Looking to buy a laptop

I'm looking at the Dell Inspiron 15 line, and I think it would have a good cost/value ratio..
The user reviews are fairly positive, but I want to get your thoughts on it (or on Dell laptops in general).
I'm looking for comments about hardware quality and durability. Aesthetics don't matter to me much. If you have suggestions for alternate brands, please mention why I shouldn't consider a Dell as well.
I'm planning to get it customised like this;
* intel core2 duo 2.0ghz processor
* 4gb ram
* 160gb HDD
* intel graphics
* no webcam
* WLED screen
* 1-year warranty
that comes out to $589 (USD). Most other laptops with 4gb ram and a core2 duo tend to offer 250gb HDDs as the minimum, which jacks up the price =p. That's why I like this one - I can strip off everything I don't need (and save money).
So, what do you guys think?

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I have handled many laptops, and nothing (except possibly the Macbook Pro) compares to the quality of a Thinkpad. They may be expensive, but I am on my second one and I will never buy anything else.
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If you just want a consumer (cheap) laptop that will hold up well, a Dell should do you fine. The Inspiron line is IIRC the lowest quality, though, so watch what you pick. Check them out at Best Buy etc. before you buy. But I really like Thinkpads; they're well worth the money IMO. The online community (forum.thinkpads.com) is remarkable as well.

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I am looking to buy a laptop for my daughter who is in college.

I am looking to buy my daughter a mac pro laptop and I wanted to know what software is comes with the computer.

Check the Store: MacBook Pro or Air page and support page, plus their forum (not this) where MacBook owners are.
MacBook Series Forums
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks?view=discussions
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookair
Mac OS X Forum
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os?view=discussions

Looking to buy new laptop?

I am in the market for a new laptop. Something I can use to surf the web, iTunes for music, nothing crazy, but still want something with a fast processor and decent graphics. Which models should I take a look at? Thanks

Hi motherof4kids,
That is a good question and there is a lot to consider. A lot of laptops should be able to help with your standard kind of school work (unless you are going to school for video editing, which you might need something more powerful) and also download music. When it comes to gaming, a good video card, memory and processor are probably the top things I look for. It also depends on how much you are looking to spend on your laptop.
League of Legends doesn't require a whole of graphics, however World of Warcraft can, depending if you want to run on Ultra or not. Without knowing exactly how much you are looking to spend, something I can recommend is to check out BestBuy.com and type in "laptop". When looking all "all laptops" you can narrow your search in the left hand column to specifications you'll need.
You can put your price range in there and then compare the specifications to WoW (since that will be the most resource heavy application you are looking to run). WoW requires a 1.3GHz process, 2 GB's of memory and a 32MB video card. More than this will certainly help the performance of your game.
I hope that this helps and gives some guidance and let me know if you have any questions.
Sean|Senior Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate
Private Message

Need help in buying a Laptop

Hi. I am looking to buy a laptop to replace my desktop.I will be using this laptop in my home only( room to room).For surfing the web,e mail,watching you tube videos,Facebook.And one last important thing,playing on facebook poker games.I think it"s called Zanga on facebook.I remember my old laptop before i bought my desktop,it use to freeze up sometimes while i was playing on Facebook-Zanga poker games.I will not be using my laptop for any other games but poker games.My question is do i need a special graphics card or can i buy any computer for these things .I am 60 yrs. old and don"t know a lot about computers even though i have been using them for years.I can not go more then $600.00.Please help me decide.Thank you for your time in reading this.

Sounds pretty average user requirements. As long as you don't plan on running any graphic intensive software or doing anything like mixing audio professionally you can probably grab whatever you want. Sorry I don't have any other advice for ya. Go see what the blue shirts say, that's what they're there for and they can get a better sense of your needs in the store and actually show you different products. It will also give you an idea of screen size, you'll find a keyboard that you can deal with, sound quality (for what it's worth at least).
$600 is a nice chunk of change to put into a computer now-a-days so I doubt you'll have trouble find anything.
I understand some people in your age range like to bring in family members, but I would urge against it since what happens your relative although they come with good intensions tend to look for stuff that they want, not you.
Example- you may want to end up looking into a tablet, like an iPad or Microsoft Surface tablet, with an attachable keyboard (look up a commercial on youtube if you need to see an example), but your son-in-law might tell you to get a 17 inch laptop that ends up needing plugged in all the time.. Have you ever sat at a Starbucks comfortably with a huge and heavy laptop and close to an outlet.... I haven't.
Former BBY Home Theater Associate 2010 - 2012. Now I work as a graphic designer in the print and prepress industry.

Trying to buy a laptop for my HS graduate. want to load creative cloud on it. The one I am looking at has a graphics card description of : intel HD Graphics 5500 will this be sufficient to properly run Adobe Creative Cloud?

trying to buy a laptop for my HS graduate. want to load creative cloud on it. The one I am looking at has a graphics card description of : intel HD Graphics 5500 will this be sufficient to properly run Adobe Creative Cloud?

Hi Marietta,
Kindly check system requirements of Creative Cloud in the link mentioned below.
https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/system-requirements.html
Thanks,
Atul Saini

Iam looking at buying a macbook

I am looking into buying a macbook and I need some help. It will be my first Apple. I am very excited but am also a single mom and watching my dollars. I was thinking about getting one on Ebay that is new in box. If I do this can I still buy the ProCare and the One to One service? Is the warranty still available to add on? I am trying to make a smart purchase but also be very cost effective. PLEASE HELP!!!

I have bought my last 3 Macs off of eBay... and you are right, it is much cheaper!
One thing i would advise is to make sure the Paypal protection care is at the $2,000.00 level and not just $200.00! If you get scammed, Paypal will only refund $200.00 if the coverage is $200.00. If the seller you are dealing with is only covered up to $200.00, then i would be very CAREFUL!!!
Buying off ebay does not prevent you from purchasing the Apple extended warranty... and if you look around you will be able to get one for around $175.00. (i bought my first Applecare for $165.00 and the second one for $145.00 but i think i really lucked out both times!)
Apple's One to One service should not be affected by where and how you purchased your laptop, so enjoy your new Macbook and welcome to our side... Oh, get a keyboard protector cos' you never know when an accident might occur and you don't want anything happen to your new MacBook! :o)
blue skies,

I'm looking to buy just the single app plan

I'm looking to buy just the single app plan for the individuals. Does that also come with license for 2 computers as well? (I have a work computer and a laptop)

Cloud License allows 2 activations http://www.adobe.com/legal/licenses-terms.html
-Install on a 2nd computer http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1452292?tstart=0
-Windows or Mac does not matter... 2 on the same operating system, or 1 on each
-Both computer Cloud subscriptions may not be in use at the same time

Looking to buy a X230...

Hi guys,
First I want to apologize in advance for my bad english but I'm French... And you know that it's not our strengh to be good at foreign languages.
So, I'm currently looking to buy some X230 laptop that I will use both for my studies and for the firm I work with (basically only programming work).
I decided to take :
I5 - 3230M
8Gb RAM PC-12800
SSD 128Gb
9-Cells battery
But my first question is : Is the performance gap between the i5-3230M and the i5-3320m worth the 100€ difference ?
And then, the most important question : Should I buy my laptop NOW or wait until the next-gen X serie comes out ?
Thanks a lot for your answers.
Regards,
Arnaud
Solved!
Go to Solution.

The answers for your questions need inside information.
I don't know basic specification of new x240. I just know it'll be based on Haswell too. Compare with x220 (Sandy Bridge) and x230 (Ivy Bridge, except of part x230 models with i3-2xxx CPU, they are based on Sandy Bridge and HD3000 too). Of course, x240 will be launched after Haswell will appear on the market. Presently Intel promises June...July.
About x230 time line. It will stay on the market during several months with new laptops generation (x240, for example). Again, compare with x220 and x230. x220 has disappeared from the PSREF (tabook.pdf) which contains models with fixed configuration and from the shop.lenovo in Jan 2013, after more then 6 months x230 was launched.
I think x240 will cost a bit more then x230 in the same configuration, in case of the same laptop construction. Because of Haswell is more technically advanced processor. But the cost of laptop depends of not only CPU/chipset platform but case material, for example, screen type etc. So, will see on the prices. Again the prices of x220 and x230 were almost the same last year. But their differences were not so principal (oh, yes, new keyboard is "innovative").
If you want to save some money buy model with needed CPU, 4 gb RAM, HDD, w/o OS. And upgrade it youself - add more RAM, replace with SSD. Of course, if laptop will allow such upgrade.
To be or not to be? To buy now or to wait? It's your question and only you can answer.
x220 | i5-2520m | Intel ssd 320 series | Gobi 2000 3G GPS | WiFi
x220 | i5-2520m | hdd 320 | Intel msata ssd 310 series | 3G GPS | WiFi
Do it well, worse becomes itself
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Looking to Buy a Hard Drive Enclosure - Opinions?

I'm looking to buy a hard drive enclosure to attach to my linux box, and I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with the AEN-U35SE from Airlink (see http://www.airlink101.com/products/aenu35se.php ). It's fairly cheap at my local Fry's, but I'm wondering if anyone has had any issues with it, both with linux compatibility and cooling (they say it's fanless, and I'm not sure if that's good or bad). This would be attached to a server as bulk storage and wouldn't be under high usage, but I'm not wanting to doom my hard drive to certain death.
I can't find any reviews of it at all online, so I guess it must be at least fairly new. It's not carried by Tigerdirect or NewEgg, so I can't find anything there.
EDIT:
Gah, this product is apparantly discontinued, which is probably why NewEgg and TigerDirect didn't have it. Anything anyone can recommend? I only need one drive, and fanless is good as long as the drive doesn't overheat.
Last edited by arew264 (2009-06-12 22:46:07)

combuster wrote:Just avoid coolermaster enclosures, they don't work on linux, got a x-craft lite 250 on some laptop review competition and it doesn't get recognized...
Shame on them, that or just plain cheap crappy chips they used to make it
On the issue of enclosures .... nothing I can recommend because so far I'm not happy with any I bought. On the compatibility side they are all ok but after a good period of time (1year or 1.5years) the the hd sometimes starts acting strange. It stops and restarts almost immediately, a problem that doesn't happen when I plug it inside my desktop pc. In one of the external enclosures I have narrowed the problem to the power supply.
I could plug a Y power cable and monitor the voltages with a multimeter, the 5V rail would be 4.5V when the disk acted strange but for some reason sometimes the rail was close to the nominal 5V (4.9V~5.1V) and everything would work well.
Because of this I have started to believe that the power supplies that have the 12V and 5V output are a big no no, there are several reasons for me not to like it specially because all of the 2 I have behave the same way >_<.
If possible I would get an enclosure that receives only 12V from the outside and then generates the 5V internally but I believe that is hard to find.
The two enclosures I have have are:
http://en.vipower.com/products01_01.php?ID=154 (this one as a bit expensive usb2 to ide)
http://www.tecforsis.pt/produto.asp?idproduto=16907 (cheap box usb2 to sata/ide)

Looking to buy a T540p (or other ThinkPad) - Can I get a discount?

Hi all,
Couldn't find a 'sales' or 'suport' section, but if there is one and this is in the wrong forum section please move this thread!
Just a quick question really - looking to buy a T540p (or another ThinkPad, likely an L540) this summer and was wondering if Lenovo would be able to give me any kind of student discount. I'm a student in the UK and buying this laptop for school.. If so, how would I be able to get a discount? Would I ring up sales support and inquire?
Thanks!

Hi,
Welcome to Lenovo Community Forums!
If you go to the Lenovo UK homepage and scroll down to the bottom under Solutions you will see a link; Students. Clicking the link will take you to Lenovo's current special offers for UK students.
Here is the Link:
https://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/gbeducation/StdAffinityPortal/en_GB/Lenovo:EnterStd...
Hope this helps!
Best regards,
Mithun.
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Buying new laptop $3000.00 suggestions ??

I have been looking to buy a new laptop but I see MacBook Pro still has the pre take over Ati/AMD X1600 old graphics card.
I have also looked at the old XPS m1710 for the same price and it has the Nvidia 7950 = 2x 7900gtx cards in one.
Any idea what will be the best buy for me.
I do browse the internet on my 3 year old mobile phone so I will mostly need it for folding at home type of app's + games and maybe some OS compiling in xen or vmware /tiger equavalent type of program.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wo/0.RSLID?mco=E 6B044F1&nclm=MacBookPro
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1710?c=us&cs=19& l=en&s=dhs
Any help will be appreciated.

If you know your will be playing a ton of games more
than anything else, don't get the MacBook. For
starters, very few games run on MacOSX and even
though you 'can' install bootcamp to boot from
windows, there's no point in buying a macbook if 90%
of your time is spent in windows.
If you play world of warcraft, you'll be fine, but if
you plan to play ever new game that comes out that
requires 7900+ graphics cards, stay away from the mac
(and possible think about just getting a ps3/xbox360).
After doing some research I came to the same conclusion.
Mac is not yet a solution / alternative to my problem.
Darn if only there was a way of getting away from Windows and still be able to play games or at least have it running natively on Mac like cedega for linux but even that does not bring the bacon home for new games.
Maybe Apple can buy Cedega like they did with Intel and provide games / games support for Mac then 90% of windows user's will switch.
When will Apple get serious about computing again. I love Apple and my mother swears life/death by Apple but it seems to be utterly useless for me.
DARN DARN DARN.

Looking to buy a MSI Gaming notebook

So ive been looking to buy a MSI laptop and i have been looking at the MSI GT70 Dominator with model number 9S7-1763A2-2294, i have seen others with the model# 9S7-1763A2-2295 are they different? or is it the same laptop ive seen the specs and they look the same to me "the none completely tech savy customer". i have also noticed that MSI has a lot of laptops in the same price range as the GT70 is there a better one in that price range that i should know about or is the GT 70 the best for the price. Im looking to use it for gaming and work "nothing heavy work wise just excel, word, email, etc...." any advice would be greatly appreciated thanks

hello kevinepaheco,
I think you should let us know what games you play most often and what gaming experience you are looking for.
But I would assume that games you play demand heavy loadings since you've already target at two models of GT70. I googled a bit and found the two websites with more detailed configurations.
GT70 DOMINATOR-2295;9S7-1763A2-2295
http://bestlaptopstore.com/product/msi-computer-gt70-dominator-22959s7-1763a2-2295-17-3-inch-laptop/
MSI GT70 Dominator-2294 9S7-1763A2-2294
http://www.portableone.com/MSI-GT70-Dominator-2294-9S7-1763A2-2294
If what listed in these two websites is correct, the only difference between the two models is the number of SSD.
GT70 DOMINATOR-2295;9S7-1763A2-2295 has 1 x 128GB mSATA Solid-State Drive whereas MSI GT70 Dominator-2294 9S7-1763A2-2294 comes with 2x 128GB SSD RAID 0.
According to the MSI official website, GT70 supports Super RAID 2, meaning you get to speed up the read/ write process with up to 3 SSDs by connecting and running them in one large array (hope I dont misunderstand the idea ).
http://gaming.msi.com/products/notebook/gt-series
So if you do need higher configuration to run extreme games, then its better to choose the one with 2 x SSD, which is MSI GT70 Dominator-2294 9S7-1763A2-2294.
Here's a video comparing two laptops with and without SuperRAID. It's not in English but the image speaks for itself.
Suggest to view the video starting from 02:13
hope this helps you to decide !

Looking to buy

Hello!
I'm looking to buy a wireless router and adapter for my 2 pc's. My sister has a BEFW11S4 and we hooked it up to my computer (last year) that's running on Windows 98 and networked my nieces laptop (XP) to it. Both worked fine! I bought another computer with XP and we tried to run all 3 on it (with an additional adapter) and it wouldn't work! As long as the router was on the Windows 98 computer it worked fine! We called the Linksys people and 2 different people said that this router would not work on Windows 98 but it DID! They said I'd have to upgrade the 98!
I'm now looking to purchase one for myself BUT I'm wondering if it's worth it if it won't work on the 98. Should I try it and put the router on the 98 and use an adapter on my new XP?
Just curious!
AngelWings00

OTAKUS_06,
Being new to the router side of computers, are you saying just hook up the router to my 98 and use the wireless adapter on my XP? Here's another dilemma I'm having, the XP is what my cable modem is attached to, so therefore I'd have to install (drill a hole in the floor or wall) and move it to the 98?
I'm sorry as you can tell I'm not an expert on routers and that's why I came here looking for answers!! lol
AngelWings00
-OTAKUS_06- wrote:
AngelWings00 wrote:
Hello!
I'm looking to buy a wireless router and adapter for my 2 pc's. My sister has a BEFW11S4 and we hooked it up to my computer (last year) that's running on Windows 98 and networked my nieces laptop (XP) to it. Both worked fine! I bought another computer with XP and we tried to run all 3 on it (with an additional adapter) and it wouldn't work! As long as the router was on the Windows 98 computer it worked fine! We called the Linksys people and 2 different people said that this router would not work on Windows 98 but it DID! They said I'd have to upgrade the 98!
The router would work on your 98 computer. But if you are considering to have Wireless Internet connection, it would not work on plain 98... It will only work on 98 SE and above because this is the minimum requirement for a wireless computer...with a wired connection it will have no problems... hope that part is clear...
I'm now looking to purchase one for myself BUT I'm wondering if it's worth it if it won't work on the 98. Should I try it and put the router on the 98 and use an adapter on my new XP?
Just curious!
AngelWings00
Have the 98 computer just wired on the router, if you want to go wireless, you can do that on the XP computer.... ayt?!

I´m going to buy a laptop...

Is there anyone who can tell me what model of laptop (pc, windows 7) will work best for running Premiere Elements unhindered. I have read what are the minimum requirements for the performance of the computer. But want the motherboard and stuff also work. Is there anything else I should consider before buying a laptop?
Have not tried the simpler Premiere Elements yet. Is it possible to overlay the sound, thus affect so that the sound comes before the image and add new new audio on the synctrack?
Greatful for help

Finding a laptop for video editing is not easy, as most are ill-suited for that task.
I use a Sager, and it is great. The only complaint that I have is with the 17" monitor, especially as my workstation has dual 21" matched, calibrated Hitachi monitors, and I really love all that screen real estate.
Most newer laptops can be configured for a fast i7 CPU, and an nVidia, or ATI/AMD GPU chip. They can also be configured with ~ 12 GB of RAM. So far, so good. Now comes the biggest rub - the I/O Sub-System. Most laptops ONLY offer a single HDD. Some will allow for 2, and that is the minimum for video editing. I am talking physical HDD's and NOT partitions. The Sagers allow for 3 HDD's, and that is an ideal starting point.
One can also add eSATA externals, to up the HDD capacity, and that would be my second choice, if the laptop that I needed did not offer 3 physical HDD's, like the Sagers do. Even with 3 physical HDD's, the eSATA externals are a bonus. This ARTICLE will give you some background on using externals.
The Sager units are not cheap, but are very well built. I have been using one for 4 years, with no issues, and it's running about 12 hours per day, and is very often used with very large video Projects. I just placed an order for a newer one (much faster, with more RAM, larger internal HDD's and Win7-64 for PrPro CS5). The new unit is also cheaper, than the one that I have now... such is life with computers.
Do not be tempted with features like Crossfire, or SLI, using 2 video GPU chips. PrE (and PrPro) cannot use that, and those setups can really get in the way. Use the $ saved for the 3 HDD's, and as much RAM as you can fit in.
Not sure of other mfgrs., who might offer similar. I have looked at Alienware (now part of Dell), Dell and HP. Some will offer 2 internal HDD's, but only the Sager, per my research, offers the 3x configuration - but that might have changed. All others, like Vario and Toshiba, fall very flat in the hardware areas.
Good luck,
Hunt

I'm looking at buying a MacBook Pro for uni and I was wondering what the best type would be to get? One with retina display etc

I'm looking at buying a MacBook Pro for uni next year and I'm not sure what type to get. I've heard different things about the retina display and that people only get it to edit photos etc but then people have said that it is quicker and makes the laptop lighter. I'm also unsure of how much storage I will need. If anyone can help that would be great!!

There are two screen displays available - Retina and non-Retina - and there's a world of difference between them. The Retina has non-user replaceable RAM and flash storage (well, the latter without voiding your warranty) and the non-Retina has user replaceable RAM and HD/SSD. And then, of course, there's the difference in the resolution of the screen itself... and a difference between the 13" and 15" screens (available in both 'flavors').
How much storage you need will depend on your needs.
I don't recommend the Retina models at this time - too many issues with tinting (on Samsung displays) and image retention (on LG displays).
So take a look at what the non-Retina machines have to offer - you can customize to your heart's content but remember that you can always upgrade the RAM and the hard drive in the non-Retina machines yourself.
My 2¢...
Clinton

Looking to buy a laptop

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