Need help choosing a laptop

I can't help you with exact specs, but I have a rule of thumb I use when getting down to the fine choices.

1) If it is something hard to replace or that might become difficult to find, buy the best now

2) If it is something you yourself can easily upgrade, then if push comes to shove it is something you can put off for initial purchase then do so. An easy example is a monitor. You can do with a scrubby one until you get more (since it is a laptop then this doesn't apply)

Laptop bigger monitor means more weight. You can do the smaller monitor for ease of transportation and use external monitor for heart's content. If you are not most the time with external monitor then consider the larger one. Some people say that bigger monitor means it uses battery faster. I never pay attention and plug in when I can.
Get video card with separate memory if possible. HDMI is the standard for external monitor connection. Don't worry that there are not thumb-screws, you want that thing to pull free if there is tension.
Buy as much memory as possible. If you can't afford a lot, buy a box that can be upgraded to a good number. I think that the alleged "max" memory of Windows 7 x64 is 12gb. They used to say you didn't need any more ram than your OS could use. Now there are folks that advocate more and have ways to make Windows use it.
More disk space the better. I used to think I'd never use 500gb but now I have that much internal and also backup drive. When I was one my backup laptop with 200gb for a week or so I used it up so fast. Graphics take up a lot of space, so does gaming. 1tb min is what I would get.
I know it is a silly thing, but get one with a keyboard that will still be readable after the tops start to wear. Or better yet resistant to wear. Also don't forget to check for number pad if you game especially. Too small and there is none.
Four USB 3.0 slots
A transformer that can be separated from the power cord. (if you travel especially this is nice)
No accessory plugs on the rear of the box. Limited accessory slots on the front. This helps prevent damage. Damage to an accessory slot is damage to the mother board. This equals big bucks to repair. Always, absolutely always unplug everything when you transport your laptop - especially power cord. It is a b**** to take the thing apart to solder the thing back on - if you can. I've only done it a few times but that was too many.
Don't worry about any build-in card readers. Darn things are changing all the time and whatever you have it will be the wrong size for what you own. Just use the USB.

Is probably more. Others will give you real specs. When I got my first graphics machine I got a desktop made by Falcon NW. This was when they were just starting in my home town of Coos Bay, Oregon, USA. Now they are still in Oregon, but over in the valley. They said back then that a good graphics machine would be great for gaming and the other way around. We didn't have graphics/CAD machines and gaming was just getting started as a computer building industry (1991)

Good hunting, already I'm jealous.

I have a G73JW and I love it. My workmate has the same. My laptop is being used about 12-14 hours every day, and so far there has been no problem. What failed in your laptop?

-Windows 7 Home Premium is restricted to seeing 16GB of memory. Higher versions can see up to 192GB, which is effectively no limit with non-server machines. You can "bypass" this limit by using ReadyBoost, as there's an additional limit set for that.

-Can't give you recommendations without knowing budget and intended use. Based purely on the information you've provided, I'd suggest you look into Sager/Clevo barebone resellers who do custom builds such as Malibal, Xoticpc, Mythlogic, PowerNotebooks, or others. Alienware may also be an option. Expect to spend anywhere from $1200 to $2k.

Also consider asking here.

That said, I'd at least wait for Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors to launch on April 23, and while there's no solid date yet for the remaining members of Nvidia's new Kepler lineup (specifically the 660M and perhaps the 680M) as well as AMD's GCN mobile variants (77xxM, 78xxM, 79xxM), rumors are that we'll see some or all of these parts alongside the launch of Ivy Bridge as well.

In all likelihood, whatever we don't see on April 23, we'll see on May 15 when Diablo 3 releases, as AMD is set to unveil their new Trinity APUs then as well. There is a finite possibility that some of the higher end parts (680M and perhaps 7970M) may be pushed back until June, when Intel will launch their dual-core Ivy Bridge variants, but my gut feeling is it's not terribly likely.

Toshiba. 'Nuff said.

Everyone is going to recommend whatever they brought last.

Just do a bit of research first and check the specs and what matters to you. Is it battery life? Screen resolution? Playing games on it? Lots of storage space?

Whatever your answers are, there is one thing I highly recommend: either buy one with an SSD or buy one with an hard disk and replace it later with a Samsung or Intel SSD.

I got $2000 for the laptop from the warranty people. I have another $1000 I could toss on top if the extra is worth it.

I am in no rush though. I have the my 13" Vaio S wihich when plugged into my 30" TV works fine for games. Runs rebellion great. Skyrim, I have to turn the graphics down some.

Apparently the laptops taking advantage of Ivy bridge and Nvidia 680M will be out in May. So I will wait.

I had the G73JW too. I am not sure what happened to my laptop. The motherboard died and Asus has no replacements for it. It was running fine, closed the lid after a game of rebellion and when I opened it up in the morning to check email, nothing would happen.

Edit: And the lady said this is a common problem for Asus, you can't get replacement parts. They discontinue parts fast. She always has to issue refunds.

Quoting JcRabbit,

reply 5

Everyone is going to recommend whatever they brought last.

Just do a bit of research first and check the specs and what matters to you. Is it battery life? Screen resolution? Playing games on it? Lots of storage space?

Whatever your answers are, there is one thing I highly recommend: either buy one with an SSD or buy one with an hard disk and replace it later with a Samsung or Intel SSD.

I forgot to mention the TYPE of hard drive the thing has. Be careful to get the current technology (whatever that is now - I am horrible about keeping up) Once a decade ago I couldn't upgrade the hard disk because the larger ones used a different connection (SATA I think it was) My laptop now is new enough that I just pop in a new one. I always use the same speed of drive and am not sure if I can cross match speed like 7200 vs 5400. Make sure the architecture will allow it to be upgraded.

People will throw up when I say what I have. Years ago it was Dell. The service was great and the ingredients high quality. The business I worked for had Dells. There is a Dell desktop sitting by my elbow, I use it to stream live video (and hopefully a weather station when I can afford it) If is so reliable. The day I turn it on and it is asleep forever I think I will cry. My Dell laptop, still in some drawer around here, was super besides. My laptop after that one is a HP. Mostly because Dell service had taken a dive but also because I got it off the shelf. The laptop had a separate video card. I didn't know that when I bought it - I was buying the on-board memory. One day just before a raid in EQII the thing ever so gently (well, a little more than that) got a bump on the video card side when the tv tray took a dive. I caught it before it turfed but it still wasn't the same. That was back when I had extra funds and I rush down and got another, better, machine (the one I am using now) I was only a few minutes late for the raid but they hat already given my spot away.

The next day I called HP and explained what had happened. "It's ok" the man said, it is still under warranty. "But I dropped it," I said. He repeated the same thing. The NEXT DAY there was a postage included box at the door and I packaged it up and sent it away the next day. 4 days later it was back. Cleaned up, a few cosmetic things repaired, and of course a new MB (or a working one anyway) Some months later the video quit working again. I don't remember why I was using that box, but I was. So, knowing it was past warranty, I called again. There were two ways to pay for it, a flat fee at $xyz per hour or $250 for a six month warranty. So, I opt for the warranty and pay for it. Again, THE NEXT MORNING (no kidding - and I'm in a little city) there was the box. I bundled it up and sent it back the same day. Again, I kid you not, the thing was back in two days and it was fixed. It hasn't broken since but as my BACKUP box it doesn't get to go out much either.

So, criticize HP all you want, here in my little corner of the USA it has been great. I'm not sure how, if at all, it would do in another country.

HP doesn't have many choices, it's all canned for the most part, but I recommend the laptop for home or travel use. I game on mine, but it is just a bit pokey for modeling.

Quoting Chronobomb,

reply 6

I got $2000 for the laptop from the warranty people. I have another $1000 I could toss on top if the extra is worth it.

I am in no rush though. I have the my 13" Vaio S wihich when plugged into my 30" TV works fine for games. Runs rebellion great. Skyrim, I have to turn the graphics down some.

Apparently the laptops taking advantage of Ivy bridge and Nvidia 680M will be out in May. So I will wait.

I had the G73JW too. I am not sure what happened to my laptop. The motherboard died and Asus has no replacements for it. It was running fine, closed the lid after a game of rebellion and when I opened it up in the morning to check email, nothing would happen.

Edit: And the lady said this is a common problem for Asus, you can't get replacement parts. They discontinue parts fast. She always has to issue refunds.

Honestly if they are that quick to issue refunds, I'd probably stick with Asus. Any brand can run into your problem, for the most part, they are all manufactured the same way. If you had some weird Asus only issue, I'd consider changing. One thing to look at with computers in general but laptops more specifically is the amount of dust/hair that is in the air in the places you use your laptop. In "dirty" areas all that stuff will start packing in your computer and everything will start running a bit hotter. Heat is enemy number 1.

I probably shouldn't have played 16 hours in front of the fireplace. I blame Ironclad for making their game too addicting resulting in undue stress upon my poor laptop who let me finish my session before quietly dieing in its sleep.

I plan on staying with Asus. Its just the company I have the warranty discontinued the G74 because the G75 is coming out "soon" and the only one they have available is an open box one. So I shall have to wait till the G75 comes out to continue my mad gaming sessions. I guess I should open my blinds........<sizzles into dust>.

If you want top notch Chronobomb, I would definitely have a look here: http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php

Quoting LizMarr,

reply 7

So, criticize HP all you want, here in my little corner of the USA it has been great. I'm not sure how, if at all, it would do in another country.

Years ago I bought an HP 3600n Color Laser printer here in Portugal. I used to say it was the best purchase I ever made: it worked flawlessly for *years* and the toner lasted until the beginning of this year. I suspect I would have spent *many times* the value of that printer in consumables alone had I chosen an inkjet instead.

Nothing lasts forever, of course, so the toner in the magenta cartridge eventually run out. I purchased a new magenta original HP toner cartridge, although compatible ones would be much cheaper.

After putting that in, the printer would never come out of calibration. I inserted the old cartridge but it was the same.

I figured it was probably a problem with the age of the other cartridges and purchased new cartridges for the remaining colors (Cyan, Yellow and Black). I spent a total of 650 Euros (about $850) on original HP toner alone.

I should have thought about it first and brought a brand new printer for less than $850 instead of the remaining color cartridges, but, having purchased and opened the Magenta cartridge already, I was committed. Cutting my losses never entered my mind, since the printer had worked flawlessly until then.

You can guess what happened next: the new cartridges did not fix the problem.

So I called HP, but, even though I had just spent $850 on original HP toner, with the printer being long out of warranty they wouldn't even talk to me unless I paid them first for phone technical support. So I did.

To cut a long story short, they quoted over $1,000 in parts to fix my printer. For that kind of money I could buy two new printers. Three if you count the $850 I had already spent in toner cartridges, which are not even compatible with the newer color laser models.

So I am really, really, unhappy with HP.

Quoting JcRabbit,

reply 11

So I am really, really, unhappy with HP.

I had one and only HP item...a scanner....and it shat itself trying to drag itself screaming into XP....

It will ALWAYS be the one and only HP item I owned.

MacBook Air.

The rules are simple:

1.Wait for a laptop with an i5 or i7 processor with Intel HD graphics 4000 integrated Graphics (ivy Bridge Processors)

2. When you buy a laptop make sure it can play the games you play on your big PC at low or medium settings at low resolutions.

They should start surfacing within a month or 2 and are very affordable:

The thing that I'm surprised about is the mac book air hasn't gone hd 4000 by now.

Benefits:

Play Crysis smoothly on Medium settings with just a single cpu without a big/discrete graphics card: at 1024x768

Plays sins of a solar empire rebellion,

etc

Currently you can play supreme commander 2 with the entry level MacBook Pro with HD 3000 graphics

Upcoming Intel HD 4000 Laptops to look for:

Acer Aspire S5

Around: $900

Benchmarks for the ivy bridge Processor are based on the high end chip but at a very high resolution. frame rates should be higher when you change the resolution to 1024x768

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5626/ivy-bridge-preview-core-i7-3770k/11

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