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Geek Culture / I want to buy a laptop - Specification suggestions?

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TheComet
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Posted: 19th Aug 2010 22:04 Edited at: 20th Aug 2010 11:48
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Yeah, so I would like to buy a good gaming laptop, something that can handle StarCraft 2, Bioshock 2, Dead Space etc. at full power. The problem is that I know very little about computer hardware, and the live text chats I had with the professional support people from Dell were just frustrating, the worst is in the following code snippet.



And Melancholic didn't have much success either: (PLEASE READ THE SNIPPET BELOW, IT'S ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS )



So yeah, any help is greatly appreciated!

TheComet

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Interplanetary Funk
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Posted: 19th Aug 2010 23:10
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I would say look at the Alienware laptops if you like bold statements and feel like having it nicked as soon as possible (they're easily recognisable and I know alot of people would be willing to steal it), though they do make an 11" version that can apparently run crysis at 30+ fps and got good reviews, but I dislike dell as all their laptops and computers seem to fall apart very quickly and from what I've heard the customer support and service is painful.

I'd personally have a look at this: http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/series/category/notebooks/ENVY15_series/3/computer_store

It looks although it may be more powerful than the AlienWares and for around the same price, as well as alot of customization, I'm sure you'll be able to stretch your budget for this beaut. I would also say look at the reviews for everything though, as they'll be more informative than I am considering I don't own any of them.
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budokaiman
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Posted: 19th Aug 2010 23:21
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@TheComet
You may want to edit your phone number out of the conversation.

Also, just like PlanetaryFunk said, go with Alienware.

Putting the fear back into sliced bread since 4th May 2010
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Melancholic
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Posted: 19th Aug 2010 23:52
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Yaay i got mentioned though remember, i was not serious :p.

Back on topic, check out this link http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf for reliability of different makes


I can count to banana...
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Interplanetary Funk
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 00:32
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Quote: "go with Alienware"

Actually I was saying avoid it. Since dell bought them their machines have gone downhill, and dell support is useless.
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budokaiman
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 02:38
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I need to start fully reading posts.

Putting the fear back into sliced bread since 4th May 2010
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Interplanetary Funk
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 02:43 Edited at: 20th Aug 2010 02:45
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That would be useful no harm done though.
/offtopic

As asus seem to be most reliable from the link Melancholic posted, have a look here and here:
[href]http://www.asuslaptop.co.uk/products.php?cat=53#search=1&price[6]=999 AND 1000000&screenSize[2]=15.6-16[/href]

EDIT: it won't let me put the second address as a link for some reason. sorry

BASIC programmers never die, they GOSUB and don't RETURN.
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Benjamin
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 07:24
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Must it be a laptop?
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charger bandit
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 10:17
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Buy a PC for 700 bucks you will be able to run ANY game easily on high settings. Buy a laptop for 700 bucks,it will struggle at medium-high. Personally I will never trust HP again and you should too. Alienware,nope. Way overpriced for what you get.

Some decent ASUS or Lenovo should do it. If you need to go extreme,Sony Vaio,but slightly overpriced too.


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bitJericho
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 12:27 Edited at: 20th Aug 2010 12:27
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Yeah I'm a believer in desktops. Unfortunately I need a laptop for school. That said, I found some really nice refurbs on newegg.com. Their asus/toshibas look pretty nice in the 400-500 dollar range!

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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 20:31
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Like charger bandit, I'll never trust HP again either. This laptop I got from them in November has already turned to crap; the network card died yesterday and now I have to connect to the web through...*shudders*...an ethernet cable!

But anyway, if you're looking for a decent, REALIABLE laptop, go Lenovo or Asus. I have heard great things about both brands. And it's my understanding that most Lenovo laptops are compatible with Linux (at least the ThinkPads), so if you go that route, that'd be good for your Linuxing about.

Click here to go to my blog!
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PAGAN_old
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Posted: 24th Aug 2010 14:21
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alienwares are overpriced. There is an interesting MSI with an HD5870 that came out recently. Also if you are willing to pay good money for a monster. for about $4000 you can buy a Clevo D900F with a desktop hexacore core I7, dual GTX480, up to 12 gigs of ram in triple channel (yes this is a laptop) up to three harddrives or you can put a blue ray drive insteda of one of the harddrives.

http://rjtech.com/shop/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29838

here is the one i am talking about, you can customize it to any price you want. This is the most powerful laptop in the world. I wanted this laptop for many years now back in the day of the D900C modification when dual 8800m GTX w a core 2 extreme was the best thing in a notebook. this thing is so hardcore, ill never be able to buy it

dont hate people who rip you off,cheat and get away with it, learn from them
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OrzeL
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Posted: 24th Aug 2010 14:48
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Wow very powerful, just for fun i decided to max out all the options and it came out to $7,237, definately out of my price range, tho I wish I was rich :p
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gbark
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Posted: 25th Aug 2010 18:54 Edited at: 25th Aug 2010 18:55
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I'd stay away from Dells. I've had plenty of bad experiences, both with the computers themselves and their customer service. The last laptop I had was a Dell. The original battery DIED (as in, would never hold a charge again and I would run at constant "0% plugged in - not charging") within just a couple months, the hinges starting cracking and breaking (I can no longer close the laptop - It must remain in the open position all the time), the system would often times refuse to wake up from sleep mode and I would be forced to cut the power, etc etc. I had no end of troubles with that computer, and I'm really good about treating my stuff right. Just through normal everyday use, it started to literally fall apart.

Right now I have a Gateway NV53A24u (http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668661.php) and I love it. I can easily play games like TF2 on medium-high settings. I don't know how this particular machine would handle games like SC2 or Dead Space, but it's a starting point and you can always look at a higher grade model.
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PAGAN_old
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Posted: 25th Aug 2010 19:57
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the newer dells are alright actually BTW i could technically afford bying a clevo D900F for $7000 but id have to spend all my savings on it.

dont hate people who rip you off,cheat and get away with it, learn from them
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RedneckRambo
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Posted: 26th Aug 2010 03:18 Edited at: 26th Aug 2010 03:22
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I actually need some help picking out a laptop too. I have a $900 maybe at the very most a $1000 budget.

I live right by a Fry's so it would be very convenient to get a laptop from fry's.
http://www.frys.com/search?query_string=&cat=-63948&pType=pDisplay&resultpage=&cat=-63948&from=0&to=24&order_by=p03a
Are any of those laptops a good gaming laptop?

I want a laptop that can run most games on a mid-high quality setting at a good FPS.

Thanks

Note~~I'm absolutely terrible with system specs. I really don't understand anything lol.

I also would really prefer something on the lower end of my budget as I am a college student and money doesn't grow on trees for me. If there is anything even at the $800 range that would be fine, I would greatly love that haha.

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Brunopark09
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Posted: 28th Aug 2010 09:54
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BUY THE ALLIEN WARE!

i would kill for one!!

-Why didn't God take gaga,justin bieber or kesha instead of Randy Rhoads, Cliff Burton or Dio?
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charger bandit
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Posted: 28th Aug 2010 18:39
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Alienware laptops are a bunch of overpriced plastic parts mashed together.

Jenkins: My pick would be THIS. Has loads of ram,I like it.


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Interplanetary Funk
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Posted: 28th Aug 2010 19:57
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Quote: "BUY THE ALLIEN WARE!

i would kill for one!!"

Yes, but you'd also kill the poor lad on the other end of customer support when it breaks after 10 minutes.

Dell laptops are rubbish. Avoid them. My friend has a dell laptop and it broke fairly quickly, he sent it to be repaired (which took a couple of weeks to a month I believe) and it then broke AGAIN as soon as he got it back. Not good stuff.

BASIC programmers never die, they GOSUB and don't RETURN.
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RedneckRambo
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Posted: 29th Aug 2010 00:27
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Quote: "Jenkins: My pick would be THIS. Has loads of ram,I like it."

That ram is purdy. However, I was reading about the NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M and it said modern games can only be run fluently on mid quality settings. But... the thing also has all this....
Quote: "plus up to 2747MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory using NVIDIA® TurboCache™ technology. Total Available Graphics memory 3771MB"

I don't know anything about computers. How would modern games run on high quality with this laptop?

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Melancholic
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Posted: 29th Aug 2010 02:36
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Quote: "Dell laptops are rubbish. Avoid them. My friend has a dell laptop and it broke fairly quickly, he sent it to be repaired (which took a couple of weeks to a month I believe) and it then broke AGAIN as soon as he got it back. Not good stuff."


Dell's quality is equal to Apple's, i also have a friend with an m15x, his laptop got a problem within a couple of months, dell support came the next day and replaced the laptop motherboard.


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charger bandit
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Posted: 29th Aug 2010 14:52
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Jenkins: I am pretty sure any game should run on mid-high settings. But you can also go for a laptop with Radeon 5600 series


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RedneckRambo
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Posted: 29th Aug 2010 21:14
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Thank you for the help Charger Bandit. I appreciate it. I've been reading other reviews about the laptop and it definitely seems like the best option for me at the time. Thanks

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charger bandit
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Posted: 29th Aug 2010 21:29
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No problem,Toshiba has some quality laptops and the cpu and ram amount caught my attention so it seems like a very great deal.


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RedneckRambo
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Posted: 29th Aug 2010 21:34 Edited at: 29th Aug 2010 21:35
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Yeah it definitely seems like a great laptop. I've heard Toshiba is good too.
Man, I'm all excited now lol. I get paid in 5 days, then heading to Fry's! Woot woot! lol.

Sorry for stealing this thread TheComet btw!

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thenerd
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Posted: 29th Aug 2010 21:50
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Quote: "Dell laptops are rubbish. Avoid them. My friend has a dell laptop and it broke fairly quickly, he sent it to be repaired (which took a couple of weeks to a month I believe) and it then broke AGAIN as soon as he got it back. Not good stuff."

Dells are not rubbish, in my opinion they are the most reliable PC laptops, I suppose it's just a matter of opinion...

I'd definitely say either go with an Alienware, or if you can't afford it, I agree with Jenkins, Toshiba has some good ones too.
I'm getting an Alienware mx11 for Christmas, and every review I've read has said good things about it.


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charger bandit
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Posted: 30th Aug 2010 12:27
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Like I said before,Alienware laptops are a bunch of overpriced plastic mashed up components. You can get an EPIC laptop AND computer for the money you will pay for the damn Crapware.


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PAGAN_old
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Posted: 30th Aug 2010 18:07 Edited at: 30th Aug 2010 18:12
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on alienwares, not all are that bad. some alienwares are other brands rebranded as alienwares. There is one laptop i wanted (as my alternative to the $7000 CLEVO (btw clevos are also rebranded as alienwares sagers falcon north west, voodos and other exclusive gaming laptop brands). Anywhay there is one laptop i really wanted,its not as good as todays laptops but back then the crossfire 3870 setup it had was the second best after dual GTX290M for a laptop. But the reason i really wanted it is the build quality is amazing. I could trus this thing wont fall apart on me after 2 years. i think its some german laptop but i could be wrong.

http://www.xoticpc.com/force-extreme-built-flextronics-arima-w840-ocznbim17a-w840di-p-2495.html?wconfigure=yes

this is the one i meant. i read an exellent review on itAlso there is this one alienware thats actually really good the M17x. I read some reviews on it. Apperently it is made out of aluminium and is a lot more durable than most laptops (also has an aluminium frame in it as far as i can remember out there. Also its upgrade friendly very easy to take apart. (for me anyway because i take apart tons of laptops at my job) anyway you can look for reviews on it but the one i read (cant find it right now) but ill tell you the m17X is the one alienware thats not a bunch of plastic parts mashed together. its ALUMINIUM. id buy the m 17x because its the only aluminium laptop thats not a mac

also on german laptops there is this company called mysn that makes really cool laptops (the xoticpc one i posted is originally a mysn laptop i think) dont know mych about them but they make really cool laptops. if anyone lives in germany please tell me more about these laptops i cant find many english reviews anyway i looked up this one and it looks really awesome and high end
http://www.mysn.de/detail.asp?KategorienOrder=010;020;010;070&bestellnr=adnn0001&userid=9fj91048qr52017z032blt1v997789c310349iq460w756&

dont hate people who rip you off,cheat and get away with it, learn from them
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RedneckRambo
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Posted: 30th Aug 2010 21:01 Edited at: 31st Aug 2010 00:25
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Okay so I'm having an issue with FRYS right now. Charger Bandit, the laptop you picked for me is actually discontinued at FRYs now and was just a "while supplies lasted" thing and their aren't any more at any store near me.

Basically all the ones that say "unavailable" where it says shipping... I can't get. I'm okay with paying a few hundred more but I really would prefer to keep it at $1000.
There is the link again. What would be the next best one for me to get? Thank you.
http://www.frys.com/search?query_string=&cat=-63948&order_by=p03a&pType=pDisplay&resultpage=1&from=25&to=49

There is this laptop http://www.frys.com/product/6273770?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG Which is basically the exact same thing but with less RAM.

OoOohhh what about this one http://www.frys.com/product/6236820?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
That seems pretty good to me.

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charger bandit
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Posted: 31st Aug 2010 16:47
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Go with THIS one,still great enough.


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The Next
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Posted: 31st Aug 2010 17:37
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Do not buy Alien-ware its a very bad idea they are massively over priced and the support given is rubbish a mate of mine that lives near me had to send his back 3 times due to it being broken on arrival and then in the end asked for his money back and instead built a PC himself with the same specs for about £300 cheaper.

Mystic Mod - Putting the fear back into sliced bread since 4th May 2010
Windows 7 Pro, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8Ghz, 4GB DDR3, Dual nvidia SLI 9800GT 1GB, 1.5TB Hard disk
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