Recommendations!

[Anuan]

...On a new laptop :smallsigh: Those of you who saw my earlier thread know that my laptop decided to stop working the other day. We thought it was a simple powerboard problem.

Guess whose motherboard crapped out? :smallmad:

So, basically, I need a new laptop. I require the following things;

1) I don't want one of those little mini-ones. I can't type on them, and they're hard to play games on, which leads me to

2) It has to be decently powerful. Amazing isn't necessary, but the ability to smoothly play at least most of the newish games is. My old one was an Inspiron 1520, and once I got the most recent drivers for it, it played every game I could find perfectly. It was two years old, so hopefully finding one with matching game-playing power won't be too hard.

3) I'm hoping to pay 1200 or less. My old one was about that much, two years ago, so I'm hoping it'll be easy enough to get one as good as it was for that price at most.

I'm also hoping that I can get the old hard-drive turned into an external hard-drive. How likely is it a computer repair place can/will do that for me?

[SDF]

Anything that isn't fried should be able to be put on an external hd. Local place did it for my old PC.

[Eloi]

My laptop had a drink spilled by someone else on my keys, will the motherboard okay and I can just plug a USB keyboard into it and keep it? Or is it going to keep frying until the whole thing doesn't work?

[thubby]

do you really need a laptop?
if you're like most people i know, then it will just live on your desk anyway.

edit: eloi, see a repair guy.

[Eloi]

Is it absolutely necessary? I mean if I can just use another keyboard it should be no problem.

[Anuan]

do you really need a laptop?
if you're like most people i know, then it will just live on your desk anyway.

edit: eloi, see a repair guy.

Yeah. I don't have a desk, currently live with my parents (who have no wireless internet), intend to travel with it, and have gotten so accustomed to sitting a laptop on my knees in bed/a chair/couch/whatever that sitting at a desktop, as I have the past couple days, has proven to be quite uncomfortable.

Eloi; if the computer turns on and you can move the mouse etc, the motherboard should be fine, I don't think the problem would spread. If the keyboard isn't working, take it to a repair guy, it's probably best to do that rather than get a USB keyboard.

[Liffguard]

There are already too many computer threads kicking about so I thought I'd post my request here rather than start a brand new one. Sorry for the thread-jack. I'm also in the market for a new laptop. Looking for something mid-priced, reliable, some gaming ability though nothing top of the line. At the moment I'm looking at the Acer Aspire 5740G (http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5740G_Laptop_LX.PMB02.001/version.asp). It seems to have what I'm after: Intel Core i3 I3-330M 2.13 GHz processor, 4GB RAM and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 graphics card.

Any thoughts? Does anyone know anything better for the price? Are there any issues with Acer laptops I should know about? Thanks in advance.

[John Cribati]

According to the sticker by the keyboard, I have the Acer Extensa 5230-2177. It's decent. 15.4" screen, 160GB HDD. I could only wish for longer battery life.

[Erloas]

For fairly good gaming performance (which will lead to good performance in everything else), but no real consideration for weight, size, or battery life I'll post a few, cheapest to most expensive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115763
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220696
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114796
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220702

To turn your old HD into an external HD just find an external HD case. They are fairly common and should be something you can do yourself. Open the case, plug in the drive, maybe a cable or do, and you are done.
No idea how good it is, but here is one. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812816095)

[KuReshtin]

My laptop had a drink spilled by someone else on my keys, will the motherboard okay and I can just plug a USB keyboard into it and keep it? Or is it going to keep frying until the whole thing doesn't work?

The big question here is: What type of drink was spilled over the keyboard?

If it's anything that's got sugar in it, it may work for a while, but eventually the sugar will likely fry the entire system board.
Go to a repair guy to have a look at it to make sure that there's nothing residual on the system board. Or, if you are confident enough, remove the keyboard and check yourself. At least then you'll see if there's sticky residue on any other parts than the keyboard.

[Eloi]

The big question here is: What type of drink was spilled over the keyboard?

If it's anything that's got sugar in it, it may work for a while, but eventually the sugar will likely fry the entire system board.
Go to a repair guy to have a look at it to make sure that there's nothing residual on the system board. Or, if you are confident enough, remove the keyboard and check yourself. At least then you'll see if there's sticky residue on any other parts than the keyboard.

:smallannoyed: Yeah there was sugar in it it. No, I have no idea how to do that.

[KuReshtin]

:smallannoyed: Yeah there was sugar in it it. No, I have no idea how to do that.

Had it just been water, you could most likely have just made sure to leave it to dry out properly and you'd be ok.
With sugary drinks.. Not so much. The sugar will corrode the cuircuts on the system board if it's got on there, and you'd be wise to have ut checked out.
Just to be sure.

[Eloi]

Had it just been water, you could most likely have just made sure to leave it to dry out properly and you'd be ok.
With sugary drinks.. Not so much. The sugar will corrode the cuircuts on the system board if it's got on there, and you'd be wise to have ut checked out.
Just to be sure.

That's wonderful news, thanks for telling me.

[blackfox]

I recommend Acer--they tend to be pretty durable. However, Dell usually has a ton of refurbished or reposessed laptops for very reduced prices, and they're pretty decent machines.

[Anuan]

Erloas: Thanks for the recommendations, and for the info on the external-making.

Blackfox: Acer's looking good. My last one was a Dell, and though I loved it dearly, I'm not putting up with their "Our battery chargers are designed to last just slightly over a year, with our standard 12 month warrenty" crap again.

[Syka]

I got an Asus UL50VT last week and so far I enjoy it. It uses an ultra-low-voltage processor, but it's supposed to be a decent gaming laptop. It's 5.1 pounds, has integrated and discrete video cards, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 512 MB VRAM, hard drive, etc. And the battery life is INCREDIBLE. Hooked up to wireless on (I think) discrete graphics, with brightness at about half, I get about 8 hours easily. Gaming I could see it being knocked down to 4-5, I think CNET got 4.5 or some such.

They have it at Best Buy if you want to see how it feels, but so far I love it.

It's also a full-size laptop- 15.6" and a keyboard with a dedicated number pad, as well as a DVD burner.

ETA: Here (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174;+Core%26%23153;2+Duo+P rocessor+-+Black/9701931.p?id=1218153002507&skuId=9701931) it is. The keyboard takes a little getting used to, but I like it.

[Anuan]

Link is broken, Syka D: