New Laptop Time. Need Help With The Nerd Stuff

[Havok]

Don't need commentary on where I'm buying it blah blah blah, just how the 4 I picked at this particular time stack up against each other.

Which one would you get?

[Forgothrax]

If you're looking for pure muscle, the MSI has the strongest processor and the fastest hard drive. They tend to make decent quality products as well. The Asus ROG's got a 1/3 bigger but somewhat slower hard drive, and has 4 USB 3.0 ports as compared to the MSI's 2 USB 3.0/2 USB 2.0 (transfer speed is higher with 3.0 if you have USB 3.0 devices).

The Sony's nowhere in the ballpark of the other 3 for power, and the other Asus (not the ROG) has a less capable graphics card and processor than the MSI or the Asus ROG.

[White Haven]

For that kind of price-range, you should be looking for an SSD instead of a hard drive. Beyond that, I think we'll need some basic information on how you plan to use the system, and for what purposes. Different setups will be idea for different goals.

[Zaune]

I have to ask this. Do you actually plan on taking this thing away from home on a regular basis?

[Forgothrax]

I carried a laptop of similar size/weight around for two years. It's do-able. Not always fun, but do-able. I'm sure Havok won't have any issues with it.

[Zaune]

It's not the ability to physically carry it I'm talking about. It's the fact that laptops are about $300 expensive than an equivalent desktop and a hundred times more annoying to maintain, which is not a great trade-off for the ability to theoretically play World of Warcraft on the crapper.

[Havok]

Stark will mock me... but basically just the internet, some ebay, maybe watching football online and the occasional game. Maybe image stuff.

I just hate slow computers. As for taking it places, just different rooms in my house. I don't have a place for a desktop, at least not one that I want to make.

[Zaune]

Plug it into the TV and use a wireless keyboard and mouse? Trust me, if there is any remotely feasible way you can get out of buying a laptop for your primary computing platform, seize it with both hands.

[White Haven]

There's a huge gulf between 'not slow' and 'gaming system.' For what you're trying to use it for, I'd recommend something in the 600-900 range; you can spend whatever you want, but for your uses, you're going to hit diminishing returns really quickly. Zaune has a decent point too, as long as that's not going to cause fights over use of the TV itself. He's more than a little chicken-little about the horrors of laptop maintenance, but not entirely wrong; they are moderately more difficult to work on and acquire parts for. I do, also, have to reiterate my call for an SSD whether you go for a laptop or a desktop. It will make a dramatic difference in program load times and system response time, far more so than just throwing more processing power at the problem.

[Zaune]

I just calling it how I see it, chum. Though I have to admit it might be partly self-inflicted since I tend towards portability over performance and refuse to spend more than two hundred quid on one.

[xthetenth]

I just calling it how I see it, chum. Though I have to admit it might be partly self-inflicted since I tend towards portability over performance and refuse to spend more than two hundred quid on one.

Oh that will do it. Actual build quality is only a thing for more expensive machines.

I'm going to second the call for an ssd. In everyday use I used to be able to tell the difference between my laptop (relatively modern but a laptop) and my desktop (pretty much modern relatively high end gaming rig). Then I put ssds in both and stopped being able to tell the difference in performance. SSDs are a huge deal.

[White Haven]

Y....eah. Buy cheap shit, get cheap shit. This is why I don't sell laptops in that price range; it's not worth the pain to us or our customers.

[Zaune]

It's a policy I began following the day I wrote off a £700 Toshiba Satellite that wasn't insured by tripping over the power cord, and overall it's worked out fairly well.

[Forgothrax]

Yeah, if all you want is a high-quality fast general-use machine, then none of the above really fit what you want. Something around $1k with a 15-inch screen and a good-sized SSD will not only fit your use case just fine, it'll also be easier to keep around the house than a 17.3-inch monster, and in daily use will be a lot faster. A 128-gig SSD will be enough to fit your OS and all the applications you use regularly, and you will be amazed by the speed boost.

[General Zod]

I'd say go with the Vaio. Asus and Acer tend to have sketchy build quality, and ignoring the price having a comfortable keyboard that doesn't feel like you could punch a hole by accidentally pushing too hard is a huge deal. Having the SSD will give you a nice boost in performance.

[White Haven]

Ugh. Not Sony. I won't say 'anything but Sony,' because they're not the worst, but they're far, far from the best. They're not even all that bad, but they have a history of trading heavily on the Sony name and not so much on actually being either good or a good value. Were I to recommend a single brand from both a keyboard-quality and an overall build-quality perspective, it would be Lenovo. There are, however, no Lenovos on your list, something that I would recommend looking into changing.

[Havok]

Well I have to admit, I like the shiny. I also know that I am totally overshooting for what I actually do, but I don't mind.

[General Zod]

If you want suggestions, I'd say poke around at some of Toshiba's stuff. They have a nice balance of quality build and shiny things. Samsung has some decent offerings, too.

[General Zod]

If money is no object - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/qosmio-17-3 ... &cp=1&lp=1

[White Haven]

...Bloody hell, Zod, you're just a laundry list of some of the shoddier laptop companies in the business, aren't you?

[Thanas]

How durable / shock resistant are SSDs compared to normal HDDs?

[Vendetta]

Unless you open it up and smack one of the actual chips with a hammer, pretty resistant.

HDDs are vulnerable to shock primarily because of the moving parts.

[Darth Nostril]

Just don't touch OCZ SSDs with an eighty foot bargepole.

[Jaepheth]

Personally, I'd go with the Asus.

I know it's a gimmick, but I like the back-lit keyboard (Although that's probably because I never learned to touch type effectively)

I'd also swap in a SSD and put the 1TB drive in an enclosure for backup storage.