INFO: Building/Buying a Laptop (PC or Mac) - Page 26

brekk · 02-26-2009, 01:20 PM

Yeah that's a terrible resolution.

And that integrated graphics card is a piece of shit. If you seriously want to play any game on it you're really going to need an nVidia or ATI card.

Intell integrated graphics are awful, especially since they use some of the system ram, rather then their own dedicated ddr3 or ddr5.

McCheese · 03-01-2009, 10:04 AM

Thanks for the info. Guess I'll try to find something with an Nvidia card.

ToeMissile · 03-02-2009, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by McCheese

Thanks for the info. Guess I'll try to find something with an Nvidia card.

Not sure what your price range is but:

Newegg.com - ASUS N50Vn-B1B Core 2 Duo P8600(2.40GHz) 15.4" Wide XGA+ 4GB RAM 320GB HDD DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 9650M GT - $1150

Newegg.com - ASUS M51TA-X2 AMD Turion X2 (2.20GHz) 15.4" 1400x900 4GB RAM 250GB HDD DVD Super Multi Radeon HD 3650 - $950

Amzin · 03-03-2009, 08:45 PM

I'm not sure if this laptop's been asked about before, but does anyone know if this is as good as it seems?
Newegg.com - HP Pavilion dv7-1270us NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo P8600(2.40GHz) 17.0" Wide XGA+ 4GB Memory 320GB HDD 5400rpm BD Combo NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT - Laptops / Notebooks

I can get one for 950 tomorrow and really want to. I'd mainly use it as a 2ndary to my desktop, but also for gaming away from home.

Thanks!

Edit: I played with one in person and liked it, I'm mainly wondering if I can get something comparative for less, as this is a huge amount of my money.

tjac · 03-04-2009, 08:49 AM

The Dell Vostro 1310 arrived.

Spec:
* 13" matte LCD
* 80GB 5400 RPM HD
* 1 GB RAM (skimped on the RAM because I had 2GB extra laying around)
* 2.0GHz Core Duo
* Intel WiFi
* Nvidia 8400GS M
* 3 Year Pro Warranty

Price:
$1,050 w/ tax and delivery

Initial review: It's nice. It's small and lightweight (~4lbs) and fairly powerful for the price. The plastic is a bit thinner compared to the Vostro 1400, but still seems sturdy enough. I could do without the glossy black lid. After a quick wipe of the Dell pre-install and some Vista modifications, it's running nicely. So far so good, and seemingly worth the bang for the buck, considering it's got express parts and labor coverage for the next three years.

So far, I recommend it.

McCheese · 03-06-2009, 08:19 AM

Found this: Asus X83VB-X2 Laptop reviews - CNET Reviews

Looks decent enough for the price. Anyone have any thoughts on the components?

tjac · 03-07-2009, 04:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by McCheese

Found this: Asus X83VB-X2 Laptop reviews - CNET Reviews

Looks decent enough for the price. Anyone have any thoughts on the components?

Component-wise, it looks ok, maybe a bit heavy. I'm not familiar with the 9300M video card, but notebook review says that it's comparable to the 8400, which is a really nice laptop graphics card, in my opinion.

The review's Best Buy link indicates some overall quality issues, though.

Lastly, I'm not sure what sort of warranty coverage you usually go for, but that could bring the price a lot closer to $1,000.

McCheese · 03-07-2009, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjac

Component-wise, it looks ok, maybe a bit heavy. I'm not familiar with the 9300M video card, but notebook review says that it's comparable to the 8400, which is a really nice laptop graphics card, in my opinion.

The review's Best Buy link indicates some overall quality issues, though.

Lastly, I'm not sure what sort of warranty coverage you usually go for, but that could bring the price a lot closer to $1,000.

I'm not planning on getting any sort of extra/extended warranty. I'll be doing international travel with it so I won't be able to easily mail it in if something goes wrong anyway.

tjac · 03-07-2009, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by McCheese

I'm not planning on getting any sort of extra/extended warranty. I'll be doing international travel with it so I won't be able to easily mail it in if something goes wrong anyway.

In that case, I think it's good for the price. If something goes wrong outside of the first year, you'll have probably gotten your money's worth. Also, 14" form factor is nice for traveling -- it's small, but the resolution is still passable for games like wow and aps like photoshop.

Maybe buy an international outlet adapter.

The only other thing I'd be concerned about is the quality of the keyboard. Personally, I hate cheap keyboards/funky keys.

McCheese · 03-07-2009, 08:34 AM

Thanks for the input.

I'm a little worried about the keyboard too, but after so much reading/searching I realize I'm never going to find a laptop that's perfect. If my biggest gripe is a slightly annoying keyboard then I'll be happy

Jabberwhacky · 03-07-2009, 03:43 PM

I bought my girlfriend an Asus EEE PC 1000HE and that thing is siiiiick. It's my first experience with a netbook, so my opinion is based on the comparison to my own Vostro 1400. It's quick, it's light, it never gets hot (barely even warm), and it's quiet as shit. It was also cheap as dirt. My initial price would have been so low; JR.com had it for 375, with no tax, free shipping, and I think 7% off from live.com. I had to cancel it since it was still backordered mere days before we left for Korea, but when I called to cancel they offered me 10 bucks off to keep the order; had I had the time, that would have dropped the price down to ~330? Something obscenely low. Long story short Amazon got some in stock in time, and the price from them ended up being 400.74 with 1 day shipping. Still a great deal at that price, but man in the low/mid 300's this thing would be insane.

tjac · 03-07-2009, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jabberwhacky

I bought my girlfriend an Asus EEE PC 1000HE and that thing is siiiiick. It's my first experience with a netbook, so my opinion is based on the comparison to my own Vostro 1400. It's quick, it's light, it never gets hot (barely even warm), and it's quiet as shit. It was also cheap as dirt. My initial price would have been so low; JR.com had it for 375, with no tax, free shipping, and I think 7% off from live.com. I had to cancel it since it was still backordered mere days before we left for Korea, but when I called to cancel they offered me 10 bucks off to keep the order; had I had the time, that would have dropped the price down to ~330? Something obscenely low. Long story short Amazon got some in stock in time, and the price from them ended up being 400.74 with 1 day shipping. Still a great deal at that price, but man in the low/mid 300's this thing would be insane.

What OS is on the netbook? Can it handle things like Word and VLC Player? If they can do everything except for games, they sound like a pretty good bargain. I think some of the Dell Mini's were going for under $300 recently, but those seemed to be a little short on RAM (only 512MB).

Also how's your experience been with the Vostro 1400?

Jabberwhacky · 03-07-2009, 05:57 PM

The Vostro is OK I guess, it was my first laptop and I was trying to find the right middle ground between playing games and not being too hot / too loud / too heavy. It's got an 8400M I believe, and can play WoW pretty well. I'll have EQ2 downloaded sometime over the next couple days and can give more opinions then. However it does get really hot, even when doing nothing more than surfing the web, and the battery life is pretty bad. If I could do it all again I'd just forego the idea of gaming on a laptop and get one of these snazzy-ass netbooks.

The Asus comes with XP SP3 and it can definitely handle Word, VLC player and hulu. The screen looks great (albeit small) in regular use but when I opened up The Matrix in VLC it did look a bit "grainy" almost like I was watching it off Youtube. It was also fairly dark even at max brightness, but again I only noticed this when watching Matrix, not when using Firefox or Word or anything.

I also forgot to mention one of the biggest selling points: the battery. It easily gets 6 hours and more likely 7+, even when surfing the net the whole time. The keyboard is also fantastic; it has this strange dichotomy of feeling small (since it is) but not really impeding my typing.

One other downside is the touchpad, specifically the buttons. It has a lot of cool features (there are motions for 1 finger, 2 finger and even 3 finger, IE three fingers left goes Back and three fingers right goes Forward) but the buttons for mouse click are noticeably difficult to press, and even giving the pad 1 tap only seems to register as a left-click half the time. All this is easily avoided if you have any sort of mouse, of course, and the pad is definitely usable, just irksome.

DMyst · 03-12-2009, 05:04 AM

Alright i need serious help here! I have been shopping for a laptop for a month now and can't seem to make up my mind.

I have a budget of 2000-2500CAD and looking for a mainstream light laptop that includes at least a 9800gt+ video card or an ATI equivalent card. This might be asking for to much but i wouldn't mind if the video card is upgradeable for the futur. 15 - 17 inch.

Laptops i have been looking at:

- Sony VGN-FW390 cto (custom to order)
- Macbook pro
- Dell studio

Thanks

brekk · 03-12-2009, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMyst

I have a budget of 2000-2500CAD

1500-2000$ (figured i'd save other's the time of doing the conversion)

Quote:

and looking for a mainstream light laptop that includes at least a 9800gt+ video card or an ATI equivalent card.

Anything light or portable will not have a video card that powerful. Only options for mobile cards more powerful then a desktop 9800GT+ is the GTX 280M which is actually a G92 based 9800GTX+. The Mobile 4870 is an underclocked desktop 4850. Only other powerful solutions are dual cards which you will not find in anything but a desktop replacement (heavy with shitty battery life)

Quote:

This might be asking for to much but i wouldn't mind if the video card is upgradeable for the futur. 15 - 17 inch.

You're asking for too much, and there is no current way to upgrade graphics cards.

Quote:

Laptops i have been looking at:

- Sony VGN-FW390 cto (custom to order)
- Macbook pro
- Dell studio

Thanks

I can say right now with the power you want this thing to have a well equipped macbook will be well outside of your price range.

The other's are possible. But you're asking for the best of too many different worlds. You will not find very mobile laptop with that level of performance. If you do find a laptop (no matter its size) with the power you're looking for it will have no true mobility as its battery life will be nonexistent.

02-26-2009, 01:20 PM	#376 (permalink)
brekk Unregistered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: The CT Posts: 7,203 +27 Internets	Yeah that's a terrible resolution. And that integrated graphics card is a piece of shit. If you seriously want to play any game on it you're really going to need an nVidia or ATI card. Intell integrated graphics are awful, especially since they use some of the system ram, rather then their own dedicated ddr3 or ddr5. __________________

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03-01-2009, 10:04 AM	#377 (permalink)
McCheese Ruling McDonaldland with an iron fist Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 1,296 +10 Internets	Thanks for the info. Guess I'll try to find something with an Nvidia card.

03-04-2009, 08:49 AM	#380 (permalink)
tjac Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 1,687 -20 Internets	The Dell Vostro 1310 arrived. Spec: * 13" matte LCD * 80GB 5400 RPM HD * 1 GB RAM (skimped on the RAM because I had 2GB extra laying around) * 2.0GHz Core Duo * Intel WiFi * Nvidia 8400GS M * 3 Year Pro Warranty Price: $1,050 w/ tax and delivery Initial review: It's nice. It's small and lightweight (~4lbs) and fairly powerful for the price. The plastic is a bit thinner compared to the Vostro 1400, but still seems sturdy enough. I could do without the glossy black lid. After a quick wipe of the Dell pre-install and some Vista modifications, it's running nicely. So far so good, and seemingly worth the bang for the buck, considering it's got express parts and labor coverage for the next three years. So far, I recommend it.

03-06-2009, 08:19 AM	#381 (permalink)
McCheese Ruling McDonaldland with an iron fist Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 1,296 +10 Internets	Found this: Asus X83VB-X2 Laptop reviews - CNET Reviews Looks decent enough for the price. Anyone have any thoughts on the components?

03-07-2009, 08:34 AM	#385 (permalink)
McCheese Ruling McDonaldland with an iron fist Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 1,296 +10 Internets	Thanks for the input. I'm a little worried about the keyboard too, but after so much reading/searching I realize I'm never going to find a laptop that's perfect. If my biggest gripe is a slightly annoying keyboard then I'll be happy

03-07-2009, 03:43 PM	#386 (permalink)
Jabberwhacky Walker told me I have AIDS Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Busan Posts: 3,408	I bought my girlfriend an Asus EEE PC 1000HE and that thing is siiiiick. It's my first experience with a netbook, so my opinion is based on the comparison to my own Vostro 1400. It's quick, it's light, it never gets hot (barely even warm), and it's quiet as shit. It was also cheap as dirt. My initial price would have been so low; JR.com had it for 375, with no tax, free shipping, and I think 7% off from live.com. I had to cancel it since it was still backordered mere days before we left for Korea, but when I called to cancel they offered me 10 bucks off to keep the order; had I had the time, that would have dropped the price down to ~330? Something obscenely low. Long story short Amazon got some in stock in time, and the price from them ended up being 400.74 with 1 day shipping. Still a great deal at that price, but man in the low/mid 300's this thing would be insane.

03-07-2009, 05:57 PM	#388 (permalink)
Jabberwhacky Walker told me I have AIDS Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Busan Posts: 3,408	The Vostro is OK I guess, it was my first laptop and I was trying to find the right middle ground between playing games and not being too hot / too loud / too heavy. It's got an 8400M I believe, and can play WoW pretty well. I'll have EQ2 downloaded sometime over the next couple days and can give more opinions then. However it does get really hot, even when doing nothing more than surfing the web, and the battery life is pretty bad. If I could do it all again I'd just forego the idea of gaming on a laptop and get one of these snazzy-ass netbooks. The Asus comes with XP SP3 and it can definitely handle Word, VLC player and hulu. The screen looks great (albeit small) in regular use but when I opened up The Matrix in VLC it did look a bit "grainy" almost like I was watching it off Youtube. It was also fairly dark even at max brightness, but again I only noticed this when watching Matrix, not when using Firefox or Word or anything. I also forgot to mention one of the biggest selling points: the battery. It easily gets 6 hours and more likely 7+, even when surfing the net the whole time. The keyboard is also fantastic; it has this strange dichotomy of feeling small (since it is) but not really impeding my typing. One other downside is the touchpad, specifically the buttons. It has a lot of cool features (there are motions for 1 finger, 2 finger and even 3 finger, IE three fingers left goes Back and three fingers right goes Forward) but the buttons for mouse click are noticeably difficult to press, and even giving the pad 1 tap only seems to register as a left-click half the time. All this is easily avoided if you have any sort of mouse, of course, and the pad is definitely usable, just irksome.

03-12-2009, 05:04 AM	#389 (permalink)
DMyst Registered User Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 209	Alright i need serious help here! I have been shopping for a laptop for a month now and can't seem to make up my mind. I have a budget of 2000-2500CAD and looking for a mainstream light laptop that includes at least a 9800gt+ video card or an ATI equivalent card. This might be asking for to much but i wouldn't mind if the video card is upgradeable for the futur. 15 - 17 inch. Laptops i have been looking at: - Sony VGN-FW390 cto (custom to order) - Macbook pro - Dell studio Thanks