My computer fizzled out on me and I'm looking to buy a new laptop. I'd prefer not to spend a ton of money (1500 or less). I also have 500 CDs that I would like to put on it, and my last computer could not hold them. Also at some point I will be buying Starcraft 2 whenever it comes out in 2010, so the specs would need to be at a minimum of this: Processor: 1.4 Ghz Processor Memory: 512 MB RAM Graphics card: 128 MB RAM video card capable of Hardware TnL. Does anyone have a laptop they would like to brag about that would convince me to buy a similar model?
I just bought an Asus N71Vn/N71Vg series laptop that has a Core2 Quad CPU Q900 2GHz, 4GB RAM (max 8GB), 350GB drive, DVD burner, blu-ray player, 17" screen, hdmi output, etc. Spent the weekend getting Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) installed on it. Coudn't be happier. All in, after tax, it was $1,800 CDN.
Perfect timing for this thread... I'm looking for a decent to good laptop for $500 or less. I will only be using this laptop to run Forex trading and charting programs as well as data acquisition at the track. I dont care what brand and since I dont think it needs too much computing power reliability is more important.
What physical size would you be going for? Just because a netbook (such as an Asus EEE PC or Acer Aspire One) may fit your needs really well. Not all that powerful, but they're small, they last and get 6+ hours of battery.
True... I went for the complete opposite end of the spectrum for a power-desktop replacement that I can use for high-end development at client sites, etc. I can fry my balls in under 5 minutes, and the battery life is shit, but I'm always near a power outlet so that wasn't really a consideration.
Well I do need something with a few USB ports and a disk drive. Also I think netbooks might be a little under-powered for my tastes not to mention the small screen size. I want something in the 14-16" range.
My HP Dv5 laptop fan/HD just shit the bed. Instead of fixing it and getting windows 7 installed, I'm just going to get a new one. Can anyone recommend a decent laptop for $1000 or so? I realize these what should I buy posts are shitty, but I did all my research a year ago, and it was to buy this HP computer, which has now died twice, and I have no idea what to get. I use it for office, downloading, and minor gaming, like left4ded.
Since several of you are looking at buying new laptops, I'd suggest looking at this before you do. http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/laptop ... ility-1109
In regards to ASUS, currently in my eyes they are one of the best laptop companies in terms of products currently. This is even more so true if you are looking for a gaming laptop. They are relatively well priced as well, I've had my asus g1 for almost 2 and a half years and it plays most new games very well (MW2 and L4D2 run flawlessly on it). Games engines that aren't optimized well however don't run as good.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834220639 This should fit the bill esp if you do a decent bit of gaming.
Question regarding batteries. A family member has a 4 year old Dell laptop. The battery life has been reduced to 15 minutes. As much as I try to convert them to a netbook, they'd rather buy a new battery for it. Question is, are 'new' batteries even made for laptops that old? If I pick one up from eBay, will it restore the laptop to its original longevity or will it just shit on me in a few months?
Get the new batteries. They're only good for a limited number of recharges before losing capacity. There are a ton of batteries available for older machines.
It all comes down to figuring out what you need to be able to do, and then filling that need appropriately with the hardware. For my needs, I want/need a desktop replacement, and they don't scratch any itches I have. Oh, and go read the previous link on failure rates, and see that netbooks are leading that race.
I feel like i've sort of been through the ringer as far as laptops go. I started on a Compaq Presario.. worst decision ever. I went through 3 motherboards in under a year along with a MULTITUDE of other problems. Thank the sweet baby jesus for the service plan I got from best buy or none of those problems would have been covered and i'd have been left to deal with the manufacturer who has their calls outsourced to India.. and I had issues getting them to even UNDERSTAND the problems. It took a ridiculous amount of problems, for no apparent reason, to get best buy to uphold their "lemon clause" and give me a new damn laptop... a Toshiba Satellite. I LOVED that laptop. It had a few issues in the beginning, but was fast as far as laptops go. I played Final Fantasy VII on it without lag or any issues most laptops have when trying to run a game that takes up that kind of memory.It crapped out for unknown reasons. Still have it, don't know how to fix it or what's wrong with it. I now have a Sony Vaio, and while I LOATHE that it has windows vista, it's a pretty good laptop.
Ok guys, here's my situation: I have a Macbook that has liquid damage (it had a soda spilled on it over a year ago- I immediately opened it up and dried it out to the best of my ability, but it still quit). I took it to the Apple store, they took a look at it, and said that it would be approximately as much as a new computer for them to fix it. Since this was the week before school started, I was in a bit of a panic and bought the new computer. I still have the old computer though. No work was done on it past them opening it up to look at it at that point. The boyfriend recently came across a guy on Ebay who claims that he can repair liquid damaged Macs (http://cgi.ebay.com/REPAIR-YOUR-MAC...ple_Laptops?hash=item2304014605#ht_640wt_1167 This is the one he pointed me to, but I've found others as well). However, this looks way too good to be true to me, so I'm turning to the folks who know way more about this stuff than I do. First of all, does this throw up red flags for those of you who work with computers? 200 dollars to fix the computer when Apple won't even touch it just sounds unrealistic. Am I just being pessimistic, or do I just not know some secret that this guy is in on? For those of you who do repairs, how much do these type of repairs cost- I know that Apple is able to charge a premium, but how much of that expense is premium, and how much is diagnostic/parts/etc? Secondly, if this is worth investigating further, what questions should I ask? I obviously would want to see references and would want to have a contract signed (I'd treat this just as I would hiring any kind of independent contractor), but what tech questions should I be concerned with? I admit to being a total idiot about this kind of stuff, so any advice you can pass my way would be great. Thanks a bunch.
Call me crazy, but there's no way in hell I'm shipping my laptop off to a guy I don't know, unless it's a big-name corporation that has a history. Personally, I'd take it in to the local Apple store for cleaning/repair. Or a shop somewhere. That way I know that they (a) exist, and (b) are local so I can deal with them face-to-face if shit goes wrong.
Spent about a third of my summer theme-park-ride-monkey operator gig on a MacBook Pro. Best $1300 ever spent for me. It's just amazing all around. Only thing that irritates me is that my school network is closed off, so I can't do anything Net-related there.