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Looking for a laptop since I officially left mine for dead.
Looking to spend less than $600 w/student discounts
Don’t need anything to play games only email/net/and and hdmi out to connect to the TV to play downloaded movies would be a plus.
Considering anything that’s a good value, even if it’s a netbook…
Haven’t looked around too much (kind of w/o a computer, does PS3 internet count?).
Where to start looking for awesome deals? I’m a Dell/HP fan unless there’s an sickdeal. Also highly considering used if in good condition also can salvage my old *edited* like ram ddr2, cd burner, 500gb sata 2.5” discs…
Yeah sort of vague, really just a head start b4 starting the search.
Regretfully posted via Mac
Unless the newer Intel HD video cards are any good, you’re probably not going to be happy using a
You can get an ATI card on the $600 ones from Dell but only when using an AMD Turion X2 processor, which I consider unacceptable when compared to the Core i3 in similarly priced models with Intel HD video.
If the new Intel HD video is sufficient you can pick up a core i3 with 4-6GB of for like $500 from Dell or HP.
Phonetically Phamous (dice said:
Looking to spend less than $600 w/student discounts
He’s probably better off not getting an XPS. You can get a nice inspiron for the same prace as an entry XPS.
good feedback.
Looks like i’m going to skimp on the media center option for now, maybe i’ll be better off with burning dvd’s for now or figuring out how to make the playstation play them.
Anything to lookout for whe buying used laptops of craigslist/ebay (other than scams).
MasterP said:
Phonetically Phamous (dice said:
Looking to spend less than $600 w/student discounts
He’s probably better off not getting an XPS. You can get a nice inspiron for the same prace as an entry XPS.
just saying, $650 for an xps with an i5, 500gb, 4b ram, and dedicated nvidia card is a good deal IMO
Nickname said:
just saying, $650 for an xps with an i5, 500gb, 4b ram, and dedicated nvidia card is a good deal IMO
Core i5 mobiles are dualcore with hyperthreading. I’ll apply your own standards when judging that
Having a 420M would be nice but if he doesn’t plan on gaming there’s really no need.
MasterP said:
Nickname said:
just saying, $650 for an xps with an i5, 500gb, 4b ram, and dedicated nvidia card is a good deal IMO
Core i5 mobiles are dualcore with hyperthreading. I’ll apply your own standards when judging that
Having a 420M would be nice but if he doesn’t plan on gaming there’s really no need.
There are core i5 desktops that are the same way, but they are still good chips and faster than the i3 and you know it.
and he said he doesnt NEED to game but everybody WANTS to game. For $50 over budget you cant deny its worth it if for no other reason than the xps support is actually american-based while the standard support (like you will get for an inspiron) is out of india.
If it were me, yeah I’d definately do it. If I were on a budget then probably not, for $600 you won’t get more than 1 year of warranty anyway.
Do they make netbooks with VGA out to hook to the TV?
Dell’s Mini10 was looking pretty promising, still waiting for something to become a good value. Do the big names typically have a sale before or after christmas? I haven’t been in the market for a pc in 5 years kinda behind in the research dept.
PS: does Acer have a refurbished site like dell and hp’s “outlet”
The Acer 1430 is looking cash by specs, cant find a price so i guess its not out yet?
[noob]
Also, I have a 500GB 2.5″ Sata HD from the old HP, If i get a laptop with a small drive to save cash would I be-able to swap this in or does it already need to have an OS on it? Or should I just get the largest HD that comes standard?
[/noob]
I have the acer 1410 and its pretty sweet; the 1430 is basically the same but faster cpu so looks like a win to me.
And yes you can swap the drives
Don’t get Acer. They’re cheap for a reason, mainly because they’re terrible. If I remember correctly, Mike had problems with his when he first got it. He got it fixed but I prefer computers that “just work” from day 1
Also, don’t get a Dell mini, I’ve never used one that performed well. When I was at NCSU we did a race between the office’s dell mini with SSD and my HP mini with a standard 160GB SATA. They were convinced it would run circles around my “slow piece of crap HP.” My mini was booted into win7 pro, logged in, and at the desktop before the dell mini with a SSD got to the winxp pro login screen.
If you get a mini you can’t swap out the HD without a near complete disassemble. Also, minis don’t have good enough GPUs to be used for TV hookup and most only have a VGA, as opposed to laptops which typically have HDMI.
You should be able to swap out HDs if you buy a regular laptop but you’ll have to reinstall windows on it using a DVD. You’ll also lose your recovery partition.
Before buying a laptop, pull up the maintenance guide and see which parts are user replaceable and how hard it is to swap them out. HP and Dell both provide documentation on this and it really helps to decide what you want it to ship with and what you can upgrade later. RAM, HD, and wireless card are almost always user serviceable and sometimes the processor is too. RAM is almost always cheaper on newegg than the manufacturer UNLESS the manufacturer has one of those “free update to 4GB” deals when it ships with what you want to begin with. HD is usually cheaper to upgrade from the manufacturer but if you want a performance drive they’re usually cheaper on newegg.
Just check prices really well before spending any money.
MasterP said:
Don’t get Acer. They’re cheap for a reason, mainly because they’re terrible. If I remember correctly, Mike had problems with his when he first got it. He got it fixed but I prefer computers that “just work” from day 1
I disagree completely. Yes, mine did have a problem, it had a bad intel wireless card. Those same cards are used by HP, dell, gateway, ASUS, apple, etc, so I very easily could have had the same problem with another manufacturer. The fact is once I got that fixed, the computer has worked flawlessly and has even survived a 3 month trip to Egypt courtesy of my sister-in-law. You can experience problems with computers from all the major manufacturers, and Acer doesn’t use the same cheap materials they used to use 2-3 years ago, so I would be confident buying another one.
I do agree I would stay away from a mini though, they are way underpowered and you will not be satisfied with it in the long run. There really is no reason to not buy a computer with an i3/i5 processor, period.
Maybe so but Acer’s 23% 3-year failure rate is kinda, meh, especially when Dell and Apple are both around 18%. I’m not so sure I believe the study though, it says Asus, Toshiba and Sony are more reliable than Dell and puts HP as the least reliable
IMO, any laptop you spend more than $500 on needs at least a 2 year warranty. You’ll probably be using it
It appears the 11.6″ ultra portables are right inline with what I was wanting out of a laptop. A bit better than a mini but not a super beast like many laptops. I don’t really care to much about boot time as long as its not dragging ships when up and running. Good to know about user serviceable parts, I always just assumed the HD and RAM were always user serviceable? Is there a list out there comparing these mid sized laptops?
Phonetically Phamous (dice said:
I don’t really care to much about boot time as long as its not dragging ships when up and running.
It took 15-20 seconds for firefox to open a new window. Dragging and causing massive amounts of rage is all they did. IE did alot better but when used coworkers mocked you.
Phonetically Phamous (dice said:
Good to know about user serviceable parts, I always just assumed the HD and RAM were always user serviceable? Is there a list out there comparing these mid sized laptops?
AFAIK, there is no unbiased site that compares them all. You’re probably best just deciding on a specific price and going to each website and coming up with the best laptop you can get for that price.
11.6 in almost all use standard 2.5in hdd so you should be able to change yourself. They are pretty solid so I think you will be happy, just make sure you do your research. Ever manufacturer has models that come out that are duds so make sure you dont get one of those lol.
I would have done this but it is dead
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2461520
/nodice waits
Thoughts?
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=2465803
$624.99
# ntel Core i3-370M Processor 2.4GHz; 13.3″ HD LED Display
# 4GB of DDR3 1066MHz RAM (2x2GB, 2 slots
# NV 310M 1G DDR3 + Intel GMA HD (Optimus Technology)
# 320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM); No optical drive
GPU?
No optical drive is a dealbreaker for me.
It was a hassle getting Office07, MATLAB, and Mathematica on my mini via network and USB. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to install games that way.
You’ll also have to use USB or WDS for windows7 reinstalls but those are actually the preferred methods now. Both are lightyears faster than DVD.
MasterP said:
No optical drive is a dealbreaker for me.
It was a hassle getting Office07, MATLAB, and Mathematica on my mini via network and USB. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to install games that way.
You’ll also have to use USB or WDS for windows7 reinstalls but those are actually the preferred methods now. Both are lightyears faster than DVD.
you know there are things called external dvd drives.
Also that is the computer I have been eyeing to get for awhile so I think its a great deal dicey
Yeah I know but that’s an extra $40 you have to spend, $60+ if you want a good brand. Add $60 to the laptop and you can probably get a better model that comes with one.
This poped up on craigslist and he seems pretty legit. but outta price range.. What would be a low but not so much to the balls offer?
http://charlotte.craigslist.org/sys/2109117851.html
I got him to also send me his order details
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You won’t get that for less than $1000. The Alienware brandname alone puts it outside the range you’re looking for.
MasterP said:
Yeah I know but that’s an extra $40 you have to spend, $60+ if you want a good brand. Add $60 to the laptop and you can probably get a better model that comes with one.
The idea is that its nice to have a computer without one from a size/portability/battery life standpoint.
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