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This is more a general off-topic observation, but I think the OP is pretty dated in that obviously Thinkpads are pretty ridiculously affordable and durable but as far as alternatives (like needing a dGPU) it is way too laser focused on Lenovo which reflects on everyone asking in here about lovely consumer-grade Lenovos. These systems aren't any better engineered than any other consumer laptop you'll purchase except for the bottom of the barrel Best Buy poo poo, at which point you should be looking at Chromebooks anyway. I did a ton of research off site and it really sucked, but I eventually found that the Y410p I had been eyeing since the T440 series, and that had been recommended as basically the best buy ever, ended up being not an ideal system for portability reasons and had plenty of reasonable, not totally insane "gaming laptop" competitors I wouldn't know about from reading this thread.
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Jul 13, 2014 08:17
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I don't even see any mention of Acer or Asus in the OP. What are their reputations like currently?
Harriet Carker fucked around with this message at 09:03 on Jul 13, 2014 |
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Jul 13, 2014 08:50
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dantheman650 posted:I don't even see any mention of Acer or Asus in the OP. What are their reputations like currently? ASUS is much better. They've been getting their fingers into all sorts of things lately, and most of what they put out is quite competent. They're not often the leader in whatever specific niche you're looking at, but as a general rule you get a solid product for the price you pay. Their Republic of Gamers lineup is their answer to Alienware et al., and is similarly overpriced for what it is most of the time.
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Jul 13, 2014 09:09
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DrDork posted:Because for the Lenovos it's factually true and we have a 200+ page thread about it. The Dell XPS and HP Elitebooks aren't bad by any means, but aren't quite up to the ThinkPad level. But Thinkpads aren't the same design that they used to have so you are repeating out-of-date information.
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Jul 13, 2014 09:30
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DrDork posted:Acer is the same as Acer has always been: the producers of cut-rate consumer poo poo that will generally meet the lowest level of durability/reliability points and not much more. They're viable choices for cheap poo poo that isn't going to take much abuse (think monitors for Office work), but I'd never buy a laptop from them. Thanks. This is good to know. Another dumb question: Is Windows 8 pretty much the only option for new laptops now? I am very comfortable with 7 and afraid of change.
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Jul 13, 2014 09:35
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shrughes posted:But Thinkpads aren't the same design that they used to have so you are repeating out-of-date information. dantheman650 posted:Another dumb question: Is Windows 8 pretty much the only option for new laptops now? I am very comfortable with 7 and afraid of change. Yes. However, once you upgrade to Win8.1 and slap Classic Shell (which is free) on there, it's virtually indistinguishable from Win7 from any normal user's perspective. It just has all the under-the-hood improvements from 8 that makes things more better. Basically, there's no reason not to use Win8 anymore, unless you have some fancy-pants software that simply CANNOT run on it for whatever reason.
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Jul 13, 2014 10:26
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DrDork posted:Yes. However, once you upgrade to Win8.1 and slap Classic Shell (which is free) on there, it's virtually indistinguishable from Win7 from any normal user's perspective. It just has all the under-the-hood improvements from 8 that makes things more better. Basically, there's no reason not to use Win8 anymore, unless you have some fancy-pants software that simply CANNOT run on it for whatever reason. Sounds good to me! The more I look at Lenovo this afternoon, the more I like it. The OP goes on and on about ThinkPads, yet only mentions IdeaPads in this one sentence: "ThinkPad laptops are completely seperate from Lenovo "Ideapads". What is the thread's opinion on Ideapads? It seems like the Y series could run D3 without breaking the bank. Edit: Specifically, the Y510p. It's got dedicated graphics, an 8GB SSHD + 1TB 5400 HD, a 1920x1080 screen, and a 4th generation i7 for 900. This seems almost too cheap - is there some big red flag I'm missing? Reviews tend to be extremely positive, noting the only major flaws are short battery life (I don't care) and a slow main hard drive (a little worrying). Harriet Carker fucked around with this message at 11:42 on Jul 13, 2014 |
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Jul 13, 2014 10:40
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dantheman650 posted:Sounds good to me! You don't need all that fancy crap for D3. Its really well optimized and can run max on a much cheaper laptop.
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Jul 13, 2014 13:04
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Lelorox posted:You don't need all that fancy crap for D3. Its really well optimized and can run max on a much cheaper laptop. Can you recommend something? It didn't run well at all on my (now dead) Dell with an i3, 4 GB RAM, and AMD Radeon 4500. Really all I care about is a nice screen for watching movies and TV, decent enough processor to handle a bunch of Chrome tabs and iTunes at the same time, and preferably a SSD for fast boots and loading. I don't care about sound because I have an external sound card and I don't care about the keyboard/trackpad because I use a wireless mouse/ keyboard anyway.
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Jul 13, 2014 13:35
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dantheman650 posted:Can you recommend something? It didn't run well at all on my (now dead) Dell with an i3, 4 GB RAM, and AMD Radeon 4500. http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html
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Jul 13, 2014 14:04
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I'm looking for a laptop, because I'm going to study mechanical engineering. I am going to bring that thing with me everyday. I will be using Solidworks and that program only supports the Nvidia Quadro and AMD Firepro GPUs. My budget is 1100 euros, with that kind of money I could get a new Lenovo W530 with 16GB ram, FHD screen, I7 3740QM and a Nvidia Quadro k1000m from the lenovo outlet. I could also get a zBook 14, which has a 256GB SSD, a Firepro m4100, 8GB of ram and a i7 4600u, but it is much lighter. What do you guys recommend? Do I really need a “professional” GPU? Do I really miss out on a lot of performance with an ULV i7 CPU with Solidworks? I don't care for gaming, I got a desktop at home. edit: The w530 has a 500GB 7200RPM HDD and the Zbook 14 has an FHD screen. Agent York Morgan fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Jul 13, 2014 |
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Jul 13, 2014 15:53
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dantheman650 posted:What is the thread's opinion on Ideapads? It seems like the Y series could run D3 without breaking the bank. The y-series (the y410 in particular) has been well liked for its ability to provide good gaming performance in a not-poo poo package at a very good price for what you get. That said, if you don't need a gaming computer (and you don't--also, they're heavy), there are other options I'd look into instead. Depending on how much you want to spend, consider looking at the Dell XPS line, ASUS's lineup, and maybe MSI if you want to lean a bit more to the "gaming" side of things. For D3, you'd probably be ok with almost anything with a Haswell CPU and an ok GPU will work. If you decide on a 1366x768 screen (please don't), you can get away with the built-in Intel HD4600 iGPU. Otherwise look for something with a GF 740M or 850M or better.
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Jul 13, 2014 18:41
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Agent York Morgan posted:I'm looking for a laptop, because I'm going to study mechanical engineering. I am going to bring that thing with me everyday. I will be using Solidworks and that program only supports the Nvidia Quadro and AMD Firepro GPUs. What matters more to you--cutting down rendering times a bit, or lugging around extra weight? I'll tell you straight up you'll notice a hell of a difference using a SSD-based laptop vice a HDD-based one, and that would strongly influence my decision unless I was also budgeting in the cost of an add-on drive.
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Jul 13, 2014 18:44
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gently caress, the webstore mislabeled the Zbook 14. That one has a 750GB HDD. The SSD version costs around the 1500 euros. The HDD version is pricier than the w530 (140euros), if I upgrade the w530 with an SSD I would still be cheaper off. Even though the W530 is from 2012 and has an older CPU and GPU, would it still be a viable option? Or should I go for an entry level W540 (with i7), pay 120 euros more and only have 4GBs of ram? Agent York Morgan fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Jul 13, 2014 |
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Jul 13, 2014 19:12
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Agent York Morgan posted:Even though the W530 is from 2012 and has an older CPU and GPU, would it still be a viable option? Or should I go for an entry level W540 (with i7), pay 120 euros more and only have 4GBs of ram?
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Jul 13, 2014 20:36
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So I think I've decided since I can't get good for under 500 bucks, and I'm only using this laptop I'm buying for travel anyway, I'm going to go with a Toshiba Satellite again since my last one lasted six years. Is there one in particular anyone can suggest? I was looking at the Satellite Ls.
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Jul 13, 2014 20:48
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RBA Starblade posted:So I think I've decided since I can't get good for under 500 bucks, and I'm only using this laptop I'm buying for travel anyway, I'm going to go with a Toshiba Satellite again since my last one lasted six years. Is there one in particular anyone can suggest? I was looking at the Satellite Ls. I'm not an expert, clearly, but I have some anecdotal data: My grandma is using an L505 from 2009 or so that's still running like a champ. If they're just as good today as they were then I'd say they're a decent buy. Hers runs The Sims 3 just fine  (That's my go-to metric for performance, for better or worse)
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Jul 13, 2014 20:55
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My power supply for my Asus G55VW turned into a brick and I need a new one. The original adapter was 180 Watt, and Asus doesn't have any in stock so I'm looking to buy from a 3rd party and I don't know much about laptop power supplies. I've found a pwr+ on amazon that is only 150 Watt but claims it will work for the g55 (and even the larger g75). Can this be trusted that it actually works on the laptop without burning the thing out? I've also found an iTEKIRO 180 Watt on from a non-amazon vendor which will have slower shipping for me. So basically I'm wondering if I can do the 150 Watt one that I can get faster or do I need to do the 180 watt one and wait the extra few days (or pay assload for rush shipping).
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Jul 13, 2014 23:16
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gingerberger posted:So basically I'm wondering if I can do the 150 Watt one that I can get faster or do I need to do the 180 watt one and wait the extra few days (or pay assload for rush shipping).
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Jul 13, 2014 23:26
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DrDork posted:They're not, but they're still top-of-the-pile for durability. I mean, 95% of the bellyaching about the TX40 series has been confined to the trackpad and lack of dedicated buttons, not "it falls apart!" As said, the high-end Elitebooks and a few others get close, but I'd be interesting in knowing what you think eclipses the ThinkPad and why. You can see Latitudes and Elitebooks survive drop tests that T-series Thinkpads fail, as of the T430. You can see Lenovo cutting costs. Do you have any reasons for your beliefs that aren't just brand recognition?
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Jul 14, 2014 00:34
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Seeing ThinkPads survive water tests that Elitebooks, let alone Latitudes, fail miserably at. Seeing ThinkBooks survive the dust and grit of Afghanistan that slaughtered almost everything else we took out there (the Elitebooks actually did pretty well--not as great, but not bad at all). Basically, I've had a lot of personal experience with them that still leads me to believe that they're top-of-the-pile.
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Jul 14, 2014 00:57
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I am a CS student who lives in Australia. My current laptop, a late 2011 Apple Macbook Pro is working perfectly fine but it's getting to the end of it's warranty period and I want to start saving for a 'just in case' scenario where it dies and I need to get another laptop at short notice. My needs will be basically be: Quad core (or dual core i7) 8GB of Ram Long battery life. I could get a 13inch Macbook Air for $1500AUD. Is that about the price I should aim to be saving for or should I be aiming for more?
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Jul 14, 2014 01:32
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I have been looking into Dell XPS 12 2013 and Sony Vaio Pro. Any thoughts on these? Build quality, reliability etc. Any known issues?
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Jul 14, 2014 01:39
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Kevin Bacon posted:I have been looking into Dell XPS 12 2013 and Sony Vaio Pro. Any thoughts on these? Build quality, reliability etc. Any known issues? The XPS line is pretty well regarded overall. No major show-stoppers that I can think of right off the top of my head. Sony, on the other hand...the laptops themselves are fine, although a lot of their hinge design and screen-flex makes me wonder about long-term durability. The bigger issue, though, is Sony has always been terrible about pushing out updates for its laptops, often trailing competitors by months. Added to that is the fact that they recently sold off the entire Vaio line, and down-the-road support gets pretty uncomfortable real fast. I'd stay away unless it was at an absolute fire-sale price and you were ok with not having it be as up-to-date as you might like at some point in the future.
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Jul 14, 2014 01:51
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I am going into Graduate school, and I am looking for a reliable laptop. I was thinking about a thinkpad, but I am open to suggestions.
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Jul 14, 2014 02:56
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Fat_Cow posted:I am going into Graduate school, and I am looking for a reliable laptop. I was thinking about a thinkpad, but I am open to suggestions. T440s or T440 would be fine, yeah. Configured with the maxed out Intel wifi option. Unless you want moar power, in which case, a T440p with quad core CPU would be fine. That is what I would get, if I wasn't concerned about China backdooring my laptop.
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Jul 14, 2014 03:01
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DrDork posted:The bigger issue, though, is Sony has always been terrible about pushing out updates for its laptops, often trailing competitors by months. I mean, I've seen the same argument (or lore, maybe) repeated about Sony many times. I've also seen a couple of people say it wasn't as bad as all that (anymore), but I feel like I'm missing the point either way. So, obviously you want updates to drivers if there's an actual problem with one. Which for the important bits (gpu, audio and wifi) you can get from the relevant chip manufacturer's websites. You've got your Windows updates... from Microsoft. And then what else would you want updates from Sony for? The crapware? The webcam driver? What? The only sensible thing I can think of is perhaps a BIOS update, but actually needing it would be a rare occurrence. What I'm saying is that I definitely don't see it as a bigger issue than poor hinge design, to say the least. Kevin Bacon posted:I have been looking into Dell XPS 12 2013 and Sony Vaio Pro. Any thoughts on these? Build quality, reliability etc. Any known issues? The Dell's got a better reputation for build quality though, so I'd mostly look at the Sony if the weight savings are really important to you.
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Jul 14, 2014 03:15
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Lord Windy posted:I am a CS student who lives in Australia. My current laptop, a late 2011 Apple Macbook Pro is working perfectly fine but it's getting to the end of it's warranty period and I want to start saving for a 'just in case' scenario where it dies and I need to get another laptop at short notice.
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Jul 14, 2014 03:43
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DrDork posted:Seeing ThinkPads survive water tests that Elitebooks, let alone Latitudes, fail miserably at. Seeing ThinkBooks survive the dust and grit of Afghanistan that slaughtered almost everything else we took out there (the Elitebooks actually did pretty well--not as great, but not bad at all). Basically, I've had a lot of personal experience with them that still leads me to believe that they're top-of-the-pile. So that is 'no'
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Jul 14, 2014 04:35
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go3 posted:So that is 'no'
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Jul 14, 2014 04:41
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Cingulate posted:Consider the Retina Macbook Pro. Unless you really need the ultra thin factor, the nicer screen on the Pro and the better specs even on the low end one should count for something. You'd be surprised about the CPUs. According to some of the benchmarks I am seeing, the I7 in the Macbook Air had almost the same performance as the I7 in the 13" Retina. But there is almost $500 difference in the I7 13" or a $1000 difference in the base 15" My Current: I7-2760QM = 6915 Macbook Air: I7-4650U = 4252 Retina 13" (base): I5-4258U = 4163 Retina 13" (best): I7-4558U = 4310 Retina 15" (base): I7-4750HQ= 8122 Retina 15" (best): I7-4960HQ= 9972 http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html The 13" is probably better in terms of graphics (far, far superior) and screen size. But really, at that point I may as well go with a T540 with a I7-4710HQ and 3K monitor for $1750 and buy my own HDD (256GB = 223) and extra RAM (182 for 16GB). After that I could just dump a Linux distro on. If I can replace the RAM and HDD, would there be any better value for about $1800~$2000?
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Jul 14, 2014 04:44
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Genocyber posted:Follow the Barnes and Noble Gold link in the OP and make an account, the discount and buying it from Lenovo's site will save you money if you decide to go with that. Last I checked there's a model with the same specs and a better processor for like $850. Thanks for the tip! I was looking around and saw this http://shop.lenovo.com/barnesnoblegold/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y50/?sb=:000001C9:0001211A: The Y50 for $950 and it looks like pretty much exactly what I want except for the HDD. How decent are those hybrid HDDs? I have 2x500meg SSHDDs in my desktop and I can't go back to slow startup/load speeds. Is it easy to swap out HDDs on laptops? Lastly, how much extra oomph am I really getting for that $950 Y50 compared to this http://shop.lenovo.com/barnesnoblegold/us/en/laptops/lenovo/z-series/z40/?sb=:000001C9:00011E05: $690 Z40? Again I'm looking for something that will play modern games at med/high levels with ~30fps.
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Jul 14, 2014 05:17
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Lord Windy posted:You'd be surprised about the CPUs. According to some of the benchmarks I am seeing, the I7 in the Macbook Air had almost the same performance as the I7 in the 13" Retina. But there is almost $500 difference in the I7 13" or a $1000 difference in the base 15" Passmark isn't exactly real world - I doubt there is anything you can sensibly do on the top spec Air that you can't on the base i5 model
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Jul 14, 2014 07:10
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dissss posted:Passmark isn't exactly real world - I doubt there is anything you can sensibly do on the top spec Air that you can't on the base i5 model No that is true, but my point was it was more expensive for the Retina and I'd be better off buying a Lenovo and putting in RAM and a HDD than buying a base level Retina. I like OS X, but I'm not working full time anymore and I want bang for my buck.
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Jul 14, 2014 09:45
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dissss posted:Passmark isn't exactly real world - I doubt there is anything you can sensibly do on the top spec Air that you can't on the base i5 model It linearly scales with CPU cores, which isn't usually representative of real-world performance.
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Jul 14, 2014 13:58
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Bob Morales posted:It linearly scales with CPU cores, which isn't usually representative of real-world performance. What do you mean? I know very little about this sort of thing.
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Jul 14, 2014 15:40
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Relentlessboredomm posted:What do you mean? I know very little about this sort of thing. quad-cores are going to effectively score double what a dual-core does in cpu-only test like that. Look at the performance of this benchmark, the quad scores over double what the dual does (remember this is also i7 vs i5 so there are additional gains there). 3D rendering in general is very CPU dependent and will use all the cores that it can.  But when you look at this one, the quad is faster but it's not by as much: 
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Jul 14, 2014 15:58
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And the reason is that most programs don't use all the cores. Most probably still just use one.
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Jul 14, 2014 16:39
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Is there a laptop with a 15.6" screen that has: -Great battery life (~8 hours) -Full numpad -switchable graphics -Isn't gaming-themed I will be working out of a hotel room for a month and want something of a desktop replacement but definitely not a 17" monster. Budget is $1,500 but I would consider spending more for the perfect laptop though.
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Jul 14, 2014 16:48
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What would be a worthwile upgrade from a thinkpad x120e? I know the x120e's are considered to be quite good functional little laptops. And it is for the most part. I dumped 6gb of RAM into it but it's still a bit slow on multitasking and the screen is smaller than I'd like. I don't do gaming, just general use. Is there something out there that's a large enough upgrade, without being too spendy, to make spending money on a new laptop worth it.
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Jul 14, 2014 17:38
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