Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Laptop Megathread: Your laptop doesn't have Haswell? More like Hasbeen~
 
  • Post
  • Reply
JRay88
Jan 4, 2013
 So school is about to start back and I find I need a laptop. Using the B&N site I can configure a Thinkpad T530 for $768. Does anyone have any experience with the T530? Also, how hard is it to add RAM and swap the HDD for a solid state? Using that site I would have enough money leftover to buy myself a SSD and some more Ram and install it myself. If I buy it with an SSD and upgraded Ram from the factory it will blow my budget out of the water. My budget is ~$900. If anyone can suggest anything better, I would seriously appreciate it.

My main uses for this will be school and a light gaming (LoL, EVE and the like. No BF3 or Crysis that's what the desktop is for)

* # ¿ Aug 2, 2013 04:13
  • Quote
Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 23, 2024 13:38
  • Quote
JRay88
Jan 4, 2013

Bigbillthaboss posted:

I'm looking to buy, against better judgement and reasoning, a gaming laptop. Yes, I said it.

Back in 2009 I bought an ASUS Laptop, the one I'm currently using, for 800$. It's still running fine, playing Dota 2 at just about peak graphics as well as EVE Online and Guild Wars (with fps at around 40). I have definitely gotten my 800$ worth out of it seeing that 2-3 years is suppose to be the expiration date on these things. I have never upgraded any hardware parts, they are still all stock.

I noticed the lack of discussion in OP regarding ASUS laptops and was curious as to a reason why? Are they poo poo computers (although mine has lasted a good while)?

Also I poking at the idea of getting a new gaming laptop (I believe my portable battery has finally taken a crap after 4 years, and the cooling design on this laptop just isn't cutting it any more). What's the go-to laptop right now?


EDIT: Would it be easier to update my graphics card or would this cause a colossal shitstorm with my ASUS inner-workings?

I just bought an Asus q550 and I love it. Granted I've only had it for about two days, but it seems like a great laptop. The screen is awesome (1920x1080). It's got a haswel i7, 8 gigs of ram, and a GeForce 745m graphics card. It runs Eve at 30 FPS maxed out settings. I haven't had a chance to try to many other games though.
I will say that if you get something with windows 8 you really need a touchscreen. Also, this thing has a cd drive which is becoming less and less common now. If you have any questions about it let me know and I'll be glad to answer them.

* # ¿ Aug 14, 2013 05:59
  • Quote
JRay88
Jan 4, 2013

Disco Nixon posted:

I'm trying to get a laptop for school but don't even know where to start. I know what I want though, something <$900, with Windows 7, that can play Skyrim on the low setting. I know everyone says to wait but I need a laptop now, have any recommendations?
Just FYI when I was looking 3 weeks ago there was almost nothing that had windows 7. The only ones available with 7 were leftover from the last model year. Anything new is almost definitely going to have 8 on it.

* # ¿ Aug 24, 2013 21:51
  • Quote
JRay88
Jan 4, 2013

TomEmanski posted:

Any consensus on the Acer Asus Haswell offerings? I've been looking at this one.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00COQ4ETG/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=VHSFSRTTGED2&coliid=IIZP11X3ALWYT

Need it by early next week so Lenovo store doesn't seem to be an option. Probably going to need something on amazon prime or pay extra to 1 day something from newegg.

This will be used for work (I'm a radiologist) and light gaming so a big screen is a plus. Also been looking at the Lenovo y510p offerings from newegg.

Think I'll be able to salvage my 256 gb ssd from my old laptop so hard drive differences are not an issue.

I have pretty much the same laptop (mine has the 4500u i7) and I love it. I get decent (6.5 hours) battery life doing lite internet/word processing. The build quality has been great so far. Although they do use some funky screws so if you want to replace the HDD with a SSD then you will have to find something to get the screws out. As far as gaming it runs everything I've tried (Eve, BF3, Crysis 2) at decent frame rates on medium settings. The screen is pretty nice also.

JRay88 fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Oct 5, 2013

* # ¿ Oct 5, 2013 03:30
  • Quote
JRay88
Jan 4, 2013

dissss posted:

The difference is the 4500u is a 15 W chip, the 4700hq is 47 W

Yea that's why I pointed it out. But he also asked about build quality and gaming, which is why I replied.

* # ¿ Oct 5, 2013 06:23
  • Quote
Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 23, 2024 13:38
  • Quote
JRay88
Jan 4, 2013
 New discounts happen just as soon as the old ones expire so it's really not that big of a deal. You might not see exactly the same model/options but with it getting closer to the holiday season I'd be willing to bet there will be some nice discounts available soon.

* # ¿ Oct 5, 2013 23:34
  • Quote
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply
The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Laptop Megathread: Your laptop doesn't have Haswell? More like Hasbeen~