New Computer Advice Thread

Talk about computers, hardware, applications, and consumer electronics.
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Postby Universezero » 2010.11.07 (03:50)

As per topic. I'm not sure what laptop to get though; here's my list of things that need to be in it.

1) Under $3000 dollars (approx US$2400)
2) For school use and personal use.
3) I like to play games, so I want it to be able to run pretty high-end stuff.
4) AT LEAST 4 hours of battery life. One with 9 or something would be amazing.
5) Strong. I'm going to be hauling it from school to home each day and want it to be able to hold together.

These are all just rough estimates; if something comes up that -pretty much- fills all the criteria, then that would be good also. Please keep in mind that A) The New Zealand Dollar is worth less than US one, and B) That stuff here costs even more on top of that due to us being in the middle of nowhere. Importing costs a lot.
Last edited by Universezero on 2011.03.03 (07:34), edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Vyacheslav » 2010.11.07 (04:13)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... VIEWS#tabs

That's not a bad choice, butttt here's your thing: Finding a high end laptop with a decent (4 hours or more) battery life is almost impossible. I'd consider a 15" MBP too and then bootcamping it with Windows 7 64 bit for games. They have good battery life.
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Postby smartalco » 2010.11.07 (04:38)

My suggestion changes depending on if you value battery or graphics power more.
If you don't mind not running games at the highest settings, the 15" Macbook Pro literally can't be beat in battery life.

If you do want to run games at fairly high settings, you are pretty much guaranteed fuck-all for battery life and should just expect carry around a charger. Also gaming laptops, as always, are a stupid idea. Here is a list of laptops on Newegg that have a decent GPU in them. Take your pick.
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Postby Vyacheslav » 2010.11.07 (04:44)

Avoid anything with a 1366x768 resolution. Get anything higher.
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Postby SlappyMcGee » 2010.11.07 (14:43)

2400$? Holy -shit-. Buy a Macbook Pro.
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Postby Kablizzy » 2010.11.07 (16:44)

oeuvre wrote:http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... VIEWS#tabs

That's not a bad choice, butttt here's your thing: Finding a high end laptop with a decent (4 hours or more) battery life is almost impossible. I'd consider a 15" MBP too and then bootcamping it with Windows 7 64 bit for games. They have good battery life.
The G73 line are fantastic, as well as the Sony VPC line - Alienware makes an okay laptop, and you can customize an ibuypower laptop perfectly to specification.

Going over the G73 that Pavel linked to, that's hands-down your best bet. Has a fucking usb 3.0 port, bro.
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Postby Universezero » 2010.11.07 (23:28)

Battery's probably a priority. I want to be able run stuff though, so it's a bit of toss up. At the moment, my laptop battery lasts about 15 minutes on full battery, so obviously I'm used to carrying around a charger... It's a tough decision.

That laptop, Pavel, looks pretty good though. I've heard good stuff about Asus... so maybe that one. Also, for the price, the specs are crazy. 8GB memory, 1T HD... so yeah, I'll look into it.
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Postby SlappyMcGee » 2010.11.08 (00:09)

Universezero wrote:Battery's probably a priority. I want to be able run stuff though, so it's a bit of toss up. At the moment, my laptop battery lasts about 15 minutes on full battery, so obviously I'm used to carrying around a charger... It's a tough decision.

That laptop, Pavel, looks pretty good though. I've heard good stuff about Asus... so maybe that one. Also, for the price, the specs are crazy. 8GB memory, 1T HD... so yeah, I'll look into it.

At 2400$, you are spending too much on a computer, so I figure, you might as well buy a lifestyle while you are at it. Which is why I recommend the Macbook Pro.

Or, instead, buy five iPads. Because why not? Money must be wasted, God Dammit!
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Postby mediate » 2010.11.08 (01:14)

Universezero wrote:Battery's probably a priority. I want to be able run stuff though, so it's a bit of toss up. At the moment, my laptop battery lasts about 15 minutes on full battery, so obviously I'm used to carrying around a charger... It's a tough decision.
Look here for comparisons of GPU's. Check the benchmarks to find out what to expect for it. If you are going into university and want the laptop for it, but still want to run games at high performance, don't expect too much battery life. Look into Dell Laptops as they are customizable. Avoid Intel GPU's as they are pure junk for gaming. Some games MAY be playable on medium-high settings, but Intel is intended for simple, non-graphics intensive processing. For gaming, I'd suggest an NVIDIA GPU or an ATI GPU. One way or another, make sure it's a dedicated video card and not internal. If you want battery life, look into the small business line and not the home line for Dells. The home ones are pretty uncustomizable, whereas the business ones give you more freedom. The Latitude Line is strongly recommeded for Dell Laptops. They are the best manufactured ones that I have tested. Here is one that can run some games at pretty good settings. Also look into your CPU, as you'll want a good CPU as well as a good GPU. For gaming, I'd suggest a Core 2 Duo or i5 minimum. i7 or Core 2 Quad preferred. Also, remember, Dell gives you 3 year warranty ... Looking at battery life, make sure you buy a 9-cell battery compatible with your laptop. 9-cell batteries are the biggest, IMO, and will last you the longest. You can go for an Alienware Gaming Laptop if you want just pure gaming performance, however, note that battery life will suffer greatly.

So, ... yeah. Hopefully something from here helps you. Even if you choose not to get Dell, look at the first link and make sure you get at least a 6-cell battery for the laptop. 9-cell preferred, 6-cell minimum. If you want battery life to last even longer, install XP :P

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Postby Vyacheslav » 2010.11.08 (02:07)

Forget about XP since most laptops you're looking at will come with at least 4GB RAM and XP won't allow you to use all of it due to its 4GB limit (32-bit version, 64-bit XP is a mess of an OS). Stick with 7-64-bit. Avoid Dell/Alienware, even their high end models, as Dell really isn't what they used to be and are commonly seen being outperformed and less durable than their competitors for almost a good decade now. Forget about Core 2 Duo/Quad, go for an i5/i7. Core 2 Duo/Quad laptops are so 2009.

mediate: That Dell laptop uses friggin DDR2 RAM. What is this, 2008? Sorry, but if you're going to spend over $1k on a laptop it better have an i5/i7 and at least 4GB DDR3 RAM
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Postby scythe » 2010.11.08 (02:13)

Something something desktop netbook something. Seriously, $2400 on a laptop is goddamn retarded.

Specifically:
this desktop
with
this monitor
and
this netbook PROTIP: Get the extra RAM.
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Postby smartalco » 2010.11.08 (03:35)

Although I entirely agree with the idea of scythe's post, I totally disagree with both the desktop and netbook he picked. (2 lower powered graphics cards is a stupid choice over 1 higher powered one, and spending $1k on any computer (netbook or not) and only getting 1.33ghz and 1gb RAM is absurd)
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Postby Universezero » 2010.11.08 (03:38)

=w= wrote:At 2400$, you are spending too much on a computer, so I figure, you might as well buy a lifestyle while you are at it. Which is why I recommend the Macbook Pro.

Or, instead, buy five iPads. Because why not? Money must be wasted, God Dammit!
See first post regarding exchange rates. That goes for everyone. I'll probably be buying a laptop for about $2100, which is US$1600. This is important. Also, everything in New Zealand is more expensive. It's just a thing.
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Postby scythe » 2010.11.08 (04:27)

Universezero: If it's a better deal, I'll buy your stuff in the US and ship it to you in New Zealand. You'll have to cover me for shipping costs, but I can probably ship whatever to wherever. Hit me up on Facebook or IRC.
smartalco wrote:spending $1k on any computer (netbook or not) and only getting 1.33ghz and 1gb RAM is absurd)
Might have been better if I'd put up a $1700 desktop and a $500 netbook, but I dare you to find a better ultralight in the $1k range. Furthermore, it's 2 gigs of RAM with the upgrade, which you'd be a moron not to get.
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Postby SlappyMcGee » 2010.11.08 (04:43)

Universezero wrote:
=w= wrote:At 2400$, you are spending too much on a computer, so I figure, you might as well buy a lifestyle while you are at it. Which is why I recommend the Macbook Pro.

Or, instead, buy five iPads. Because why not? Money must be wasted, God Dammit!
See first post regarding exchange rates. That goes for everyone. I'll probably be buying a laptop for about $2100, which is US$1600. This is important. Also, everything in New Zealand is more expensive. It's just a thing.

My rule is: If you are spending more than 500$ on it, it should be completely immovable.
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Postby Kablizzy » 2010.11.08 (05:12)

Actually, yeah, wait. This is retarded. Get a $1000 desktop, a $500 laptop, and blow the last $1000 on a car, or give it to me so I can buy a car, or something.

Also, netbooks are fucktarded. There's no reason ever to buy a netbook, ever.
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Postby SlappyMcGee » 2010.11.08 (05:14)

Kablizzy wrote:Actually, yeah, wait. This is retarded. Get a $1000 desktop, a $500 laptop, and blow the last $1000 on a car, or give it to me so I can buy a car, or something.

Also, netbooks are fucktarded. There's no reason ever to buy a netbook, ever.

Can't agree with you there, Blazzblue.
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Postby t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư » 2010.11.08 (05:25)

I can't imagine spending more than $1500 on a laptop, and only if I already have a desktop with all new hardware. Even so, it is extremely unlikely that that laptop would be larger than 15.4".

USD$2400 is fucking ridiculous. That's two laptops, plus expensive hookers and cocaine.

With $1500 and...
  • no new computers: $800-$1000 desktop, $500-$700 laptop
  • old desktop, new laptop: $1500 desktop
  • new desktop, old laptop: < $1500 laptop
  • all new computers: pay off my fucking bills
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Postby Kablizzy » 2010.11.08 (05:31)

=w= wrote:
Kablizzy wrote:Actually, yeah, wait. This is retarded. Get a $1000 desktop, a $500 laptop, and blow the last $1000 on a car, or give it to me so I can buy a car, or something.

Also, netbooks are fucktarded. There's no reason ever to buy a netbook, ever.

Can't agree with you there, Blazzblue.
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Postby smartalco » 2010.11.08 (06:17)

scythe wrote:Might have been better if I'd put up a $1700 desktop and a $500 netbook, but I dare you to find a better ultralight in the $1k range.
Agreed on the first statement.

At the risk of incurring the wraith of the internet, better ultralight-> MacBook Air.
The Air has a (far) better GPU, more 2GB ram stock, very slightly faster processor, and is lighter. And the Vaio gets you a optical in exchange for that. Also, from the page you linked to, I can only see a method of buying pre-speced refurbs, I don't see a link to configure your own (although it is midnight, I may just be stupid currently).
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Postby SlappyMcGee » 2010.11.08 (06:28)

Kablizzy wrote:
=w= wrote:
Kablizzy wrote:Actually, yeah, wait. This is retarded. Get a $1000 desktop, a $500 laptop, and blow the last $1000 on a car, or give it to me so I can buy a car, or something.

Also, netbooks are fucktarded. There's no reason ever to buy a netbook, ever.

Can't agree with you there, Blazzblue.
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Postby Kablizzy » 2010.11.08 (06:49)

=w= wrote:
Kablizzy wrote:Oh, sorry. Paperweight. <3
They could not even hold your paper down because they are so light
Shit, you're right. ;_;
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Postby Universezero » 2010.11.08 (08:36)

T̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư wrote:USD$2400 is fucking ridiculous. That's two laptops, plus expensive hookers and cocaine.
Goddammit. I said NZ$2100, which is only US$1600. Plus, I don't want a desktop and a laptop. I want to be able to game at school too.
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Postby t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư » 2010.11.08 (09:21)

Universezero wrote:1) Under $3000 dollars (approx US$2400)

smartalco wrote:At the risk of incurring the wraith of the internet, better ultralight-> MacBook Air.
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Postby Kablizzy » 2010.11.08 (09:24)

Universezero wrote:
T̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư wrote:USD$2400 is fucking ridiculous. That's two laptops, plus expensive hookers and cocaine.
Goddammit. I said NZ$2100, which is only US$1600. Plus, I don't want a desktop and a laptop. I want to be able to game at school too.
Yeah, £2400 is insane. That's akin to sixteen motorboats, a summer home in Guam, and a blowjob from three filipino boys.
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