BardicKnowledge Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Anyone know of any really nice deals on a new laptop? My friend is trying to replace his, and I told him I'd check here. Unfortunately, the deals on laptops just don't exist in the way that they do for desktops... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitty Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 What kind of laptop is he looking for? Gaming? Everyday use? What size? Just guessing he wants a gaming one...I recently bought a decent gaming laptop. Got the default configuration of this http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Xplorer_X5-2900_Notebook/ plus a larger and faster hard drive and removed the OS to dip it under $700 before tax. I also got 5% off using a coupon code: "repeat" which I believe is still valid. I don't want to list the other stats (too lazy, you can click the link and see for yourself.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jabond23 Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 If he's just looking for a regular use laptop, then check out this Compaq at bestbuy.com http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9168063&st=compaq&type=product&id=1218041998438 I got it for my wife almost a year ago and she loves it. Shes does a lot in terms of video and music on it as well as the obvious, the internet. With the dual core processor and 3gb of ram (that i upgraded it to from 2gb for $20) it can do a lot for the little money you pay for it, $400. Good luck though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronyn Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 My recommendations: Don't get anything from BestBuy. Lots of cost factors, but if you can deal with smaller screen get the smallest possible, will in general get you the cheapest laptop. Get the warranty, especially for accidental damage. If you break on purpose or negligence, tell them it was an accident As an ex-Dell employee: If you happen to consider a Dell and it's E series, do NOT put XP on it; if you want a new Dell with XP, forget it, go somewhere else. Also don't buy any D630's they're trying to get rid of, or anything older with an Nvidia GPU for that matter. If you buy a Dell Studio laptop, shoot yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulinEther Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 About the smallest screen size possible... I've noticed that hovering around the 15.4-16 inch mark actually seems to get you some of the cheaper deals in laptops. A bit after i bought my 13.3, a 15.4 model by the same company with very similar specs went on sale for like $100 less than mine. Maybe it was just bad timing. And it seems the 13 and 14 ones don't go on sale as often, at least not at Fry's (what's your opinion on Fry's?), and I'm not too frequently checking tigerdirect or newegg for deals on laptops. Unless you go for a netbook, which will probably be cheaper. Back on topic: gotta know what the intended purpose of this laptop is to give a good estimate, or to look for a good deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared Hudson Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 It costs more, but DAMN you get more. I'll run over main factors, rather than mainly specs: 13" Macbook Pro for $1199 (updated from June 8th 2009) Aluminum Unibody (very solid construction) Small form factor (portable) Premium LCD (same as Air and 15") OS X Leopard and iLife 09 (kicks the flying shit out of windows vista, although you can still run it for games) 7 Hour Battery Life Backlit keyboard, webcam, Firewire 800 (for audio gear or hard drives) 9400M Video card if he decides to play games (Runs TF2 at high settings) WORLD CLASS CUSTOMER SUPPORT (you won't get any better, I promise) Perfect integration if he has an ipod or iphone http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/ If you are anywhere near shopping for a sub $1000 notebook, seriously consider making the splurge for the 13" macbook pro. You will NOT regret it. It's not overpriced. You are just getting a hell of a lot more besides specs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 I still think the Macs are overpriced, and I own 2. So you know this already Bardic, but I bought this laptop a few weeks back: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0020HRI4M/ref=ox_ya_oh_product I paid $1350 for a laptop with these specs 2 Ghz Q9000 (quad core) 4 GB of RAM 2 250 GB hard drives (5400 rpm) 17.3" LED screen ATI Radeon Mobility HD 4850 with 1 GB of RAM 7.76 lbs ~3 hours of battery life (often more for casual usage such as web browsing, IRC, listening to music) Its been a pretty good laptop IMO, and doesn't really cost a fortune. There is a version for ~$200 more I think where you can get a bigger screen & blu-ray at the cost of ~1 lb as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared Hudson Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 I still think the Macs are overpriced, and I own 2.So you know this already Bardic, but I bought this laptop a few weeks back: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0020HRI4M/ref=ox_ya_oh_product I paid $1350 for a laptop with these specs 2 Ghz Q9000 (quad core) 4 GB of RAM 2 250 GB hard drives (5400 rpm) 17.3" LED screen ATI Radeon Mobility HD 4850 with 1 GB of RAM 7.76 lbs ~3 hours of battery life (often more for casual usage such as web browsing, IRC, listening to music) Its been a pretty good laptop IMO, and doesn't really cost a fortune. There is a version for ~$200 more I think where you can get a bigger screen & blu-ray at the cost of ~1 lb as well. The specs are beefier, but what exactly are you looking for in the price? 3 hours of battery life? Considering that is the optimal life, that's not very good considering it's supposed to be a LAPTOP, not a portable desktop. Even the 5 star reviews admitted the construction was flimsy, and 17" is uncommonly huge. This may be a good deal for a portable gaming rig, but for on the go computing, you need better battery life than an optimal 3 hours. It's the difference between a loaded Honda Civic with leather at a cheaper price, or get a base price Lexus. Seriously, which would you choose? Also, if you have an educational discount, the 13" Macbook Pro is $1099. This should be in your Top 3 picks for a possible laptop. For what you're getting (beyond specs), it's a no brainer. Let's also not forget Macs run EVERYTHING (OS X, Windows, Linux, etc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 if you want to run everything, get an MSI wind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiwalker Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I'm gonna hijack...or rather add to this thread ... So let's say this guy wants a laptop under $1k that can run basically Microsoft Office and Fruity Edition. Would there be anything in the Dell Inspiron category that would be sufficient? (Basically, it's for college and I need word processing, good memory and good enough sound technology to be my main Finale / Fruity composing and arranging tool.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 look for a computer that's got the following. -at least a 2.5ghz dual-core processor - athlon or intel. MUST be dual-core. -at least two gigs of ram for xp, four for vista. more the better. -7200rpm hard drive (it makes a BIG difference), as much space as you think you'll need. 250's pretty good if you don't do something stupid like leave movies on it or something. -chill pad (this is an aftermarket thing get a chill pad for 20$ and extend your computer's life for a year or two). your big concern is audio, then - word processing is very easy for any computer to do, so you just want raw processing power. you don't need some special audio card or anything - just straight-line computational speed. is there a specific reason you want a laptop? desktops are always better than laptops in terms of cost, they'll always outpace a laptop's performance, and since you'll be at college you'll be near enough to your system to use it. buy a shitty laptop off of ebay for fifty dollars (like i did...xubuntu ran like a dream on it) and put the cash into your desktop. no one actually NEEDS to compose on the go, anyways, the only reason to have a nice laptop is if you fly a lot. a netbook or an old craptop is all you need for taking notes in class =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiwalker Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 is there a specific reason you want a laptop? desktops are always better than laptops in terms of cost, they'll always outpace a laptop's performance, and since you'll be at college you'll be near enough to your system to use it. buy a shitty laptop off of ebay for fifty dollars (like i did...xubuntu ran like a dream on it) and put the cash into your desktop. no one actually NEEDS to compose on the go, anyways, the only reason to have a nice laptop is if you fly a lot. a netbook or an old craptop is all you need for taking notes in class =) Yeah I have a really good desktop that can basically do anything, and I've considered getting the shitty laptop deal...but I determined that I won't bring my desktop to college with me (at least not initially) because of how far I have to travel and the conditions. So for the first year or semester all I will have is a laptop and that's why I want a nice one. Thanks for the laptop info/suggestions, very useful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared Hudson Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Oh man. I rocked my home built pc all the time in college. Just a laptop is nice, but having a desktop.....even at college, is a nice battle station to come back to. That's just me though. Plus, what would you do if your laptop needed service or repaired? Do you wanna hit the labs on late nights? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 it's awesome to have your own battleship to impress your buds at school. if you're going to be travelling a long distance, though, i understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siamey Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 side story: my laptop can run the source engine just fine, but not the HL engine properly. fucked up no? HL2 plays dandy on med settings, but day of defeat eats it unless its in 600x800 :/ i assure ive tried every driver and trick in the book to fix it too so that, coupled with my friend who got an alienware laptop with.... SLI'd gfx cards? is that even possible in a laptop? why the fuck would you ever try that? thats what he told me anyways. long story short it melted about 3 square inches on the bottom left side of the case clear off. those 2 have made me steer away from gaming laptops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulinEther Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Yep, some laptops have two graphics cards in em. There's a new alienware coming that apparently doesn't get too hot, either... i am trolling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricklozen Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 I have to say that the hard disk is really the main bottleneck due to the intense disk activity required by certain operating systems (until you reach some form of equilibrium, of course). A lot of processor time is wasted waiting for the hard disk. That'd be my primary concern when looking for any system, then next on the list would be the graphics processor, then system memory, then the CPU, then the battery. Actually, I wouldn't really buy a laptop for serious work--too expensive, too noisy, and too little in return/value so far. Get extended warranty, though, and note that batteries (a separate component) only come with one year warranty regardless, in most cases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esperado Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Im not sure if i shouldve started new thread, but given that this is a laptop buying thread I figure its safe to post this here. (my last forum experience is over on UER.ca, and they get really picky) Anyways, to the point, Ive decided to spring for the money for a macbook pro and im stuck on whether to get the baseline 13" model with a 256 SSD drive, or the top of the line 13" model with the stock 500 gb hard drive. The cost will be roughly similar. its just that the SSd is noticeably faster. My question is, would 256 even be enough space to use the computer as an audio workstation? especially if i decide to use bootcamp to run windows on it so i could use FL studios or run some windows games. It will be my first foray into the world of music production, and with the reading ive been doing, im not quite sure how much space one would need for software, loops and whatever other data i happen to accumulate in my musical endeavors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitty Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 You could just buy a Western Digital Passport. They have a 500gb size for a good price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Im not sure if i shouldve started new thread, but given that this is a laptop buying thread I figure its safe to post this here. (my last forum experience is over on UER.ca, and they get really picky)Anyways, to the point, Ive decided to spring for the money for a macbook pro and im stuck on whether to get the baseline 13" model with a 256 SSD drive, or the top of the line 13" model with the stock 500 gb hard drive. The cost will be roughly similar. its just that the SSd is noticeably faster. My question is, would 256 even be enough space to use the computer as an audio workstation? especially if i decide to use bootcamp to run windows on it so i could use FL studios or run some windows games. It will be my first foray into the world of music production, and with the reading ive been doing, im not quite sure how much space one would need for software, loops and whatever other data i happen to accumulate in my musical endeavors. Only 500GB on macs? If you're going to be installing sample libraries, go for 500GB HDD. I'm going to PM you about something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Im not sure if i shouldve started new thread, but given that this is a laptop buying thread I figure its safe to post this here. (my last forum experience is over on UER.ca, and they get really picky)Anyways, to the point, Ive decided to spring for the money for a macbook pro and im stuck on whether to get the baseline 13" model with a 256 SSD drive, or the top of the line 13" model with the stock 500 gb hard drive. The cost will be roughly similar. its just that the SSd is noticeably faster. My question is, would 256 even be enough space to use the computer as an audio workstation? especially if i decide to use bootcamp to run windows on it so i could use FL studios or run some windows games. It will be my first foray into the world of music production, and with the reading ive been doing, im not quite sure how much space one would need for software, loops and whatever other data i happen to accumulate in my musical endeavors. n-n-n-n-necrobump! the mac SSDs are faster than standard hard drives, but they're not faster than equivalent drives. a better CPU will benefit more than a better HDD. go with the larger HDD. you alwasy, always, always need more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esperado Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 n-n-n-n-necrobump!the mac SSDs are faster than standard hard drives, but they're not faster than equivalent drives. a better CPU will benefit more than a better HDD. go with the larger HDD. you alwasy, always, always need more. whats a necrobump? Also, the ones that come stock at 5400 rpm drives, would it be in my best interest to buy a 7400 or higher rpm drive later down the road? Ill definitely be buying an external drive at some point. aaand since im here, can you daisy chain with firewire? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 whats a necrobump? Also, the ones that come stock at 5400 rpm drives, would it be in my best interest to buy a 7400 or higher rpm drive later down the road? Ill definitely be buying an external drive at some point. aaand since im here, can you daisy chain with firewire? A necrobump is a thread bump that bumps a thread back from the dead. And 7200, not 7400. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 whats a necrobump? Also, the ones that come stock at 5400 rpm drives, would it be in my best interest to buy a 7400 or higher rpm drive later down the road? Ill definitely be buying an external drive at some point. aaand since im here, can you daisy chain with firewire? necrobump is when you bump a thread that's three pages old or more. it's easier to buy a 7200rpm drive initially, but you can always buy one later and upgrade. it's just annoying to either clone your drive over or reinstall everything. no, you can't daisy chain with firewire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StigtriX Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Want the best prices? Buy something from Acer. The TimelineX series is excellent. It's stuffed with bloatware, I know, but just clean the HDD and re-install Windows and you've got yourself a nice laptop I have a TimelineX 5920GTX and am very happy with it. At least here in Norway, Acer has the best specs within the price ranges they are in. If you want the PC with the best build quality out there, go for a Sony Vaio. They look very good, are tough, have good specs, but are expensive. If you want to tweak your laptop as much as possible, I suggest you Google for a company which builds custom laptops in your respective country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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