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Foolie posted: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? I'm at a year and a half on a Sager NP9160 including a Year In Review post made in this thread and I still have no complaints. For reference it gets used atleast 6 hours a day and goes literally everywhere I do.
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Feb 16, 2014 06:31
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It depends on the actual gaming laptop models in question.
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Feb 16, 2014 06:55
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shrughes posted:It depends on the actual gaming laptop models in question. Two Toshibas, one MSI. I don't think I put in as much due diligence for my PC purchases compared to when I was a kid, but looking for problems a year in or more would have been pretty hard to begin with.
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Feb 16, 2014 07:31
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Besides some gaming laptops being Alternatively, you could build a mini-ITX system and monitor into a Pelican case or something similar.
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Feb 16, 2014 07:32
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It's a total ripoff for normal use, but now that I think of it, the couple higher-end portable monitors available do have separate hdmi inputs to avoid USB latency and overhead... are there any flat rather than shoebox mini ITX cases? 
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Feb 16, 2014 15:45
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Foolie posted: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? I've been using the same Dell XPS14 since Dec 2010 and it's handled every game I've thrown at it. Even at this point I still feel no reason to upgrade yet, since it's doing everything I need it to.
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Feb 16, 2014 16:16
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I did it. I ordered the z410 that normally costs $900. Thanks to the  link it totalled out at just over $600. The president's day coupon was awesome.
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Feb 16, 2014 16:23
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Foolie posted: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? I'm 3 months into Y410p ownership and things are still going great. It never gets particularly hot but still has plenty of power, even for the more modern games that I play. It's cheap and durable, the only complaints about the laptop are related to 1) the trackpad, which isn't great, but nobody games on their trackpad, and 2) the screen, which I think looks good but others don't. I easily see this laptop lasting at least 3 years even if it's not able to run the latest games by that point The other complaints are related to Lenovo 1) mysteriously making people wait over a month for shipping, which is uncommon but happens more often than it should, and 2) having poor customer support, which I haven't needed to use at all but if you're one of those 1% of people who gets a lemon laptop then you're going to hate your life while you work through it. It's totally understandable to hate a company after a bad customer service experience, I hate Westinghouse for the same reason (having to pack up and ship 3 different 46" LED TVs in as many months, receiving a new refurbished model each time because Westinghouse repair service hires people who don't know how to read). Buying from a company with poor customer service is always a roll of the dice, but for most people it works out fine because product defects that are RMA-worthy just aren't that common.
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Feb 16, 2014 20:59
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I'm looking at buying a y510p around July/August months. Really hoping that they have a Haswell refresh or maybe get lucky with Broadwell coming out. I don't know if I should just hold out until Broadwell. This will be my main computer for four years. Mainly play wow and want something to play with high settings. Don't really care about battery life, but don't want the fans to be super loud. Should I look at something other than y510p?
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Feb 16, 2014 22:08
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Foolie posted:So, are gaming laptops a lost cause entirely? If I had to buy one that I expected to last awhile, I'd look at something like the Dell/Alienware lines, Razor (if I had a lot of cash), or possibly a Lenovo Y-series. Some of the Clevo variants are probably just as good, but a lot of them also fall foul of (1) above. You also sound like one of the few people who would actually benefit from an extended warranty. Dobermaniac posted:I'm looking at buying a y510p around July/August months. Really hoping that they have a Haswell refresh or maybe get lucky with Broadwell coming out. I don't know if I should just hold out until Broadwell. This will be my main computer for four years. Mainly play wow and want something to play with high settings. Don't really care about battery life, but don't want the fans to be super loud. Should I look at something other than y510p? DrDork fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Feb 16, 2014 |
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Feb 16, 2014 22:08
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Hey, I need some advice. My mom's looking to replace her old Dell laptop with something new, and I'm not sure where to start looking to recommend her a replacement. Her requirements are, basically: a. Decent speed for loading webpages and the odd Office document. b. Lightweight. c. A proper keyboard. d. Touchscreen (optional) e. Under ~$750 CAD. Anyone have some decent suggestions, or product lines I should focus on? Thanks.
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Feb 17, 2014 00:02
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Dobermaniac posted:I'm looking at buying a y510p around July/August months. Really hoping that they have a Haswell refresh or maybe get lucky with Broadwell coming out. I don't know if I should just hold out until Broadwell. This will be my main computer for four years. Mainly play wow and want something to play with high settings. Don't really care about battery life, but don't want the fans to be super loud. Should I look at something other than y510p? I believe this is the refresh. Optional 4k resolution screen  Does Windows do 400% scaling?
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Feb 17, 2014 00:31
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Omelette du Fromage posted:I believe this is the refresh. Optional 4k resolution screen Depends on the app.
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Feb 17, 2014 00:35
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mfny posted: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. Update on this, No luck finding anything so guess ill follow the 15.6 bandwagon. On that note anyone here had any experance with: Acer E1 5xx Lenovo G5xx Toshiba C55/C50 Because those series seem to be where most of my options lay at the moment. On the subject of Thinkpads, The only Thinkpad series i could make work would be the E series and that would be almost topping out budget for me, but i hear they are not all that great and so may as well go non thinkpad..
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Feb 17, 2014 03:55
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I'm looking at the lowest level Y410P and an L440 I put together. Here is the L440: • Intel Core i5-4200M Processor (3MB Cache, up to 3.10GHz) • Windows 8 64 • Windows 8 64 English • 14.0" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready • Intel HD Graphics 4600 • 4GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600MHz SODIMM • Keyboard - US English • Ultranav without Fingerprint Reader • 720p HD Camera • 500GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm • Optical Bay Travel Bezel • 6 Cell Li-Ion Cylindrical Battery 56.16Wh • 65W AC Adapter - US (2pin) • ThinkPad Wireless 2 x 2 BGN with Bluetooth • Integrated Mobile Broadband upgradable • Publication - US English • 1 Year Depot or Carry-in And here is the Y410p: • 4th Generation Intel Core i5-4200M Processor (2.50GHz 1600MHz 3MB) • Windows 8 64 • 14.0" HD Glossy with integrated camera (1366x768) • NVIDIA GeForce GT755M GDDR5 2GB • 6.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600 MHz • 500GB 5400 RPM • DVD Recordable (Dual Layer) • Intel Centrino Wireless N-2230 • Bluetooth Version 4.0 • One year • Industry Standard Multi-touch 2 button touchpad • 6 Cell 72 Watt Hour Lithium-Ion The L440 is $639 and the Y410p is $719. It looks to me like the L440 has a better screen and Y410p has a better video card but other than that I can't see much of a difference. Is there any good reason to get the Y410p over getting the L440 and having a savings? I already think the HD 4600 video card on the L440 is sufficient for me.
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Feb 17, 2014 07:22
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WAMPA_STOMPA posted:Is there any good reason to get the Y410p over getting the L440 and having a savings?
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Feb 17, 2014 07:31
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I worked another deal today at Best Buy for an Open Box Mac. Got a Macbook Air Haswell 13"/128gig/4gig for $719. Was $1099, marked to $899 open box. Chatted with the manager and asked for 20% off. He said "sure, let's make a deal." Another screaming deal, but I have been utterly ruined by retina screens. I think it's going back...I was planning on returning the 13" rMBP 512gig/8gig I got for $1,249 to save $500, but I just can't.
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Feb 17, 2014 08:22
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shrughes posted:No. dgpu is huge difference unless you plan on sticking to 2d indie games.
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Feb 17, 2014 12:23
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hotsauce posted:I worked another deal today at Best Buy for an Open Box Mac. drat you're good. I'm still cruising around to find any rMBP open box deals. My local best buys just have opened iPad Airs and windows laptops.
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Feb 17, 2014 16:40
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Can you guys recommend me a good platform for software development? I'm looking for something quick and cheap that will facilitate writing C code. I've thought about Chromebook as they are dirt cheap but I wonder how well they perform cross compiling and boot time. I'd probably end up dual booting a Linux distro but I'm not sure what yet. I'd like to spend under $300 as I have a powerful desktop to do heavy development, but I'd like something faster than my current ~4-5 year old netbook now.
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Feb 17, 2014 21:30
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Popete posted:Can you guys recommend me a good platform for software development? I'm looking for something quick and cheap that will facilitate writing C code. I've thought about Chromebook as they are dirt cheap but I wonder how well they perform cross compiling and boot time. I'd probably end up dual booting a Linux distro but I'm not sure what yet. The chromebooks are fine for gcc-cross. The newer Acer Atom ones have VT support, so you can just virtualize whatever you want. Unless you're doing development for ARM or something. In which case you'd need gcc-cross anyway.
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Feb 17, 2014 21:38
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At sub-$300 I think the best recommendation is a Thinkpad X200s or T400 or T410 (if you can find a 1440x900) or X200 or X201 on eBay (or somewhere). If you really want to buy new for some reason, ASUS X200CA-DB02 is one option, and if you inch up past $300 up to $350 the Dell Inspiron 11 is a good choice.
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Feb 17, 2014 22:35
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My 440p arrived today after a week's delay. Wow, you guys weren't kidding when you said the touchpad was janky as gently caress. Outside of that it seems pretty awesome, though. It's okay to just wipe the Lenovo stuff and install Windows clean, right?
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Feb 17, 2014 23:51
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I'm going to go ahead and invest in the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro. Going on a trip soon, and my heavy rear end antique
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Feb 17, 2014 23:53
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Oh man, another day in the misadventures of the Y410P: playing Spelunky makes the computer pop up a "Your computer is running out of memory, let me close Spelunky to help you out" when it's at 12% RAM usage 
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Feb 18, 2014 01:16
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shrughes posted:At sub-$300 I think the best recommendation is a Thinkpad X200s or T400 or T410 (if you can find a 1440x900) or X200 or X201 on eBay (or somewhere). Yeah, if you troll craigslist you can find a modern i5 T410 for the $300 mark T400 is going to be last garb l gen core 2 which is a big step down
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Feb 18, 2014 02:18
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Kiranamos posted:Oh man, another day in the misadventures of the Y410P: playing Spelunky makes the computer pop up a "Your computer is running out of memory, let me close Spelunky to help you out" when it's at 12% RAM usage I've had this happen a few times as well, but on different games.
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Feb 18, 2014 02:41
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OKAY. I'm going to get rid of my late '08 15" Macbook Pro. It's a fine machine but too big/heavy and I already have a Retina Macbook from work. All I need from a personal laptop is doing web stuff, watching some videos, and writing code. Thin / Lightweight / Good (possibly high DPI) Resolution are my main concerns. I intend on going fully Linux as well, so good hardware support is key. I was totally about to blow a dime on the new 2014 Thinkpad X1 Carbon but then I saw its unholy abortion of a keyboard layout and decided against it. Right now I'm kind of stuck between the Thinkpad X240 and the Dell XPS 13. I like the X240 design, but it's a little pricy for what it is. Meanwhile the XPS 13 has way better Linux support and better specs for the $$, but I'm not wild about the design of it and I'm worried about longevity. Does anyone have either and have any thoughts? Other suggestions?
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Feb 18, 2014 06:23
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Kinkajou posted:I've had this happen a few times as well, but on different games. I've had this happen with World of Tanks with 6/8GB free. It's something...maybe Lenovo settings? I have an x230, which is why I think this is a Lenovo issue. Moxie Omen posted:
If you are already comfortable with Macs, do you really want a dinky Win8 machine for kicks? I'd say a MBA is right up your alley. Since you have a definite powerhouse in your MBPr, you can certainly do with a refurb 128GB SSD/4GB RAM cheap purchase, if you can find it. Do Macs have good Linux support?
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Feb 18, 2014 06:44
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P.N.T.M. posted:If you are already comfortable with Macs, do you really want a dinky Win8 machine for kicks? I'd say a MBA is right up your alley. Since you have a definite powerhouse in your MBPr, you can certainly do with a refurb 128GB SSD/4GB RAM cheap purchase, if you can find it. I'm not going to be running Win8 on anything. Screen resolution totally kills my interest in the MBA and I don't do anything that absolutely requires OSX anyway.
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Feb 18, 2014 06:54
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Spoiled brats these days are even too cool for 1440x900 :/
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Feb 18, 2014 07:08
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butros posted: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. A page back but I have a practically unused x120e I bought for school use then tried the windows 8 demo, hated it, reinstalled windows 7 then never got around to updating the drivers so I parked it. If you're interested send me a gmail (same username as here)
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Feb 18, 2014 07:08
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I meant build quality first and foremost. Going from a MBP or MBPr to a plastic windows laptop can lead many people to hate their lives, from what I gather. I'm assuming $1000 is your highest price point, but what is the lowest resolution you can do with?
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Feb 18, 2014 07:11
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Does UPS hold packages in random spots instead of delivering early? My t440p has been an hour away since the 16th, with an estimated delivery date of thursday.
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Feb 18, 2014 07:25
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A Yolo Wizard posted:Does UPS hold packages in random spots instead of delivering early? My t440p has been an hour away since the 16th, with an estimated delivery date of thursday. Snow storms made my deliveries super slow lately, where do you live?
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Feb 18, 2014 07:32
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A ha ha ha ha! Panasonic has looked at the Thinkpad Yoga and decided that, you know what, it's missing a feature. It has a nice thick pen, too.  And ports!  It weighs 2.63 lbs (compared to 3.52 lbs for the Thinkpad Yoga), has a FHD screen, 2 mm of key travel, and advertises 14.5 hrs of battery life, whatever that means. Has a two-battery system like the AX3, X240, and T440s.
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Feb 18, 2014 07:38
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Finally bit the bullet and ordered a L540 i5 with upgraded screen/wifi and 128 SSD to replace a 2006 Gateway. I have an iPad I've been using for most purposes but needed a new laptop for work from home and projects. Thanks to OP and everybody in the thread for your thoughts. Looked like the best quality / add-ons / price for me. I'd be happy to share any thoughts or pictures if anybody is curious when it arrives.
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Feb 18, 2014 07:44
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A Yolo Wizard posted:Does UPS hold packages in random spots instead of delivering early? My t440p has been an hour away since the 16th, with an estimated delivery date of thursday. Typically UPS will not deliver early. I don't think cold weather has anything to do with it.
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Feb 18, 2014 07:50
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Kiranamos posted:Oh man, another day in the misadventures of the Y410P: playing Spelunky makes the computer pop up a "Your computer is running out of memory, let me close Spelunky to help you out" when it's at 12% RAM usage I feel bad for your seemingly random and bizarre issues. Have you tried running memtest86? At this point you just need to get a replacement laptop (or at least some replacement ram? Maybe?)
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Feb 18, 2014 08:29
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shrughes posted:A ha ha ha ha! Panasonic has looked at the Thinkpad Yoga and decided that, you know what, it's missing a feature. I love how the Japanese design laptops, and they love cramming a DVD drive in. My Sony vaio Z12's DVD drive is so thin it literally does not have a lid - the underside of the keyboard itself is the "lid" for the DVD drive, to keep the thickness down. (Well, until I removed it and crammed another SSD in there).
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Feb 18, 2014 09:47
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