Need a new computer, probably a laptop

[userpay]

Okay so the time that my parents are going to be forced to buy me a new computer is drawing near now that I've finally gotten into my Computer Science related college classes, thus I'm hoping I can get some help shopping around a bit. While I'm sure my parents don't want to spend a lot of money they are rather set on the computer being portable. One would think that I would automatically go for a laptop then but I have met someone at school that has build a mobile desktop, that is he took a briefcase (or something similar, the handle looked briefcase like) and made a desktop out of it. He said it cost him about $600 and should run recent games but I'm wary of exactly how durable they would be. Besides I'm willing to bet my parents wouldn't go for that. I'm still curious about the subject though so what is the forum goer's of giantitp opinion on mobile desktops?

For the purposes of getting the process moving with my parents however, and that I am somewhat hardware illiterate, can I get suggestions on laptops that are around the $1000 range? Like I said I'm not sure how much they're willing to spend but since I'm going into the game development field I'm pretty sure I can convince them up to that range at least. Plus I've got my own money. Better yet the laptop doesn't need to come with an OS, through my school I can get Windows 7 Pro. Primarily what I'm hoping for is that it will run games that are coming out in the next year or so at least, I don't really give a damn about a game's graphics but more about whether it runs well enough to play.

This is going to be my primary computer for the next several years. The desktop I'm on is around 8 years old and most certainly doesn't run most games from 2007 on. Not to mention it has an Intel built in graphics chip.

[Ksheep]

You mentioned that you are in a computer science program. What are you programing on? For instance, is there a school-wide Unix system that you log into via an SSH shell, or do you do all coding on your computer and email it in/print it out? For OS, are you dead set on a Windows only computer, or would you be willing to dual boot? For games, what sort of games?

I'm tempted to say that you could look at a MacBook Air, as they are in that price range. A plus is that Macs are built on a Unix system, so they can connect to Unix systems easily, without other programs. I'm a computer science major myself, and this has worked very well for me, since my school uses a Unix server for most comp. sci. classes. Also, Macs come with a very extensive software-development suite, with a rather comprehensive help system for many programing languages (I think… it's been a while since I've fiddled with that).

As for graphics, the base model has a 256MB graphics chip, but it looks like it's a built in chip. Should still work for a fair number of games, but not necessarily all. However, the same can be said for most laptops, unless you get a very high-end one…

Games… well, a good number of companies are porting to Mac, and a fair number of the newer games are on Mac now. Steam recently added Mac support, and a fair number of their games are available on it. Also, you can dual-boot the computer, running Mac on one partition and Windows on the other, so you can get the best of both worlds. However, the base model only has 64MB of storage space, so you may want to invest in an external HD or spring for the $1200 model (128MB) if you have a lot of games or videos.

[Trazoi]

Powerful laptops are always pricier than the desktop alternative. If your needs are that you need a mobile computer occasionally for word processing and presentations but you still do the bulk of your work on the same desk, I'd consider getting a desktop and a cheap notebook/laptop as it will probably turn out cheaper than a single powerful laptop. If however you're very mobile, don't have a desk or moving somewhere without a lot of space (like a dorm at college) than the single laptop makes perfect sense.

[userpay]

Well I am in a beginners Linux class right now but we can access that through a client (the SSH shell?) they have on their computers and I can access it through the Putty client on my computer. Within my Computer Science major I'm focusing on game development (one of four concentrations for that major), however I don't know what specifically we're going to be using because it is actually a new concentration at the college I'm going to. I talked with my advisor but unfortunately because of the way they're assigned to students in the Computer Science field he doesn't actually have a lot to do with my specific concentration (he is software engineering rather than game development) so the best I got out of him was get something that'll run the games that are currently being put out on market. I am going to try to email a few other teachers that are more relevant to my concentration but as I said I'm trying to get an idea of what is out there.

As to what games specifically I mean games such as Skyrim. I'm guessing I'm looking for something with an nVidia graphics card? I know I've heard good things about Alienware computers. Which model of those do you think will play the up and coming games for at least the next year? Or is there somewhere else I can get a similar laptop for cheaper? As I said I don't particularly care for the games looking pretty so long as I can meet the minimum requirements for awhile.

[Trazoi]

I haven't checked specs in a while, but my guess is any non-bottom-end laptop with a dedicated graphics card is probably okay. They aim the specs of the games for what people are using, so anything middle of the range and above should be okay.

For software development you also need to check:

the keyboard. You'll be doing a lot of typing. For laptops make sure it's easy to type punctuation marks because you'll need them more than most.
screen size. Programming likes lots of screen real estate. A dinky litte laptop will be annoying to code on. If you're getting a desktop, I'd look into getting a second monitor. This is a big reason why I'd consider the desktop & laptop combo, because large screen laptops are a royal pain to lug around.

[userpay]

Thank you for your guys help thus far, you've given me a good starting base to look around as well as send an email to a professor who hopefully is knowledgeable about this. Based on the suggestions made here and by others I know thus far I've narrowed down (as much as I could at least) listings on Dell's (http://www.dell.com/us/p/laptops#!facets=51795~0~11384531,135390~0~6687268, 52538~0~821509&p=1)and Bestbuy's (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olstemplatemapper.jsp?id=pcat17080&type=page&qp=q70726f63657373696e6774696d653a3e313930302d3031 2d3031~~cabcat0500000%23%230%23%2311a~~cabcat05020 00%23%230%23%23o~~f118%7C%7C384742~~f1036%7C%7C4e5 649444941&list=y&nrp=15&sc=abComputerSP&sp=%2Bcurrentprice+skuid&usc=abcat0500000&st=processingtime%3A%3E1900-01-01) websites for laptops. The links are the sorted lists. Anything in particular between those two lists (or others if you know of them) that catch the eye?

[Ranger Mattos]

Have you looked at Newegg? This list (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&Subcategory=32&Description=&Type=&N=100006740&IsNodeId=1&srchInDesc=&MinPrice=0&MaxPrice=1100&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A6693&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A6694&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A48346&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A44336&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A16356&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A40014&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A6696&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A15467&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A47205&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A39989&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A6692&PropertyCodeValue=449%3A49570&PropertyCodeValue=449%3A49738&PropertyCodeValue=2923%3A18470&PropertyCodeValue=410%3A46027&PropertyCodeValue=410%3A155496&PropertyCodeValue=410%3A127987) seems to fit what I think you're looking for (based on what you've said and what you searched on Dell's and Best Buy's websites).

[userpay]

Have you looked at Newegg? This list (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&Subcategory=32&Description=&Type=&N=100006740&IsNodeId=1&srchInDesc=&MinPrice=0&MaxPrice=1100&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A6693&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A6694&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A48346&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A44336&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A16356&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A40014&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A6696&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A15467&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A47205&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A39989&PropertyCodeValue=398%3A6692&PropertyCodeValue=449%3A49570&PropertyCodeValue=449%3A49738&PropertyCodeValue=2923%3A18470&PropertyCodeValue=410%3A46027&PropertyCodeValue=410%3A155496&PropertyCodeValue=410%3A127987) seems to fit what I think you're looking for (based on what you've said and what you searched on Dell's and Best Buy's websites).

Okay that was certainly a derp moment for me. Can't believe I forgot about newegg.

edit: I might also add that mic jacks are a plus. I'm fairly certain the mic I have works but my current computer doesn't like them for some reason (has tested with other mics).

[Battleship789]

Every laptop should come with a mic jack, as almost everyone uses them...

After looking at the two pages you posted and the Newegg page that Ranger Mattos posted, I would shoot for a 17" ASUS refurb on the Best Buy site. (It is also on the Newegg list with a Belkin router, if you need a router that might be worth looking at, but it is $50 cheaper on Best Buy.) Those specs for $850 is a pretty darn good deal. Conversely you could go up $100 and buy a different ASUS refurb on the Newegg list: only difference being a 1TB HDD instead of 750GB, and a slightly faster GPU (560M vs 460M).

The ASUS laptops are 7 ($899) & 8 ($949) on the Newegg list and 1 ($849) on the Best Buy list.

It is important to note that all of these laptops have a 1600x900 (720p) screen resolution, instead of a FHD 1920x1080 (1080p). This may not be too big of a deal, but some people really like the higher resolutions. Another key thing to remember is that these laptops do not have very good battery life (2-3 hours for both of them is standard) and are VERY heavy (for a laptop.)

Any of those would run Skyrim very well; though, due to the resolution, it may not be quite what you are looking for.

[factotum]

Laptops often come with built-in webcams and microphones as well, so you might want to check that when ordering.

[Runestar]

Macbook airs aren't cheap, and 1k will get you only the baseline entry model, which likely will get obsolete fast (it has just 2gb of ram). Not to mention that with just 64gb of space and integrated graphics card, the OP won't be installing or playing much in the way of games.

If you want the improved versions, be prepared to shell out a lot more, and the price still doesn't factor in other considerations like applecare, office/iworks and possibly an external HDD.

Don't get me wrong, I too am an apple fan, but I feel the MBA doesn't really meet his needs. He wants a laptop that can cover all the bases. I would recommend he consider Asus or Sony laptops. Dell is crap, Alienware isn't worth the money, Lenovo is durable but ugly as hell. Try visiting their websites or even better, go window-shopping at your local PC shop and try them out first hand. :smallsmile:

[shawnhcorey]

If you getting into game development, you'll need two computers. You will need a laptop for your classes, so buy one. You'll also need a desktop model to run the high-end games. But don't buy one yet. Instead, when you get to university, check out any (computer) gaming groups. Also look for any BYOM (Build Your Own Machine) groups. High-end gamers do build their own machines, so if you find one, finding the other will be easier. And remember, any bleeding-edge hardware or software you encounter in university will be the previous generation when you graduate. :smallsmile:

[userpay]

That Asus referb on newegg seems like it could be a winner. I'm just a tad warry of buying laptops used even if its been presumably brought back to factory condition. Referb aside looking around I'm not noticing any laptops that come close to similar specs for a similar price. Better yet I heard back from the teacher I email and he pretty much agreed with everyones suggestion. Any other comments/suggestions while I spend the next few days plying my parents? Hmm maybe I should look at getting the tv in my room moved to an easier viewing angle if I'm gonna hook the lap top up to it...

[userpay]

So at least one parent (haven't gotten a chance to talk to the other yet) has expressed concern over the fact that the laptop I was looking at is a refurb. With that in mind I looked around for some alternatives and I came up with ASUS G Series G73SW-XN2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230028) and Sony's F series (http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644767499) laptop, which while much more expensive than the refurb, appear to offer similar performance. Particularly for the F series laptop which I can upgrade the hard disk to 750G (over the G73SW's 500G) for another $90. Thoughts?

[Trazoi]

Yeah, my anecdotal experience is to avoid refurb laptops. I got a refurb Macbook Pro that turned out be an expensive lemon.

If you're after a heavy-work laptop, I really do recommend going into a store and trying the keyboard out. You're stuck with whatever keyboard it comes with so make sure you like it. And if you're programming on it, you really do need to make sure all the brackets and punctuation symbols are easy to type.

[Starwulf]

Yeah, my anecdotal experience is to avoid refurb laptops. I got a refurb Macbook Pro that turned out be an expensive lemon.

If you're after a heavy-work laptop, I really do recommend going into a store and trying the keyboard out. You're stuck with whatever keyboard it comes with so make sure you like it. And if you're programming on it, you really do need to make sure all the brackets and punctuation symbols are easy to type.

Yeah, I'll second this. A buddy of mine bought a refurbished Laptop off of E-bay once, damn thing went kaput in two weeks flat, and didn't even run well up until that point. Thankfully E-Bay took care of it and he got his money back.

I myself have bought a refurbished Digital camera before, and it ended up not even turning on ><. So, as a rule of thumb, I stay well away from refurbished items.

[Tyndmyr]

Okay so the time that my parents are going to be forced to buy me a new computer is drawing near now that I've finally gotten into my Computer Science related college classes, thus I'm hoping I can get some help shopping around a bit. While I'm sure my parents don't want to spend a lot of money they are rather set on the computer being portable. One would think that I would automatically go for a laptop then but I have met someone at school that has build a mobile desktop, that is he took a briefcase (or something similar, the handle looked briefcase like) and made a desktop out of it. He said it cost him about $600 and should run recent games but I'm wary of exactly how durable they would be. Besides I'm willing to bet my parents wouldn't go for that. I'm still curious about the subject though so what is the forum goer's of giantitp opinion on mobile desktops?

For the purposes of getting the process moving with my parents however, and that I am somewhat hardware illiterate, can I get suggestions on laptops that are around the $1000 range? Like I said I'm not sure how much they're willing to spend but since I'm going into the game development field I'm pretty sure I can convince them up to that range at least. Plus I've got my own money. Better yet the laptop doesn't need to come with an OS, through my school I can get Windows 7 Pro. Primarily what I'm hoping for is that it will run games that are coming out in the next year or so at least, I don't really give a damn about a game's graphics but more about whether it runs well enough to play.

This is going to be my primary computer for the next several years. The desktop I'm on is around 8 years old and most certainly doesn't run most games from 2007 on. Not to mention it has an Intel built in graphics chip.

If you want a pretty solid lappy without paying for windows 7, I hear http://www.system76.com is pretty epic. Comes with Ubuntu on it, full support, all that jazz. I'd probably dual boot it with windows seven, since I use a lot of apps that require windows, but I suppose emulation might be an option for the more linux preferring types.

[userpay]

If you want a pretty solid lappy without paying for windows 7, I hear http://www.system76.com is pretty epic. Comes with Ubuntu on it, full support, all that jazz. I'd probably dual boot it with windows seven, since I use a lot of apps that require windows, but I suppose emulation might be an option for the more linux preferring types.

It was a preference based on that I could get Windows 7 for free but you have given me another really good site with a laptop that has even more customization than the Sony F series laptop I was looking at. I'd have to figure out how to do the dual boot (or just wipe and install my free Windows 7 from the get go) but certainly an option.

Overall I think I have one final question about graphic cards. In order of least good to best how would the following cards be arranged? They are followed by links to their relevant computers.

NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 525M (128-bit) 2GB: Particular computer (http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dncwy66h&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&model_id=inspiron-17r-n7110)
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M (1GB) dedicated graphics: Particular computer (http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SYCTOProcess?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&LBomId=8198552921666384161&categoryId=8198552921644767499)
Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M Graphics with 1.5GB GDDR5 Video Memory: Particular computer (http://www.system76.com/laptops/model/gazelle)

This is pretty much what I'm trying to decide by right now. Heavily favoring the Dell currently due to price but I'm not sure how much of an effect having an earlier graphics card model (525M 2GB) vs a later one (540M 1GB) when the earlier one has more dedicated GBs to it.

[Tyndmyr]

Dual boot is usually quite easy. Just toss in the system disc, and don't wipe everything when you install. Talk to sales people there for partitioning or whatever you desire(given the drive options available, I don't forsee any problems there).

Sometimes, drivers are a problem with dual booting...but it's usually because the second system is something obscure. When the second system is windows 7...it should be pretty easy to find drivers for everything. Hell, it's probably entirely automated.

Graphics cards are awkward to rate against each other...benchmarking comparisons are best, if you can find direct comparisons of the chips. Clearly, you've listed them in ascending order of goodness, but the exact relation of each to the other is something that isn't really possible to get without relative benchmarks.

[userpay]

Okay, I just I was wrong about the last question being my last question. On a whim I decided to check out HP's laptops and found this laptop (http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=High+performance&series_name=dv7tqe_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/High_performance/dv7tqe_series). For the price (the additional 6% discount for being a student aside) this laptop appears to blow the others in its price range out of the water due to a significant instant rebate, free RAM upgrade, and free upgrade to blue ray. However my dad mentioned that HP might be getting out of the laptop market or something along those lines but he wasn't sure about that. As far as I know this shouldn't affect me if I buy soon, HP would have to abide by any warranties and such correct? Any comments about HP's computers in general?

[Karen Lynn]

Personally, I'd stay far away from anything made by dell. Quality control these past few years has been laughable at best. Hp is hit or miss for me. Copy pasta from my post in a similar thread:

I can't remember the model number right now, but head to best buy. Last I was there, they had this nice Asus brand laptop with dedicated graphics/vram for about 575-650. Midrange price and worth it for the features. Next comparable laptop was a sony vaio for a thousand.

Ram was 4 or 6 gig, upgradeable to 8.

[Tyndmyr]

Okay, I just I was wrong about the last question being my last question. On a whim I decided to check out HP's laptops and found this laptop (http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=High+performance&series_name=dv7tqe_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/High_performance/dv7tqe_series). For the price (the additional 6% discount for being a student aside) this laptop appears to blow the others in its price range out of the water due to a significant instant rebate, free RAM upgrade, and free upgrade to blue ray. However my dad mentioned that HP might be getting out of the laptop market or something along those lines but he wasn't sure about that. As far as I know this shouldn't affect me if I buy soon, HP would have to abide by any warranties and such correct? Any comments about HP's computers in general?

HP doesn't touch Asus, etc in reliability(Asus tops the market, IIRC). They're not bad as such...but there is a trade off there. I wouldn't worry about them leaving the market though. They're a major player in it.

Note that many of the default options on it are good, but not great. For instance, the 750 gig drive is pretty large, but only 5400 RPM, while even the default from system76 is a 7200 RPM. I tend to advise a moderately sized drive, as fast as possible for most people. SSDs are terrifically fast, but tend toward the small side, so 7200 rpm is generally a good place to be. If you want the HP, it'll be worthwhile to upgrade this.

Long story short, the HP is an aright option to compare, but I would most certainly not describe it as "blowing the others away". Look at the spec sheets for all of them, compare the configuration options for equivalent models from other places, and decide which options you really want/need.

[Ranger Mattos]

HP doesn't touch Asus, etc in reliability(Asus tops the market, IIRC). They're not bad as such...but there is a trade off there. I wouldn't worry about them leaving the market though. They're a major player in it.

I agree with this. In one study I read (which unfortunately I can't seem to find right now), over 25% of the HP laptops failed within 3 years.

[userpay]

For a gamer is getting Windows 7 Pro over Premium, or Ultimate over either of those, worth it? Not really sure how useful some of these features are. Like I notice that Ultimate has program support for multiple languages. Is that worth it if I occasionally run Japanese games or is there third party software that does it as good if not better?

[factotum]

For a gamer is getting Windows 7 Pro over Premium, or Ultimate over either of those, worth it? Not really sure how useful some of these features are. Like I notice that Ultimate has program support for multiple languages. Is that worth it if I occasionally run Japanese games or is there third party software that does it as good if not better?

I'm pretty sure that the multiple language support in Ultimate just relates to Windows itself, and maybe text entry. A game with Japanese text ought to render just fine whatever your system language, provided you have the appropriate fonts installed.