• College Laptops?
    22 replies, posted
I am getting ready to go to college this year and I need a laptop. Preferable one that can handle a couple of games as well my schoolwork. My limit is about $1400 but possibly $1500. Any Ideas?
you should also mention portability unless you want something that is excellent at gaming and everything else, but is really fat [URL]http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-17r-5721/pd?&ST=inspiron 17r&dgc=ST&cid=245429&lid=4221901&acd=123098073120560[/URL]
Go to [URL="http://facepunch.com/forums/243"]PC Building[/URL] with this Also, for current gen. I would say Lenovo Y500 (SLI one) But I would wait for refresh since Haswell uses much less power than anything current. So if you can wait a bit then it would be great.
What sort of games are we talking about, and what screen size are you looking for? 15.6? 11.6? 13.3? Also, how urgent is getting the laptop? Haswell machines should be out in a month or two, and they will have much better battery life, and much better graphics, therefore you should be able to get away with a machine with no dedicated graphics, so you can get a thinner and lighter machine.
[QUOTE=rhx123;40605140]What sort of games are we talking about, and what screen size are you looking for? 15.6? 11.6? 13.3? Also, how urgent is getting the laptop? Haswell machines should be out in a month or two, and they will have much better battery life, and much better graphics, therefore you should be able to get away with a machine with no dedicated graphics, so you can get a thinner and lighter machine.[/QUOTE] Mainly just Minecraft I guess, and I wouldn't want a screen smaller than a 13. I would need to have one by the end of July.
[QUOTE=Npc_Hydra3;40605182]Mainly just Minecraft I guess, and I wouldn't want a screen smaller than a 13. I would need to have one by the end of July.[/QUOTE] I believe Haswell is released in Early June, then there is a delay before laptops start shipping with them. [editline]11th May 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=rhx123;40605140]What sort of games are we talking about, and what screen size are you looking for? 15.6? 11.6? 13.3? Also, how urgent is getting the laptop? Haswell machines should be out in a month or two, and they will have much better battery life, and much better graphics, therefore you should be able to get away with a machine with no dedicated graphics, so you can get a thinner and lighter machine.[/QUOTE] GT3 looks sort of interesting, but it's not THAT powerful. But fair enuff if it's only Minecraft then it's not THAT requiring at all.
[QUOTE=Killervalon;40605194]I believe Haswell is released in Early June, then there is a delay before laptops start shipping with them. [editline]11th May 2013[/editline] GT3 looks sort of interesting, but it's not THAT powerful. But fair enuff if it's only Minecraft then it's not THAT requiring at all.[/QUOTE] Well, just minecraft at first but I want the power in case there is a game I find intriguing and can't pass up.
[QUOTE=Killervalon;40605194] GT3 looks sort of interesting, but it's not THAT powerful. But fair enuff if it's only Minecraft then it's not THAT requiring at all.[/QUOTE] Well Minecraft is playable at 1920x1080 on my HD4000, as are source games, so I think anything better than that will be just as fine. [editline]11th May 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Npc_Hydra3;40605182]Mainly just Minecraft I guess, and I wouldn't want a screen smaller than a 13. I would need to have one by the end of July.[/QUOTE] You should be in plenty of time for haswell, and if not we can find something in time that's ivy anyway. [editline]11th May 2013[/editline] If you want decent gaming performance you're going to gain size and weight. The Clevo W650 will be a suitable compromise.
[QUOTE=rhx123;40605241]If you want decent gaming performance you're going to gain size and weight. The Clevo W650 will be a suitable compromise.[/QUOTE] Why not Lenovo Y500?
The W650 will be haswell, so have better battery life, also it will be thinner.
Wait, what exactly are you planning on doing with the laptop? If you want something that you can both play some games on in a dorm room or something, and then take to a lecture, stop, build a gaming PC and buy a ThinkPad. You can build a fairly good gaming rig for that money, and the quality of the ThinkPad depends how much work you're willing to put into searching for one, if you can find a business that's closing down and their assets are being sold, those are prime hunting-grounds for awesome ThinkPads, especially in America.
Or, grab a thinkpad and do an [URL="http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1253318"]External GPU[/URL]. That way you can spend more on a GPU and still have a portable laptop and a fast machine in your dorm.
I got this when I started college last year [img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8005/7636713362_bc1a7a5cbc_b.jpg[/img] It's an Asus Zenbook UX32VD and it has an nvidia 620M GPU, which fares pretty well considering the size of the laptop. It's awesome because I can throw it in a small backpack and be ready for school or gaming with friends. The battery life is 4-5 hours, but that's the only thing I wish was better. Pretty much everything else about it is great.
[QUOTE=Warship;40605687]I got this when I started college last year [img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8005/7636713362_bc1a7a5cbc_b.jpg[/img] It's an Asus Zenbook UX32VD and it has an nvidia 620M GPU, which fares pretty well considering the size of the laptop. It's awesome because I can throw it in a small backpack and be ready for school or gaming with friends. The battery life is 4-5 hours, but that's the only thing I wish was better. Pretty much everything else about it is great.[/QUOTE] Looks pretty slick, however it isn't much of a gaming machine.
That plus my desktop at home is a perfect combination, there's not a game I've thrown at it that it couldn't play. Plus, personally it's not every day I play games. I like to say 'good enough' [img]http://i42.tinypic.com/66j6m9.jpg[/img]
Looks kind of okay. BUT CAN YOU MAX BF3? :v: Nah, but it looks really nice. You're just annoying me with those fancy camera shots.
[QUOTE=Killervalon;40606364]Looks kind of okay. BUT CAN YOU MAX BF3? :v: Nah, but it looks really nice. You're just annoying me with those fancy camera shots.[/QUOTE] sorry, is this better [img]http://i39.tinypic.com/4voa42.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=Warship;40607150]sorry, is this better [img]http://i39.tinypic.com/4voa42.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] It looks like you took it on a Nexus 4
[QUOTE=Killervalon;40605194]I believe Haswell is released in Early June, then there is a delay before laptops start shipping with them. [/QUOTE] People seem confident in Apple updating their laptops with Haswell at WWDC in early June, and they ship a product very fast after announcement. I'd imagine other vendors would be able to get laptops out in the same timeframe, so end of July seems doable for a Haswell laptop from Samsung or Lenovo or whomever.
[QUOTE=Kaabii;40607896]People seem confident in Apple updating their laptops with Haswell at WWDC in early June, and they ship a product very fast after announcement. I'd imagine other vendors would be able to get laptops out in the same timeframe, so end of July seems doable for a Haswell laptop from Samsung or Lenovo or whomever.[/QUOTE] The service manuals for some of the Haswell Clevos are available on their website, so it's safe to say that they are ready for release as soon as Intel gives the green light.
I have heard good things about the samsung 9-series of ultrabooks
[QUOTE=Anglor;40610132]I have heard good things about the samsung 9-series of ultrabooks[/QUOTE] Same here, but I also heard that the mousepad is terrible. I am going to try it in a store and see if it's any good.
If you want autarky then I don't think anything else hits the price-performance ratio an Ideapad Y500 gets - but watch your ass out for (a) the lack of integrated graphics to fall back on (Lenovo advertises "up to three hours of battery life", so subtract a quarter that if you're on the lowest-end configuration), and (b) the fact that they sell variants with/out SLI, with different graphics cards ([6|7]50 is the range, I think), and (c) (most importantly) [i]1080p vs 768px resolution screens[/i]. [editline]15th May 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=rhx123;40605482]Or, grab a thinkpad and do an [URL="http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1253318"]External GPU[/URL]. That way you can spend more on a GPU and still have a portable laptop and a fast machine in your dorm.[/QUOTE] If you're still in the loop, have Bplus said anything about the TH05 they're "intending" to revive? [editline]15th May 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Kaabii;40607896]People seem confident in Apple updating their laptops with Haswell at WWDC in early June, and they ship a product very fast after announcement.[/QUOTE] I remember them dragging their feet in the bad old PowerPC days after announcing the WWDC 12in G4 PB! Nothing still quite like it, though, especially for repairability.
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