At the moment I seem to be torn apart by the ying and yang forces of performance verses portability. This is just a dishevelled university student seeking some advice on whether mobility is worth the sacrifice in performance from this board's many experienced user's experience. A little background.
Almost exactly a year ago, I purchased a qosmio g-10. I needed a computer for university, and being as I did not have a desktop, I wanted to make sure I had all my bases covered. I bought the unit in July 05 for 2300, a good deal at the time. My cousin had recently bought one and enthusiastically touted the g-10's many capabilities of it's screen, decent graphics and tv and miscelaneous media potential. My other potential buy would have been the toshiba m-40 and m-60 (all possibilities because they had discrete and decent graphics cards). I lugged the computer as well as it's power brick (and wow, is that a brick, being twice as large as anything else i've seen.) every day to classes. Battery life was only around 1 hour, 45 minutes, but i consistently studied in my uni library for several hours afterwords. Contrary to popular opinion, I didn't mind carrying it around at all in terms of weight as i was getting more performance. Movies were great, and i download them all the time from torrents. It was decent at playing games, enough so that I never had an issue of not beingn able to play a game i wanted to play (including bf2!). Other games I have played include civ 4, farcry, vampires masquade, empire at war... I have yet to try oblivion I'd consider myself a casual gamer who likes his games, but can do without the eye candy if necessary. I was definately satisfied with my g-10, however find it lacking in battery life, and i did not make use of many of the qosmio's other media capabilities. That's the ying. Now for the yang.
Recently, i've been getting the itch to the absolute opposite side of the spectrum. I've lately been entertaining the notion of getting something small, much more portable that i could take to more than 2 classes. I've been thinking about a tablet for the novelty factor, and because it is touted as revolutionizing the note taking and university lecture experience.
I find it extremely alluring to have a laptop with a battery life of 5-7 hours... Such a unit would be entirely mobility, preferably a 14.1 inch screen. I'd use it for an entertainment center somewhat as well (mp3's, movies, heavy downloading) and would simply abandon the idea of gaming on this computer. I'm taking a degree of commerce at UBC in canada, so I don't even think this mobility unit would need a discrete graphics card if i took this route. I'm definately trying to get serious about getting good marks this next year! and am debating on whether getting a focused mobility unit (tablet or otherwise) will help me take better notes and get more out of my lectures. I prefer to use a computer to take lecture notes over taking by hand, and am taking more classes per day then my last year.
Or maybe i should simply go with a cheap motility computer with no graphics card at all but supreme battery life. Mmmmmm... My budget is distributed as: (preferably as total prices, including tax)
1) as cheap as possible if i simply go for a regular, small laptop optimized for battery life and mobility
2) 1500-2500 for a tablet
3) 2000-2500 for a gaming computer
My perfect pc would be something compromisingly small, superb battery life that could still play games decently. I don't think this exists though, not for my price range.
Other criteria I'd prefer would be:
1) widescreen, nice resolutions
2) 1 gig of ram
3) 1.60 at the minimum, preferably duo core
4) fingerprint reader
5) mobility units, 5-7 hours of battery
Question 1:
So, what I am asking is whether or not any of this board's users have gone through a similar dillema. What did you end up buying? What was your perspective on your decision after the fact? Also, if people who have purchased a tablet would recommend it as an essential feature or something they barely use.
Laptops I am currently pondering are...
a) Toshiba's p100-9012 as a gaming computer (this would be the ultimate splurge... Battery life is less then 2 hours though, similar to my current unit. i definately would prefer an improved battery life though!, hence my problems..)
b) dell's xps 1210, though it's value is not there for the price (mediocre gaming and it's not a tablet and small screen for every day use)
c) satillite tablet from toshiba? expensive though...
d) dell's e1405 configured for around 1000 dollars as a simple no games mobility unit (would i hate myself after?)
e gateway m285 - e (at least you can put a discrete graphics in.. Mmm.. Maybe i could play some games then..)
f) potential hp or ibm tablets
Question 2:
When is the projected release date for meron equiped laptops. Ii don't have a time crunch as i already have a laptop for uni, but i'd prefer to buy august/september.
Thank you very much for anyone who replies! I'm very interested to see other people's perspectives. Obviously, i'll make up my own mind suited to my own needs, but I'm still interested in external input, especially on the subject of the marginal useability of tablets. I also am going to the USA in august, so feel free to quote models being sold in both canada and the USA!!!!
Almost exactly a year ago, I purchased a qosmio g-10. I needed a computer for university, and being as I did not have a desktop, I wanted to make sure I had all my bases covered. I bought the unit in July 05 for 2300, a good deal at the time. My cousin had recently bought one and enthusiastically touted the g-10's many capabilities of it's screen, decent graphics and tv and miscelaneous media potential. My other potential buy would have been the toshiba m-40 and m-60 (all possibilities because they had discrete and decent graphics cards). I lugged the computer as well as it's power brick (and wow, is that a brick, being twice as large as anything else i've seen.) every day to classes. Battery life was only around 1 hour, 45 minutes, but i consistently studied in my uni library for several hours afterwords. Contrary to popular opinion, I didn't mind carrying it around at all in terms of weight as i was getting more performance. Movies were great, and i download them all the time from torrents. It was decent at playing games, enough so that I never had an issue of not beingn able to play a game i wanted to play (including bf2!). Other games I have played include civ 4, farcry, vampires masquade, empire at war... I have yet to try oblivion I'd consider myself a casual gamer who likes his games, but can do without the eye candy if necessary. I was definately satisfied with my g-10, however find it lacking in battery life, and i did not make use of many of the qosmio's other media capabilities. That's the ying. Now for the yang.
Recently, i've been getting the itch to the absolute opposite side of the spectrum. I've lately been entertaining the notion of getting something small, much more portable that i could take to more than 2 classes. I've been thinking about a tablet for the novelty factor, and because it is touted as revolutionizing the note taking and university lecture experience.
I find it extremely alluring to have a laptop with a battery life of 5-7 hours... Such a unit would be entirely mobility, preferably a 14.1 inch screen. I'd use it for an entertainment center somewhat as well (mp3's, movies, heavy downloading) and would simply abandon the idea of gaming on this computer. I'm taking a degree of commerce at UBC in canada, so I don't even think this mobility unit would need a discrete graphics card if i took this route. I'm definately trying to get serious about getting good marks this next year! and am debating on whether getting a focused mobility unit (tablet or otherwise) will help me take better notes and get more out of my lectures. I prefer to use a computer to take lecture notes over taking by hand, and am taking more classes per day then my last year.
Or maybe i should simply go with a cheap motility computer with no graphics card at all but supreme battery life. Mmmmmm... My budget is distributed as: (preferably as total prices, including tax)
1) as cheap as possible if i simply go for a regular, small laptop optimized for battery life and mobility
2) 1500-2500 for a tablet
3) 2000-2500 for a gaming computer
My perfect pc would be something compromisingly small, superb battery life that could still play games decently. I don't think this exists though, not for my price range.
Other criteria I'd prefer would be:
1) widescreen, nice resolutions
2) 1 gig of ram
3) 1.60 at the minimum, preferably duo core
4) fingerprint reader
5) mobility units, 5-7 hours of battery
Question 1:
So, what I am asking is whether or not any of this board's users have gone through a similar dillema. What did you end up buying? What was your perspective on your decision after the fact? Also, if people who have purchased a tablet would recommend it as an essential feature or something they barely use.
Laptops I am currently pondering are...
a) Toshiba's p100-9012 as a gaming computer (this would be the ultimate splurge... Battery life is less then 2 hours though, similar to my current unit. i definately would prefer an improved battery life though!, hence my problems..)
b) dell's xps 1210, though it's value is not there for the price (mediocre gaming and it's not a tablet and small screen for every day use)
c) satillite tablet from toshiba? expensive though...
d) dell's e1405 configured for around 1000 dollars as a simple no games mobility unit (would i hate myself after?)
e gateway m285 - e (at least you can put a discrete graphics in.. Mmm.. Maybe i could play some games then..)
f) potential hp or ibm tablets
Question 2:
When is the projected release date for meron equiped laptops. Ii don't have a time crunch as i already have a laptop for uni, but i'd prefer to buy august/september.
Thank you very much for anyone who replies! I'm very interested to see other people's perspectives. Obviously, i'll make up my own mind suited to my own needs, but I'm still interested in external input, especially on the subject of the marginal useability of tablets. I also am going to the USA in august, so feel free to quote models being sold in both canada and the USA!!!!
You make an interesting point. Previously I had not even considered mac's because previously i was looking at gaming computers!! Now, however, i'm looking for something else.
). To cut a long story short the M7 is NOT a good slightly gameable tablet, the Gateway is better by far.
