine for doing regular mom things. Not sure if you're talking to me or not. If you are... it's for my wife and she likes to play League of Legends and Rocksmith (guitar learning game). Also isn't the 'Intel GMA HD' a lesser card than the 'Intel 4000'? At least that's what I've been reading.
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Jan 2, 2014 05:03
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GMA is the predecessor to Intel HD. They don't actually have GMA, that's just a lazy product listing.
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Jan 2, 2014 05:44
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All i3/i5/i7 have the HD4000 in Ivy Bridge and HD4600 or better in Haswell Microsoft uses rocksmith 2014 to show off it's surface pro and the hd4000 so I would say it's supported www.you tube.com/watch?v=k5RAWdb b6AQ Not 100% on LoL but Dota 2 runs just fine on the HD4000 and I think a previous roommate used my old 8600 GT to play LoL which is a much slower card
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Jan 2, 2014 05:46
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Aphrodite posted:GMA is the predecessor to Intel HD. They don't actually have GMA, that's just a lazy product listing. Ya, I just spent the last 30 minutes or so since my last post googling this and it sounds like its just people being lazy with their product descriptions on Amazon. Edit: Thanks for the replies and putting my concerns at ease.
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Jan 2, 2014 06:05
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Hadlock posted:All i3/i5/i7 have the HD4000 in Ivy Bridge and HD4600 or better in Haswell No, HD 4400 is common and HD 4200 is also present.
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Jan 2, 2014 06:27
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I've finally buckled and replaced my x220 with a 13" MBA. Build quality wise, I got a really good run and I have no gripes with my current Air. Of course, it's hard to screw up aluminum, but my friend with an early run mid-2013 Air has some clicking near the mousepad where something is out of alignment. Of course, a small creak would be anything but assumed on any lesser laptop. My x220 was doing fine but I really needed battery life. Having class from 9 to 1 and work until 6 really made me want even more battery life. I was also tired of hopping from Linux distros to BSDs (and even Haiku) and finally settled on the best looking Unix-like. OSX runs on the x220 fine with a few WiFi caveats, but the battery life sucked. From what I've seen since the x220, Lenovo (and much of the industry) has really tried to mimic Apple design, especially with the whole keyboard redesign, which is ironic considering the PowerBook had one of the best keyboards and that was an admitted pull from the Thinkpad design. I still prefer the x220 and prior Thinkpad keyboards to the current design, and I feel that my current MacBook Air's keyboard, while initially a step towards form and less function, has certainly been looked after and improved upon since they introduced it in 2006. In fact, the keyboard is only 3 years short of being older than the Thinkpad keyboard's 10 year run shrughes posted:Dropping down a step in build quality, you've got certain Thinkpads, Latitudes, and Elitebooks (and some Fujitsus? Let's not forget those). Right now a reasonably specced T440p with an i7-4700MQ, FHD screen, and AC wifi is right on the $1200 nose. But if you want an SSD, you're going over. A CPU upgrade, even maxing out the CPU, is eminently reasonable for anybody that does work which involves them sitting there, waiting for the CPU to finish computing, many times over the course of a year, and if you want that, you're going over. It's only $380 more to get the i7-4900MQ, it's not like that's a lot of money. If you want more than 4 GB of RAM, if you want 16 GB of RAM, you're going over. I paid $999 for a 13" MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM, an i5, and a 128GB SSD- along with the 802.11ac wifi. You really shouldn't present expensive laptops ITT if they are really anemic at the base price.
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Jan 2, 2014 06:32
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sports posted:I paid $999 for a 13" MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM, an i5, and a 128GB SSD- along with the 802.11ac wifi. You really shouldn't present expensive laptops ITT if they are really anemic at the base price. Anemic like that MacBook Air? Or what? I am confused here.
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Jan 2, 2014 08:17
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Just picked up a CyberpowerPC Fangbook HX7-700. 4800MQ, 780M, 16GB RAM, 120GB SSD + 1TB HDD (5400 RPM / 8MB Cache). Been using it a bit and its pretty nice. Thinking of grabbing a 512GB or 1TB Samsung Evo to replace the 128GB. Perhaps get a 2TB laptop internal when more are released. Does anyone know if I could use a 4TB External Drive with steam games? (USB 3.0)
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Jan 2, 2014 12:55
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Just ordered my 410p with a two year + accidental damage warranty, as I forsee it travelling around a lot with me, and my current laptop has a busted DVD drive, broken lights and cracked case. My darling Asus g73, it's been a long run. Will be getting it once I get back to the states. This, plus my rent, basically has totaled this paycheck, but it's so worth it. At full cost, it was around $1,400. With the e-coupon, I paid $963, counting taxes. This should be good for a gaming laptop, though, which I need. Thank you, Laptop thread!
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Jan 2, 2014 13:30
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shrughes posted:Anemic like that MacBook Air? Or what? I am confused here. I'm guessing he means 4gb ram, 128gb ssd
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Jan 2, 2014 16:02
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shrughes posted:Anemic like that MacBook Air? Or what? I am confused here. I think he means anemic like a $1000 laptop not coming with 8 gb or an SSD.
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Jan 2, 2014 16:53
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tesilential posted:I think he means anemic like a $1000 laptop not coming with 8 gb or an SSD. More to the point, while ThinkPads are not the cheapest options out there, once you take into consideration that they are almost constantly on sale, there's usually only a $100-$200 difference between them and whatever crap-box someone might otherwise pick up from BestBuy, which is well within the "pay a little bit more to get something that's actually quality" range for many people. Of course, there's always the person who'll be quite happy with a $400 KMart special, but we're talking general recommendations here. Have small children and/or drunk college friends? The extra durability of a well-built laptop has a lot of applications this side of the ISS or Afghanistan (seriously though, we have R500's and T410's that still work after having been out in the desert for 5+ years). Stormcrown posted:Does anyone know if I could use a 4TB External Drive with steam games? (USB 3.0) DrDork fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Jan 2, 2014 |
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Jan 2, 2014 17:22
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So my HP-DV7 of 5 years finally crapped out for good, looks like the motherboard is done for and this was after re-flowing it twice to get it to last another few months. So now I am in the market for a new laptop and could use a few recommendations. I am looking at the $600-$800 price range, I pretty much use my laptop for most my entertainment and school needs from doing homework to downloading and watching movies and of course internet use. I really don't use it for gaming that much anymore and the only game I find my self playing is Minecraft, I am fine with a 15 inch display, would love a huge hard drive, but that is easily upgradeable and of course a decent amount of RAM is always nice. I do travel a bit for the military so durability and portability would be an amazing option too but I can work around the portability part a bit. So I would like to see if you all had a good recommendation or two on laptops that you like or have used in the past.
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Jan 2, 2014 17:32
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DrDork posted:(seriously though, we have R500's and T410's that still work after having been out in the desert for 5+ years).
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Jan 2, 2014 17:36
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DrDork posted:The non-educationally-discounted $1100 13" MBA only has 4GB RAM, though, and demands $100 to bump to 8GB, so we're back to confusion.
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Jan 2, 2014 17:51
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That's kind of disingenuous, if you're going to suggest used hardware then PC gear generally holds its value worse than macbooks and will therefore be an even better deal...
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Jan 2, 2014 17:57
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I'm annoyed that the Yoga Pro 2 8GB models are only available through bestbuy, you cannot get them through lenovo.com. Also they are not upgradeable. Also Best Buy is entirely sold out of them with no ETA.
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Jan 2, 2014 20:06
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Hawzy posted:I'm annoyed that the Yoga Pro 2 8GB models are only available through bestbuy, you cannot get them through lenovo.com. Also they are not upgradeable. Also Best Buy is entirely sold out of them with no ETA. A month ago you could order them through Lenovo. I imagine when stock gets back in, you will be able to again.
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Jan 2, 2014 20:24
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Bob Morales posted:$929 on the refurb store. Never pay retail! Yep. And MacBooks are really quite nice compared to the other options on the market. I mean, has the Yoga 2's screen been fixed?
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Jan 2, 2014 21:16
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sports posted:Yep. And MacBooks are really quite nice compared to the other options on the market. I mean, has the Yoga 2's screen been fixed?
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Jan 2, 2014 21:18
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If you buy the 4GB 128GB MBA, you are buying a DeLorean. Edit: yeah the DeLorean came with A/C and a cassette player. 0 to 60 in 11 seconds get shot by Libyans P.N.T.M. fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Jan 2, 2014 |
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Jan 2, 2014 21:20
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It works fine if you just need it for average student stuff. You get crazy-long 12 hour battery life and it will handle paper writing and light photoshop. It has an SD slot so you can throw in a 64gig card too.
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Jan 2, 2014 21:28
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Hawzy posted:I'm annoyed that the Yoga Pro 2 8GB models are only available through bestbuy, you cannot get them through lenovo.com. Also they are not upgradeable. Also Best Buy is entirely sold out of them with no ETA. I was also confused when they disappeared from lenovo.com. Someone a few pages back mentioned that they should be back in stock around mid-January. I feel your pain because I'm waiting for the same thing using an old netbook that feels like it will poo poo the bed any day now.
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Jan 2, 2014 21:51
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Doctor rear end in a top hat posted:Where did you get a T410 5+ years ago?
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Jan 2, 2014 22:16
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4GB and 128GB admittedly aren't a ton of memory or storage but people are really, really overestimating how much computer they need. It's a perfect device for 90% of the computing population. Paper writing and light Photoshop? You could just buy a 2010 Air for $400 and do that without any issues. poo poo, most people would get by with a loving iPad. If you're some 3D animator or if you're editing gigs of RAW images or HD video you're probably going to want another machine (cough, cough 15" rMBP). But even the 8GB/256GB/i7 Air isn't that expensive and it's a loving powerhouse compared to what we had back in 2010/2011. Mu Zeta posted:It works fine if you just need it for average student stuff. You get crazy-long 12 hour battery life and it will handle paper writing and light photoshop. It has an SD slot so you can throw in a 64gig card too.  128GB!
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Jan 2, 2014 22:43
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P.N.T.M. posted:If you buy the 4GB 128GB MBA, you are buying a DeLorean. What the hell? Is this some sort of sick joke? Mu Zeta posted:It works fine if you just need it for average student stuff. You get crazy-long 12 hour battery life and it will handle paper writing and light photoshop. It has an SD slot so you can throw in a 64gig card too. It does MATLAB and Mathematica really well. I haven't had it seize up on running C MHD stuff like Enzo, either. It goes faster than Win8 on the 16GB x220, and of course is nicer to use than Win8 out of general ease and intuitive design.
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Jan 2, 2014 23:26
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sports posted:What the hell? Is this some sort of sick joke? Seriously? You've never seen Back To The Future?
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Jan 3, 2014 00:17
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sports posted:What the hell? Is this some sort of sick joke? In all seriousness, I totally respect what Apple does in terms of hardware and software. Their sales tactics are a little flim-flam, but I think many of their customers benefit from buying the high-priced items. But I feel obligated to point out that the lowest priced MBA 11" is better off as a frisbee in the park because
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Jan 3, 2014 00:19
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