Looking for a good laptop

[Eric3988]

Hey everyone! I am in the market for a laptop that is primarily going to be used for student applications with some light gaming (WoW, Rome Total War, older games). If anyone has any suggestions for me I would appreciate it. Btw, since I am looking for some gaming would a Nvidia 7150M card be good for that kind of gaming? I've seen a few HP laptops for cheap that had them built in and would like to know if that is a good deal? Thanks, as always!

 

[a111087]

7150M should be good, i played WOW on 5200
but remember that wow takes lots of RAM (1-2GB), i played on 512mb and it was baaaad...
but do you want new laptop or used?

 

[FatForester]

A good place to start is Dell and Asus. You can get a lot for your buck with them. I got my lappy with the 8600m for $1,250 back in September, and it plays anything I throw at it. (except Crysis)

 

[a111087]

the thing about laptops is that same PC parts are faster than on laptop and cost less

 

[Eric3988]

I would rather get a brand spanking new laptop than a used one. I already checked out Dell and there options are limited unless I want to dish out over a $1000. HP has this offering which I think is very competitive - http://www.shopping.hp.com/series/c...mpid=in_r329_personalization/browse1/home_SDP

 

[Azazel]

http://www.thehardwarereviews.com/hp-pavilion-dv2660se/

 

[strick94u]

http://www.thehardwarereviews.com/hp-pavilion-dv2660se/

Same specs as my acer 5920 but 300 dollars more
is a 14 inch screen though

 

[FatForester]

Well if you aren't wanting to dish out over 1000, you're sacrificing performance. There was this list posted on digg the other day, I haven't read it but it might interest you.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142959-c,notebooks/article.html

 

[Eric3988]

The HP computer I linked was $600 had 2g of ram, 120gig hard drive, nvidia 7150 graphics card and a decent processor too. $1000 should get me a lot better, but I am gonna look for a bit to get a good idea of what I can get for what.

 

[Eric3988]

Does AMD or Intel matter processor wise? Is either one of them ahead of the other in the notebook/laptop market? Also, should I go for bluetooth internet connectivity, does it have any specific advantages over 802.11b/g WLAN? Would you recommend a 12 cell battery over a 6 for $50?

 

[flashstar]

WAIT!!!

I'd also check out Lenovo. I just bought 5 X61T tablet pc's from them and they are rock solid. They have titanium reinforced shells with magnesium internal roll-cages. I got a 54% discount (just the recurring Christmas sale). All of the tablets have built-in 802.11n, bluetooth, Vista Ultimate, 2gb of ram + 1gb of Intel memory, 1.8 ghz core 2 duos, and multitouch screens (can use active or passive digitization like hands on screen). I also got 3 year onsite accidental damage warranties for all of them. Finally, I ordered 2 docking stations and a bag. The total cost came to $10,500.

I've also gotten to use Lenovo's accidental damage insurance. The guy above us in the office building always clogs his toilets and one day a mixture of crap and water came pouring out of the ceiling and onto one of the tablet pc's. Since it also has a spill-resistant keyboard, the internal components were fine even after being covered with crap. The keyboard needed to be replaced though, so I sent it in overnight (shipping covered by Lenovo) and the machine was returned from their North Carolina repair depot in a day.

I discovered that the external wireless switch had been stuck when the technician replaced the keyboard, so after calling up Lenovo, they had on-site service the next day. Needless to say, their service is excellent.

I would definitely choose Lenovo over Hp's or virtually any other laptop brand. My friend just got a Dell Inspiron and the machine is clunky and the general build is of a much lower quality in general.

 

[Eric3988]

WAIT!!!

I'd also check out Lenovo. I just bought 5 X61T tablet pc's from them and they are rock solid. They have titanium reinforced shells with magnesium internal roll-cages. I got a 54% discount (just the recurring Christmas sale). All of the tablets have built-in 802.11n, bluetooth, Vista Ultimate, 2gb of ram + 1gb of Intel memory, 1.8 ghz core 2 duos, and multitouch screens (can use active or passive digitization like hands on screen). I also got 3 year onsite accidental damage warranties for all of them. Finally, I ordered 2 docking stations and a bag. The total cost came to $10,500.

I've also gotten to use Lenovo's accidental damage insurance. The guy above us in the office building always clogs his toilets and one day a mixture of crap and water came pouring out of the ceiling and onto one of the tablet pc's. Since it also has a spill-resistant keyboard, the internal components were fine even after being covered with crap. The keyboard needed to be replaced though, so I sent it in overnight (shipping covered by Lenovo) and the machine was returned from their North Carolina repair depot in a day.

I discovered that the external wireless switch had been stuck when the technician replaced the keyboard, so after calling up Lenovo, they had on-site service the next day. Needless to say, their service is excellent.

I would definitely choose Lenovo over Hp's or virtually any other laptop brand. My friend just got a Dell Inspiron and the machine is clunky and the general build is of a much lower quality in general.

That's great and all, but I am not going to spend over a thousand dollars on a laptop. For what I am going to use it for, it really would not be practical to invest that much. I am probably going to go with HP, as they offer the best price/performance ratio in my mind.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...t_series&a1=Category&v1=Versatile performance

I'm probably going to configure a laptop off of that link. HP also offers a Intel based laptop with pretty much the same specs and price. I wonder though which one is better and how much of a difference I would see from upgrading the processor up a few tiers from the stock one they offer with the laptop.

 

[flashstar]

Lenovo has very good regular laptops for less than $1000 too. These are just special touch-screen versions, so they're much more expensive than ordinary laptops.

 

[Eric3988]

Lenovo has very good regular laptops for less than $1000 too. These are just special touch-screen versions, so they're much more expensive than ordinary laptops.

The selection from Lenovo looks pretty sharp, but they seem a little graphically underpowerd. Yes I know, laptops for business, desktops for gaming, but I would like to be able to run the likes of WoW, Guild Wars, or Civ4 on there at a playable framerate with lower settings enabled. Most of Lenovo's offerings only have integrated graphics cards which blow.

 

[flashstar]

Check out this:

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...-category-id=1F106632CBC24D2CBD23DF19644D3694

If you don't mind going a bit over, they have models that include a m570 (8600gt with GDDR 3). That's much faster than what you're considering now.

 

[Eric3988]

Check out this:

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...-category-id=1F106632CBC24D2CBD23DF19644D3694

If you don't mind going a bit over, they have models that include a m570 (8600gt with GDDR 3). That's much faster than what you're considering now.

Looks pretty good, but why is it that more expensive than HP? Is it just of better build quality or am I paying for the name brand? An HP laptop still comes out a 100 cheaper or so with similar specs.

 

[flashstar]

I'm pretty sure that you're paying for quality. The HP doesn't have a spill-proof keyboard or a roll-cage.

Anyway, it's your decision. I'm just trying to help.

 

[Eric3988]

I found a new laptop to contend for my $$$ today!

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16834280007

This thing looks very freaking sweet. It has a pretty decent graphics card for the price too. What are everyone else's thoughts on it?

 

[Eric3988]

BUMP!! Seriously though, does the laptop in the post above look like it is worth it? Does anyone have experience with it?

 

[ktr]

Dunno about Everex, never heard of them...i wonder who is the OEM behind them. Possibly MSI?