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Laptop Recommendations?


Dupin

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EDIT: This thread has been resolved. Thank you.

 

I'll be purchasing a new laptop within the next month. I intend to use it for work and gaming and expect it to be reasonably future-proofed (nothing over-the-top here - I ain't made 'a money). I'd appreciate any suggestions, especially with links to a store page and a quick rundown of what they can (and can't) do. I've liked this one, but it's never in stock, and this (a bit pricey) is currently getting me all hot and bothered. Unfortunately, I don't keep track of what all the specs mean, so I'm not always sure exactly what I'm looking at.

 

All advice and recommendations are appreciated.

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If you're willing to purchase fairly quickly, I'd look at the thinkpad T430, which is currently on sale at lenovo. With some customization you will get either 1920x1080 or 1600x900 as well as a graphics card that can game (though it is optimized for other uses). The main disadvantage of it is that it has a chiclet keyboard, which is kind of crappy compared to the older ones. On the plus side, it will be extremely usable for work (and not just because of its ability to use a docking station) due to one's ability to use two 9 cell batteries, which will give it a 20 hour wifi browsing battery life, and around a 12 hour battery life when using the dedicated graphics card.

 

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=FC448E05D12BD000069CA73F6D0D1FA8

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Not sure what kind of gaming you plan on doing, but do not get 4GB of RAM. It's so cheap nowadays, that there really is no reason not to go with 8.

 

Also, that second setup seems awesome for the price. If you are looking to save some money, you could downgrade the GPU to 1GB and the CPU to an i5.

 

Edit: Hot damn, that Aspire V3 is $880 on Newegg. Holy [bleep] I'm sorely tempted to scoop up that bad boy.

Working on max and completionist capes.

2435/2475

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On a side note, I would never ever buy extra RAM for a laptop as long as the RAM is not soldered into the motherboard. It is probably the easiest upgrade possible on most all laptops to put in an extra 4 gig stick of RAM, and will in all likely hood be far cheaper than buying it pre upgraded.

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Yeah, I figure I'll just download some RAM if I need it as I've done it before and it was pretty simple.

 

Paul, is this the link you're talking about? It looks pretty good, the only thing is I'm seeing only one review. This might be the one I end up buying.

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@Grim, yes I did the same thing with my laptop. Was a lot cheaper to upgrade to 8GB after. Saved a good $75.

 

Yes, that is the link to which I'm referring. I've been reading some more reviews online, and it seems that most complaints are about the screen quality and the keyboard.. but both those points are moot if you are hooking up to an external monitor and using a mouse and keyboard. This is a review for a lesser end model, but I think it still holds true somewhat. I would still buy it, after reading through all 83 comments, which tell more than the review, IMO. I would definitely invest another ~$400 or so for an SSD, external monitor, and keyboard.

 

What do you mean by 'download RAM'?

Working on max and completionist capes.

2435/2475

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Here's the link. I'm just fooling around

 

I've been browsing around for a few options in the higher price range. I'm just gonna throw the links here.

 

 

 

Does anyone have any experience with Alienware? They seem like real nice computers in the higher price range, but rumor has it their customer service is crap.

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Well played! =D> I'm surprised I haven't seen that meme before.

 

Don't personally have experience with Alienware, but you're basically paying for the name. Not worth it.

 

First one finally has a good screen resolution (!), albeit with a smaller screen. Slighty better GPU and CPU. Seems a bit pricey.

Second seems reasonably priced, and can handle basically whatever game you want to throw at it and then some. Can also handle some pretty heavy video and photo editting as well as run CAD very smoothly--don't kno what kind of work you do, but I personally need a laptop than can handle AutoCAD, so I'm tossing that out there.

Don't bother with the 3rd.. pay the extra 200 and upgrade it to #2.

4th has almost identical specs with #3, but smaller screen.

Personally wouldn't go with the last due to the small screen size and lack of optical drive.

Working on max and completionist capes.

2435/2475

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Don't bother with Alienware. They're overpriced computers. I'm on a second computer science course in college, and there always are guys with Alienware laptops, and out of the 10 guys I've seen with them in the years of college, only 1 didn't have issues with his Alienware, mostly hardware problems.

 

The computers you listed in the OP are pretty good, very good price for the specs, although Acer makes lower quality builds, so the computer will last a long time, but may have issues after a couple of years.

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Thanks to everyone for all the help so far.

 

I actually picked the brands rather arbitrarily. Is there a different brand you would recommend?

 

My only real knowledge of brands is that I don't want anything to do with Apple - those Macbooks are overpriced junk for yuppie college kids.

 

I keep finding things like this and this which have prices in the 1300-1500 USD range but specs significantly lower than the similarly-priced ones above.

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Asus has fairly reasonable stuff. Brands are generally not a huge deal though.

 

I would also be a little weary of getting a 17", especially if you plan to move around a lot with it. Very cumbersome and fairly heavy.

 

Laptops are also one of the few things where an extended warranty isn't the worst idea in the world.

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I'm currently deciding between three:

 

The difference in cash is entirely out of my own pocket (and then some) so I may end up cutting back. What would be the difference in terms of what I can and cannot run?

 

If I had money, what I would really do is grab a Chromebook in addition. I was issued one at a school not too long ago and found it very convenient for simple classwork (and super easy to carry around).

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These 3 laptops are very good. Asus usually has the highest quality, except for their Republic of Gamers laptop line (which I have, I have a 5 year old Asus F7-Se wich never gave me any trouble, but my Asus Republic of Gamers G53SW-A1 (less than 1 year old), I had to RMA twice, as well as most of the people that have ROG laptops at college). Most of the stuff I have in my desktop, I bought Asus when I built it. Best quality around.

 

These 3 laptops, though, they're pretty expensive, but then again they are gaming laptops with stronger processors and video cards. As far as I can say, if you go with one of those, it will last you a very long time.

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Holy crap that's probably overkill.

 

What sort of games do you intend on playing and how well exactly?

 

Here's a good site for ranking GPUs and CPUs. Anything in the top 100 are complete monsters and the next 100 or so are still very capable. I run most Unreal3 games (ME3, Tera, etc) on pretty much max without much trouble on my 630M.

 

If you're considering a chrome book, your actual ideal plan would probably be to get that for portable use and then a full sized tower machine for gaming.

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My thoughts in buying the expensive laptops are that I won't have to buy one for some time, and will be able to run tomorrow's games well enough that I won't even think about a new comp for a long time.

 

I thought about the tower/Chromebook combo, but the tower doesn't have the portability I'll need if I'm moving around a lot. The Chromebook is more of a "what if" than an actual possibility - I'm already making a pretty poor decision financially by going over $1000.

 

[spoiler=RE: The most expensive laptop having #40 GPU and #18 CPU:]

 

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But that's the whole point of the combo: Chromebook is your on the go portable solution and your rig is your powerhouse gaming platform. Of course if you can't get both then don't get either.

 

The tricky thing about laptops is that the hardware is going to be more expensive for the same amount of performance that a tower would give (which should make sense). That's why when I get some more funds I'll be leaning to something close to the above option mentioned.

 

What do you mean by "long time"? I personally think 3-4 years is fairly good and I expect my current $700 laptop to last at least that long (in terms of being able to play newish games on decentish quality).

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Don't be fooled by the look of the Asus, I've had trouble with my Older model of asus ROG and it's what you're taking (newer and bigger model of course). Also, they are already obsolete when you buy them, but if you mean how long they will be able to play recent games, at least a few years.

 

My G53SW might be less than a year old, and even with the troubles I've had I expect it to last me at least 5 years before I buy another one, and it has similar specs to the Acer one.

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It's hardly obsolete as soon as it's released. Take a look here.

 

Will you be able to play games coming out in 18 months on max settings? No, probably not. Unless something revolutionary happens, you'll be able to play any game that comes out in the next 3 years with ease.

 

While it is true that you basically have to upgrade your computer a few times a year to stay on the cutting edge, those specs will not be commonplace for the next few years. We're only now seeing 1GB of RAM for video cards becoming stock on the lower end computers.

 

I really would look into an SSD if you are going to be spending that kind of money. The prices have come down quite a bit, and they make the world of difference.

Working on max and completionist capes.

2435/2475

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Lol, I stand corrected. It's actually the first time I get corrected on my grammar on the internet.

 

Having a Crucial M4 SSD myself, I can tell you it really does make a huge difference.

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I'd get a Sager. They're very nice laptops, and don't come with the bloatware that Dell, Acer, HP, etc. preinstall.

 

http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=category_browse&selected_cat=2

 

The $979 one has a 650M, which will preform a lot better than the Acer you posted, while the $1049 one has a 2Gb 660M which will run almost every game out today on high. They both come with free shipping to the US too.

 

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The most expensive one is $50 less than the expensive Asus I listed, and it lists the 680M (better than the Asus), double the RAM, and double the hard drive. There must be a catch, and I'm guessing it's in the word "capable," meaning you have to upgrade it, increasing the price. I haven't heard much about this brand, does anyone have experience with them?

 

After some investigation, I've found they are custom builds and the price does rise significantly. However, it looks like there are some good options in there (internal SSD) so I'll keep playing with it.

 

E: Yep, the prices/performance definitely doesn't match that of the Asus after customizing.

 

I really would look into an SSD if you are going to be spending that kind of money. The prices have come down quite a bit, and they make the world of difference.

As I understand it, the SSD is a faster hard drive, correct? And I assume it would be external if I were to add it to these purchases.

 

E: A little research shows the increase in reliability in price is coupled with an EXTREME decrease in storage size. Basically, a 500GB hard drive is cheaper than a 60GB SSD. My guess is I probably don't know what I'm looking at.

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