Hello guys, Started my new Uni course today and after being on their Core 2 Duo - Scissor Switch Keyboard - Horrible Mice iMacs for around 10 mins I wanted to bang my head of the table repeatedly. Therefore its time to get a good laptop another mechanical keyboard and another mouse.... Have decided on my second keyboard and mouse but Ive never owned a laptop - So my question is what laptops do you guys recommend that have nothing to do with apple? Many thanks as usual , Luke. EDIT : also atm i only have 760 to spend...
Sony Vaio Z Series? I can't get enough of mine and because their ssd's in are RAID 0, it's super fast.
The problem with Sony laptop is that if there is anything wrong, or even lost your recovery disk or forgot to make them, you are screwed. Service is abysmal. BUT I'll say this right now. They have one of the best monitor in a laptop (the Z series). You wont' find such small laptop with such high resolution anywhere else. Quality of Sony laptop varies between abysmal to OK. This one is in the OK range. If you don't mind a basic screen, and a bit thicker system, but want service, and a more solid product. Dell Small Business. CALL to quote price. They always give you deals on the phone, and free upgrades, if you ask or negotiate a bit. The system cost more due to the better warranty service over the consumer product, and you can request OS disk, and be junk free. I don't about about Dell in your region, but here in Canada, every Small Business class laptop comes with 3 year warranty, yes 3. AND 3 year next business day on site service. So if you laptop craps out, you have a tech guy, coming over at your place, at the time you said, the next business day. The tech will repair your laptop in front of you, and you can make sure that your problem is solved. Also, that means you always have the laptop in your hands, no need to ship it and wait 1-2 weeks to get it back. You can also request to have you replace the part yourself (but any damages will be your fault, not Dells). Dell business class laptops are easy to open and reassemble, especially the Latitude and Precision series (cost more, of course) If you don't want Dell, have a look at Lenovo business class systems. Business class systems are generally more robust, better engineered in all aspects, including cooling. You won't need any cooling pads or crap stuff like this. Also warranty service is better, and again OS disk (make sure you have them, you can request them at purchase), and junk free. So yes it's more expensive but worth the premium. Whatever laptop you get at the end, I STRONGLY suggest to get a 9-cell battery. Remember that battery life time degrade over time... and I am not talking about after 5 years... I am talking about 1-2 years depending on usage and the quality of the battery. Many does the error of getting a 5 hour battery, and they quickly see that this 5 hours, becomes 3h, and start to need to have the power adapter with them at all times, as 3h isn't enough. If you can get 9h+ ideally, then you might have days where you won't need a power adapter at all. My laptop (Dell Latitude E6400, Core 2 Duo P8400, 4GB of RAM, Nvidia Quadro NVS 160M) had about 11h of battery life (using my software in signature), however after 2 years, its about 8h. This is the second battery my laptop had (4 year old laptop).
thanks for your advice man, I had fully intended on ordering an ips monitor until today, I cant go 4 years using that horrible crap they were calling pc's -,- I will be using the laptop for photoshop, dreamweaver, notepad++, illustrator and all that good stuff... pretty much all at t he one time... atm im trying to configure a semi decent custom laptop over at cyberpower... yet to have any luck :/
Heuuu.. important point to remember. I was comparing laptop screen. They are in general all crap compared to the desktop version. Even if you are able to get an IPS panel in a laptop, it won't be good. You'll get great viewing angle which will be a bit plus, but colors won't really be impressive, and of course, you have no control in adjusting the panel setting hardware wise. The reason for this, is because the panel needs to be ultra thin, and consume the lowest amount of power as possible. That means that A LOT of sacrifices needed to be done. Oh and low cost. So a lot of simplification on the circuit side also needs to be done. Laptops are designed for work on the go. Not do serious work. You will notice the following: -> TN panels will have a very short viewing angle... especially vertical. It is most viewable on non-glossy panels (that is why you only see glossy panels on consumer laptops these days... as if they put a matte, it will look like garbage over the rest). -> IPS panel will have better blacks and much better viewing angle, but these are difficult to find. So far I haven't see any business class laptop with one, that isn't a portable workstation. In common to both, some or all colors are usually over saturated to compensate for the drawbacks of having such thin panels. All the manufacture cares about, is that it looks good in the store shelf, and when you first open the laptop. the rest.. to bad. But as most people usually use a laptop for typing text, surfing the web, or playing games on the go (gaming PC), colors accuracy is put aside, and no one complains.
Also, now is not the best time to buy a laptop. Many manufacture are holding their laptops, for when Windows 8 will come out. Launch event of Windows 8 is October 25 in New York. Microsoft Surface (Windows RT - ARM CPU) and Surface Pro (Windows 8 Pro - Intel CPU) tablets are expected to be release the same day or the following day.
hmm, GoodBytes you are a monitor wizard, several occasions you have helped me out... I can also plug the laptop into an ips monitor in uni.. so are ultrabooks out of the equation for my needs?
I'd begrudgingly agree. The screen is amazing. And you can find them on eBay for near as new for around 750. Alternatively heard good things about the Thinkpad x220, its just a bit thicker. The other Laptops I looked at before deciding were: Lenovo X1 (ebay link) and Dell XPS 13 (Another eBay link) Screen on the Lenovo is higher resolution than the Dell.
Ok, I went to the Sony store to check out the Sony Vaio Z 14inch. Man Sony changed.... for the worse. Ok here is what I saw. -> The screen, while an impressive 1920x1080 for a 14inch system, it is the standard TN panel that you see on all laptops, but that is expected. So I won't deduct point, but add some because it's a high resolution screen, which are a complete miss most 13/14inch laptops. -> The screen lid looks like it will break in 2 days. Super flimsy. Like REALLY flimsy. They were all like that.I feel if you put a book on the laptop, close, the lid cover will break. -> Despite the looks, it's 100% plastic product.. very thin pastic... like I think Acer does a better job. -> The VGA port somehow, sticks out of the case. Like if they miss measured by 1-2mm. -> When you open the laptop lid, the laptop lifts in an angle. Very awkward. But "by design" (more like design error, and a quick fix was added to not scratch the lid base every time you open it from the friction of the table surface. The fix is adding pads on the hinge to lift it more, and act as it is for cooling). The pads on the lid hinge are flimsy. I have a feeling that after 1 year you'll miss one... and if that happens, you laptop will bounce like an uneven table. The cooling argument I got from the sales rep was very weak, because my laptop, which feature a freaking Nvidia GPU, doesn't lift up, and is, at worst (playing a game), warm even on your lap. -> The Ethernet port feature an expendable port design. However the laptop feet are too thin. Result. While it works perfectly if the lid is open, when you close the lid, as the laptop goes flat as it's not being lifted anymore, the Ethernet lifts the laptop in a an angle when you have the Ethernet cable connected. So you can't have the laptop lid closed, connected to an external monitor. WAIT I am not done! -> The touchpad feature a strange smooth/glossy and non-glossy pattern, which make the touchpad very hard to use. Like forget the touchpad response problem, or precision, or sensitivity that are usually poor on laptops. Here, you can't slide your finger smooth due to the pattern. -> The keyboard. The keys are way too distance between each other and too big. As I was typing, I hit between keys several time. Also, while the keyboard expressed NO flex (this is excellent), it had no depth. I felt like typing on a touch screen. It barely goes down 2mm. Also I left like breaking the keyboard for some reason. When I have this sensation it's because the plastic is extremely cheap. I have a feeling that the keys will break soon. And that is all I can say about this laptop. The ONLY redeeming factor is the high resolution screen. I won't talk about the specs as the standard stuff: Core i5 or 7, 4GB of RAM, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, audio out, mic in, wireless N, and Intel GPU, because it's free for OEMs (no need to buy an Nvidia or AMD GPU, for some real performance).
The Dell XPS 13, biggest flaw is the screen. Reds are completely off. and pressing lightly the screen makes waves on the panel. It does have a gorilla glass to make it anti-scratch. It's a shame the panel is garbage. The keyboard is so so. I tried it. It's your standard chick-less keyboard. I hate those. They are the worst keyboard for heavy typing. The Lenevo X series pointed out by MSHunter, is pretty interesting. IPS panel (again, nothing like the Desktop IPS monitor, but better than TN panels on the laptop side), and you have Display Port! So you can connect the laptop to a larger screen all digital and proper support for resolutions higher than 1920x1200. And you can get a larger capacity battery. Definitely worth a look at. If it had eSATA that would have been the cream on top.. but it is 12inch. The Samsung Series 9 (I said Series 7 before.. I got confused, I meant 9) looks nice, IPS panel 1600x900 resolution, which is not bad for a 13inch machine, 256GB SSD, keyboard is OK when I tried it, it's a chickless one like most consumer laptop keyboards and some bushiness laptops, and has an IPS panel. However it only has a mini-HDMI port.
Thanks! To answer your question it depends. Many ultrabooks are awaiting Windows 8 release. But it comes down to connections. What you are looking for is one with DisplayPort or mini-Display Port. So that you can connect it to an external monitor, no mater the resolution (ok well if it's a 4K resolution that is a different story.. but beside being in show, like OLED TV's and computer monitors, they won't reach the mass market any time soon). HDMI is iffy. I don't like that port. It's VERY laptop depended. Most of them are limited to 1920x1200, even if they proclaim to have HDMI 1.4. I think it's the Intel GPU that can't deliver a higher resolution over HDMI, but I am not sure. I haven't look into it. VGA is a port that will be discontinued in a few years. 1920x1200 resolution is pushing VGA to it's limit. Any external interference, even with a cable and short cable, will display an image with a minor static effect on the back or not as sharp image as it would be on DVI.
Perhaps worth mentioned that you can buy a Power Media Dock for the Sony which contains a Radeon 6650m, which helps if you want to play games. And using the dock the Laptop can then power up to 4 displays I think. It's definitely not a Laptop for shoving in your rucksack and lugging around. I personally like the keyboard and trackpad, but I get GoodBytes points about the thin screen. I've not really noticed the ports stuff because the only ones I use are headphones and power. Just noticed the vga port after Bytes mentioned it, and that is kinda weird... wonder what they were thinking with that one! The Series 9 is super nice, but also super expensive.
It's 1500$, here in Canada. Well it depends on the size and options, but it's in that range. It's a little on the expensive side, yes. I would expect either 3 year warranty with the system (but it's a consumer laptop, so stores forces manufacture 1 year warranty to sale their extended warranty that covers nothing), or an Nvidia or AMD GPU. You know, it's sad for Nvidia and AMD, because now Intel GPU's are free (included in CPU), OEMs just don't care about putting a dedicated cards, especially that it can handle Windows UI and Office 2013 GPU accelerated interface. People seek for proper multi-monitor support, better driver support, graphic performance that is the same and expected from software to software, best graphical rendering, and use software that requires the GPU rendering (CAD software, gaming, video converters, professional image editing, etc.), but don't want to carry a 15inch (if you are lucky) or a 17inch gaming laptop or a 15inch workstation monstrosity. Sadly no manufacture fill that need (or they do, but the laptop falls apart even before you opened the box) :/
lenovo-u410-14-ultrabook is a good offer if you have an old laptop to get the £150 cash back. I got it and am quite happy no IPS but for laptop screen is OK. Full metal case and 11 hour battery. you can upgrade the mSATA SSD your self with probe and screwdriver. I have researched this and may be exchanging the 32GB Booster SSD for a 256 GB Crucial.
Kepp HDD spindle speed in mind Goodbytes has said a lot of awesome stuff and I disagree with none of it. I want to add that if you are going for a mechanical drive only set up, see if you can get something with a 7200rpm drive over the 5400rpm ones. In my experience they really do make a huge real world difference. Others might disagree (although I'd be surprised if they do). Obviously if the primary drive is an SSD and there is a mechanical storeage drive then it isn't such a major concern.
Hello I got DELL XPS x2 last summer, which I am selling now but not because I am unhappy but I got another one from work. So I am very happy with the machine very good quality and many nice additional features. A few specs Intel i5 Sandy Bridge 2.6GHz, 6GB RAM, GeForce GTX 525 1GB and 650GB HDD killer Wifi and JBL 2.1 speakers, 3G and 9cell batery, which lasts for 6hours for sure. I recommend this system as it always have planty of power whatever I do. For a test I've put in parallel 5 HD movies and DVD converter running, there was no delays or skipped frames. The only drawback that I can think of is the non fullHD screen. In terms of Gameplay I play Mass Effect 3 at full details.
