I'd love to buy an Asus but it's too much work to distinguish between their 10,000 different models that all have names like UJQ4728482t

8/1/2012 9:53:23 PM

I've got the Dell XPS 14z and I've been happy with it so far other than 2 things: I'd rather have higher resolution (though it's not as bad as a 720 15"), and the case trim has chipped off the corner of mine and I have no idea how. Apparently it's common to break it if you remove the bottom case to replace hard drive or RAM but I'm still stock so...

Otherwise it's a good machine. I do light Photoshop work on it as well as CAD when I need to work on something at home and it's capable of both. Battery life is good for the size (6-7 hours usually). Backlit keyboard is a big plus. Trackpad is decent for a windows laptop.

8/1/2012 10:35:53 PM

purchased an Asus U57A and this touchpad is driving me FUCKING CRAZY

[Edited on August 3, 2012 at 3:43 PM. Reason : one of those days...]

8/3/2012 3:42:39 PM

oh yeah, now that you mention it the trackpads on Asus are infuriating but you just turn off all but the basic scrolling

8/3/2012 3:49:07 PM

should have gotten an apple.

8/3/2012 11:38:54 PM

I'm looking at a gigabyte u2442v whenever they come out. anyone with any insight into the model or others like it?

I'm looking for:
>= 12" and <= 14"
>1360x768
>=6 hours battery of web usage and word processing
<= 4lbs
i5 or i7 latest gen
switchable graphics at least 640
usb 3 or esata
actual buttons for the touch pad (not that apple style shit)
would HIGHLY prefer a matte lcd with led backlight

price doesn't matter build quality does

8/5/2012 9:22:56 PM

if you have bought a toshiba in the last 2 years, I highly suggest upgrading to Windows 8 and using the new drivers - it will feel like a new computer.

they NEVER updated the original drivers for my laptop, not even the AMD graphics (which have been locked down since 2010 - can't use AMD releases) but somehow they've managed to add a ridiculous amount of features for Win 8

Well...so about that, apparently I have a badass super computer that has just been locked down.

The latest Win 8 drivers so far have:
- added 3D capabilities (3D out through HDMI)
- added WiDi capabilities
- has doubled my download speed (usually 1.5-1.7, now 2.5-3)
- I can finally use my school's VPN
- I can finally use my school's print drivers
- Even running on "high performance" settings, it is fairly silent now - used to ramp up and down constantly

Just very happy right now using Windows 8 Pro

10/7/2012 11:57:35 AM

What the hell... I just spent all weekend trying to install Win7 on a new HP 8560p laptop from work. When I got it on Friday, it had a company Vista image on it (which I immediately blew away). When I tried to do a clean install of Win7 enterprise x64, it was giving me tons of shit. It was a factory Win7 CD iso. It wouldn't boot to the C drive. Wouldn't let me adjust the boot order. What the fuck is this UEFI crap? I was getting missing driver errors halfway through the install. I had to wipe, repartition, and re-format it 8 times before it finally took. No idea what finally worked on the 8th time. I think it was when I changed something from sata to ide in the bios which is confusing because it still had the same hdd in it from before.

Fucking computers...

10/9/2012 7:15:06 AM

So, both my wife's laptop and my laptop are getting old. Mine is 5 years old and hers is 7 I believe. Both Lenovo Thinkpads running XP still.

Hers is very slow these days and it needs a new battery (has to be plugged in to be used). Mine has it's quirks (just freezes and resets itself probably once a week) but is not too slow other than initial startup. In other words, both of ours work, but hers is in a little worse shape and she uses it for a side job some which is getting frustrating for her because 1) it take her longer to do things and 2) she is tied to an outlet. I know that you can get new batteries for reasonable prices because I got one for mine a couple years ago from the Lenovo Outlet but I'd rather not put any money into her computer at this point so I'm probably looking at getting her a new one for Christmas.

Basic Info and Usage:

-Browsing the internet
-Copy editing via Adobe Professional (which we have or I can re-buy if she would like a newer version). She has freelance work copy-editing magazines and other publications and this would be the biggest use of the computer along with normal internet browsing.
-Basic Office usage (Word, Excel, OneNote)
-I would *prefer* for it to have an HDMI output since we currently have no computers with an HDMI output and it would be nice to have for certain things like ESPN3 once in awhile. Not a deal breaker but I really would like to get this if possible.

I know there will probably be some good deals coming up around the holidays, but it has been 5 years since I bought a laptop or even really looked at any so I'm very out of the game. Any recommendation these days? Is it reasonable to get a machine to do all that smoothly that will last another ~5 years or so for <$500?

10/25/2012 10:59:41 AM

you will not find a machine of reasonable build quality for <500 assuming you use it outside your couch/desk and transport it regularly. if you plan on keeping it 5 years, plan on spending 800+ on a lenovo on sale or a nice asus, apple, or gigabyte. 1000+ if you want reasonable hardware specs for 2017

[Edited on October 25, 2012 at 1:35 PM. Reason : i]

10/25/2012 1:34:56 PM

Appreciate it. That's what I was afraid of. My Lenovo was purchased for somewhere in the 800+ range 5 years ago and its performance is still acceptable to me for its age. I was hoping costs had come down some.

[Edited on October 25, 2012 at 3:30 PM. Reason : ]

10/25/2012 3:23:19 PM

Costs have come down for laptops designed to last 2 years. I've got a Lenovo T420s I'm trying to sell if you're interested

[Edited on October 25, 2012 at 3:31 PM. Reason : http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/sys/3364583063.html]

10/25/2012 3:26:55 PM

^I had that exact config at work for a few weeks until I swapped for a macbook pro 13" Was hoping to get better battery but I think I have a bad battery with ~90min battery life. that 420 was a decent machine if you didnt want to game though

10/25/2012 3:51:25 PM

yup, it's a great machine. the only shortcoming was that it maxes out at 8 GB RAM

10/25/2012 4:13:04 PM

Quote :

"you will not find a machine of reasonable build quality for <500 assuming you use it outside your couch/desk and transport it regularly. if you plan on keeping it 5 years, plan on spending 800+ on a lenovo on sale or a nice asus, apple, or gigabyte. 1000+ if you want reasonable hardware specs for 2017"

i think this is only true if you're not willing/able to wait for a deal

my dell 14z has decent specs (i5, 8gb RAM/max of 16gb, HDMI and mini displayport output, USB 3.0) and an aluminum shell (well, top and deck, anyway)...and it was $525 (a year ago) after shipping, tax, and AMEX giftcard that i used almost immediately

is it the single greatest laptop in the world? of course not...is it more solid than the average laptop? most definitely...ESPECIALLY at $525

do people hate dell? yep...can you find people who hate every other manufacturer as well? yep...but truthfully, i am not even a little bit worried about this laptop lasting 3-5 years

there will be a fair number of deals within the next couple of months...check slickdeals regularly and you should start seeing some good deals starting around the middle of november

[Edited on October 25, 2012 at 5:24 PM. Reason : .]

10/25/2012 5:23:13 PM

Anyone have an ultrabook that is 14" under $900 they recommend.

I'd like:
at least 8 gigs
I can swap a SSD into it
Good enough video it can stream espn3/youtube/etc.

[Edited on November 19, 2012 at 9:28 AM. Reason : ]

11/19/2012 9:17:08 AM

Should add - I was looking at this: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5727351&CatId=4936

thoughts?

11/19/2012 10:23:55 AM

might be ordering a Thinkpad X1 Carbon tomorrow morning. been stewing over the decision for the last day or so

12/31/2012 7:27:59 PM

In the market for a new primary laptop. Mine was stolen a few days ago and I'm currently using a loaner ThinkPad R61 hefty beast.

What I'm looking for:

11 - 14" screen (if 14", hopefully >1366x768)
i5 or better
>=4GB ram
SSD, or at least HDD+cache
<4lbs.
4+ hours of battery life
Around $800, not looking to spend too much more.

Frequent tasks: MS Office, standard web browsing, some photo editing, not for gaming.

Really looking for a portable machine, I travel a good amount & don't like extra weight if possible. I've been spoiled with Lenovo keyboards, so a decent keyboard would be nice. Standard ports (USB3, HDMI). Ultrabooks are fine, I don't need one, but I don't need an optical drive either. I've heard good things about Samsung Series 5 & 9 lately, and could always default to Lenovo X or T series. Just wanted to see if anyone had any input or if I'd missed anything good. Thanks in advance!

1/20/2013 3:32:04 PM

Is it better to get an ultrabook with an SSD only (say 256 GB), or an HDD plus SSD (say 500 GB + 32 GB)?

My wife needs a basic laptop for word processing and internetting. I am leaning towards the former, as they are thinner, lighter, and more durable. And 256 GB is more than enough space for her.

Any thoughts? What would be the advantage of the latter (HDD+SSD)?

Thanks.

1/20/2013 4:59:31 PM

benefit of the dual is you can get more space for cheaper


if 256 is enough for her, just get that

1/20/2013 6:15:45 PM

Looking at a storage gig.

I have a case, power supply, and vid card that i can throw into the system as well as HDDs (the primary reason for a storage gig)

What would be a reasonable mobo/cpu/ram to finish out the system?

1/22/2013 10:59:45 AM

It doesn't quite meet my hopes, but was looking for some feedback on this machine: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+14%22+Laptop+-+8GB+Memory+-+750GB+Hard+Drive+-+Black/6775213.p;tab=specifications?id=1218806578593&skuId=6775213#tab=overview

I've never owned anything from Asus other than a motherboard, but have heard good things. The specs are more than I need, but I think I'd like it. I used it in the store and the keyboard was decent, its only about 4lbs and seems durable enough.

All feedback is appreciated! Thanks.

1/22/2013 3:56:09 PM

Resolution is a bit low for 14" and I wouldn't buy a laptop today without an SSD or at the least a hybrid drive. You can always swap in a 128GB ssd but that's going to tack on $100+ to the price. Have you been able to find any re-furb Samsung Series 9's in that price range? They pop up every now and then for $800.

1/22/2013 4:18:24 PM

Asus makes some good products. Sucks that their customer service is the worst in the industry. My cheapo asus laptop is still going strong for almost 3 years old.

1/23/2013 1:27:13 AM

Thanks for the replies. Been watching lately & have seen some Samsungs lately, I like the Series 9 (and even the Series 5 Ultra), however there's a specific model that has sharp, silver/chrome accents along the edges that I despise. I think they did a revision (ver. "B" not "A") that got rid of these. They also changed the materials for the surfaces of the machine, much to my liking.

Where do you all see decent refurb deals? I check SlickDeals, Dealnews daily, but that's about it.

As for that Asus I posted: I would be upgrading to at least HDD+SSD in the near future. I have this sneaking fear that with an ultra-thin/ultrabook I'd be locking myself into 1 hardware config for a while with no upgrade path. Thoughts?

1/23/2013 8:58:23 AM

I would not get a non-touchscreen laptop

Also, 1366x768 is a terrible resolution. 768 is just not tall enough, they need to stop putting these in laptops.

1/23/2013 9:15:39 AM

As far as touch screens on a traditional form factor go, I don't care. If there's no touch, I'll likely install Win7 instead. Any recommendations for a touchscreen ultraportable? I haven't really looked into those yet.

1/23/2013 10:44:01 AM

$700 is your budget?

1/23/2013 11:00:40 AM

$700-$800 is where I'd like to keep it. Just saw this: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-NP900X3D-A01US-13-3-Inch-Premium-Ultrabook/dp/B0098O6HGK/ref=sr_1_5?t=slicinc-20&tag=slicinc-20&s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1358826577&sr=1-5&keywords=samsung+series+9

No touchscreen & Sandy Bridge, but I think it would work. What think you, TWW?

1/23/2013 11:06:02 AM

finally got my Lenovo X1 Carbon I ordered like 3 weeks ago. woot!

1/23/2013 12:23:11 PM

^^that's an awesome deal! I'd go for that.

1/23/2013 12:32:21 PM

Whats everyones opinion on the Macbook pro 13inch. Please let me know all!

1/23/2013 10:16:26 PM

i have one. the battery is extremely disappointing and so is the onboard video. i have one model back, not the retina.

1/24/2013 10:35:21 AM

Yeah ever since they took out the discreet video cards on the 13" MBPs they've been . The retina display is nice though...

1/24/2013 10:38:41 AM

1,000 bucks. Can I get any type of MAC?

1/24/2013 7:59:21 PM

13" MBPs never had discrete GPUs.

[Edited on January 24, 2013 at 9:11 PM. Reason : ^ yeah. MacBook Air. ]

1/24/2013 9:10:48 PM

^^ refurb 13" mbp is $1019. Same warranty as new and current generation.

1/24/2013 10:33:18 PM

By the way. $200 off Macbook Airs @ Best Buy today. I just picked up an 11" MBA 128GB SSD for $900.

1/26/2013 2:04:17 PM

Quote :

"13" MBPs never had discrete GPUs."

^^^ Of course they did. I owned one.

The late 2009" 13" Macbook Pro had a Nvidia 9400m. The 2010 model had a Nvidia 320m. They stopped putting discreet cards in the 13" models early 2011 I believe.

1/26/2013 2:40:40 PM

The 9400m and 320m are NOT discrete. The 9400m is the same GPU in the Nvidia ION platform. At the time Nvidia was making their own chipsets and the 9400m/320m was included with it. Every wonder why the 15" Macbook Pros featured switchable graphics from a 9600m GT to a 9400m? The 9600m GT (discrete) for performance and 9400m (integrated) for power savings.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9400M-G.11949.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-320M.28701.0.html

The 320M doesn't even have dedicated memory.

1/26/2013 3:04:24 PM

Eh ok. That clears things up.

1/26/2013 4:40:59 PM

How well do we think a MacBook Air will run the new simcity

1/26/2013 5:37:23 PM

I think it will be fine if you have a 2011 and it should be better with a 2012 MBA.

1/26/2013 6:26:51 PM

What's the most you guys would pay for a laptop? I am thinking of 1500 for a macbook. ridic or not?

1/31/2013 11:19:34 PM

i just paid a similar amount for a X1 Carbon. last 4 laptops i bought before this one were all < 1000 so this was a purchase that seemed a little ridiculous for me. i have no regrets though

2/1/2013 12:04:16 AM

Looking to replace the laptop for my wife that I stepped on.

Requirements:

$600-800
Must play the new simcity coming out (Reqs:

Quote :

"PC Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ or better or Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2.0GHz or better Operating System: Windows XP/Vista/7 RAM: 2GB RAM Hard Drive: 10GB HD Space Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 2x00 or better* nVidia 7800 or better* Intel Series 4 integrated graphics or better* Broadband Internet: Minimum 256 kbps download, 64 kbps upload *Minimum of 256MB of on-board RAM and Shader 3.0 or better support."

Wide open on recommendations? Anyone got any?

2/2/2013 7:43:41 AM

If I'm looking for a new laptop... Do I really NEED an i7?

Coming from a core 2 duo, 2.2GHz, t7500 (I think).... I've never felt ridiculously bogged down before. The laptop is nearly 6 years old and still works. Presumably an i5 is an upgrade... Is the i7 worth the upgrade over that?

2/6/2013 10:51:10 AM

^No.

^^Those requirements are so dated. Anything you buy in that price range will meet those capabilities.

[Edited on February 6, 2013 at 11:16 AM. Reason : s]

2/6/2013 10:58:58 AM

^^ unless you have a very specific need for an i7, an i5 is more than enough...i3 might be fine, too, but i've not seen enough price disparity between i3/i5 to give a good reason for not just going i5

although an ivy bridge i3 might be as capable as a similarly-specced sandy bridge i5 (mobile CPU, of course)...i don't know

[Edited on February 6, 2013 at 12:23 PM. Reason : .]

2/6/2013 12:22:24 PM