StarDestroyer.Net BBS

So the screen died on my trusty Dell XPS M1530 (I want to say it is 6 years old+) and on the off chance when I crack it open and can't fix it, I will be needing a new COMPUTOR.

I don't need it for anything fancy schmancy, just the intratubes and possibly an occasional trip into MMO land, but that is unlikely. I suppose a computer game could catch my interest, but that is also unlikely.

I never did get that badass Wacom thingy I wanted... I wonder if you can surf the webs with those?

Anyway, any suggestions? I know Dell gets a bad rap, but it has served me exceedingly well considering the way I treat it and I haven't had any problems (that I can remember) with it up until now.

How are HPs? Sony Vaio? (which has always been one I wanted) Toshiba? Lenovo? Asus? Samsung? Gateway? Alienware?

What the nuts is an 'ultrabook'? Should I get one of them new fangled touchscreen swively thingies?

Any input would be appreciated.

Also, why the nuts are Macs over a grand when no other laptop on BestBuy's site is even at $900?

My last screen died when I drove my fist through it. You got off easy.

Havok wrote:Also, why the nuts are Macs over a grand when no other laptop on BestBuy's site is even at $900?

Because Apple does not need or want to compete in the low margin value section of the market.

Havok wrote:
What the nuts is an 'ultrabook'? Should I get one of them new fangled touchscreen swively thingies?

Ultrabooks are notebooks built around traveling, at it's core they are laptops with smaller screens, thinner cases and even smaller batteries are based around keeping weight at a premium. However Ultrabook is a marketing term not a classification so your mileage may vary.

I assume laptops only?

Stark wrote:My last screen died when I drove my fist through it. You got off easy.

This is how the AI wars start, you know.

Yeah, Beaner, only laptops.

Stark why did you punch your laptop?

I think you mean end. I win.

And Hav baby you gotta learn about market segmentation. :V If you just want to browse and nag people on interwebs and shit, just buy a tablet. That way your safe from wasting any of your time in fucking EVE.

I didn't punch my laptop. I punched my monitor. It lost, and I think everyone involved learned a valuable lesson.

My lesson was 'LED backplates = hard'. :V

Important question: How often do you actually plan on taking it out and about with you, and what do you expect to do with it when you're out of the house? Unless you do a lot of business travel -as in "only sleep in your own bed at weekends" a lot- then I really don't suggest buying another laptop.

Havok wrote:Yeah, Beaner, only laptops.

Two things, on manufacturers
Asus and MSI have surprisingly good quality laptops for excellent prices, but ergonomics are lackluster on most. HP makes bad laptops, and good laptops not great laptops or terrible ones. Sony makes expensive laptops. People who like Lenovo will always recommend only Lenovo (For good reason). Acer makes a fuckton of laptops all cheap. Beyond that it depends on the maker but those are the bigger ones. Dell is so so when it comes to making laptops but they are on the expensive side for price/features because most listed prices are as barebones as possible.

Three quick rules of thumb

1. Someone will recommend a Lenovo within the next few hours, Lenovo owners love the things
2. Video card names on laptops are filthy lies and not to be trusted. On the PC side a 560 is better than a 550, on the laptop side a 560M is less powerful than a 540M sometimes because both are secretly 400s and other tricks.
3. If at all possible store shop your laptop. Screens are a crap shoot on laptops these years.

No, It needs to be a laptop, because I do most of my COMPUTORING either on my couch or at my drawing table. I don't have a computer desk and I want a keyboard. I like laptops.

Zaune wrote:Important question: How often do you actually plan on taking it out and about with you, and what do you expect to do with it when you're out of the house? Unless you do a lot of business travel -as in "only sleep in your own bed at weekends" a lot- then I really don't suggest buying another laptop.

If he's not a typical nerd use case, outside of playing a game he may use the internet while wandering around the house or doing other things.

This is why when people buy tablets they discover they don't actually use their desktop for much anymore. Especially since he does most of his gaming on a console.

edit fuck you have and your ninja bullshit

I basically use my laptop for Stardestroyer, Ebay, NFL.com, scanning and some slight image adjusting and burning CDs. I used to play EVE but then I fell asleep.

However, I hate slow computers. I want it to boot fast, run fast, load fast so I don't mind a little overkill for what I do.

So I am looking at this and this so far.

Thoughts?

Havok wrote:I basically use my laptop for Stardestroyer, Ebay, NFL.com, scanning and some slight image adjusting and burning CDs. I used to play EVE but then I fell asleep.

However, I hate slow computers. I want it to boot fast, run fast, load fast so I don't mind a little overkill for what I do.

Tablets you never turn off boot p fast. :V

I don't want a tablet.
Besides from the looks of it, if I buy a new fucking phone which I also need, it's going to be the size of a fucking tablet.

I also want a big screen.

Go on then, buy an i7 for fucking web browsing. What a lol.

Sadly I don't think the stupidly named samsung galaxy 2 note 8 galaxy samsung 8 note 2 tab makes calls in the US (for some reason).

Well I am considering getting Photoshop and some other graphics programs too, but that isn't a main objective for the moment.

Havok wrote:So I am looking at this and this so far.

Thoughts?

Is storage space important? If you're picky about speed I'd recommend a faster HD or a SSD if you don't need 1TB. The built in graphics will piss you off if you do eventually try a real game on that Sony. The i7 is overkill and will lower battery life if that matters, the i5s are usually the best bang for the buck.

Not just that, but there is a pretty good chance I won't buy another one for another 6 years.

Meest wrote:

Havok wrote:So I am looking at this and this so far.

Thoughts?

Is storage space important? If you're picky about speed I'd recommend a faster HD or a SSD if you don't need 1TB. The built in graphics will piss you off if you do eventually try a real game on that Sony. The i7 is overkill and will lower battery life if that matters, the i5s are usually the best bang for the buck.

Doubtful. I don't think I even filled up my last hard drive, or even cam e close for that matter. And yeah I was going to ask about the graphics card. Battery life doesn't matter as I usually have it plugged in. It only needs to be portable from room to room, not much more than that.

Does this provide a sufficient graphics card?

Havok wrote:No, It needs to be a laptop, because I do most of my COMPUTORING either on my couch or at my drawing table. I don't have a computer desk and I want a keyboard. I like laptops.

Well, it's your money, I guess. But would you rather be spending $900 on a new laptop or $200 on a new monitor right now? Just sayin'.

Also, I envy you your child-free living room and apparent ability to use a lap-desk without tweaking your back.

I would rather be spending 900, because 200 would still be pissing me off because I would have to be sitting at a desk instead of where ever I feel like.

Havok wrote:Does this provide a sufficient graphics card?

Yes that should be fine, it's 3x+ faster than the integrated one and has dedicated memory, if battery and heat isn't a concern it will run modern games at 30fps at medium settings. The 5400rpm drive is probably the biggest bottleneck of the system if you go the 640M vid card route.