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Require More Fire posted:So, in continuting my research into Chromebooks, it seems that the sweet spot for RAM is 4GB, but what about the processor? Are there certain ones to avoid, etc.? Now, the deal with Intel Chromebooks is that until now they came mostly in two varieties: Core models (e.g., Celeron Haswells) with 2 GB of RAM and lovely 1366x768 TN panel screens, or Atom models with more RAM and better screens and such. Basically manufacturers were aiming for the $200-300 price-point and trading up CPU performance for other hardware options. Among these models, most folks go for the "good screen" option and recommend the Toshiba Chromebook 2 with an Atom, 4 GB of RAM, and a 1920x1080 IPS display (although there's multiple "Toshiba Chromebook 2" models so look for the one specifically with that display). However, we're just now starting to see manufacturers move into the mid-range laptop segment with Chromebooks where you'll find Core i3/i5 processors and good screens. The Dell Chromebook 13 is supposed to be released this week, with decent models in the $500-600 range. And yes, there's also ARM Chromebooks, but you pretty much want to avoid them at this point. Performance is, at best, on par with the Intel Atom models but, since the release of the Toshiba Chromebook 2, they don't offer any compelling benefits and fundamental differences between the two hardware platforms have put the ARM models behind in terms of development priority. For example, the latest Chrome OS stable, 45, was released for all Intel devices last week while ARM models are presently "stuck" on Chrome OS 44.
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Sep 16, 2015 20:03
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ExcessBLarg! posted:The Dell Chromebook 13 is supposed to be released this week, with decent models in the $500-600 range. Thanks for the info. I'm pretty set on the forthcoming Dell Chromebook 13, I think my dilemma is simply deciding if the Celeron or the i3 is the way to go. I'm sure the Celeron is fine for most stuff but there are going to be times that I need to use Chrome Remote Desktop and I don't know if the Celeron will become a liability there.
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Sep 16, 2015 20:18
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Mu Zeta posted:I think the Lenovo/Barnes and Noble page is hosed. I haven't been able to add any laptops to the cart for the past 3 days. I configure a Thinkpad and try to add it and nothing. The trick seems to be using Firefox (and hurrying up before your session times out abnormally fast)
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Sep 16, 2015 21:57
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I have carte blanche to get whatever laptop my heart desires (probably start to get questions if it gets over $5k). I want something light and portable first, and as powerful as possible second, with at least 16GB RAM, preferably 32GB. Battery life is an important third place finisher as well. I'm not an Apple fan and I don't particularly want to deal with the poo poo I see mac users having to cope with in my corporate environment (incompatibilities all over the place).
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Sep 17, 2015 04:22
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Bob Morales posted:Specifically, 'microSATA' Oh wild. So we have 3.5" SATA, 2.5" 7mm SATA, 2.5" 9mm SATA, mSATA, 1.8" microSATA, M.2 and MiniPCI-e? I was wondering why the clearance price SATA cable didn't fit any of my hard drives, it has that extra slot on the connector for microSATA. Crazy.
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Sep 17, 2015 04:28
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baquerd posted:I have carte blanche to get whatever laptop my heart desires (probably start to get questions if it gets over $5k). I want something light and portable first, and as powerful as possible second, with at least 16GB RAM, preferably 32GB. Battery life is an important third place finisher as well. I'm not an Apple fan and I don't particularly want to deal with the poo poo I see mac users having to cope with in my corporate environment (incompatibilities all over the place). You're gonna have to bleed more info than that for a meaningful response.
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Sep 17, 2015 05:31
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baquerd posted:I have carte blanche to get whatever laptop my heart desires (probably start to get questions if it gets over $5k). I want something light and portable first, and as powerful as possible second, with at least 16GB RAM, preferably 32GB. Battery life is an important third place finisher as well. I'm not an Apple fan and I don't particularly want to deal with the poo poo I see mac users having to cope with in my corporate environment (incompatibilities all over the place). Plausible quad-core laptop options from heaviest to lightest (i.e. those that aren't gaming laptop pieces of poo poo): - Thinkpad W541. 15.6". 4x8 GB of RAM. Your standard 4-ram-slots having 32GB option. I think it's the lightest 4-RAM-slot-having "business workstation" choice. - Dell Precision M3800. 15.6". 2x8 GB of RAM? Or just 16 GB on-board? Maybe your best option. - Thinkpad T440p. 14". 2x8 GB of RAM. Its trackpad sucks, the T450p would be way better if it existed. But it won't. (You could replace its clickpad with a T450s trackpad assembly though... This is what I would choose, I think. But I've got time to dick around with trackpads.) - Razer Blade. 14". 16 GB of RAM. One monitor output, no docking besides USB 3.0... is this a serious option? Maybe. A good keyboard, they say. All the professional support from Razer that you'd expect. - Portege R30. 13.3". 2x8 GB of RAM. Tell us how much its keyboard sucks. You've been warned? sarehu fucked around with this message at 11:29 on Sep 17, 2015 |
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Sep 17, 2015 11:24
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sarehu posted:Plausible quad-core laptop options from heaviest to lightest (i.e. those that aren't gaming laptop pieces of poo poo): Thanks for the recommendations, I'm digging the M3800 since we usually buy from Dell anyway. This is a developer workstation for me but I travel a lot so a traditional workstation sucks to lug around.
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Sep 17, 2015 14:40
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baquerd posted:Thanks for the recommendations, I'm digging the M3800 since we usually buy from Dell anyway. This is a developer workstation for me but I travel a lot so a traditional workstation sucks to lug around. These sound badass if money is no object, but not out quite yet http://news.lenovo.com/news+releases/lenovo-thinkpad-p50-p70.htm Skylake Xeon CPUs: didn't know such a thing existed. Up to 64GB of RAM too
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Sep 17, 2015 16:46
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baquerd posted:I have carte blanche to get whatever laptop my heart desires (probably start to get questions if it gets over $5k). I want something light and portable first, and as powerful as possible second, with at least 16GB RAM, preferably 32GB. Battery life is an important third place finisher as well. I'm not an Apple fan and I don't particularly want to deal with the poo poo I see mac users having to cope with in my corporate environment (incompatibilities all over the place). Skylake laptops will have support for 64GB RAM so that's a thing now. 32GB single SO-DIMMs should be avalible soon if not already. If Dell is your thing, they have a new XPS 15 coming out soon which is going to be really light and has two SO-DIMM slots, maybe more. It's the well-loved XPS 13's big brother. You can get some pretty great laptops with dual core i7, but the number of laptops with true quad core is going to limit you to just a handful of laptops, most of which aren't described in the same sentence as "something light and portable"
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Sep 17, 2015 16:47
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edit: coupon is trash Calidus fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Sep 17, 2015 |
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Sep 17, 2015 18:55
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Calidus posted:Lenovo for small business just sent out an email: 'Use eCoupon FLASHSALE to save 50% off list price on the ThinkPad T440p. Quantities are limited. Flash sale ends Sept. 18th at Midnight.'  
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Sep 17, 2015 19:07
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sorry looks like it is completely trash I got to work with a stock t440p but it was only $100 cheaper than their normal web pricing.
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Sep 17, 2015 19:13
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quote:- Thinkpad W541. 15.6". 4x8 GB of RAM. Your standard 4-ram-slots having 32GB option. I think it's the lightest 4-RAM-slot-having "business workstation" choice. I have one of these and I really love it. The only thing that sucks is that the dock is pretty expensive (200$) and if you need a replacement power brick it's not the typical 90W, it's a 170W, so the price for that is 80-90 dollars. I haul mine around daily and the weight doesn't bother me. The build quality is also really solid and with the dock it gives you some good dual monitor options that aren't USB Video crap.
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Sep 17, 2015 21:13
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My mom got herself a new Thinkpad. She has an SSD in her old one I would like to repurpose. Both computers are running Windows 8. Whats my best course of action? Can I just swap the drive and activate if needed? E: I found a ssd lying around and used a 8.1 recovery drive. kri kri fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Sep 18, 2015 |
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Sep 18, 2015 01:36
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Are built in batteries a problem? They seem to be more common than I expected.
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Sep 18, 2015 03:12
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slidebite posted:Are built in batteries a problem? They seem to be more common than I expected. Define "a problem." They are quite common, but whether or not they're really a downside depends on your use. If you're not the type to shell out for an extra battery so you can chug along for 15 hours at a go, or aren't the type who wants to try to keep the laptop for 4+ years and wants to be able to swap the battery for a new one at year 2 to recover the battery life, then you'll probably never care. Having removable batteries adds to cost, size, and weight--there's a reason there's been a general move to fixed batteries in most consumer and highly portable laptops.
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Sep 18, 2015 04:15
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"Problem" as in non-replaceable. Dropping $2k on a gaming laptop to hopefully last for 4 years (albeit not cutting edge in 4 years) but having a battery that only holds a charge for 20 minutes in a few years as they age would suck. Or is that not really a problem with modern laptop batteries?
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Sep 18, 2015 04:33
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slidebite posted:"Problem" as in non-replaceable. Dropping $2k on a gaming laptop to hopefully last for 4 years (albeit not cutting edge in 4 years) but having a battery that only holds a charge for 20 minutes in a few years as they age would suck. If you're buying a "gaming laptop" you're probably only gonna have about 20 minutes of battery from day 1. (I kid, of course, but battery life is still terrible) "Non-removable" is also a matter of effort, not a physical impossibility. There are a lot of laptops with non-removable batteries that you can pop the bottom off and pull the battery out to replace, should you feel the need. They just don't support it (but your warranty probably ran out after 2-3 years, anyhow), and it's obviously not as convenient as just ejecting a battery block off the back and snapping a new one on. Modern batteries are certainly better about lifespan and wear and all that than ones from 5+ years ago, but you're still going to see performance degradation after a few hundred cycles. I think Apple's target is something like 80% charge remaining after 300-400 full charge/discharge cycles.
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Sep 18, 2015 05:01
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Thanks for the reply. Gaming would of course virtually always be plugged in, but would also probably have typical laptop duty which wouldn't need to be all the time. Running an old emachine AMD unit I inherited which I upgraded the CPU from a V160 to an N660 Phenom which just doesn't cut it for, well, anything other than browsing.
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Sep 18, 2015 05:26
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Hey everyone, got a few questions. What sort of CPU and how much ram should I be looking for in a laptop that can run photo editing with lightroom, Photoshop, and have several browser and Office windows open without being too slow? Could I get away with an i5? Graphics card doesn't really matter for me as long as it can support a bigger external monitor. No gaming as well.
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Sep 18, 2015 15:56
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Also, is it bad for the battery to pretty much use AC power all the time? Does the battery only really take a hit if you discharge it and recharge?
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Sep 18, 2015 15:56
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Kritzkrieg Kop posted:Hey everyone, got a few questions. CPU doesn't matter really at this point in the game. They're all stupidly powerful these days. 8gb RAM and having a SSD are going to have the biggest impact on performance.
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Sep 18, 2015 17:00
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slidebite posted:Also, is it bad for the battery to pretty much use AC power all the time? Does the battery only really take a hit if you discharge it and recharge? Modern laptops will take care of the battery however you use it. I would recommend you not just leave it plugged in 24/7 for 3 years in a row though.
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Sep 18, 2015 17:40
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Hadlock posted:CPU doesn't matter really at this point in the game. They're all stupidly powerful these days. 8gb RAM and having a SSD are going to have the biggest impact on performance. That's interesting, never would've thought that. Is 8gb SSD (with a big normal drive) sufficient for the Windows OS and all the programs? Seems a little small but that's all what Lenovo is offering.
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Sep 18, 2015 18:04
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No. Get a 256gig SSD. You can add it yourself cheaply/easily to most laptops.
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Sep 18, 2015 18:51
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So the Asus k501lx-EB71 that I posted about a few days ago has been out of stock at Newegg, and as of today, going to its page on their store redirects to the NB52 model (i5 instead of i7). Is this a sign they won't be re-stocking the EB71 any time soon? That'd be a big ol bummer. I'd rather have the i7 than the i5. They do have the eb71 available as an Open Box deal but I don't wanna gamble like that. EDIT: Actually, is there much of a difference between the i5 and the i7? I did some googlin' but the results were pretty split as to whether there's a very meaningful difference. Sixto Lezcano fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Sep 18, 2015 |
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Sep 18, 2015 19:05
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Kritzkrieg Kop posted:Hey everyone, got a few questions. The real distinction is dual-core vs. quad-core, low voltage vs. standard voltage, and guess what, quad-core CPUs are twice as fast and that can matter! But you could easily be fine with a low voltage dual-core CPU, some i5.
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Sep 18, 2015 20:41
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So at least on the Dell UK site, the configurations for the 2015 XPS 13 seem to be drying up fast. A couple of weeks ago there were four options, a couple of days ago only two remained not including the 512GB SSD option that I had my eye on, and now only one seems to be left. Anyone heard any news that they might be refreshing this already? I see the rumours about the 12" surface pro style range in Oct, but that doesn't seem like reason to drop the extremely well regarded new XPS 13 line. Very odd to refresh so soon though, esp considering I didn't see any major "if only it had this" type complaints about them.
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Sep 18, 2015 21:25
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At the risk of getting laughed at, what is the build quality like in the latest generation of Alienware laptops?
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Sep 18, 2015 22:09
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Ynglaur posted:At the risk of getting laughed at, what is the build quality like in the latest generation of Alienware laptops? The sager I linked in this post for $1500. Probably the best value for your money at that price point. The Iron Rose posted:There is not.
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Sep 18, 2015 23:16
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Cat Army 
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I'm on my third Sager and love them, but would prefer TPM and really like the external graphics adapter. Yes my use cases are not normal, so no a desktop isn't a great choice for me.
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Sep 19, 2015 12:00
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OK, so I was about to purchase a big MSI GTX980M based gaming laptop. http://www.ncix.com/detail/msi-gt72-dominator-pro-i7-2b-111245-1891.htm Specs: i7 5700HQ 24G 256G SSD 1TB 17.3in FHD IPS G-SYNC GTX980M 4G BD Win10 Notebook However, I just read that MSI is going to be releasing Skylake based laptops next month. Likely with the i7-6700HQ. Other than that, specs seem to be really similar except it looks like the new one might also have Thunderbolt. I suspect the price will also be a little bit higher (but completely guessing). Is there any real benefit/practical reason to wait for skylake over the broadwell?
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Sep 19, 2015 19:31
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So we ended up picking up an Inspiron 15 for my wife...and have already sent the thing back. While it had a very nice screen and specs (1080p IPS touch, i5 5200u, 12GB RAM, 1TB HD), it just felt like garbage and also literally fell apart when attempting to put in an SSD (instead of a fixed connector, the use a cable with a dinky ribbon going to the motherboard, the ribbon popped out and broke the locking tab while being VERY careful pulling the SATA end out of the HD.). Now I ordered the Asus UX305FA from the Microsoft store for $599. We considered the $750 UX305LA model that was just released this week with the i5, but didn't feel it was worth an extra $150 for the tasks she uses it for (I personally would have opted for it if it were my machine). I'll make sure to give you guys a review once we get a couple days with it, as I haven't seen any posted up here yet.
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Sep 19, 2015 20:51
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slidebite posted:OK, so I was about to purchase a big MSI GTX980M based gaming laptop. I don't know why you'd want a 17 inch laptop - there's 15 inch computers taht are far more portable. G-Sync is nice though. That's also fairly small in terms of storage, 256 gigs is going to run out fairly quickly. I'd look around a little more for something 15 inches with similar specs, and ideally a mechanical hard drive so you can put your own in without wasting money. Also judging by desktop performance skylake doesn't offer many compelling benefits.
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Sep 19, 2015 21:16
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I would not buy any Inspiron below a 7000 series, and even then you can probably get better for the money.
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Sep 19, 2015 21:25
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The Iron Rose posted:I don't know why you'd want a 17 inch laptop - there's 15 inch computers taht are far more portable. G-Sync is nice though. I do not want a 15" screen, I want a 17" screen. Portability means little to me as it'll be packed in a suitcase for nights I go out on business and be set up on a hotel room desk/table when I do use it. The MSI has something like 4 bays though, so I can throw another HDD/SSD in it easily enough.. although truth be told I've had a 250gb SSD on my existing system for 3 years now and still have 100GB+ free. I just install most of my games on my HDD that don't really need an SSD. Thanks for the feedback on Skylake though, I do appreciate it.  I'll probably just order that beast as it is.
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Sep 19, 2015 22:50
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slidebite posted:I do not want a 15" screen, I want a 17" screen. Portability means little to me as it'll be packed in a suitcase for nights I go out on business and be set up on a hotel room desk/table when I do use it. Oh if it has multiple bays you're fine, and if you really want a 17 inch laptop more power to you. So besides that you're good, order away. One last thing though. I'd consider getting windows 8.1 instead of 10, 10 is still crazy buggy and glitchy, and you can always upgrade for free next summer.
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Sep 19, 2015 23:28
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Yeah skip Win 10 until Q2 2016, Win10 is not ready for use on a laptop that will be on the road as your primary device. Win 8.1 is really reliable until then. You have until ~June 2016 to upgrade for free.
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Sep 19, 2015 23:40
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Really? I thought the consensus was it was fine now?
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Sep 20, 2015 00:05
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