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Buying a new notebook, need some advice.

post #1 of 9
3/6/10 at 4:56pm
Thread Starter 
Hi, so I'm new here and I was wondering If I could get some input on some laptops I've been looking at. I set my budget around 600 dollars, I'm a senior in college, not quite the gamer I was but wanted something that could give me the performance and reliability I wanted. I had a bad experience with an HP pavilion notebook I bought back in 2006 that fried it's system board twice so I'm staying clear of them now haha.

I've found two laptops that pretty much have what I want.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834146611

and

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...IN#detailspecs

I'm more worried about which one of these would be more reliable. Just looking at the specs I gather they are the same, although I think the Lenova has a better processor but I don't know how much better to be honest. Another thing is that both come with Windows 7 professional pre-installed but not activated I think. I was wondering, since I'm a student, I can buy 7 professional for 65 bucks, would it be the same cost to upgrade here? Or is it free or something... Anyways, If anyone knows of any better deals then these two, I'm all ears. I'd appreciate the input. Thanks!
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post #2 of 9
3/6/10 at 5:21pm
Overall they are evenly spec'd, however processor-wise the Lenovo has a slightly better processor.

Now if you don't mind going to the higher end of your price range, at $599 This (laptop link here) has a nice dedicated graphics card which would be better all around for everything from games to watching HD video, etc. True the processor is an AMD and won't quite have the 'oomph' that the Intel's do but in my opinion the trade off is worth it for the graphics.

*EDIT* One thing that I don't like however is that all of these budget-minded laptops have a 1366x768 resolution screen. It's nice for smaller systems, but at 15" and up something in the 1680x1050 would definitely be better.
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post #3 of 9
3/6/10 at 5:42pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mb67 View Post
Overall they are evenly spec'd, however processor-wise the Lenovo has a slightly better processor.

Now if you don't mind going to the higher end of your price range, at $599 This (laptop link here) has a nice dedicated graphics card which would be better all around for everything from games to watching HD video, etc. True the processor is an AMD and won't quite have the 'oomph' that the Intel's do but in my opinion the trade off is worth it for the graphics.

*EDIT* One thing that I don't like however is that all of these budget-minded laptops have a 1366x768 resolution screen. It's nice for smaller systems, but at 15" and up something in the 1680x1050 would definitely be better.
I was thinking of probably just upgrading the graphics card later down the line If I really wanted too...while that seems to be a good deal, I've always heard bad things of the Acer brand in terms of quality. Have they upped their quality recently? Cause then i'd have to give it serious thought I suppose.
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post #4 of 9
3/6/10 at 5:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nuposse87 View Post
I was thinking of probably just upgrading the graphics card later down the line If I really wanted too...while that seems to be a good deal, I've always heard bad things of the Acer brand in terms of quality. Have they upped their quality recently? Cause then i'd have to give it serious thought I suppose.
you might want to take a look at this link for reliability ratings of Laptop manufacturers: (Was conducted back in Nov 2009)

Reliability ratings link
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post #5 of 9
3/7/10 at 1:44pm
I think you should give Acer consideration. They have upped their game.

On the reliability ratings while a useful tool not the be all end all. How do you interpret those numbers? The best has a 15%? 1.5 of every 10 is hardly concerting to me. So 2.5 out of 10?

Asus offers 2 year warranty so if no one sends in the 3rd year it skews the scale. I am not saying that is what happens but the numbers mean very little in and of themselves. Like most statistics they are misused or mis understood. I myself find the failure of an optical drive to be much less significant than a MoBo failure (HP) but does the chart differentiate? No it does not. Also since almost none of them make their own it is more critical model to model not brand to brand?

But hey more info is always better than less. Just consider what it really means.

Best of luck.
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post #6 of 9
3/7/10 at 1:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by powerpack View Post
I think you should give Acer consideration. They have upped their game.

On the reliability ratings while a useful tool not the be all end all. How do you interpret those numbers? The best has a 15%? 1.5 of every 10 is hardly concerting to me. So 2.5 out of 10?

Asus offers 2 year warranty so if no one sends in the 3rd year it skews the scale. I am not saying that is what happens but the numbers mean very little in and of themselves. Like most statistics they are misused or mis understood. I myself find the failure of an optical drive to be much less significant than a MoBo failure (HP) but does the chart differentiate? No it does not. Also since almost none of them make their own it is more critical model to model not brand to brand?

But hey more info is always better than less. Just consider what it really means.

Best of luck.
Out of curiosity are there any websites, etc where you go for advice? Or is it just opinion? (Just curious of course. )
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post #7 of 9
3/7/10 at 1:55pm
I make it up as I go from life experience. I thought I laid out as opinion so thought I had the liberty to expound?

I know much about statistics and their use and misuse. Not formal training but grew up with a social scientist.

I work on a truck I have very little education but I do think I do have insights?

Edit: I do reference wikipedia, JEDEC, Intel and others for technical specifics.
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post #8 of 9
3/7/10 at 8:44pm
I was just curious if there were any websites/reference points you use to base things off of. I personally use a number of resources, along with personal experiences (working/servicing Dell and HP systems).
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post #9 of 9
3/8/10 at 4:34pm
also keep in mind that laptop graphics are not so easy to upgrade (assuming its even possible on the models you are looking at)... buy something now that will last the entire time you plan to keep the machine or risk spending more later.
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