Yet another "Help me choose a laptop" thread. *UPDATED AS REQUESTED*

Sofa King Kool

Sofa King Kool

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*Update*

Alright, well, after many complications I finally got it today. I'm at school right now, so I have to get it all registered and everything before I can connect to the internet, but once I've got all the basics out of the way, I'll install Crysis and see how it runs. I'll update again once that is done. If anyone has any specific questions just ask.




SHORT

 I'm now looking for a high end laptop capable of at least Orange Box games and smooth video/photo editing. Needs a lot of memory, at least 2Gigs RAM, CD/DVD Drive, wireless capabilities, and longest lasting battery possible. Trying to keep it under $1000, and I have some good computer parts to sell. Any estimates on how much cash I could get for them would be appreciated.

LONG

[quote name='Sofa King Kool']Well, last night my time frame was a few months, but recent events may shorten that significantly, and will likely change the kind of laptop I'm looking for. The desktop I'm using now was assembled by a friend of mine who had to cut some huge corners because, at the time, my parents had a firm hold on my money, and they've always been the type to try and get things done as cheaply as possible. With computers, of course, this is a horrible mistake, but I had no choice. Now, less than a year later, this computer is on its way out due to conflicting hardware and a bevy of other problems. It crashes frequently, shuts off at random, overheats almost daily, and last night it just shut off without warning, and when I turned it back on I was met with a random jumble of symbols on a black screen. I shut it off for the night, and fortunately it's running again.

In short, I cannot trust this computer. It's so shoddy, and I cannot bear to imagine the hell I would go through if this computer died and I lost all my school work. A lot of my classes require me to turn in a copy of everything I've produced over the semester at the end of the year. Failing to do so would be an academic death sentence. I'm going to see what I can do to salvage this computer, but I think it's time I start looking at some nice, more expensive laptops. PC gaming used to be a huge deal for me, but I need to accept the fact that High Def PC gaming is a luxury I just can't afford right now. Plus, I really need the portability of a laptop.

So, added to the previous requirements: I don't need it to run Crysis or anything, but I'd like to be able to play Counter Strike, HL2, DoD, Garry's Mod, and Orange Box games without any issues. (I've spent waaay too much money on all these games to just throw them away). I'm unfamiliar with laptop pricing, but I'd like to make it $1000 absolute maximum. If that's absurd, feel free to correct me.

*Edit*

Looked at some Alienware; apparently $1000 isn't absurd. If anything, it's excessive...

Also, if I were to find a place that would buy used computer parts, how much could these get me? If this can get me a reasonable amount, there's an Alienware that's priced around $1000 that would be perfect, and it can still play High Def games. Double win.

- ACPI Multiprocessor PC
- ASUS DVD-E616A3T
- NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX
- Standard Keyboard
- Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7200 @ 2.53GHz
- All the necessary wires'n'shit[/quote]
 
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Stay away from Dell, their customer support is being horrid to me over my laptop that's performance has gone from being able to play the Orange Box games to having trouble watching videos...
 
I put this HP together. It looks alright, but I don't know anything about laptop batteries, so I have no idea how long a 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery will last.

Total was $450.

Operating systemGenuine Windows Vista Home Basic with Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
ProcessorAMD Sempron(TM) Processor for Notebook PCs SI-42 (2.1GHz)
Memory2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Hard drive160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Graphics cardNVIDIA GeForce 8200M G
Display15.6" diagonal High Definition HP Brightview Display (1366x768)
Primary DVD/CD driveSuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
PersonalizationMicrophone Only
NetworkingWireless-G Card
KeyboardHP Color Matching Keyboard
Primary battery6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Adapter65W Adapter
Productivity softwareMicrosoft(R) Works 9.0

Though I also found this one on Best Buy. I'm no good at reading specs, but it looks to be a bit better...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9168063&type=product&id=1218041998438
 
[quote name='Hydro2Oxide']Stay away from Dell, their customer support is being horrid to me over my laptop that's performance has gone from being able to play the Orange Box games to having trouble watching videos...[/quote]

Bleh, I totally disagree with that statement; did you try re-installing windows? Also HP is pretty bad at providing customer service.

Found this, may be of some interest.

Credit to mydealz @ SD. $400
BestBuy:Toshiba - Satellite Laptop $399 with Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor T3400 L305-S5944 Toshiba - Satellite Laptop with Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor T3400
Model: L305-S5944 | SKU: 9263496

Warranty Terms - Parts1 year limited
Warranty Terms - Labor1 year limited
Product Height1.5"
Product Width14.3"
Product Weight5.5 lbs.
Product Depth10.6"
Processor BrandIntel®
ProcessorIntel® Pentium® Dual-Core
Processor Speed2.16GHz
Display TypeWXGA widescreen TFT-LCD with TruBrite technology (1280 x 800)
Screen Size15.4"
System Bus667MHz
Cache Memory1MB on die Level 2
System Memory (RAM)2GB
System Memory (RAM) Expandable To4GB
Type of Memory (RAM)PC6400 DDR2 SDRAM
Hard Drive TypeSerial ATA (5400 rpm)
Hard Drive Size250GB
Optical DriveDouble-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW
Optical Drive Speeds6x DVD+R DL; 6x DVD-R DL; 8x8x8 DVD-RW; 8x6x8 DVD-RW; 5x DVD-RAM; 24x24x24x CD-RW
Direct-Disc LabelingNo
Digital Media Reader or SlotsYes, select memory card slots
GraphicsMobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M
Video Memory128MB - 1342MB dynamically allocated shared
Personal Video Recorder (PVR)No
 
That Toshiba that seen linked is probably better than the 2 you are considering. Recent Intel mobile processors have been better with power usage than their AMD counterparts, so you'll get a bit more battery life out of laptops with Intel processors. In terms of graphics, the nVidia 8200M (in the HP & Compaq) and the Intel 4500HD (in the Toshiba) are roughly equal in performance. Neither is head and shoulders above the other in any particular area.
 
I think all batteries last 45-60 minutes. I don't know of any that have a substantially longer life span. usually the laptop has setting like lowering the brightness or performing worse to increase the battery life.
All the laptops look fine and should meet your needs.
What is the time frame for your purchase? If you have a couple of months then there will probably be a deal for something a little better for a little less.
 
Well, last night my time frame was a few months, but recent events may shorten that significantly, and will likely change the kind of laptop I'm looking for. The desktop I'm using now was assembled by a friend of mine who had to cut some huge corners because, at the time, my parents had a firm hold on my money, and they've always been the type to try and get things done as cheaply as possible. With computers, of course, this is a horrible mistake, but I had no choice. Now, less than a year later, this computer is on its way out due to conflicting hardware and a bevy of other problems. It crashes frequently, shuts off at random, overheats almost daily, and last night it just shut off without warning, and when I turned it back on I was met with a random jumble of symbols on a black screen. I shut it off for the night, and fortunately it's running again.

In short, I cannot trust this computer. It's so shoddy, and I cannot bear to imagine the hell I would go through if this computer died and I lost all my school work. A lot of my classes require me to turn in a copy of everything I've produced over the semester at the end of the year. Failing to do so would be an academic death sentence. I'm going to see what I can do to salvage this computer, but I think it's time I start looking at some nice, more expensive laptops. PC gaming used to be a huge deal for me, but I need to accept the fact that High Def PC gaming is a luxury I just can't afford right now. Plus, I really need the portability of a laptop.

So, added to the previous requirements: I don't need it to run Crysis or anything, but I'd like to be able to play Counter Strike, HL2, DoD, Garry's Mod, and Orange Box games without any issues. (I've spent waaay too much money on all these games to just throw them away). I'm unfamiliar with laptop pricing, but I'd like to make it $1000 absolute maximum. If that's absurd, feel free to correct me.
*Edit*

Looked at some Alienware; apparently $1000 isn't absurd. If anything, it's excessive...

Also, if I were to find a place that would buy used computer parts, how much could these get me? If this can get me a reasonable amount, there's an Alienware that's priced around $1000 that would be perfect, and it can still play High Def games. Double win.

- ACPI Multiprocessor PC
- ASUS DVD-E616A3T
- NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX
- Standard Keyboard
- Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7200 @ 2.53GHz
- All the necessary wires'n'shit
 
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[quote name='seen']Um...so you no longer want a laptop? If so can you please be clear in your OP and title?[/quote]


I'm still looking for a laptop, only now it needs to be a much more capable laptop to replace what should be a very capable desktop.

I'm currently eyeing this, which will fit my budget perfectly if I can score a reasonable amount of cash for the parts in my current computer (listed above).
 
If you can find that laptop for around $1000 that is actually a really good deal. Another laptop often recommended is this one but it has a worse cpu and video card than the one you found.
 
alienware.. ew, gross.

without even trying, you can do way better. i just went to newegg -> laptops -> sort by price, the first laptop for the same price ($1,099) as the alienware was this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834147919

at quick glance that'll get you..

17" instead of 15.4" (same weight)
512mb geforce 9600 instead of 256mb geforce 8600
P8600 2.4G instead of T8100 2.1G
4gb ram instead of 2gb ram
320gb harddrive instead of 160gb harddrive (but the 160 is faster, to be fair)
blu-ray + dvd burner instead of just dvd burner

again, i'm not saying this laptop is a great deal, i'm just using it to point out how bad of a deal an alienware is
 
[quote name='Koggit']alienware.. ew, gross.

without even trying, you can do way better. i just went to newegg -> laptops -> sort by price, the first laptop for the same price ($1,099) as the alienware was this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834147919

at quick glance that'll get you..

17" instead of 15.4" (same weight)
512mb geforce 9600 instead of 256mb geforce 8600
P8600 2.4G instead of T8100 2.1G
4gb ram instead of 2gb ram
320gb harddrive instead of 160gb harddrive (but the 160 is faster, to be fair)
blu-ray + dvd burner instead of just dvd burner

again, i'm not saying this laptop is a great deal, i'm just using it to point out how bad of a deal an alienware is[/quote]


Holy balls, fuck Alienware, this is way better. (See how bad I am at this stuff?) I nearly spit my drink when I saw the Blu-ray drive...
 
[quote name='itachiitachi']I think all batteries last 45-60 minutes. I don't know of any that have a substantially longer life span. usually the laptop has setting like lowering the brightness or performing worse to increase the battery life.
All the laptops look fine and should meet your needs.
What is the time frame for your purchase? If you have a couple of months then there will probably be a deal for something a little better for a little less.[/QUOTE]

45-60 minutes? Ahahaha.
 
This is the jumble of symbols my computer was giving me when it died. If anybody knows what it means, please let me know. I've personally never seen it before.

img0120.jpg
 
Stay away from HP at all costs. They seem like a great deal, but when your system starts falling apart within a year, it isn't such a deal anymore. I have had two HP desktops and now this notebook and all three have had various problems and HP support is no help. I've had lots of problems with the keyboard and now HP won't fix it since some of keys are missing since I took them off to try and clean it or something since they would stick sometimes or wouldn't response. So I'm just going to replace it myself now instead.

Also if you're going to be using this for school and carrying it around, I wouldn't recommend anything bigger than a 15 inch notebook, and that to me is pushing it. I wish I had gone with a 14 or 13 inch one. That 17 inch notebook is going to be a massive pain to carry all day and you'll need a large desk and outlet since it will use the battery quite fast.

I would recommend a Lenovo, but you probably couldn't play games on it, Dell seems to have lots of deals all the time, not sure on their quality though.
 
[quote name='Thongsy']Stay away from HP at all costs. They seem like a great deal, but when your system starts falling apart within a year, it isn't such a deal anymore.[/quote]


Hmmm. Now I'm conflicted. Can anybody else vouch for this?
 
I'm kind of with that poster above you.

I work in an office of ~50 people and we are an HP laptop office. It has been a nightmare getting HP to show up and honor their warranty agreement. I have had to make a big fuss and after 6+ months of emailing and calling whoever I can from HP, am just now starting to get some type of support.

Also it is annoying having to repeat yourself at least 5 times when you are speaking clearly as their English comprehension(their support agents) is terrible.
 
I'll need to look into this, because I was drooling over the link Koggit posted.

Aside from customer support issues, how has the computer treated you? I've sort of come to accept that all customer support is terrible, so I can't really factor that into my purchases. The reviews of the laptop itself seem good...
 
my friend had an HP laptop which had several different problems at different times (first the motherboard was screwed up, then the video card gave out, and later he needed to get his hard drive replaced for whatever reason), and HP seemed to fix all his problems in a timely manner. Of course, ideally, one wouldn't have these problems in the first place...
 
That's really lame. Hmmm, well, the first one TruthinessFC posted seems a little more practical anyway, (though I will really miss that blue-ray player...)

Any experiences with ASUS computers?
 
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hardware fail rates are the same among all manufacturers, around 22%. seriously, consumerreports has done in depth analyses with sample sizes in the 1,000s and the fail rates only varied from around 21% to around 24%. which makes sense, considering most laptop manufacturers get their components from the same sources. the only two things the manufacturer's really responsible for as it pertains to failrates is cooling and software.


anyway, so far, my favorite is the best buy link that drfoo posted.
 
[quote name='Koggit']anyway, so far, my favorite is the best buy link that drfoo posted.[/quote]


The specs were good, but...

I know it's not a good practice to be nit-picky when it comes to these things, but that computer has, without a doubt, one of the ugliest laptop designs I've ever seen X_X
 
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Whoops sorry I said the Alienware was a good deal. I thought your used components were the Alienware's components. That one I linked to is actually much better. Also Koggit is right on the failure rates thing. They are all close to equal. I've had an HP for one and a half years with no problems so far and I really like the styling/touch pad and overall design compared to Dell and Sony laptops.
 
I had no problems with my HP, but I have only owned one pavilion, so take that for what it's worth. I game primarily on my Toshiba laptop, here's my thoughts. I've seen some terrible suggestions here, I know you said Orange Box capable machine, but even if you have video editing in mind, don't go with anything below a 512 ONBOARD memory video card, none of that shared memory crap, it's not the same. My current machine is a Toshiba, as I said, and the bundled video/DVD making software is a GODSEND., it's awesome, but all I need it for is burning my family's cheesy videos, so again, take that for what it's worth-I don't know what programs you will use and what you need to do. HOWEVER, I would say if you want a desktop replacement, up your price point to at least $900, even $1000 if you can, because you will be AMAZED at how much difference that makes. My machine was on sale last year for that price with twin 256MB Geforce cards, and even though it plays anything out, I'd be really curious to get my hands on a laptop with a gig of video memory. Check this out :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220525
check that link, and I ask why drop $500 for a 128MB video card, when $400 more could do that?
 
I don't think you will find a 2.53 ghz dual core laptop for under $1,000

If your looking for more options there is this. for $899.99


Intel® Core™2 Duo mobile processor P8600; 4GB DDR3 memory; DVD±RW/CD-RW drive; 13.3" widescreen; 320GB hard drive; built-in webcam; facial recognition security; Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with SP1
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9150624&type=product&id=1218036666917

Personally I like the $850 from new egg the best so far.

[quote name='Moxio']45-60 minutes? Ahahaha.[/quote]
Wow dude what's wrong with that? That's what's bee for any laptop I've tried. But if you have some better insight then how about you contribute it.
 
[quote name='Holy_Headshot']I had no problems with my HP, but I have only owned one pavilion, so take that for what it's worth. I game primarily on my Toshiba laptop, here's my thoughts. I've seen some terrible suggestions here, I know you said Orange Box capable machine, but even if you have video editing in mind, don't go with anything below a 512 ONBOARD memory video card, none of that shared memory crap, it's not the same. My current machine is a Toshiba, as I said, and the bundled video/DVD making software is a GODSEND., it's awesome, but all I need it for is burning my family's cheesy videos, so again, take that for what it's worth-I don't know what programs you will use and what you need to do. HOWEVER, I would say if you want a desktop replacement, up your price point to at least $900, even $1000 if you can, because you will be AMAZED at how much difference that makes. My machine was on sale last year for that price with twin 256MB Geforce cards, and even though it plays anything out, I'd be really curious to get my hands on a laptop with a gig of video memory. Check this out :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220525
check that link, and I ask why drop $500 for a 128MB video card, when $400 more could do that?[/quote]


Heh, that's actually the same one TruthinessFC linked me to. Yeah, it looks really great. I'm strongly considering this one.

Just want to reiterate: This laptop will run Orange Box games at good settings, correct? And if it's better than the Alienware I was looking at, (which was apparently capable of games such as Fallout 3), does that mean the ASUS is capable of more demanding games as well?
 
I'm currently looking around for a laptop for two of my friends who both currently have computers from about 2002-2003. One of them would like to play games aside from school use and the other would like to be able to watch Blu-ray and edit movies aside from his school use. But neither of them know a thing about computers. I think these two

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220525
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834147919

were both very good suggestions for your needs and my friends' needs. Both of my freinds were looking to spend about $1000-1200 too.

Thanks for making this thread, SKK. You may have just made my search a whole lot easier.
 
One thing I want to note is that I really hate the way HP computers look, though this doesn't just go for HP. This glossy, smudgy surface and glossy screen trend that's taking over in the home/small office lines is totally freaking GROSS. Toshiba's picking up on it, too. The contours are all curvy and weird, too, across most of the PC home/small office lines.

All I want is a black box (talking right angles here, not crazy corners and bulges) that doesn't smudge with a matte screen. Boom. End of story. As a result, I'm looking at business lines in browsing for my next laptop. It's jacking the price up a touch because I want something with dedicated graphics, and that's killing the cheap ass in me, but fuck me if I'm going to own one of those glossy, smudgy monstrosities.
 
Currently finalizing the finances with the parents. I think I'm pretty set on the ASUS TruthinessFC and Holy_Headshot linked me to, though I'm still a bit shaky on what kind of games it's capable of running. I don't want to buy until I know. Can anybody tell from the specs? I really have no idea what newer games require to run well, but I can reason that if the ASUS is better than the Alienware I was looking at (which advertises itself as being capable of games such as Fallout 3), that the ASUS will be just as capable. Right?
 
[quote name='Sofa King Kool']Heh, that's actually the same one TruthinessFC linked me to. Yeah, it looks really great. I'm strongly considering this one.

Just want to reiterate: This laptop will run Orange Box games at good settings, correct? And if it's better than the Alienware I was looking at, (which was apparently capable of games such as Fallout 3), does that mean the ASUS is capable of more demanding games as well?[/quote]

Oh definitely. My laptop's GPU has only 256MB dedicated vram and I can max out any of the Orange Box games, full AA and all, no hiccups. Same goes for Left 4 Dead. My personal belief, even if you have no intention of playing other games right now, laptops are not upgradeable, it's always better to get the most you can, rather than save a few bucks and regret it in a year. That's pretty much why I recommended the highest possible vram card. I'm kicking myself for buying a puter with two 256mb gpu's in SLI instead of a different model with a single GPU with 512mb onboard vram.
 
Alright then, I'm sold. ASUS it is.

A HUGE thank you to everybody for your comments, opinions, and suggestions. I really appreciate it. I'll probably be ordering this tomorrow and I'll hopefully have it by Saturday (if newegg is as ridiculously fast as I've heard, but I won't get my hopes up...)
 
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Although that Asus on newegg should run source games fine, if you really want the most speed for your money the one I linked to would be much better. The 9800M GS scored 8454 in 3dmark 06 on notebook check while the 120m GT scored 5431, making the 9800m GS about 50% faster according to that test. Benchmarks are a much better indicator of speed than total video memory and you would save $100. However, the processor in the newegg laptop is somewhat faster (scoring 1600 vs ~1400 in cpu benchmarks), so if you like the styling more it might be a better choice anyways.
 
DrFoo could definitely be right, I'd be curious, what's the max resolutions for each machine? Hey Sofa King, I'd love to hear your impressions after you pick up your laptop, keep us posted!
 
Will do. I didn't order it yet, but I'll definitely be ordering tomorrow. I'm getting more and more nervous that this desktop is going to die at any second. I'm opting for two day shipping...
 
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