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My mom is in the market for a new laptop. She says she likes the Surface Pro, but I'm wondering if an actual laptop might be cheaper with similar performance/weight. Are there any alternatives I should check out?
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Dec 20, 2014 07:34
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I just found this on Newegg, it seems like a pretty good deal but is there anything I may be missing? (I plan on using this for schoolwork/light gaming/and some basic software development. I already have a desktop to do heavy duty loads so this is mainly for portability and convenience while I am at college.) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834317594
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Dec 20, 2014 18:00
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I'm in the market for a cheap-as-chips laptop. Not doing anything special with it; just something for typing, watching Netflix, light-to-moderate browsing/Skype. Something I can throw in my bag and haul around to work/client sites/cafe. Right now it's a tossup between the ThinkPad X140e, HP's Stream (13/14), or a Chromebook of some type. I'm leaning more towards the ThinkPad, but I'm open to other options, because anything beats my 7-year old Asus.
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Dec 21, 2014 02:51
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I'm looking for something that has 1) An SSD 2) 802.11ac 3) okay graphics I have a beefy desktop, so I'm looking for something that I can take with me and do some light webdev on. Mostly I'm just looking for speed (hence the ssd and 802.11ac) with whatever other graphics I can fit in without it being some kind of "ultrabook", which isn't what I need (but I'd still like to be able to do some 3d stuff). I could probably get by with like 128GB of storage and definitely don't need any sort of CD drive, or included OS. Is this chromebook territory? Those kinda look like they don't have as much screen real estate and cpu/gpu as I'm looking for.
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Dec 21, 2014 06:25
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What do you mean by 'okay CPU and GPU'? Anyway all an Ultrabook is is a slim laptop that meets a bunch of criteria dreamed up by Intel
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Dec 21, 2014 07:53
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You say you don't care about OS but that you want to do some 3D stuff; are you intending to load Linux onto it?
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Dec 21, 2014 08:16
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Priss In Plate posted:I'm in the market for a cheap-as-chips laptop. Not doing anything special with it; just something for typing, watching Netflix, light-to-moderate browsing/Skype. Something I can throw in my bag and haul around to work/client sites/cafe. Skype is not available on Chrome OS, and I wouldn't count on it being available anytime soon. Maybe the Android app gets an official port sometime during 2015 thanks to the Android runtime for Chrome, but that's not certain at all, and the Skype app for Android is kinda crap. Google Hangouts is currently the only real audio/video chat app for Chrome OS. A Chromebook will do the other things just fine, but that's no good if Skype is critical to you. I'd go for the Thinkpad or the Stream. Maybe take a look at the Thinkpad 11e if you can find one. There are Chromebook and non-Chromebook versions of it.
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Dec 21, 2014 11:49
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Skype for web is in beta, although it requires you to install a plugin that currently doesn't work on Chromebooks. It will. Eventually. Don't count on speed, though.
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Dec 21, 2014 12:49
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My brother is going travelling around Asia and is looking for a laptop to take along. Prime things are of course that it shouldn't be too heavy and have a good battery life. Being able to take the battering of travel would also be handy. He would also prefer a full sized keyboard. Being able to play CK2 or the likes would also be a plus, though definitely not looking for a gaming laptop or advanced 3D graphics. He does have an irrational dislike of Macbooks but also isn't wanting to spend what a proper Macbook would cost. What would be the consensus?
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Dec 21, 2014 15:25
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NLJP posted:My brother is going travelling around Asia and is looking for a laptop to take along. Brother speaking. Just to make clear, full sized keyboard means more not a tiny cramped one than a massive one with things, like say, a separate num pad, which would be stupid.
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Dec 21, 2014 16:14
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dissss posted:What do you mean by 'okay CPU and GPU'? MikeJF posted:You say you don't care about OS but that you want to do some 3D stuff; are you intending to load Linux onto it? I do a lot of stuff with WebGL, and this chromebook has reviews that specifically mention it handles WebGL well because of some built in Nvidia stuff. If this can handle netfix / amazon and an IDE as well it might fit the bill.
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Dec 21, 2014 17:18
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Tres Burritos posted:I do a lot of stuff with WebGL, and this chromebook has reviews that specifically mention it handles WebGL well because of some built in Nvidia stuff. If this can handle netfix / amazon and an IDE as well it might fit the bill. That's the one I have. Yes, it does WebGL surprisingly well, the build quality is very good and the battery life is amazing. But the display isn't exactly brilliant. It's very much a TN display, with limited colors and viewing angles, and the anti-glare coating is extremely obvious on light backgrounds. It's probably a good idea to see it in person before buying. I knew what I was getting when I bought it, and for me the battery life and other good sides outweigh the display. Your priorities may be different. If only Acer had put a semi-decent IPS display on it (or a top-quality TN), it would be the best Chromebook currently on the market, hands down.
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Dec 21, 2014 20:04
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Tres Burritos posted:Yep. You do not want that Chromebook - it's an ARM one rather than intel. Althought the GPU might be nice, for use in LInux you'll find whatever distro you pick buggy and incomplete, and you'll have an annoying time getting it to even boot right. I doubt there are even GPU drivers for that fancy GPU on ARM / linux. Only x86 Chromebooks have perfect linux support, as you can re-write the bootloader/BIOS, and then they're just a normal laptop. I speak from experience, as I have the original Samsung ARM Chromebook, which still isn't perfectly supported. If you're going to run Linux btw, you'll only be able to run netflix in ChromeOS btw.
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Dec 21, 2014 20:13
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wooger posted:You do not want that Chromebook - it's an ARM one rather than intel. Althought the GPU might be nice, for use in LInux you'll find whatever distro you pick buggy and incomplete, and you'll have an annoying time getting it to even boot right. I doubt there are even GPU drivers for that fancy GPU on ARM / linux. Ah, thanks for the heads up. It looks like I should either wait till I really really need a laptop and then shell out like 800-900$, or wait until there's a chromebook that fits my needs (wants) better. Tres Burritos fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Dec 21, 2014 |
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Dec 21, 2014 22:43
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I'm looking for a cheaper gaming laptop. I like the 14 inch form factor of the lenovo y40 but it doesn't have to be that size. I just don't want to spend a lot. Anyone have any recommendations around at around $800 max?
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Dec 22, 2014 05:47
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Bought myself a Chromebook for Christmas, wondering what the limitations are in regards to google drive and whether or not it can remote desktop to my PC. I haven't messed around with google drive too much but I'm betting you can upload videos and poo poo to it. If that's the case how well do they stream? I'm hoping at roughly youtube levels, but I haven't tried it. Also I know it has a small amount of actual HD space, can I use it to remote desktop? I know Chrome has an extension for that but I'm not sure if it's limited to only doing stuff in files or if I could use it to play games or poo poo. (Mostly I want to be able to do garrison nonsense in wow because i'm pathetic and can't be home all the time) How good is the chrome extension for it? Anything else I should know about a chromebook? I bought the HP11 since it seemed like the best option for me.
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Dec 22, 2014 10:08
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Hello laptop thread, I'm in need of your guidance! My 5 year old samsung is starting to make disturbing noises, so it's time to upgrade. Main uses are web browsing, editing office documents, light gaming (as the current laptop's graphics are pretty bad). I prefer console gaming, but I would like to at least be able to run Minecraft reasonably well. Is this a good deal? http://outlet.lenovo.com/SEUILibrar...Code=20AWA12800 Or is it worth waiting until the post-Christmas sales?
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Dec 22, 2014 13:50
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http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product...archPageIndex=1 Is this a good buy? (Is this the right thread for this question?)
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Dec 22, 2014 13:52
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I aren't really sure where to ask this, but since it's laptop related I will take a punt on here, sorry if I'm way off. A friend of mine is looking for a new laptop, he has no interest in gaming and no particularly stressful work demands for it, however he plans on using it to mix and produce music. The problem is, I know very little about sound cards or the software he's using. I figured something along the lines of: i3 processor 8GB of ram A fancy sound card (any help with which one would be nice) The biggest SSD I can find for the money he has left (either 500GB or 1TB) No real graphics card All the other usual trimmings Is the software going to put on a strain on the system that I'm just not seeing?
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Dec 22, 2014 14:36
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Anyone grabbed a Toshiba Chromebook 2? If I see one for $220-ish after the holidays I'll probably pick one up. I just wonder how 1080p @ 13.3" is, and I want to be able to install regular Ubuntu on it.
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Dec 22, 2014 14:37
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I have 1080p @14" on my thinkpad and it works great except for random terrible windows form applications.
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Dec 22, 2014 14:55
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Bob Morales posted:Anyone grabbed a Toshiba Chromebook 2? I grabbed that one as a parent machine, and the screen is really fantastic. It's plenty usable at the native rez, although you might end up zooming in some websites a few %. Only other comment I'd have about it is that sometimes it doesn't like to find DNS servers after waking up from sleep, but there's so many things that could cause that relating to my wifi networks/settings to chromeOS itself that you probably won't have an issue with it, especially if you just slap Ubuntu on there.
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Dec 22, 2014 15:51
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Redundant posted:I aren't really sure where to ask this, but since it's laptop related I will take a punt on here, sorry if I'm way off. You're not likely to find a laptop with an SSD as big as that, so if you're going to go aftermarket anyway, finding a laptop that can keep the HDD in addition to the new SSD isn't a bad way to go. Either through the use of an mSATA SSD or by replacing the DVD drive with a caddy for the harddrive. Any sound chip in a Windows laptop is going to suck for music production. If you want to buy an exteral audio interface, there are many options costing between sub $100 and several thousands. They have wildly differing featuresets and it's very well possible to buy a fancy one that is completely unsuitable for what he wants to do with it. Someone recording a rock band live is going to have different needs than someone who is clicking together some beats. There's an audio interface thread if you want to delve deeper in that particular hole. You would need to gather a bit more information on what he's doing/using currently in any case. One thing I didn't see you mention is screen resolution, which is important for any tasks that aren't consuming media. Full HD (1920x1080) thoroughly recommended. I tried running Cubase on 1366x768 for a couple of years and it's actually a real handicap.
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Dec 22, 2014 17:36
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My partner's old toshiba is dying pretty badly. I'm considering something along the lines of the Lenovo Z50-70. Around that price is also the Asus F555LA-XX283H and the Toshiba L50-B05C. Spec-wise, they all look quite similar, so I guess it comes down to build quality. The other option, for $100 more, is the Acer E5-571PG-524H for a touch screen. Or am I sacrificing panel quality there to get that? Alternatively, should I be looking at something else entirely? She generally sits around in bed / on the lounge reading websites. She might play a couple of basic games too but nothing too taxing. She also uses it for uni work, which involves both word processing and doing stats in RStudio. Thanks guys! Nam Taf fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Dec 23, 2014 |
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Dec 23, 2014 03:27
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Anyone have a Thinkpad Yoga 14? It seems like exactly what I'd want, after using a Surface Pro 3 with Lenovo bluetooth keyboard and getting irritated by the poor DPI scaling on a smaller and overly reflective glossy screen. Unfortunately it only seems to be available in the US, and only with a 1TB HDD and a 16 GB 'caching' drive, which seems to be a half height M.2 SSD. Really? I guess you can replace the HDD with an SSD, but surely they could have fit a full M.2 drive in there. e: Oh, it also has a glossy touchscreen with no digitizer. Is a model with a proper SSD, matte screen and digitizer too much to ask for? Precambrian Video Games fucked around with this message at 07:08 on Dec 23, 2014 |
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Dec 23, 2014 07:00
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You could try adding an anti-glare screen protector. I did so on my Surface Pro 3, using the iLLumiShield Anti-Glare (Matte) option: http://www.amazon.com/iLLumiShield-...d+surface+pro+3 It took a couple of days for the digitizer to register inputs like normal, but it did help. Tablet PC options are a little frustrating right now IMO; you could choose the perfect display with great aspect ratio and resolution but with shittier Ntrig digitizer / pen (Surface Pro 3), or an awful widescreen variant but with awesome Wacom digitizer (Helix 1/2). Or no digitizer at all! (wtf Thinkpad Yoga 14) None of which have matte screens!
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Dec 23, 2014 07:56
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B-Mac posted:I went ahead and bought an ASUS UX303LA from Amazon and just recently got it. 1080p screen, i5-4210u, 128 gb SSD, 8 gb RAM. Was $850 when I bought it and appears to be $899 now. Had been looking for an ultrabook for school for a few months. Would anyone be interested in a small write up after I have used it for a bit? Also 
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Dec 23, 2014 10:41
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I haven't been keeping up with laptops lately but it's time to refresh from my HP Dv6 with an AMC A8 quad core. All we use it for beyond internetting is excel/word, document storage, and very occasionally photoshop. I can keep the old laptop in the office for anything too intensive. Document storage can go as I'm working on dedicated storage in my house, but other than that would a chromebook meet my needs for the very basics? If grandma comes over will she be confused trying to use it? If chromebooks are recommended, is the Acer C720 still a good bet for ultra cheap or is there something coming in the next 2-3 months I should wait for? I don't care about build quality since it won't really be leaving the house. If there is a recommended Haswell laptop I'm also open for that option.
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Dec 23, 2014 13:05
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Josh Lyman posted:This is the laptop currently on my Amazon wish list so I'd personally be interested in a review. Ok well here we go then. I have had this laptop for about 2 weeks now. Quickspec run down. ASUS UX303LA 13.3 1080P IPS i5-4210U Dual Core 8GB RAM, 128 GB SSD 3 USB, Full Size HDMI, SD Card, Display Port, AC Wifi Overall the laptop seems really well built, doesn't really feel cheap anywhere that I can tell. The 1080 screen is really nice. Good color from what I have used so far with nice viewing angles that you would expect with an IPS screen. 13.3 inches seems just right for me. Only problem is some apps don't work too well with windows scaling so the text looks really blurry. Messing with DPI scaling has alleviated that to some degree. I haven't had too many issues with the keyboard at all. Really easy for me to type on. Nice spacing between the keys and pretty good feedback when i'm hitting the keys, pretty responsive. Trackpad is alright. I haven't used too many other laptops so it's hard to compare. One and two finger gestures seems to work fine when just browsing or using microsoft word. I do have a wireless mouse I use with it sometimes though. The trackpad left and right click are fairly clicky and a little noisey when used so I try not to use them too much. Thing boots up and shut downs pretty quickly. Boot time is probably around 10 seconds and shut down is even less than that. Processor seems fast for what I intend to do (schoolwork, brow swing the net and some steam in home streaming). The battery life is pretty good as well. Probably around 8-10 hours just browsing the net or doing word documents. Probably close to 6 if you are using WiFi to stream anything. I do keep the brightness around 40-50% usually though. Device runs pretty quiet even if the fans are going (haven't run anything that has stressed the system too much other than steam streaming) and it doesn't seem to heat up too bad. I gotta run to work so if anyone has questions I can try to answer them later tonight.
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Dec 23, 2014 13:38
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Grumpwagon posted:To follow up on this, I am looking at the Lenovo T440 (not the S/P/whatever). This is a recommended model from the OP, but the OP is a bit old. Is that still a good idea? I got my T440 in today and it is glorious, except for one thing: Looks like I have a dead pixel, pretty close to the center of the screen. Do I have recourse? EDIT: Annoyingly, they included recovery DVDs with a computer that does not have a DVD drive, and they say there is no way to get me a windows key, so I can't reinstall windows with my USB stick. Also, it came with Windows 7, but there is no Windows 7 recovery cd, so I have to put 8 on there... Grumpwagon fucked around with this message at 23:45 on Dec 23, 2014 |
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Dec 23, 2014 22:53
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Dead pixel in 2014 (soon to be 2015) = instant warranty return Dead pixel in 2001 was borderline warranty return. Alternative: try gently rubbing the area around the dead pixel with your thumb, often times that will fix it. I had a 2001 era powerbook with a single "dead" pixel (didn't respond properly to Navy Blues for some reason) and that was suggested to me and it fixed it. May or may not apply in 2015 to modern display technology.
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Dec 24, 2014 08:20
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I got a Lenovo y410p last november and I decided to upgrade it recently by putting in a samsung 840 SSD. The install went fine and the ssd is now my boot drive but I can't get the ultra bay hard drive (the original boot drive) to work as a second storage drive. I bought and used this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2nd-SATA-Ha...=item43c1d6c649 but the hard drive wasn't recognized. I took the hdd out and attached it via USB/SATA cable to make sure it worked and it did. I reattached the optical drive and the computer doesn't recgonize it. I can get the eject button to work but windows 8 doesn't recognize the optical drive now. Is this a hardware defect/malfunction or software? What should I do?
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Dec 25, 2014 04:17
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clockworkjoe posted:I got a Lenovo y410p last november and I decided to upgrade it recently by putting in a samsung 840 SSD. The install went fine and the ssd is now my boot drive but I can't get the ultra bay hard drive (the original boot drive) to work as a second storage drive. I bought and used this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2nd-SATA-Ha...=item43c1d6c649 but the hard drive wasn't recognized. I took the hdd out and attached it via USB/SATA cable to make sure it worked and it did. You deleted your windows install off the HDD and assigned it a drive letter in Computer Management?
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Dec 25, 2014 05:09
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Cat Army 
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The Iron Rose posted:You deleted your windows install off the HDD and assigned it a drive letter in Computer Management? No. How do I do that? It doesn't show up as a drive in computer management unless I use the USB/SATA cable. I did use the Samsung migration software.
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Dec 25, 2014 08:28
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clockworkjoe posted:No. How do I do that? It doesn't show up as a drive in computer management unless I use the USB/SATA cable. I did use the Samsung migration software. That's because the drive still has the windows data on it. You need to wipe it with a boot USB first; I recommend GParted
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Dec 25, 2014 09:30
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The Iron Rose posted:That's because the drive still has the windows data on it. You need to wipe it with a boot USB first; I recommend GParted The fact that his optical drive now mysteriously doesn't work anymore either, just indicates a badly connecting, maybe busted SATA connector or a similar hardware problem. Windows could easily be ruled out as the cause by checking the boot order settings in the BIOS. If no type of drive in the ultrabay shows up there, it's definitely a hardware problem.
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Dec 25, 2014 13:06
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Flipperwaldt posted:Don't know what you're on about, this isn't required at all for the drive to show up in Disk Management when booting from the SSD. And typically, it would also get assigned a drive letter automatically and just show up in Explorer. That's what happened to me when I put my old HDD in my y410p  I freely acknowledge that I don't really know much but that's what worked for me and that's what folks in a variety of online tech communities told me when I asked similar questions. I missed the part about the broken optical bay though, that's indicative of something for sure.
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Dec 25, 2014 13:12
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So, it looks like the Y50 is well regarded here? I got a Y500 22 months ago and I love it, except the screen doesn't work anymore. For a few months when I'd close the lid the screen would flicker, indicating to me a bad connection. Finally it just stopped showing anything period (it looked all black but the backlight was still on), though if I plugged the laptop into VGA it was just fine. So I tore it apart to see if anything was loose, put it back together and now the screen was all white (but still worked connected to VGA). So I got a new cable (LVDS cable) to connect the screen to the system board, put that in, screen still white. I did some Googling and it may indicate the System Board is bad, at which point I think it's time to replace (I can find some use for the y500 since it works just fine other than the screen). So things I like about my y500:
Some small part of me is buttmad that the thing may be expensively broken after only 22 months and makes me want to not get a Lenovo, but I'm guessing that's just irrational and nobody else really makes anything equivalent, right?
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Dec 25, 2014 19:33
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FISHMANPET posted:So, it looks like the Y50 is well regarded here? I got a Y500 22 months ago and I love it, except the screen doesn't work anymore. And this is why I like 2 year warranties :P A y50 is a great computer if you replace the SSHDD included with a SSD. You're not going to find a better computer for much less, and it's waaaaaaaaay more durable and solidly made than the previous gen's y510p. Has a decent, but not outstanding, GPU. Anything with a better GPU however is going to be almost twice as expensive at cheapest.
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Dec 25, 2014 19:57
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FISHMANPET posted:Some small part of me is buttmad that the thing may be expensively broken after only 22 months and makes me want to not get a Lenovo, but I'm guessing that's just irrational and nobody else really makes anything equivalent, right? Assuming Lenovo offered a 1 year warranty for your laptop, and that you paid with a credit card, you might be able to file a claim with your credit card company. They usually extend the manufacturer warranty by a year. I've never filed a claim like that before, but it may work for you; some googling turned up this link: http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/compare-extended_warranties-1273.php Good luck if you go that route.
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Dec 25, 2014 23:44
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