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My friend is looking for a general use/writing laptop. Is there any glaring fault with the X230? I recommended this used one to her. Seems like good value for £500 with the SSD and IPS screen.
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Nov 12, 2014 15:37
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sarehu posted:With Thinkpads, there's reason to wait because of the whole trackpad thing. Actually I think with Thinkpads there's a good reason to wait now, because they just promised to unfuck the trakpad with the next generation.
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Nov 12, 2014 16:17
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mobby_6kl posted:Actually I think with Thinkpads there's a good reason to wait now, because they just promised to unfuck the trakpad with the next generation. That's what I said... or meant to say.
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Nov 12, 2014 17:08
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VulgarandStupid posted:More importantly, if you're not buying a laptop until April, ignore this thread entirely until March. Wow, things change that rapidly and dramatically? Thanks to you and sarehu for the info.
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Nov 12, 2014 19:20
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Grundulum posted:Wow, things change that rapidly and dramatically? For example, lately, screens are getting a lot better, and good quality screens have been getting cheaper. Also, who knows, maybe we'll get a 16:10 renaissance. One can dream...
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Nov 12, 2014 19:32
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mobby_6kl posted:Actually I think with Thinkpads there's a good reason to wait now, because they just promised to unfuck the trakpad with the next generation. Do we actually have a reliable quote on this or could it be just specific to the Helix which was said on Google Hangouts Q/A or something?
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Nov 12, 2014 20:22
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Cool, now if only Thinkpads can get decent graphics too, especially the 15 incher. 860M or better should suffice nicely in something that size.
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Nov 12, 2014 21:07
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Dessel posted:Do we actually have a reliable quote on this or could it be just specific to the Helix which was said on Google Hangouts Q/A or something? I'm curious about this too. I played with one of the new touch pads some more at a local computer store. I'd actually pretty okay with not having physical buttons (not sure if I'll ever use the TrackPoint anyway). It's not ideal, but I could live with it. Having the entire touch pad float like that is pretty weird though and I can't help but imagine it will be prone to failure or sticking.
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Nov 12, 2014 22:10
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It's just a clickpad like on newer Macbooks, and they seem robust enough. I used to be a diehard Trackpoint user, but these days I actually prefer touchpads. They're more precise now than they used to be, and stuff like two finger scrolling is awesome. I'm looking for a good quality large wired touchpad for my desktop, but unfortunately everything is wireless these days. So a trackball will have to do in the mean time. Now there's an input device I haven't seen on a laptop in a long time.
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Nov 12, 2014 22:27
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I tried for a good 30 hours to get used to one of those big track pads that do gestures, two finger tap for right click, all that stuff. Maybe I'm dense or something but I cant get used to it. One of my other fingers always comes to rest on the very edge of the pad so when I go to move the pointer with my index finger nothing happens. Swipe from left/right is hopelessly inconsistent, and activates accidentally all the time. Inverting the scroll directed when you two-finger drag-scroll is mind boggling. Pinch and zoom? works great, used it once. About 12 years ago I bought a really nice dell and used it heavily for 3 years. The small pad and two physical buttons worked so well I never attached a mouse to it, not once. For me needing a mouse fucks up some of the best use cases for a laptop. I'm staking everything on the vague promise of awesome new Thinkpads in the new year.
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Nov 12, 2014 22:33
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bpower posted:Inverting the scroll directed when you two-finger drag-scroll is mind boggling. Really? I think it's a much more natural way to scroll now that we're all used to smartphones. I reverse the scroll direction on all laptops now, even the ones where you can only scroll on the right side of the pad.
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Nov 12, 2014 22:40
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KozmoNaut posted:It's just a clickpad like on newer Macbooks, and they seem robust enough. I realize that's what they were aiming for, but they missed the mark. Macbook touch pads still feel like touch pads and have a flexible membrane surface. They also require enough force to avoid accidental clicks. The ThinkPad touch pad's entire surface is a gigantic floating button that has to travel what feels like inches before a click is registered and it seems to be way too sensitive on top of that. For what it's worth, I hate the new Macbook click pads, but they still seem better than the new ThinkPad ones.
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Nov 12, 2014 22:55
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sarehu posted:That's what I said... or meant to say. Nope you're totally right, that's exactly what you said. I misread.
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Nov 13, 2014 00:50
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Grundulum posted:Wow, things change that rapidly and dramatically? Yes and no. If a design cycle is a year, then we're talking not quite a half a year, but a new model might come out and be better than all of the recommendations now or prices may shift dramatically. There is no point in getting your heart set on something right now when clearly you have time to wait and see. It's entirely possible nothing may change between now and then, but why worry about it now?
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Nov 13, 2014 01:42
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I'm looking to get a laptop to replace my aging Acer Aspire 7560 that I bought off Craigslist when it wasn't even new. I'm not looking for a "gaming" laptop but I do need something that can play games; nothing worse than World of Warcraft or Civ V/Beyond Earth, around that level, not even at max level if I don't need to. These are the two I'm looking at right now: http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/z-series/z50/?sb=:000001C9:00012E30: $599 http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/z-series/z50/?sb=:000001C9:00012E34: $649 The B&N link in the OP takes them both down another $20; from what I can see, it's just a $50 difference for an i7 over an i5, and HD Graphics 5000 over 4400, which looks worth it to me? I prefer having the same resolution (1920x1080) as my desktop for purposes of the UI in WoW, mostly.
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Nov 13, 2014 02:31
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so my girlfriend's mom is being an idiot and wants to buy my girlfriend a 300 dollar HP laptop. including a 3 year warranty. And it has to be HP. Please give me arguments I can use to convince an older person that this is a terrible idea.
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Nov 13, 2014 05:32
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Cat Army 
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Admiral Joeslop posted:I'm looking to get a laptop to replace my aging Acer Aspire 7560 that I bought off Craigslist when it wasn't even new. I'm not looking for a "gaming" laptop but I do need something that can play games; nothing worse than World of Warcraft or Civ V/Beyond Earth, around that level, not even at max level if I don't need to. I just bought this Asus: http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-F555LA-A...sus+f555la-ah51 $530, i5, 8Gb Ram. I've been playing Civ 5 all night! No complaints really, the screen isn't amazing but what can you do? It has a premium look to it and I'm really happy with the price (I also put a SSD in it, which wasn't a fun experience but it's doable). I'm really impressed with the performance.
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Nov 13, 2014 06:36
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The Iron Rose posted:so my girlfriend's mom is being an idiot and wants to buy my girlfriend a 300 dollar HP laptop. including a 3 year warranty. And it has to be HP. The only thing in that price range worth buying from HP would be a Chromebook. Those are pretty nice. If you walked up to me with $300 and said you need a good laptop that won't break if you look at it funny I'd have you buy a refurbished Thinkpad T420 from ebay. I got one earlier this year with 8gb of ram and a 1600x900 screen for around $270 after shipping and it's fantastic. I did put a SSD in it however.
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Nov 13, 2014 07:07
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Rexxed posted:The only thing in that price range worth buying from HP would be a Chromebook. Those are pretty nice. If you walked up to me with $300 and said you need a good laptop that won't break if you look at it funny I'd have you buy a refurbished Thinkpad T420 from ebay. I got one earlier this year with 8gb of ram and a 1600x900 screen for around $270 after shipping and it's fantastic. I did put a SSD in it however. That's what I said. I actually got a great thinkpad for 400 with a 128 tb SSD and a 1090 screen. Screaming good deal. Also I have an acer chromebook and love it. Great machines. Sadly my girlfriend is an amateur photographer and artist, so... Honestly I've just said "Wait and save the money till next year. You can't buy a laptop for $300." And it's especially stupid to buy a warranty on the drat thing.
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Nov 13, 2014 07:11
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The Iron Rose posted:And it's especially stupid to buy a warranty on the drat thing. Clearly the companies wouldn't offer it if the warranties didn't turn a profit. But what's the expected cost in parts failure over the three years? Just how much money, on average, could you expect to spend on replacing things? If it's close to the price of the warranty (within $100 or so) I could see the warranty as an expensive safety blanket. Makes it more reasonable, especially if you lack the technical wherewithal to diagnose and repair/replace any issues. Eta: if the warranty is a significant cost of the machine (which it might well be for a $300 Chromebook for all I know), then the previous argument doesn't apply. If your computer winds up breaking you might be better off getting a new one than spending that much additional on the warranty.
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Nov 13, 2014 07:54
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I mean I've always gotten my money many times over on warranties... on expensive ~$1000 laptops that I managed to break many times over. I won't buy a warranty on a $400 machine though.
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Nov 13, 2014 08:08
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The Iron Rose posted:That's what I said. I actually got a great thinkpad for 400 with a 128 tb SSD and a 1090 screen. Screaming good deal. Since your gf is a photographer and artist I'd compare the recommended requirements for software she does or may use like Photoshop or something else to the available laptops in that price range. I'd assume that they will fall well below the recommended level and therefore not be suited for her work. Also, if she does art that does or could use a stylus of some kind, a touch screen that handles an active stylus may also be useful and there aren't many decent ones on lower end laptops that I'm aware of. It also may help to show her mother some examples of laptops that would meet the requirements so that she may better understand what the acceptable price range is going to end up. If her mother isn't very tech savvy then explaining the requirements for the hardware versus what she's looking at in her price range may help. Ultimately your goal is to be appreciative that her mother wants to help her out, but to prevent her from frivolously spending on something that doesn't do what is needed. She could always consider putting the money aside in some interest bearing account like a money market account or buy some bonds or something as a way of helping out more in a year or so if that's her goal, or find something else within her price range that would be useful (camera stuff, art stuff, etc). I find that folks who aren't willfully ignorant about technology are often just not up on what's current and therefore don't understand what the hell a "i5" versus a "celeron" even are, nor have a frame of reference to compare them. So if that's the case then a little bit of informed education may help. This is also why tech manufacturers like to keep things simple when they can by just incrementing numbers. The didgeridoo 9 is clearly better than the didgeridoo 8 because it's one more!
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Nov 13, 2014 09:14
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Hey Guys, So looking at the Lenova site in the UK this seemed a good thinkpad ThinkPad S540 Ultrabook Is the S series okay? it seems to get a wide range of reviews Thanks,
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Nov 13, 2014 10:33
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The S-series are not nearly as rugged as the workhorse T- and X-series, meaning they don't have the metal frame , rubberized lid, super-sturdy hinges etc. That said, they're also cheaper.
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Nov 13, 2014 10:37
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Thanks for the quick reply, maybe something more rugged would be worth it, my wife dont need much power but she is cruel to laptops, want something that will last this time! So i'm guessing the L, E and S are plastic so here's a ... Thinkpad T440p This seems the cheapest one i could find on the site, is this sturdy?
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Nov 13, 2014 10:58
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Yes, absolutely. T-series Thinkpads have always been tough, maybe not outright Panasonic Toughbook-level toughness, but there's a reason a lot of companies insist on buying Thinkpads for their users, even if there are less expensive options. Beware that the standard resolution for the T440p is 1366x768, which sucks rear end. You should at least upgrade it to the 1600x900 screen, or the 1920x1080 IPS one if you're going to be doing any kind of graphical work.
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Nov 13, 2014 12:39
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KozmoNaut posted:Yes, absolutely. She'll mainly be surfing the web and doing lawyering things, documents and stuff, i wonder if it'll be enough for that since the price is already at her limit.
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Nov 13, 2014 12:42
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by.a.teammate posted:She'll mainly be surfing the web and doing lawyering things, documents and stuff, i wonder if it'll be enough for that since the price is already at her limit. as someone who is still using a 5 year old 15" non-Thinkpad Lenovo with a 1366x768 resolution: it'll be fine. if you can somehow find a deal that gives you a better resolution within you price range by all means go for that instead, but it's workable. personally I'd rather take a Thinkpad with 1366x768 over a full plastic laptop with a better resolution. especially if you know beforehand that the thing is going to go through some punishment. edit: also, after taking a better look at the link, it says 1600x900 with no downgrade option, at least for me. so there is that. Deadlink fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Nov 13, 2014 |
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Nov 13, 2014 13:30
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Deadlink posted:as someone who is still using a 5 year old 15" non-Thinkpad Lenovo with a 1366x768 resolution: it'll be fine. Ah yes so that seems a fine resolution. Now i just got to sell it to her that £810 is a good price and worth it. I'm guessing no one knows if there is anywhere in the UK you can get better prices? EDIT Aha! this seems the be the same one but cheaper Thinkpad T440p Amazon link by.a.teammate fucked around with this message at 13:39 on Nov 13, 2014 |
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Nov 13, 2014 13:34
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My laptop (An E442 emachine) has been having problems with its screen. Every so often, the screen goes blank - not totally, you can JUST see things on the screen, but it is effetctively unusuable. The screen can be brought back ocassionally through turning the things off for a while or connecting it to another monitor, so it isn't a software fault. I have had the inverter replaced, but it still occurs. Does anyone have a clue as to what could be the reason behind it?
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Nov 13, 2014 14:09
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Dell E6420 with an i5 for $280 on Woot: http://computers.woot.com/offers/dell-latitude-14-1-intel-core-i5-laptop-1
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Nov 13, 2014 16:52
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KozmoNaut posted:Yes, absolutely. Some police departments around where I live started replacing Toughbooks with T Series laptops for their cruisers. I work with a few of them so it will be interesting to see how they hold up day to day because my agency uses Toughbooks and we beat the poo poo out of them on a regular basis.
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Nov 13, 2014 18:13
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Wilford Cutlery posted:Dell E6420 with an i5 for $280 on Woot: http://computers.woot.com/offers/dell-latitude-14-1-intel-core-i5-laptop-1 That model is 3 years old just as an FYI for anyone getting one.
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Nov 13, 2014 18:30
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Yeah it's a second generations i5.
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Nov 13, 2014 18:33
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ellic posted:That model is 3 years old just as an FYI for anyone getting one. Still a better machine in pretty much every way than anything else you'll find under $500.
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Nov 13, 2014 18:36
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 e: on another note, Dell started selling their chromebooks to the public. Before this they were for Education only or sold refurbished. Looks like two options: 2GB RAM or 4GB RAM, both with 16GB SSD. Don't know about the processor though: 4th Gen Intel® 2955u 1.4GHz. http://www.dell.com/us/p/chromebook-11/pd?s=dhs&~ck=mn ellic fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Nov 13, 2014 |
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Nov 13, 2014 18:37
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What are the odds on the batteries in those being much good? 1366x768  to the eyes
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Nov 13, 2014 19:15
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It was mentioned awhile back that it wasn't worth it to wait for broadwell at this point. Why is that? Is it not going to be a very significant difference?
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Nov 13, 2014 22:17
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Syle187 posted:It was mentioned awhile back that it wasn't worth it to wait for broadwell at this point. Why is that? Is it not going to be a very significant difference? The interesting Broadwell parts are the ultralight and tablet ones, and Intel is claiming that Skylake will be less than 6 months behind Broadwell. The most interesting thing to come out of Broadwell may be a Surface Pro 4 with 12+ hours of battery life.
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Nov 13, 2014 22:19
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ellic posted:Don't know about the processor though: 4th Gen Intel® 2955u 1.4GHz. It's the second best Intel processor for Chromebooks right now, behind the i3. And 1366x768 is OK on an 11.6" display.
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Nov 13, 2014 22:35
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