Members LaXu Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 IMO, when buying a laptop you should consider screen resolution. 768 pixels vertical resolution is not enough. A low res like that is ridiculous on a $900 laptop. 1024 vertical is good. 1080 is better. 1200 is awesome. You should really consider the relation of screen resolution to screen size. For example I think the 1920x1200 for the 17" Macbook Pro is way too high, it's hard to read. The 15" and 13" models at 1440x900 and 1280x800 are just right IMO. Of course, Win7 does DPI scaling very well so on a PC laptop high resolution isn't necessarily a bad thing if you scale the interface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Polaris20 Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 You don't need to spend $900... ASUS, Lenovo, Dell, and Sony are my recommendations.That study is pretty much a load of crap methodologically. I wouldn't put any stake in it. If you want to know who builds the best machine, a simple reading of reviews and polling of people in charge of purchasing for large businesses/schools/etc, will lead you right to the Thinkpad (T-series and X-series, primarily). Passes the military "rugged" tests better than laptops designed to be "rugged" in many cases.Meh, if you spend over 500 you're much better off with an Intel processor. That's a pretty low floor. The AMD stuff is totally adequate and efficient, but has not been a great choice in most scenarios for some time. Totally agree, though as far as the study goes, I think they're spot on with HP; absolutely the {censored}tiest laptops made right now, followed closely by Toshiba. I would personally get the new T410, which has the available Core i7. It's a great laptop, and very reliable in my experience (speaking in terms of the overall Thinkpad brand). We've got several hundred Thinkpads out, and unfortunately a couple hundred HP business laptops out there, and guess what I work on the most? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stephan1980 Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 I see lots of crap about Toshiba laptops but I have one and I bought this thing about a year ago. It is the best computer I've ever used. All it needed was a RAM upgrade to 4Gb of the good stuff. Paid $425 for this plus $100 for the RAM. Super fast, and works great. When it's time for a new one I'll definitely consider Toshiba an option. I travel quite a bit so I don't even own a desktop. They seem so pointless now, but I don't play computer games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members isvoid Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 i've gone thru many laptops since i started using computers in the 80s (i'm an analyst/programmer), the toshibas have been the most reliable and my first choice mileages vary, this is mine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GodBlessTexas Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 I see lots of crap about Toshiba laptops but I have one and I bought this thing about a year ago. It is the best computer I've ever used. All it needed was a RAM upgrade to 4Gb of the good stuff. Paid $425 for this plus $100 for the RAM. Super fast, and works great. When it's time for a new one I'll definitely consider Toshiba an option. I travel quite a bit so I don't even own a desktop. They seem so pointless now, but I don't play computer games. Toshiba has a reputation for being a quality laptop. I've owned several of them over the years, and only one was a dud. I'm getting ready to purchase a new laptop for the business I'm starting. I'm looking for something with a decent bit of horsepower and the ability to act as entertainment when I travel, so BluRay and decent gaming performance are a must. I still haven't decided what I'm going to get, but my budget is around $1500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members panther_king Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 Intel has higher highs right now than AMD as far as processors go, but my Phenom II x4 (965 black ed) goes NEW for half the price of the comparable Intel socket. Yes, Intel has i7's that blow it away... those same processors are also $1k+. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the_bleeding Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 amds run hotter these days. Will burn your balls. Intel has higher highs right now than AMD as far as processors go, but my Phenom II x4 (965 black ed) goes NEW for half the price of the comparable Intel socket. Yes, Intel has i7's that blow it away... those same processors are also $1k+. i was pretty sure only 2 of the 15 or so in the i7 line were 1k+. And even the cheap i7's (see: 200$ range) blow everything away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chrisjd Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 Toshiba has a reputation for being a quality laptop. I've owned several of them over the years, and only one was a dud. I'm getting ready to purchase a new laptop for the business I'm starting. I'm looking for something with a decent bit of horsepower and the ability to act as entertainment when I travel, so BluRay and decent gaming performance are a must. I still haven't decided what I'm going to get, but my budget is around $1500. You should be able to get something pretty powerfull and well-rounded for 1500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GodBlessTexas Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 Intel has higher highs right now than AMD as far as processors go, but my Phenom II x4 (965 black ed) goes NEW for half the price of the comparable Intel socket. Yes, Intel has i7's that blow it away... those same processors are also $1k+. The AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition is ~$210 retail. The Intel Core i7 920 is ~$260 at most retailers, but can be found for $199 at Microcenter. The Passmark score of the AMD is 4200 @ an average CPU speed of 3.45Ghz and ranks 39th overall of all current CPU models. The Core i7 920 Passmark score is 5451 @ 2.45Ghz and ranks 12th overall. But, it can be argued that the LGA 1366 platform is more expensive overall, which I'd agree with. However, the Intel Core i5 750 scores a 4189 and ranks 40th overall @ 2.41Ghz, just behind your AMD and is only $185. So, comparing performance to performance, the Intel processor is cheaper and runs more efficiently using less energy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GodBlessTexas Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 amds run hotter these days. Will burn your balls.i was pretty sure only 2 of the 15 or so in the i7 line were 1k+. And even the cheap i7's (see: 200$ range) blow everything away. Indeed. The i7 920 is a budget powerhouse since it can be found at $199 at Microcenter. But that only works if you have one near you since it's a brick and mortar deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GodBlessTexas Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 You should be able to get something pretty powerfull and well-rounded for 1500. I'll be using it for digital forensics work, so a good CPU, lots of RAM and fast I/O options are going to be very important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rameumptom Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 I'll be using it for digital forensics work, so a good CPU, lots of RAM and fast I/O options are going to be very important. If you're talking about laptops, Asus has a core i7 on newegg for around that price. Only 4GB's of ram though. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220605&Tpk=asus%20laptop%20i7 Hp also has a couple core i7 with 6GBs of ram for around that price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fly135 Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 You should really consider the relation of screen resolution to screen size. For example I think the 1920x1200 for the 17" Macbook Pro is way too high, it's hard to read. The 15" and 13" models at 1440x900 and 1280x800 are just right IMO. Of course, Win7 does DPI scaling very well so on a PC laptop high resolution isn't necessarily a bad thing if you scale the interface.I guess that's a matter of personal taste. My 17" Dell is 1920x1200 and my 15" HP is 1600x1200. I absolutely abhor a vertical res of 800 and under on a computer. I'm a programmer so I need a lot of screen real estate pixel-wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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