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~

khazar sansculotte: May 14, 2004

Starting August 11 I'm going to be living on the road for a job for about 6 months. I need a laptop that's lightweight ("ultrabook" I guess, but I don't care whether it has a touch screen unless they're just totally awesome in some way that I haven't imagined yet) with long battery life and solid build quality (including a good keyboard, touchpad, etc.) that won't make my eyes bleed if I have to look at it for 6+ hours at a time. I'll be doing basic internet stuff, office applications, light web design/programming work, and Netflix/10+ year old games when the day is done.

I really like the sound of the new MBAs, but I will probably need to run Windows sometimes and I've heard that the battery life outside of OSX is not so great. Are there any Windows machines out now (or that I could get my hands on around the 11th) that are comparable? I'm hoping to spend about $1000, but I can go up if necessary.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2013 17:07

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 23:40

khazar sansculotte: May 14, 2004

Bob Morales posted:

What will you need to do in Windows? Run some weird one-off program? You can always just fire it up in VirtualBox or something.

I'm not 100% sure yet, but I am pretty confident I will at least need to run Access.

edit: I'm also pretty sure that I will not ever need to run Windows for 8+ hours at a time. How much worse is the MBA's battery life on Windows?

khazar sansculotte fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Jul 23, 2013

# ¿ Jul 23, 2013 19:10

khazar sansculotte: May 14, 2004

Bob Morales posted:

If you're just going to run access, fire it up in VMware/Parallels/VirtualBox.

I'm almost sold. I should be getting a bit more info this week about what'll be expected of me (and hence the computer). Just for my own edification, what would be some use cases where I would definitely want to run Windows itself?

# ¿ Jul 23, 2013 20:57

khazar sansculotte: May 14, 2004

Hello! I am looking for some advice on a laptop purchase.

Uses:

Basic internet/video watching/office software activity
Old games (console emulation up to 5th/6th generation (including Sega saturn), 15+ year old computer games from Steam/GOG, etc.)
frequent and intensive chess engine use

I'm guessing I need a high performing cpu but gpu probably doesn't matter much, so if I can get the former without paying for the latter that would be cool.

Wants:

decent battery life, but it doesn't have to run for 48 hours on a single charge or anything
lightweight, the lighter the better
Doesn't feel like plastic trash
At least 256gb ssd, more is better
Prefer under $900 but can go up to $1200ish for something that will really check all the boxes

Thanks!

# ¿ Jul 29, 2023 22:46

khazar sansculotte: May 14, 2004

Lockback posted:

Sega Saturn is really hard to emulate even with a really powerful machine. So there's nothing really to suggest for that. Some games will be great, some will suck.

Otherwise see my previous post for recommendations. Those are actually good gaming machines but in general are what you want.

You could look for something without a GPU at all, as built in iGpu/APU would meet your needs. You want something that's very portable or will this mostly live on a desk?

The Option 1 you gave looks great except for the size, are you aware of something similar but more in the 12-13"/3 lbs range? This will need to be reasonably portable.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2023 00:09

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 23:40

khazar sansculotte: May 14, 2004

I found this, for instance: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo...p?skuId=6533953

Thoughts?

# ¿ Jul 30, 2023 00:57

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