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Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

I am Communist posted:

What's the minimum I should get hardware wise on an x240 for being able to run office and look at web videos. HD would be nice but its not mandatory. I'll be using wireless internet alot.

A chromebook

From 2011

Seriously, if that's all you're asking your laptop to do, whatever laptop you buy will probably survived a year or two on the road. Any intel iX class laptop will probably blow away whatever it's replacing.

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Thoren
May 28, 2008
I need a budget laptop primarily for writing. Has technology progressed to the point where a 1920x1080 is accessible at that $640 magic price point?

What I'm looking for:
Good keyboard--OR, the option to have the screen swivel around to the opposite position and used with an external keyboard.
1920x1080 resolution.
<$640 price-point.
Touch Screen (preferable)
Good battery life.
Isn't poo poo slow.

That's pretty much it.

This Lenovo looked good. Should I just suck it up and take the lower resolution?
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/flex/flex-15/?sb=:000001C9:0000F64A:#features

edit:
Just found this thing which was made last year. A good bet?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231549

Thoren fucked around with this message at 11:35 on Mar 17, 2014

Captain Pike
Jul 29, 2003

tacosupreme posted:

I've heard mixed opinions on sagers/clevos, but they're in heavy consideration for my purchase. Anyone got anything to say about the dealer I should buy from or this 13 inch model in particular?

http://www.powernotebooks.com/Sager-NP7338-gaming-laptops-notebooks-sys-6214.html

I'm extremely interested in this model as well. It seems like it should catch on fire instantly, but all the reviews I've found seem to be good. Also, I bought an MSI laptop from PowerNotebooks years ago, and I liked the experience very much. (I ordered by phone, customer service was excellent).

monster on a stick
Apr 29, 2013
I posted a little on this thread before, but it's probably better just to ask for recommendations.

I'm looking for a new laptop to replace my ~3 year old Acer. Specifically I want something that is good to use when traveling. Here's what I am looking for:
* ~13 inch screen, though I could go down to 11 inches
* very good battery life (think "enough to last through a cross-country flight")
* can play basic games (indie titles, Crusader Kings 2, Civ 5 with settings turned down, stuff like that. No Battlefield/FPS games. Yes I realize that games will reduce battery life, I'm fine with that.)
* decent keyboard
* good touchpad, since I don't use the eraser thing that Lenovos have. I have a good travel mouse but there isn't exactly room for it on a plane. Physical buttons are a must.
* SSD of course. I have a 128GB Samsung 830 that I can bring over from my Acer if needed.
* light and thin
* nice to have: touch, combo tablet/laptop form factor (like the Surface or Lenovo Yoga) to give me extra room on the plane's tray table, being able to switch out the battery

Price - this won't be used all that often (I travel a few times a year), so I don't really want to spend $1500. Maybe around $1000 give or take.


So far the contenders are the Surface 2 Pro and Yoga 2.

monster on a stick fucked around with this message at 16:43 on Mar 17, 2014

tacosupreme
Jun 24, 2006
ask me about men.

Captain Pike posted:

I'm extremely interested in this model as well. It seems like it should catch on fire instantly, but all the reviews I've found seem to be good. Also, I bought an MSI laptop from PowerNotebooks years ago, and I liked the experience very much. (I ordered by phone, customer service was excellent).

How long did that last? I had a horrible experience with a FX-7811 and am apprehensive about ordering an expensive laptop.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

Thoren posted:

I need a budget laptop primarily for writing. Has technology progressed to the point where a 1920x1080 is accessible at that $640 magic price point?

What I'm looking for:
Good keyboard--OR, the option to have the screen swivel around to the opposite position and used with an external keyboard.
1920x1080 resolution.
<$640 price-point.
Touch Screen (preferable)
Good battery life.
Isn't poo poo slow.

That's pretty much it.

Is it just writing, or is it specifically microsoft word? Samsung's 13.3" Chromebook2 is $400 and has a 1080p screen. Not sure about the quality of the keyboard though. They're releasing it in about 2 weeks.

At $640 you're probably looking at a 1600x900 screen although the market is rapidly moving towards just two resolutions, 1366x768 and 1920x1080.

Thoren
May 28, 2008

Hadlock posted:

Is it just writing, or is it specifically microsoft word? Samsung's 13.3" Chromebook2 is $400 and has a 1080p screen. Not sure about the quality of the keyboard though. They're releasing it in about 2 weeks.

At $640 you're probably looking at a 1600x900 screen although the market is rapidly moving towards just two resolutions, 1366x768 and 1920x1080.

I'll probably use it mostly for writing but I'd still like a functional laptop.

I'm not really sold on the whole chromebook concept yet. I mean, 16GB of space? That's so minimal.

Thoren fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Mar 18, 2014

MJBuddy
Sep 22, 2008

Now I do not know whether I was then a head coach dreaming I was a Saints fan, or whether I am now a Saints fan, dreaming I am a head coach.

Thoren posted:

I'll probably use it mostly for writing but I'd still like a functional laptop.

I'm not really sold on the whole chromebook concept yet. I mean, 16GB of space? That's so minimal.

Expansion slots too, and really I used Google Drive to transfer a lot of files to a new PC and I'm very surprised how easy it works.

Risky
May 18, 2003

monster on a stick posted:

I posted a little on this thread before, but it's probably better just to ask for recommendations.

I'm looking for a new laptop to replace my ~3 year old Acer. Specifically I want something that is good to use when traveling. Here's what I am looking for:
* ~13 inch screen, though I could go down to 11 inches
* very good battery life (think "enough to last through a cross-country flight")
* can play basic games (indie titles, Crusader Kings 2, Civ 5 with settings turned down, stuff like that. No Battlefield/FPS games. Yes I realize that games will reduce battery life, I'm fine with that.)
* decent keyboard
* good touchpad, since I don't use the eraser thing that Lenovos have. I have a good travel mouse but there isn't exactly room for it on a plane. Physical buttons are a must.
* SSD of course. I have a 128GB Samsung 830 that I can bring over from my Acer if needed.
* light and thin
* nice to have: touch, combo tablet/laptop form factor (like the Surface or Lenovo Yoga) to give me extra room on the plane's tray table, being able to switch out the battery

Price - this won't be used all that often (I travel a few times a year), so I don't really want to spend $1500. Maybe around $1000 give or take.


So far the contenders are the Surface 2 Pro and Yoga 2.

Pretty much looking for same thing except:

Prefer 11.6 inch screen - IPS if possible
SSD that can be swapped out
Runs on Windows
IS NOT A FINGERPRINT MAGNET - Seriously, I don't know why manufacturers continue to make everything glossy.

This will be mainly used for Microsoft Office, light browsing, and playing old Lucasarts games on Scummvm.

drunkill
Sep 25, 2007

me @ ur posting
Fallen Rib
My parents Toshiba A500 PSAM3A (3+ years old) laptop is breaking down, they need a screen replacement which is slated at around $300 or the repair guy was offering to sell a same model as theirs for $380, although i told them not to buy it given how old it is and the guy has torn it apart and muddled with it.

They use the laptop as more of a desktop, they don't generally take it anywhere, they'll take their ipad or android tablets with them on trips so this is a sit at home, send emails, watch youtube/netflix, look at photos and occasionally skype with relatives kind of deal.

They want a Toshiba or Asus, because that's what the repair man said to get :v

Because it mostly sits in place battery life isn't an issue, a larger screen is better and it doesn't need to play games. Storage of around 400GB would be fine, they have a bunch of external drives and won't fill it up, SSD not required. They would not care for touch screens, although most laptops are windows 8 now.



Edit: They rang up and said they wanted the same model for $340 and free windows 7/office included vOv
I guess they'll buy a new laptop on a year or two when this new one dies. At least

drunkill fucked around with this message at 05:23 on Mar 18, 2014

atomicthumbs
Dec 26, 2010


We're in the business of extending man's senses.
Does anyone else with a Thinkpad T410 find their screen is starting to degrade after ~3½ years? Mine's showing all kinds of backlight weirdness and bright bits, in addition to dust that's somehow made its way inside.

Chard
Aug 24, 2010




I finally, after two defectives and three months, have a working Y410P and I really like it. However it does this thing where it goes to sleep if I walk away for more than a couple of minutes and it's not actively doing something like playing music or downloading or scanning itself. It's probably very good battery wise and for the planet and such but it's annoying and I'm worried about the strain on the HDD starting up and shutting off all the time like this. Can someone help me fix it? I've changed all the power settings I can find and it lives constantly plugged in, I'm at a loss.

e: I think it may be an 8.1 thing and not a laptop thing but I know a lot of people in this thread own this machine so I thought I'd start here.

Chard fucked around with this message at 05:50 on Mar 18, 2014

SaltyJesus
Jun 2, 2011

Arf!
Hello laptop goons, I know the thread's opinion on :pcgaming:GAMING LAPTOPS:pcgaming: but please let me state my case. Between my home country, the country where my family lives, and the country where I study/work I am never in one place for longer than three months at a time. Having a desktop PC would mean I get to use it one third of the time at best.

My whole life I've played games on terribad graphics settings. In the last three years I haven't played much at all because my current laptop lags on the original Baldur's Gate with a widescreen mod. I wanna treat myself to a nice machine to play games on for once, what are your recommendations?

Twerk from Home
Jan 17, 2009

This avatar brought to you by the 'save our dead gay forums' foundation.

SaltyJesus posted:

My whole life I've played games on terribad graphics settings. In the last three years I haven't played much at all because my current laptop lags on the original Baldur's Gate with a widescreen mod. I wanna treat myself to a nice machine to play games on for once, what are your recommendations?

Lenovo Y410p, it's a great value for the components in it and several people here have bought one and vouched that the build quality is OK. I'd recommend avoiding the SLI ones, though.

Seamonster
Apr 30, 2007

IMMER SIEGREICH
Pending benchmarks of course, but the new GTX 8xxM series (especially the actual Maxwell parts 860M and 850M) might make you want to hold off on that :pcgaming: laptop for a couple months while they become more available.

P.N.T.M.
Jan 14, 2006

tiny dinosaurs
Fun Shoe
Obligatory "Check the OP for the :siren:B&N Gold:siren: link for good discounts on Lenovo laptops.

Obligatory "If you order from Lenovo directly, including through that B&N link, your purchase will take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months to arrive. And a poster just up the page had 2 lemon y410s, but now that they have a functional unit, they are happy with it."

SaltyJesus
Jun 2, 2011

Arf!

Thanks, this looks pretty good. The B&N Gold link doesn't work for me though. :shrug: I Googled around for a bit and found what you were talking about.

Seamonster posted:

hold off on that :pcgaming: laptop for a couple months

If they're that fresh I might wait and ask for advice again in a couple of months.

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

SaltyJesus posted:

If they're that fresh I might wait and ask for advice again in a couple of months.
They are, but they've already started popping up in some of the higher-end machines, so the full product line should be rolling out shortly. The Y410p/510p is a nice option if you're pressed for cash, but if you have a bit more available to spend you can start looking at things like the Gigabyte P series, some of the ASUS lineups, and if you really have cash to burn, the new Razer Blade (which I still think is overpriced, but it's a hell of a machine). All of those will offer similar or better performance than the Lenovo, with equal or better build quality, nicer screens, and they won't weigh 6+lbs.

SaltyJesus
Jun 2, 2011

Arf!

DrDork posted:

if you have a bit more available to spend you can start looking at things like the Gigabyte P series, some of the ASUS lineups, and if you really have cash to burn, the new Razer Blade

I do have a bit more cash than that so feel free to recommend stuff above the Lenovo price tag. I gotta admit, I flirted with the idea of getting the new Razer Blade but they don't sell 'em in Europe as far as I can see.

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

SaltyJesus posted:

I do have a bit more cash than that so feel free to recommend stuff above the Lenovo price tag. I gotta admit, I flirted with the idea of getting the new Razer Blade but they don't sell 'em in Europe as far as I can see.
Yeah, you'd probably have to import. But as said, take a look at the Gigabyte P series--I have the P34G and have been quite happy with it. No idea if/when it'll refresh with the GF8xx, though. The ASUS G-series is pretty well regarded, and parts of it have already started popping with GF8xx's. Really, the question is (1) how much do you want to spend, and (2) what sort of games are you looking to play? If you want to spend <$1,000 and plan on just playing LoL all day you'd end up with a much different suggestion than saying you've got $2500 to burn and want to play BF4 at 1080p maxed out.

skystream92
Jul 1, 2007

P.N.T.M. posted:

Obligatory "Check the OP for the :siren:B&N Gold:siren: link for good discounts on Lenovo laptops.

Obligatory "If you order from Lenovo directly, including through that B&N link, your purchase will take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months to arrive. And a poster just up the page had 2 lemon y410s, but now that they have a functional unit, they are happy with it."

There's a massive discount this week on the Y510Ps on the lenovo website. Not a bad price.

Yawgmoft
Nov 15, 2004
How well regarded is the Y510p? The OP seems to be down on any lenovo that isn't T X or W, but my girlfriend's laptop is pretty much ready for the junkyard (one of the hinges even snapped). She does some graphics stuff but I know she wants to do more gaming things. The laptop wouldn't really move much, it's mostly on or coffee table except for her trimonthly trip to Virginia. I'd love to get her something good rather than another laptop that slowly loses its functionality like the scroll bar. Also ASUS sound sucks how is Lenovo?

SaltyJesus
Jun 2, 2011

Arf!

DrDork posted:

Really, the question is (1) how much do you want to spend, and (2) what sort of games are you looking to play? If you want to spend <$1,000 and plan on just playing LoL all day you'd end up with a much different suggestion than saying you've got $2500 to burn and want to play BF4 at 1080p maxed out.

In this hypothetical assume the latter scenario, $2500 and latest games on maxed graphics. I've saved up and I'm interested to see what's out there on the top of the shelf since I don't really follow hardware. If I decide to go with something more restrained I'm fairly confident I can find a <$1000 deal on my own. :)

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness
The Y510p (and it's 14" sibling the Y410p) are pretty well regarded for what they are: budget gaming laptops. They aren't going to wow you with the screen, and the build quality is merely acceptable, not amazing. But you get a fairly solid laptop that doesn't really fall down on itself in any major area (except arguably the track-pad, which if you're using it for gaming won't matter anyhow because you'll be using a mouse, right?) and you get it at a very reasonable price point.

If you have more money to spend, or are looking for higher performance, higher quality, or IPS screens, there are other better options. The Y-series gets recommended a lot here because it is a viable answer to the question "I want to game but I am le poor, what do I buy?" The T and W-series get recommended to everyone else, because they are built better and will last longer--but you're not going to want to play BF4 on them (or much other than indy and older games, really).

Lenovo sound sucks, ASUS sound sucks, Alienware sound sucks, all laptop sound sucks. Get headphones.

e;

SaltyJesus posted:

In this hypothetical assume the latter scenario, $2500 and latest games on maxed graphics. I've saved up and I'm interested to see what's out there on the top of the shelf since I don't really follow hardware. If I decide to go with something more restrained I'm fairly confident I can find a <$1000 deal on my own. :)
Give it another month or so and re-check the lineups I listed: Gigabye P-series, ASUS G-series, Razer Blade (hope for a price drop), and if you don't plan on actually moving it around too often, Alienware (not as hilariously dumb as they once were) and Sager's offerings/clones. You'll be wanting something that's been updated with a GF870 or GF880 if you can (the 880 is about 10% faster than the 780, for reference). Don't worry about the CPU much--almost all of the higher-end laptops will throw some i7 in there, which already is overkill. Past that, you're really on your own as to what you want out of it: do you want a beautiful IPS screen? Small size (easier to carry, but inevitably louder at full-tilt)? Etc.

DrDork fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Mar 18, 2014

Klaus Kinski
Nov 26, 2007
Der Klaus
^^^ Don't blow that much on a single purchase. Get something in the $1k range and upgrade again in a year or two. They'll both get outdated at roughly the same time.

Yawgmoft posted:

How well regarded is the Y510p? The OP seems to be down on any lenovo that isn't T X or W, but my girlfriend's laptop is pretty much ready for the junkyard (one of the hinges even snapped). She does some graphics stuff but I know she wants to do more gaming things. The laptop wouldn't really move much, it's mostly on or coffee table except for her trimonthly trip to Virginia. I'd love to get her something good rather than another laptop that slowly loses its functionality like the scroll bar. Also ASUS sound sucks how is Lenovo?

I've been very happy with mine but I pretty much use it as a portable stationary. It's either plugged in or living in my backpack. It's ok for watching movies on the train, but I had to buy a nexus 7 because the y510p wouldn't fit on the airplane tables :haw:

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

Klaus Kinski posted:

^^^ Don't blow that much on a single purchase. Get something in the $1k range and upgrade again in a year or two. They'll both get outdated at roughly the same time.
Yes/no. While neither is likely to be able to play AAA titles at 60fps maxed out 3 years from now, the $1k one won't be able to play AAA titles at 60fps today while a more expensive one will (and might play tomorrow's games at 30fps--just like tomorrow's $1k laptop). If he's willing and able to spend the extra cash to get what he wants, then by all means. You're right that he (and everyone else) shouldn't be buying a far more expensive laptop "to future-proof it" though.

CalvinandHobbes
Aug 5, 2004

monster on a stick posted:

I posted a little on this thread before, but it's probably better just to ask for recommendations.

I'm looking for a new laptop to replace my ~3 year old Acer. Specifically I want something that is good to use when traveling. Here's what I am looking for:
* ~13 inch screen, though I could go down to 11 inches
* very good battery life (think "enough to last through a cross-country flight")
* can play basic games (indie titles, Crusader Kings 2, Civ 5 with settings turned down, stuff like that. No Battlefield/FPS games. Yes I realize that games will reduce battery life, I'm fine with that.)
* decent keyboard
* good touchpad, since I don't use the eraser thing that Lenovos have. I have a good travel mouse but there isn't exactly room for it on a plane. Physical buttons are a must.
* SSD of course. I have a 128GB Samsung 830 that I can bring over from my Acer if needed.
* light and thin
* nice to have: touch, combo tablet/laptop form factor (like the Surface or Lenovo Yoga) to give me extra room on the plane's tray table, being able to switch out the battery

Price - this won't be used all that often (I travel a few times a year), so I don't really want to spend $1500. Maybe around $1000 give or take.


So far the contenders are the Surface 2 Pro and Yoga 2.

Not a direct comparison but mobile tech review is a good detailed walkthrough of the two:

Surface pro vs thinkpad yoga here: http://www.mobiletechreview.com/notebooks/MS-Surface-Pro-2-vs-Lenovo-ThinkPad-Yoga.htm

and yoga 2 pro here: http://www.mobiletechreview.com/notebooks/Lenovo-Yoga-2-Pro.htm

if you're between the yoga 2 pro or the Surface, both are fine devices. Most people with surface 2 pros like them a lot and the yoga is solid. The biggest distinction is size. The surface is smaller which is both a pro or a con depending of what you're looking for. Battery life is around 6.5 to 7 hours, maybe slightly more on the yoga 2.

Personally, I compared both these devices before getting a Samsung ativ book. I'd lean towards the Yoga myself. One caveat to remember is that you'll need to set aside extra for a type cover for the surface.

mr crow
Mar 5, 2009
I just got my y510p in, with the 755M SLI. Excited! Trackpad really sucks though, I'm zooming in and out all over the place in Chrome for no reason. Anyone have any app/program/driver recommendations (especially with an eye towards maintenance and performance)?

e: Or a good [cheap??? please?] gaming mouse recommendation

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness
Just keep the drivers updated and run Windows update on a regular basis. There's no magic to it; if you think you're going to overclock your 755 SLI setup, you can just stop right there and think about what you're suggesting, and why it's pretty dumb.

As for a mouse: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BCEK2LK $28.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

Are there any good "cost benefit analysis ratio" type articles yet on the Nvidia M800 series yet?

J.A.B.C.
Jul 2, 2007

There's no need to rush to be an adult.


You might all remember me as the guy complaining about his Lenovo a few weeks back.

Well, I got it sent in on my warranty, and just got it back today. Running fine, and the report said that it had to replace the mainboard as well as reset settings on the computer to repair it. So it should be working fine now. I'll keep you all informed.

Klaus Kinski
Nov 26, 2007
Der Klaus

mr crow posted:

I just got my y510p in, with the 755M SLI. Excited! Trackpad really sucks though, I'm zooming in and out all over the place in Chrome for no reason. Anyone have any app/program/driver recommendations (especially with an eye towards maintenance and performance)?

e: Or a good [cheap??? please?] gaming mouse recommendation

You can make the trackpad slightly better by updating the software and maxing out the "palm detection" something option.

fe: I like the steelseries kinzu. It's cheap, tiny and works really well. EC series is pretty much the same as a kinzu but has this awesome rubber grip surface.

The Iron Rose
May 12, 2012

:minnie: Cat Army :minnie:

DrDork posted:

Just keep the drivers updated and run Windows update on a regular basis. There's no magic to it; if you think you're going to overclock your 755 SLI setup, you can just stop right there and think about what you're suggesting, and why it's pretty dumb.

As for a mouse: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BCEK2LK $28.

You're probably going to want a five button mouse at least for a gaming mouse. I do not recommend anything by E-3lue because the wireless ones at least were terrible on my y410. However, this Anker gaming mouse has 5 buttons, is 20 bucks and is prime eligible and works great. Only 2000 dpi but I've never needed more than that.

http://www.amazon.com/Programmable-...=5+button+mouse

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

Hadlock posted:

Are there any good "cost benefit analysis ratio" type articles yet on the Nvidia M800 series yet?
At the high end, at least, not a whole lot: the GF 880M is simply a slightly higher clocked 780M--resulting in an effective increase of only 10% or so in FPS while keeping a very similar thermal load (100W--ouch). The Battery Boost option might be useful, but it might also simply be basically shortcuts for already-available options (it says it "lowers game settings to extend battery life"--which could mean basically anything); the results have yet to really be evaluated.

The lower ranges are actually where you'll see more improvement from the 800-series. The 850, for example, is one of the new Maxwell chips and apparently performs similarly to the 765--while drawing less power.

incogneato
Jun 4, 2007

Zoom! Swish! Bang!

CalvinandHobbes posted:

Samsung ativ book 9 plus base model is $300 off at the Microsoft store:

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Samsung-ATIV-Book-9-Plus-NP940X3G-K03US-Touchscreen-Ultrabook/productID.283976900

Its probably the best possible windows ultrabook with the only complaint being expensive.

This is from a few days ago, but I'm really tempted by this. It may be superficial, but I loved the form-factor of the Ativ Book 9 when I was wasting some time in the local Microsoft store.

I have some questions about whether this will work for me, though. We want to do some light gaming on it (Team Fortress 2, Minecraft, etc.). Am I going to wish I had gotten the i7? Am I going to regret not getting 8GB of RAM? Other uses are the usual: Netflix, Word/Excel generally open at all times, a bunch of tabs while browsing, music, etc. I assume there's no real issue there.

Has anyone bought anything from the Microsoft store? What are the chances of me trying to argue for a similar discount on the 8gb model (http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Samsung-ATIV-Book-9-Plus-NP940X3G-S03US-Touchscreen-Ultrabook/productID.295783500)?

mr crow
Mar 5, 2009

The Iron Rose posted:

You're probably going to want a five button mouse at least for a gaming mouse. I do not recommend anything by E-3lue because the wireless ones at least were terrible on my y410. However, this Anker gaming mouse has 5 buttons, is 20 bucks and is prime eligible and works great. Only 2000 dpi but I've never needed more than that.

http://www.amazon.com/Programmable-...=5+button+mouse

OK, almost bought that one, but the regular shipping is $8+. About to jump on this one (free shipping to boot..): http://www.amazon.com/ENHANCE-Precision-6-Button-Optical-Color-Changing/dp/B00HWJQLDW

Or... http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity%C2%A...95188340&sr=1-5
Maybe I'll spring for a $40 mouse: http://www.amazon.com/Precision-Programmable-Buttons-Cartridges-Switches/dp/B00AAQRNQ8/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1395188340&sr=1-2 Any thoughts?

mr crow fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Mar 19, 2014

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

incogneato posted:

I have some questions about whether this will work for me, though. We want to do some light gaming on it (Team Fortress 2, Minecraft, etc.). Am I going to wish I had gotten the i7? Am I going to regret not getting 8GB of RAM? Other uses are the usual: Netflix, Word/Excel generally open at all times, a bunch of tabs while browsing, music, etc.
No, and maybe. Virtually no one really needs an i7, and the only ones who do are people doing very high-powered work that happens to divide well--like video processing. If you don't know that you need an i7, you'll be just fine with an i5. 4GB vs 8GB is a bit harder; it'd be real nice to have 8GB, but 4GB won't cripple you. You just might not be able to have ALL 10,000 Chrome tabs open at once. Again, it's not like you're going to use this thing for any sort of really heavy lifting to begin with, so you can get by with lesser hardware without suffering.

As for a Windows Store discount, I have no idea. I've never heard of anyone trying it, so no idea if it's something they do or not. Try it and see?

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

No, you don't need the i7. Generally if you have to ask if you need it, you don't these days. 8GB RAM is another story. I can chew through 6GB of ram pretty easily, and if you're running a game like Kerbal Space Program it's easy to max out your RAM if you don't always close all your apps all the time (I'm spoiled, I never close anything once I open it)

DrDork posted:

At the high end, at least, not a whole lot: the GF 880M is simply a slightly higher clocked 780M--resulting in an effective increase of only 10% or so in FPS while keeping a very similar thermal load (100W--ouch). The Battery Boost option might be useful, but it might also simply be basically shortcuts for already-available options (it says it "lowers game settings to extend battery life"--which could mean basically anything); the results have yet to really be evaluated.

The lower ranges are actually where you'll see more improvement from the 800-series. The 850, for example, is one of the new Maxwell chips and apparently performs similarly to the 765--while drawing less power.

Huh, so the 880M is a marketing bait-and-switch for the Rev. B of the 780M?

It looks like the 820, 830, 840, 850, 860 are all new Maxwell class chips, while the 870 and 880 are last gen Kepler technology. Good to know, thanks sir!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units#GeForce_800M_.288xxM.29_Series

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004


Here is the aptly-named Should I buy a $100 Mouse? thread

And the Keyboard Thread, since those things so often go hand-in-hand

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incogneato
Jun 4, 2007

Zoom! Swish! Bang!
Hmm, thanks for the replies. I'll keep looking for something with 8GB of ram then. The ATIV 9 not on sale is a bit steep for what you get, it seems.

What are people's thoughts on the Acer Aspire S7-392? I haven't ever thought of Acer as a high-end computer maker, but the Wirecutter article seems reasonably thorough: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-windows-ultrabook/. Any experience with it or arguments against? Sorry if this has been asked before, but frankly I'm not quite sure where to start my research.

What I'm looking for:

* $1000-$1300
* Some light gaming such as TF2 or Minecraft
* Prioritizing thin and light
* Appreciate good build quality/durability

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