Planning to buy a new laptop, need some suggestions

[Caustik]

Hi,
I've been looking to buy a new laptop for a while now, as my current one isn't gonna keep up for much longer. I'm looking to spend around ~$1000 (give or take $100).
I've come across this, which looks pretty good:

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I need something portable and performant.

Any suggestions/ideas?

 

[Robert]

My personal suggestion, which is what I did, buy a Nexus 7 tablet and a 'desktop' (I didn't bother with a desk, recliner chair and long armed monitor mount ftw). It will cost around the same for farrrr better performance. If I want to I can even use PC over WiFi using the many various remote desktop apps from the nexus 7. Throw in a raspberry pi xbmc for your TV and you have a media centre PC too. If you don't like android, one of the win8 tablets work well too. Just don't install it on the desktop .

Seriously if you want to game on the move, an emulator will give you a colossal number of games to play, a windows surface will increase that up to like 5year old games. A laptop might get you recent games on mid/low settings, but is that really worth the price tag? There's a good reason that the market for laptops collapsed when tablets got decent enough to run OK games/emulators and stream desktops.


I went through the same decision a few months ago, and that was my conclusion. I bought a nexus 7, tried it for a month, and noticed I wasn't switching my fairly decent laptop on for weeks at a time. It was then I bought the desktop ☺

 

[Baha]

The lenovo brand is really good. I purchased the y40 for 1200 with 3 year warrenty + accidental damage. The only thing is that there shipping is REALLY bad so don't expect it receive it soon.

 

[Caustik]

My personal suggestion, which is what I did, buy a Nexus 7 tablet and a 'desktop' (I didn't bother with a desk, recliner chair and long armed monitor mount ftw). It will cost around the same for farrrr better performance. If I want to I can even use PC over WiFi using the many various remote desktop apps from the nexus 7. Throw in a raspberry pi xbmc for your TV and you have a media centre PC too. If you don't like android, one of the win8 tablets work well too. Just don't install it on the desktop .

Seriously if you want to game on the move, an emulator will give you a colossal number of games to play, a windows surface will increase that up to like 5year old games. A laptop might get you recent games on mid/low settings, but is that really worth the price tag? There's a good reason that the market for laptops collapsed when tablets got decent enough to run OK games/emulators and stream desktops.


I went through the same decision a few months ago, and that was my conclusion. I bought a nexus 7, tried it for a month, and noticed I wasn't switching my fairly decent laptop on for weeks at a time. It was then I bought the desktop ☺

How much did you spend on your desktop?

The lenovo brand is really good. I purchased the y40 for 1200 with 3 year warrenty + accidental damage. The only thing is that there shipping is REALLY bad so don't expect it receive it soon.

How long did your laptop take to arrive? (I'm buying from a 3rd party seller on ebay)

 

[Robert]

How much did you spend on your desktop?


How long did your laptop take to arrive? (I'm buying from a 3rd party seller on ebay)

Not entirely sure if I'm honest, I started with my old desktop a core2duo, and basically just kept replacing bits of it with each paycheck haha. Its getting close to being overkill now that its liquid cooled and I spent a stupid amount on a mechanical keyboard, but I'm going to wait for the next gen of nvidia gfx cards to call it finished.

Like I said, get a tablet, if it covers what you want in portability the get a desktop. If it doesn't, sell it. The depreciation of second hand tablets is pretty low as long as its current gen and nothing is being released for 6 months, maybe wait for a nexus 8 for that reason?

 

[Caustik]

I'll probably end up buying a nexus 8 for android dev, so I'll either decide on a laptop or desktop (if the nexus 8 doesn't cover what I need)
Thanks for the help!

 

[Matynator]

The lenovo brand is really good. I purchased the y40 for 1200 with 3 year warrenty + accidental damage. The only thing is that there shipping is REALLY bad so don't expect it receive it soon.

I was actually looking for a good laptop for a friend of mine that was decently priced.. we stumbled upon Lenovo and he actually bought one (cant remember the exact type though..)
so far so good with that thing works like a charm..

 

[Solaire]

My personal suggestion, which is what I did, buy a Nexus 7 tablet and a 'desktop' (I didn't bother with a desk, recliner chair and long armed monitor mount ftw). It will cost around the same for farrrr better performance. If I want to I can even use PC over WiFi using the many various remote desktop apps from the nexus 7. Throw in a raspberry pi xbmc for your TV and you have a media centre PC too. If you don't like android, one of the win8 tablets work well too. Just don't install it on the desktop .

Seriously if you want to game on the move, an emulator will give you a colossal number of games to play, a windows surface will increase that up to like 5year old games. A laptop might get you recent games on mid/low settings, but is that really worth the price tag? There's a good reason that the market for laptops collapsed when tablets got decent enough to run OK games/emulators and stream desktops.


I went through the same decision a few months ago, and that was my conclusion. I bought a nexus 7, tried it for a month, and noticed I wasn't switching my fairly decent laptop on for weeks at a time. It was then I bought the desktop ☺

I was actually looking for a good laptop for a friend of mine that was decently priced.. we stumbled upon Lenovo and he actually bought one (cant remember the exact type though..)
so far so good with that thing works like a charm..

This pretty much sums it up.

If you don't really need a notebook as Robert stated then you should definitely pick his idea, desktops have far better performance for less money plus you can easily upgrade them over the years (e.g. if you don't have the money for a SSD or dedicated graphics card right now you can add it later).

If you do need a laptop, Lenovo definitely has some nice models. Be careful though, they have many different types, some without full HD screens which is a must these days imo. Don't get one that comes with a SSD, buy a SSD and swap the harddisk yourself. For some reason, SSD's are extremely overpriced (200+$) while you can get them as low as 70$ these days. Warranty doesn't get void when you do so (I verified with Lenovo support a couple weeks ago).

 

[Arcelor]

I don't really have good experience with Lenovo's. I have a scar on the back of my shoulder to prove it. >_>

My friend owns a Y510. It gives off tiny shocks which is scary as duck. That, plus it heats up really quickly which makes it unbearable to use.

 

[Caustik]

I don't really have good experience with Lenovo's. I have a scar on the back of my shoulder to prove it. >_>

My friend owns a Y510. It gives off tiny shocks which is scary as duck. That, plus it heats up really quickly which makes it unbearable to use.

how'd you get the scar on your shoulder? o_o

 

[Solaire]

I don't really have good experience with Lenovo's. I have a scar on the back of my shoulder to prove it. >_>

My friend owns a Y510. It gives off tiny shocks which is scary as duck. That, plus it heats up really quickly which makes it unbearable to use.

Y510 is over 6 years old, the reason that it's heating up quickly is because it probably has not been cleaned in over 6 years and it's full of dust.

As for the shocks, not sure what material it's made of, but if it's not metal then it's definitely not shocks. If it is metal, I can't think of any laptop that is made of metal over the last 4 years.

 

[Arcelor]

Y510 is over 6 years old, the reason that it's heating up quickly is because it probably has not been cleaned in over 6 years and it's full of dust.

As for the shocks, not sure what material it's made of, but if it's not metal then it's definitely not shocks. If it is metal, I can't think of any laptop that is made of metal over the last 4 years.

Not sure what you're high on but Y510 came less than 4 months ago and it was bought even earlier than that.

Yes, it's metal, yes, it gave me enough shocks to get up and hit myself.

how'd you get the scar on your shoulder? o_o

I went "ah, duck", got up on my feet with the laptop still in my hands, tripped on the charger wire and fell into a window. I got a meteorite scar. lol.

 

[Solaire]

Not sure what you're high on but Y510 came less than 4 months ago and it was bought even earlier than that.

Yes, it's metal, yes, it gave me enough shocks to get up and hit myself.

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Review Date: Mar. 31, 2008

 

[Matynator]

Not sure what you're high on but Y510 came less than 4 months ago and it was bought even earlier than that.

Yes, it's metal, yes, it gave me enough shocks to get up and hit myself.


I went "ah, duck", got up on my feet with the laptop still in my hands, tripped on the charger wire and fell into a window. I got a meteorite scar. lol.

lol what has that to do with the laptop itself besides a laptop would be as good as the people using it.. and /\--- THAT.. is not really smart is it? haha
also it might be a good idea to open the laptop.. maybe clean it.. and check all the wire insolation.. if there's a broken wire it can leak low voltage power onto your case if its metal obviously.. you can short wire the damn thing if your not careful and burn the poop out of it.. + shock you which its already doing..

ohh and while your at it.. refresh the cooling paste and check the cpu fan if it runs to hot..

 

[Arcelor]

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Review Date: Mar. 31, 2008

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