Laptop buyer's guide

ChopperMan

ChopperMan

[09] Warrior
Been having problems with mine and I've wanted a new one for a while for gaming anyways

but I have no idea what's shit and what's quality in the world of computers

Not looking for anything high end personally, just something to manage my shit for college and that I can play games like L4D and TF2 on. and something that I could get good use out of for the next 5 years or so.

So if anyone's knowledgeable about the subject post here to help out those who don't(about good comps, bad comps, overrated comps(alienware) etc)
 
For laptops, I feel like people should go with one of the major manufacturers simply because of their more reliable support/warranties, plus they're making some good machines anyways. Dell, Acer, HP, Vaio... should have something to fit your needs. Asus is coming up in the notebook market though, and while I've been a big fan of their desktop components, I have no experience with their laptops so I can't recommend it in good faith.

As far as gaming goes... since laptop screens usually don't have insane resolutions (like around 1440x900 or something), you should be able to play Valve's current games on high with just about any computer shipping with a dual core processor and at least 1 gig of RAM so long as you have a solid GPU, like a 9600M GT.

EDIT: Since GPUs are rather confusingly named, here's a post listing them in terms of performance:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=302231

Anything in the Performance category should be able to max out or decently run TF2/L4D comfortably on laptop resolutions.
 
have a Sony Vaio myself and its working very well... the screen is wonderful. but they mark up the price for brand name (you get what you pay for)

heard good things about DELL laptops from a friend who use to own a few...
heard bad things about HP (screen issues). however their notebooks come PACKED with features...

my Vaio only has about 1.6ghz of core duo, and only 1 gig of ram, and the GPU really really sucks. which is why im also looking for a more powerful notebook.
if you want to play games SMOOTHLY on there you'll need as least 2 gigs of Ram and a decent-good video card.
 
ExMachina said:
For laptops, I feel like people should go with one of the major manufacturers simply because of their more reliable support/warranties, plus they're making some good machines anyways. Dell, Acer, HP, Vaio... should have something to fit your needs. Asus is coming up in the notebook market though, and while I've been a big fan of their desktop components, I have no experience with their laptops so I can't recommend it in good faith.

As far as gaming goes... since laptop screens usually don't have insane resolutions (like around 1440x900 or something), you should be able to play Valve's current games on high with just about any computer shipping with a dual core processor and at least 1 gig of RAM so long as you have a solid GPU, like a 9600M GT.

EDIT: Since GPUs are rather confusingly named, here's a post listing them in terms of performance:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=302231

Anything in the Performance category should be able to max out or decently run TF2/L4D comfortably on laptop resolutions.
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Any specific computers you'd recommend?

I have a vaio and it meets every requirement except for the videocard

and I heard you can't really replace video cards in laptops so....fuck
 
While you can't replace videocards or overclock the CPU, lots of times you can overclock the video card. If you really want something for gaming, get a minimum 9600GT and overclock it.

Whatever you do, use your display driver settings and this site to properly adjust the colors/brightness. Despite my laptop having a matte and not a glossy high contrast screen, I've gotten a fair share of oohs and aahs about the color fidelity.
 
If you want to game, I can't help you there.

If you don't care about gaming and you can afford it, get a MacBook.

If you can't afford it, get an Acer.

If you want to take notes and shit, get an Asus.
 
Oops, sorry about not replying to your post earlier... I honestly haven't been in the market for a laptop for 4 years, so I don't have a clear idea of specific models to recommend right now. But yeah, I concur with Lunar that you've made a good choice on that Asus from what I can tell looking at the specs.

Mind you, it won't have as many applications built in as say, an HP or Dell, but that can be a good or bad thing, depending on what kind of computer user you are...

Lenovo's not that great of a brand, tbh. Ever since IBM changed up the name they haven't been making very high quality products.
 
If you go alienware laptops... don't get the m15x, it has problems.

The m17x is huge and expensive.

M17 is your best bet, is also huge, but powerful and cheap.
 
Jaxel said:
Dont get an Alienware at all... its nothing more than a fancy looking DELL.
Click to expand...

Nah, they use an entirely different chassis than Dell.

The only AW laptop I'd consider is the M17... which is a rebadged OCZ whitebook, also offered by Sager and XoticPC. The AW is priced similarly to the other brands, but looks nicer, so I'd get it.
 
PANDA510 said:
im thinking about getting this one...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001L5U0RG/interactiveda8789-20

can anyone comment/suggest anything about this.
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Small resolution, mid-ranged graphics card (same as a Macbook pro), only ONE usb port, very cheap price. Including a keypad on a 15.4" laptop seems like a bad idea. The 2.0ghz Athlon is a lot weaker than Intel's Core2Duo offerings.

MSI is a decently well known company. In this case, you really do get what you pay for.
 
^ Actually, it has 3 USB ports... amazon just has it wrong.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc...ang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC10590-Cat56670&topnav=

its got 2 usb ports on the left and right of the laptop and the eSATA is combo'd with an extra usb port = 3

and the cpu can be overclocked with the "turbo" button to 2.6 Ghz.

these features look really good for the amount that they're charging...

any more comments on this before I purchase? or if you like to suggest any alternative notebooks ish welcomed. ^_^
 
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