Laptops

[Aix]

Discuss laptops. Do you have one? Is it any good?

 

Or, direct me to a good laptop for my needs, cuz I want a new laptop. I need something that is convenient to carry around cuz my laptop is big, old and heavy. Want it to have decent battery life. Also would like to play some games, but I'm not a big gamer. Price maximum is $1000 at the very very most. So what's a good laptop that you would recommend?

[ENMaker]

I do not currently own one, however we have a family laptop that I have all but claimed. Need to actually get one for uni now though, and know nothing whatsoever about them.

[epicmemesbro]

I have a Toshiba laptop made in 2008. It runs vista. It still works since 09. It is a tad slow but it works recently. It can run halo and counterstrike so I'm good.

[Forest Fire]

the toshiba i have is pretty good. don't ask me what model it is though. it's pretty recent too. like i bought it.... December i wanna say. it has like a tera of memory.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

I've had this thing for 4 years now and it's dying slowly. It's not very good but it gets the job done for anything besides games or recording...Which are things I want to do. ^^;

 

It only cost me like $300-400 I believe.

 

Sorry Aixy that I can't direct you to a good laptop, but I dun know that much about laptops.

[Tormented]

ebuyer has some fantastic deals on laptops. Thank me later boyz

[Dementuo]

I currently have an HP that's been running smoothly for over three years now

tbh laptops are almost necessary for a lot of things

[Toffee.]

I have an Alienware-

 

*runs way*

[Brinolovania]

I've been using a Macbook for the past two years, and I quite like it.

 

Windows sucks btw

[Fusion X. Denver]

Been using a Macbook Pro for over 3 years now and I had a crappy Lenovo during high school. Every computer guy I know has always told me PC > Mac, but I like Mac's interface a lot more, both in hardware and software. So to each his own.

[Sethera]

I have a 2011 13" Macbook Pro with various bells and whistles. Cost a lot, but it was worth it. Probably the only downside is that it's not always compatible with games and such. Definitely recommend something like it if you're going for Apple products. For Windows products, I remember looking at a Hewlett-Packard. My mother has a Lenovo that works really well too. Of course, it all depends on what you want to use it for. When I was looking for laptops, I was looking for a good, relatively light laptop for college.

 

I recommend, if you don't have electronically-inclined friends or relatives to help you pick, then go ask a laptop specialist in one of the electronic stores to help you out. As for games, most laptops can play games to an extent, though of course gaming laptops are the best. Anyway, you have to keep various things in mind when you buy a laptop.

 

Platform: Mac, Windows, or Chrome. Aside from what I already said, Macs tend to be better for art or photography, while PCs work excellently with gaming. Chrome is cheaper and simple but useful for web browsing. Still, if you're going gaming, I recommend PCs.

 

Size: Size is key. Always make sure to check the size. Bigger laptops are easier on the eyes, but have the downside of being heavier. Personally, I think 13" is a happy median, though 11" or 15" aren't bad either. It's good to compare weights too when determining which laptop to buy. If you're going to be carting it around a lot I'd recommend 4 lbs or under for the weight.

 

Specs: Specs include CPU and RAM, stuff like that.

-Basically CPU or the processor determines how well it'll run. It's very, VERY important if you're going to be gaming on it. In fact, I'd say it could be the most important part. If you were just going to be doing regular stuff then I'd recommend at least Core i3, but as you're gaming, I wouldn't settle for less than Core i7, which is what I have.

-RAM or memory is also important. I'd recommend at least 6 or 8 GB of memory. 16 GB is generally what gamers should look for though, but as you're not a big gamer, it's not entirely necessary.

-With hard drives, bigger is better. 7200-rpm is better than 5400-rpm for example. 720 GB is better than 320 GB. I'd say at least 320 GB, but try and get more if you can. Still, it's not as important as CPU, since you can always buy external hard drives.

-I recommend a SSD (solid state drive) over the older HDD (hard disk drive). They're all around better and make everything faster.

-A good display or resolution is probably something you would want if you play games. Mainstream is 1366 x 768 px, but try and get a 1600 x 900 or 1920 x 1080 px laptop if you can. It'll be more expensive though, but you'll definitely appreciate it. Still, it's not entirely necessary. Not like CPU is.

 

Other: Whether you want a traditional laptop like I have or one with a newfangled bendy screen, these are things you'll have to decide. Also battery life is fairly important. If you're planning on carrying it around a lot try and get one with at least 6 hours of battery life, at least 4 hours if you're going to be fairly stationary. If you have the money, invest in an extended battery. It'll be really helpful during those annoying blackouts.

 

Uhh this ended up being super long, oops. ._.

But as a person who's had to look for the perfect laptop I know that I would have appreciated understanding stuff like this from the start. Also try not to rush when choosing because you might think you found the right laptop but then you end up seeing one that you like better. So yeah, taking your time is good. You don't have to spend an entire year looking like I did but choosing the first one you see is not really that great of an idea.

[VCR_CAT]

I had an old Dell XPS 15 for like... 4 and a half years. It had a 1 GB graphics card and it ran a lot of games decently well. It was also like the Millennium Falcon of laptops; a lot of stuff had these weird quirks that I had to figure out in order to get stuff to run. For instance, Red Alert 2 would have a 0 FPS framerate, and would only refresh if I minimized and then maximized the game. Sound and everything worked; but the actual visuals would not refresh unless I did it manually. The solution? Create 3 additional virtual monitors stretched out so my computer thinks that I have 3 extra screens hooked up even though I didn't. And then I don't even KNOW how I got Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds to work.

 

Anyways, last year I bought a Surface Pro 3 (second best model) and that instantly phased out my old XPS for school work and anything portable. Then at the beginning of this summer, I ordered parts and built my own desktop rig that I fondly dub "The Denzel". It was a lot of hard work and a loooooot of stress, but it works great now AND it can run Crysis!

If you're going for just gaming, I'd recommend a desktop. From my experience of trying both laptop gaming and desktop gaming; a desktop will be cheaper in the longer run, especially if you build it yourself. But please, take it from me who does not consider himself a total nerd: Building a PC is hard, it takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, and at any point something may not work properly and you won't know wtf went wrong. This happened to me when the RAM did not seat properly twice. Got it going, though. Laptops are really good for lan parties, though. So just be aware of what you want your PC to do, and what kind of build (laptop or desktop) would be best for you. Will you be needing it to go to a lot of places often, or will it stay in one place almost all the time?

 

But, if you're not going for gaming, I would honestly strongly recommend a Surface Pro 3 for school work. They've got strong battery life, light and portable, they run well and do their jobs well, and generally better quality products than most PC laptops. Mine's strong enough to run most games, but it costed $1400 which is more than most cheapo laptops. Granted, it's going to last longer than most cheap models and probably runs way better than them too.

 

 

Finally, if you do end up getting a laptop, I recommend this tidbit of wisdom: ONLY plug it in if the battery is low, or if you're going to be doing something that's intensive on the system's power and would drain it fast. Having a battery, especially a Lithium Ion battery, plugged in and charging when its charge is full shortens its lifespan and overall use in the long run. Or rather, makes that long run a lot shorter. So if you have it plugged in a lot when the battery is full, you should expect the battery to basically only hold a charge for like 30 minutes despite not doing anything terribly intensive. As well, letting a charge run out completely is just as harmful on the battery's life. If you want the battery to really last, only charge it when you need to, and turn it completely off when you're not using it.

[Maeriberii Haan]

Still sticking with my 8-years old Compaq laptop, running Windows 7. The keyboard tiles and the trackpad have been mostly wrecked, and in general it looked quite a mess with how it overheats in 15 minutes tops without a fan and how the battery can only survive unplugged for around 15 minutes. Too attached to it to change into something else, and since my original PC of affection exploded two years ago and the replacement laptop that I got didn't survive for long, I guess that's a sign that I shouldn't cheat on my beloved laptop.

[Makο]

I've been using laptops basically my whole bloody life, and always a Mac, thanks to family circumstances lowering the price of Apple Products within reasonable range. I've had at least 5 different Macbooks, of varying shapes and ages, handed down to me from someone else, where my old one gets handed down to my sister. Thus the line of hand-me-downs sustains itself.

 

It does the job. I don't often play any games on it, so it's fine. I've used OS9/X literally my whole life, so I'm very much used to it and would rather not switch to another OS.

 

Though, I do plan on getting a PC tower, but that's neither here nor there.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

I technically have a black Acer Linux netbook that I've used since 2013.

(Yes, I use Linux. Anyone have issues with it?)

 

Looks like this:

 

 

Most of the time, I use it for taking notes in class and doing stuff on the go when needed.

(That's how I'm on YCM during university hours)

 

I have a Windows XP laptop/netbook, but it's rather slow.

 

No Macbooks, because of price tag.

 

----

Although I do have several PCs at home, for stability.

(For some reason, netbook refuses to run Eclipse/Java projects properly)

[Forest Fire]

I don't recommend getting a chromebook or a mac... just ... ew. i hate my school for making us use chromebooks. for starters: there's no backspace; the delete key serves that function. also i have absolutely no clue what the function of the ctrl key is, since they seem to have given all it's functions to a special snowflake key. and then there's the fact that they're light as funk. it's like carrying a piece of cardboard. ew, ew, ew, ew.  never tried linux tho, so that could be good, idk.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

To be fair, I use Ubuntu (a side version of Linux), but you don't have to pay for license unlike with Windows.

 

You don't have access to Photoshop and some other programs that are normally available on Windows/Mac, although there are less viruses to deal with.

(I learned the hard way after my last Windows XP crashed beyond repair several years ago.)

 

However, you still have OpenOffice + GIMP, along with any necessary things (Firefox browser).

That, and you can install whatever programs you'd like (i.e. more games, DS emulator, etc); just have to download them online.

 

Somehow, Linux has a program that lets you open Showdown from desktop; don't use it much, but it's there. Although, you can't play certain downloadable games with clients, so if you're into those types of things, probably better that you stick to the mainstream stuff. However, YGOPro works.

 

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Netbook isn't too big though (about 12-inch screen), so it should fit into a standard backpack.

TBH, only use mine for internet and probably other coursework that I need to do.

[Susie]

ive had quite a few laptops but most of them have broken due to my carelessness, always end up having to get a new one which is annoying but worth it since i do love being able to lay down in bed with it as opposed to having to sit down at a desk with a desktop computer, just feels more comfortable. the laptop i currently have used to be my sisters but she gave it to me since she moved in with her boyfriend and he owns a whole fuckload of computers. the sides were a bit broken on the area above the keyboard right near the speakers when she first gave it to me but it kept getting worse every single time i flipped it up so i had eventually gotten to the point of where i had to tape them down though it doesnt do the greatest job since sometimes i have to reapply the tape but its better than having to press my finger down on it just so that the laptop will actually charge.

[The Amazing Avian]

I don't have one, but IT guy. Mac isn't a bad choice, but they're stingy as hell about their programming language so developers rarely make games for Mac. In addition to that, on the off chance they break, you better have gotten Apple Care because they're nigh impossible to fix for the average IT guy and Apple will charge you out the ass to fix it. An added note, if you're a smoker, keep it away from it because their contract says employees don't work around hazardous materials, which includes tar residue that gets inside smoker's computers.

 

If you want a Windows laptop, I would recommend an Asus. They're sturdy as hell and in total, I've serviced one Asus as opposed to dozens of HPs, Toshibas, and Dells.

[Tentacruel]

Since you want one for school I would just forget about games as laptops are trash for gaming, especially if you want one that's small and affordable. 

 

I'd also recommend Asus. 

[EndUser]

  I've only been using one laptop these last 4-5 years (can't remember when exactly I bought it) and, although it sure is not as shiny and fast as it first was, it's doing the job well. I'm not a regular player, but I do play some (not the most demanding and newest ones, though). Also, I like graphics, but I occasionally see movies and am not into artistictic/professional stuff (at least for now), so no complaints from my laptop!  ^_^

  With an autonomous graphics card, CPU at 2.2GHz, 4GB RAM and 500GB memory (Windows 7 installed), it's an average but very suitable laptop for the majority of people. Its price was ~600$ back then (w/o the operating system installed).

 

@Aix: Your total budget is more than enough to buy a laptop that matches your preferences.

  Since I don't know how Mac is doing, I recommend Windows. (Linux is good, and there are many versions of it, but it's best not to have this as the sole operating system installed in your laptop/PC.) Also, consult VCR's and Leafeon's advices for the battery and pounds matters.

  Leafeon's recommendations are really good to check at, but I'm going to give mine too, briefly and with numbers:

 

- CPU: Intel Core i3 (i5 if possible) at 2.0 GHz minimum. (I don't know about AMDs a thing. My only suggestion regarding them: Look if it has at least 4 cores and its speed is above 2.4 GHz. )

- Hard disk: 500 GB at 5400 rpm (7200 rpm if you can find one). There may be models with 320GB but I strongly DON'T recommend them; you'll end up caring an external disk sooner or later.

(Tip: As Leafeon said, SSDs are better and faster (and lighter), but are more expensive, so if you find a cheap 'n good laptop that has SSD installed, check if it also has a typical HDD installed)

- Graphics card: At least 512MB of memory. A laptop with autonomous graphics card (i.e. not the standard Intel HD) with 1GB memory or more is  mostly recommended.

- Screen resolution: 1366*768 is the standard one. Higher numbers recommended, however if you choose a laptop with 14 inch display or less, they won't be high. 

(Tip: Laptops with more than 16 inch display are usually heavier than those at 15 inch.)

- RAM: 4GB is the standard. Go for 6GB if you can; you really won't need more than that, unless you'll want to run heavy/professional software or heavy games or you seek the least interruptions/delays possible.

(Tip: If you save much of your budget, you'll be able to upgrade the RAM with ease.)

- Operating System: Windows 7 (DON'T choose Windows XP. It's not bad, but it's old and is better if used as a secondary solution, i.e. been installed in a spare laptop/PC.)

- Additional things you can buy (not listed as essentials, but are useful to buy):

  a)air cooler (22$ maximum, it's usually just fine)

  b)bag/special case/something else to carry it (18-35$ recommended price)

  c)mouse/keyboard/speakers (wireless or not, whatever suits you for each product. 77$ total maximum, if you're not too demanding)

 

  Keep in mind, these are the bare essentials. No need to look for weaker hardware/peripherals; your available budget does not allow it.  ;)

Of course, anything above these is always better. As for prices, I don't know how vary prices are at your country, but I'm sure you'll not need to pay more than 850$.

...And, a general advice: Search well (but don't waste months) before buying. Also, the tech geeks and the technical support team are your friends (I recommend the latter, unless you trully trust the geeks).

[Susie]

i envy those who are able to keep a laptop without breaking it, im really not too sure if its just me or that every single laptop that ive bought sucks a fat one

[EndUser]

  I'm damn lucky as well Purrloin!

 

I've throw in about 3 or 4 times total. Only problems, it got scratched and its performance may have dropped a little because of the throws.  :'{

If you're that clumsy, then... my sympathies. However, covering it with a special laptop case or keeping it in a bag or something will do the trick. Also, avoid leaving it at the corner of the desks and tables. ;)

[jabber2033]

Here's my specs.  

 

Windows 7 with 3 hard drives: C, D and E.  C has 440 GB, and D and E Drives have about half that.

 

Have had mine for a couple of years now.

[EndUser]

A couple of years you say... Is the graphics card autonomous? If yes, I suppose the price was high back then.

(What are you using all these separate drives for anyway?  :/ )

 

 

 

Um... do these kind of posts count as spam?