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Is there a thread to discuss laptop bags and backpacks? I'm going to pick up my T440 from UPS this evening, but I still don't have a way to actually transport it around school... edit: V thanks, I'll look into those. Snak fucked around with this message at 16:28 on Aug 25, 2014 |
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Aug 25, 2014 15:41
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Snak posted:Is there a thread to discuss laptop bags and backpacks? I'm going to pick up my T440 from UPS this evening, but I still don't have a way to actually transport it around school...
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Aug 25, 2014 16:23
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Captain Pike posted:After extensive research, I have determined that there are currently only two laptops in the world with the following characteristics: It's a noble effort to somehow know which parts you want your laptop to be made out of, but usually you end up limiting yourself to laptops that on the whole are something you don't like.
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Aug 25, 2014 16:54
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Well I think it is time to buy a new laptop. My current one is a Sager notebook I bought maybe 3 or more years ago. One of the screen hinges broke, the soundjack doesn't work properly, it gets pretty hot nowadays, and the battery lasts only 30 seconds. And of course a whole bunch of smaller problems. I don't even trust it to play games anymore. I figure, since I am going back to school, I want to get a new laptop that I can easily take with me. I now have a desktop gaming computer so this is really just to supplement it. Budget: Under $1000, preferably closer to $850. It needs to have * Windows OS * preferably a 13-14" screen * an IPS screen of course * a long battery life I'll mostly be using it for web browsing, video watching, writing, and computer programming. Maybe some minor gaming but I have my desktop for the heavier stuff. I was interested in getting an ultrabook but it's not a priority. I was looking at the ThinkPad T440 and was liking it until I realized it had no hdmi port. Is there a reason ThinkPad's don't seem to have hdmi ports? I guess I could just get a cable that would work with it. Isko fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Aug 25, 2014 |
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Aug 25, 2014 20:30
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Isko posted:I was looking at the ThinkPad T440 and was liking it until I realized it had no hdmi port. Is there a reason ThinkPad's don't seem to have hdmi ports? I guess I could just get a cable that would work with it. Business class machines like the T440 typically have DisplayPort or mini-DisplayPort instead of HDMI. It shouldn't be a deal breaker though as all you need is a cheap passive adapter.
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Aug 25, 2014 20:58
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shrughes posted:Thinkpad T440p, with i7-4700MQ (or better, that's the minimum quad core CPU option), 1920x1080 screen, Intel 2x2 wifi card. Maybe a 9-cell battery too. Looks like you can preconfigure it with the SSD too, price gets nutty rather quickly as you slot the better processors in there though. Nice to have it as an option though.
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Aug 25, 2014 22:55
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Generalissimo
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dissss posted:Business class machines like the T440 typically have DisplayPort or mini-DisplayPort instead of HDMI. It shouldn't be a deal breaker though as all you need is a cheap passive adapter. I think I've decided to go with the T440s. Seems like a good choice for me. Going to go a little over budget but I expect I will get my money's worth. I see some people complaining about the trackpad but I almost always use a mouse.
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Aug 25, 2014 23:04
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I'm in the market for a thin and light laptop with a budget of around $2k, with a better than fHD screen, fast CPU and graphics card under 5 lbs, so I've come to you guys for advice. I've mostly ruled out the following machines, based on reviews around the Web: Dell XPS 15 (coil whine-- why Dell, why can you not fix this problem-- CPU throttling, and I'd like a faster graphics card than a 750M) Lenovo Y50 (CPU throttling, poor build quality, 5.3 lbs) Asus NX500/GX500 (both look nice, but no idea when they'll be released) Razer Blade 14 (8GB of ram is too little, expensive) I currently have a Lenovo W520 that I bought on this thread's recommendation three years ago, and it's been an amazing machine, but it's showing its years and at >6 lbs not counting the power adapter, I'm getting sick of lugging it around. It also has the most godawful speakers I've ever heard in a laptop-- seriously, my wife's macbook air 11" is much louder and clearer, and I sometimes end up turning on subtitles in English language movies if the dialogue gets too quiet. I use it mainly for programming, physics simulations (Mathematica, C++), writing, and games from time to time, and I'll use the computer that replaces it for the same things. I travel a lot so light weight is important. Having ruled out the above computers, as I see it I'm left with: MSI GS60 Ghost 3k: Fast CPU, by far the fastest GPU, lightweight, but runs hot, has poo poo battery life and a goofy dragon logo on the lid I'd have to cover with electrical tape or black paint Lenovo W540: Fast CPU, okay graphics card, reliable, quiet, but gets expensive and about a pound heavier than I'd like Macbook Pro 15: Fast and well built, great battery life, mediocre graphics card, not really a fan of MacOS, most expensive thing on this list Does anyone have any recommendations? I'm leaning toward the MSI but could easily be talked into the Lenovo. I'd prefer to not have to buy upgrades separately as I may be able to expense the computer itself to work. For anyone that owns one, how are the W540 or MSI to live with on a daily basis?
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Aug 26, 2014 02:03
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Physics pretty much says you're not getting thin, light and awesome CPU/GPU. That heat has to be dealt with somehow and if not it'll throttle down to nothing.
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Aug 26, 2014 02:44
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go3 posted:Physics pretty much says you're not getting thin, light and awesome CPU/GPU. That heat has to be dealt with somehow and if not it'll throttle down to nothing. That's not really true as far as I can tell-- while all of the machines I've listed will throttle under 100% CPU/100% GPU simultaneous workloads, a well designed system won't throttle at all (and in the case of the MSI/Lenovo/Macbook, maintain decent turbo boost speeds) for just 100% CPU calculations, and can still maintain good performance when both components are stressed. Granted the bottom of the machine can get pretty hot and the fans may be noisy, but those are issues I'm willing to live with if the computer is cool and quiet when just browsing the internet or editing text documents.
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Aug 26, 2014 03:08
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If the inside of the laptop were shaped like a shoebox that would be a realistic goal. Sadly consumers want laptops that have usable form factors.
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Aug 26, 2014 05:03
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Well I played wirh the yoga pro 2 all weekend and decided to take it back to best buy today. With the other things I returned I payed a $70 difference and got the entry level 13' macbook pro with retina. 2.6ghz I5, 8gb ram, 256gb ssd. I'm still undecided if I made the right choice or not. So far I like the mac well enough, but it does seem slower downloading my music from the google cloud, a little slower loading web pages, but it does have more space from the start than the yoga. I know next to nothing about the OS, and the keyboard shortcuts will take time to learn, also my roommate lol'd at me for buying it... Never would have thought picking a laptop would be so freaking difficult. Thanks to everyone here though, you guys/girls are awesome.
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Aug 26, 2014 05:53
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go3 posted:Physics pretty much says you're not getting thin, light and awesome CPU/GPU. That heat has to be dealt with somehow and if not it'll throttle down to nothing. Fan noise and maybe fan durability is what limits that. You can cool anything with enough fin surface area and airflow, if a shoebox would work too. Oh and I'll just put here the idea of using a turbulent airflow to take better advantage of fin surface area, in case that hasn't been patented or isn't in common use yet.
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Aug 26, 2014 09:40
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Shopping for laptops sucks. I think I've decided on this HP Envy: http://m.bestbuy.com/m/e/product/detail.jsp?skuId=5342018&pid=1219120915962&pcatId=abcat0502000 It seems like the best machine I can get for under $800. I'm driving an hour away to go look at it, as I haven't seen it in person yet. I reckon I'll swap out the drive for an SSD later but my computers are dead now so I need to be able to buy one today. My requirements are: 1920x1080 screen 8gb ram 14"+ screen Backlit keyboard Bonuses: Dedicated graphics SSD Numeric keypad Touch screen Cd/dvd burner I don't really care about battery life or size / weight. I'll be using it for light gaming (minecraft) and basic office /web stuff.
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Aug 26, 2014 12:13
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Can I get a goon opinion on: This Y40 from Lenovo It's the perfect size for what I was looking for and can handle some light gaming when I am out and about.
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Aug 26, 2014 18:29
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The battery is tiny and I'm guessing will run like 3 hours? The hard drive is slow as balls and would drive me nuts. I would just upgrade those two parts and it looks great.
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Aug 26, 2014 18:41
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Mu Zeta posted:The battery is tiny and I'm guessing will run like 3 hours? The hard drive is slow as balls and would drive me nuts. I would just upgrade those two parts and it looks great. From the reviews, the battery seems to be quite decent. And yeah, I will upgrade to an SSD once I get it. For a "work centric" portable machine that can handle some gaming, under a grand, it looked pretty nice to me.
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Aug 26, 2014 18:46
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Y40 is goon approved. Use the  link in the op
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Aug 26, 2014 18:46
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Hadlock posted:Y40 is goon approved. Use the My apologies, glanced over the OP the other day and saw it was kind of dated  Probably going to pop on this then, with a 256 SSD installed it's still only 850.
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Aug 26, 2014 18:50
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I'm still debating between the Y40 and Y50. I play WoW and that's it. That's the most taxing thing the laptop is going to see, but I want to play it on ultra @ 1920x1080. Is the 2gb Radeon 275 card going to be enough to do this? I'd bump the ram to 16gigs and add a samsung 850 pro 512gb ssd right after purchasing. The only real difference I see between the Y50 and Y40 are the size, dualcore to quad, and graphics card. I'm currently running a Dell Studio 1558 (i5 M450, 6gb ram, Radeon 5470 1gb, OCZ 128 + 500 storage drive) and have to play on low @ around 30 fps.
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Aug 26, 2014 19:05
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rivid posted:Hey guys, I'm still ruing a Lenovo R61i I bought in 2008. As you can imagine, the thing can run like slug sometimes. It's got two gigs of ram and a 1.86 Ghz processor. According to the motherboard that's in it (specs here), I can upgrade to a 2.80 GHz processor, and 4 gigs of RAM. Well, 3 I suppose, because I can't support a 64-bit processor. Right? Anyways I would be able to get this stuff for less than forty dollars. What do you guys think? I think it beats $600 for a new laptop for the time being. Just following up with you guys - I did the following setup and threw in a SSD too; the computer runs like brand new. Really happy with how it turned out.
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Aug 26, 2014 20:15
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rivid posted:Just following up with you guys - I did the following setup and threw in a SSD too; the computer runs like brand new. Really happy with how it turned out. What did you add, exactly?
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Aug 26, 2014 20:21
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This semester i'm rocking 4 classes that are pure writing. It is my hell, but thats another issue. I have a 2 hour gap between my classes every day, so i plan to be in the library writing so i would like something portable that is comfortable to do a lot of typing on, price being a major factor. Things i need out of device. As inexpensive as possible Word Processing is number 1 priority Netflix in bed is probably the most it would ever get taxed. Maybe angry birds or something I'm looking at chromebooks. I was planning on using google docs for my papers anyways since i have don't have word on my home Imac, so having that compatibility seems pretty awesome, though i know any laptop could use docs/drive as well as a chromebook could. Aka, for 190 bucks, would a chromebook be a good option, or should i try to spend a little more for a bottom of the line laptop. I read the OP so i realize build quality/value is not great here. I just have 0 experience with chromebooks and am wondering if it would be a worthwhile investment over a bottom of the line laptop. Do chromebooks experience slowdown like regular computers after a year or two of ownership or are they more resistant to that due to the simplicity of its functions/cloud storage? Crunkjuice fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Aug 26, 2014 |
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Aug 26, 2014 22:47
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I guess you need to figure out what is comfortable to you for typing on - personally I wouldn't want to type much on a C720 or similar but those keyboards don't bother everyone. BTW I'd check out MS Office online - its actually really slick for a set of webapps
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Aug 26, 2014 22:54
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Crunkjuice posted:Aka, for 190 bucks, would a chromebook be a good option, or should i try to spend a little more for a bottom of the line laptop. I read the OP so i realize build quality/value is not great here. I just have 0 experience with chromebooks and am wondering if it would be a worthwhile investment over a bottom of the line laptop. You've got entirely the right idea. There are many chromebooks that have far better build quality and are a better experience overall than low-end laptops. If you can get away with a chromebook, do it.
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Aug 26, 2014 22:57
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Bought a Sager 8268-S about two weeks ago from Xotic and got it yesterday. No problems at all with Xotic or the laptop. I think the screen looks nice, although I'm not much of a stickler for screens. I definitely don't notice any flickering.
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Aug 27, 2014 02:34
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Yip Yips posted:Bought a Sager 8268-S about two weeks ago from Xotic and got it yesterday. No problems at all with Xotic or the laptop. I think the screen looks nice, although I'm not much of a stickler for screens. I definitely don't notice any flickering. How is the thickness / heat when playing games? The side pictures on Xotic make is look really huge.
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Aug 27, 2014 02:44
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Counting the feet it's almost exactly 5 cm at its thickest point with a closed lid. It's not particularly thin. I haven't played any games on it yet. I got it mostly to edit on because I have long stretches of time away from my desktop where I would be doing nothing productive without it.
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Aug 27, 2014 04:16
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Crunkjuice posted:This semester i'm rocking 4 classes that are pure writing. It is my hell, but thats another issue. I have a 2 hour gap between my classes every day, so i plan to be in the library writing so i would like something portable that is comfortable to do a lot of typing on, price being a major factor. Try and nab a Dell Chromebook 11 if you can. The 2 gig ram version runs great, it has the best build quality of any Chromebook out there right now (besides the pixel, but...yeah) and the keyboard is comfortable, if not a bit mushy (still way better than the HP 14's or acer c720's though).
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Aug 27, 2014 05:42
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chocolateTHUNDER posted:Try and nab a Dell Chromebook 11 if you can. The 2 gig ram version runs great, it has the best build quality of any Chromebook out there right now (besides the pixel, but...yeah) and the keyboard is comfortable, if not a bit mushy (still way better than the HP 14's or acer c720's though). What is up with these? I see they were on the market but not anymore really. There were 2 GB ram and 4 GB ram versions? I played with the Acer c720 today at best buy for half an hour and actually really liked it and the Samsung 2. HP/Toshiba felt super cheap. I would pull the trigger on the dell Chromebook 11 tomorrow but i'd like the 4 GB version and I'm also very curious why they were pulled from the market by dell.
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Aug 27, 2014 06:09
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Yip Yips posted:Counting the feet it's almost exactly 5 cm at its thickest point with a closed lid. It's not particularly thin. Alright I installed Dota 2 on it and set it to spectate a game (most settings maxed with some random stuff like weather turned off). 15 minutes later and the keyboard is warm, the wrist rests and touchpad are completely cool, and the upper part between the keyboard and screen is definitely warm (but not hot). It's also on carpet in a warm room so it's in far from ideal conditions. Yip Yips fucked around with this message at 06:28 on Aug 27, 2014 |
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Aug 27, 2014 06:26
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So here's where I'm at. Lifelong Windows user in the market for a new laptop in the coming months. For some reason I've had this strong urge to get a 13" MacBook Pro Retina. Last I used OSX (at least I think it was X) was the iMacs in school back around 2005. I have no really strong reason to switch but I'm still considering. I like Windows 8 on my girlfriend's laptop and aside from an old beat-up iPad 2 that I use as my main computing device, I'm not tied into Apple's ecosystem at all. My Windows choice is the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro or whatever its successor will be in a few months time. I really like using the iPad on the couch, propping it up on my knees or what have you, so the Yoga series really appeals to me on that basis. It's a strong pull but not a deal breaker. I REALLY hope the Y3P has 802.11 AC because the lack of it on the 2 drives me nuts. Battery life isn't as major of a concern because I'm not a mobile user but I'd still like ~6 hours at least. My other main consideration is gaming. Hardcore gaming won't be a huge focus of this machine but I still have a sizable Steam library and I'd still like to have access to the games via Bootcamp. I dunno how game performance is affected by Bootcamp, but I don't really play new games. I mostly play Civilization 4/5, Age of Empires 2 HD, Mark of Ninja, CoD4, etc, and I don't see that changing any time soon. I realize that an MBP is going to outperform a Y2P in general but some older games not running well in bootcamp will factor into my decision. Other than that, most of my usage is general media usage, writing, etc. Again, I don't have a specific reason for wanting to switch. Just for change. Anybody here made the switch to Mac recently? I actually have a friend at school who went the other way from MBA to Yoga 2 Pro and he swears by his decision.
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Aug 27, 2014 07:29
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Crunkjuice posted:What is up with these? I see they were on the market but not anymore really. There were 2 GB ram and 4 GB ram versions? 4GB is only a consideration if you're installing Linux in my opinion. Chrome does fine with 2. The Acer c720 is an excellent laptop now that they've upgraded from the 710's HDD.
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Aug 27, 2014 07:50
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It's worth noting that the c720 feels incredibly sturdy and very fast. I have the 32 gb SSD, 2gb RAM version that sold for 230 IIRC. Fantastic price for a fantastic machine, just be aware it's an internet and notetaking machine and nothing else. You usually don't need much more than that though, so it's a great way to save money and a great way to get a very good computer out of it. Seriously it's sturdier and better made than my Lenovo y410p which tricked out was a solid $1,000 dollars more.
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Aug 27, 2014 08:02
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I recently started doing app development/game design, and have always done video editing, graphic design and gaming. My 3 year old Macbook Air was struggling, and I got tired of renting workstations. I also recently got a bonus at work, and figured what the hell. I decided to order this laptop yesterday: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834198042&cm_re=fangbook-_-34-198-042-_-Product . Between a 500 dollar rebate from work and the 450 dollars off, this felt like a good deal that would be hugely future-proofed. Where I could find reviews of it, it reviewed well. It looks like the RAM is expandable to 32 GB (though god knows when I'll need that), I can add a SSD if I feel the need, and the graphics card/processor certainly seem like they'll be enough for a while. Basically, I want to be able to do all the things I'm doing now for at least the next three years on this machine. I couldn't find anything as powerful for a similar price, but I might not have been looking hard enough and would love some goon opinions before I decide whether or not to keep it.
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Aug 27, 2014 12:10
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RIP ZEEZ
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foutre posted:I recently started doing app development/game design, and have always done video editing, graphic design and gaming. My 3 year old Macbook Air was struggling, and I got tired of renting workstations. I also recently got a bonus at work, and figured what the hell. I think the biggest commentary is that is a 17" laptop and those typically defy conventional portability. Is there a reason you went >15"?
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Aug 27, 2014 12:57
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Crunkjuice posted:I played with the Acer c720 today at best buy for half an hour and actually really liked it and the Samsung 2. If you need a bigger (13") screen, the Chromebook 2 is great with its 1920x1080 resolution, but at $400 is double the price. The downside is that it uses a slower CPU than the Intel models, which, while I find it sufficient for my purposes (and am quite happy to have the higher resolution screen in exchange), others would probably prefer the Intel models. The only reason I wouldn't recommend the Chromebook 2 wholly is that the Tegra K1-based model (Acer's "Chromebook 13" I think is the name for it) is due out imminently and has a processor that's better enough on paper than the Samsung that I might wait for it at this point to see how it turns out in practice. Disappointingly, those are the only two models (aside from the Pixel) that have high resolution screens, which is kind of a bummer overall. Pyroxene Stigma posted:4GB is only a consideration if you're installing Linux in my opinion. The way Chrome OS gets by with relatively-low memory devices is they use compressed RAM (zram) to stash away tabs you're not looking at until you switch back to them. It works well enough that if you only use a lot of tabs occasionally it's fine. But if you regularly have 10+ tabs open, the 4 GB really does help. Before I upgraded my Chromebox from 2 GB it was frequently swapping to zram, now it doesn't do it at all.
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Aug 27, 2014 16:49
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Dr. Video Games 0150 posted:I think the biggest commentary is that is a 17" laptop and those typically defy conventional portability. Is there a reason you went >15"? i actually thought about this for a while. I really like having the screen real estate, and most of the places that I would bring it have large desks for me to use. Also, I use a pseudo hiking backpack for class and life so it shouldn't be a big deal physically fitting it. I think what really decided it for me is that I still have the Macbook Air for traditional "I need a portable computer" stuff, whereas this will serve as a desktop replacement (I move around a lot ad bringing a normal desktop just isn't feasible). I'm glad the rest seems good though, I was hoping that'd be the case. e: I'll report back once it arrives, and definitely get a feel for if it's just too big.
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Aug 27, 2014 17:30
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How easy/possible is it to add 2gb of ram to any of the lower tier Chromebooks like the C720?
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Aug 27, 2014 18:26
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joshtothemaxx posted:How easy/possible is it to add 2gb of ram to any of the lower tier Chromebooks like the C720? Not possible, it's built into the system board. You can get the C720-2848 that has 4GB, though.  The RAM is the 4 chips with the barcode sticker, the SSD is the blue board in the bottom right corner and IS upgradeable.
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Aug 27, 2014 18:40
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