Comments | imotic: considering a new laptop

imotic

considering a new laptop

Apr 07, 2010 18:38

I just sold my old toshiba tablet for chump change, and it's time to get a new laptop. Now that I'm graduating, I don't need a tablet anymore, and I'm looking to get something that is large enough to program on but small/light enough to bike around with.

I'm pretty sure I found the perfect bag to commute with, the keen newport pack. It has a ( Read more... )

Comments 10

nightskyre April 7 2010, 23:20:30 UTC

I wouldn't bank too much on the aluminum helping your system that much in the event of a crash. IT's usually so thin it hardly matters. Unless you're getting a laptop that has a shock absorption harddrive, it really doesn't make a difference what the thing is made of WRT crashes. (However, it does look cooler) Your hard drive heads crashing and your LCD screen smashing on impact are the two things I'd be concerned about in a crash.

That said, I like the ASUS better than the other two. I've never been keen on HP styling and Acer has always bugged me for some reason I can't place.

Have you looked at the Dell Mini 10 or the XPS 1310?

imotic April 9 2010, 21:01:12 UTC

Re:aluminum, depends on the laptop. Some of the laptops have just a thin outer shell of aluminum, and a mostly plastic body. The dm3t is mostly aluminum, albeit with plastic hinges, but all the reviews seem to indicate that it's pretty sturdy. So that's actually where I've been leaning ( ... )

nightskyre April 10 2010, 12:15:10 UTC

Actually my XPS is pretty much exactly that. It's a 12" widescreen laptop. I happen to have a discrete sound card because I chose one, but it actually fits the bill for your requirements pretty well.

Hm. It looks like they don't sell the XPS's like they used to. Nevermind me.

(The comment has been removed)

imotic April 9 2010, 20:45:57 UTC

I was thinking about the MBP too.. either refurbished, or I might still be able to get a student discount on it if I grab it before I graduate ( ... )

ilp April 9 2010, 21:53:11 UTC

I haven't played with any of the laptops you are considering, but see if you can go use them to see if you like the feel. MBP has a really nice touchpad. Large, direct-feeling. A bunch of the touchpads for some regular laptops I played with in the store just feel weird, the finger drags all slow. I guess once you get used to a nice touchpad, it's hard to go back ( ... )

Apple Hardware == teh good runexe April 11 2010, 16:41:32 UTC

I'd definitely back up everything Oleg said: the quality of the build on the Macbook and Macbook Pro is worth the price - and in general anything from HP/Dell/etc. that matches the quality costs the same or more.

I've completely converted over to OS X for my 'daily'/home use. I'm still running Ubuntu for my main work machine, and I use Windows occasionally as well (I'll be trying out 7 next week in fact).

Time machine is a life saver - it does everything a backup program should do, and you don't have to think about it (besides hooking up/turning on the external hard drive, or network storage if you're into that).

Point is - my MBP is now three years old, and I won't be replacing it anytime soon. Genn is still running her nearly 5 year old MB, and besides a HD and memory upgrade she hasn't needed anything else. When you get to the end of the story, Apple doesn't really cost more, it just feels that way if you're comparing it to bargain basement prices.

ilp April 9 2010, 17:50:35 UTC

Do not buy an HP laptop!

imotic April 9 2010, 20:35:47 UTC

The HP dm3t is actually more or less my top choice out of the three that I was looking at, all the reviews say that the touchpad is crap (and the display is mediocre) but the rest of it is pretty freakin' sweet. I found a Windows Experience Index (not exactly the best benchmark but it's ok) for the processor I'd be getting, it's altogether better than my dual opteron system. The other laptops seem to have the same issues (ASUS has problems with the touchpad/buttons, etc) and both of them are a bit more on the flimsy side, construction-wise.

As for HP vs. Apple, I'll write something in Winfield's comment.

But what do you know about HP? Sucky customer service? What's the problem? I've been looking around, and Toshiba/Dell/Sony/etc all look like crap, ThinkPads don't really fit what I'm looking for, not really sure what to go with. I found a local Staples that's carrying a similar model of HP (the dm3z), I'm probably going to head down there and try it out. I'm also figuring if I do end up buying it, and I don't like it, I can return ( ... )

ilp April 9 2010, 21:33:56 UTC

I don't know how good the customer service is for any of these laptops.

My beef with HP is quality. Kate's Compaq/HP (same mobo sold as HP computers) failed just a year after warranty. I wouldn't trust HP.

So far, Acer laptop we bought a long time ago for my parents is still plugging away.

imotic April 9 2010, 22:43:15 UTC

Hm yeah, good call, I didn't really think about the mobo, I'll see what I can pull up about the motherboard used in the dm3t. One thing I was thinking about re:kate's laptop is making sure the fan is on the side, not underneath the laptop. But it's good to make sure that the internal assembly is all good, I'll look into it.