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Bob Morales posted:The intel chromebooks are much, much faster than the Samsung ones which use a tablet-level CPU. But the screen isn't really all that great on the Acer Chromebook, which is powered by Intel, and it's great on the HP, which has a Samsung chip. Thanks. Was looking at the acer c720p. Touchscreen isn't a necessity, but might be nice considering I have never owned a laptop and so struggle with touchpads. Price isn't a concern but I'm just struggling with the $350-$400 price point. For a few hundred dollars more I can get a real computer with possibly a number pad. But the chrome book meets my needs now.
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May 10, 2014 19:12
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Bob Morales posted:The intel chromebooks are much, much faster than the Samsung ones which use a tablet-level CPU. But the screen isn't really all that great on the Acer Chromebook, which is powered by Intel, and it's great on the HP, which has a Samsung chip. Solution: the Toshiba chromebook. Great screen, Celeron processor.
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May 10, 2014 19:58
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Intel making a major announcement about their chips and 20 new chrome books being released towards the end of the month, if you can wait that long. edit: link http://www.ecumenicalnews.com/article/new-chromebooks-2014-toshiba-hp-dell-asus-lenovo-and-more-to-market-20-new-chromebooks-24720 Hadlock fucked around with this message at 01:35 on May 11, 2014 |
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May 10, 2014 20:04
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Pyroxene Stigma posted:Solution: the Toshiba chromebook. Great screen, Celeron processor. I've been using my Toshiba Chromebook for a few weeks now and have really enjoyed it considering its sub-300 dollar price. I take it to work at least twice a week and it's been great to browse the forums with and stream baseball games. I think the keyboard is certainly better than the one on the smaller Acer model. I could see myself getting another one of these in a year if they're markedly improved.
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May 10, 2014 20:15
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I'm in the market for a laptop, but I'm not sure where I should start looking. I don't have super hefty needs, since it will mostly be for watching videos and lugging to class for notes and stuff, but it's also going to be my main computer for a few months, so I'd like it to be able to play some older games, too. I'm not looking at anything too stressful, just older windows/DOS games, but I don't think a chromebook would work for that kind of thing. I'm not set in stone for price, but something in the ballpark of $500 is what I'm looking at.
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May 10, 2014 23:09
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Lenovo y series, anyone have one? You like it? Thinking of picking up a 510p due to the sale.
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May 12, 2014 01:32
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Badgers posted:Lenovo y series, anyone have one? You like it? Thinking of picking up a 510p due to the sale.
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May 12, 2014 01:39
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Hadlock posted:Intel making a major announcement about their chips and 20 new chrome books being released towards the end of the month, if you can wait that long. Microsoft announcing a new Surface on May 20 http://www.maximumpc.com/new_intel-powered_tablet_likely_may_20_surface_event200 If you're going to buy a new laptop in the next 14 days, you ought to wait until at least the third week in May. Looks like a new 
Hadlock fucked around with this message at 09:37 on May 12, 2014 |
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May 12, 2014 05:50
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This was reported two weeks ago, just now saw it New Intel mobile processors, same as the old, now with higher frequencies. Most models saw a 100mhz bump (4-7% increase), some models saw a 200mhz bump, which is 10-12% increase (highlighted) Of note is that first one, the Celeron 2950M/2970M might be what's going in to the new Chromebooks expected later this month, being the cheapest processors on that list by almost $75. 200mhz bump on the Celerson2950M 2ghz chip is a direct 10% clock speed bump. 
Hadlock fucked around with this message at 09:35 on May 12, 2014 |
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May 12, 2014 09:32
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My parents want me to pick up a laptop for them. As it is they have a Asus 17" immovable piece of poo poo that doesn't see any use and a netbook that's slightly above average that's having issues. My father is using a work laptop for work business so productivity isn't really a must - My mother might be using the thing for occasional e-mail however. So it's mainly for my mother, really. Things she does with the laptop limit themselves to surfing the web, checking TV programmes, watching some online cooking shows, using our national broadcasting company's streaming service which has iOS, Android and WP8/Windows 8 clients in addition to the web site. Budget isn't really limited, they're willing to pay even around 1000 € for the thing. She uses the laptop while sitting on a recliner most of the time, so it has be fairly light and preferably run fairly cool (Though we have a lap desk with a fan/can get one). My mother is also tentatively interested on tablets "Because she's seen tourists using them to read papers and books while they've been travelling", etc. Ebook market in the Finnish language however is limited, but I guess a tablet isn't out of the question for media consumption purposes. Flash etc. support has me a bit on the edge though. Originally the thing didn't have to really stand the sunshine, but apparently now they need for the thing to work decently outside "As they *may* use it on the balcony in the Summer."  (Google up the length of the Finnish Summer).I just want them to get a well-functioning laptop that I won't get complaints about since they have the money to throw on it, one that has great usability because gently caress with the machines they've gotten used to. I've been thinking about the 13" Mac Book Air as it'd fit their budget and those seem reliable. I'd probably have to get a Bootcamp windows from the get-go in case they're not happy/willing to getting used to OSX. Troubleshooting poo poo would be a nightmare since I have no user experience. Thinking of setting some sort of remote desktop thing from the get-go. Another alternative is some sort of laptop/tablet hybrid - Preferably Windows 8 because they'd probably get used to it more than any "regular" touch based interfaces - they have limited experience from touch based interfaces. But I'm completely out of touch of hybrids and from quick search they seem to be a bit underpowered, so I'm worried they'll start complaining how slow it gets. I'd also pretty much have to tutor them on things like "You know that website you visit? It has an app that's more user friendly for this device." etc. TLDR: - Laptop/Hybrid/Tablet for max around 1000 €/$ - Media consumption (Betting they want to attach the thing with HDMI to the TV from time to time). - Mostly used on the lap while sitting on a recliner (Light, cool) - Great usability for dummies - Won't start running out of power in two-three years for regular surfing/watching video streams (Flash support) - Will be the main computer in the family and see the most use. (So *some* amount of content creation has to be possible without hassle). - Just get a decent laptop (which?) + cheap'ish tablet like the Nexus 7? (Mother is somewhat interested in trying out tablets).
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May 12, 2014 12:17
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I just started looking for a media editing/performance/light gaming laptop, but am not yet super familiar with the market. Applications would include: Photoshop, Lighroom, Premiere, After Effects, Resolume (for VJing), Ableton Live 9, and occasionally basic steam games like CS/Civ5/Dota2. If it's too expensive to get a model that can reasonably do the video editing or gaming stuff I can stick with my 2500K Sandy Bridge desktop and just find a laptop that can do the rest when I'm on the road. I'm open to considering a Macbook pro, but I'd ideally like to find something under $1K and stick with Windows. MixMasterMalaria fucked around with this message at 19:22 on May 12, 2014 |
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May 12, 2014 19:19
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Again, I don't have it yet (ships in 1-3 days) but I got the Asus N550JK for the same purposes. Quad core processor and 1080p screen for video creation/rendering, good GPU for gaming, within $1000 of your budget.
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May 12, 2014 20:14
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Fart Car '97 posted:Again, I don't have it yet (ships in 1-3 days) but I got the Asus N550JK for the same purposes. Is it possible to add an SSD boot drive to that?
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May 12, 2014 20:34
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Yes, you can swap the stock drive for one and replace the optical drive with one as well.
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May 12, 2014 20:41
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So I've been annoying the poo poo out of the guys at xotic (maybe?) with all sorts of questions about this that and the other thing...mostly because I think it's neat stuff and I want to learn more. So here are some of the things I've learned that I think are worth sharing: - The Gigabyte P34Gv2-CF1 is currently available exclusively through XoticPC - Apparently Gigabyte stuff takes a little a little longer than expected to get to them, sometimes - That said, all my parts got in today so they should be moving on to the next step tomorrow I'm super excited and once I've got my hands on it I'm definitely going to try and write up some kind of review.
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May 12, 2014 22:02
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Trebuchet King posted:I'm super excited and once I've got my hands on it I'm definitely going to try and write up some kind of review. Actual performance was always quite good, the screen is amazing, and at 3.5lbs it's stupid light. If they manage to actually improve on the keyboard and battery issues, they'd be as close to "perfect" as you can get for a $1400 "gaming" laptop.
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May 12, 2014 22:47
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So what's good these days for the following:
Basically this is a going to be a highly portable laptop that I carry around for school and work. The little gaming I do is being handled just fine by my desktop, so I have no interest in buying a laptop to play games on or watch movies. I just want it for school and work. That means that being easy to carry around and having good battery life is the most important thing.
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May 13, 2014 00:59
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I got an old HP Pavilion tx2617ca that I love to bits but its one major problem is that it's hot and loud. What are my most effective, proven options here? I can and will do anything. It's a queer little brick, 30.5cm (12in) by 22.2cm (8.74in) by my measurements.
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May 13, 2014 02:36
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Badgers posted:Lenovo y series, anyone have one? You like it? Thinking of picking up a 510p due to the sale. Posting off a y510p that I picked up a couple months ago, it's great for what I paid. Running linux off the 24gb "cache" SSD (for which you have to to a firmware update if anyone else is interested or had problems doing that). Solid speakers, screen, speed, the ability to rip out the optical drive and throw a SSD in there... aww yeah. On a unrelated note, I'm in the Windows ultrabook market for the girlfriend. 13 inch, preferably with HD5000, 256GB SSD, hopefully under $1200. I know Macbook Airs are leading the pack, but we'd prefer non-apple if there's a reasonable alternative. My recent plunge into the laptop market makes me want to loving kill myself, 9000 variations on every model, no real details on screen type from most vendors, you kinda just peruse your local retailers listings and hope you're not going to buy something loving awful. Looking at Zenbooks, primarily though they seem a little expensive for the hardware. Anyone have any good PC ultrabook suggestions?
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May 13, 2014 03:00
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http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834313017CVF Would this be a good buy? I really like the size and that it's about 2 ghz. I will not do anything more intense than play videos or run multiple programs at the same time.
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May 13, 2014 03:10
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Kritzkrieg Kop posted:http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834313017CVF If you mosey on over to the Lenovo Outlet store you can find those on sale for under $300 most any day of the week. I've seen the i3 models for $225 refurbished before.
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May 13, 2014 03:12
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I'm in Canada so the Lenovo Outlet is not ideal due to customs/shipping. This Canadian Newegg site has a bunch of cheap refurbished models, but they all seem to have terrible problems according to the reviews. Not too fond of refurbishes at the moment since I have an Asus one that also has problems.
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May 13, 2014 03:26
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-Blackadder- posted:So what's good these days for the following: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_air/13 12+ hours battery life if you get a 2013 model.
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May 13, 2014 03:35
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Hadlock posted:Microsoft announcing a new Surface on May 20 I am annoyed that this has come out so soon after my recent purchase, but eh. What are the chances that the Precision M4800 was going to get a chip set refresh anyways? 
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May 13, 2014 03:53
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-Blackadder- posted:So what's good these days for the following: I don't think you need the performance standard met by the current MacBook Air, so I'd recommend the HP 15" Chromebook, or if you sacrifice the screen for better all around quality go with the Acer C720.
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May 13, 2014 04:45
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I'm window shopping in anticipation of buying a laptop in a few months after I get some paychecks at my new job, and I am curious what to look out for. I want something that can play FFXIV on the go but well, as I'm spoiled by a nice desktop setup, but I don't want a dweebatron megalaptop that's difficult to lug to work daily. Basically, of the OP's pick two, I want portable and performance. Also I am rather partial to Lenovo and the clitmouse and build quality, but am not unwilling to consider others. What should I keep my eye on and how much should I save?
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May 13, 2014 05:38
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The Wizard of Oz posted:I got an old HP Pavilion tx2617ca that I love to bits but its one major problem is that it's hot and loud. What are my most effective, proven options here? I can and will do anything. It's a queer little brick, 30.5cm (12in) by 22.2cm (8.74in) by my measurements. 1) Get an air duster and blow the dust out of all the vents. 2) If you're comfortable applying Arctic Silver or the like, from a cursory GIS it looks like you can remove the keyboard, then the heatsink and you can apply some AS3.
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May 13, 2014 06:40
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SwissArmyDruid posted:I am annoyed that this has come out so soon after my recent purchase, but eh. What are the chances that the Precision M4800 was going to get a chip set refresh anyways? It's a minor bump, I think Apple already saw these changes in production and they were pretty underwhelming. http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/2014-macbook-air-refresh/ While supposedly the new "Haswell-E" will have support for DDR4 (and with it, support for 16GB SO-DIMMs, thus freeing us from the tyranny of "only" 16GB ram in consumer laptops) A) those chips aren't yet avalible and B) they'll be stupidly expensive to stard and C) aren't compatible with the DDR3 SO-DIMM formfactor (more pins, physically larger overall) This isn't even "bought a V6 three weeks before they announced the V8", this is "bought the gas model three weeks before they announced the flex-fuel model" Intel's big push has been on the low power end of the spectrum for years, we haven't seen anything exciting on the performance end of the spectrum since Sandy Bridge back in Fall of 2012, only 3-6% increments since then with Ivy Bridge and now Haswell. 2700K is Sandy Bridge, 4xxx is Haswell: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7003/the-haswell-review-intel-core-i74770k-i54560k-tested/6 
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May 13, 2014 07:24
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Tangentially-related: Variable refresh rates added to DisplayPort 1.2a spec: http://techreport.com/news/26451/adaptive-sync-added-to-displayport-spec As I understand it, most laptops currently do not support the already-extant eDP features, correct? (Those features being the ones that AMD used to show off "Freesync") Can we expect these features to become more widespread for notebooks too?
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May 13, 2014 10:05
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Will 1.2 compliant (Haswell HD4400, 4600, 4200, 5000, 5100 etc) GPUs support 1.2a, or is this a forwards-compatibility only feature? That is pretty neat, if I'm reading correctly, variable refresh rate will give us 0 latency hardware vsync? Vsync makes things just silky smooth but I've always turned it off in games because of the lag it introduced. I haven't really screwed around with it since Portal 2 in 2011 though.
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May 13, 2014 10:13
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Hadlock posted:Will 1.2 compliant (Haswell HD4400, 4600, 4200, 5000, 5100 etc) GPUs support 1.2a, or is this a forwards-compatibility only feature? That is pretty neat, if I'm reading correctly, variable refresh rate will give us 0 latency hardware vsync? Vsync makes things just silky smooth but I've always turned it off in games because of the lag it introduced. I haven't really screwed around with it since Portal 2 in 2011 though. Part of the nice thing in adding variable refresh rates to DP 1.2a, as opposed to rolling it into 1.3 is that if the underlying hardware all supports it, then compliance becomes merely a matter of pushing a driver update for the functionality. That said, no. Variable display refresh rates mean that displays won't be locked to whatever frequency (whether it be 50Hz, 60Hz, 120Hz, or 240Hz, or whatever) but instead only refresh when a full frame is ready for display, dropping down as low as (according to the new spec) 9Hz if necessary to keep video smooth instead of tearing. It removes Vsync from the equation entirely. Personally, I can't wait to reap whatever battery benefits we'll get out of this.
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May 13, 2014 10:29
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plotskee posted:On a unrelated note, I'm in the Windows ultrabook market for the girlfriend. 13 inch, preferably with HD5000, 256GB SSD, hopefully under $1200. I know Macbook Airs are leading the pack, but we'd prefer non-apple if there's a reasonable alternative. My recent plunge into the laptop market makes me want to loving kill myself, 9000 variations on every model, no real details on screen type from most vendors, you kinda just peruse your local retailers listings and hope you're not going to buy something loving awful. Looking at Zenbooks, primarily though they seem a little expensive for the hardware. Anyone have any good PC ultrabook suggestions? The 13in MacBook Air has:
   Part of the problem with other ultrabooks seems to be the SSD, Dell usually only has 128GB in its XPS11/12/13 as standard.
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May 13, 2014 13:14
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Trebuchet King posted:So I've been annoying the poo poo out of the guys at xotic (maybe?) with all sorts of questions about this that and the other thing...mostly because I think it's neat stuff and I want to learn more. So here are some of the things I've learned that I think are worth sharing: Pulled the trigger on a P35Gv2 through XoticPC yesterday and will likely be doing the same. I've been hunting for a macbook pro-killer to replace an aging Latitude for heavy photo and graphic work and I'm crossing my fingers that this thing lives up to expectations.
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May 13, 2014 14:17
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Are there any Windows laptops with 13" screens and glass trackpads that are somewhat comparable to the Macbook trackpad? Right now I'm using a Macbook Air (13") and really love it, but I find myself using bootcamp quite often which is almost negating the benefit of it being a Macbook... EDIT: Oh, low resolution is also fine. I don't like "HiDPI" on Windows too much anyways...
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May 13, 2014 14:48
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I see there's a 820m GPU available, anyone have an idea how that would compare to Intel's GPUs?
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May 13, 2014 15:57
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Drunk Badger posted:I see there's a 820m GPU available, anyone have an idea how that would compare to Intel's GPUs? Likely very poorly. It still uses Fermi, amazingly enough.
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May 13, 2014 19:35
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Just ordered a Sager NP8278 straight from Xotic. Was originally trying to order one from a reseller here in Montreal. It was $500 more expensive and they were pretty useless at letting me pay for it so I cancelled. Even with shipping fees, buying it straight from Xotic was so much cheaper than a reseller 
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May 13, 2014 20:13
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Hollow Talk posted:I know this isn't want you want to hear (I didn't want to hear it either), but the MacBook Air seems to be by far the most sensible choice, especially if you want the HD5000 (does anybody else actually even use these?). I was hoping for something "else", but if those are your requirements, I don't see how you could actually get anything else. The X1C and some of the pricier EliteBooks use it too. Anyway it's not a very sensible requirement - there isn't anything that you can do on an HD5000 that you can't on a 4400 so I'd be more concerned about the display (which is something that you are always going to be looking at)
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May 13, 2014 20:49
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dissss posted:The X1C and some of the pricier EliteBooks use it too. I would be concerned about the poor font rendering and scaling present on Windows 8, too.
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May 14, 2014 08:22
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My Girlfriend is going off to college and she's asking me to pick out a "gaming" laptop out for her. What this means is she wants to play games on it for probably the next 5 or 6 years. Her budgets is upwards of $900. It'll mostly be used for Civ V, Dark Souls 2, Minecraft, and whatever cool thing that might come out. She's not beneath lowering the graphical settings to keep running new stuff. It needs to be a gaming Laptop because it gets super hot in her room, and she wants to use it down-stairs with her family, and her current rig is way too big to move around like that.
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