laptop recomendations?
tripledouble
7,636 Posts
beforei left town for thailand, everything in my life broke.
car on various levels of machinery and paperwork, laptop, external hardrive, thermostats, plumbing leaks, every battery in my house ran out at the same time, bicycles, etc.
In a way it was almost uncanny. someone put a curse on me or some shit.
Anyway, turns out i'm going to have to ge a new laptop. Does Soulstrut have any recommendations of specific models and specific places to purchase? I dont use laptops for much more than internet, word processing, cd/dvd listening and burning, some sound forge type stuff, and real 101 graphic design. ive always used PCs, but maybe i should move on.
i think id be more than okay with an old past year model. id love to pay less than $500 if possible.
you tech champions got any thoughts for someone a keyboard stroke away from skidrow??
i got some thailand pictures to post as soon as i can resolve this mess!
thanks,t
car on various levels of machinery and paperwork, laptop, external hardrive, thermostats, plumbing leaks, every battery in my house ran out at the same time, bicycles, etc.
In a way it was almost uncanny. someone put a curse on me or some shit.
Anyway, turns out i'm going to have to ge a new laptop. Does Soulstrut have any recommendations of specific models and specific places to purchase? I dont use laptops for much more than internet, word processing, cd/dvd listening and burning, some sound forge type stuff, and real 101 graphic design. ive always used PCs, but maybe i should move on.
i think id be more than okay with an old past year model. id love to pay less than $500 if possible.
you tech champions got any thoughts for someone a keyboard stroke away from skidrow??
i got some thailand pictures to post as soon as i can resolve this mess!
thanks,t
Comments
If you want to go Mac, forget the Macbooks and get a Macbook Pro. Heck I have a 5 year old Powerbook that still runs like a champ. The high end Mac stuff lasts.
I bought my wife a 1st gen Black Macbook and that has had crazy issues (mostly battery related).
and a firend i jus got off the phone with echoed what hookup said, $400 can get you a decent machine. he recommend HP,dell,sony(more $$)
any specific features i should look for or is it al lsomewhat standard?
500 gig is good and normal?
yo for real, my resolution is to step out of the stone age. you notice i never post sound clips? i dont even have a method for digitizing vinyl. im like a technological bedouin in a tent
but I would recommend gateway...a lot of people i know (engineers) are very satisfied and wifey too
i have a 500 gig hard drive on my day to day laptop and the 24.5 days of music (9500+) songs is topping out at 102 gigs.
the old e-machines laptop (remember it is 7 years old, weak (by todays standards) processor, low on RAM) is just used for digitizing vinyl (via soundforge) and the occasional photoshop endeavor and even with the old, rickety guts it has it does those things just fine.
My old Dell worked for 5 years with no problems but eventually wasn't powerful enough for the modern world.
Macs are not the way to go if $$ is a consideration, imo.
balleur http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834146823
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac?mco=OTY2ODY3Nw
just remember and try and get the best components you can, Dell or anythong OEM's dont manufacture HDD's, RAM, mobo, processors or anything like that so the brand has zero relevancy on what you get (IMHO) buy a machine with the best config..
people say shit about HP, Dell, Acer, IBM yet i have spoke with people that have had great experiences, its all matter of opinion...
good luck, it can be tough to decide if you are making the right decision or not..
i think i'll probably stay in the pc realm and make sure i dont mess with any pron
This thing is basically an internet/iTunes machine but I'm sure it has the capability to keep up with higher end machines. There's really no need to spend over $500 if you're staying in the PC realm.
DIEGO'S QUICK (Not too too technical) NOTEBOOK BUYING GUIDE
APPLE
I love Apples. Who doesn't? However, Apple Macbooks, typically have HIGH price tags, limited 1 year warranties, that you must have a MAC certified technician to repair. On the positive side they also have, sleek design, and name brand components, and slightly above average specs is why they "Last Longer."
They're not inherently built faster, The operating systems are no more stable, Macs do often get viruses, they suck for gaming, and yes often times they are limited in software choices.
The biggest downside to owning a Mac is proprietary UPGRADE COSTS, REPAIR COSTS, and ACCESSORIES COST. Don't be fooled though they are absolutely an international status, bragging right symbol, and you do look like the smart guy using one at Starbucks.
You should know, they are built with the exact same components used in PC's. The major difference in buying MAC vs. PC honestly comes down to what SOFTWARE you need to use.
All that being said they are Decent computers if you can afford them.
Alright than what's my PC alternatives?
Everybody wants an inexpensive, fast computer that lasts forever. Sorry, man it doesn't exist. The latest technology isn't available for RETAIL, by the time you order whatever latest greatest technology there is. Chances are you're still about 3 years behind the most current technology. The most expensive computers have a high re-sell value (Alienware). The least expensive laptops, have the shittiest components in them (E-machine). The AVERAGE Laptop lifespan is 2 1/2 years.
But my old laptop still runs good?
If you're still able to get on the internet with that old clunker, that's great man. How's that working out for you? You must be a patient dude. You still waiting on this page to load? How's that working out for you?
Really I'm only kidding chances are 75% of you are using a clunker right now. I'm gonna be the only honest voice of reason. Your computer sucks. Your computer is 3 years old, you can't hang with the big boys. Game over. You lose. Continue?
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For the AVERAGE consumer eyeballing Sony, Dell, Bestbuy, Newegg, and such. Here's the lowdown and information you probably shouldn't know:
OEM computers (Sony, Dell, Hp, Toshiba, Compaq, Gateway, IBM's etc..) are actually made by these companies:
EMS vendors : Foxconn, Flextronics, Jabil, Sanmina and Celestica
ODM vendors: Quanta. ASUSTeK. Compal. MSI. Clevo. Wistron. Lite-on. High Tech. Inventec. MiTAC. Qisda.
Apples are exclusively designed and built by: Foxconn & Intel.
Buying directly from the OEM is the most expensive way to buy a product. Who will only give you a 1 year limited OEM warranty. It's cheaper and more difficult to buy directly from the EMS or ODM, but usually the Warranty is 3x better.
Charge you an extra fee to get the other 2 years from the EMS, or ODM, beyond that they'll use a 3rd party company.
Uh, So should I get that extendend Warranty?
Extended Warranties are usually shit, because they're expensive and often done by lame 3rd party companies not the Original manufacturer. OEM extended warranties at least can contact the ODM or ESM. Extended warranty repair techs will usually just replace a part [Replacing is much easier than solving in the repair business] or worst case scenario Call the OEM, and see if the repair is still covered under the Manufacturers warranty.
I can't say much about Warranties really. All companies sort of suck here. Let's just pray you never have any real deal problems. Unless you enjoy condescending technicians, long wait times, and outright assholes, best thing you can have at your disposable is a tech friend you can talk to when anything like this goes down.
To help keep you calm and explain what the fuck is really going down.
Every, OEM, ODM, EMS and Component manufactuers have product lines that range from:
Professional line: Most expensive bragging rights technology available. (Alienware, Apple)
Gaming line: Fastest, Expensive technology available. (Usually has maxed out RAM and the Fastest NVIDIA video card on the market)
Business line: Mid grade, often name brand components . (Usually has Big hard drive, and a lame video card)
Consumer line: Normal Retail price - Mid grade technology, mixture of cheap parts and Better components, but still current technology. (This is what most people can afford, and is easily found at Best Buy.)
Budget line: Shittiest no-name brand parts, least expensive, often old technology.
THE GOLDEN RULE OF LAPTOPS: THE ONE COMPONENT THAT YOU CANNOT REPLACE IN A LAPTOP IS ALWAYS ALWAYS THE VIDEO CARD!!!!
Replacable 3rd party components inside of Laptops Include: Screen. Processer. Hard Drive. Memory. Network Card. CD burner.
1.Screen - always the most expensive to replace part. Broken screens mean physical damage, means $400 and up repair cost always. Screens are usually manufactured by the same vendors that manufacture Desktop monitors (Samsung, NEC, LG, Phillips etc..). Dead pixels aren't covered under warranty anymore.
2. Processor - This is the BRAIN of your computer. There are 2 Major Processor manufacturers INTEL and AMD.
All Macs use INTEL processors. Pre-2006 they used IBM PowerPC processors.
What's better INTEL or AMD? Hm.. today let's say INTEL i7-920XM.
Should I Overclock? HELL NO.
3. Hard drive - This Stores all your files typically bigger the better. Easiest thing to replace in laptops.
(Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung, Hitachi, Apple)
Data recovery is the most expensive shit you can pay to get done to your computer. I'm serious we're talking like $2000 bucks to recover that little home video of you and your wife from your old hard drive. Ouch.
5 years is the maximum life span of a typical Hard drive.
Solid-state is the latest most expensive technology.
Personally the size of a Laptop hard drive doesn't matter to me, because I usually store my data on External hard drives. You should too, if you ever have a major software problem you can easily format the thing, because your Data is safe on the External.
4. Memory - There are too many Memory Vendors to name, but the real companys who actually make DRAM is: Micron(crucial), Samsung, Hitachi, and Hyundai. Everybody else assembles memory modules from components made by those companies. Seriously.
Ram is Cheap and easy as shit to replace.
One easy rule to memory the more the better. Always max out your memory this is speed you will notice the difference of.
5. Network Card - (Intel, Broadcom, Gigabit, or something generic) This is one place you don't have much wiggle room, just get something that has a/b/g/n support.
*Unless you want to get into hacking then you need to find one that does Packet injection.
6. CD Burner - Here's your choices - Cd rom, Cd burner, CD/DVD-rom, DVD burner, DVD burner with Lightscribe, CD/DVD/Blu-ray player, CD/DVD/Blu-ray burner with lightscribe. (Panasonic, Hitachi, Sony, or something generic) 95% of the time this component is some generic brand.
RULES OF THUMB:
Don't buy USED unless your desperate, or at least think your 1/2 smart as me.
You ever seen a filthy KEYBOARD covered in cheetos and hand grease, and all kinds of germs that years of sanitation just can't seem to get rid of? Now you understand why most Laptop keyboards are BLACK.
Usually Used laptops come 3 years beyond the manufacturers warranty. Parts are difficult to replace and come by if it ever breaks. Manufacturers won't touch them, and they're generally a pain in the ass for most technicians. Our landfills are fill with 3 year old laptops, and 50 dollar printers.
Just say NO. Unless you're broke broke, or you know what the fuck you are doing (and even then good luck)
Netbooks vs. Notebooks.
I think it's funny that most people these days spend like 300 bucks on a fancy cellphone that comes with a shitty 1 year limited warranty. Then want to spend like 300 bucks on a Laptop?
Anyways Netbooks are honestly glorified Cellphones they don't last very long at all, and the new ATOM processors are like 2 generations slower then the currently available processors for notebooks. I'm talking much less then Dual core here, somewhere around your dads Pentium 4. Yuck. Pony up and get an Ipad dude.
I do however really like the Chinese Macbook air clones with the Fake Steve Jobs.
I want the tiniest, most expensive fastest thing on the planet. My pocket book looks like Richard Branson's:
Word? Easy, you buy a CUSTOM BUILT Notebook by Luvaglio, Alienware or possibly directly from Steve Jobs himself. Much like your girlfriend you flip her with a newer upgraded model every year.
What should I look for?
With your newfound knowledge and supreme wisdom. Find something fast enough with the best quality components that has a decent warranty (there are these legends of white whales that have 3 year warrantys).
Look for Custom built laptops if you can afford it. Make sure you get something with a decent video card, cause you won't be able to change it. Make sure it can do everything you'll need it to do, and not be too much of a pain in your ass.
Also try to look out for these weird anomaly brands, these weird FRINGE companies that are EMS or ODM's selling there own laptops: ASUS. CLEVO. COMPAL.
I wouldn't touch these with a ten foot pole: GATEWAY, EMACHINE, FUJITSU, MSI, anything Used pre-2006.
Moral of the story: The best laptops, the most expensive laptops, the ones you've never heard of are Custom built. Most OEMS are shit, unless you pay for there CUSTOM lines, Business, Professional, or gaming lines. However remember $2000 per every 2 1/2 years to stay on top. Do the math. Know what to look for.
For all you cheapskates, $500 is the least you should pay for a notebook, and when you learn how to yearly flip and sell laptops to chumps. You can usually stay pretty current. Not too difficult once you get the hang of it.
- spidey
I love Lenovos, they're Ugly, but they get the job done. The first one has the same specs as my custom built laptop. That I bought in 2009. I'm about to flip this one for something i7-ier real soon though.
What's good brother? Long time no see.
- spidey
im definitely one of the chumps you speaketh of. i didnt understand half the stuff you were detailing. what does a video card do??
maybe a lenovo is a good move?
oof. i miss my typewriter
you can find out more about videocards/gpu's here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPU
In my personal experience (Mac laptop user since 1996), you'll get three good years from a MacBook but after that, the diminishing returns on performance will have you longing for an upgrade. Spidey's $2000 every 3 years sounds a bit high to me but i don't think he's wrong in basic principle
From years of reading your posts on this board, I think I'm pretty safe in assuming you are a thrifty person. You could better any mac product for under $200. Find a laptop without an Operating System on it and install Ubuntu instead of Windows or MacOS. When buying the laptop your three concerns should be: Memory (ram), Hard drive space, and graphics, in that order. A better graphics card will help video play smoother.
Anyone who purchase anything from apple at this point is frankly, incapable of rational thought. But that's a whole different thread.
Is that what I was saying? I don't think that was what I was saying at all.
Hey Tripdub,
Here's some Reccomendations, and how I look at Laptops:
ASUS P50IJ-X3 - $449.99
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- Basic ugly black notebook
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220744
Store: NEWEGG
- Reliable place to shop online. Respectable reseller.
Brand: ASUS
- Division of some ODM ASUS, not just an OEM.
Model: P50IJ-X3
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
- Fine enough.
CPU: Intel Pentium dual-core T4500 2.3G
- Decent entry level - Intel Processor
Screen: 15.6"
- Good size screen. Not too big or too small.
Screen Resolution: 1366 x 768
- Decent for watching movies.
Memory Size: 4GB DDR2
- decent amount of Ram.
Hard Disk: 320GB 5400rpm
- Slow, average Hard drive, but space for typical users.
Optical Drive: DVD Super Multi
- Just your basic DVDRW
Graphics Card: Intel GMA 4500M
- Lame Intel Graphics card. No real video games for you.
Video Memory: Shared memory
Communication: Gigabit LAN and WLAN standard a/b/g/n
- Good.
1 year ASUS Accidental Damage Warranty - Drops, Fire, Spill, Surge
Parts & Labor 1 year limited
- Respectable one year warranty Accidental Damage warranty is a Plus.
Let's call that system IDEAL for your price point. Now you should be able to use that overview as your base line to judge these ones.
ASUS K50 Series K50IJ-BNC5 - $479.99
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220879
- 30 bucks more expensive.
CPU Type: Intel Pentium dual-core T4500 2.36
- Better processor
Hard Disk: 500GB
- Bigger hard drive.
Manufacturer Warranty: Parts & Labor 90 days limited
- That's odd. Only a 90 warranty with no accidental damage? Why would Asus charge more, then skimp here?
Sony VAIO VPCEE42FX/BJ - $599.99
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127344
- Hundred bucks over your budget. Slightly better looking.
Processor: AMD Athlon II Dual-Core P360 2.3GHz - Decent processor.
Memory: 4GB DDR3 - Faster memory
Hard Disk: 500GB - bigger hard drive
Graphics Card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 - Much better video card.
Built-in MOTION EYE camera * bonus feature. eh.
Lenovo G560(0679-99U) $479.99
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834146840
- Don't be fooled Lenovo is just IBM they've been in the game a long time.
CPU: Intel Pentium dual-core P6100(2.00GHz)
- Slightly slower processor
Memory: 4GB DDR3
- Faster ram
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics
- Lame intel graphic card.
Bonus*
Card Reader: 5-in-1 reader (MMC, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Secure Digital Card, xD-Picture Card)
Manufacturer Warranty: Parts & Labor 1 year limited
HP ProBook 4520s - $479.99
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157502
- Brushed gunmetal finish with full size number pad on the left. Nice.
OS: Windows 7 Professional 32-bit
- Much Better.
CPU: Intel Core i3-370M(2.40GHz)
Here we go a Decent entry level i3 processor.
Hard Drive: 320 gb 7200 rpm
- Faster hard drive.
Memory: 2GB DDR3
- Needs to be upgraded. Supports 8 gig. Just add 2 4 gig DDR3 Memory sticks to real get this thing working.
$86 dollar upgrade
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233081
Bonus*
- 5 hours battery life.
- DVD+/-RW SuperMulti DL LightScribe
- Bluetooth
- HDMI
-1 x eSATA/USB 2.0 Combo
- Media Card Reader Supports SD (Secure Digital), MMC (MultiMedia Card), Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, xD-Picture card
- Webcam 2.0MP
Manufacturer Warranty
Parts & Labor
1 year limited
So far this is the best of the bunch.
Now that you understand how to ANALYZE SPECS.
Here's where you should look.
http://www.pricewatch.com/ < This is the best place to look for cheap laptops.
http://www.resellerratings.com/ < If you're unfamiliar with the store selling the laptop check out there Reseller score.
Best Buy has a 2.15/10
Newegg has a 9.69/10
Also if your comfortable buying USED.
You can sometimes find some Great Deals on Craigslist, and Ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-15-MacBook-Pro-2-4GHz-200GB-4GB-Snow-Leopard-OSX-/320655632147?pt=Apple_Laptops&hash=item4aa890a713
Apple 15" MacBook Pro
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Time left: 6h 37m 24s (Feb 11, 201119:00:28 PST)
Bid history: 14 bids
Current bid: US $510.00
"Early 2008" Model
- 3 years old
- Macintosh OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, iLife 09, MORE see pic below
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor @ 2.4GHz
- Decent old processor
4GB DDR2 Memory
- decent ram
200GB Hard Drive (Tons of Space)
- Not that much space.
- DVD/CD-RW "SuperDrive"
- 15" LED Backlit Matte LCD
- NVidia GeForce 8600M GT Video Card w/ 256MB dedicated video memory
- Very Decent video card.
Bonus*
Airport Wireless + Bluetooth + iSight Camera + IR Sensor
- Battery (Holds a Great Charge; ~3.5 Hours)
Short battery life.
My guess this auction might end around $750. The positive side is the original owner is getting back at little less than half of what they spent for the Laptop. Which 3 years ago probably cost them easily over 2 G's.
- spidey
I'll definitely build my next laptop. If I were to spend the money today to do it'd be i7, it'll have 8 gigs ram, 500 gig 7200 rpm hard drive, and it'll probably cost roughly around $600 total. No joke.
Something like this.
http://rjtech.com/shop/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29995
- spidey
dont forget to holla about brazil!
How does this work?
Do you buy this and install everything yourself?
My old job PC Laptops, will buy back your laptop, and allow you to Trade up with the difference. Plus Employee discount. However you could go to a Company like RJtech and have them assemble a custom one for you.
- spidey
i dont really buy into the i7 in a lappy tbh personally, that shit gets mega hot and in such a confined space it screams bad things will happen, although my buddy has one in his lappy and has no issues yet, but that shit gets hotter then ever, i would think that if you were going to go with an i7 w/ 8gbs of ram you be best with a desktop (watercooling in full effect) in order to take care of any heating issues....seems impossible to think that a lappy PSU would be able to handle that much powah, though i 100% agree that the price will be far less if you built it. unless your playing some serious games (on max specs) or just love your VST plugins and cant get enough of photoshop all at the same time 8gbs seems like such a waste of money and slots,i built my desktop unit, which will be my 10th pc since the early 90's saved a crap load on it and havent been happier, custom is the way to go, i made sure that my components are upgradable and was uber cautious about what i was buying. cost in total was about $1300 almost a yr ago
my desktop currently looks like:
MOBO - ASUS M4A785TD-V
CPU - AMD Phenom II 965 Black Ed
GPU - ATI 4670 1gbdd3
RAM - Patriot Viper II Sector 5 DDR3-1600 4GB
DVDR/CDR/Supermulti Drive
PSU - Enermax Liberty DXX 620W Modular ATX PSU SLI
2.7TB HDD
Cheiftec Dragon Aluminum Server Case
Dual 19 inch widescreen monitors
and although i use my PC mainly for graphic design and music production i have never came close to using half of my RAM, i dont game or anything fancy..and usually i would recommend the highest specs possible for a lappy due to there being a low upgrade path...a lot of people could get a way with far less specs when they are only listening to music, viewing pics and other light tasks.