So my parents have asked me for some advice on a new laptop. I'm not really into hardware anymore since nowadays I just head to the Apple store and buy the newest Mac. Of course they do not intend to spend €1200 on a Macbook if you can get a fine Windows laptop for about €500. So now I need to find a decent Windows laptop and there are just so many options. So I have some open-ended questions and hope you can help me out. (OK I promise I'll help you when you want to buy a Mac.)
Some practical requirements:
-The price range is about €450-€550. So about €500 average.
-It will be used for browsing the web, typing and perhaps playing HD movies. No bleeding edge gaming.
-Screen size of 15" or a little more
-The OS should be the latest Windows
-Preferably slim design and no heat issues, I already have a waffle iron
What CPU, Intel or AMD? Intel seems to be dominating so I guess the new Core i is the way to go, correct? Laptops with a Core i3 can be had for about €550.
But there are also still Pentium Dual Cores like T4400 and P6100. What are those and are they any good? A laptop with PDC can be had for €480. That's a very attractive price point.
I've also seen affordable laptops with AMD CPUs. Athlon 64 X2 M320, Athlon X2 P320, Turion II. I don't know anything about their performance and they don't seem to be popular.
Celeron 900's are shit I suppose.
What kind of video chip? 1080p video shouldn't be a problem. The cheap laptops have Intel GMA 4500M or a Radeon Mobility HD4200/4250.
Somewhat more expensive laptops (€500-ish) have a GeForce G 205M or 8200M G.
have a Radeon Mobility HD5650/530v.
Laptops with my maximum price (€550) have a Radeon Mobility HD5650/530v.
Backlight The vast majority is "edge-lit". Some have CCFL lighting, is this any good? And there are also some with full-led screens. Which looks best?
Specific brands Are some brands particularly great? Like Asus or Dell? Some people say Lenovos have marvelous build quality.
Lopin18 wrote:
I think you played too much Fallout 3, Pedo Perk acquired.
Specific brands
Are some brands particularly great? Like Asus or Dell? Some people say Lenovos have marvelous build quality.
Lenovo has by far the best build quality, not even Apple are as good as them. HP Elitebooks are good as well, although I can't say that from personal experience, never seen or used one myself.
As far as specs go I can't really help. I got my current laptop for free, and I've recently only looked at slightly higher price ranges when my sister needed one for CAD work and such. At that price point however, I can tell you that you can quite easily match MBP specs at less than 2/3rds of the price. So you should be able to sit slightly under MB specs for €500, since that starts at €1000.
A laptop isn't enough: in order to completely come off macfaggines you need to enter into a treatment program that offers a proper detox gaming rig with the best RPGs from the 90s.
A laptop isn't enough: in order to completely come off macfaggines you need to enter into a treatment program that offers a proper detox gaming rig with the best RPGs from the 90s.
Hahahha, I can already see it in front of me. A 12-step program to get rid of anyone's macfaggines.
I would really like some useful advice on Windows laptops, and I know you have a lot of experience with that hardware. So I would appreciate it if we could save the Mac lulz for the dedicated thread
Lopin18 wrote:
I think you played too much Fallout 3, Pedo Perk acquired.
Useful advice? 500€ is very cheap, you should just be happy with whatever you can find for that price. Best get a notebook without proper GPU since gaming is not important, the GMA chips are cheaper, cooler and save battery. For the CPU you can get an Intel i3 if you want more efficiency or an equivalent AMD chip (don't know their models) if you want to save money. AMD CPUs are lower-tech but cheaper, it's a trade-off and both have their customer base.
For build quality Lenovo Thinkpads and HP Elitebooks are the top notebook lineups on the market, but they are way out of your price league. For 500€ you should just be happy with what you can get. There are cheaper notebooks from Lenovo and HP but they are not built as well as the expensive rugged models.
Useful advice? 500€ is very cheap, you should just be happy with whatever you can find for that price. Best get a notebook without proper GPU since gaming is not important, the GMA chips are cheaper, cooler and save battery. For the CPU you can get an Intel i3 if you want more efficiency or an equivalent AMD chip (don't know their models) if you want to save money. AMD CPUs are lower-tech but cheaper, it's a trade-off and both have their customer base.
For build quality Lenovo Thinkpads and HP Elitebooks are the top notebook lineups on the market, but they are way out of your price league. For 500€ you should just be happy with what you can get. There are cheaper notebooks from Lenovo and HP but they are not built as well as the expensive rugged models.
Okay now I'm getting somewhere: the GMA is efficient and cheap
Lopin18 wrote:
I think you played too much Fallout 3, Pedo Perk acquired.
I'd definitely opt for 3, just gives you a little more headroom.
To be fair though, Windows 7 is the lightest out of all the popular OS's in use, pretty sure it's lighter than OS X (something I actually need to check on my laptop tbh). It runs fine on 2 gigs, but if you can get 3 for a few more bucks, go for it
HP G62-a18ED (WY074EA) €500
15,6" laptop, AX2 P320 320GB HDD en 3GB mem.
I really like the exterior of this thing. It's obviously a Mac ripoff but nice nonetheless.
I wonder if the AMD CPU is any good! Anyone else got good experiences with HP laptops?
Between those 4 CPUS the Ci3 is almost twice as fast as the other ones, the other 3 are probably about equal.
As far as HP's consumer laptops go: it's Compaq. They do fine for most people, but if you need support..well just don't expect any
Memory usage between Win7 and OS X is slightly in the favour of Win7 for the record, both sitting at 1.3 GB free on my laptop (2 gigs total), although under Windows I've also got Java installed, not sure if I've got that installed under OS X. And there's no kexts loaded for my Wifi or videocard under OS X, but that shouldn't make much of a difference =]
Professional has the added benefit of having a Remote Desktop daemon built in, Ultimate expands on that with all the Enterprise crap you'll never use anyway.
RAM wise it really doesn't make a difference except for benchmarking and heavy duty crap, which you stated this thing won't be used for
Difference between home and professional is there but as a normal consumer (especially your parents ) it is really forgettable. And Ultimate? It's a joke. You have bitlocker and you can change the language whenever you want... Guess what, you can do it with the other versions too
The main difference between DDR2 and DDR3 is that DDR3 is the never tech and if you buy a laptop with DDR2 you know that they are selling their old crap to make place for the new stuff. Performance wise your parents will never see the difference.
I have Win7 x64 pro, and 2GB RAM and I can still play any game out there. But if your parents intend to play Crysis and GTA4 I would recommend 3GB or 4GB and a decent graphicscard
So I've finally made a decision! A real Windows fag machine
My choice is the HP G62. I've read a lot of good reviews about this laptop. It's got a Core i3 and costs just €549. And I like the way it looks (like a Macbook). 3GB of RAM and 250GB HDD. The HDD size is fine by me, the machine won't be a download monster or anything. And in case of an emergency I'd just get a 2TB external drive or something.
So what do you think? Does someone have good (or perhaps not so good) experiences with HP laptops?
Lopin18 wrote:
I think you played too much Fallout 3, Pedo Perk acquired.
So I've finally made a decision! A real Windows fag machine
My choice is the HP G62. I've read a lot of good reviews about this laptop. It's got a Core i3 and costs just €549. And I like the way it looks (like a Macbook). 3GB of RAM and 250GB HDD. The HDD size is fine by me, the machine won't be a download monster or anything. And in case of an emergency I'd just get a 2TB external drive or something.
So what do you think? Does someone have good (or perhaps not so good) experiences with HP laptops?
well as long as it looks like a fagbook i mean macbook u should get it, after all looks is all that matters
What about a COMPAQ PRESARIO? That's an alternative. I've got a good deal at Media Markt. €399, Pentium DC T4500, 3GB RAM, 320GB HDD.
So that's very cheap. It would normally cost €480. So unless someone says Compaq is a flimsy bitch that will break down within a year, I think I'll go for this hot deal.
Compaq belongs to HP anyway so the choice is pretty much between 2 HP machines.
But AFAIK the Compaq brand is used by HP to sell most of their low budget products, and that's why most of the Compaq's out there ( at least the ones I use to see here ) carry such a low price.
boundle (thoughts on cracking AITD) wrote:
i guess thouth if without a legit key the installation was rolling back we are all fucking then
I wonder if the AMD CPU is any good! Anyone else got good experiences with HP laptops?
I have a HP dv6 and its a decent enough laptop.
The build quality is 100 times better than the piece of shit Dell I had before, however some people say Dell's are ok, so maybe its a Dell UK thing.
Its got a AMD Turion in it and a ATI Mobility 4200, it seems to perform ok for what I want in most situations.
I dont run windows though, so I couldnt tell you what the Windows performance is like, but I can watch HD stuff If I choose too ok, but I tend not too as I have a media centre.
But as I say, I dont know what the windows side of its like, the last HP laptop I had was pretty good all things considered (3 years old, Intel POS GPU etc...)
ragnarus wrote:
I saw things like that in here and in other "woman problems" topics so...... Am I the only one that thinks some authorities needs to be alerted about Saner and him possibly being a rapist and/or kidnapper ?
Saner is not being serious. Unless its the subject of Santa!
Signature/Avatar nuking: none (can be changed in your profile)
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) it is really forgettable. And Ultimate? It's a joke. You have bitlocker and you can change the language whenever you want... Guess what, you can do it with the other versions too 
