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Hadlock posted:So apparently I have been living under a rock (or just really busy) They just refreshed the MBPs a couple of months ago. It's probably the Airs and some of their desktop stuff.
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Oct 14, 2014 16:42
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Aphrodite posted:They just refreshed the MBPs a couple of months ago. It's probably the Airs and some of their desktop stuff. Macrumors said no new Airs on Thursday if that means anything.
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Oct 14, 2014 17:26
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Thanks to those who confirmed that a chromebook would be what I need. I was able to pick up two 14" chromebooks with lifetime data plans off woot for pretty cheap, and we'll just have to put them on tables who cares
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Oct 14, 2014 18:11
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Today my laptop decided, randomly, that I no longer needed to use the N or B key ever again, and so it's time for a new laptop (I was going to get one soon anyway). I'm hoping for some guidance, as I've spent most of today on NewEgg/Tiger Direct confusing myself. My budget is preferably less than $300. I do not need a powerhouse of any kind, but I'd like to know that I'm spending my money wisely. The only games I'll be playing will be goofy little hidden object games from Big Fish and, occasionally, Minecraft (we have a proper PC to handle the real stuff). I use my laptop more for Netflix/Hulu/Youtube and web surfing. I am super entranced by the touchscreen laptops, but I'm pretty sure I'm just falling for a gimmick. As an example, this is one I keep eyeing http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834216814
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Oct 15, 2014 03:37
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Replacement keyboards are cheap and plentiful, I would buy one for $30-80 and limp it along until Januarythen pick up something on sale post-Christmas with the extra money you've saved. If you just need a laptop to function as a tablet with a keyboard, are you not wanting to look at a chromebook (valid question)?
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Oct 15, 2014 05:24
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Hadlock posted:Replacement keyboards are cheap and plentiful, I would buy one for $30-80 and limp it along until Januarythen pick up something on sale post-Christmas with the extra money you've saved. I'm actually typing on a wireless keyboard right now. It might be better to describe the situation as something I was going to do anyway, but pushed up a bit. As far as the chromebooks go, the problem with them is that I don't just need a tablet with a keyboard. Minecraft appears to work fine, but the same isn't true for Baldur's Gate, or any of the Big Fish games, or Audacity... basically, I do use my fair share of programs that don't require a ton of computing power but wouldn't work with a chromebook. Edit: and as far as tablets go, I already have a Galaxy Mega. I pretty much use it as a tablet more than a phone to begin with.
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Oct 15, 2014 06:11
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I'm leaving my job and need to replace my laptop. I had a Lenovo T430i that worked just fine for me, but I'm amenable to switching to a different model if there are any that are cheaper and do what I want. The most intensive thing I'll be doing on it is Photoshop. No gaming, maybe watching movies occasionally, mostly just writing, lots of writing. What's the cheapest thing that won't freeze for three minutes when I click a photoshop layer? There are some used Thinkpads on Amazon, but I'm not sure whether I should trust sellers - what's wrong with these? http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00LAMQEG6/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all&sr=1-2&qid=1413390567
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Oct 15, 2014 17:35
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I wouldn't recommend getting anything older than T420. The processing power jump between a first generation i5 and second generation i5 is pretty significant.
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Oct 15, 2014 19:54
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Oh dang, I thought it would be better than mine since my 430i has a Core i3 processor. How do I tell that it's second gen?
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Oct 15, 2014 20:08
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The number after the dash. i5-X### First generation is just the 3 numbers. 2nd is 2###, etc. We're up to gen 4 right now. It's not obvious on that page, but if you look at the Auctiontrek seller's description you can see it's i5-520. That one's a first gen. The Thinkpad model number seems to also indicate it. 410 first, 420 second etc. This won't be the case with every manufacturer though.
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Oct 15, 2014 20:23
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moana posted:Oh dang, I thought it would be better than mine since my 430i has a Core i3 processor. How do I tell that it's second gen? The T-series (200, 400, 500) works like this: x00 - Core2 x10 - first gen i5 x20 - second gen i5 x30 .. x40 .. You want a 20 or newer, IMO
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Oct 15, 2014 20:23
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The i5 in the 420 vs 430 is probably +/- 5% in raw computing power the main difference is about a 15% improvement in battery life in the 430 The i3 vs i5 is about a 25% difference in raw computing power inside the same generation. And yeah you want the 20 generation, the 10 generation has the first gen CPU which is not particularly fast or good on battery life (or heat) by today's standards. It will still run Win8, MS office etc
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Oct 15, 2014 20:31
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The integrated Intel graphics are finally 'good' in the 20's and get better from there.
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Oct 15, 2014 21:07
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Oh okay, awesome. Thank you for explaining this all to me! So like this one is a third-gen? http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00LAEUBN6/ref=dp_olp_refurbished?ie=UTF8&condition=refurbished I know the OP says you should expect to pay $600+ for these, is that $550 refurbished one lovely in some way I don't know about?
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Oct 15, 2014 21:13
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That's true, HD3000 is capable of playing back 1080p compressed video and also playing medium tier indie games like Kerbal Space Program (barely), which was a huge step up from HD2000 which was good for MS Office type applications and light web browsing. We're probably way overdue for some new charts and a rewrite of the OP. edit: check out the Lenovo outlet and/or Ebay for cheap refub units, Amazon is $$ in comparison.
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Oct 15, 2014 21:13
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Holy crap, you're right. I have a ton of Amazon credit was why I looked there first, but yeah, ebay seems to be where it's at. edit: vvv thanks! This thread is a wonderful resource! I feel much more confident buying a laptop now 
moana fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Oct 15, 2014 |
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Oct 15, 2014 21:47
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moana posted:Why are some of them ridic cheap (like this one for $150)? I haven't ebayed much before, will the bids just end up being much higher by the end? ?
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Oct 15, 2014 21:49
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Try browsing the "buy it now" section, search for Nx900 pixel display, 4GB and has at least a Y size hard drive. The selection varies widely but you should be able to find a gangbusters deal on an i5 or i7 for under $450, $320 or less if you shop around a little.
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Oct 15, 2014 22:24
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I'm trying to get some good ideas for a cheaper laptop. It'll just be used to sit on a desk and taken into work every now and then. No gaming, just internet/youtube/email. Basically something decent but we don't really care about the graphics card. Something like this or maybe this I haven't bought a full laptop through Newegg before though. Anyone know how they are or have alternative computers to look at?
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Oct 16, 2014 11:43
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Apple has their event today, starting three hours from this post, however it's speculated that the new Macbooks won't be announced today.
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Oct 16, 2014 15:59
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iPads iPads iPads
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Oct 16, 2014 16:19
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So I'm looking for a laptop, but probably a Chromebook. Use: Internet browsing, Word/Powerpoint via Office Online if that's an actually viable thing I'd like it to be 13/14", 11" is too small for me. Good battery would be a plus. So I guess the question is which Chromebook should I buy? EDIT: Amazon has the Acer Chromebook 13 2GB/1080p for $249 but doesn't ship for 3+ weeks. I just bought one to lock in the price. I can always cancel my order. lament.cfg fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Oct 16, 2014 |
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Oct 16, 2014 18:23
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I have a friend that's looking to buy a laptop. He needs: 1. 12-14" screen. 2. Light (not necessarily MBA light, but he travels so he needs something that won't weigh him down). 3. SSD 4. Good battery life. 5. $800 budget (with some wiggle room). Main use will be Office and Internet but I do know that he needs to have a lot of tabs open at the same time + Excel files. Any suggestions?
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Oct 16, 2014 19:27
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:I have a friend that's looking to buy a laptop. 2013.5 MacBook Air.
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Oct 16, 2014 23:11
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Does anyone have a suggestion for decent places to buy bigger / replacement laptop batteries besides eBay/OEM? Lenovo doesn't seem to sell batteries for the S10 anymore
dahkren fucked around with this message at 23:45 on Oct 16, 2014 |
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Oct 16, 2014 23:29
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dahkren posted:Does anyone have a suggestion for decent places to buy bigger / replacement laptop batteries besides eBay/OEM? Lenovo doesn't seem to sell batteries for the S10 anymore Dell doesn't make batteries for the Alienware m14x anymore. I bought a battery from an apparently commonly-used website. It completely stopped working after literally 20 minutes, never to charge again. I researched making my own battery, but it looks like more trouble than its worth. I am very sad now.  Whenever my power cable falls out of my laptop, my OS instantly shuts down....
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Oct 17, 2014 03:07
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Macbook Air is a bit too light and I'd rather he get something that he can just buy a bit more ram and/or a new HD if he starts running out of space. Is the T440 with the i5-4200 and the HD+ display a decent option? I can use the difference in price to get him an aftermarket SSD + extra memory.
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Oct 17, 2014 04:30
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Captain Pike posted:Dell doesn't make batteries for the Alienware m14x anymore. I bought a battery from an apparently commonly-used website. It completely stopped working after literally 20 minutes, never to charge again. I researched making my own battery, but it looks like more trouble than its worth. I am very sad now. Yeh.. this is the same place I'm at, thing has to be plugged in or no-go. I just re-soldered the power connector plugin thing so it can actually be plugged in again and repaired the hinge. Somehow the machine is really responsive and perfect for browsing/typing still, boots up like it has a SSD in it, really happy with it still, and I picked it up open box at walmart for like $170 bucks years ago. I'd hate to just chuck it as its a great plane/travel laptop but this battery situation sucks. I guess it's sort of a roulette as far as non-oem batteries go?
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Oct 17, 2014 04:36
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Carnival Rider posted:I'm trying to get some good ideas for a cheaper laptop. It'll just be used to sit on a desk and taken into work every now and then. No gaming, just internet/youtube/email. Basically something decent but we don't really care about the graphics card. Side note: a student I know has a 6-month old Toshiba Satellite bought "on sale at Best Buy during Black Friday for $700" (wtf!) and, along with some sudden crazy CPU coil whine, her hard drive just up and crashed with the clicking of death. It just reminds me to always stay away from that cheap consumer cool-aid unless it is at least ultrabook book level or has really good specs (Lenovo Y series, Yoga, etc.) So if you really needed to buy brand new I'd probably risk the Inspiron. dahkren posted:Does anyone have a suggestion for decent places to buy bigger / replacement laptop batteries besides eBay/OEM? Lenovo doesn't seem to sell batteries for the S10 anymore I am scared of non-OEM batteries because of that little warning about a risk of exploding. That is probably just the manufacturer trying to scare anyone off from buying an after market battery, and I've never heard of it happening to anyone I know. But then again... You can't go to OEM cause they don't sell them, and you don't want an after market battery from ebay, but have you considered the intersection: getting an OEM battery from ebay? There and amazon are the only places I go to buy batteries, and the only batteries I buy are OEM. Basch lives! fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Oct 17, 2014 |
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Oct 17, 2014 09:39
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:Macbook Air is a bit too light  huh?
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Oct 17, 2014 15:13
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Bob Morales posted:
Sorry, I wrote that late at night. I meant to say that it traded too many specs for being light and while he doesn't want the computer to be heavy, he doesn't need it to be MBA light.
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Oct 17, 2014 15:17
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:Sorry, I wrote that late at night. I meant to say that it traded too many specs for being light and while he doesn't want the computer to be heavy, he doesn't need it to be MBA light. If you upgrade, say a T440, you're going to end up with something bigger and thicker with less battery life and costs the same.
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Oct 17, 2014 16:04
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:Sorry, I wrote that late at night. I meant to say that it traded too many specs for being light and while he doesn't want the computer to be heavy, he doesn't need it to be MBA light. Macbook Airs aren't slow anymore, and are comparable to anything without a dedicated GPU or quad core CPU. Although the base CPU speed is 1.4 GHz, it spends all of its time whenever you need CPU at 2.9GHz.
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Oct 17, 2014 16:13
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Twerk from Home posted:Macbook Airs aren't slow anymore, and are comparable to anything without a dedicated GPU or quad core CPU. Although the base CPU speed is 1.4 GHz, it spends all of its time whenever you need CPU at 2.9GHz. The Airs aren't 'slow', but they are the slowest Macs except for the base model iMac. The base model iMac with the fusion drive is a little bit faster than the Air.    
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Oct 17, 2014 17:30
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My laptop was stolen the other day and so I find myself in need of an urgent and cheap replacement (insurance really isn't going to help much, unfortunately). I just need it for doing homework, watching cat videos, browsing the internet, etc., and my priorities are for it to be lightweight, have a long battery life, be less than $500, and not be an unreliable HP shitheap (as much as it sucks that it was stolen, good riddance). What would y'all recommend? I'm sorry for asking such a simple question, but I give great deference to the SH/SC hivemind and haven't shopped for a laptop in years.
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Oct 18, 2014 18:45
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It depends what your homework consist of, but for your other needs I'd give a serious look at the Toshiba Chromebook 2. For $330 it has a 13", 1080p IPS display, 4 GB of RAM, and crazy battery life. The processor (Bay Trail) is a bit slow, but it will work for web browsing and Google Docs. If you need something a bit faster there's Chromebook models with Haswell (Celeron or i3) processors, but they generally come with lower resolution/lower quality screens.
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Oct 18, 2014 19:49
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Bob Morales posted:The Airs aren't 'slow', but they are the slowest Macs except for the base model iMac. The base model iMac with the fusion drive is a little bit faster than the Air. This is factually true, however we're comparing a base model Ferrari against a twin turbo Lamborghini. Whatever virus ridden, fragmented rotational hard drive laptop he's coming from, these things will be stupid fast in comparison.
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Oct 18, 2014 19:52
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Will the new Chromebook 2 work with SDxC cards? All the googling I've done seems to bring up contradictory results. I want to get one for the wife, but I'd like the 128 extra GB of storage if I can swing it.
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Oct 19, 2014 03:35
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ExcessBLarg! posted:It depends what your homework consist of, but for your other needs I'd give a serious look at the Toshiba Chromebook 2. For $330 it has a 13", 1080p IPS display, 4 GB of RAM, and crazy battery life. The processor (Bay Trail) is a bit slow, but it will work for web browsing and Google Docs. I'm uninformed...what the hell are Chromebooks? Edit: hey, they kind of answer that question on that very same page. I will re-phrase my question as: what are the advantages and disadvantages of Chromebooks over other laptops? Most importantly, can I use Microsoft Office on one? I hate Google's apps and use Office on my desktop which I would want to sync with. MarquisDeCarabas fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Oct 19, 2014 |
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Oct 19, 2014 17:39
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MarquisDeCarabas posted:I will re-phrase my question as: what are the advantages and disadvantages of Chromebooks over other laptops? You don't want a Chromebook then.
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Oct 19, 2014 17:54
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