new laptop time

[old.user4556]

Aye, Dells get 'baggy' quickly. It's the only thing putting me off.

 

[TdC]

ffs apple then. dammit, 2600 euros!

 

[old.user4556]

What do people think of this (£979 inc vat):

Intel CoreTM i7-740QM, 1.73GHz
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
English (QWERTY)
Premium Black
500 GB Serial ATA (7200 rpm)
4 GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
Blu-ray Disc(TM) player
41.6 cm (16.4") LCD, 1920x1080, webcam
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 425M 1GB
Office 2010 Starter
No protection
No Adobe® Creation

Also Included

1 AC Adapter
2 USB 3.0 + 1 e-SATA/USB 2.0
Wireless LAN +Bluetooth
HDMI(TM) output
Battery life up to 3 hours

It's a Vaio F (X) which is pretty much their premium thingy.

 

[djpringle]

How heavy is it?

 

[Will]

The 13.3" MBA has a better screen than the MBP. Which is silly.

 

[old.user4556]

That's what gets up my anus about Apple's laptops; there isn't one of them that is quite right.

- The Macbook Air is woefully underspecced and expensive.
- The Macbook Pro 13.3" has a less than ideal resolution and no blu-ray option
- The Macbook Pro 15" doesn't come in a full HD res or have a blu-ray option
- The Macbook Pro 17" is massive in size and price.

The Vaio has it all, for less money, but I hate myself for still wanting the Macbook over a Vaio

 

[Will]

I could get student prices. As could you, Teedles.

 

[old.user4556]

My girlfriend is a full time student.

TELL ME MORE BITCHES?

 

[Will]

You have to be at the uni to even see the offers. I think it is a discount again this year which is a lot better than last years free ipod offer.

 

[TdC]

it's like a 10% discount. a 15" mbp will still cost me >2500 euros

 

[TdC]

That's what gets up my anus about Apple's laptops; there isn't one of them that is quite right.

- The Macbook Air is woefully underspecced and expensive.
- The Macbook Pro 13.3" has a less than ideal resolution and no blu-ray option
- The Macbook Pro 15" doesn't come in a full HD res or have a blu-ray option
- The Macbook Pro 17" is massive in size and price.

The Vaio has it all, for less money, but I hate myself for still wanting the Macbook over a Vaio

this, except I don't want either of them. I will prolly just have to build my own laptop

 

[TdC]

also, a design savvy mate claims that all things Mac are brilliant, because each one creates a desire for the next one up. how can that be brilliant for me?

 

[MYstIC G]

Don't get a Mac. Apple won't support you doing anything else on it and you're a Linux freak.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

What do people think of this (£979 inc vat):

Intel CoreTM i7-740QM, 1.73GHz
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
English (QWERTY)
Premium Black
500 GB Serial ATA (7200 rpm)
4 GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
Blu-ray Disc(TM) player
41.6 cm (16.4") LCD, 1920x1080, webcam
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 425M 1GB
Office 2010 Starter
No protection
No Adobe® Creation

Also Included

1 AC Adapter
2 USB 3.0 + 1 e-SATA/USB 2.0
Wireless LAN +Bluetooth
HDMI(TM) output
Battery life up to 3 hours

It's a Vaio F (X) which is pretty much their premium thingy.

Pretty shit battery life on that, probably what, 1:30-2hrs real usage?

 

[Bodhi]

Pretty shit battery life on that, probably what, 1:30-2hrs real usage?

I would expect it to be about 3 hours with that spec. The GPU will eat a bit, but I'm pretty sure VAIOs come with Hybrid graphics, so it uses the GMA thingy when it's not being pushed.

Predictably I'd have the VAIO out of those options, Macbooks are horribly overpriced for what they are, and not particularly well built imo. Working for a laptop manufacturer at the moment I see lots of trade figures for warranty claims, Apple are a lot higher than their prices would have you to believe. And yes, there are less warranty claims with the VAIOs.

Asus appear to be the ones for reliability however, which I would expect, consider they make most people's chassis' for them....

Also going on insutry figures for failures, avoid anything with an HP badge on it.....

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Agree with the hate for Apple and HP lappies. Truly awful.

 

[old.user4556]

Coming from the guy who bought an iPhone!

 

[Wazzerphuk]

If you like having a sauna on your lap, buy a Mac Book Pro!

 

[strangely brown]

If a MacBook Pro is like having a sauna on your lap, then by comparison, having an Alienware on your lap is like having molten lava...

I swear the last Alienware laptop I had (prior to them being purchased by Dell), when I switched it on when plugged in, the lights in the local neighbourhood used to go dim! Sounded like a jet engine as well.

MacBooks in comparison (on my second now since the Alienware) are a pleasure to use, although they are pricey for the spec.

Prior to the Alienware, I had a Sony Vaio which is still running today (although the battery only lasts 10 mins) and was until recently acting as a media server. Now it's been retired and has an easy life running Ubuntu.

I've used Dells as well, with them being supplied by my employer, and find them cheap and nasty (maybe this is just the models my company buys?). In fact, a VMWare image of my work laptop runs twice as fast on the MacBook than the real machine... It's so bad that my work laptop is now relegated to running as a DNS and proxy server on my home network, providing me with iplayer access whilst abroad.

 

[Hawkwind]

Just got myslef an Acer RoG - G53 J, 15.6" and it is awsome for on the road gaming. Price was 1300 USD. Nearly 200 USD cheaper than the equivalent Alienware and a better spec. 1.73 G i7-740QM Processor, 1.5Gb Nvidia GTX 460M and I paid 100 USD extra for 8Gb rather than 6Gb of Ram. the large fan vents on the rear keep the heat away from your lap or keyboard, really well thought out design.

This laptop kicks arse and was a great price for the spec. Got it in Miami from a comp retail store called tigerdirect only a month ago.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

The other thing you need to remember about mac books is that the power cable is weak as fuck and breaks regularly. A common occurance at our work.

 

[TdC]

I've more or less settled on the 14" Lenovo T420 with the 1600x900 screen, 8GB ram and an SSD to be added at a later date.

There is a Vaio S series which is also pretty sweet, but that has the arrendale CPU doodad where I would prefer the sandy bridge. sony's shop just wants to get me to phone their customer help whereas I can just get the Lenovo off the shelf. oh well.

 

[old.user4556]

Can I just say, my folks' 2 or so month old Vaio is acting up regarding battery life. Seems to run down mega fast and Windows has thrown a "your battery is fucked, replace it please" message.

 

[TdC]

wewt! Sony has upgraded the screen on the S series to 1600x900! so I can get one of those with 8GB, and I will have a ball.

ofc, it's US only atm. Will call Slowny NL tomorrow and see what I can find out

 

[DaGaffer]

Vaios are all overpriced and Sony's tech support is the worst in the known universe. Get a Samsung.

 

[TdC]

completely true, but that sweet Sammy 9X thing has the 1366x768 screen

 

[DaGaffer]

completely true, but that sweet Sammy 9X thing has the 1366x768 screen

If that's your deal-breaker then there's only really HP and Lenovo available unless you go up to a 17" screen. Then there are a lot of options, but that's a big laptop.

 

[TdC]

yeah don't I know it

 

[TdC]

oh yeah btw Sony said the screen upgrade for the S series is going to hit Europe in August (ish).

*waits*

 

[Wij]

My little Lenovo rocks. Really solid build, nice k/b, and good value.

Only downside is the silly Fn key being where Ctrl should be. Turned scroll-lock on a few times by forgetting that and then totally couldn't work out why Excel was acting oddly