Reliable laptops - do they exist???

[UstadKhanAli]

I have an HP laptop that is about four years old, and it works perfectly fine.

 

You should consider getting a ToughBook if you think this may be an ongoing issue since those were used by the military, who probably know a thing or two about harsh conditions. My friends who have Mac laptops don't seem to have a problem with them, so there's that route as well.

[JohnBenussi]

I'm about to order another new laptop. That is, after returning my current laptop for a refund. I'd bought it new in April, called tech support in July after it exhibited a serious charging issue, 4 onsite visits by tech support and 2 refurbs. 1st refurb DOA, bad motherboard, same charging issue, sent it back. 2nd refurb worked OK for a couple weeks, then, sure enough, same charging issue, plus a couple new ones just for fun. Support in India; I am NOT a racist or in any way against people from other countries; I was in IT for 30 years and worked with plenty of fine folks from India, China and elsewhere. But trying to understand someone on the phone with a heavy foreign accent of any sort is most difficult. Finally got fed up and asked for a refund. So I've had it. I've found one vendor that has a US based support center. But user reviews all over the place. My kids new laptop, different brand, died in short order. Went through 3 of yet a third brand issued by my former employer, same with my wife (two different brands). So, is it possible to find a laptop that will last for several years of web browsing, watching videos, minor photo/video/audio editing (Photoshop/Vegas/Sonar)??? I'm tempted to buy the cheapest thing I can find so at least I don't get pissed off after spending $800-1200 bucks for a disposable item. :mad: What have you folks experienced???

Don't take this personal dude but there are reasons why
things don't last and taking responsibility is the first step...

(1) Build Quality :You are "wanting" a reliable laptop...build by companies
whose production facilities use parts made from the lowest bidder...
-Quality is compromised and quality control can be sporadic.

(2) Cost:
Which exact model laptops were you using and what were their
specs/cost? It is true you get what you pay for but
wanting a portable DAW solution for cheap isn't very likely.

Could it be possible you just make bad decisions based on cost?
Case in point I have had cheap Gateway laptops (one of them
was refurbished) and worked perfectly. Albeit the specs sucked
and it was an AMD based laptop...still...

My current laptop is a Gateway which has:
-i5 CPU, 4GB Ram, BluRay Drive, HDMI+ LED screen and this thing
has been a solid rock, never even gets slightly warm and is
ready to play 1080p videos without even a stutter.

Do you take care of your things?
A laptop, even a tiny drop, or too much pressure can cause issues.
A {censored}ty ground, a {censored}ty surge protector, and none at all
can cause issues which will kill a battery's ability to hold a charge.

Batteries can enter a thermal state (due to exceedingly hot temps)
from within the laptop and the battery can exponentially continue
to increase in temperature which kills the cells internally.


Check for ground issues, or uneven power issues in your house.


Lastly:
With what you are doing, coupled to the fact
OSX is a lighter OS than say W7...A MacBook might have less
features than a Window's based laptop, but really you probably
don't need them.

i5's on a Pc have turbo boost which boosts the CPU frequency
and an i5 has 4 virtual threads for added CPU power which
I'm not sure the Mac offers because their i7's are not true i7's...

I can honestly endorse Gateway's newer line of laptops.
I paid $499.99 for mine and used bing cash back to make
the purchase $400.00 plus tax of course...

Gateway used to be complete {censored}, really...
Now they are very attractive, sleek and run great.
Please avoid AMD based CPU's like the plague
and if you can avoid AMD based GPU's.

-My laptop has intel integrated.
Not ideal for gaming but plenty for visual editing and DAW usage...
-I leave it on practically 24/7 zero issues with heat!


Still...

IF you want the best amazing deals you've ever seen?

http://slickdeals.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?sduid=0&f=9&sort=lastpost&order=desc&icon=23


Thank me later!
Good luck.

[fedtho]

@JohnBenussi

Very useful post, thanks for summing up things to consider about laptops (and the suprising news about Gateway machines now being a good buy...!)

i5's on a Pc have turbo boost which boosts the CPU frequency and an i5 has 4 virtual threads for added CPU power which I'm not sure the Mac offers because their i7's are not true i7's...

If you have a minute on your hands, could you tell me more about Mac i7's "not being true i7's"?

I will soon need to buy myself a new laptop.
If I want to stay with my music software of choice (Logic Pro), I have no choice but to buy a Mac again (no PC version), and I'll need as much power as I can get to run things smoothly...

You got me worried with that i7 thing...!

Thanks a lot for any feedback on this - and no worries if it's too much of a hassle.

[JohnBenussi]

If you have a minute on your hands, could you tell me more about Mac i7's "not being true i7's"? I will soon need to buy myself a new laptop. If I want to stay with my music software of choice (Logic Pro), I have no choice but to buy a Mac again (no PC version), and I'll need as much power as I can get to run things smoothly... You got me worried with that i7 thing...!

Don't worry about it...However, something to consider:
The New MacBookPros aren't QuadCores!!! (Read On)

A desktop i7 (9XX) series: (original i7 quad core CPUs)
-4 native cores on one die
-8 virtual threads

With the MacBookPro:
Is it a true quad core? Nope.
It is a dual core with 4 Virtual Threads...

4 virtual cores of processing=4 virtual threads of CPU power.
Which is still pretty good in itself...

It (unlike the old i7) does feature turbo boost (the trade off) ^^^

Another trade off:
Macs don't run in tri-channel mode... (3X3)
They run in dual channel mode (2X2)

Not a huge quantifiable difference but I thought it should
be mentioned when you ask yourself why you're running
DDR3 memory in dual channel mode.

Still it's not even a deal breaker...unless it is to you.

One last thing:
Should you get an i7 iMAC?
The iMAC has 8 virtual threads, not 4...

Read up on this:
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/the_new_macbook_pros_1517-inch_are_not_quad_core/

[fedtho]

Awesome.
I consider myself informed

That mobile i5/i7 thing is a little sleazy a trick... and I do not remember the first articles I read on the new i5/i7 fitted MacBook Pros mentionning the specificity of the "mobile" processors. I wonder if some of the reviewers were just as fooled as I believe many customers will be...
The paper on macobserver really lays things out.

I guess Apple thinks there's more money to make leading people into confusion than saying "we went for less power, but there are reasons for this". I'd have felt better with the latter option. Rather than having to read every word of technical specifications until you notice they DON'T say quad core

Thanks for your massive feedback.
I'd hire you as a consultant if I had a budget for that

[JohnBenussi]

i5/i7 thing is a little sleazy a trick... and I do not remember the first articles I read on the new i5/i7 fitted MacBook Pros mentionning the specificity of the "mobile" processors. I wonder if some of the reviewers were just as fooled as I believe many customers will be... The paper on macobserver really lays things out. I guess Apple thinks there's more money to make leading people into confusion than saying "we went for less power, but there are reasons for this". I'd have felt better with the latter option. Rather than having to read every word of technical specifications until you notice they DON'T say quad core Thanks for your massive feedback. I'd hire you as a consultant if I had a budget for that

Hey bro anytime:thu:
I know my posts seem long winded but
the truth can't always be summarised in nicely packaged one liner.

That is why I space my posts the way I do.
They aren't really that long...

Good luck.
If you have a Costco (near you) the newer Gateway (newer than my)
laptops are very nice.

[Lee Flier]

My last 2 laptops have been HPs. The one before that was an Acer. I recently gave the old Acer to a neighbor - it was still working perfectly at 5 or 6 years old. I bought the first HP in 2007, still have it and it's still working fine... it's in my guest room for guests to use. I beat the hell out of it too - the letters have worn off the keyboard. I replaced the battery and the fan was getting noisy by the time I got a new one, but that's about it.

I got a new HP laptop earlier this year and it's got dedicated high end graphics, dual core, 4mb RAM, 500GB hard drive, etc. and I paid not much over $500 for it, new. You can find some real deals if you're willing to look for sale items, models that are about to be discontinued, etc.

Probably the one complaint I have about both my current and previous gaming-quality HP laptops is that they do get hot. I'm sure there are other brands that are better in that regard, but they probably cost a lot more too.

[JohnBenussi]

My last 2 laptops have been HPs. The one before that was an Acer. I recently gave the old Acer to a neighbor - it was still working perfectly at 5 or 6 years old. I bought the first HP in 2007, still have it and it's still working fine... it's in my guest room for guests to use. I beat the hell out of it too - the letters have worn off the keyboard. I replaced the battery and the fan was getting noisy by the time I got a new one, but that's about it. I got a new HP laptop earlier this year and it's got dedicated high end graphics, dual core, 4mb RAM, 500GB hard drive, etc. and I paid not much over $500 for it, new. You can find some real deals if you're willing to look for sale items, models that are about to be discontinued, etc. Probably the one complaint I have about both my current and previous gaming-quality HP laptops is that they do get hot. I'm sure there are other brands that are better in that regard, but they probably cost a lot more too.

Who makes the dual core cpu?
Heat kills performance and causes failures which affects
longevity in the long run (no pun intended)

[ggm1960]

I just won the bidding on a new 17" MacBook Pro on eBay last night. Really looking forward to getting this machine and then my '08 15" MBP will be headed downstairs and dedicated to my studio.

[sventvkg]

macbook pro.

[~flipper]

My MacBook Pro is a couple of years old. Runs great. But I also have an old aluminum PowerBook that still runs Digital Performer, Adobe CS3, Final Cut Studio, and a boatload of other stuff. That thing is o-l-d; the screen is on its way out, so I run it in 'clamshell' through a crappy monitor. Very effective. The MBPro is the day-in/day-out box; runs two versions of Linux, Windows 7 and updated versions of everything that's on the older box. It would be a lot better if programmers weren't so lazy (i.e. inefficient) regarding the availability of higher cycles and more RAM.

[JohnBenussi]

My MacBook Pro is a couple of years old. Runs great. But I also have an old aluminum PowerBook that still runs Digital Performer, Adobe CS3, Final Cut Studio, and a boatload of other stuff. That thing is o-l-d; the screen is on its way out, so I run it in 'clamshell' through a crappy monitor. Very effective. The MBPro is the day-in/day-out box; runs two versions of Linux, Windows 7 and updated versions of everything that's on the older box. It would be a lot better if programmers weren't so lazy (i.e. inefficient) regarding the availability of higher cycles and more RAM.

 

 

Your old Powerbook will not run any modern software.

The availability of higher cycles and more RAM isn't

attributed to "lazy programmers" as it does have to do with

Steve Jobs telling you what you can, and can't have

based on his perception of what users want -it's as simple as that.

 

Battery life is a huge selling point for a MacBook/Pro

so opting for a dual core 4 thread CPU and running it

in dual channel mode (limited to 8GB) was a wise decision.

 

Had they allowed a MBP to run 4 X3 or even 4GB RAM sticks

and upped the CPU frequency, or had used a real i7 4 core

8 thread chip do you think you'd be getting 9 hours of battery life?

 

Would you then say, "welp, I have all of this processing power...

but my battery lasts only 4 hours." See?

 

I'm curious why you'd need all of that additional power?

[~flipper]

Your old Powerbook will not run any modern software.

 

Pure, unaldulterated (yes, and unmitigated) bull{censored}.

 

The availability of higher cycles and more RAM isn't attributed to "lazy programmers" as it does have to do with Steve Jobs telling you what you can, and can't have based on his perception of what users want -it's as simple as that.

 

 

To a simpleton, perhaps. Jobs hasn't been "telling" me anything. You hearing voices again?

[Geoff Grace]

Just how well does Bootcamp work????

 

I've been using both Boot Camp on my Mac at home and traditional dedicated PCs elsewhere for over eight months now and the experience of Boot Camp and a normal PC is the same for me (a longtime Mac user and new Windows user). After all, Boot Camp partitions consist of Windows OS running on PC hardware, so why should they behave any differently?

 

The only issue is integration with the Mac operating system and partition. Apple's Boot Camp software allows the Mac side to see the PC side and choose a boot disk during startup. This works great for normal use but causes problems in making bootable backups of the Windows operating system, because most PC backup software can't deal with Boot Camp and Mac backup software can't deal with Windows.

 

If you only need to backup files created by your Windows apps, there's no problem. However, if you need to make a bootable backup of your whole Boot Camp/Windows partition, only Casper is reported to work; and even with Casper, the manufacturer makes no guarantees as it wasn't designed for backing up Boot Camp/Windows partitions.

 

Good luck.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[JohnBenussi]

 

Pure, unaldulterated (yes, and unmitigated) bull{censored}. To a simpleton, perhaps. Jobs hasn't been "telling" me anything. You hearing voices again?

 

 

 

Wow, someone cannot refute a comment with facts.

Instead posts a butt-hurt comment devoid of rational thought...

I've never seen this before:facepalm:

 

 

So if you have a powerbook which doesn't utilise

an Intel CPU....what software do you run, and how does it run?

 

 

When I say modern I don't mean in the last 10 years.

What current software can run on a Powerbook?