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I'm looking for a laptop, as my supermarket special has lost its last few screws and has died on me. I need it for PPS presentations, Word, Excel, and for playing 1080p movies on a TV or beamer. As I'd like it to be fast without being overspecced, I thought about getting one with an SSD, so here are my two options: Lenovo Flex 2-14 35,6 cm (14 Zoll FHD IPS) Convertible Notebook (Intel Core i3-4010U, 1,7GHz, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, Touchscreen, Win 8.1) @500€ Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E540 15.6-inch Touchscreen Notebook (Intel Core i3-4000M 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, DVDRW, WLAN, BT, Webcam, Integrated Graphics, Windows 8) @650€ Is there any reason to pay 150€ more?
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Jan 26, 2015 16:51
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Grundulum posted:The weights are online, but it's always "starting at X.XX pounds", not what range the actual shipped weight would fall into. I don't know what the variance is on laptops or what modifications would add weight to any significant degree. (Also, who measures weights to the eighth of an ounce besides drug dealers, jewelers and laptop manufacturers?) "starting at" means "with the smallest battery". Other stuff (HD or SSD, touch or non-touch screen, ...) has a comparatively small effect.
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Jan 26, 2015 20:08
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I CANNOT EJACULATE WITHOUT SEEING NATIVE AMERICANS BRUTALISED!
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Lytinwheedle posted:Lenovo Flex 2-14 35,6 cm (14 Zoll FHD IPS) Convertible Notebook (Intel Core i3-4010U, 1,7GHz, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, Touchscreen, Win 8.1) @500€ So I'd say no.
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Jan 26, 2015 22:53
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GF is looking into buying a docking station for her x240 and there seem to be 3 variants (basic, pro, ultra) with power supplies ranging from 65w to 170w. Will they charge the laptop faster the higher the number? The charger that came with the x240 appears to be 45w so 170 seems like a bit much.
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Jan 27, 2015 10:57
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Yes, more wattage charges faster. HP 14" Chromebooks are back at Woot: http://computers.woot.com/offers/hp-14-16gb-chromebooks-2014-model
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Jan 27, 2015 16:45
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Looking into a laptop to replace my old second generation i3 laptop (410m, no SSD, 4GB), and according to the OP a Thinkpad T430 is pretty much the standard recommendation. Does that still stand? They're hard to find in the UK, but it might be worth grabbing a cheap one from last generation if so. Should I be totally avoiding the consumer variants listed in the OP (T430s, T340u, etc), or are they also decent? Also has there been a Haswell refresh of the series? I could only find mention of that happening for the more expensive T440. Surprise T Rex fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Jan 27, 2015 |
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Jan 27, 2015 16:46
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Surprise T Rex posted:Looking into a laptop to replace my old second generation i3 laptop (410m, no SSD, 4GB), and according to the OP a Thinkpad T430 is pretty much the standard recommendation. Does that still stand? The S is slimmer. The screens are bad on both.
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Jan 27, 2015 17:28
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It amazes me how cellphones have pretty high resolution, quality touch screens and can run for about 500 new, plus they have all the hardware, antennae, etc. Meanwhile, 13" laptops that run well over 1200 still have big old pile of poo poo regular panels. I mean, 80% of the cost of a phone is the screen, but still... You'd think 1080p on a 12.4" panel would be simple as hell when your average phone nowadays has a 500+p touch screen in a 5" package.  (Yes, I get that it's a manufacturing thing and phone screens have really jank refresh rates and whatnot. Still, you'd think things would have gotten cheaper in the last 5 years.)
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Jan 27, 2015 17:35
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Fuzz posted:It amazes me how cellphones have pretty high resolution, quality touch screens and can run for about 500 new, plus they have all the hardware, antennae, etc. Meanwhile, 13" laptops that run well over 1200 still have big old pile of poo poo regular panels. I mean, 80% of the cost of a phone is the screen, but still... You'd think 1080p on a 12.4" panel would be simple as hell when your average phone nowadays has a 500+p touch screen in a 5" package. Apple sells 4 millions Macs per quarter but they sell 40 million (ten times as many) iPhones during that same time. Sure, a base Retina MacBook is $1299 but a 128GB iPhone 6+ is $949 Not too much difference there.
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Jan 27, 2015 17:50
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I really wouldn't say 80% of the cost of the phone is the screen. Most manufacturers do screen replacements for under $200 and usually you can source the panel+digitizer for under $150 or so. Volume is really the answer though. Notebooks don't sell at the same volume as cell phones and there's not much other use for 13-15" panels as desktop monitors are larger and minimum buy in for TVs are around 19 inches. Also, the demand just isn't there either. People want cheap computers and are more likely to pay for premium features on a mobile device.
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Jan 27, 2015 18:41
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Jan 27, 2015 19:38
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Does that mean if they doubled the wages for Foxconn workers Iphones would only be 4 dollars more expensive?
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Jan 27, 2015 19:51
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bpower posted:Does that mean if they doubled the wages for Foxconn workers Iphones would only be 4 dollars less profitable? Fixed that for you, because $649 is a marketing-friendly price point, while $653 only works for niche products aimed at spergs.
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Jan 27, 2015 21:02
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Nitrousoxide posted:The XPS 13 looks almost perfect except for the lack of a 2-in-1 option. Is there anything like it but with a tablet mode coming up? That's the XPS 12.
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Jan 27, 2015 21:30
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blowfish posted:Fixed that for you, because $649 is a marketing-friendly price point, while $653 only works for niche products aimed at spergs. Apple should sell a $666 iPhone.
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Jan 28, 2015 02:02
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So does my lovely toy laptop go in here because I have to say I am super happy with my Stream 11 considering it costs $200. I get out of memory errors on occasion but the screen is completely acceptable if not great, battery life is decent, keyboard is not bad, construction is solid. For $200 it's a solid buy for a laptop you don't give a poo poo about losing or breaking and to tide me over to the Air 12 or picking up an Air 13 on clearance when the Air 12 hits.
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Jan 28, 2015 02:29
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Aphrodite posted:That's the XPS 12. What about the upcoming Lenovo LaVie Z? Has lenovo's quality been good lately? Would waiting until may for a Broadwell based computer be a bad idea considering the upcoming "TOCK" for their CPU's later this year?
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Jan 28, 2015 03:00
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If you go to laptopscreen.com a decent replacement IPS screen runs between $60-120. That represents about 20-25% of the laptop's value. QHD+ screens (1800p) seem to be rising in popularity (barely) but still Windows doesn't operate very well above 1080p or 1440p due to scaling issues with fonts, gui elements etc. and as a result people run at much lower resolutions. Looking at prices for a replacement Ltn133yl02 (Yoga2 Pro screen) QHD+ screens run about $250 which represents about 20% of the laptop's value. When you're competing with the entire laptop market in a race to the bottom, a $20 price difference can mean a lot to the average consumer who's price comparison shopping. If you throw a $35 1366x768 screen in there compared to the competition who has a $250 QHD+ screen, you've just undercut their price (all other things being equal) by $215. If you're buying a laptop for your wife or your kid who's going off to college, which one do you buy?
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Jan 28, 2015 04:30
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Also, the volume is in business sales and if you stick anything higher than 1366x768 in a 15" notebook you get people bitching that stuff is too small.
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Jan 28, 2015 05:11
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Yeah, almost every laptop in my office is 1366x768. There's maybe a few 1600x900s but I doubt those were specifically sought or anything. Nobody wants to pay the extra $500 for the screen upgrade.
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Jan 28, 2015 05:55
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To follow up on my post earlier asking for recommendations: would anyone recommend the Dell Inspiron 15 7537? I could get one with 8gb RAM, Nvidia GT 750m, 1TB Hard Drive and 1920x1080 touch screen for about £500.
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Jan 28, 2015 12:03
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How are the refurbished Thinkpads in Lenovo's outlet store? If I don't give a crap about it being shiny new, is it a good deal, or too much of a crapshoot?
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Jan 28, 2015 12:13
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so i got one of those t540p thinkpads from the outlet you guys suggested a month ago. Very good stuff (just hope the short warranty doesn't bite me in the rear end). I installed an ssd and now things are great. I was wondering if it's a good idea to upgrade the network adapter too. But I really don't know how to choose a new network adapter or where to buy it. Any help? (I'll probably stick to Intel though so that drivers on linux won't be a problem)
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Jan 28, 2015 12:22
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Apologies in advance for this dumb person post, but I've realised my chromebook doesn't really cut it as my only computer - I'm missing a lot of windows specific stuff (games) and remote access to my work server is a pain on this, so I'm looking for a 13-14" windows laptop to replace it, budget up to around £500, but the cheaper the better really. In terms of performance, I can't really see myself wanting to do anything more demanding than running minecraft or whatever with decent settings, but the last actual laptop I bought was in like 2007, so I have no idea whether, for example, an i3 with 4gb of RAM would be more than enough for my needs, or if I'd be better setting my sights higher. Any ideas? Ideally as up to date hardware as possible. Oh, and I'm happy enough putting in a SSD myself, for some reason everyone buying a cheap laptop still seems to think they need a massive HDD.
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Jan 28, 2015 13:09
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Aphrodite posted:Yeah, almost every laptop in my office is 1366x768. There's maybe a few 1600x900s but I doubt those were specifically sought or anything. It's like $100. But nobody wants the OMG EVERYTHING IS TINY screen
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Jan 28, 2015 14:11
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The standard work laptop they bought everyone last year was the Dell E6420 Processor: Intel Core 2nd Gen i5-2430M Processor (2.40GHz, 3MB Cache) 250 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM) 4 GB DDR3 1333MHz (2X2G) 14.0 Inch HD(1366x768) Anti-Glare LED-backlit They were $699 or so. So loving painful to use. So drat terrible. Now I'm buying 1600x900, and then getting 8GB RAMD and 240GB SSD from NewEgg so it's another $300 but oh my god it's like night and day.
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Jan 28, 2015 14:16
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Bob Morales posted:The standard work laptop they bought everyone last year was the Dell E6420 I got a laptop from work a few months ago with a 5400 rpm hard drive. After coming from an SSD it was agony to use. I genuinely thought the drive was malfunctioning.
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Jan 28, 2015 14:18
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Also throw in a docking station and a Microsoft Office license and then I get poo poo for "Why are we buying $1500 laptops from Lenovo? They were half the price from Dell!"
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Jan 28, 2015 14:25
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Bob Morales posted:It's like $100. But nobody wants the OMG EVERYTHING IS TINY screen Not for us. The company had a bad experience with Dell in the past, so now they use a 3rd party supply company. Because it means they have the option of buying from anybody they want (except Dell)! Of course this supplier can't offer us the great deals you get from Dell and the others, but hey, variety! So we can't order individual upgrades, and at least for Thinkpads the 1080p screens only come with a significant premium because they're included with other upgrades. Surprise T Rex posted:To follow up on my post earlier asking for recommendations: would anyone recommend the Dell Inspiron 15 7537? I could get one with 8gb RAM, Nvidia GT 750m, 1TB Hard Drive and 1920x1080 touch screen for about £500. The 7000 series are meant to be their Macbook competitors, so they should be pretty solid but I haven't used one personally.
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Jan 28, 2015 15:21
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People still seriously use docking stations? I would have thought HDMI/DisplayPort and USB/Wifi printing would have basically precluded the necessity of having them. I guess if you want automated drive backups, but even that is easily achieved via eSATA/USB 3. I'm seriously considering doing the screen swap on my Y50 and voiding the warranty... my buddy has an older model Lenovo and did it himself this past weekend after I had mentioned it and shown him that video, and he just showed me the results last night and holy poo poo those IPS panels are gorgeous. Someone share their horror story that was saved by a warranty to talk me out of it.
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Jan 28, 2015 15:27
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Fuzz posted:People still seriously use docking stations? I would have thought HDMI/DisplayPort and USB/Wifi printing would have basically precluded the necessity of having them. I guess if you want automated drive backups, but even that is easily achieved via eSATA That's a lot of plugging and unplugging of peripherals. Sounds like the perfect use case for a docking station.
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Jan 28, 2015 15:31
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beefnoodle posted:That's a lot of plugging and unplugging of peripherals. Sounds like the perfect use case for a docking station. Dual monitors, external mouse and keyboard, power, ethernet... I try telling people "If you're going to get the dock and use it in the dock 90% of the times why don't you get the X240 instead of the T540", but nobody listens everyone is stupid.
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Jan 28, 2015 15:36
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Plus they're not all actual stations you need to click into anymore. Which makes them not docks, but some companies still call them that. Some of Lenovo's are external boxes with a cable you connect. Some are USB3. Dell even has a wireless one that uses WiGo.
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Jan 28, 2015 15:41
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Ive been reading this thread to get ideas and just learn about different stuff out there. One thing I think I am grasping is that, warranty aside, its smart to not worry about screen resolution and just grab your own higher quality screen and replace it? Like, its a lot cheaper that way?
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Jan 28, 2015 15:56
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Fuzz posted:People still seriously use docking stations? I would have thought HDMI/DisplayPort and USB/Wifi printing would have basically precluded the necessity of having them. I guess if you want automated drive backups, but even that is easily achieved via eSATA/USB 3. My last lenovo laptop had a bad GPU that would lock up the computer and throw weird swirls of color in the screen. Warranty tech remoted in and went WOAH yeah that's a bad card and lenovo replaced it for free. Took about 15 minutes to go from warranty help chat to approved. Arglebargle III fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Jan 28, 2015 |
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Jan 28, 2015 16:11
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Chin Strap posted:How are the refurbished Thinkpads in Lenovo's outlet store? If I don't give a crap about it being shiny new, is it a good deal, or too much of a crapshoot? Not much of a crapshoot at all. Especially not for refurbs; maybe 9 out of 10 it is good. I've read about someone getting unlucky with a motherboard dying three times on three replacements, but that is definitely not the norm. Scratch and Dent might be more of a risk, but I've heard success stories for the most part.
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Jan 28, 2015 18:50
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Fetus Tree posted:One thing I think I am grasping is that, warranty aside, its smart to not worry about screen resolution and just grab your own higher quality screen and replace it? Otherwise it's not worth the trouble. Modding cheap laptops is particularly painful as they tend to use lots of plastic clips and glue that will never quite go back together like new.
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Jan 28, 2015 19:58
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Arglebargle III posted:My last lenovo laptop had a bad GPU that would lock up the computer and throw weird swirls of color in the screen. Warranty tech remoted in and went WOAH yeah that's a bad card and lenovo replaced it for free. Took about 15 minutes to go from warranty help chat to approved. Well that sold me. Thanks!
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Jan 28, 2015 20:00
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Fuzz posted:People still seriously use docking stations? I would have thought HDMI/DisplayPort and USB/Wifi printing would have basically precluded the necessity of having them. I guess if you want automated drive backups, but even that is easily achieved via eSATA/USB 3. I bought a Y410p that was replaced twice and had a shitload of problems with it, to the point where I'd be sending it in every 6-7 weeks or so. The computer would work fine for a bit, then shut off, turn on, and then shut off again 4 seconds later. It'd shut off and then turn on, shut off and turn on, over and over again. Eventually they just said "gently caress it" and gave me a Y50 because they couldn't figure out the problem. I'm reasonably happy with how it all turned out, since there Y50 was an upgrade in GPU, weight, resolution, and they did it for free.
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Jan 28, 2015 20:55
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Cat Army 
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After 7 years, I'm looking for a replacement for my Nexoc (insert model name) with a 2,1 Ghz Core 2 Duo T8100 and 4 GB of RAM. I'm currently in the US as an exchange student for at least 15 more months and looking for an all-round deal that doesn't need to excel at anything, but gives me some flexibility. The last time I paid around 800 Euros I believe, this time around I'm thinking about something sub-or-equal-to 700 Dollars, how does this deal for a Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E545 look? I gathered I definitely want an SSD with at least 128Gb and 8 Gb RAM, I myself would like an HDMI output, a no-poo poo numpad, a decent screen to look at for 5 hours of studying/working per day (I'm also currently sitting with a 15.6" screen) and the capability of running non-cutting-edge games at meh-solutions would also be cool. (Let's say Eve Online and World of Tanks for two differing examples) I have a 2 Terabyte USB 3.0 external drive, so should I drop to the 128Gb SSD version for 100 Dollar less? This would be my first SSD and I don't know for certain if I should apply the universal (better go a little bigger) principle. Would there be anything else in the sub-700 price segment you guys would recommend that would be comparable to what I'm looking for?
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Jan 29, 2015 06:26
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