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Grumpwagon
May 6, 2007
I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.

Hi Laptop thread!

I'm looking to get my sister a laptop to take with her to college this year. We're in the US. Main usage is papers and basic web browsing and stuff, but she'd also like to do some light gaming. Mostly old stuff like Heroes 3, but if she could play some more recent stuff (mostly Skyrim era, not talking new console ports or anything), that'd be a nice bonus. She likes The Sims too, although I know that can be a beast to run properly.

I don't care about a touchscreen (unless I should, I'm a linux person, not sure if it is useful for windows). She's used to Windows, but a Mac isn't out of the question. I just think it might be out of my price range. I'd love an SSD, just from my own experience of how much nicer that can be. I'm fine with buying it separately and installing it if that makes more sense. An IPS screen would be nice, but even a decent TN screen would be a huge upgrade from what she's using now.

Used or refurbished is fine, if that makes more sense than new. eBay is a pain, but I'm fine with that if it delivers value. I'll just need some help picking out what I should be looking for.

The most important thing is that it lasts 4 years and doesn't fall apart. She's had a series of really horrible computers, and I'd like this not to be another one.

TL;DR: College laptop, light gaming, ~$700 but flexible. Probably Windows. Used or refurbished is fine, if it meets all other criteria. Most important is that it will last 4 years. If I have to spend more, I'll live.

Grumpwagon fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Nov 29, 2014

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Grumpwagon
May 6, 2007
I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.

Hadlock posted:

Grump, check out the thinkpad/yoga selection on Lenovo outlet

Are the drives on those user replaceable, or should I pay their premium to have an SSD installed?

Grumpwagon
May 6, 2007
I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.

Grumpwagon posted:

Hi Laptop thread!

I'm looking to get my sister a laptop to take with her to college this year. We're in the US. Main usage is papers and basic web browsing and stuff, but she'd also like to do some light gaming. Mostly old stuff like Heroes 3, but if she could play some more recent stuff (mostly Skyrim era, not talking new console ports or anything), that'd be a nice bonus. She likes The Sims too, although I know that can be a beast to run properly.

I don't care about a touchscreen (unless I should, I'm a linux person, not sure if it is useful for windows). She's used to Windows, but a Mac isn't out of the question. I just think it might be out of my price range. I'd love an SSD, just from my own experience of how much nicer that can be. I'm fine with buying it separately and installing it if that makes more sense. An IPS screen would be nice, but even a decent TN screen would be a huge upgrade from what she's using now.

Used or refurbished is fine, if that makes more sense than new. eBay is a pain, but I'm fine with that if it delivers value. I'll just need some help picking out what I should be looking for.

The most important thing is that it lasts 4 years and doesn't fall apart. She's had a series of really horrible computers, and I'd like this not to be another one.

TL;DR: College laptop, light gaming, ~$700 but flexible. Probably Windows. Used or refurbished is fine, if it meets all other criteria. Most important is that it will last 4 years. If I have to spend more, I'll live.

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?

By default, it comes with a 500gb 7200 rpm platter drive for a total of ~$750. For Lenovo to upgrade to a 128gb SSD, it costs about $100. This also changes the name from "Lenovo T440" to "Lenovo T440 ultrabook with SSD," and changes the windows version to 8.1 from 8. I realize 8.1 is a free upgrade from 8, but does this mean I'm buying a previous generation laptop? It has the same generation/model CPU ("4th Generation Intel Core i5-4200U Processor( 1.60GHz 1600MHz 3MB)")

I asked their sales support chat if the drive was user replaceable without voiding the warranty, and they said it was. Would it be a bad idea to buy a decent SSD and replace it myself? I'm comfortable building desktops, and I've replaced the fan on my ancient laptop, so I think I'm capable. Is it just a normal 2.5" drive?

While I'm in there, I was thinking of adding another 4gb stick of ram, but I can't figure out what form factor the memory is? Would this work? All the tech specs page on the lenovo website says is: 4.0GB PC3L-10600 DDR3L 1333 MHz

Thanks again!

Grumpwagon fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Dec 16, 2014

Grumpwagon
May 6, 2007
I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.

Excellent, thank you to you both. I'm putting the order in now.

Grumpwagon
May 6, 2007
I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.

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?

By default, it comes with a 500gb 7200 rpm platter drive for a total of ~$750. For Lenovo to upgrade to a 128gb SSD, it costs about $100. This also changes the name from "Lenovo T440" to "Lenovo T440 ultrabook with SSD," and changes the windows version to 8.1 from 8. I realize 8.1 is a free upgrade from 8, but does this mean I'm buying a previous generation laptop? It has the same generation/model CPU ("4th Generation Intel Core i5-4200U Processor( 1.60GHz 1600MHz 3MB)")

I asked their sales support chat if the drive was user replaceable without voiding the warranty, and they said it was. Would it be a bad idea to buy a decent SSD and replace it myself? I'm comfortable building desktops, and I've replaced the fan on my ancient laptop, so I think I'm capable. Is it just a normal 2.5" drive?

While I'm in there, I was thinking of adding another 4gb stick of ram, but I can't figure out what form factor the memory is? Would this work? All the tech specs page on the lenovo website says is: 4.0GB PC3L-10600 DDR3L 1333 MHz

Thanks again!

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

Grumpwagon
May 6, 2007
I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.

My friend is looking for a gaming laptop. He doesn't really have a set budget as this isn't his primary gaming device, just something he wants to bring to his GF's house and play WoW/Slay the spire and such. That said, he's a developer and has some money to throw around, so having the ability to play newer games for the future would be good too. It'd be nice if it was a little portable, but that's lower priority. I don't do laptops, but I do know it's a bad idea to buy a new gaming desktop GPUs because of the 3070/3080. Is it a similarly bad time to buy a gaming laptop? If not, what's the thread recommended gaming laptop? I saw that ASUS being recommended a page ago, should I be looking in that direction?

Grumpwagon fucked around with this message at 14:45 on Sep 12, 2020

Grumpwagon
May 6, 2007
I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.

etalian posted:

Well with laptops there's always something better around the corner and will probably take until 2021 to start seeing laptop 3000 series GPUs.

I picked the G14 after doing lots of research and feels it's the best mid range laptop with solid build quality for people who can't go over ~$1500.

Thanks! I'll pass it along

Grumpwagon
May 6, 2007
I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.

I'm looking to recommend a PC laptop in the ~$750 range to my sister. She plays some indie games, but nothing that an integrated video couldn't handle. The most important things are build quality, battery life, and portability (competing, I know), in that order. I'd like to give her a couple of 15" and a couple of 13" suggestions. She does have a Microcenter nearby (Chicago), but their offerings seemed more gaming focused.

I'm a desktop guy myself, so I don't have great thoughts. How do these look:

Dell Inspiron 15" Ryzen 5700, 16gb ram, 512 gb SSD $699 - https://deals.dell.com/en-us/productdetail/e43n
Same, but 1TB HD, $749 - https://deals.dell.com/en-us/productdetail/e6bb

Acer Swift 3 14" Ryzen 5700, 8gb ram, 512gb SSD $638 - https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Display-Octa-Core-Processor-SF314-43-R2YY/dp/B08YD1JLJF/
ASUS Zenbook 13" Ryzen 5700, 8GB, 512 SSD $769 - https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ZenBook-13-UM325UA-DS71-Ryzen/dp/B08XGV5GMQ/

Grumpwagon
May 6, 2007
I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.

Lockback posted:

Inspirons are crap, I don't recommend Acers at all. That Zenbook is ok, I like the OLED screen on that.

This Yoga 2-in-1 is decent for a cheaper option at $600
https://www.ebay.com/itm/203600435959 (Bestbuy via ebay)

or a 2-in-1 Vivobook is probably a bit better deal if you are a costco member
https://www.costco.com/asus-14%22-touchscreen-2-in-1-vivobook-tm420ua-laptop---amd-ryzen-7-5700u---1080p.product.100742586.html

Thanks very much for this! I talked it over with my sister, and we really liked the look of the Vivobook, mostly because she currently uses a 14" laptop for work, and thinks that's the right size. She thinks she'd notice the drop off to 13", and if anything would go 15" rather than 13". However, by the time we finished deciding, it was no longer available at Costco.

Sorry to come back to the well for a 2nd round of recommendations, but are you aware of any other 14" in that range (or even that Vivobook similarly priced elsewhere) in that same $600-$850 range?

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Grumpwagon
May 6, 2007
I am a giant assfuck who needs to harden the fuck up.

Grumpwagon posted:

I'm looking to recommend a PC laptop in the ~$750 range to my sister. She plays some indie games, but nothing that an integrated video couldn't handle. The most important things are build quality, battery life, and portability (competing, I know), in that order. We've decided on 14" (preferred) or 15" screens. She does have a Microcenter nearby (Chicago), but their offerings seemed more gaming focused.

Ok, I've been looking at the Costco laptops deals, how do these look?

Lenovo IdeaPad 5 14" Ryzen 5 5600U 16gb ram 512 SSD $649. Looks very similar to the one recommended before that we were going to buy, but I've heard people say IdeaPads aren't built all that well. - https://www.costco.com/lenovo-ideapad-5-pro-14%22-touchscreen-laptop---amd-ryzen-5-5600u---2240-x-1400---windows-11.product.100794404.html

MSI Prestige 14" - i7-1195G7, 32 gb ram, 1 tb SSD. $799. I had been leaning towards AMD (is that smart?), and 32gb RAM is huge overkill for her, but this is marked down a ton and seems ok. Is it built well? Battery life? - https://www.costco.com/msi-prestige-14-intel-evo-platform-laptop---11th-gen-intel-core-i7-1195g7---1080p.product.100794666.html

HP Envy x360 15.6" Ryzen 7 5700U 12gb ram, 512 GB SSD. $779. Probably my 3rd choice of these 3, but seemed interesting enough to ask about - https://www.costco.com/hp-envy-x360-15.6%22-touchscreen-2-in-1-laptop----amd-ryzen-7-5700u---1080p---windows-11.product.100793951.html

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