Buy a Laptop?

[AsylumSeeker]

PC or Mac? Vista or Leopard? And what are the latest processor speeds? I love games so I know to look for max RAM and a separate video board with dedicated RAM. What should I be looking for?

 

[kindashy]

One thing to keep in mind right now is that Service Pack 1 for Vista is on its way. Manufacturers already getting it and should start putting it on their products. General public will be able to buy it in a few weeks or less. So. Right now, I would not buy anything at all. I would wait until Vista SP1 hit the shelves and gets reviewed.

As far as hardware. There are still single core intels and AMDs out there, but dual cores are taking over. I am not sure they will put quads in laptops this year.

As far as gaming on laptop. If you do not plan to play Crysis or Medal of Honor 4 at high settings, you might be able to play those on very low setting or you might not be able at all. Older games, from a couple of years ago, you should be able to play somewhat well. (gaming laptop is an oxymoron).

 

[In Anticipation]

PC or Mac? Vista or Leopard? And what are the latest processor speeds? I love games so I know to look for max RAM and a separate video board with dedicated RAM. What should I be looking for?

If you love games then I don't see why you would be getting a mac. What sort of games?

Also I would advise getting a standard screen resolution, rather than ultra high (1280x800 rather than 1920x1200) to give the graphics card a chance. The lower resolution is fine for games, it's more or less HDTV resolution.

Then go for 2Gb of ram, most powerful graphics you can afford and the biggest hard drive. You'll always run out of space, 160Gb should be a minimum now.

 

[adabbaduli]

I have a mac pro and love it. you can also put windows on it if you want.

 

[satindesire]

I used to work for HP. Trust me on this one.

1) Don't buy the cheapest one you see on the shelf. In computers, you typically get what you pay for.

2) No need to get the highest end out there, but DO put some dollars behind it.

3) Deciding Windows or Mac is important. Do so BEFORE going to the store.

4) Weight is key if you take it with you. Shoulder straps can hurt after lugging an 8-pound metal box on your arm for an hour.

5) The smaller the screen, the longer the battery life (very general rule, not always applicable).

6) If you are going to use the internet at ALL with the laptop, invest in a good anti-spyware/virus program. AVG is free and fantastic.

7) Depending on whether you game or you're into more basic tasks, you want to decide how powerful your laptop in general needs to be. A gaming machine will be ideal if you spend the bucks for a top of the line model, i.e. Invidia 8800 series video card, Intel Core 2 Duo processor; and don't settle for less than 2 gigs of RAM. That was you can play all the games out there today AND have a machine capable of supporting some future titles. Office-use laptops can get away with a less expensive processor and video card, and less RAM.

8) Don't forget to get your accessories that you'll need while at the store. Sometimes you can get a discount package deal when you buy your printer/paper/ink/surge protector/laptop case/oodle-o-DVDs all at the same time.

9) Extended warranties can be CRAP. READ THE FINE PRINT! Know what you're paying for. "Acts of God" such as earthquakes etc; accidental damage (your girlfriend throws it out the window when you forget her birthday playing WoW), and software damage (redtube.com gave your computer Ebola) isn't usually covered. DON'T LET THE SALSEMAN LIE TO YOU! Read the print. Most of them also require you ship out your computer to repair it, and you could potentially lose all your data if you don't back it up.


Hope this helps. Word.

 

[AvaAdore]

At least 2 GB of RAM.

At least 512 MB of RAM in your video card if you want to play new games.

It will cost you, but if that's what you want, you have to pay.

Make sure to shop around! Don't by the laptop you want in the first store you look at. Find one you like, and see who else has the same one for more/less money.

I bought an Asus laptop a couple of years ago. Their warranty has been really good. They even pick up the laptop from your house (at least here in New Zealand), and you get it back in a week. I also got it back in a week. Not sure if this is a universal experience with them.

 

[deployedsoldier]

I just recently bought an XPS from dell the M1530 model, its fairly inexpensive, has a dual core processor 250 gb HD and a 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS video card. Also am currently using 2GB of RAM. It as very affordable and has been so far a great labtop for me.

#1 game currenty anticipated Star Craft 2 cant wait for that to come out

 

[Texguy84]

There are a lot of great games you can play on a laptop from previous years, incidently, and even some from recent years that don't require the fanciest machines. I had a 2GHz dual-core Dell Inspiron 1400 that I had neglected to invest in a beefier 3D card for, but I was still able to play most of the Half Life games (HL1, HL2, Portal, but not Lost Coast, the HL2 addons, or Team Fortress 2), along with a variety of other older games.

Of course, if you want to play the newest stuff, you'll have to get the stuff to handle it. "Gaming laptop" isn't exactly an oxymoron, but it involves design compromises that desktops don't have to deal with, and also tends to cost a lot more to get the same performance on a laptop due to various design concerns with making it small and portable.

As far as storage goes, if, in the future, your HD starts to run out, you can also use an external HD connected via USB to store things like movies and pictures to free up space on your main drive. I use my external for backup, and when I'm not moving things back or forth on it, I tend to keep it unplugged and in a desk drawer so it won't get damaged being plugged in if we get a power surge or something.

 

[rhyst_hatchyk]

For laptops, it's definitely "you get what you paid for." Laptops keep going down in price, but you still have to pay more for a laptop than a comparable desktop. Of course, the mobile versions of the cards are not as powerful because of space, weight, and heat concerns.

Intel or AMD is your choice, and which manufacturer you buy it from usually determines that.

The more RAM the better for your machine; a gaming portable would have dedicated VRAM as well, but often it's a 50/50 split between dedicated VRAM and using leftover system memory.

For gaming, it depends on what kind of games you play; anything new-ish, and you'll want to get a Windows machine. Macs are good for some things, but gaming really isn't one of them. Even if you install Windows on it, you could get the same system cheaper elsewhere than you'd get it from Apple.

Warranties are important. Make sure if you're travelling lots, or moving your laptop, that you get accidental damage coverage. Heck, it's good to get for them on general principle, because of what it covers. "Act of God" damage is usually covered by insurance, not warranty, which is why it's not covered. And there is no such thing as "software damage." If you get a virus, you can either get rid of it with A/V protection, or you can reformat your drive, which will cause all of your data to be lost. A/V is important for this. However, your computer is not physically damaged; all it is is some 1's and 0's stored magnetically on your hard drive have been altered.

That can affect you in a real way; you lose pictures, etc, but that's why backups are important.

You might want to try to get an on-site service warranty as well, so you can have someone come out to fix it for you.

 

[N_B]

See all the above for good tips. The only thing I have to add is about the OS. Vista scares me for too many reasons to list here. The short is DRM, tracking, incompatability, driver issues, ram/processor requirments, and so on and so on. I've only briefly played with a Mac, so I can't say anything possitive or negative. But I really recoment everyone -yes everyone- give Linux a shot. It's free (both in liberate and gratis), light on the system overhead, and without all the scary stuff that comes with Windows. Plus it's more secure against viri and spyware.

If you decide to give Linux a shot, do yourself a big favor and try Ununtu. I've used it for the last year and a half and have not looked back at Microsoft since.

 

[Texguy84]

See all the above for good tips. The only thing I have to add is about the OS. Vista scares me for too many reasons to list here. The short is DRM, tracking, incompatability, driver issues, ram/processor requirments, and so on and so on. I've only briefly played with a Mac, so I can't say anything possitive or negative. But I really recoment everyone -yes everyone- give Linux a shot. It's free (both in liberate and gratis), light on the system overhead, and without all the scary stuff that comes with Windows. Plus it's more secure against viri and spyware.

If you decide to give Linux a shot, do yourself a big favor and try Ununtu. I've used it for the last year and a half and have not looked back at Microsoft since.

Only problem with Ubuntu is that it does not come with DVD playback support, even when pre-installed on Dell computers with DVD drives. When I was using Ubuntu on my Dell Inspiron, trying to get DVD playback on the thing was driving me absolutely insane.

 

[rhyst_hatchyk]

See all the above for good tips. The only thing I have to add is about the OS. Vista scares me for too many reasons to list here. The short is DRM, tracking, incompatability, driver issues, ram/processor requirments, and so on and so on. I've only briefly played with a Mac, so I can't say anything possitive or negative. But I really recoment everyone -yes everyone- give Linux a shot. It's free (both in liberate and gratis), light on the system overhead, and without all the scary stuff that comes with Windows. Plus it's more secure against viri and spyware.

If you decide to give Linux a shot, do yourself a big favor and try Ununtu. I've used it for the last year and a half and have not looked back at Microsoft since.

If you haven't actually USED Vista, don't say anything about it. You're spreading misinformation in a thread about helping someone choose. I know, you're not intentionally doing it, but still. Don't.

I've been using Vista since the December BEFORE it was released.

As for me, all the compatibility issues have been resolved since pretty much a year ago; same with drivers. I don't HAVE any DRM content on my computer (I hate the stuff) and it's caused 0 problems. I've had 0 virii, only 1 or two spyware that I killed with Spybot... seriously. It looks like it take a lot of mem when you're playing around with it, but what it does is it pre-loads your most-used programs in memory on boot-up, so you can use them faster.

The thing I find people are really disliking are a few things; they can't install their old, shitty, poorly-written programs, and they're not used to the way the OS has changed its organization, so they don't like it. It's a fear of change.

Also, Vista SP1 will bring improvements in speed.

I've used Macs before, they seem pretty stable and good, but since I haven't used them since before OSX, I don't know anything about the new-ish ones.

Ubuntu also seems the most user-friendly and useful versions of Linux out, but Linux can have serious driver issues, as not every piece of hardware has a written driver for it, and the drivers are backwards-engineered and written by people donating their time, as manufacturers usually don't write Linux drivers.

 

[cd1_christine]

Vista SP1

Also, Vista SP1 will bring improvements in speed.

Most of the prerelease reviews of Vista SP1 say that file copy operations are marginally (like, less than 10%) faster, but everything else is just about the same, or even slower.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142233/article.html

Then, there are the people who installed SP1 and it killed their computer.
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/showpost.aspx?postid=2848906&siteid=17

You can still get computers with XP on them, if you look around. (Just don't expect a big box store to even acknowledge they exist...)
It may be worth a look, as it's a much more mature gaming platform than Vista is right now.

CD

 

[Nymph_Kitten]

I've been using Vista since the December BEFORE it was released.

I began beta testing Vista long before most people even knew about it, long before it was CALLED Vista. As a Microsoft MVP, I am blessed (or cursed, however you look at it) to be able to do this. So, I have just a tad bit of knowledge about this, as well.

As for me, all the compatibility issues have been resolved since pretty much a year ago; same with drivers. I don't HAVE any DRM content on my computer (I hate the stuff) and it's caused 0 problems.

I HAVE experienced the issues, on many different machines... both desktop and notebook. I'm not going to bore everyone to tears with everything I've been through, and unfortunately I cannot link you to my Tech blog, or my anonymity here is blown out of the water.

I've had 0 virii, only 1 or two spyware that I killed with Spybot... seriously.

erm. My expertise is in Windows Security. Having Vista has NOTHING to do with whether you'll get a virus, trojan or rootkit. It has EVERYTHING to do with your computer and internet habits, and the levels of protection you use. If you used Spybot to "kill" something, I guarantee it wasn't a virus. Spybot is junk, and has been for more than two years now.

It's a fear of change.

For many people, yes. You hit the nail on the head. But for the thousands of us who have used it and have real issues... it's about far more than fear of change.

Also, Vista SP1 will bring improvements in speed.

Actually, no. I've been beta testing SP1 since it was ready for alpha round. It does NOT improve the overall OS that much, tbh.


To AsylumSeeker: My recommendation to you,.... if you can afford it... is to go with a good MacBook Pro. I am NOT a mac "fan girl", by any means. But from what you describe you're looking for, I think this would work best for you. Your games can be run easily off of Windows XP, using Boot Camp that comes built in with Leopard.

 

[Guest]

If you haven't actually USED Vista, don't say anything about it. You're spreading misinformation in a thread about helping someone choose. I know, you're not intentionally doing it, but still. Don't.
.

Seriously, you got lucky. It sucked when it shipped, and it sucks now. I got a voucher to switch to Vista for FREE on my new laptop, and I did not do it. I will upgrade when stuff stops working...


Maharat

 

[Nymph_Kitten]

Seriously, you got lucky. It sucked when it shipped, and it sucks now.
Maharat

I couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[rhyst_hatchyk]

Most of the prerelease reviews of Vista SP1 say that file copy operations are marginally (like, less than 10%) faster, but everything else is just about the same, or even slower.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142233/article.html

Then, there are the people who installed SP1 and it killed their computer.
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/showpost.aspx?postid=2848906&siteid=17

You can still get computers with XP on them, if you look around. (Just don't expect a big box store to even acknowledge they exist...)
It may be worth a look, as it's a much more mature gaming platform than Vista is right now.

CD

I haven't denied these things, although it also depends on what computer setup was used to test, what programs were installed, and what's been happening. If it kills my computer (I haven't updated yet, as I no longer have access to MSDN) then I can reinstall, everything important is saved on another hard drive.

And I do realize that it's not because of Vista itself, although the fact that it locks out the registry and whatnot helps prevent certain attacks; I have extremely safe browsing habits, and I never said I used spybot to "kill" virii, I said I used it to kill (delete, get rid of, etc.) spyware. Basically, to get rid of any spyware/malware etc that have taken up residence, which is usually minimal, although I try to scan often enough that I don't have problems.

Basically, the same habits I used on my XP machines before it, which I had very few problems with as well. I originally did have problems, but those were resolved very shortly.

I'm saying don't just dismiss it offhand; I've heard horror stories of every OS (like problems with Leopard, Ubuntu being hard to use for some people). If you like it, you like it, you don't, you don't.

 

[Texguy84]

If you haven't actually USED Vista, don't say anything about it. You're spreading misinformation in a thread about helping someone choose. I know, you're not intentionally doing it, but still. Don't.

I've been using Vista since the December BEFORE it was released.

As for me, all the compatibility issues have been resolved since pretty much a year ago; same with drivers.

Used vista for about 3 months on a new Dell Inspiron laptop. Was generally a pain in my neck until I switched to Ubuntu, which as I said before, could not play DVDs, and I was unable to figure out how to get it to play DVDs, despite what numerous online tutorials claimed.

I also don't like how Vista handles Autorun default options for CDs and DVDs. It wouldn't even give me the option to have Media Player Classic play DVDs by default, apparently because Media Player Classic doesn't "install" on the system (it runs straight off the downloaded file) and thus Vista didn't "know" it was there to be an option. Yet XP was able to figure it out just fine.

Other than that, just your normal "switching pains" where I couldn't figure out how to get Vista to do things that I had been able to do in XP for years.

 

[kindashy]

I think everyone needs to take a lungful of air.

Vista will be good in about a year or so. The next computer everyone buys, will be running Vista.

 

[Nymph_Kitten]

The next computer everyone buys, will be running Vista.

Wrong! I just hooked up my new Mac about an hour ago. I'm using both my XP machine and the Mac via a KVM switch.

 

[Guest]

I think everyone needs to take a lungful of air.

Vista will be good in about a year or so. The next computer everyone buys, will be running Vista.

I might stop being such a cheapo by then, and buy a Mac instead.

Maharat

 

[N_B]

Only problem with Ubuntu is that it does not come with DVD playback support, even when pre-installed on Dell computers with DVD drives. When I was using Ubuntu on my Dell Inspiron, trying to get DVD playback on the thing was driving me absolutely insane.

True, it does not come with DVD or MP3 playback ability. But that is easy to fix with a GUI script called Automatix. Check out the Automatix wiki for a no-fail walk through in getting that, and it will make the ninja magic on your Ubuntu box.

 

[Username_In_Use]

The Dell XPS's are real bargains for the price but if you just have to have something top of the line try Alienware.

 

[kindashy]

The Dell XPS's are real bargains for the price but if you just have to have something top of the line try Alienware.

Dell owns Alienware.

 

[rhyst_hatchyk]

Dell owns Alienware.

Yes, but they're run as separate companies. Like how Ford owns Volvo, but Volvos are not Fords.