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I posted a couple of weeks ago looking for advice on buying a laptop that would mostly do what my desktop PC does. After thinking about it for a bit I realized that that was stupid and I really only needed something that could browse the web and run Sublime Text. The only time I really ever saw myself doing the sorts of things I use my desktop for was when I was already sitting at my desktop anyway. So I bought an Acer C720 Chromebook. This thing is great; it browses the web like a champ and wiping out Chrome OS and installing Arch Linux on it was a piece of cake. Its powerful enough to do everything I need and if I absolutely positively need to run some OpenCL experiments with it its trivial to just SSH into my home machine and do it there. My only complaint is the screen is kind of lovely, but for a $250 small laptop who cares. Also it had to come with a Canadian keyboard because of dumb laws so the keyboard looks like someone vomited accents all over it and the left shift key is half the size it should be to make room for another key with weird ≫ characters. Quebec holding my keyboard hostage! Edit: Now that I think about it I can almost certainly rebind the funny < > key to just be left poo poo anyway. Sauer fucked around with this message at 05:19 on Mar 19, 2014 |
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Mar 19, 2014 05:04
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I'm considering the X1 Carbon, but I can't tell the difference between the screens. Is the upgrade worth it? http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-carbon/
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Mar 19, 2014 05:48
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tacosupreme posted:How long did that last? I had a horrible experience with a FX-7811 and am apprehensive about ordering an expensive laptop. I'm confused. You had a poor experience with a Gateway FX-7811, so you are apprehensive about buying expensive laptops in general? I don't think you should worry about expensive laptops anymore than any other large purchase. (Other than the fact that laptops can be dropped or stolen). I have owned several "expensive" laptops, and I have never had a major problem. I have replaced several batteries and keyboards, as I use laptops for about ten hours a day. The MSI laptop you asked about : I bought it in 2008. It is currently running at this moment, serving as my home-stereo-pandora computer.
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Mar 19, 2014 10:58
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Mentally gear yourselves down to level of cheap crap if you will, which of the following refurbs will be least horrible for general household use, plus a little KSP & AutoCAD? http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/refurbished-laptops/acer-aspire-e1-570-refurbished-15-6-laptop-21840967-pdt.html Acer aspire e1-570 Or http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=dfh&cs=ukdfh1&puid=9f855e3f Dell inspiron 15-3537 E: one of these will replace a now ten year old single core Fujitsu-Siemens with mould growing within the screen, so my sights are set low 
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Mar 19, 2014 13:49
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Hadlock posted: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) It's also worth noting that 820 actually uses the old Fermi architecture, believe it or not. Also, the 830/840 both only have DDR3 RAM (which isn't a dealbreaker at the right price, but yeah). The 850/860 are the real ones to look out for (they both use GDDR5). The only problem is that there are two(!) different versions of the 860; one that uses Kepler, and one that uses Maxwell. Nobody knows if they perform differently, but the Maxwell 860 will more than likely use much less power. I don't know how you're supposed to tell which version of the 860 that a manufacturer is using, short of waiting for a review/asking a rep/waiting till someone gets burned. It might be better to try and just look out for the 850 (it's just a downclocked 860 anyway), which will likely be available in cheaper SKUs anyway, and you won't have to cross your fingers when you make the order.
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Mar 19, 2014 15:30
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So this is driving me crazy. I have a HP EliteBook 1040 Folio G1 with a synaptics "forcepad". When it works, it's great, but when I undock it and resume from sleep (i.e. come home from work), the touchpad is terribly laggig/choppy every 2nd second or so, like it is using alot of cpu to move the mouse. Then after a while it gets better. I've tried updating to latest drivers, previous drivers, uninstall drivers and just use the windows ones, and the problem comes and goes randomly. Could this be a hardware problem? Anyone experienced the same?
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Mar 19, 2014 16:19
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Is there a general consensus on the Razer Blade? Thinking about buying one to replace my old Sager NP8150.
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Mar 19, 2014 16:30
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Drink and Fight posted:I'm considering the X1 Carbon, but I can't tell the difference between the screens. Is the upgrade worth it?
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Mar 19, 2014 17:29
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Drink and Fight posted:I'm considering the X1 Carbon, but I can't tell the difference between the screens. Is the upgrade worth it? In addition to one being touch, as Ozu said, it is also IPS for better image quality and quad HD for much higher resolution. Personally, I'd consider that well worth $100. But then again, the touch row on top of the keyboard would probably be a dealbreaker for me from the start.
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Mar 19, 2014 17:51
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It honestly seems like Thinkpads are becoming worse in quality and more gimmicky as time goes on (while losing old gimmicks, ironically). I guess that's what happens when what was once a pure enterprise line goes consumer though. While I was looking around at my local Fry's a week or so ago, I came across a Thinkpad Yoga, and I have to say the the whole thing just felt rather cheap and hollow. It honestly felt downright brittle compared to my friend's X220. I recall coming across some X series that felt similar some months back, so I don't think it's so much an issue with the Yoga itself. I know that there are more budget conscious Thinkpads (L series for example) that skimp on on the materials, but if even a X series feels cheaper than older models in its series, Lenovo must be doing something. That's not to say they still aren't solid laptops though. You really can't go wrong with a T or X series if you have the dosh for them.
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Mar 19, 2014 18:19
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skystream92 posted:Is there a general consensus on the Razer Blade? Thinking about buying one to replace my old Sager NP8150. Do you want the new one or the old one? For the same price you can get an MSI GS70 StealthPro, 3x128GB SSDs, 1TB HDD, 16GB of RAM
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Mar 19, 2014 18:34
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Peanut3141 posted:In addition to one being touch, as Ozu said, it is also IPS for better image quality and quad HD for much higher resolution. Personally, I'd consider that well worth $100. But then again, the touch row on top of the keyboard would probably be a dealbreaker for me from the start. Why do you say that? Just personal preference?
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Mar 19, 2014 18:37
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Drink and Fight posted:Why do you say that? Just personal preference? Absolutely personal preference, though everybody seems to love IPS over TN. Resolutions higher than 1080p aren't universally loved, but I love the 3200x1800 on my Yoga 2 Pro. Having a 13+" screen that looks as sharp as my S4 screen is mind-blowing. As far as touch, there are some very vocal critics of it in this thread, referring to it as rubbing your greasy caveman hands all over the screen instead of using a "proper" interface, but I've found it to be useful from time to time. Taken together, I'd gladly pay $100 for that feature set, but only you can know how much they're worth to you.
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Mar 19, 2014 19:27
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SlayVus posted:Do you want the new one or the old one? For the same price you can get an MSI GS70 StealthPro, 3x128GB SSDs, 1TB HDD, 16GB of RAM I was thinking about the old one (765M). Was looking for a gaming laptop that can handle most games on high-medium settings (I usually play things like LoL, Diablo, more than anything really graphics intensive, but that may change with Titanfall), while being rather portable. I've been looking at the Razer blade since it seems to be one of the most portable laptops with that level of performance. With that said, it's also really expensive, so I've been looking for some alternatives. Also wondering if the price might drop with the introduction of the 800 series graphics cards end of this month.
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Mar 19, 2014 19:31
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Peanut3141 posted:In addition to one being touch, as Ozu said, it is also IPS for better image quality and quad HD for much higher resolution. Personally, I'd consider that well worth $100. But then again, the touch row on top of the keyboard would probably be a dealbreaker for me from the start. My personal opinion is that the higher resolution makes it unusable since dpi scaling in windows is terrible, also touch makes the screen grittier. IPS is indeed worth it though. Touch row on keyboard is the worst though, do your self a favour and stay away from the 2. gen X1 Carbon until they fix this poo poo. Everyone else I've talked to have returned theirs after trying it.
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Mar 19, 2014 19:34
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Rahu X posted:It honestly seems like Thinkpads are becoming worse in quality and more gimmicky as time goes on (while losing old gimmicks, ironically). They're no longer the silver bullet they once were. If you could still get the T420/T430 (pick your keyboard style preference) with a 1080p screen and Haswell/Broadwell guts, that would be my next purchase. Without loving mouse buttons(!?!!) I'll have to go find a real laptop again. I <3 my X230 but I can't believe they got rid of the mouse buttons. Was "has too many mouse buttons" actually a complaint anyone has ever had?
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Mar 19, 2014 20:04
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Hadlock posted:They're no longer the silver bullet they once were. If you could still get the T420/T430 (pick your keyboard style preference) with a 1080p screen and Haswell/Broadwell guts, that would be my next purchase. When my x230 expires in (two, four?) years, I'll go for a MBA no doubt, especially since I've been running OS X 10.8/9 as my main OS for six months now with no problems. It's going to make a fantastic backup, or second home desktop. I don't regret at all not going for a MBA to begin with. People sneak up behind me like once a day to ask about my slick black hackintosh, and all the messing around and upgrading I was able to do with it was a lot of fun.
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Mar 19, 2014 21:03
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agarjogger posted:When my x230 expires in (two, four?) years [...] Yeah good luck with that, my X32 was in perfect working order up until dad spilled a glass of wine all over it a few months ago. So that's what, almost 10 years? Hadlock posted:They're no longer the silver bullet they once were. If you could still get the T420/T430 (pick your keyboard style preference) with a 1080p screen and Haswell/Broadwell guts, that would be my next purchase. You'll need to step up to a T520 but they were available with pretty nice 1080p screens and the only real sacrifice with Sandy Bridge vs Haswell is some battery life, which depending on your use case might not be a huge problem.
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Mar 19, 2014 21:14
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incogneato posted: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. I tried one in a microsoft store the other day, the screen is fantastic, but I hated the keyboard. There's not much travel on the keys and they seemed too stiff.
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Mar 19, 2014 21:21
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mobby_6kl posted:Yeah good luck with that, my X32 was in perfect working order up until dad spilled a glass of wine all over it a few months ago. So that's what, almost 10 years? My X220 doesn't have the stupid discrete video that killed my T4x and T6x so it will probably live forever.
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Mar 19, 2014 21:36
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skystream92 posted:I was thinking about the old one (765M). Was looking for a gaming laptop that can handle most games on high-medium settings (I usually play things like LoL, Diablo, more than anything really graphics intensive, but that may change with Titanfall), while being rather portable. I've been looking at the Razer blade since it seems to be one of the most portable laptops with that level of performance. With that said, it's also really expensive, so I've been looking for some alternatives. Also wondering if the price might drop with the introduction of the 800 series graphics cards end of this month. The new Blade is actually a better "value" such as it is, since they've bothered to pack a screen you'd actually want to look at in there this time and paired it with a significantly faster GPU. Still kinda lovely that a $2200 laptop starts with a piddly 128GB SSD, though. e; I wouldn't really expect much in the way of price-drops. With a $2200 newcomer, retailers don't have to price it too far under that to move the last of their stock. I wouldn't pay more than $1300-$1500 for one at the very most, depending on SSD size, but the cheapest it's showing up for so far is about $1800. tl;dr You can do better. DrDork fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Mar 19, 2014 |
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Mar 19, 2014 22:52
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DrDork posted:The 765M version of the Razer Blade is absolutely not worth the price, and never was: You could get a P34G which is virtually identical in form factor and weight, has a 1080p AHVA screen instead of a mediocre 1600x900 TN, a 128GB+1TB storage setup, and only drops the GPU slightly from a 765M to a 760M--and do it for $1400. Wow, thanks for the info! I've also been eyeing the G750 coming out end of the month. However, not looking for a 17.3" screen, maybe only 15.6". Any suggestions on a similar one? Figured with the 800 series coming out so soon, might as well get a laptop with that.
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Mar 19, 2014 23:08
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skystream92 posted:Wow, thanks for the info!
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Mar 19, 2014 23:33
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Hadlock posted:They're no longer the silver bullet they once were. If you could still get the T420/T430 (pick your keyboard style preference) with a 1080p screen and Haswell/Broadwell guts, that would be my next purchase. I love my T410, but if Dell comes out with a Haswell or Broadwell Latitude ATG, I'm probably gonna switch.
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Mar 20, 2014 01:08
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So I'm considering a new gaming laptop. Before you say get a desktop it's not really an option because of my job. I have an Asus g73jh which has treated me well. To be honest, it still works fine and I may milk it for longer but I've had it for 4 years which is way more life than I thought I'd get out of it and it does run a bit sluggish at times. It also lacks a lot of small features the new laptops have (digital out, usb 3.0, etc) It looks like asus just released a new gaming laptop (or rather upgraded the same model) http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ROG-G750...s+gaming+laptop G750JM DS71. Seems the only thing they changed was the graphics card over the DB71. If you buy it through xoticpc you can upgrade a lot of things but aside from getting an SSD I'm not sure if it needs anything else. Should I look at any other gaming laptops or should I bother waiting for anything else to come out or just get this one?
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Mar 20, 2014 04:18
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DrDork posted:The 800-series GPUs are already starting to pop up in laptops. Give it another month and they should have replaced most of the GPUs in the more gaming/performance oriented lineups. As Hadlock noted, the real players in the 800 series are the 850 and 860 (anything below will be too slow, and the 870/880, while still the fastest available, are mostly only somewhat faster re-branded 770/780's). Thanks for the help, ended up pre-ordering the new Razer Blade. Looking forward to it! Gotta admit, part of me buying this is also the fact it looks so sleek.
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Mar 20, 2014 05:57
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In Korea with a friend bringing over a laptop next week from the states if I can choose one in time. My last one was a desktop replacement and was my entertainment center so it was nice having the big screen. I'd like it for general use, watching tv, and playing Civ and Xcom and a backlog of games from the past 3 years just sitting om steam, nothing too new. I have settled on these three, but am open to suggestions. 600-700 is the goal range. Lenovo IdeaPad G710(59407729) Notebook Intel Core i5 4200M (2.5GHz) 6GB Memory 1TB HDD Intel HD Graphics 4600 17.3" Windows 8.1 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834313717 Lenovo IdeaPad G510 (59406740) Notebook Intel Core i5 4200M (2.5GHz) 6GB Memory 1TB HDD Intel HD Graphics 4600 15.6" Windows 8.1 64-Bit - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834313725 ASUS R510DP-FH11 Notebook AMD A-Series A10-5750M (2.50GHz) 8GB Memory 750GB HDD AMD Radeon HD 8670M 2GB 15.6" Windows 8 (64 bit) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231521
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Mar 20, 2014 08:37
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I have worked out what id like CPU/iGPU wise and that would be Haswell M w/ HD 4600 This has narrowed the field significantly.. prehaps to much so as my choices are as follows: Toshiba Satellite C55 Lenovo G510 Boath of these options are not all that apealing for various reasons so any other options I may have missed at/under £500 ? or am I stuck with these ?
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Mar 20, 2014 15:26
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So we're trying to find decent new laptops here at work. We're all carrying around ThinkPad T410s currently and hoping to make a nice upgrade/jump. What's worth looking at? I saw the T520 mentioned earlier but is there a current goto anyone is recommending?
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Mar 20, 2014 15:55
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mfny posted:I have worked out what id like CPU/iGPU wise and that would be Haswell M w/ HD 4600 Where do you see a Satellite C55 with a i5-4xxx?
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Mar 20, 2014 16:26
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We're looking at the T540p. Anyone have any experience with any of this stuff? code:
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Mar 20, 2014 17:14
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rotaryfun posted:We're looking at the T540p. Two things, especially if you're coming from the T410/T510 On the T540, the keyboard is offset. This is really annoying if you're anywhere close to a touch-typist Two, the mouse has no physical buttons. Good luck being productive (or scrolling!) with the trackpoint
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Mar 20, 2014 18:54
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Hadlock posted:Two things, especially if you're coming from the T410/T510 You can't just tap/press the top of the touchpad and scroll? Maybe I have just been using Macs for too long (2010) but I love buttonless trackpads, as long as I can tap and don't have to 'click'.
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Mar 20, 2014 19:00
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Truthfully though, our laptops spend 99% of their life on docking stations so that's not an issue for us. There's the few times I have to remote in from home to update our website when we're closed for weather or whatever but I don't see that as an issue. Thanks for the heads up though!
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Mar 20, 2014 19:41
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I was an ardent trackpoint supporter, but after having a Macbook for a while I'm willing to give it up for a high quality touchpad. Two finger scrolling with accelleration is really fantastic for quickly running through web pages and long documents. Unfortunately I think the handwriting is on the wall for the trackpoint, so it's probably better to start getting used to the touch pad instead of making a crappy trackpoint implementation (no physical buttons must really suck) try to work.
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Mar 20, 2014 19:48
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mod sassinator posted:I was an ardent trackpoint supporter, but after having a Macbook for a while I'm willing to give it up for a high quality touchpad. Two finger scrolling with accelleration is really fantastic for quickly running through web pages and long documents. Unfortunately I think the handwriting is on the wall for the trackpoint, so it's probably better to start getting used to the touch pad instead of making a crappy trackpoint implementation (no physical buttons must really suck) try to work. The main benefit of a track point is the option to have a second option for control, it allows you shift how you position your hand to help avoid RSI.
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Mar 20, 2014 20:40
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I'm in Canada looking for a cheap laptop. Primary purposes would be for a) writing when I'm out of town/commuting and b) using the HDMI connection to hook it up to my TV (mainly for streaming from a service that has no real options for watching their stuff on TV sadly). My initial impulse was to go with a Chromebook but that sadly won't work either. I've tried looking around but there seems to be a ridiculous amount of laptops that I'm weary on trusting. Budget would be $500-600. Does anyone know a good model or brand I should look into for this?
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Mar 20, 2014 21:42
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The W540 arrived. It's a pretty thing. I'm about to brick it (hopefully joking there) by installing a samsung evo and getting linux up and running. Wish me luck, I'll post pictures/impressions when I have it put together.
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Mar 20, 2014 22:12
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Jerk McJerkface posted:The main benefit of a track point is the option to have a second option for control, it allows you shift how you position your hand to help avoid RSI. This value of this really can't be underestimated. During the two days I owned a Thinkpad Yoga, (prior to it suddenly dying) I used the touchscreen, the trackpoint, and the touchpad, all of them being useful for different situations (the touchscreen admittedly being useless except for light browsing or reading PDFs). It was great to be able to do that, and extremely comfortable. It's the main reservation I have about my MBP.
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Mar 20, 2014 23:28
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RVProfootballer posted:Where do you see a Satellite C55 with a i5-4xxx? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-Satellite-C55-A-1N0-15-6-inch-Notebook/dp/B00G4CBEI0/ Here. Also its out of stock at Amazon now, crap. There is also an i3 4000M with 8GB/1TB instead of the 4GB/750GB of the 4200M, 100mhz less on the i3 cpu and gpu wise and no turboboost though. but worth it in exchange for double the memory and a bit more HD ? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-Satellite-C55-A-1UC-15-6-inch-i3-4000M/dp/B00HRUSSG4/ C55 seems to be good value, but I have some misgivings about build/fit and finish and portability of it, same with the Lenovo G510 as well http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-G510-15-6-inch-Laptop-Integrated/dp/B00H525N4Y/ If Acer did an Aspire E1 with the 4200M that would be nice, but they dont..
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Mar 20, 2014 23:41
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