2010-02-11, 01:30 | Link #82 | |
blinded by blood
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As someone else mentioned, Apple doesn't sell hardware. Apple doesn't sell software. Apple doesn't sell operating systems. Apple sells an image. Apple products are "lifestyle products," a form of marketing fluff used to great effect (obviously, since they're definitely not doing poorly financially). I liked Apple better when they marketed heavily to the pro-graphics and pro-audio crowd, but there's better profits in selling to insolent, self-absorbed hipsters. Disclaimer: I do realize that not everyone who uses an Apple product is an insolent, self-absorbed hipster, but come on, I live in Berkeley. All I need to do is walk into any coffee shop on Shattuck Ave. and I'll see a half-million snobby college kids sporting MBPs. This is absolute truth. When it comes to laptops above the $1000 price point, there are three types--business laptops (not all of which actually even cost over $1k), gaming laptops (which typically start at this price point) and Macbooks.
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2010-02-11, 11:08 | Link #83 |
ひきこもりアイドル
IT Support
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Pennsylvania , United States
Age: 34
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Cheaper laptops don't mean better. I am a former PC user and I have used PCs ever since 3rd/4th grade since that what they used. I have used various brands such as IBM, Dell and HP. The IBM doesn't have problems, but it got to slow (and lasted 6+ years). However, the Dells and HP hardly lasts even 2 years. Back then, laptops were expensive and my parents paid around $1000-1600 for these laptops, but something ends up breaking. The last few laptops such as the Dell XPS M1330 and the HP Pavilion DV 9500 barely lasts 2 years (and my old 2006 Macbook Pro is still working without any major issues). This is why I have a bitter image for all consumer laptops a like. Even though they are cheaper and higher speced than the Business Laptops (some/most have weaker graphics card, less RAM and smaller HDs compared to consumer laptops), but they hardly built to last because most PC companies don't know how to build a good quality laptop. Also, Business Class laptops often cost a bit more over a consumer laptop not to mention the crapware they install on the consumer laptops.
I am not one of those snobbish college kids who flashes around saying that all PCs suck or bash OSes in public. The main reason I use Macs because they are reliable and works for me, and believe me, I am not made out of money to buy a new machine every two years because they break on me, but yeah... If I have another choice besides Macs, I would probably get a Thinkpad and install Ubuntu Linux on it since they also have a good reputation of lasting a long time.
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2010-02-11, 14:09 | Link #84 |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 66
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I have always recommended businesses stay away from Dell or HP because of their crap quality. Dell *does* have a marvelous warranty... but its like the American Car apocrypha --> great warranty but always in the shop. HP laptops are a 'special' terror. These remarks are both anecdotal AND statistical
I'm even waffling on Alienware since Dell bought it a few years ago. Thinkpads are excellent and durable - even after Lenovo bought them. I have two that are long obsolete but just refuse to die. Most of the businesses and corporations I've roamed used them. They're also the most Linux-friendly on average. I've always been fond of Toshiba, most of the complaints are around battery life. Sony...meh. All Sony products are on my blacklist for political reasons as well as the precipitous drop in quality over the last five years. The ASUS line looks interesting but no real experience with it yet. Most of the problems I've run into with Macs over the years were either power supply related or the user was trying to use their Mac for things it was never intended to handle (obsolescence). Oh... the network used to be an utter pain in the ass with all of the "Apple-ific" BS protocols but I imagine that has mostly faded. The pricing on Apple wireless routers is hilarious though, like a Gucci handbag.
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2010-02-11, 15:21 | Link #85 |
Pretentious moe scholar
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Age: 37
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My dad work for the Canadian IT division of a Fortune 500. They do two kinds of computer orders: Thinkpads and trial batches of other companies' machines. That said, I do find myself wondering if the new SL series is as well built as their older stuff. I mean, a 14 inch, 2.1gthz Core 2 powered Thinkpad that goes for $650 US with the 9 cell battery? There's got to be some catch, right?
If those SL series Thinkpads are built to the usual standards though, even the $1K base Macbook is a bit of a gouge. Although they do provide a very nifty little package of features (13.3 inch and 4.7 pounds, nvidia graphics, seven hours of battery life despite not using a ULV CPU) for that $1K. Mixed experience with Dells. My bottom of the line Inspiron 1501 purchased in 2006 has been in for service once, which turned out to be me being paranoid more than anything else. The only thing I've needed to replace was the battery, which is pretty normal. My brother's 2008 model Inspiron 1525, however, has already needed a replacement CPU fan. If I were buying a laptop today I'd probably look at Asus first.
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2010-02-11, 17:11 | Link #90 | |
ひきこもりアイドル
IT Support
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Pennsylvania , United States
Age: 34
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Of course, the M1330 and HP DV9500 failures are motherboard failures, have nothing to do with dust, it comes by the PC companies producing shoddy motherboards for their consumer lines so the make the system cheaper... If you intend in keeping your computer a long time, you need to go with business class laptops... period... not $500 machines.
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2010-02-11, 17:49 | Link #92 | |
Yummy, sweet and unyuu!!!
Join Date: Dec 2004
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http://www.liliputing.com/2009/12/ne...tablet-pc.html If they make it CULV with Ion and 6hr+ battery I'm sold (for a reasonable price). I tried the 1201N and the 330 (dual core atom) just doesn't cut it for general use; web pages are so bloated nowadays, flash 10.1 beta + Ion makes a huge difference though.... That slight lag when jumping between apps is noticeable on Win7 or Linux My baby 1810TZ is great, but the X4500MHD just sucks round hairy things! Did you see the pain the MPC-HC peeps went through to get DXVA support from Intel! http://software.intel.com/en-us/foru...ad.php?t=60703 I'm just glad that Eric blokey turned up and helped sort things out. Hats off to the MPC-HC and Intel for sorting it... Now if they would do the same thing in Linux land I would be happy!
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2010-02-11, 20:10 | Link #93 | ||||
Pretentious moe scholar
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Age: 37
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My brother's Inspiron has kind of soiled my taste for Inspirons. I might still consider a Vostro since that's a business oriented model, but I think I'd be more inclined to go with an Asus or base model Thinkpad. Maybe even Toshiba.
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2010-02-11, 20:18 | Link #94 | |
ひきこもりアイドル
IT Support
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Pennsylvania , United States
Age: 34
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DV9500, yes it has a nVidia problem, but it's out of warranty and HP doesn't have that model on the recall list, so it will cost $600 dollars just to replace the motherboard, where you can buy a new machine for that price. Just hope the other Dell my mom uses to telework (M1530) doesn't break down since my mom needs to run Windows XP to connect to work stuff.
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2010-02-12, 13:39 | Link #97 | ||||||||||
blinded by blood
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The Vostro line is really nice though, probably the best low-cost business notebooks I've ever seen. HP... oh, HP. Their consumer notebooks, the Pavilion line, are complete junk. Their netbooks are not much better, though the Mini 311 is an anomaly for being one of the best ION netbooks on the market, and the Mini 5102 is one of the best new Pine Trail systems available. HP's real strength is in their business line, specifically the Elitebook series of laptops. They're very well constructed, rivaling Thinkpads for durability, but have a hell of a lot more style. The Elitebook 8440w is an amazing piece of kit, but you'll pay a pretty penny for this 14" mobile workstation (starts at $1400). Quote:
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The new T410 is a huge improvement over the old T400, solving the bouncy keyboard issues, finally centering the LCD in the lid and also bringing Arrandale CPUs to the table. Plus you get a (slightly) nicer GPU than the old Mobility Radeon 3470. Quote:
I'm really disappointed in the FW's successor, the Vaio F11. The FW was Sony's best machine from their last generation, but the F11, while adding some nice things like a Core i7-720QM and taking up the wasted deck space on the FW with a numeric keypad... it's just not very impressive. The design is much uglier than the FW and the graphics card is a step backwards--the FW carried a Mobility Radeon 4650 while the F11 gets an nvidia GT 330M. At the very least, the F11 should have packed in a GTS 360M at least. Quote:
The nice thing about Asus is that they've got one of the best price-performance ratios in the business, but they fail hard on battery life (except for their netbooks and CULV notebooks) and they're a bit gaudy-looking. Their new 17" gaming monster, the G73Jh, bucks their glossy-plastic trend and stuffs a Core i7-720QM and ATI Mobility Radeon 5870 into a big, mean-looking chassis reminiscent of a Stealth bomber. And it's not terribly expensive. Quote:
Plus, they've got glossy displays! What the fuck kind of business lappy has a glossy screen?! Quote:
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This. There are inexpensive gems and overpriced pieces of crap out there. Now more than ever before, researching before you buy is very important.
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2010-02-12, 16:59 | Link #98 | |||||
Pretentious moe scholar
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Age: 37
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This may explain why my Inspiron 1501 has been so much better than my brother's 1525. The 1501 was also sold as the Vostro 1000, so they probably had to build it to a better standard. Quote:
Also, for some reason I actually dig Alienware's angular styling, which I couldn't say about the styling of most gamer brands. Quote:
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Of course, if you want a 15 or 17 inch Apple, then you're going to be paying through the nose due to Apple's notebook size/pricing scale. Quote:
The question is, are there actually any $500 laptops you'd consider gems? $800 I could see it, but $500 seems a bit iffy.
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2010-02-12, 17:03 | Link #99 |
Senior Member
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: USA
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Depends on what you plan on doing. I don't know about today's market anymore (remember I'm the 7 years ago guy), but I'm betting that tech has increased enough so that nearly anything you plan on doing short of hardcore gaming will be covered by the <$499 tag.
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2010-02-13, 14:14 | Link #100 | ||
blinded by blood
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Considering what's inside the Best Buy spec of the Sony Vaio CW (VPC-CW27FX), the asking price of $950 is definitely inexpensive and a screaming good deal, considering how the same configuration cannot even be bought from Sony Style, and other vendors selling that same configuration are selling it for $1200. Quote:
Not to mention most sub-500 laptops (not netbooks or CULV) do not get good battery life.
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