• What should I look for in a laptop? And what is a reasonable price?
    7 replies, posted
I'll try to keep the backstory short. I'm going off to college in the Fall, and my father has offered to pay for a laptop for me. I've built my own computer, and researched all the parts neccesary to get an amazing build--A year or two ago. I'm not sure how much specs have changed. I'm looking on Dell's list of laptops to choose from and compare, but I don't know where to start. I already know to avoid alienware, but that's about it. Naturally, after I find a build on the Dell website, I'm going to look on Newegg for a similar model to see if it's cheaper. So, here are my questions: -How much can I expect to pay for a laptop with equivalent specs to my tower at home(4850, C2D E7200 3.0Ghz, 4GB ram)? -Is it reasonable to be looking for a laptop that has equivalent specs to those listed above? -What laptop (for mild gaming (ME2, WoW, TF2)) does Facepunch recommend? Thanks for the help.
Well I have a Acer Aspire 6935G with the following specs: Intel Core 2 Duo 3GB DDR3 Nvidia 9600GS 512mb Windows Vista 16" 1366 x 768 £500 exactly a year ago And that plays every game that I throw at it, even crysis at 1024 x 768 which looks ok on this size screen size/res. It plays Source on high @ 1366 x 768 with a decent res and plays wow on high @ 1366 x 768 very well. So have a look at something with that type of spec if you want to game. Oh and I can render UDK levels quite well aswell on the laptop, just so you know if you do any design work.
I usually hate to judge products on their brand rather than specific models but I've never had any luck with Dells, specifically the laptops. We got 2 in '07, both of which died in random ways right after their warranties expired and my mom got a netbook from them last year: total piece of shit. The one I had a long time ago with Windows 2000 literally fell apart after a few years of careful use. In all this time I've never had any problems with Acer, Toshiba, IBM, etc and I know practically everyone here has a story of their experiences with Dell. Then again I'm not sure why you're saying Alienware is bad and then looking at dell.com when Dell owns Alienware.
[QUOTE=.ediT;22239420]I usually hate to judge products on their brand rather than specific models but I've never had any luck with Dells, specifically the laptops. We got 2 in '07, both of which died in random ways right after their warranties expired and my mom got a netbook from them last year: total piece of shit. The one I had a long time ago with Windows 2000 literally fell apart after a few years of careful use. In all this time I've never had any problems with Acer, Toshiba, IBM, etc and I know practically everyone here has a story of their experiences with Dell. Then again I'm not sure why you're saying Alienware is bad and then looking at dell.com when Dell owns Alienware.[/QUOTE] Strange, my father's had nothing but good luck with Dell. We've got inspiron laptops sitting around that are at least a decade old and have only had hard drive failures. While Dell owns Alienware, they don't price alienwares like their other laptops; as "gamer" laptops, they cost more for the same parts as a regular laptop. Since I'm not a big fan of the design, and I'm looking for a bargain, I'm avoiding them entirely. I would love to get an IBM laptop (my father works for IBM and gets them cheaper) but they seem to be more prone to problems than the Dells I've worked with. I'm avoiding HP laptops entirely; usually I don't bother with appearance and just go for specs, but HPs feel...crappy. I don't like the response of them, I hate the design, and I've had too many problems with batteries dying. The two Toshiba laptops I've had eventually became unusable because the charging plug into the computer would break off or otherwise become unresponsive. And thanks Pringles-- now I have some specs to work with. I'll see if I can find something with a better resolution and perhaps better specs. Do they still make laptops with that little nub in the keyboard that functions as a mouse? I enjoyed being able to use that for first-person shooters, but I don't see many laptops with that.
I would recommend getting an i5 laptop like [url=http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung+-+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i5+Processor+-+Red/Black/9748386.p?skuId=9748386&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=9748386&ref=06&loc=01&id=1218166152252]this one.[/url] It's roughly the same as the 2.53GHz Macbook Pro in terms of specs, but $830 instead of $2000. (The only difference is that the MBP has an Nvidia 330M w/256MB VRAM, and the R580 has an Nvidia 310M w/512MB VRAM.) Then again, what is your price range? And are you looking more for mobility or power? [editline]04:33PM[/editline] and no, I'm pretty sure that nub in the middle of the keyboard has been gone for at least a few years now on most laptops...
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115733[/url] I just got that. It's a amazing laptop! I fucking love it!
[QUOTE=robmaister12;22244715]I would recommend getting an i5 laptop like [url=http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung+-+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i5+Processor+-+Red/Black/9748386.p?skuId=9748386&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=9748386&ref=06&loc=01&id=1218166152252]this one.[/url] It's roughly the same as the 2.53GHz Macbook Pro in terms of specs, but $830 instead of $2000. (The only difference is that the MBP has an Nvidia 330M w/256MB VRAM, and the R580 has an Nvidia 310M w/512MB VRAM.) Then again, what is your price range? And are you looking more for mobility or power? [editline]04:33PM[/editline] and no, I'm pretty sure that nub in the middle of the keyboard has been gone for at least a few years now on most laptops...[/QUOTE] Dang. I liked that nub. Anyhow, I'm looking for something under $1000. I'm not actually sure what a reasonable price is for a laptop; I figure something under $1000 is reasonable, but I'm not sure. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll start looking around for laptops with similar specs.
for college [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220687&cm_re=asus_laptop-_-34-220-687-_-Product[/url] [url]http://www.amazon.com/UL50Vt-A1-Light-15-6-Inch-Black-Laptop/dp/B002P3KMPI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1275188333&sr=8-2[/url] one of those, trust me nothing is worse than carrying a power cord around or the battery shitting out when you least want it
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