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Spiritus Nox posted:I recently started my first job and I was thinking of using some of that money to replace my old, burnt-out rear end alienware laptop with something more practical in the next few months. Anyone have any recommendations for something reasonably portable I can use for light gaming(think Telltale Games-level 3D stuff, lots of 2D roguelikes/platformers/RPGs, maybe some less graphically intense strategy games) and as a general internet/media consumption platform? Preferably around $500, certainly under $1000 - I have a nice desktop and a work laptop, so I'm not looking for anything super powerful or for tons of storage, just something more versatile than my iPad that my employer can't rummage through at will. The Asus Zenbook Signature edition perhaps? Or, sticking with signature editions, the HP Spectre x360. Folds up like a tablet which is a bit of a gimmick, but is great for portability. The Iron Rose fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Jan 11, 2016 |
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Jan 11, 2016 00:01
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Cat Army 
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Just as another strike against the XPS 15. I had posted earlier in the thread about how you plug in headphones into the jack and lose all sound. I traded my first one in for second and updated to the newest BIOS. Well it lasted a week and just about 2 hours ago it started doing it again. No idea what the gently caress the issue is. Seems the XPS 15's are just too plauged with problems at the moment to be worth spending this much money.
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Jan 11, 2016 10:00
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I'm looking for a 14"(ish) laptop (for a bit now) that ticks the following boxes: Metal construction, Broadwell/Skylake i5+, 8GB RAM, 256GB+ SSD (or cheap and easy to replace with a new one), 1080P IPS or better, reasonable battery. With a couple caveats. I'm wary of the Core-M processor because while I won't game much (and mostly old or simple games anyway) I don't want it to get throttled to hell and back when it's pushed a little--otherwise I'd have already bought a Core M Zenbook that meets every other spec. I don't care too much about discrete graphics but I'm a little concerned about shared memory (just historically, not specifically). I'll spend around 800 bucks if the specs are right (e.g. it should probably have a skylake at that price) but was looking closer to 700. I don't think this is an unreasonable list on it's face but I haven't really found something that didn't have some other fatal flaw identified (e.g. a lenovo that's been circling the deal web with a 2-cell 35 WHr battery, or a crappy screen). I guess I forgot I saw this: http://www.techbargains.com/deal/386526/asus-zenbook-ux305la and it's right in the middle. Is gonna be my best match? I do have a mini-chubby for ASUS. There's also this: http://www.techbargains.com/deal/84848/lenovo-yoga-3-pro but with a Core M. (and a little pricier but with additional features as well). It will spend most life as a laptop so the 2-in-1 is mostly a nice-to-have for travel. Should I just wait until this year's stuff starts to show up and last year's to drop some more?
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Jan 11, 2016 13:01
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ChiliMac posted:I'm looking for a 14"(ish) laptop (for a bit now) that ticks the following boxes: Metal construction, Broadwell/Skylake i5+, 8GB RAM, 256GB+ SSD (or cheap and easy to replace with a new one), 1080P IPS or better, reasonable battery. With a couple caveats. I'm wary of the Core-M processor because while I won't game much (and mostly old or simple games anyway) I don't want it to get throttled to hell and back when it's pushed a little--otherwise I'd have already bought a Core M Zenbook that meets every other spec. I don't care too much about discrete graphics but I'm a little concerned about shared memory (just historically, not specifically). I'll spend around 800 bucks if the specs are right (e.g. it should probably have a skylake at that price) but was looking closer to 700. I don't think this is an unreasonable list on it's face but I haven't really found something that didn't have some other fatal flaw identified (e.g. a lenovo that's been circling the deal web with a 2-cell 35 WHr battery, or a crappy screen). 305LA is a nice machine.
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Jan 11, 2016 13:04
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lilspooky posted:Just as another strike against the XPS 15. I had posted earlier in the thread about how you plug in headphones into the jack and lose all sound. I traded my first one in for second and updated to the newest BIOS. Well it lasted a week and just about 2 hours ago it started doing it again. No idea what the gently caress the issue is. Seems the XPS 15's are just too plauged with problems at the moment to be worth spending this much money. I came so close to buying one, for once I am glad to be a terminal procastrinator. Was thinking of the Xps13, but now eying the new Razer.
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Jan 11, 2016 21:36
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B-Mac posted:305LA is a nice machine. Ended up deciding I make enough money to stop arguing with myself about this and found the UX303UA instead (mainly for skylake, glass screen). Gonna pop 4 additional GB of RAM just to top it off and call it a day.
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Jan 11, 2016 22:47
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Well, i decided that im gonna return that Lenovo i linked before. It ran WoW pretty well, as well as diablo 3. Kinda surprised me how well it ran in major cities and around Warlords areas. Worst dip was around 22 fps and then it leveled out after around 30 in highly populated/new areas and pulled 50-70 in most non-populated areas. My gripe is with the screen. Do most IPS screens suffer from blurring during fast movement/gaming? The blurring started to give me a serious headache very quickly. I think im gonna raise my budget from ~350 to 600-700 or so and try to get a really good screen and a minimum i5 5200u for that extra turbo speed, maybe a 940m or something. Do you guys think its a good idea to wait for the big super bowl sales coming up? I remember the last couple years had some phenomenal deals come up on pcs and laptops from places like ibuypower and cyberpower pc. I dont know how those "gaming" laptops stand compared to some of the nicer Lenovo, dell, or Asus ones that have been popping up.
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Jan 11, 2016 23:31
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Looks like there is a bug on Skylake CPUs that causes system lockups. A fix is in the works too which will likely require a BIOS update.
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Jan 11, 2016 23:49
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grimcreaper posted:My gripe is with the screen. Do most IPS screens suffer from blurring during fast movement/gaming? The blurring started to give me a serious headache very quickly. In my experience, no. My guess is that because it was a budget laptop, Lenovo specced out a screen that was cheap enough to cause motion artifacts.
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Jan 12, 2016 00:05
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bigmandan posted:Looks like there is a bug on Skylake CPUs that causes system lockups. A fix is in the works too which will likely require a BIOS update. Dell is shaking their collective fists at Intel so hard right now.
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Jan 12, 2016 00:22
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What's a nice cheap 12-13 inch Lenovo laptop that would just be used for browsing, Skype, teamviewer? Something good quality, but not too expensive. It's for my 4 feet 9 inch grandmother, so it'd be nice if it wasn't a monstrosity. Unfortunately does have to be available on the Lenovo website for retarded reasons I'm not going into. edit Cheap, as in around $400. I don't think the outlet counts, although I see some nice T450's for $600 there. Rurutia fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Jan 12, 2016 |
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Jan 12, 2016 01:17
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TopherCStone posted:In my experience, no. My guess is that because it was a budget laptop, Lenovo specced out a screen that was cheap enough to cause motion artifacts. Thanks for the reply on that. The motion blur caught me by suprise. I think it must be a lot more noticeable due to Wows use of fairly vivid colors compared to most of the other games that i tried. Even d3 didn't seem too noticeable until I was really looking for it.
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Jan 12, 2016 01:35
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grimcreaper posted:Thanks for the reply on that. Lenovo 2-in-1's have generally nice specs, but they have some of the worst LCD monitors.
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Jan 12, 2016 01:46
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Yoga 11 on the outlet store
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Jan 12, 2016 02:51
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So if I was looking for something similar to an XPS 15 but wasn't a pile of buggy poo poo are there any suggestions?
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Jan 12, 2016 04:06
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lilspooky posted:So if I was looking for something similar to an XPS 15 but wasn't a pile of buggy poo poo are there any suggestions? A Mac Book Pro.
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Jan 12, 2016 04:22
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Calidus posted:A Mac Book Pro. Pretty much. I would wait a couple months until they get the bugs worked out of the XPS 15 and then buy that, unless you can afford the 15" MBP I guess there is always the Thinkpad X1 and other halo devices. The Samsung Series 9? It's only 13.3".
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Jan 12, 2016 06:35
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Don't Buy A MacBook Yet. Wait for the refresh, all signs point to them coming earlier this year. Should be a big Skylake reboot after years of stagnation.
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Jan 12, 2016 07:47
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Calidus posted:A Mac Book Pro. Does't make any sense if you want a dGPU
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Jan 12, 2016 10:12
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The 15" has a discrete GPU option. You'll pay out the rear end for it. Intel Iris Pro Graphics AMD Radeon R9 M370X with 2GB of GDDR5 memory and automatic graphics switching But it might be worth waiting for Skylake to see what they upgrade to.
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Jan 12, 2016 17:04
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Should I buy a new Lenovo X1 Carbon 3rd gen (2015 model) for $715? I'm trying to decide if I should jump on this (probably temporary) price or wait for the new model they showed at CES.
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Jan 12, 2016 17:39
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I keep seeing articles about the new MBP, but they all just look like click bait. Of course there's a 2016 MBP coming out. I doubt that even if it is really coming out early, it will be released before end of March. Apple WWDC is held in June each year, which is where they announce all their poo poo.
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Jan 12, 2016 17:46
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Hadlock posted:I keep seeing articles about the new MBP, but they all just look like click bait. Of course there's a 2016 MBP coming out. I doubt that even if it is really coming out early, it will be released before end of March. Apple WWDC is held in June each year, which is where they announce all their poo poo. Aren't they also held up by very limited availability of the Skylake chips with the big GPUs, HD 540? The 6260u, 6560u and similar chips seem very late to the party. I can't find a single laptop actually shipping with them besides the $2k+ surface pro.
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Jan 12, 2016 17:50
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Skylake's still rolling out yeah and also has fun microcode bugs that can cause BSODs. Sucks to be Dell and their XPS 15 team right now.
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Jan 12, 2016 17:56
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The problem with the XPS 15 is that they're following every single CPU refresh AND changing the form factor at the same time, every single time. There's no continuity for the people drawing up motherboards, no way for the designers to iterate and improve on build quality for a single chassis (which is admittedly above average). And then there's things that have never made it in like some sort of magnetic clasping to keep the lid closed instead of just relying on the hinges, which is a no-brainer for something considered so premium.
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Jan 12, 2016 18:44
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Mu Zeta posted:The 15" has a discrete GPU option. You'll pay out the rear end for it. Yes you pay out the rear end for it, and it's a lot slower than a 960M
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Jan 12, 2016 18:48
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Seamonster posted:And then there's things that have never made it in like some sort of magnetic clasping to keep the lid closed instead of just relying on the hinges, which is a no-brainer for something considered so premium. I have a hard enough time opening the lid as it is, I'm not sure I would want added resistance of magnets. I must be an outlier, no real issues at all with my XPS 15 aside from some space bar stuff that I resolved myself. No crashes, no weird behavior, it has just worked for me.
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Jan 12, 2016 19:22
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Seamonster posted:The problem with the XPS 15 is that they're following every single CPU refresh AND changing the form factor at the same time, every single time. There's no continuity for the people drawing up motherboards, no way for the designers to iterate and improve on build quality for a single chassis (which is admittedly above average). And then there's things that have never made it in like some sort of magnetic clasping to keep the lid closed instead of just relying on the hinges, which is a no-brainer for something considered so premium. Every couple years Dell makes a 'MacBook Pro' killer XPS 15, it gets good reviews then it ends up being a pile. Remember this guy: 
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Jan 12, 2016 19:32
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I'm looking at this system. The MSI website indicates it has a Thunderbolt port, while the Newegg site doesn't list it. The review view of the computer seems to show a TB port, but I can't tell for sure. Can anyone confirm/deny?
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Jan 12, 2016 20:37
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I'm at 3.5 years on an X230, which I love, except that I'm sick of 1366x768. I had a work-issued T420 for a while and thought it was heavier than I'd like. A trackpoint is non-optional. So, I'm looking at either an X-series or Ts. (X1 Carbon might also be a possibility, but they're not cheap, and I like having something I can maintain.) Price isn't a hard obstacle, but I prefer to save than spend. So with Lenovo's CES announcements, should I: - Wait for the *60 models? - Wait for the *60 models, then buy a *50 model at some kind of discount? - Just buy now? - Any thoughts about X2?0 vs T4?0s? Or should I go with something completely different? - Anything I should know about components to include or exclude? Any particularly good deals?
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Jan 12, 2016 21:05
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My 5 year old college laptop is in need of replacement. Returning to college with only a year left (may do grad school afterwards, but no idea when). Can I get a recommendation on something cheap but decent quality to use in class / on train? Also, I need to use Windows.
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Jan 12, 2016 22:09
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Alhireth-Hotep posted:I'm at 3.5 years on an X230, which I love, except that I'm sick of 1366x768. I had a work-issued T420 for a while and thought it was heavier than I'd like. A trackpoint is non-optional. So, I'm looking at either an X-series or Ts. (X1 Carbon might also be a possibility, but they're not cheap, and I like having something I can maintain.) Price isn't a hard obstacle, but I prefer to save than spend. So with Lenovo's CES announcements, should I: Good screens: X240 with 1080p (tiny though), T450S IPS
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Jan 12, 2016 22:26
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Nitis posted:I'm looking at this system. Go for it, the GT72 is a fantastic, albeit bulky, powerful gaming laptop.
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Jan 13, 2016 01:27
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bull3964 posted:I have a hard enough time opening the lid as it is, I'm not sure I would want added resistance of magnets. How long have you had your 15? You've plugged speakers / headphones into the 3.5 jack?
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Jan 13, 2016 02:28
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lilspooky posted:How long have you had your 15? You've plugged speakers / headphones into the 3.5 jack? Since early November. I've used headphones on occasion, but it's not a frequent thing for me.
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Jan 13, 2016 02:48
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What use does a PC laptop user have with Lightning connectors?
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Jan 13, 2016 03:27
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Do you mean Thunderbolt? In that case it's pretty much just a Displayport.
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Jan 13, 2016 03:35
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Hadlock posted:What use does a PC laptop user have with Lightning connectors? Proper grounding in a thunderstorm.
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Jan 13, 2016 03:37
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Nitis posted:I'm looking at this system. There is definitely a Mini Displayport connector on the back. Unless they put a non-TB Mini Displayport on it, yes.
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Jan 13, 2016 04:03
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It has both mdp and thunderbolt. My Broadwell actually has 2 mdp, but they replaced 1 of them with Thunderbolt with the skylake refresh.
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Jan 13, 2016 04:10
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