Laptop Megathread: Your laptop doesn't have Haswell? More like Hasbeen~

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Laptop Megathread: Your laptop doesn't have Haswell? More like Hasbeen~

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

So I am in the market for a new laptop. My 2005 Macbook pro just died and in it's wake I am left with a smart phone and a tower that is rapidly becoming outdated.

Since the last time I got a laptop was a macbook in 2005 I am woefully unaware of current standards outside of what I read. The OP and the posts above seem to contradict eachother but maybe I'm reading wrong. In 2003 when I got my last windows laptop integrated graphics was a very bad word. Have things not changed?

I've read the OP in full, but based on the links and the content I seem to be getting different opinions. On the one hand one of the links says that Intel Integrated HD 4000 can play pretty much any game, though it might require low or medium settings. On the otherhand, I have benchmark websites I've looked at saying that it can be as low as 5fps. I'm not a gaming snob at all, but I would love to play Bioshock Infinite (As well as much lower resource games I already own on steam) on whatever I end up buying, preferably on 'medium' settings.

Beyond that most things would probably fit my needs. Battery life is not a huge concern for me, especially if the battery is removable. Touch seems like a cool thing for a display but I have no idea how much it really matters. SSD sounds like the hugest boon to me and if I could fit that in and it was able to game I would put up with pretty much anything else. I have no problem waiting for Haswell, if only to see reduced prices on the 3rd generation stuff. My plan is october or November purchase, maybe a cyber friday kind of deal. Any thoughts?

Oh yeah, 600 - 700 dollar price tag.

mugrim fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Aug 8, 2013

# ¿ Aug 8, 2013 20:01

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 17:19

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

Bob Morales posted:

You probably don't want to buy an HD4000 machine with the intention of gaming.

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/100...page=3#comments

$789 for a Lenovo Y510P

Intel Core i7-4700MQ (2.40GHz)
NVIDIA GeForce GT750M GDDR5 2GB
8GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600 MHz
15.6" FHD LED Glossy Display (1920x1080)
1TB Hard Drive + 24GB SSD
DVD Recordable (Dual Layer)
6 Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
Intel Centrino Wireless N-2230
Bluetooth Version 4.0
Integrated HD Camera
HDMI
Windows 8 64-Bit

My budget will be between 600 and 700, do you think that it will drop in price by November?

# ¿ Aug 9, 2013 03:07

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

Ranzear posted:

Skimmed OP and recent pages and there's no mention of the Lenovo Z585.

Total sleeper of a laptop with the dual graphics.

No love for the A-series with a discrete for hybrid crossfire?

What do you mean by Dual Graphics?

Also, that laptop has one memory slot it looks like. I don't know if things work the same way they did waaaaaaay back when I was able to build my computers, but back then two sticks of the same amount of ram was faster than one stick that was twice as powerful.

I have no idea if that matters now. At the time 64 and 128mb sticks were the standard and I vaguely remember DDR ram working better that way.

I feel really old typing all that out.

Does anyone know a good resource to catch up on the current standards?

# ¿ Aug 9, 2013 03:36

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

DrDork posted:

No, no love for that. It's a 15" 1366x768, which is beyond terrible, AMD's A-series is constantly trashed by the i3/i5 series, it has just a single RAM slot (seriously?), pretty crappy battery life by current standards, and it's almost 6lbs. Oh, and the 7670M is actually a pretty bad video card these days--it's actually slower than the NVS 5400M in a T430. If you think Crossfire in a laptop with a low-to-mid GPU is a good idea, I can't really help you. (he means "dual graphics" in the sense that the AMD CPU has a 7660G built into it like and i5 has a HDXX00 built into it, and then a discrete 7670M as well)

All in all, in that you can get a much better computer for only another $100-$200 depending on what options you care for, there is zero reason to get that over a T430/530. It's a "sleeper" only in the sense that you'd have to be asleep at the wheel to consider buying it.

That's pretty harsh. "For only 100 to 200 dollars you can get something better" is typically the case until you get to top tier. The real measure is "Can I get something better for roughly the same price".

Adding 20% to 40% to the price is pretty substantial.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2013 05:08

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

InstantInfidel posted:

Would you rather light $600 on fire or spend $800 get a very good laptop with a history of excellent build quality and customer service? Because you're suggesting that lighting money on fire is the better choice.

What about 1000 for a laptop with an even BETTER history of excellent build quality? Or 1200?

I think if you were arguing that a 20 - 50 dollar increase nets you those things it's a bit more of an easy sell, but you are comparing computers from two completely different price ranges and classes. 200 bucks is a lot of cash, and money is expensive.

200 bucks will always improve any decision if you have it to spare. If you don't, you really have to look at things in the same class or range.

I'm not arguing whether or not it is a lovely laptop. I honestly don't know, my last laptop purchase was at the beginning of Bush's second term, and it was a mac. But what else at that price point exists that is superior?

mugrim fucked around with this message at 05:43 on Aug 9, 2013

# ¿ Aug 9, 2013 05:41

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

That $800 lenovo ideapad y410p looks like an amazing deal, does anyone think it will be available as cheap around the holidays?

# ¿ Aug 14, 2013 00:19

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

So I really love the y410p in what it does and everything, does anyone know if these sale prices will come back thanksgiving? In general it used to be that around the holidays cheaper computers would drop drastically in price but newer current gen ones would not, is that still typically the case?

# ¿ Aug 15, 2013 01:27

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

Internaut! posted:

In the spirit of this post I have something to contribute:

If you're concerned about cost, don't need a hotrod 3D machine, and don't mind a bit of Craigslist, I'd say consider Apple laptops as for the past 4 years I've been buying a new ~$2000-$2500 MBPs and then selling them a year later for a $200-300 loss.

Instead of looking at a Mac as a huge shitload of money up front, consider it in this light where it becomes a $200 annual fee for the latest and greatest $2k machine every year. Food for thought!

That's a pretty big risk, did you do that in 2005? I remember the price plummeted dramatically the moment they began using intel chips, which is the reason I bfinally switched to apple (I liked the OS but they felt many generations behind under the hood).

I'm still looking at the y410p. What Ultraportables do people seem to like in the 800 or less dollar range?

Big wants (in order) would be SSD, touchscreen, and battery.

mugrim fucked around with this message at 04:30 on Sep 7, 2013

# ¿ Sep 7, 2013 04:26

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

Internaut! posted:

Well the S2 didn't come out in the States until September 2011 which is only 2 years ago and not 3, and the prices I'm seeing on eBay today for used models are around $150 for a phone that cost $600 2 years ago, so I'm not sure you're remembering things correctly?

Using Best Buy as a proxy for resale value you can see they'll give you up to $231 for a used 4S but only $78 for a used S2.

But of course this thread is about laptops, so if you're hesitant re Apple pricing you can use the Best Buy trade-in calculator as well as auction sites to get an idea of how much lower your TCO can be with an Apple laptop!

The prices fluctuate too much to hope that trend goes forever. Apple does huge feature updates that occassionally make older models virtually obsolete (see the transition to using intel and how a mbp and powerbook from the same year sold at vastly different prices the next).

When apple finally makes a touch integrated OS I can imagine it will make a huge hit, and potentially knock down the price of a used mbp. As of right now Haswell seems to be boosting the battery life of cheaper windows laptops dramatically and I'm not sure the average user cares about having a computer run for 12 to 14 hours instead of 7 to 8, especially as ssd increases to boot time make on/off lag that much more bearable.

I actually like apple products for the record. Pre intel I loved the OS but it felt sluggish, like a hot rod with a moped engine. My next but won't be apple mostly due to pricing/gaming/a need to run a lot of windows files for various projects. That said if I won the lottery I would probably go out and get an air.

# ¿ Sep 8, 2013 15:05

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

Has anyone used a T430 with the dedicated graphics card option? By any chance have you played bioshock infinite? It's one of the few games I really want to be able to play that's new, and as fun as the y410p looks if I could play it with moderate playability on a t430, the ease of upgrade and tremendous battery life would make a difference to me.

Likewise has anyone used a samsung series 5 ultratouch? It looks very up my alley but I'd like to hear if anyone likes it enough.

Also, is anyone else extremely turned off by these terrible number pad keyboards that are offset? I don't know how you would type with the thing on your lap without potentially tipping it over.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2013 06:29

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

That was extremely helpful everyone, thank you. My gaming standards are low. I can play non high settings without minding as long as its not super choppy. Is it easy to toss an ssd on the t430?

Also are there any good ultraportables under 800 with a bright touch screen, decent battery life, and an ssd? I'm perfectly fine with 1366x768, its not a huge negative to me.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2013 14:49

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

Wilford Cutlery posted:

Keep your eye on Lenovo Outlet or Dell Outlet.

When you say the lenovo outlet, do you mean B&N Gold or is there an outlet somewhere else?

# ¿ Sep 19, 2013 05:38

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

Socrates16 posted:

So, I popped into Bestbuy today, and FYI it's about 50/50 Haswell to Ivy Bridge. Anywho, I tested out a bunch of screens and they're all awful. Getting paranoid about getting the y510p. Do all laptop screens suck in comparison to HDTV's and smartphones?

I had the exact opposite experience. If I had to guess, I would say that it's been so long since I've used a laptop other than my first gen MBP that I'm pretty easily impressed (I want to say that the screen was 1440x900)

In particular, playing around with the SSD was interesting.

Are there any laptops with SSD and great battery life for under 700? Weight isn't an issue, and screens seem to impress me pretty easily. The ability to play older games (and maybe even a few made in the last couple of years) would be a plus.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2013 03:02

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

Brut posted:

Pretty much any laptop lets you replace the HD with an SSD, and pretty much any laptop when purchased separately from the SSD will end up cheaper than buying the SSD as an option from the manufacturer.

So I was thinking of getting a refurbished T420 or T430 from the lenovo outlet when there stuff drops tomorrow and throwing in an SSD. Is there any reason to not do that?

# ¿ Sep 23, 2013 04:48

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

Is there a huge gaming performance difference between an i3 3227u and an i5 3337u? What about other performance?

Specifically I am looking at a u410 with a geforce 710m, and it comes with either.

Basically just for bioshock infinite fps, most my games are older.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2013 18:25

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

In terms of an Ivy Bridge i3 vs i5 for gaming performance, what is the difference?

Looking at the lenovo outlet, they have often pop up a u410 with a 710g card, but it has an i3 processor. I've tried snagging the i5 versions that pop up but it's pretty difficult to get that timing before someone else does.

Does it matter that much? Will I be able to play modern games on moderate settings with AA off?

# ¿ Sep 28, 2013 00:11

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

dissss posted:

The poster said 710m which is essentially the same speed as an NVS5400

Pretty much this. There are multiple generations of the u410. As per notebookcheck.com, they get decent modern gaming performance out of the G710 on an i5 in the u410 they use, but I wasn't aware of the major difference between an i5 and an i3.

The thing is the lenovo outlet often has refurbished versions that have an i3 and the 710g, but the i5 ones are harder to snatch up before others do. But when I get a chance to see the prices, it's like 350 - 390.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2013 07:11

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

waffle posted:

I need a work laptop and I'd prefer to not spend more than $800--I like 14" since it'll be traveling a bit and I like the T430's long battery life because I'll be in places with spotty electricity. Durability's also pretty important.

Is there anything else I should look at? I like how power-efficient Haswell is (and the T440 is likely to be as a result), and I'd be willing to wait, but I thought I saw somewhere that the T440 will release at around $1000.

I mean the real question is how much battery life do you want?

With a T430 (Especially with the fairly cheap improved battery add on in B&N Gold) you are looking at working a full almost all waking hour or extended hour day on a charge.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2013 02:56

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

I keep looking at the u410 with the 710m card. It really looks like everything I'm looking for in a laptop, sans a removable battery.

I had some more questions though:

Based on youtube, dis-assembly looks easy to install a new battery and msata, but what are the odds a battery will be around in a year? Is it easy to copy all msata data onto a flash drive, then install a new one, and then transfer the data back? Is it even worth it or is a normal SSD a better option (especially in regards to price)?

# ¿ Oct 2, 2013 03:32

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

I'm having trouble pulling the trigger on a u410. I worry about the internal battery, not because I don't feel comfortable installing it and opening it, but because it means there is no real opportunity to get a better battery.

The y series from lenovo looks like it's doing well in terms of standardization with the ultrabay, in my mind I'm hoping they come out with a nine cell variant.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2013 05:21

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

What kind of battery life are people getting on the y410p when just surfing? Anyone here previously owned a u410? How was it?

# ¿ Oct 3, 2013 17:41

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

DrDork posted:

Sure, but it's also 1.5lbs lighter and built better. It's not a "bad" laptop by any means, you're just ignoring what it's intended uses are.

Err...not really. Win7 is seen as an advantage for a lot of people, and the battery life is roughly the same.

Really, it breaks down like this:

You buy the Y410p because you want the GF 755M in there and intend to use it as a vaguely "mobile" gaming platform at a reasonable price.
You buy the T430s because you want something thin and light, yet of high quality and durability, to take with you on the move.
You buy the T430 w/9 cell or slice battery because you want a tank that you can make last all day.
You wait until November and buy one of the T440 varients because you want a high quality machine that'll last all day without needing a slice battery.

Is there any hope of a 9 cell for the y410p? Also, for anyone who has installed the SSD and put the 1tb drive in the ultrabay, are you able to turn the 1tb on and off, and do you notice any significant battery gains going full SSD?

It is very odd to me that the y410 doesn't have a 9 cell battery option. Obviously you don't buy the thing to get a light laptop so anyone who buys it knows they're lugging it around, some extra weight for an increase in battery life is a fair trade off to me.

The one tendency I hate in ultrabooks is the internal battery. I like the ability to get a new battery 2 years later when the current one's charge doesn't hold any more, or to get an expanded battery for longer life.

mugrim fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Oct 4, 2013

# ¿ Oct 4, 2013 04:53

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

Doctor Albatross posted:

Okay, looks like it's going to be a MacBook Air! Thanks very much for all the great responses. I also asked on Facebook for some worthy alternatives to the Air, and got either "just get the Air" or some vague grumbling about Apple products with no suggestions as to what would be better. Typical!

iirc this was entirely on purpose, apple bought all the cheap haswell chip sets explicitly to put the competition behind by a few months and because they had tons of cash on hand. I can't find the article detailing that for the life of me, but it's why it is much easier to find the more expensive battery draining haswell mobile systems.

This doesn't change the fact that if you need it right now, a MBA is probably your best bet, but windows systems are getting more and more interesting and the newest gen of ultrabooks require a touch screen, so it might be worth waiting based on what is coming down the pike.

Let me explain that the only reason I watch this thread is because my MBP from 2006 finally died this year and I need a new laptop, and I'm over obsessive with checking all details over and over again. Apple makes great products but I'm kind of surprised by their reluctance to use touch screens (you know, that tech that they made super famous on two different fronts) with their laptops or try something really bold with their UI. In my mind the company that made the ipad/iphone should have been the first to jump on the touchscreen wagon.

mugrim fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Oct 5, 2013

# ¿ Oct 5, 2013 04:10

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

QuarkJets posted:

To be fair, some laptops will lose their hinges regardless of how well you treat them (Dell Inspirons, for example)

Was right about to post this. My old Toshiba had its hinge break after a year of careful use. My 2006 mbp (bought brand new) died this year, and the hardware is still intact (outside of some broken fans that melted the thing).

# ¿ Oct 7, 2013 00:39

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

Has anyone had any feedback on the y580?

The graphics card looks good enough to play modern games, and notebookcheck found 4.5 hours of web browsing with the battery.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2013 03:55

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

Phoenixan posted:

I'm still using mine (purchased about a year ago now). You can stretch the battery that far if you go with 50 or 60% brightness.

The only thing I didn't like about the Y580 out of the box was the slow 5400 RPM harddrive, but I bought my own 128 gb mSATA drive and made it the boot drive while keeping the 1 tb drive for files.

The lenovo site waited until I got paid to take down all the ones that didn't have French Canadian keyboards....

On that note, what is the difference between a Intel Core i7-3537U and an Intel Core i5-3337U? Is i7 fast enough to make games and what not run better (with a 710m graphics card), or is it just wasted horse power? It would also mean giving up a touch screen if I did so and installing classic shell.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2013 14:22

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

DNova posted:

Why not? Newegg only sells those, it seems. And I might have to use Newegg. And I'm strongly considering the y510p.

It begins throttling pretty shortly into your gaming session, and the graphics card individually is good enough to play almost any new game on max settings (especially if you do 1600 x 900 and not 1080p).

Edit: also many games don't utilize sli.

# ¿ Oct 13, 2013 00:05

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

clockworkjoe posted:

I'm going on a long trip around mid January and I need to do a lot of writing during the trip. I have a Nexus 7 tablet but I'd like to use Scrivener to write, which isn't available on droid. A macbook is a bit expensive for this trip, which leaves me with an ultrabook of some kind.

1. Should I start seriously shopping for an ultrabook now or are better models going to come out soon and/or prices going to drop/rise?

2. Any recommendations?

How much are you looking to spend? If you want to go cheap, Lenovo regularly has U310's with a touch screen on their outlet for 300 refurbished (be careful to make sure you don't get an english/french keyboard), and occasionally even Yoga 11s's for that much. If you're REALLY patient, you can occasionally see a refurbished T430 on the outlet for 450 - 550, and everything other than the graphics on it is upgradeable, and they have pretty stellar battery life, model longevity, and keyboards.

If money's not a huge issue, Haswell ultrabooks will be coming out right around the holiday season and they'll have better deals then for newer haswells, which you'll probably want since ultrabook battery lives are going to get a huge boost and they already have relatively small batteries.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2013 07:35

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

So probably a stupid question:

Laptop just arrived and I'm not sure you still have to train batteries, is that still a thing? General googling says yes and no at the same time...

Specifically, leave the thing off, charge it full, and then turn it off and empty it?

mugrim fucked around with this message at 04:11 on Oct 16, 2013

# ¿ Oct 16, 2013 04:04

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

I'll do a brief review of the U410 Touch. This model is Ivy Bridge but very easily accessible. Battery technology has come so far that it wasn't a huge difference for me to get Ivy Bridge instead of Haswell. Also, this machine literally has the lightest powercord I've ever seen, including from older netbooks. For context purposes, my last notebook before this was a 2006 MBP, and outside of that I've only had desktops since.

This computer had everything I was really looking for in a laptop in a super reasonable price range so I jumped on it after watching the lenovo outlet like a hawk. Note there's some pretty huge differences between the U410 touch and the regular U410, as one was released much later than the other.

Price
$412. Prices fluctuate wildly on the outlet, and you have to be VERY careful to not get an english-french keyboard. I've seen my exact same model go for as high as 620, so it just depends on the day.

Stats
14 inch Touch Screen - 1366x768
i5-3337U
Intel HD 4000 and nVidia 710m
6gb ram
500 gb HDD

Windows 8
Windows 8 works great on this computer. The touch screen makes a big difference and still a few days afterwards I find myself still using it for the metro display. It's easy to set up my normal configuration in a few seconds with my fingers (Small chat window on the left pane, large chrome tab on the other). The machine has an mSATA slot which I may or may not use. Honestly it's plenty fast as is. I'll download Windows 8.1 tonight.

General Use
Applications run smoothly without much waiting if any. Transitioning between programs can be done quickly in a lot of different ways.

Battery
I've only used the battery twice now, but I get about 8 hours on a charge, most reviews out there place normal usage at 4 to 6 hours. It's enough that I don't have to take a charger.

Screen
The screen is only 14 inches which is my ideal screen size. It's the baseline 1366x768. The touch aspect is very responsive. The brightness is good, though not as great as IPS. Viewing angle leaves a little something to be desired, but fine unless you're trying to show a room something. The color calibration was great and really made a difference. This could just be me though, I actually prefer muted brightness in general unless I'm watching videos or playing games.

Wireless
There were lots of complaints about this online. I updated the drivers before any major use, and I never had an issue. I stream media from my home PC to the U410 without a hick up.

Gaming
The U410 lets you switch between HD 4000 integrated and the 710m pretty easily. Most of the time it seems to choose which one it should use without any problem, but just to be safe I use the nVidia tool to choose which one to use per each application. Max settings on older games, mid/high for newer ones.

Keyboard and Trackpad
The trackpad actually feels like glass and is pretty fantastic to use. Right clicking is intuitive and you don't have to think about it. The keyboard is fantastic and feels right, good separation. Some reviews complain that the center is too flexible, but thus far I have not experienced that at all. Only downside is that the keyboard is not backlit.

If anyone has any questions I'm all ears.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2013 00:48

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

Month long report for the Lenovo U410 Touch

The computer is still doing great. Battery life seems to be doing well for when I need it.

I got this model which notably lacked an msata ssd while most similar models came with it, but it's been plenty fast. The sizing is perfect and makes it extremely portable. I can't understate just how great the proportions are. Video plays fast, and I find I'm still using the touch screen regularly, especially to do two Windows 8 apps side by side (Usually 1/4th chat, 3/4s chrome).

In terms of changes I had to make to better the machine, I had to do color calibration (Reds were a little off), delete an audio driver (an nVidia one it came with is doing the job now), and I set the battery controller to look out for battery health instead of length (I rarely use the battery and if I do it's only for a few hours).

It's played every game I toss on it with relative ease including Alpha Protocol, Bioshock Infinite, Metro 2033, and DOTA2. It switches between using the dedicated 710m card and the intel hd 4000 pretty flawlessly. I've yet needed to tell it what programs to use one or the other for.

I picked mine up for around 400 on lenovo's outlet site. Whenever they drop several hundred, a few seems to be there. The easiest way to find them is to sort by the U series, then ctr+f '710m' and make sure it says multitouch on the screen. Make sure you also check the keyboard to see that it is not french-english.

If you're fine with a non IPS screen and 5 - 7 hours battery life depending on wifi/brightness/video and you want a good keyboard it seems pretty solid.

# ¿ Nov 18, 2013 07:26

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

DangerKat posted:

I'm looking for some help on picking out a laptop for my wife. It's her 30th birthday in May and her current laptop is showing the signs of the <$200 we paid for it at a Target 2 1/2 years ago. She's not a poweruser or a gamer but she does a lot of her schoolwork (she's a teacher) and I'd like to get her something that will last her longer than this last one without becoming a point of frustration. I thought about a Macbook Air since we've found ourselves in the Apple ecosystem but I'd like to avoid a four digit price tag. Would an Ultrabook make sense for for her?

Lenovo's outlet has had lots of the U series on sale for under 300 lately depending on how cheap you're looking to go. I'm on mine right now (U410 Touch with an i5 ivy bridge). No real complaints other than it desperately needed a color calibration. Great keyboard, thin, good battery life, great touch pad, and fast. Occasionally a U310 Touch pops on there for 300ish.

Here is a review from notebookcheck.net that's pretty thorough.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2014 06:03

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 17:19

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

JAF07 posted:

Anyone have any thoughts on the Lenovo Flex2? This one is $669 through B&N or with a coupon: http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/flex-series/flex-2-14/?sb=:000001C9:00011EDA:#customize

I'm going to be mostly using whatever I get for Netflix/Amazon streaming and maybe light gaming, but I also like the idea of having a portable FL Studio rig for messing around, and that's where the touch screen comes into play.

EDIT: Since Lenovo's mobile site sucks, here are the relevant specs: i7-4510U (2.00GHz 1600MHz 4MB), HD 4400 graphics, 8GB RAM, 14" FHD LED multi touch display (1920x1080), 500GB/8GB hybrid SSHD.

You're better off saving that money for a yoga, or going to their outlet and getting an older Yoga that has an ssd. Regardless of if you ever use it as a tablet, it's got a high build quality and with the ssd it's pretty zippy.

http://outlet.lenovo.com/outlet_us/

# ¿ Jun 4, 2014 03:02

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Laptop Megathread: Your laptop doesn't have Haswell? More like Hasbeen~