Want to get a new laptop....

dchuk

dchuk

Senior Botter
Oct 30, 2008
7,044
224
0
San Diego,CA
serpiq.com
In the market for a new laptop. Price range is about $500-700, obviously the lower the better, but I don't want to skimp. I don't play games, the most graphically intensive thing I do is Photoshop. Lot's of programs running in parallel though, and VM's out the ass, so Ram and CPU are my biggest concerns.

I've been searching around tonight and found these 3 as my biggest contenders:

Walmart.com: HP G62-149WM Laptop PC with Intel Core i5-430M Processor & Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Edition: Computers
MSI A6200 021US 156 Widescreen Notebook Computer With Intel Core i5 430M Processor With Turbo Boost Technology by Office Depot
Toshiba Satellite L555-S7008 PSLWJU-00H003 Notebook PC - Intel Core i5-430M 2.26GHz, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, DVDRW, 17.3" Display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit at TigerDirect.com

I'm really leaning towards that Walmart one actually, that's a sweet deal on a pretty solid lappy. I'll probably bump up the ram within 6 months as prices drop to 8 gigs, and the 7200 rpm hard drive is nice too.

All of these rigs have shitty onboard graphics though, manufacturers must be skimping so they can keep prices low and still offer the new procs. Like I said before though, the GPU doesn't really matter that much to me.

...unless it's gonna fuck me when I get a new 24" monitor to dual screen with.

Any thoughts? Should I just shut up and get the HP at Walmart?
 


im not exactly a comp wiz but il throw yah my 2cents.... I have never heard anything bad about toshiba. I have had several people tell me that when it comes to quality and your shit running and not breaking down 6months later that toshiba is the best for the money. good luck
 
I hear good things about Toshiba as well.

I'm generally happy with my HP but the thing is louder than godzilla goin to town with a vibrator. My next laptop is definitely gonna have a solid state hard drive.
 
justo_tx said:
I hear good things about Toshiba as well.

I'm generally happy with my HP but the thing is louder than godzilla goin to town with a vibrator. My next laptop is definitely gonna have a solid state hard drive.
Click to expand...

Which model do you have? the one I currently am on (a shitty 2+ year old one) is literally like having the sun sit on my lap, and that's after I lowered the heat with a fix by like 30C...I really like that HP I posted but if there's a heat problem with it I'm gonna return it asap.
 
NutrapayAndy said:
Might be able to find a used Macbook Pro for under $1k

After you get used to it you'll never go back
Click to expand...

Yeah, I work with a bunch of dudes on Macs, they all cum over them every day. I genuinely enjoy win 7 though, and am looking forward to getting something new, albeit affordable. Thanks for the suggestion though
 
mpbiz said:
im not exactly a comp wiz but il throw yah my 2cents.... I have never heard anything bad about toshiba. I have had several people tell me that when it comes to quality and your shit running and not breaking down 6months later that toshiba is the best for the money. good luck
Click to expand...

I have a few friends with really old Toshiba's that are pretty rock solid, so that does sound encouraging. Plus, the resolution on this thing is tits.

But the lack of HDMI is discomforting
 
Had an old Dell laptop, it was okay. HP laptop died from overheating.

Stick with Asus, Thinkpad or Song Vaio and you're good to go.

If you want a god tier keyboard, try Acer Travelmate ... fuck those keyboards are nice to type on.
 
I have the Dell Studio XPS 16 and I absolutely love everything about it. Plus it looks so sleek and nice in person. I highly highly recommend it.
 
When I bought my new laptop 6-8 months back, I ended up with an upgraded Dell Studio 15, I ALMOST went with a Studio XPS 13, but some of the reviews pushed me off. Mine has a built in shitty video card, but don't let that deter you, I can do everything and anything with this, except playing Modern Warfare 2 or similar...this laptop is absolutely FLAWLESS. Best laptop I have ever owned.
 
MacBook Pro. Maybe a little out of your price range but the comp will last you at least 2-3 years. I used to hate macs but they are seriously some reliable machines. My friend has tried like 3-4 different pcs this year and is fianlly going back to mbp. Invest in one, you won't regret it.

Just wanted to add that I'm not a mac lover. I hate the iPhone, the ipad etc. Unless you are a systems engineer, a mbp is more than enough.
 
I bought the Gateway NV58 Core2Duo laptop back last August when Tigerdirect got in a huge truckload. It cost me just under $500. They are out of that model now, but this is just about the same, it's dual core, but not Core2Duo. The case is a different color, but the same model.

Gateway NV5453U Notebook PC - Intel Pentium T4300 2.10GHz, 4GB DDR2, 500GB HDD, 15.6" LED, DVD, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Red at TigerDirect.com

I rarely turn my laptop off, just put it in sleep mode when I need to move. I usually have about 3-5 instances of Photoshop projects, a lot of Dreamweaver pages open, MySQL Workbench, Excel, and all that other usual stuff open at a time. It usually sits around 5-10% CPU load with that working.
 
dchuk said:
any thoughts on the XPS? They're solid machines right?
Click to expand...

Considering the XPS line came out after Dell bought Alienware (and I have had some horrid experiences with Alienware laptops. PM me sometime and I'll tell you about it lol) in order to learn how to develop high-end gaming laptops, I'd stay away.

A friend of mine bought an XPS back in 2007 or 2008 and it was overheating on him a lot.
 
dchuk said:
Which model do you have? the one I currently am on (a shitty 2+ year old one) is literally like having the sun sit on my lap, and that's after I lowered the heat with a fix by like 30C...I really like that HP I posted but if there's a heat problem with it I'm gonna return it asap.
Click to expand...

Can't remember my model off the top of my head but it's about the same age and gets pretty fuckin hot (between that and the noise I'm retracting my "generally happy" comment). There was another massive battery recall a few days ago for older models, yours might be on it.

HP expands laptop battery recall, again -- Engadget
 
You can try posting in Notebookreview forums and they will help you find a good laptop for your budget and needs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom