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Laptop advice
    #8632130 -

I'm looking for a new laptop for school and my internship. I need something that can handle my work in Maya and Photoshop with relative ease, but I can't spend more than 2k (less would be better obviously). Here are a few I had in mind, but any suggestions would be welcome.



1. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115475

2. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115474

3. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834147750

4. Dell XPS with Vista Home - $1,772:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.5GHz/800Mhz FSB, 6MB Cache)
Full Hi Definition, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD
4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
320GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
Verizon Wireless built-in cellular mobile broadband (EVDO Rev A)
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition
3yr warranty/service
Office 2007

I'm pretty tech savvy, but I've always had desktops before. Kind of depressing how much technology you lose the price of mobility :crankey:

Thanks for the help :smile:
Which laptop looks like the best deal?
You may choose only one
Are Acer laptops reliable?
You may choose only one


Votes accepted from 07/14/08 01:15 AM until the end of time

View the results of this poll | Filter by response


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Re: Laptop advice [Re: JT]
    #8632188 -

I don't like acer. I could give you a page on why, but do yourself a favor and not get one. You either get a good one, or you get a bad one that you will work on every week.

Dell has great support, and they have great prices for additional software. Such as my favorite little toy...LoJack. It comes free with many of them. I would imagine with the xps it would. I really like the XPS notebooks. Be careful about some of the video cards my Nvidia has been a huge pain in the ass with vista. It works fine in linux though. If they still offer XP I would get xp. I have had nothing, but problems from vista. From getting old software to work to keeping my drivers working properly. If you are linux savy Dell offers some of the laptops with linux I suggest it. Don't get it if you aren't good with it...Linux is TOUGH. Vista will be fine if you don't mind tuning up everything.


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Re: Laptop advice [Re: MHbound]
    #8632218 -

You might want to consider a macbook, I've had one for about 2 years and I've been really happy with it.  I've used PC's before that and they've always been annoying with weird errors and whatnot, the macbook is very user friendly the OS is super stable, mine hasn't crashed or frozen once since I got it, and there's a disk utility feature that can repair your hard drive for you, I had a problem with the hard drive a little while ago and got it fixed through the disk utility myself, well it won't fix it for you every time, but in some cases it will.  Oh yeah and you don't really have to worry about viruses on macs either cause most viruses are for PC's.

I would say the only problems with macs are the price - you can get better features for the same money if you get a PC.  The second problem is the lack of compatible software, well you'll be able to get all the important stuff, it's just games and whatnot that can be non compatible, but if you really want them you could install windows on the mac as well since they have core duo processors.

Anyway just something to think about, I myself will not go back to using a PC after having a mac.

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Re: Laptop advice [Re: MHbound]
    #8632320 -

In the past I have always gotten Dell desktops and been happy. I would never have considered going with an "off brand" except that I have an acer desktop at my internship and it runs amazingly well.

LoJack looks pretty cool, but Dell doesn't include it and it's $140

To BloodBrother: A lot of my friends have Macs, and I have to admit they are getting better. I don't think we have licenses for Mac compatible software at work though, so they're out of the question.

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Re: Laptop advice [Re: JT]
    #8632425 -

Like I said I have used acer and seen/heard good things, and I have heard bad. You either hear good things from a person, or you either hear bad things. I almost bought one to be honest. Acer has started to do their stuff a lot better. If you feel comfortable get one. It seems like you might do some stuff with computers, and if thats the case you won't mind running into a problem every once in awhile. Dell has them too. My Dell right now is a huge pain in the ass.


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Re: Laptop advice [Re: JT]
    #8632907 -

The right laptop will depend on your usage. But you said you need it for school and an internship, it sounds like you'll be carting it around and running on batteries a lot. In my humble opinion you do not want any of those systems on your list (20" screen? 15lbs? Really???) Yes you sacrifice some technology when you move to a smaller system, but if you value mobility it's worth it. Buy a console if you want to play games. You'd be better served by a nice 13.3" or 12.1" 4 lb. laptop like the Dell XPS M1330 or the Lenovo Thinkpad X series. These will run cooler and quieter, give you better battery life, be much easier to carry around, and the performance is still excellent for anything which doesn't require 3D acceleration.

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Re: Laptop advice [Re: Ythan]
    #8633102 -

I agree entirely with Ythan, Ive seen people with laptops so big I wouldnt even call it a laptop, I think you would be severly disappointed with the bulkiness of one of those if you bought them. Also, are you planning to run Vista? (I ask because you say you are experienced with computers, and most people who are prefer XP). Im partly asking cause it appears you are looking for 4gb of ram, which wont work under XP. Also a lot of laptops cannot be switched to XP if they are sold with Vista. You have to use drivers from the laptop manufacturer's website, and some simply do not provide XP drivers. This might be something for you to check into. If you like XP :laugh:

All of these 3d programs will run under XP anyways, so why would you want Vista using up 25% of your resources in the background, right? (Sorry Im an xp fanboy the same way the dude above me is a mac fanboy)

ANYWAYS. The only brand of laptop I would ever recommend are Thinkpads. I have had two now and they both survived a long life of abuse (being carried around in a backpack really beats the crap out of things). If you are looking for lots of ram and an NVIDIA/ATI card, then something in the T series might be best. Both my mine have been the lower performance R series. Oh and you can put XP on them no sweat, cause they cater to the business market. Half the people with laptops at my university have a thinkpad.

BTW, Nvidia is having some huge problems with their new graphics cards, might want to research that before you buy one :wink:.

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/07/09/nvidia-g84-g86-bad

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Re: Laptop advice [Re: timmeh_87]
    #8633459 -

> 15lbs?

My first laptop weighed in at just over 15lbs... didn't think anything of it until I went to the airport the first time.  If you are considering a heavy laptop, I highly recommend putting a 15lb weight in a laptop bag and carrying it around with you for a few days.  You will quickly change your mind about what the maximum acceptable weight should be... it will drop by more than half, most likely.


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Just another spore in the wind.

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Re: Laptop advice [Re: Seuss]
    #8633785 -

Not sure of the weight, but I have a 17 inch monitor. Large hard drive the works so I would imagine its 15+ lbs. Its great at home when I'm sitting around I love it, but when I goto the library to do work in a limited space it sucks. You have to decide whether or not you want to suck it up, and tote it around with you. a 15 inch monitor is fine I almost wish I would have gotten one. I have the big battery, and the life on it....SUCKS. Even running in low performance I can't get past 2 hours on it.

As for gaming...17 inch monitor is the only way to go. You have to weigh the pros and cons.


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Re: Laptop advice [Re: MHbound]
    #8633979 -

You can always buy a larger external display for non-portable use... best of both worlds.


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Just another spore in the wind.

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Re: Laptop advice [Re: Seuss]
    #8634033 -

14.1" screen FTW.  Even that is a bit big for me to lug around school.

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Re: Laptop advice [Re: DieCommie]
    #8634079 -

Ahh good call Seuss I guess I didn't really think of that. With the new flat panels they have that wouldn't be a bad idea at all.


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Re: Laptop advice [Re: MHbound]
    #8636147 -

Yes, go with a smaller unit that has better battery life.  Getting a computer with quoted 2 hour usage and finding out that it is really more like 50-70min is a bitch. 


Additionally, I got fucked by Dell an overheating on a P4 laptop that had many other problems.  It fried my processer, constantly overheated, fried the graphics card, et cet.


I also had many problems with the power jack (search for my past posts).


I will never get a laptop with a board-soldered power jack again unless I get some extended warranty that is still a better deal compared to a non board soldered jack.


Seuss made a list of portables without board-soldered jacks that I suggest you look at, and ask the people seeling the unit if the jack is soldered to the board.


With my laptop, the fucker would break every 4 months and not allow me to charge it, which sucked.  Dell wanted 500 dollars to replace the motherboard when it was a 1$ part too, which did not endear me to them and their honsety.


Consider that,  if your actually using the laptop as portable, the jack will fuck up very quickly in my experience.

Don't know if they've fixed the issue, but I doubt it.  Get a unit with a sepperate power jack from the mainboard and count your blessings.

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Re: Laptop advice [Re: JT]
    #8636754 -

I've heard bad things about Acer in the past.

Some major points to consider:

- Sounds like you're going do be graphics work. A big screen would be nice for this, but take a look at the weights on these things. Screen size increases the weight significantly. That HP with the 20" screen weighs 15.3 lbs! Factor in portability vs. usability.

- One of the biggest problems with laptops is with the power connectors. The laptop can be bad ass, and work amazingly well... the AC/DC in jack connectors come lose from the mother board and next thing you know you have an awesome laptop that doesn't charge. Research the companies beforehand. After being a Toshiba laptop tech for about three years, I will NEVER buy another Toshiba laptop because no matter what model it is, they almost ALWAYS have this problem eventually.

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Re: Laptop advice [Re: Gumby]
    #8636866 -

macbook pro. can run windows if you need and was shown it runs it faster then any PC.  small and quality. but there customer service is a major selling point for me.  right now get 200 bucks off and a free ipod touch


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And Moses Said "Let my mushrooms grow!"

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Re: Laptop advice [Re: Gumby]
    #8636936 -

Gumby said:
- One of the biggest problems with laptops is with the power connectors. The laptop can be bad ass, and work amazingly well... the AC/DC in jack connectors come lose from the mother board and next thing you know you have an awesome laptop that doesn't charge. Research the companies beforehand. After being a Toshiba laptop tech for about three years, I will NEVER buy another Toshiba laptop because no matter what model it is, they almost ALWAYS have this problem eventually.



Yep...:thumbup:


My dell's power jack comes loose every 3-5 months and requires fixing.  Dell charges 500+ plus shipping.  Some guy I found will do it for 70 including shipping one way, but its still a huge bitch.


Watch out.  Dell, those fuckers, don't care.


They could easily attach the power plug to the case and just solder wires from the plug to the motherboard, but no, they want to save 50cents in parts and complexity and just solder it to the board... a decision that makes the laptop practically unusable as a laptop it will fail so much.



And another fun power thing about dell.  At least in the past, they had another signal going to the computer from the convertor.


They had a copyright on some signal from the AC/DC convertor that was sent to the computer.  If that signal wasn't recieved the computer would purposely waste about half the power from the convertor, it would charge half as fast.


Dell would tell you this was cuz of unoptimal charging or some bullshit, when a window pops up to tell you, but that's a lie.  They just want to make you pay the 50$ or whatever to buy their convertor instead of 15 or something for a competitor's, so they purposely fuck with you.


They were sued over this and couldnt' justify how the exact same convertor couldn't charge as fast, and they settled... lost for all intents and purposes.

I don't know if they do the later anymore, but it illustrates what assholes they are in certain areas.....  You pay 1000+$ for a laptop and you get fucked cuz del won't spend the 50cents to solder wires to the mainboard and attach the plug to the caseing.  Thanks dell....

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Re: Laptop advice [Re: johnm214]
    #8638175 -

IBM does a nice job. They aren't the best as far as speed goes, and everything but they will not let you down. Their customer support you can't beat. I recommend buying an extended 2-5 years warranty plan in case something comes up like a loose connector etc. Most people don't keep a laptop more than 5 years. They will replace anything that goes wrong free of charge. Most will anyway.


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Re: Laptop advice [Re: MHbound]
    #8638567 -

IBM doesn't sell laptops anymore, from what I've seen Lenovo is doing just fine with the Thinkpad brand but they are an entirely different company.

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Re: Laptop advice [Re: Ythan]
    #8638684 -

Thanks for all the advice guys

Think i've settled on one.

Dell M1330/M1530
2.6ghz core 2 duo
4gb ram
HD LED screen
Nvidia GeForce 8400M

I can get the M1330 for $1538, or the M1530 for $1535 with a 3 year warranty.

I hadn't really thought about mobility, but i'm going to be draggin this thing all over the place, so that's definitely an issue. These are kind of lacking in power, but I think the trade off will be worth it since they're only 4 and 6 pounds respectively. I can always get a new graphics card in a year or two.

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Re: Laptop advice [Re: Ythan]
    #8638772 -

Ythan, thats what I meant. I guess I should have been more specific.

Anyway, my dad has one and it works fine. Also has great tech support. Unless when Lenovo started doing it they f'ed things up, but I assume they do fine. He says they have good support...


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