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Any recommendations for a "$640 is the new $500" sweet spot laptop?
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Feb 13, 2014 18:11
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Cosima posted:Is there a reason the Lenovo sales call center has been closed for the past 2 days and no one seems to be manning online customer support? I ordered a Thinkpad a month ago and I have no idea where it is. The tracking number they provided doesn't exist. I've already been charged and when I call the Lenovo automated system it lists the status of my order as "delivered". I'm so nervous right now. They are also just utter poo poo, so don't expect a huge improvement in quality when there are actually people to talk to.
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Feb 13, 2014 18:38
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Ironically my Lenovo(non-Think) support experience was pretty nice
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Feb 13, 2014 18:47
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Kjermzs posted:Any recommendations for a "$640 is the new $500" sweet spot laptop? Is price your only requirement? Get a Chromebook
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Feb 13, 2014 19:18
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Alright guys, I did some looking through the thread (OP's posts) and couldn't find anything significant. How do you all feel about the Lenovo Z series? I'm currently running an 13" macbook unibody from 2008. It's been fairly well to me over the years, but I'm getting tired of it, and I just ordered my third charger. Would the Z series be worth looking into, or should I wait for my tax returns and get something better?
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Feb 13, 2014 20:20
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Wait for your tax return. The Z series has a lot of general purpose features, but the 510 line is completely 1366x768 in a 15.6" package, which is loving abysmal. You want at least the $600 Z410 with 1600x900 on 14". It is a general purpose laptop, and really slim on hardware features. It has the bottom tier i5 at that price, will run all normal programs fine, and there is not a lot else you can ask from it. If you are willing to spend more, you can get more. The 13" MBPr out right now is stellar, and well worth the money if you are already in love with the interface.
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Feb 13, 2014 22:27
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QuarkJets posted:Is price your only requirement? Get a Chromebook I'd still like to be able to play steam type indie games while I travel.
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Feb 13, 2014 22:37
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P.N.T.M. posted:If you are willing to spend more, you can get more. The 13" MBPr out right now is stellar, and well worth the money if you are already in love with the interface. Seriously, I just returned my Surface and got a 13 rMBP, and it's amazing.
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Feb 13, 2014 22:42
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P.N.T.M. posted:Wait for your tax return. The Z series has a lot of general purpose features, but the 510 line is completely 1366x768 in a 15.6" package, which is loving abysmal. You want at least the $600 Z410 with 1600x900 on 14". When you say $600, do you mean $600 before or after the coupon price? If you mean before, the  link has that laptop for less than $400 today.
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Feb 13, 2014 22:44
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Jerk McJerkface posted:Seriously, I just returned my Surface and got a 13 rMBP, and it's amazing.
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Feb 13, 2014 22:48
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Tumbleweed Chingada posted:When you say $600, do you mean $600 before or after the coupon price? If you mean before, the Awww poo poo, you got me. I didn't even check the link. $400 is a great price for this laptop, about 1/3 of what you would pay for the 13" MBPr, but it is barely 1/3 of the machine that the mac is too.
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Feb 13, 2014 22:59
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Doctor rear end in a top hat posted:How much RAM did you get? You didn't ask me but I picked up my refurb late '13 MBPr with 4 gig RAM/128 gig ssd from a local Apple store yesterday. I am extremely paranoid that it won't be enough 3-4 years down the line but really the OS seems to handle it nicely. I played like 4 large flash videos simultaneously in different safari tabs and they all played butter smooth, and in that case the Flash plugin was using about 250 Megs of RAM, and Safari itself was using about 100 Megs. which is the most any one application has used for me. If you're like me and haven't had a modern computer in a while, it's weird because right after a reboot the system shows anywhere between 3.2 and 3.9 Gigs of RAM being used, but my reading tells me the unused RAM gets used by the OS to make things faster. I basically just use internet browsers, iTunes, other media players, etc, so I'm not positive I really need more. That said, I'm checking out all the local Best Buys for open box deals like that other goon got, IIRC he paid 1289 or something for the 8 gig/ 512 SSD version. I paid 1099 plus tax for the base. If I find an open box deal, or if the 8/256 refurbs show back up within the next 2 weeks, I will probably jump on those and return mine, if not, I'll rock this base model as long as she'll let me.  *note: coming from Windows PCs (I do use a macAir regularly, but only safari for browsing) drat is OS X weird as hell. Finding the settings I wanted to change has been a chore and I find myself googling literally everything I want to do on the computer. I guess it will come with time.
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Feb 13, 2014 23:28
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tesilential posted:You didn't ask me but I picked up my refurb late '13 MBPr with 4 gig RAM/128 gig ssd from a local Apple store yesterday. Speaking of the X240, Lenovo actually shipped mine before the date they said they would and I'll have it next week. I'll see if I like it any better than hotsauce did.
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Feb 13, 2014 23:35
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Hmm, that's good to know about the RAM. I'm hoping to get the base 11" Air, but I keep thinking the 4 GB RAM won't be enough (especially since I regularly have like 200+ Firefox tabs open). I usually use up all 8 GB on my MBP, but since I've installed an SSD I haven't had any issues with it like I used to. Hopefully 4 GB will be enough, I won't be using anything like photoshop on it anyway.
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Feb 13, 2014 23:44
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Ya I wasn't even looking at Macs because I was on a tight budget, was originally going to do a T430, but those are $750, not $650 now. Then I looked at the Yoga Pro 2 refurbs, a great deal at around $750. Then I figured a refurb air is only $929 and would trump them all. Finally while browsing the Apple refurb store I stumbled across the most recent MBPr base config for the same price as a new base Air, $1099.00. And now I'm half convinced I should get the 8/256 model which is $1269 plus tax, effectively doubling my original budget. 
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Feb 14, 2014 00:15
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Doctor rear end in a top hat posted:I was asking him because he made a big deal out of the X240 only going up to 8GB and then he bought a laptop with non-upgradeable RAM that probably has 8GB in it. But maybe he did get it with 16 who knows? I got a 8GB model. The 16GB was very expensive. I was pissed at the x240 because upgradability and the modular, repairable, design is a hallmark of the X series, and it's trending away from that. Also the keyboard and trackpad are awful, especially compared to the MBP. For the cost of an X240 specced similarly to the 256gb/8gb rMBP you are easily at a higher price. A FHD screen ($300) alone puts the base x240. The FHD screen is touch, but there's no non-touch option in the US. I just quickly built out an X240 with 8gb of ram, 256gb ssd and an i5 and I'm at nearly $1650. We are atleast a couple years from 16GB ram sticks anyways, so upgrading the X240 to 16GB is impossible. I needed as much RAM as possible for VMs, and I've found the Pro to be perfectly serviceable for my needs. I'd put forward the Mac with 8gb of RAM running a WIndows and a Linux VM at the same time will perform better than a similarly specced X240.
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Feb 14, 2014 00:15
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Jerk McJerkface posted:I got a 8GB model. The 16GB was very expensive. I was pissed at the x240 because upgradability and the modular, repairable, design is a hallmark of the X series, and it's trending away from that. Also the keyboard and trackpad are awful, especially compared to the MBP. For the cost of an X240 specced similarly to the 256gb/8gb rMBP you are easily at a higher price. A FHD screen ($300) alone puts the base x240. The FHD screen is touch, but there's no non-touch option in the US. I did consider the rMBP but it's not worth it to me to get it and run an OS it wasn't designed for. Especially since there'd be a big battery hit and I'd have to pay for the license.
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Feb 14, 2014 01:10
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Doctor rear end in a top hat posted:My X240 with the FHD touchscreen and i5 was $1200 with the B&N discount, and I spent another $250 on 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD, so just a bit under what I could get the rMBP for ($1499 on Apple's site). I am worried about the trackpad and keyboard, I've seen mixed reviews. I run Windows in a VM. My company provides the software so it's not an issue for me. I love Mac's workspaces and three finger gestures enough to have that alone worth the premium. There's no real Windows tool or utility to reproduce it, and even if there was the trackpads aren't ever as good. I used to run Ubuntu setup with the exact same OSX gestures, and when I had to change to Windows for my new job it was a huge step back in utility. I got the Mac for $1500, which is only a hair over what you paid for the X240. I think the days of APPLETAX are really behind us, since for a Windows laptop with the same level of specs you are only maybe 10% below the Mac option.
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Feb 14, 2014 02:18
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Doctor rear end in a top hat posted:My X240 with the FHD touchscreen and i5 was $1200 with the B&N discount, and I spent another $250 on 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD, so just a bit under what I could get the rMBP for ($1499 on Apple's site). I am worried about the trackpad and keyboard, I've seen mixed reviews. For what it's worth, IF the trackpad on the x240 is the same clickpad as on the Thinkpad Yoga, I didn't think it was bad at all, and the great keyboard (which I believe is the same as on the Thinkpad Yoga) and ability to use trackpoint were huge perks that you don't get on a MBP. The only reason I haven't ordered an x240 is because Lenovo support scares me, so until I can buy it from the Microsoft Store (probably never) or some other brick and mortar it's a no-go.
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Feb 14, 2014 02:39
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AriTheDog posted:For what it's worth, IF the trackpad on the x240 is the same clickpad as on the Thinkpad Yoga, I didn't think it was bad at all, and the great keyboard (which I believe is the same as on the Thinkpad Yoga) and ability to use trackpoint were huge perks that you don't get on a MBP. The only reason I haven't ordered an x240 is because Lenovo support scares me, so until I can buy it from the Microsoft Store (probably never) or some other brick and mortar it's a no-go. I've used Lenovo's warranty a few times, I had the top depot warranty, though. I just took my X61 and X200 to a store where a guy repaired it same day. That's an expensive warranty though, but I've always heard good things about their support. I'm unhappy with the middle button being removed on the X240, I used it a lot with the Trackpoint. I have really bad CTS though, and since moving away from the Trackpoint (of which I'm a big fan) I've actually noticed it get better. Honestly, the Macbook's keyboard and trackpads are head and shoulders better than any Windows offering. This last generation is catching up, the Samsung and X1 Carbon are really nice, but not quite there yet.
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Feb 14, 2014 02:58
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I don't think the Macbook keyboards are great let alone better than all Windows options - I actually slightly prefer the feel of my work Elitebook to the Macs and when compared to my own T430s its no contest.
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Feb 14, 2014 05:39
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I recently migrated from a boot camped 15" MBPR (first generation) to a Surface Pro 2 (256 GB). Prior to that I had a loaded Sony Vaio Z. I like the touch screen interface of the Surface Pro 2 for leading discussions and meetings on a projector, but that's about it. I hate trying to use it on my lap or any other unstable surface. Also, it's 1 USB port always needs to be hooked to an external drive, because we work with datasets in a dropbox larger than 300 GB at this point. In other words, the surface pro 2 is not ideal. What I'd like is: Haswell 512 GB+ SSD At least 1080p 15" or smaller formfactor (preferably 13 or 14") At least 2 USB ports, 1 USB 3.0 At least 5 to 6 hours battery life under office application and mild calculation mode Touch screen would be nice, but not required It will be used for financial modelling and simulation, as well as office tasks and presentations. All software will be run under Windows, and it will be used a lot on the road. I've looked at an appropriately spec'd VAIO Pro, but I'm concerned regarding the wireless connection issues. Are there any other options out there right now that would fit the criteria? Thankfully, this will be a company purchased laptop, so build quality and specs are more important than price.
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Feb 14, 2014 06:01
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Fiesty Francis posted:I recently migrated from a boot camped 15" MBPR (first generation) to a Surface Pro 2 (256 GB). Prior to that I had a loaded Sony Vaio Z. It doesn't hit the huge SSD requirement, but the Dell XPS 15 probably fits your bill, and it might be possible to upgrade the SSD in it.
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Feb 14, 2014 06:15
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Fiesty Francis posted:What I'd like is: Yoga 2 Pro has, I think, two SSD slots (mSATA or the newer M2 form factor?). It's more sleek (but more conventional hinge design) twin is the Samsung AITV+ which has the same screen but lacks the second drive slot.
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Feb 14, 2014 06:19
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Fiesty Francis posted:I recently migrated from a boot camped 15" MBPR (first generation) to a Surface Pro 2 (256 GB). Prior to that I had a loaded Sony Vaio Z. Precision M3800 looks like it would also fit that bill. i7-4702HQ, 8-16 gigs of ram, 15" 1080 or 3200*1800 touchscreen, either one mSATA SSD + 91 whr battery or 2.5" drive slot + mSATA slot with 61 whr battery. It has a m.2 slot as well, but that's used by the Intel 7260-AC card by default. This guy on notebookreview has a lot of very detailed pics and QA as well: http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-latitude-vostro-precision/735359-dell-precision-m3800-owners-review.html If this thing had the trackpoint from my W520 it would be my perfect upgrade for a notebook.
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Feb 14, 2014 15:29
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Anyone got any thoughts on how the Asus N56JR would hold up as a coding/gaming laptop? Mostly Minecraft and Civ V and maybe some other similar types of games. I had a years old Clevo that died of overheating and obviously it's an improvement on that, but I've got no idea how it stands in the price/performance/likelihood-of-bursting-into-flames triangle. Anything obviously off about the specs for the money (given that's probably where my budget is).
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Feb 14, 2014 17:31
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HauntedRobot posted:Anyone got any thoughts on how the Asus N56JR would hold up as a coding/gaming laptop? Mostly Minecraft and Civ V and maybe some other similar types of games. I had a years old Clevo that died of overheating and obviously it's an improvement on that, but I've got no idea how it stands in the price/performance/likelihood-of-bursting-into-flames triangle. Anything obviously off about the specs for the money (given that's probably where my budget is). I have it. The temperatures are good according to both my experience and all the benchmarks I've seen. I haven't had any problems with noise either. It has a TN panel if that bothers you, though it's a pretty good TN panel. The wifi card is either Intel's 802.11n or an atheros abomination. I got one with the atheros so I'm switching that out for an 802.11ac card I got. I'd suggest replacing the hdd with an ssd as well (you can also put either drive in the optical bay). Do not upgrade to windows 8.1 from the stock install. Either do a clean install then upgrade or wait forever until asus pulls their head out of their rear end. feller fucked around with this message at 18:10 on Feb 14, 2014 |
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Feb 14, 2014 18:03
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Omelette du Fromage posted:
Yeah I heard there were issues there. What are ASUS like for that sort of thing? TBH I can live with 8 as long as I can turn off stuff like tap-to-click on the touchpad (without turning off the whole touchpad) and other helpful gestural stuff like that.
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Feb 14, 2014 18:20
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Chard posted:They are also just utter poo poo, so don't expect a huge improvement in quality when there are actually people to talk to. UPS sent it back to the Lenovo warehouse outside my city due to adverse weather conditions and Lenovo just neglected to do absolutely anything about it, like email me or resend my order. So my laptop they've already charged me for has just been chilling in a warehouse for 2 weeks. The tracking number they provided was incorrect so when I called them last week to see what was up the Lenovo sales employee said it was probably "stuck in customs". This loving company... computer angel fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Feb 14, 2014 |
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Feb 14, 2014 19:50
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I'm looking to get a new laptop for my mom since touch screens are everywhere now and I think it'd be easier for her to use that then a trackpad (she's awful with one). She only browses the net and uses Skype so I don't need anything crazy, so what's better for this situation, a laptop or a tablet? Are cheap touchscreen laptops give or take the same price/power as tablets? With a tablet though I know she won't use a touch screen keyboard which is why I was thinking about a laptop or keyboard attachment for a tablet.
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Feb 14, 2014 21:51
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I searched back a ways but didn't see anything on this so apologies if it's been covered - I had an X120e which has died that I'm looking to replace. I don't game, most of my usage is Office, watching videos on Amazon Prime or Netflix, and some minimal photo editing for occasional eBay sales. Small size is good, I don't need or want a touchscreen, and I don't want to spend a ton either. I don't think I want a Chromebook as I prefer the full functionality of Office Suite vs. Google Docs, but if I could be persuaded otherwise I'd be open to looking at a Chromebook I guess. I've generally had good experiences with Lenovo and am looking pretty seriously at getting the X140e. Does anyone have experience with this model? Should I be looking at something else in that price bracket? Also, back when I got the X120e there was a contractor thing going on - looks from what I can find online they've clamped down on that - any good way to get discounts on Lenovo? I have never seen the models I'm interested in (the X130e before the X140e) be eligible for any of their bi-weekly coupon blitzes. TLDR: Need a small laptop/netbook for word processing and excel and watching online video, cheap is good. Any recommendations?
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Feb 14, 2014 21:51
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A refurbished X131e with a Ivy Bridge i3 will run you about $360 on outlet.lenovo.com. As for other discounts see the B&N link in the OP.
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Feb 14, 2014 22:55
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dissss posted:I don't think the Macbook keyboards are great let alone better than all Windows options - I actually slightly prefer the feel of my work Elitebook to the Macs and when compared to my own T430s its no contest. Sorta OT but you should try the y510/y410, it's loving amazing for a laptop keyboard.
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Feb 15, 2014 00:52
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Ive been trying to find s budget (£500 or less) notebook with a decant cpu and igpu combo in less then a 15 inch formfactor and its getting a bit flustrating. AMD A6 5200 or a Haswell i3 with Intel HD 4400 would be about right. These CPUs are are everyware at the 15in size and under £500 but once you go smaller then that there's not alot of choice, which is odd as the CPUs I am looking at are ment for budget/mainstream subnotebooks but everyones sticking them in budget 15 inchers for some reason..
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Feb 15, 2014 00:53
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My father in law wants a new laptop. He will do no gaming with it, but he'll expect it to be somewhat sturdy. Basically he's looking for a generic laptop that doesn't suck and isn't too expensive. He'll be here in 17 hours and he's convinced that best buy is the place we should go. Please thread, give me advice before we go to best buy. EDIT: Basically what's the recommended business laptops for the $499, $599, and $699 price ranges? A GIANT PARSNIP fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Feb 15, 2014 |
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Feb 15, 2014 02:50
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I'm leaning toward the T440 or the L440, depending on how much he wants to spend. The T440 has a lot of good reviews here, but does anyone have any experience with the L440? Additionally, is there anything else in the $600-$700 range that would be an acceptable substitute for the T440?
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Feb 15, 2014 16:35
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You could get a refurbished T430 for like $630 at lenovo's outlet store. Does it need to be haswell?
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Feb 15, 2014 16:46
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I recently bought a Toughbook CF-Y7, because it was cheap, durable, and had a 1400x1050 14" screen while weighing 3.5 pounds. It arrived in good physical condition, with a clean keyboard, no hair, one stuck pixel, and under 1700 hours of use. Unfortunately, the CD/DVDRW drive behaved a bit wonky, it was basically broken. If you put in a CD it would miss a track or play static for a track, and if you put a DVD in, trouble would just happen. It was an unsuitable drive. Naturally you want the optical drive to work, because recreational paranoia won't let you contaminate your system with firmware-having devices, and because it's there. So the natural course of action is to get yourself a replacement part, or just cannibalize a second instance of the same laptop model, which I ordered and have proceeded to cannibalize. The second model was in much worse physical condition, was obviously dropped with the cracked casing it had, but it had a functioning DVD drive (and no stuck pixel, but that's for later!). So it's the simple matter of taking the DVD drive out of one laptop, and replacing the DVD drive on the other laptop. That's when things get a bit tricky. Here is a picture of the less used laptop, opened up, with its optical drive removed. (The blank space on the bottom right is where the drive would go, and you can see the 2.5" bay with SATA connector on a ribbon cable above it.)  To get to this picture, you have two remove 20 screws on the back of the laptop. Then you have to snap off the sidings on the left and right of the keyboard, and on the right of the optical drive, and remove six screws that attach wireless antennas and pass through to the case, and two more screws on the right side above the USB ports. Then you have to remove the keyboard, which is held down with rubber cement or some one-time-use sticky substance. Then you have to remove five screws about the optical drive (and at some point remove the cover), and then four screws inside the optical drive, and three more screws under the keyboard. Then you have to peel back a water-protective bit of plastic underneath the keyboard, and detach the keyboard's ribbon cable and the upper case's power connectors, for its speakers and fan. Then you may lift up the case and unfold it as shown. Then, gently lift the DVD electronics and laser, and peel back some electrical tape and detach its ribbon cables. Now, notice where the fan is. Notice the residue visible on some copper parts, and corresponding residue on the fan. That's right, when you take apart the laptop, you detach the cooling system from the CPU. Suddenly my replacement job has involved a trip to Central Computers to get some thermal goo. I got some double-sided tape along the way, to tape the keyboard back down. Because that's how you put it back. At some point I got this far:  And then I attached the keyboard, and then I tried turning the machine on, found that it didn't detect the drive, because the ribbon cable was detached. And then the next time I put the keyboard on, I forgot to put the screws in. Also apparently it doesn't really work well to reuse the same double-sided tape. It doesn't stay stuck down, so you get "keyboard flex." So the third time I got the screws in, replaced the tape with fresh tape, and everything was good. And now the fan doesn't spin anywhere nearly as loudly as it did before, thanks presumably to the new thermal compound. Even the snazziest thermal compound in the store was $12.99, so I don't know why people pay $50 for Clevo sellers to use that super special diamond compound. And finally,  It works!
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Feb 16, 2014 05:21
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So, are gaming laptops a lost cause entirely? I haven't been in one place long enough the past ~6 years to justify a desktop and started buying gaming laptops. They tended to be great... for a year. Afterwards, given ~20 hours a day of use, they have committed ritual computer seppuku via fan/overheating/video card problems. The most recent victim has discovered all kinds of interesting BSODs inside of Windows 8. Expected behavior, or I am terrible at quality control and compute care?
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Feb 16, 2014 05:34
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Also, when I was at Central Computers, they had a T440p on display. Compared to the T430 it had on display previously, I think the keyboard of the T440p is indeed a bit squishier than the T430's. But then, I thought the T430 had too facile a bottoming out. The slight squish is probably better for the fingers. My other impression is that the machine looks and feels really nice. The trackpad does have the junky click feeling that people were complaining about. The store's X240's trackpad had a better trackpad clicking action.
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Feb 16, 2014 05:56
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