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Does anyone have an opinion of the Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus, or Samsung computers in general? I'm laptop searching for basically the first time and think a subnotebook or ultrabook would match my needs (school, programming, movies, probably no gaming). I was leaning towards a Macbook Pro Retina but I have never used a Mac before and this intimidates me for some dumb reason. I saw the Samsung on netbookcheck had a high rating, but it seems a bit overpriced compared to the MBPr. I have no idea. Please help me.
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 07:06 |
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# ? Apr 19, 2024 05:13 |
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folgore posted:Does anyone have an opinion of the Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus, or Samsung computers in general? I'm laptop searching for basically the first time and think a subnotebook or ultrabook would match my needs (school, programming, movies, probably no gaming). I was leaning towards a Macbook Pro Retina but I have never used a Mac before and this intimidates me for some dumb reason. I saw the Samsung on netbookcheck had a high rating, but it seems a bit overpriced compared to the MBPr. I have no idea. Please help me. I've used a past-gen Samsung Ultrabook (not the latest Samsung stuff with Haswell and QHD+ displays). The touchpad and keyboard were soso but the industrial design was solid. Keep in mind though that, in my opinion, QHD+ displays are not worth their trouble in windows (app compatibility outside of Windows 8 apps is all over the place). Honestly, I would just get a mac if you don't need some particular piece of Windows only software. What kind of programming do you plan on doing? An rMBP 13" with 8 gigs of RAM and 512 SSD costs about as much as a high-end ATIV 9 Pro, it will perform better and will frustrate you less.
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 11:09 |
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Zero VGS posted:Thanks, it looks like with the i7, 9 cells worth of front and back battery, 8gb ram, a 512gb SSD, it falls at $1907 which should be perfect. you should look at the x240. Insane battery life, light, small.
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 17:18 |
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FYI, Yoga 2 Pro scratch and dent or refurbished i5/4/128 available from Lenovo Outlet for ~$700, just filter by resolution of 3200x1800. A few higher configured models available for ~$900 too. Not sure if this is worth posting here, but it seems like there's some interest. At the very least, it's nice to know they're starting to hit the outlet store.
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 17:35 |
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Ugh I have a problem. This is a problem that happens seemingly randomly, but my lenovo y410p restarts constantly, on and off and on and off, when the battery is connected. As in, it'll turn on for a few seconds, then turn off again, and a few seconds more turn on again, all without me doing anything. I've tried with two different batteries too. Since I've just spent a month mired in technical support and I don't care to again, there any troubleshooting steps can I do? E: Okay... I think I fixed it but I'm not sure, and I'm not sure how to deal with it again if it happens. As a warning to others, I love this little beast, but I've had a lot of problems with it that I'm not sure are unique to me. The Iron Rose fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Feb 10, 2014 |
# ? Feb 10, 2014 17:40 |
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Haswell XPS 15 fresh on the Dell outlet. Top tier model for $2200 ...which isn't even available on the main site
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 17:51 |
I have a HOTS thread going about my newest Y410P issue, but I've been without a personal computer for nearly two months now and I can't keep hoping this is going to get resolved. I need this for work, job hunting, I want to move soon, etc. etc. What is a competitor to the 410p's specs? I would prefer not to order another Lenovo product.
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 18:01 |
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RVProfootballer posted:FYI, Yoga 2 Pro scratch and dent or refurbished i5/4/128 available from Lenovo Outlet for ~$700, just filter by resolution of 3200x1800. A few higher configured models available for ~$900 too. Not sure if this is worth posting here, but it seems like there's some interest. At the very least, it's nice to know they're starting to hit the outlet store. I posted this a couple weeks back, and almost bit on it myself (the Y2P base config is/was $720), but after handling the Y2P a bunch of times at best buy, I realized the resolution is TOO good, to the point where it sucks to use in desktop mode. As a tablet it looked very slick but just using explorer to search a drive for files was a PITA. The text is insanely small and apparently it's that way on a lot of programs/apps/some websites. Also the trackpad on one of the display units was sticking (the others worked fine) and one of the employees told me many had been returned for bad trackpads. Also all Ideapads are known for having cheap/bad wifi and to me that isn't acceptable on a mobile machine with no ethernet port. It is for these reasons I stepped way outside my ideal budget ($800) and went for a refurb rMPB for $1099. The windows laptops are just too far behind, theres always a compromise. And the very few that compare well to a Mac cost more than one. I did want a touchscreen (for the novelty I guess) and the 360* hinge is pretty sweet, but it just didn't seem comfortable and reliable enough to use as a desktop replacement. EDIT: I tried the Y2P at 3 different Best Buys, and at each the display model had the Internet Explorer app disabled and the machine wasn't connected to the internet. Was that best buy trying to prevent people from realizing the high resolution made websites too small to comfortably browse? Every other Lenovo or other Windows machine was connected the internet so I found it a bit suspicious and no one could tell me why. tesilential fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Feb 10, 2014 |
# ? Feb 10, 2014 18:20 |
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tesilential posted:EDIT: I tried the Y2P at 3 different Best Buys, and at each the display model had the Internet Explorer app disabled and the machine wasn't connected to the internet. Was that best buy trying to prevent people from realizing the high resolution made websites too small to comfortably browse? Every other Lenovo or other Windows machine was connected the internet so I found it a bit suspicious and no one could tell me why. It's to keep people off Facebook, installing programs and looking at porn. Have you tried setting the scaling to 200%? You can do it in font options, which you can click the link in display properties to get to. To get 200% you need to do custom. If that doesn't do it for you, try setting the resolution to 1400x900. But I agree, the screens are getting to too high of a resolution for no real reason other than Apple is doing it. Unfortunately, Windows scaling is bad and a lot of programs like Photoshop don't scale. It's kind of disappointing that Ultrabook manufacturers don't understand the products they are making, put expensive components in then pass the costs on to consumers while trying to cut corners with things like cheap wifi cards. Realistically the only choices at 14" and under should be 1400x900, 1920x1080 and 1366x768. The last choice being for cheap asses and old people.
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 18:37 |
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Seamonster posted:Haswell XPS 15 fresh on the Dell outlet. Top tier model for $2200 ...which isn't even available on the main site How did I completely forget this was a forum . I'll stop cluttering this thread now, sorry.
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 18:38 |
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Chard posted:I have a HOTS thread going about my newest Y410P issue, but I've been without a personal computer for nearly two months now and I can't keep hoping this is going to get resolved. I need this for work, job hunting, I want to move soon, etc. etc. If you need a computer for work, job hunting, etc, why don't you just get a cheap Acer C720 or similar Chromebook? The Y410P is a gaming computer. Unless you're doing a lot of encoding, number crunching, or 3D modeling you're not going to need a gaming laptop to get a job.
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 18:42 |
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After perusing this thread for a while I ended up getting a T440p and I like it a lot. Now I'm trying to get Windows installed onto an SSD and I can't figure it out. I found a link to this guide earlier but it looks like this is a way to restore the Lenovo factory hard drive image, which isn't really what I want to do. I think that to get a clean install of Windows going so I can pick and choose which of Lenovo's drivers and software to install, I need a Windows 8 or 8.1 install iso and to use the product key that came with my factory installation. I can't seem to find out which of the two isos I need or how to get a legitimate file from Googling, though. Anyone have any advice? e: Oops, just like the above poster I probably should not clutter up this thread with mundane tech support stuff. Nevermind.
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 18:47 |
AriTheDog posted:If you need a computer for work, job hunting, etc, why don't you just get a cheap Acer C720 or similar Chromebook? The Y410P is a gaming computer. Unless you're doing a lot of encoding, number crunching, or 3D modeling you're not going to need a gaming laptop to get a job. Yeah, I know... that's what I bought it for. It was meant to be a desktop replacement that can do several things, including gaming, while I'm in the process of completing a move. I am more than aware that for basic text/web stuff I could get by with less horsepower so that really isn't helpful to me - I want to do both gaming and work, and I don't want to end up with a computer that I'm not excited about, but with all this hassle I'm starting to change my mind. Here's my tech support thread if anyone wants to hop in and help: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3608038 e: FWIW in case someone feels like judging me for wanting a gaming computer while I also look for work, I have a job already, it just sucks and I want out. Chard fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Feb 10, 2014 |
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 18:59 |
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VulgarandStupid posted:It's to keep people off Facebook, installing programs and looking at porn. tesilential posted:EDIT: Every other Lenovo or other Windows machine was connected the internet That's why I thought they might be hiding something with the Y2P. At all 3 best buys, literally EVERY other laptop (windows/mac) and desktop (windows/mac) had internet connection but the Y2Ps did not.
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 19:12 |
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tesilential posted:That's why I thought they might be hiding something with the Y2P. At all 3 best buys, literally EVERY other laptop (windows/mac) and desktop (windows/mac) had internet connection but the Y2Ps did not. There's nothing to hide about the Yoga 2 Pro's display when it comes to internet. IE and Firefox by default have really good scaling, while Chrome is decent with the right configuration.
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 19:38 |
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Chard posted:Yeah, I know... that's what I bought it for. It was meant to be a desktop replacement that can do several things, including gaming, while I'm in the process of completing a move. I am more than aware that for basic text/web stuff I could get by with less horsepower so that really isn't helpful to me - I want to do both gaming and work, and I don't want to end up with a computer that I'm not excited about, but with all this hassle I'm starting to change my mind.
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 19:48 |
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Vegastar posted:I'm pretty sure that I grabbed the most recent one off lenovo's site, but it's still complete poo poo. I've got one thin drywall and about 10 feet between my router and the couch I'm on now and it's just dropping connection at random every 10 minutes or so. Pretty sure that shouldn't happen. Did you try to uncheck the wifi adapter energy settings in the device manager that allows to switch off the device to save energy?
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 20:16 |
Anyone ever use a portable monitor? I'm curious if even USB 3 is good enough for power + bandwidth to drive fullscreen video or whatnot, also curious what the CPU overhead on the host PC is like... something about not using HDMI seems kind of sketchy though one cable for everything is nice. I can't find any that are higher than 768p or have HDMI cables and aren't like $300+, I don't see why nobody has made a decent 900p or 1080p 14-15" screen that can use HDMI for like $150 but for now I'm wondering if one of these crappy little 768p 14" things might at least be tolerable.tesilential posted:Also all Ideapads are known for having cheap/bad wifi and to me that isn't acceptable on a mobile machine with no ethernet port.
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 20:47 |
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Shear Modulus posted:After perusing this thread for a while I ended up getting a T440p and I like it a lot. Now I'm trying to get Windows installed onto an SSD and I can't figure it out. I found a link to this guide earlier but it looks like this is a way to restore the Lenovo factory hard drive image, which isn't really what I want to do. I think that to get a clean install of Windows going so I can pick and choose which of Lenovo's drivers and software to install, I need a Windows 8 or 8.1 install iso and to use the product key that came with my factory installation. I can't seem to find out which of the two isos I need or how to get a legitimate file from Googling, though. Anyone have any advice? Locate a clean, uncracked Windows ISO (available on torrent sites, or ask someone with Technet to hook you up), burn it to a disc, and use something like Magical Jelly Bean keyfinder to extract your windows product key from your existing Windows 8 installation. Then do a clean install onto the SSD. I'm pretty sure both the 8 and 8.1 ISOs will work with your product key. Dick Fagballzson fucked around with this message at 21:16 on Feb 10, 2014 |
# ? Feb 10, 2014 20:52 |
Srebrenica Surprise posted:The V7-482PG is a little pricier than it normally is right now on Amazon but it's still a pretty good deal and you could have it in a couple days if you have Prime or don't mind paying for shipping. I am liking the way this looks, although I had not previously considered a touchscreen laptop. Is this the one that you were thinking of? http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-V5-573PG-9610-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen/dp/B00F9VXQ1A/ref=psdc1_t2_B00DDFF1G2_B00F9VXQ1A#productDetails I have a few questions though. How does the 750M stack up against the 755M? I gather that there's very little difference? The one I linked was the only i7 version that Amazon has and falls in the middle of the price range. Is the i5 in the others sufficient, or is it worth holding out for i7? Is there a reason the 14" i5 version is like 60 bucks more expensive, but is less powerful? I'm very sorry but I'm an idiot at laptops it appears, I have a hard time seeing the logic of the pricing. How is the build quality? I was always a little nervous handling the y410p, something more 'solid' would be nice but if it's at least as good that's fine. e: no optical drive, but honestly that's ok I hardly use discs anymore and the externals are pretty cheap. e2: I can slap an SSD in this later if I decide to, right? Replaces the HDD though? Chard fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Feb 10, 2014 |
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 20:57 |
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Chard posted:I am liking the way this looks, although I had not previously considered a touchscreen laptop. Is this the one that you were thinking of? http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-V5-573PG-9610-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen/dp/B00F9VXQ1A/ref=psdc1_t2_B00DDFF1G2_B00F9VXQ1A#productDetails I have a few questions though. You can look up the specs between those two on notebookcheck http://www.notebookcheck.net/FAQ-Tips-Technics.123.0.html or on http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/. I would guess they are nearly identical. Each of these models comes seems to come with a slightly different GPU so you need to pay close attention to that if you buy one. you can also compare the benchmarks of the i5 and i7 processors on notebook check. The i5 seems to have the best price for performance. The reason the 14" is more expensive is mostly because it has a much nicer screen. The one you linked has a 1366x768 screen which I would imagine is a cheap TN panel. The 1920x1080 IPS screens are supposedly very nice, I haven't seen one myself yet. I cant comment on the build quality. I'm also considering getting some flavor of V7 and I would also like to know about build quality. Tubesock fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Feb 10, 2014 |
# ? Feb 10, 2014 21:43 |
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Chard posted:I am liking the way this looks, although I had not previously considered a touchscreen laptop. Is this the one that you were thinking of? http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-V5-573PG-9610-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen/dp/B00F9VXQ1A/ref=psdc1_t2_B00DDFF1G2_B00F9VXQ1A#productDetails The 750M uses DDR3 instead of GDDR5 memory, so it's about 7-8% slower. You can ameliorate this somewhat by overclocking the VRAM or not, it still runs pretty much everything modern in the same speed class. Driving really AAA stuff at 1920x1080 with high settings is a little tough so I usually do 1600x900 at high or 1920x1080 at medium depending on how scaling looks. It's worth it to me to have a nice display, and I'd rather have the screen space out of games than limit my resolution substantially for the sole purpose of making games run faster at native. Build quality is good. I haven't held the Y410p but most say there's a certain amount of worrying flex to it. The V7 is pretty solid by comparison and has nice hinges. Keep in mind it's not a wedge shape so it gets warmer on the bottom than those style of laptops, but it's more portable. I don't have huge expectations here just because we're talking basically plastic consumer laptops, I wouldn't trust either system in a large fall and I don't think this system is going to last Thinkpad-long. That's okay with me to have a system that does everything I want a computer to do rather than just being another ULV i5/HD4400 overpowered Chromebook with Windows or a 1-hour battery sucking monster gaming laptop. I don't know if the Y410p uses a hybrid drive or a separate 24GB SSD for caching. The V7 does the latter, so you can replace the tiny caching SSD with a full mSATA 840 EVO up to 1TB and run the hard drive at the same time. e: Also check my post history I've made some big posts about the V7 already in more detail. Basically of the OP "pick two" categories the V7 gets "Affordable" and "Portable" with a half point of "Powerful" which is pretty rare and is why I like it. Srebrenica Surprise fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Feb 10, 2014 |
# ? Feb 10, 2014 21:47 |
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Anyone know how well Visual Studio functions on a 3200x1800 screen of the Yoga 2 Pro?
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 22:16 |
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Calidus posted:Anyone know how well Visual Studio functions on a 3200x1800 screen of the Yoga 2 Pro? I can check in a couple hours if no one gets to it before then. I assume you mean if it handles scaling well?
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 22:27 |
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RVProfootballer posted:I can check in a couple hours if no one gets to it before then. I assume you mean if it handles scaling well? Yep.
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 22:29 |
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Calidus posted:Yep. It follows the same basic DPI scaling rules. I don't use VS much since I spend very little time writing C# these days, but it works fine on the Yoga 2. Not much else to say.
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 22:34 |
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Calidus posted:Anyone know how well Visual Studio functions on a 3200x1800 screen of the Yoga 2 Pro? According to Scott Hanselman it's pretty good
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 22:45 |
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I just ordered a Lenovo Y500 off of the Lenovo Outlet. I googled "lenovo outlet experience" and the results scared the crap out of me. Have you guys had good experiences buying the refurbished stuff from there?
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# ? Feb 10, 2014 23:21 |
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mcbexx posted:Did you try to uncheck the wifi adapter energy settings in the device manager that allows to switch off the device to save energy? I've been beating my head in to a wall trying to figure this out, and somehow that idea never occurred to me. I turned the wireless-N mode off as recommended by random idiots on the lenovo support boards, but I'm gonna turn it back on now that I've done this and see if it helps any. What a loving moronic option to have on by default.
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# ? Feb 11, 2014 02:58 |
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Calidus posted:Anyone know how well Visual Studio functions on a 3200x1800 screen of the Yoga 2 Pro? Yeah, it looks great at 200% scaling and 3200x1800. Crystal clear text. You didn't ask, but Matlab is the only program I've used so far that is really bad. Some have slightly mis-sized icons or things like that, but Matlab doesn't even scale the text correctly so it looks like total garbage
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# ? Feb 11, 2014 03:09 |
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Straker posted:Anyone ever use a portable monitor? I'm curious if even USB 3 is good enough for power + bandwidth to drive fullscreen video or whatnot, also curious what the CPU overhead on the host PC is like... something about not using HDMI seems kind of sketchy though one cable for everything is nice. I can't find any that are higher than 768p or have HDMI cables and aren't like $300+, I don't see why nobody has made a decent 900p or 1080p 14-15" screen 1080p over usb3.0 is a mature technology, if you're in a desktop situation take a look at a USB 3.0 docking station, they do 30fps no problem these days. O wouldn't game on one, but they're suitable for excel and general web surfing
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# ? Feb 11, 2014 03:21 |
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I'm thinking of getting a new laptop sometime this year, possibly in the next six months, but I've also had an idea for a long time of wanting to build my own gaming PC so I think this applies to me-Hadlock posted:you can expect a lot of people to tell you to buy a gaming desktop and a cheap ultrabook for the same price as your glory hallelujah gaming laptop. The thing is, I haven't gone laptop shopping in a few years so the concept of ultrabooks is new to me. What can I expect to see in ultrabooks as opposed to current-gen laptops? If an ultrabook is "son of netbook" like the OP says, are they inherently going to be weaker than traditional laptops the same way netbooks are/were? I want whatever portable thing I buy to have an OK level of strength, not just for work but also "last-gen" games so I don't clutter my future gaming desktop with them. Thoughts? Suggestions on when to buy in terms of deals/new tech debuting? I'm a little clueless, I have to confess; I thought I'd have more time with my laptop but she's starting to show her age and I feel a little rushed now. C-Euro fucked around with this message at 06:34 on Feb 11, 2014 |
# ? Feb 11, 2014 06:26 |
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Ultrabooks are highly portable and get great battery life like netbooks, but unlike netbooks they have good build quality, have keyboards and trackpads that are actually usable, and don't use anemic CPUs like Atoms or Celerons. The CPUs in ultrabooks are just ultra low voltage versions of the same Core i5 and i7 CPUs you see in everything else, and are in fact quite powerful and only marginally slower than what you have in regular laptops. They're nothing like netbooks in this sense and are not underpowered at all. And with Intel improving their onboard graphics so much in recent years, an ultrabook will work fine for light gaming. Also, ultrabooks achieve their portability by being razor thin but the same size around as a lot of regular notebooks. This is in contrast to Netbooks that were small around but thick, which was much less desirable. The big downside of ultrabooks is that they aren't really end user repairable or upgradable. Everything tends to be soldered onto the motherboard or glued into place. What you see is what you get. You can't even upgrade the RAM or change out the batteries in most cases. As far as specific recommendations, the Macbook Air and Thinkpad X1 Carbon are both safe bets, but also expensive, and I'm not sure how much you're looking to spend.
Dick Fagballzson fucked around with this message at 12:23 on Feb 11, 2014 |
# ? Feb 11, 2014 12:02 |
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Vegastar posted:I've been beating my head in to a wall trying to figure this out, and somehow that idea never occurred to me. I turned the wireless-N mode off as recommended by random idiots on the lenovo support boards, but I'm gonna turn it back on now that I've done this and see if it helps any. What a loving moronic option to have on by default. This wasn't it either. I'm back to having wireless-n mode disabled in the driver settings, which seems to be the only surefire way to keep from dropping connection at random. Is there anybody else in here with a wireless-n network that isn't having the problem? If so, did you do anything special or am I just somehow cursed?
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# ? Feb 11, 2014 14:18 |
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Surface is going back. It was completely unusable on the train. I just gave in and bought the rMBP 13".
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# ? Feb 11, 2014 14:21 |
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Jerk McJerkface posted:Surface is going back. It was completely unusable on the train.
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# ? Feb 11, 2014 15:22 |
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Bob Morales posted:How so? There's no good way to use it on your lap, and tablet mode isn't good enough for his productivity needs. I'm guessing.
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# ? Feb 11, 2014 16:21 |
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Bob Morales posted:How so? I'm going to guess the utterly gimmicky form factor is an issue there.
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# ? Feb 11, 2014 16:30 |
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HalloKitty posted:I'm going to guess the utterly gimmicky form factor is an issue there. Yes, in laptop mode it flops around way too much. The touchpad is completely useless and the keyboard is not usable for long periods of time. I've had both the type and touch cover and don't like either. In tablet mode it's too heavy and wide. I already have a Nexus 7 I can use to read or watch animes on, so what do I need a 3 pound widescreen TV that only lasts two hours for? On a desk in a dock its just an underpowered regular old Windows 8 laptop. I also realized that I need to run VMs locally, and the Pro will just not do that well. I debated picking up the 256/8GB Pro 2 thinking maybe the additional power and battery life would be helpful, but that's 1200, plus 100 for the cover, and plus 150 for the dock. So for 1450 I can have a decent laptop that is awkward to use anywhere other than my desk. The rMBP was the same price, and I absolutely love love love the three finger gestures for desktop switching. I typically use an Ubuntu laptop configured with the same setup, but I'm tired of Ubuntu's crazy nuances and how it comes unglued all the time. If Windows has the same gesture support I'd have considered getting a comparably priced Windows laptop, but it's not an option. (Even with tools like "BetterDesktopTool").
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# ? Feb 11, 2014 17:42 |
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# ? Apr 19, 2024 05:13 |
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I use an Air for nearly the same thing - I run VMware images off of an external hard drive and have had a lot of success with the laptop. The screen isn't the most incredible thing since my X220 was "decommissioned", but the whole package is a bit more thought out than the x220 was in terms of port placement. The x220 required regular tightening of the hinge bolts and was built like a tank, but it didn't have the 10 hours of VMware battery life like the Air does. Again, even with the supposed 19 hour battery slice I had on the x220, it would struggle to run VMware on Windows and the Linux/BSD battery management was poor. So yeah, OSX runs VMware really nice. No insane power draw like I would have imagined.
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# ? Feb 11, 2014 18:01 |