|
Torabi posted:Uh, what. Laptops can be more powerful than next generation consoles already. Don't get me wrong I like consoles but having to wait until 2016 to get a gaming laptop doesn't make sense. Yeah, on paper. In reality, the console can focus all of its compute power towards a single, specific goal because the entire thing- the hardware, the OS, and the software- is dedicated to doing that single specific task. A computer has to deal with hundreds of pieces of background bullshit in Windows/OSX, what amounts to a series of maybe-stable hacks that we call drivers for multiple pieces of hardware, and on top of that, deal with a game that may or may not even be optimized for the architecture it's being played on. Buying a gaming laptop any time in the next year is, actually, probably stupid idea as instead of just a bad one.
|
#
¿
Jun 30, 2013 18:59
|
|
I EVER SPENT
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 16, 2024 12:27 |
|
|
Torabi posted:
Anandtech reviewed a larger version of that and had very negative things to say. I linked to the review in the last couple of pages. The CPU's also going to outstrip the GPU, you'd be fine with an i5 if you're going with the 750M, unless you plan to do anything CPU intensive.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 30, 2013 20:04
|
|
|
Gnamra posted:I know, but I'll be playing a wide variety of games. Can anyone recommend me a powerful and durable laptop? I've checked the ones in the first post, but they're expensive as gently caress in Norway for some reason. For whatever reason, almost everything is more expensive outside of North America, so a lot of our recommendations fall flat since they're way out of whack with the price:performance curve. A safe bet is to head to a local electronics store and try and find something you like. Alternatively, you could try a forwarding company (have the computer shipped to them in the US and then on to you). I'm not sure how customs/VAT would work with that, but it might still end up being cheaper than the same laptop from their Norwegian outfit. edit: Looking again, this Asus G55 is a pretty good choice. Keep in mind, the GPU is right around a 750M, but the build quality is quite a bit better than any Acer or MSI. It won't play AAA titles in the next few years, but it'll do alright. If you want benchmarks, find the 660M on NotebookCheck. InstantInfidel fucked around with this message at 23:12 on Jun 30, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Jun 30, 2013 23:02
|
|
|
Torabi posted:Weird that asus laptop isn't even available in the swedish version of that same store. How did I think you were from Norway  I know you said you won't eve buy an Asus again, but the G-series is pretty much the best "gaming" laptop you can get. Outside of that, I'd recommend waiting for an i7 with HD5100/5200 to become available.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 30, 2013 23:53
|
|
|
Gnamra posted:The Intel HD5100 is an integrated GPU I think. Yeah, but the Asus can actually cool its GPU and CPU effectively, to a point where they aren't thermally throttled down to a level of performance well below last generation's equivalent parts. MSI gaming notebooks have always been a little slipshod but were cheap, so they weren't entirely without merit. Now they're cheap, poorly built, and literally robbing you of performance. The Asus is more expensive because it's not a steaming pile of poo poo, basically. edit: wait, I'm completely lost as to whom I was responding now. Regardless, avoid MSI like the plague, get an Asus G-series or a notebook with HD5100/HD5200 (47W i7's all have this, IIRC).
|
|
#
¿
Jul 1, 2013 00:32
|
|
|
The biggest difference will be the battery life. It's not exactly linear from PC to OSX, but the 13" MBA went from an estimated 7 hours with IB to 12 hours with Haswell, so it's definitely a sizable increase.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 1, 2013 02:55
|
|
|
We need a Lenovo smiley, like a  and  hybrid. They get so close and then just gently caress it up.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 1, 2013 17:45
|
|
|
TenementFunster posted:I've had an Alienware m11x for a few years and enjoy the smaller size immensely for most of the time when I'm not gaming on it, which is basically all the time. Probably the best 14" performance laptop you can buy, and a lot less gaudy than Alienware to boot.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 2, 2013 19:07
|
|
|
Pryor on Fire posted:If you don't really care about portability is this a good bang for you buck in today's Haswell world? That laptop sucks for reasons outlined in the OP. You need to tell us what you want to do with a laptop before anyone can tell you what brand or model is best suited to your needs.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 3, 2013 21:09
|
|
|
Benny the Snake posted:So I have an MSI GE laptop with quicklaunch buttons: special buttons above the keyboard that do quick functions like turn the display off, turn the wifi adapter on and off, and open the disc tray. Every so often, the buttons won't respond. I did a little experiment and, while it was on screensaver, pushed one of the non-responsive buttons: and the screensaver dissipated as if I pressed another random button. So they work; they just won't do what they're programed to do. Google doesn't get me anywhere: anybody know what to do? Go to the MSI site and look for drivers for your laptop, that's almost certainly the problem if it's software-based.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 4, 2013 14:46
|
|
|
Cmdrmonkey posted:I'd say two big caveats with the off-lease + SSD idea are to make sure whatever you get has at least SATA II and uses DDR3. Some of the Core 2 Duo based Thinkpads only had SATA 1.5, and you won't see as big of an improvement with the SSD with the older interface. Also, DDR2 is really expensive. If you plan to upgrade the RAM, DDR2 will be a problem. Buying an off-lease laptop only makes sense if it was treated absurdly well. In reality, what you're getting is an abused laptop issued to a cubicle monkey who couldn't give less of a poo poo about what happened to it. Thinkpads are tough, but deliberate mistreatment isn't easy to safeguard against. Expect excessive wear and tear, odd quirks that you can't explain that come from said wear and tear, poo poo battery life, and other fun things that imaginative lessees decided to try. For $250-$300 more, you can buy a Lenovo refurb and avoid literally all of these. The only reason to buy an off-lease is if you desperately need a laptop and absolutely cannot find another few hundred dollars. modig posted:So my brother is going to college, he wants a laptop, and seems dead set on something bigger than 13", though I seemed to have talked him out out 17". What does he want to do with it? Also, beat him until he understands that 13" is the  masterrace. It's big enough for regular use but small enough to be portable and nice to carry around. Try and get him to look at a 13" 2013 MBA, especially if your local Best Buy carries them. Buy one, try it for a few days, keep or return it.
InstantInfidel fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Jul 5, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Jul 5, 2013 19:02
|
|
|
SoggyGravy posted:So I think I have decided on going with the 14" blade, it doesn't look like anything comparable will be out (only see 13" books which I think are too small at that point) but I notice when going to order there is a little backorder icon. Do any of you have experience or an idea of what this means in terms of a wait time? They don't have a sales line to call to get clarification but I figured in case you guys know something I'd ask, no harm no foul sort of thing. It means they'll ship it when it's your turn. There's no way to know since none of us work for Razer.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 8, 2013 01:08
|
|
|
SoggyGravy posted:Thanks for the quick response! Don't do that to yourself. If you play the "Well, if I wait two more months..." game, you'll never end up buying a laptop and if you do, you won't be happy with it. You can window shop now, but understand that the technology is constantly improving, and you absolutely cannot play a waiting game.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 8, 2013 02:26
|
|
|
Weinertron posted:There's an option with way better build quality in the current Alienwares, though. The couple I've been around have been extremely well built and able to run stuff without thermally throttling at all. They're also bigger, shinier, flashier, and generally foolproof contraceptives.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 8, 2013 15:52
|
|
|
LurkingAsian posted:So I just ordered a Clevo W230ST from these guys. Let us know how hot it gets under load, I'd be pretty surprised if it doesn't have to throttle down like a motherfucker.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 10, 2013 20:27
|
|
|
SoggyGravy posted:Thanks that helps a lot, still wondering what sort of configuration actually makes sense for this laptop and still waiting for some user feedback of course since that is usually the most valuable but it looks very promising! I would be seriously skeptical of that laptop's ability to cool its components and would recommend waiting to see actual reviews/feedback before you bought it. Also, never get factory-installed SSDs (the markup is stupid, get something from Amazon instead) and never, ever raid-0 SSDs. It does nothing for you except double the chances that you permanently lose all of your data. edit: Anecdotal, but here we go. My Thinkpad W530 had a 3720QM and a K2000M; those drew 45W and 55W respectively. It was a 15.6" machine, and its cooling system was above and loving beyond, and it *still* got really goddamn hot when I did anything intensive on it. Now, imagine a 47W CPU and a GPU with at least (and in all likelihood higher, I couldn't find an exact number but notebookcheck says 50-75W) the same power consumption in a smaller frame and from a company much, much less reputable than even a shitbox like Lenovo. Basically, you're buying what will probably be either a George Foreman grill or a laptop that'll throttle down hard enough to essentially lobotomize itself. InstantInfidel fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Jul 11, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2013 02:53
|
|
|
Sendo posted:Cooling has never really been an issue with Clevo machines I don't see it being any different with the W230ST, they have all been thick enough that airflow has been pretty good. They can be extremely loud when it gets working though, however that's to be expected with the hardware they are running. That's not true at all. Their last SFF design, the W110ER, was 11.6" and used a much weaker graphics card and multiple reviews criticized it for being nearly 100F under load in contact areas like the touchpad, let alone the actual components. Again, I would seriously doubt that laptop's ability to cool itself.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2013 03:26
|
|
|
LurkingAsian posted:My current Clevo w110er has a 45W CPU(i7-3610QM) + 45W GPU(650m) and has never overheated. It gets very hot, but never to the point of throttling. After a session of Bioshock Infinite it will hit about 85C, which is safely below Tjunction max of 105C for the processor. It is somewhat loud at load, but still quieter than my aging desktop. I never said that the W110ER would overheat or throttle, just that it had thermal issues and would get exceptionally hot. Your laptop internals are almost hot enough to boil water, that's crazy. Also, if it's quieter than your desktop, holyshit you should really get a new heatsink or at the very least reapply the TIM.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2013 04:12
|
|
|
Asus makes a pretty drat good machine and they incorporate cooling into the entire design. The entire G-series is worth a look, but that one in particular is their smallest (albeit, last-generation) model.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2013 04:27
|
|
|
LurkingAsian posted:Those temperatures are the norm in many modern laptops. The macbook air regularly exceeds 95C. The casing gets warm, but never uncomfortably so. Higher internal temperatures allow for more efficient heat dissipation and more compact designs, I am not super concerned. As for my desktop, it has loud case fans which are not temperature controlled. I don't really care about it too much since I rarely use it and will turn it into a server. The norm? The i5 and the i7 that ship with the MBA are rated at 100C max before serious permanent damage sets in. Exceeding 95C puts them precipitously close to a forced shutdown, which is hardly comforting. The Macbook Air is also not designed to handle those kinds of programs, and it sounds like a ramjet when it is. I wouldn't consider someone using a MBA as a gaming platform a regular useage scenario. Anyway, the point remains, Clevo crammed a lot of hardware into a tiny chassis, it'll be interesting to see if it works or not.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2013 05:04
|
|
|
Doctor rear end in a top hat posted:90°C on the external usable parts seems unlikely, even in a ~*gaming laptop*~. Isn't that hot enough to deform plastic? I mean yeah, it does, but only under loads that seriously exceed what it was ever meant to do. The Clevo hits that doing things it was purpose-built to do.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2013 15:38
|
|
|
Doctor rear end in a top hat posted:But aren't those temperatures for both when they're running at full bore? Won't they both thermally throttle so they don't "exceed what they're meant to do"? I don't mean to say that a flaming hot keyboard is acceptable but if the device lets it happen isn't that normal operation? That is when they're running at their theoretical max, yes, but a Macbook Air was never designed to be a performance machine. While it can handle that level of heat for a while, it wasn't intended to do so for extended periods of time. I would expect a gaming laptop with the purpose of running its hardware as fast and hard as it can for hours on end to have much, much better thermals than one of the thinnest notebooks on the market.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2013 16:10
|
|
|
What I'm saying is that one laptop hits that temperature doing things it was never meant to do and the other hits those temperatures doing things it was "designed" to do for hours on end. It's not a perfect comparison, but I think it sort of makes sense.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2013 16:37
|
|
|
It has objective problems, namely the screen quality and the poor GPU choices. However, the build quality, support, and thermals are all excellent, whereas Clevo sucks rear end at pretty much all three of those (the thermals on their massive 680M SLI machines are apparently pretty good, though).
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2013 17:42
|
|
|
Lovely Carnitas posted:So I need to get a laptop for school. My school's IT department recommends the dell latitude 3330 (13 in), E6430 (14 in), and E6530 (15.6 in), but the thread makes dell products sound like cheap plastic crap. I plan to use it for stuff like web browsing, word processing, watching videos and occasionally art programs like Sai painter and photoshop elements with a tablet. I'll be majoring in biology so I don't think I'll have to work with any special programs. The major benefit of Haswell is battery life. Unfortunately, it'll probably take until after school's back in session for those to be widely available; I'd got with the 13" option, personally.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2013 22:51
|
|
|
DrDork posted:the new head of the ThinkPad division is somewhat known for model vomiting. And he's a motherfucker for it, too.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 12, 2013 02:26
|
|
|
The Lenovo site is difficult just to weed out the non-true believers and dickbag Mac users 
|
|
#
¿
Jul 12, 2013 05:24
|
|
|
Sendo posted:Did you consider running Windows 7 on the MBA ? As long as Sony requires that you use their drivers and actively prevents you from using drivers of your choice, the driver issue will persist. They're still poo poo. Also, the original XPS12 looked flimsy as hell and this one does too, I'm interested to see what review sites make of it.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 12, 2013 07:37
|
|
|
Turn off Optimus and then disable the discrete card in Device Manager.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 13, 2013 05:03
|
|
|
No, disabling Optimus and disabling the discrete card gives you IGP-only mode.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 13, 2013 05:45
|
|
|
Double posting to make sure this gets noticed: If the build quality doesn't suck dog poo poo, this is a pretty nifty piece of hardware. $1500 gets you a Haswell quad core and a 765M, all in a 13.3" package with a 1080p screen. edit: a matte screen, no less.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 13, 2013 06:48
|
|
|
Sendo posted:You do realise this is just the Clevo W230ST which you were bagging out a few pages ago right? No, I did not. I thought that Digital Storm was a first-party producer, didn't realize they were a reseller.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 13, 2013 15:57
|
|
|
No, that laptop should be fine. I *think* there are two models, one with a lovely Celeron and one with an i3, so make sure she gets the one with an i3. If money's not a huge object, though, dropping $1000 for an 11.6" MBA is really the best way to go. edit: By editing video, I assume you mean just using Microsoft Moviemaker or some equivalent to make Youtube-quality videos, not transcoding between codecs or hardcore filmography work.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 13, 2013 19:17
|
|
|
Revol posted:Speaking of... it seems like we all overlooked the simple answer to his earlier concern about Haswell's improved battery life being negated by the dedicated graphics card. We went back and forth about if NVIDIA could be disabled (likely not) and so on... but.. It's really easy to turn it off, there's not really a question about it. Revol posted:So.. get the Alienware. You should have no concern over wasting money on the NVIDIA card, because you should not outright disable it. The only reason you would really want to is for programs that are incompatible with Optimus, which I argue shouldn't be such a concern for you to force you to buy the Inspiron instead. The list of programs that don't work with Optimus is the same as the list of programs that don't work with Nvidia cards or drivers. It's entirely a hardware/firmware function executed by software unrelated to the program the user is running. QuarkJets posted:Looking over my options on the Alienware 14 just now, I get an "options you have selected are not available at this time" error when I try select the 1080p screen. Bummer. I'm not ready to settle for a 768 screen, so I guess I'll pass If you travel and play old games, Ivy Bridge would be fine. If you want more battery life, I'd hold out for Haswell. Do you need a laptop today or are you feeling pressed to buy because of a sale? I'll tell you right now, you'll be a lot less happy in the long run if you impulse buy now out of a sense of urgency than if you wait a few months and spend an extra $150 or $200 on a laptop that actually fits your needs instead of one you're mentally forcing to fit your needs. Also, laptop sales today are probably going to be equaled or beaten by the Back to School sales next month, and you can bet that thin, light, and Haswell are going to be the name of the game for those.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 14, 2013 03:33
|
|
|
Revol posted:How? The same way I posted twice in the last two pages, by turning off Optimus and disabling the dGPU in device manager.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 14, 2013 18:33
|
|
|
Can you link to the board you're talking about? I'm almost positive that the X220 didn't have a Thunderbolt port, and Thunderbolt can just barely provide enough bandwidth to make it worthwhile. I seriously doubt any setup with your X220 would be anything but a massive pain and hacked together at best, just get an X240 if you can stand the design changes.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 15, 2013 01:04
|
|
|
Revol posted:And right after that, I told you: you can't do that on Dell laptops. Not any Dell that I've ever seen, at least. You can on a Lenovo, I believe. But on a Dell, 'disabling Optimus' only disables the integrated graphics, and you only get the NVIDIA card in the Device Manager, which makes it impossible to disable the dGPU. I'll try to verify this is the case with the new Alienware 14 when I go to work tomorrow, but I'm seeing forum postings about earlier Alienware models, where customers requested BIOS updates to allow for disabling of the dGPU only, and Dell engineering told them no. (This becomes a problem for some Linux users, especially, it seems.) You disable Optimus in the Nvidia control panel and you disable the dGPU in the Device Manager. Unless Dell has somehow hosed with the firmware in a big way, it's universal. The alternative is to tell every program to default to the IGP and then still disable the dGPU, but that's more work. Also, waiting until Haswell laptops are widely available should let him get pretty much exactly that in a thinner and lighter package. 1080p is finally becoming mainstream with this generation, it's not the holy grail it used to be. edit: I should clarify. The opposite is *not* possible: you cannot disable the IGP entirely. Turning off only the discrete card, however, is possible. InstantInfidel fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Jul 15, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Jul 15, 2013 03:32
|
|
|
Valithan posted:You're right, the X220 doesn't have a thunderbolt port. It seems people have been using this board to connect an external gpu to their laptops via express port. My limited understanding is that through Optimus compression people have been able get modest performance increases using this method despite the limited bandwith. There are a few videos floating around youtube of people with these setups (they look pretty bootleg though). I can't remember the exact number, but expresscard ports can only deliver a fraction of the bandwidth Thunderbolt ports can, and those aren't even really sufficient for any cards that would be worth using. I'd stay far, far away.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 15, 2013 22:43
|
|
|
Hadlock posted:Expresscard uses PCI-Express 2.0 starting with 2009 and forward Additional VRAM on the card won't do anything if it can't move information to the screen quickly enough. Anandtech did a writeup on PCIe speeds too, but I can't find it, so here's this one. Using PCIe 2.0 x4, you lose between 10 and 25 percent of your theoretical performance. They didn't bother to test x1, but extrapolate a little and you're talking 50% or greater. It's just not fast enough. InstantInfidel fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Jul 16, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Jul 16, 2013 01:54
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 16, 2024 12:27 |
|
|
This is probably a better buy. They haven't put Haswell in it yet, but a few people in the thread have purchased these and have had no complaints. Another option is the Thinkpad X120e or X130e, if you can find them for a decent price.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 17, 2013 17:31
|
|