Roy Focker Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 HP's also looked the slickest and were priced like they were superior. Ironic that Toshiba got second place. That's what I currently have before dropping it after 4 years of use the only issue I had was some wear on the screen. I might have to put Toshiba on my list. Gonna exclude any that is rated about 20%. When it comes down to it I'll got with who ever gives me the most for the best price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kensei Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Looking at a netbook as an early Christmas present for a friend who is struggling. I want to help him out, but I don't want to go get one if the performance is really sluggish. Primary things that he will do or use is: Surf internet Outlook Word Excel Powerpoint Mass Storage Device is there a netbook in your experience that you can recommend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
promethuem5 Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 I got an Acer AspireOne for Christmas least year with the doubled-up 6-hour battery pack and love it. I use it primarily for internet thru Firefox, listening to music, and playing Plants vs. Zombies. It has a 160GB HDD, so it's got plenty of space, and the only time it really lags is if you're on the internet and trying to load a lot of images all on one page, and even then it just hangs for a second and keeps chugging... the performance is rock solid, and it's the only computer I own that I NEVER have actual problems with. It's my little buddy and I carry it around always at school. The keyboard isn't even so bad that you can't comfortable type... I take notes in class on it, and use it when I'm home on break as my main comp without any complaints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeszekely Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Looking at a netbook as an early Christmas present for a friend who is struggling. I want to help him out, but I don't want to go get one if the performance is really sluggish. Primary things that he will do or use is: Surf internet Outlook Word Excel Powerpoint Mass Storage Device is there a netbook in your experience that you can recommend? I actually wouldn't recommend a netbook if this is going to be your friend's primary computer. Sure, they're cute and ridiculously portable, but that's about it. From my experience, netbooks tend to be sluggish, and the screen resolution is too low to be productive in Office. And that doesn't even touch on the limited hard drives, lack of RAM, lack of an optical drive, or the fact that most netbook still come with XP, and even the ones that do have Windows 7 have Windows 7 starter. IIRC, you're in Australia, so I'm not sure what the pricing is like over there. But in the US, most netbooks are still around $300, and it's very possible to find regular laptops for $350. And even the cheapest laptops around all seem to have 15.6" screens, 2-3GB of RAM, either Pentium Dual Core or Athlon X2 dual-core processors, 320GB hard drives, and Windows 7 Home Premium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
promethuem5 Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 (edited) I actually wouldn't recommend a netbook if this is going to be your friend's primary computer. Sure, they're cute and ridiculously portable, but that's about it. From my experience, netbooks tend to be sluggish, and the screen resolution is too low to be productive in Office. And that doesn't even touch on the limited hard drives, lack of RAM, lack of an optical drive, or the fact that most netbook still come with XP, and even the ones that do have Windows 7 have Windows 7 starter. IIRC, you're in Australia, so I'm not sure what the pricing is like over there. But in the US, most netbooks are still around $300, and it's very possible to find regular laptops for $350. And even the cheapest laptops around all seem to have 15.6" screens, 2-3GB of RAM, either Pentium Dual Core or Athlon X2 dual-core processors, 320GB hard drives, and Windows 7 Home Premium. I can sympathize with some of this, but I haven't noticed it to be too bad... I'm running Win7 release on mine and it works loads better than the XP install from the factory did. 1GB of RAM and a 1.7GHz processor aren't spectacular, but they get the job done for every day uses. When I am home on short breaks, I use my netbook for doing paperwork for my dad's business, including editing photos in CS3 and making PDFs, as well as writing documents in Office07 without any problems. Mutlitasking can get to be a bit of a chore if you're doing aLOT of work, but for writing a document every now and then I have no problem working in Office or any of those other programs. As for mass storage, I use external HDDs for all of that at this point... I have two 1TB fullsize ones, as well as a portable USB-powered 500GB that I will probably upgrade to a TB after the holidays as well... that's where all my media files besides music... externals are also really cheap at this point, but even still, it's not like you are going to fill up a 160GB internal HDD in an afternoon. EDIT: That said, the lack of an optical drive is sometimes inconvinent, only because have only one USB drive that gets left at home for my parents. My netbook will also lag a bit when trying to watch high-def videos... I can't watch the 720p Shin Mazinger fansub files on here because they don't render right. Normal crap like a 700mb compressed DVD-quality film are fine tho. Edited November 24, 2009 by promethuem5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azrael Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Planning on some good Black Friday Sales for new lap top. This is my short list. Any ones on this list that I should avoid like the plague? Sony's Vaio FW Dell Studio XPS 16 Dell Inspiron 17 HP Pavilion dv8t or dv7t Last HP laptop I handled has shiny flimsy cheap plastic around the keyboard. Hardware isn't bad but the feel of the thing left me with a crap-feeling. I actually wouldn't recommend a netbook if this is going to be your friend's primary computer. Sure, they're cute and ridiculously portable, but that's about it. From my experience, netbooks tend to be sluggish, and the screen resolution is too low to be productive in Office. And that doesn't even touch on the limited hard drives, lack of RAM, lack of an optical drive, or the fact that most netbook still come with XP, and even the ones that do have Windows 7 have Windows 7 starter. I'm gonna echo that. Netbooks are great for travel where you don't plan on using it for long duration. But as a primary system? Heck no. Too small of a screen, no optical drive, limited CPU horsepower, etc. For a primary system, I'd recommend something with at least a 13" screen and a optical drive. @Azrael: Was that Santa hat always there? :? The hat always shows up around this time of year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Train Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 I have an ancient (3.5 years old) HP Pavilion dv2000. The surface is pretty badly scratched and "weathered," but still works like a charm. I take it everywhere and it has its good share of bumps, bruises, and accidental "kicks." Have had some performance problems lately, but that might coincide with the fact that it's running Vista and I have yet to upgrade. My next laptop will probably be a HP as well . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiroikaze Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 (edited) I actually went ahead and got the mATX case, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...9-044-_-Product Antec Mini P180 White for $45. Although I prefer gunmetal & black, I'm glad I got in on this. Hopefully, I can get a deal on its bigger brother or similar. This will be the first step towards my building of two new computers, which will be awhile before I do. [edit] Gunmetal's on sale right after... Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? D: Edited December 1, 2009 by shiroikaze Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeszekely Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 Here's the deal... I have a nice desktop setup for gaming. But I also go on trips from time to time, and I've been thinking about selling my MacBook and buying a Windows 7 laptop that I could take with me on said trips. Now, I'd want to take a laptop with me on trips mostly to play games, but I'm not looking to sink too much money into it since I would still do 99% of my gaming on my desktop... we'll say maybe $700-$800. What I need is a laptop with a decent dedicated card for mostly games like Fallout 3, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and the like. I wouldn't complain if it ran the Call of Duty games, but FPS games wouldn't be a priority for it, and I'm certainly not looking to run Crysis. The games I do want to run, I'd like to run on higher settings but medium settings would be okay. So what's a good laptop GPU that'd fit my needs and budget? GTX 260M is obviously out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azrael Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 So what's a good laptop GPU that'd fit my needs and budget? GTX 260M is obviously out. Well, that would bring us down to the Nvidia GT 230M or a ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4530 or 3650 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeszekely Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Well, that would bring us down to the Nvidia GT 230M or a ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4530 or 3650 Thanks for the suggestions. Is the GT 220M ok? I noticed that Newegg has an Asus with a GT 220M that's highly rated. Buying desktop cards is so much easier... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiroikaze Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 (edited) If you look on Slickdeals every now and then, you could find a decent laptop deal This is probably one such deal, however the coupon is dead but the cashback still works... : http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1705959 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T6600 ( 2.20GHz 800MHz 2MB ) Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 NVIDIA GeForce G 210M 512MB 4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz 14.0 " WXGA LED Backlight TFT 1366x768 Industry Standard Touchpad 320GB 5400 DVD Recordable (Dual Layer) 6 Cell Lithium-Ion Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Link 5100 Bluetooth Version 2.1 + EDR None One year parts and labor (system battery: one year) You won't be able to play the games you mentioned on high, but I think they are still playable... Edited November 29, 2009 by shiroikaze Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azrael Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Thanks for the suggestions. Is the GT 220M ok? I noticed that Newegg has an Asus with a GT 220M that's highly rated. If you don't want to shell out for the 230M, yeh. If you can find a GT 130M, that could probably work. If you look on Slickdeals every now and then, you could find a decent laptop deal This is probably one such deal, however the coupon is dead but the cashback still works... : http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1705959 You won't be able to play the games you mentioned on high, but I think they are still playable... That one looks like a good deal. 14" won't be my choice for a gaming-size screen but it's cheap enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeszekely Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 If you look on Slickdeals every now and then, you could find a decent laptop deal This is probably one such deal, however the coupon is dead but the cashback still works... : http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1705959 You won't be able to play the games you mentioned on high, but I think they are still playable... That doesn't look too bad, but I'm thinking maybe this one. Unless you guys think I'm better off waiting a bit longer? I still need to find a buyer for my MacBook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiroikaze Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 (edited) Well, this time of year is a pretty good time to buy just about anything... There's also a list of laptops put up on Tom's Hardware, if some of the deals haven't expired yet, maybe you'll find something that you like: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/deals-bla...-sale,9166.html (Though HP mostly populate the list...) Edited November 29, 2009 by shiroikaze Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeszekely Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 (edited) Everyone I know that's bought an Asus has been pretty happy with it... but I'm thinking that it might be worth my while to save a little more for a better GPU. I mean, the GT 220M looks like it'd do for what I want, but a GT 230M or GT 240M definitely gives me a bit more headroom. Thing is, if I'm going to buy a lappy, I'd rather do it from Newegg, since I'm used to doing business with them. And they don't have any laptops with a GT 230M. They have some with a GT 240M, but the Asus is a little out of my price range then. There is this Acer that's pretty close to my budget, though. Any reason not to go with it? I've kind of come to associate Acer with cheap Walmart laptops, but on the flip side I bought my wife an Acer two years ago and it's been really good. Bonus question: GeForce GT 220M or Mobility Radeon HD 4650? Edited November 29, 2009 by mikeszekely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azrael Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 That doesn't look too bad, but I'm thinking maybe this one. Unless you guys think I'm better off waiting a bit longer? I still need to find a buyer for my MacBook. Well, the closer we get to Christmas, the more prices will drop to entice buyers. The only thing that irks me about that Asus is the Pentium dual-core. The Acer-model that you pointed out seems to fit but is just out of that $700-$800 range. If you're adamant on getting one before the New Year, I'd line up your possibles and start watching coupon sites for deals. Bonus question: GeForce GT 220M or Mobility Radeon HD 4650? I think the GeForce GT 220M will do better than the 4650. The 4650, IIRC, is older. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiroikaze Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 (edited) Sometimes, I hate limited stock... Edited November 29, 2009 by shiroikaze Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Focker Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Am I the only who see's "ASUS" and wants to pronounce it as "ANUS"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugimon Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 I dunno.. I see "asus" and pronounce it "awesome" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeszekely Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 I dunno.. I see "asus" and pronounce it "awesome" Yeah, Asus seems pretty solid. I'm just having trouble finding one in my price range. If you're adamant on getting one before the New Year I'm not. I can't buy anything without selling my Mac, and I can't even find a buyer for that yet. I'm hoping maybe around my early February birthday, and right now I'm just comparing prices and GPUs. And as for that Acer, I'm willing to go $50 out of my price range for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Focker Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Well I ordered a new Laptop. My 2nd Toshiba. Wasn't my list at first but since it scored high on the service life report, came with what I wanted at a price that beat the other guys made it the one to get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
promethuem5 Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 We have a dinosaur of a Toshiba laptop that we used to use for work, and it still runs better than the pair of high-end Dell laptops we replaced it with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeszekely Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 (edited) Is it just me, or has the cost of RAM really gone up lately? I remember checking the prices of 2GB sticks for my netbook (and Asus Eee PC 900HA) shortly after getting it (a little less than a year ago), and it was around $25. I passed at the time, because I didn't use it much. I find myself using it more lately (because I bought a new notebook mouse, maybe), so I checked again and it's around $40... Or is it just because DDR3 has dropped in price enough that you can get a 2GB stick of laptop RAM for the same price as the DDR2? Edited December 1, 2009 by mikeszekely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiroikaze Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 (edited) Pretty much, manufacturers are focusing more on producing DDR3 more than DDR2 now. Though DDR3 prices hasn't dropped enough yet :\ Edited December 1, 2009 by shiroikaze Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Train Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Hey guys... any thoughts on a good Blackberry model for either Verizon / AT&T in the US? I just got offered a full-time position starting next summer at a new company, but I don't get a laptop, so according to this guy I know who works there a BB is almost a must. I only have superficial knowledge on the e-mail push technology that RIM uses, so is there anything I should watch out for? I would hate to buy a device incompatible with my employer's e-mail infrastructure. Please advise. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiroikaze Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 (edited) Is it just me, or has the cost of RAM really gone up lately? I remember checking the prices of 2GB sticks for my netbook (and Asus Eee PC 900HA) shortly after getting it (a little less than a year ago), and it was around $25. I passed at the time, because I didn't use it much. I find myself using it more lately (because I bought a new notebook mouse, maybe), so I checked again and it's around $40... Or is it just because DDR3 has dropped in price enough that you can get a 2GB stick of laptop RAM for the same price as the DDR2? Well, if you still need a 2GBs, Amazon at the moment has two brands for $30. Found it off Slickdeals again. Patriot PSD22G6672S Signature PC2-5300 DDR2 667MHz 2GB SODIMM CAS 5 Module (Green) OCZ 2GB PC2-5400 667MHz DDR2 Value SoDIMM Module (OCZ2MV6672G) or if you live near a Fry's Electronics (which is almost never the case and chances are they'll probably be out of stock anyway): 4GB kit / (2GBx2) / 200-pin SODIMM / DDR2 PC2-5300 memory module / CRUCIAL Edited December 1, 2009 by shiroikaze Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Focker Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Guess I ordered a new laptop just in time. It is dead. I can no longer wiggle the power cord to get power flowing. I'll need to take it apart and soder the socket back (if it isn't too messed up). Stuck using my PS3 now. Will take a couple of weeks for them to build my new computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azrael Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Hey guys... any thoughts on a good Blackberry model for either Verizon / AT&T in the US? I just got offered a full-time position starting next summer at a new company, but I don't get a laptop, so according to this guy I know who works there a BB is almost a must. I only have superficial knowledge on the e-mail push technology that RIM uses, so is there anything I should watch out for?...*snip* It will depend on what you want out of the phone. If most people at that workplace use Blackberries, then getting one will already be saving you any incompatibility headache. I would consider who has the better network coverage in your area before figuring out which Blackberry to pick up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emajnthis Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Hey guys... any thoughts on a good Blackberry model for either Verizon / AT&T in the US? I just got offered a full-time position starting next summer at a new company, but I don't get a laptop, so according to this guy I know who works there a BB is almost a must. I only have superficial knowledge on the e-mail push technology that RIM uses, so is there anything I should watch out for? I would hate to buy a device incompatible with my employer's e-mail infrastructure. Please advise. Thanks. AT&T Bold 9700 Verizon Curve 8530 As long as they're running a BES you'll have no problem with any BB on their infrastructure, really any BB will do e-mail but the Bold with AT&T and Curve with VZ are the cream of the crop (in regards to latest and greatest), the BB's that try to cater too much to entertainment do a terrible job (i.e.: Storm). If the AT&T Bold and VZ Curve aren't your cup of tea then AT&T Curve and the VZ Tour are decent. The Storm is hit or miss with different users, for me it was a huge miss, but your mileage may vary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Train Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 AT&T Bold 9700 Verizon Curve 8530 As long as they're running a BES you'll have no problem with any BB on their infrastructure, really any BB will do e-mail but the Bold with AT&T and Curve with VZ are the cream of the crop (in regards to latest and greatest), the BB's that try to cater too much to entertainment do a terrible job (i.e.: Storm). If the AT&T Bold and VZ Curve aren't your cup of tea then AT&T Curve and the VZ Tour are decent. The Storm is hit or miss with different users, for me it was a huge miss, but your mileage may vary. Thanks for the info. And yea... I'm going for more of a "serious business" machine, don't care much for entertainment features. (Though a decent media player would be nice, which I think comes standard in most BB anyways). I will definitely check out the Curve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiroikaze Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 (edited) Who else does this besides Dell? Proprietary power switch and power/HDD LED leads... and proprietary motherboard standoff positions? Edited December 3, 2009 by shiroikaze Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeszekely Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Who else does this besides Dell? Proprietary power switch and power/HDD LED leads... and proprietary motherboard standoff positions? Sony. Well, I don't think they use proprietary mobo standoff positions, but yes on the power switch leads. My old VAIO tower also had a proprietary PSU that caused me no end of grief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiroikaze Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 (edited) I can understand the PSU being proprietary, it actually served a function (powering the speakers, which I thought was neat at the time--not anymore!) but I think it's kinda pointless for everything else... Edited December 3, 2009 by shiroikaze Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeszekely Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 I can understand the PSU being proprietary, it actually served a function (powering the speakers, which I thought was neat at the time--not anymore!) but I think it's kinda pointless for everything else... It was a colossal pain. The PSU that came with my VAIO was underpowered and started to make a noise like a lawnmower whenever the computer was on. Sony wanted $350 to replace it with the exact same underpowered unit... I wound up buying an off-brand ATX PSU and a pair of Altec Lansing speakers, then used the computer for another two or three years with the cover off and the ATX PSU sitting on my desk next to it. It was the last desktop I ever bought in the store. Screwing around with that VAIO forced me to learn about computers, so I build my own towers now. I need a new Linux box, though, and I'm sorely tempted to buy a Compaq. I see them go on sale for $300, and through my retail connections I might be able to score a $100 rebate on top of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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