Tommy Vercetti
The Don
Are you serious? If so what are the other specs? What kind of hard drive, graphics card, RAM and OS would it have and how much are you asking?
Input on choosing a laptop
- Thread starter Tommy Vercetti
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Are you serious? If so what are the other specs? What kind of hard drive, graphics card, RAM and OS would it have and how much are you asking?
Zack
99% hot gas
Are you serious?
Tommy Vercetti
The Don
I am not an idiot, I just don't see why so many people are all hyped over Solid State Drives. Too little space for too much money. Start up time is not THAT important to me to warrant buying one.
Start up time is pretty much the least important advantage of solid state drives.
Zack
99% hot gas
How much storage space do you need? What are you doing on this laptop?
Have you ever used an SSD? If not, how can you claim to be qualified to deem it as a silly fad?
aimeeandbeatles
watermelon
- Joined
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SSDs are less inclined to mechanical failure as they have not moving parts. In a laptop, which is meant to be moved around, this can be important. I think some higher-end Apple notebooks have a thing that turns the hard drive off if it begins to fall.
Zack
99% hot gas
They also generate less heat.
And I think the biggest boon is how quickly your programs open (instantaneous), unless you copy gigabytes of data between storage devices routinely.
And I think the biggest boon is how quickly your programs open (instantaneous), unless you copy gigabytes of data between storage devices routinely.
Tommy Vercetti
The Don
500GB for an hard drive sounds great. I will take capacity over anything else with an hard drive.
Zack
99% hot gas
You can get an external hard drive with 3x that storage space for $100.
Besides, it's not like computers are shipping with 64gb SSDs. This isn't 2008.
FWIW, the only people who dog on SSDs are people who have never had one. I've never seen anyone with an SSD lament about their purchase.
Besides, it's not like computers are shipping with 64gb SSDs. This isn't 2008.
FWIW, the only people who dog on SSDs are people who have never had one. I've never seen anyone with an SSD lament about their purchase.
Tommy Vercetti
The Don
I don't hate Solid State Drives, one with decent capacity is just out of my budget. I despise Windows 8 and its stupid Metro UI.
Yet you've failed to provide a single downside to Windows 8, or you're confusing it with Windows RT.
aimeeandbeatles
watermelon
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Well my personal problem with SSDs is that they're far out of my price range.
Zack
99% hot gas
What do you need 500GB of data for that needs to be on a laptop at all times? Can't you just put your porn collection, movies, pictures, etc. on the desktop you're building?
sophie
Break My Heart
...or an external hard drive?
Excuse my butting in on the OP's query, but I'm looking for something along the same lines, with a few different criteria. I'm looking for a laptop that will function as my desktop while I'm on exchange overseas, but will also accompany me as I travel in the months beforehand (and during). So it needs to be portable, yet powerful enough that I won't go insane using it for everyday use. And although it's not like I'm looking for a gaming machine, given it'll be my desktop, I'm going to be wanting to play some games on it (probably Civ5 and XCOM mostly). I'm willing to spend up to about $1500 (though anything that costs that much here I could import cheaper from the US, I guess), though only so long as I'm getting value for money; I can't afford to just splurge.
At the moment, Lenovo's got a student discount whereby I can get the Edge E530 with an i7-3632QM Processor (6M Cache, 2.20 GHz), a 15.6" HD+ (1600x900) display, 8GB memory and 750GB HDD for $880. Supposedly normally 'valued' (whatever that means) at $1820.
A couple of concerns I have are that it would be a bit too bulky, and that it doesn't have dedicated graphics, which might make gaming difficult.
On the other hand, I could get an E430, the only differences being a 14" (1366x768) display and NVIDIAGeForce GT 635M Graphics with 2GB VRAM, and although this is 'valued' only $70 more, it'll cost me $1140. I'm not sure if getting the graphics (are they even good?) and improved portability, in exchange for a worse display and $260 is worth it?
I could drop the price of the E430 down by $170 if I get an i5-3320M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.30 GHz); is the i7 worth the extra money, considering what I need the laptop for?
Battery life is also important, given when travelling you can't always guarantee a regular power supply; which of the above would be better on that front (batteries presumably being equal; specs don't tell me what they are)?
Just to note, on the topic of HDD v SSD - space is important to me, because portability obviously precludes carrying around external hard drives (and these laptops don't have SSDs as an option, for some reason).
One of my friends suggested I go for Windows 7 (64) instead of Windows 8, on the basis that while there's nothing in particular I'd need that 8 would give me that 7 doesn't, if one of my considerations is being able to play games on Steam, 7 would be better. But you guys seem to be suggesting that 8 would be pretty much objectively better for any purpose?
At the moment, Lenovo's got a student discount whereby I can get the Edge E530 with an i7-3632QM Processor (6M Cache, 2.20 GHz), a 15.6" HD+ (1600x900) display, 8GB memory and 750GB HDD for $880. Supposedly normally 'valued' (whatever that means) at $1820.
A couple of concerns I have are that it would be a bit too bulky, and that it doesn't have dedicated graphics, which might make gaming difficult.
On the other hand, I could get an E430, the only differences being a 14" (1366x768) display and NVIDIAGeForce GT 635M Graphics with 2GB VRAM, and although this is 'valued' only $70 more, it'll cost me $1140. I'm not sure if getting the graphics (are they even good?) and improved portability, in exchange for a worse display and $260 is worth it?
I could drop the price of the E430 down by $170 if I get an i5-3320M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.30 GHz); is the i7 worth the extra money, considering what I need the laptop for?
Battery life is also important, given when travelling you can't always guarantee a regular power supply; which of the above would be better on that front (batteries presumably being equal; specs don't tell me what they are)?
Just to note, on the topic of HDD v SSD - space is important to me, because portability obviously precludes carrying around external hard drives (and these laptops don't have SSDs as an option, for some reason).
One of my friends suggested I go for Windows 7 (64) instead of Windows 8, on the basis that while there's nothing in particular I'd need that 8 would give me that 7 doesn't, if one of my considerations is being able to play games on Steam, 7 would be better. But you guys seem to be suggesting that 8 would be pretty much objectively better for any purpose?
Zack
99% hot gas
I don't know about Aussie pricing/availability, but check out the Lenovo Y580.
EDIT: Same applies to xoticpc
EDIT: Same applies to xoticpc
tokala
Emperor
For travelling, a 15.6" model is much more inconvenient than a 14" model.
For your purposes, a i7 is overkill, even a i3 would do, but usually you don't get those in combination with a hi-res display and a dedicated video card.
For battery life you have to check the reviews.
Generally baseline consumption is so low these days that enabling/disabling wi-fi, screen brightness and the details of the power settings can have a big influence on battery time.
You might want to consider a backup battery, for some model you can replace the optical drive with a second battery.
If you can get it, go for a SSD. It's incredible how snappy everything gets, especially in comparison to a mediocre 2.5" HDD that's usually in a laptop.
For bulk data, a 2.5" USB 3.0 drive is just as good as an internal drive, with 1TB to be had for about $100. Drive and cable will weigh about 250g, and take about as much space as two packs of cigarettes. You will always find a place where you can store it.
Or, as with the batteries, you could put a HDD into the optical drive slot for some models.
If you want to get work done with it, 1600x900 is probably the minimum you should go for.
For gaming, the integrated intel graphics will be borderline, at best.
Considering your other requirements, you should probably go for a entry-level dedicated card that can be switched off if you aren't gaming.
In my experience, it's never a good idea to immediately switch to a brand new windows after MS implemented some major changes.
If you can still get Win7, go for it.
After looking over the Lenovo site, the S430 appear to be (mostly) fitting the bill, for below $1000 even without student discount.
Major problem there would be the non-switchable battery, with light use probably good for about 4h battery time.
And it appears Lenovo has discontinued the ultrabay battery option, though you can still get a HDD for the DVD drive slot.
Review:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Lenovo-ThinkPad-Edge-S430-Notebook.80017.0.html
Than there's a samsung that looks even better:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Update-Samsung-Series-7-700Z3C-S01-Notebook.78315.0.html
Everything else with 14", dedicated video card and 1600x900 will likely be out of your budget
