Looking to buy a laptop soon...

• Claudia wrote on 2012-11-21 20:55
  Finally! I'll be getting a real laptop soon.
  
  
  I had an idea in mind:
  http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-Pavilion/B6C78AV?HP-Pavilion-g6t-2200-Notebook-PC
  
  Added from base customization:
  Color - bright purple
  OS - Windows 8 64 (gross, W8)
  Processor/Graphics - 3rd generation Intel Core i3-3110M Processor + AMD HD 7670M Discrete-Class Graphics
  Memory - 4GB DDR3 System Memory (1 Dimm)
  Hard drive - 320GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
  
  The power of Google says that the graphics card and processor are pretty good. It also said i'd be able to run most games on mid-high pretty well, so i'm guessing Mabi would run okay? (please confirm or deny y/y?)
  
  For Mabi and in general, is 4GB of RAM enough, or is it worth $50 to upgrade to "6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)"? I'm assuming since the laptop has 2 slots, I could just buy another 4GB stick, since the 4GB one only takes up 1 space while the 6 and 8GB options take up two. But I don't know much about upgrading RAM, except that it's possible.
  
  With all of these bonus goodies, the price without rebates is $673.98. My mom gets a 5% discount (so $640 without any rebates) from her work which is...honestly the main reason why I only looked at HP stuff. 8l (and my netbook has been pretty awesome).
  
  So, would it be worth buying at that price, and would it be worth buying for a soon-to-be college student who really only wants to be able to play Mabi, RuneScape, and do everyday tasks?
  
  Also, my parents and I are splitting the cost 50/50, which is well within my budget.
• Evaris wrote on 2012-11-21 21:21
  Well, allow me to suggest a slightly cheaper option that will also be faster in games which support multiple GPUs.
  Starting off with this as the base; http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-Pavilion/B6C46AV?HP-Pavilion-g6z-2200-Notebook-PC
  Customize:
  Processor: A8-4500m
  Graphics Card: Radeon HD 7670m
  
  Comes to $574.99, offers dual graphics for games which support AMD crossfire, and has a faster and larger hard drive.
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-11-21 21:42
  Yeah, it would run Mabi just fine. And adding 2GB for $50 kinda seems like a ripoff. You could buy a 4GB module for like $20 and install it yourself. :|
  
  I'd go for a ThinkPad T series in your case. Specifically, the T430. I did a quick configuration:
  • Intel Core i5-3210M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.10 GHz)
  • Windows 8 64
  • 14.0" HD (1366 x 768) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
  • NVIDIA NVS 5400M Graphics with Optimus Technology, 1GB DDR3 Memory
  • 4 GB DDR3 - 1600MHz (1 DIMM)
  • UltraNav without Fingerprint Reader
  • 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
  • DVD Recordable 8x Max, Dual Layer, Ultrabay Enhanced w/ SW Royalty for Windows 8
  • 6 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70+
  • None
  • Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2200 (2x2 BGN)
  
  Comes to $705 with their thanksgiving coupon. It's a bit more pricey than your HP option, but the faster CPU, slightly faster and more stable GPU, and vastly superior build quality and durability makes it more than worth it.
• Claudia wrote on 2012-11-21 21:54
  Woah, I somehow missed that HP. And I forgot to mention that total price included a $75 warranty and recovery disks.
  
  I like the HP you linked better.
• Lewd wrote on 2012-11-22 04:03
  Thinkpads are a lot better than any HP.
• Claudia wrote on 2012-11-22 14:43
  Meh. I've had nothing but good experiences with HP...the earliest I can remember is one that we got in 2000 (a desktop) that lasted until 2008. I'll think on the thinkpad (har har), though.
  
  Also, when is the best time to buy? I promised my parents I would wait until graduation (June), but thinking about it gets me excited...
  
  And Yoorah, on that thinkpad, should I customize for W8 or W7 Home Premium?
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-11-22 18:09
  Desktops aren't really a good indicator, though. They're just boxes full of standard parts that sit there. For laptops, quality engineering matters a lot more. HP isn't that bad, I mean, it's no Acer. But it's still just an average, consumer-grade (read: throw-away) build. Professional grade stuff, like the ThinkPad T series, is just in a different league.
  
  And... June is really far off from now. LOL IIRC, Intel might even release their next-gen Haswell CPU by then? Models will change, prices will change. You shouldn't be looking at any specific laptops to buy right now. :P
  
  I would recommend W8. It boots and shuts down quicker, which is quite beneficial for laptop use cases. Any Hackshield incompatibilities should be fixed by June, too. Then there's the various under the hood improvements that they've made.
• Claudia wrote on 2012-11-22 20:23
  Aye aye. Thinkpad it is, but 6 months from now, so you can expect this thread to pop up again around then.
• Claudia wrote on 2012-11-23 16:11
  Actually, maybe not the ThinkPad. Still thinking.
  
  What about the Acer Aspire line, or Acer (and ASUS) in general?
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-11-23 16:32
  ThinkPad -> Acer is like... gold standard -> shit standard. DON'T DO IT. D:
  ASUS is generally considered to be pretty decent as far as consumer-grade stuff goes, at least.
• Claudia wrote on 2012-11-23 16:38
  Aye aye.
  
  Casually cruising BestBuy.com...
  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+U+Series+13.3%26%2334%3B+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+750GB+Hard+Drive+-+Black/1304487689.p?id=mp1304487689&skuId=1304487689
  
  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Lenovo+-+IdeaPad+14%26%2334%3B+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+500GB+Hard+Drive+%2B+32GB+Solid+State+Drive+-+Graphite+Gray/5887091.p?id=1218703164078&skuId=5887091
  
  The Lenovo IdeaPads (I like the U410 series) are pretty :B. It doesn't seem like the graphics card is as good as the ThinkPad's, though.
• Evaris wrote on 2012-11-23 16:43

  Quote from Claudia;985832:

  Aye aye.
  
  Casually cruising BestBuy.com...
  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+U+Series+13.3%26%2334%3B+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+750GB+Hard+Drive+-+Black/1304487689.p?id=mp1304487689&skuId=1304487689
  
  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Lenovo+-+IdeaPad+14%26%2334%3B+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+500GB+Hard+Drive+%2B+32GB+Solid+State+Drive+-+Graphite+Gray/5887091.p?id=1218703164078&skuId=5887091
  
  The Lenovo IdeaPads (I like the U410 series) are pretty :B.

  
  
  Unfortunately, they are horrendously underpowered for the price. There are laptops for nearly half the price which are considerably faster.
• Claudia wrote on 2012-11-23 16:45
  Mm, that I belive. I think i'm going to keep looking at the Lenovo stuff, not sure on the ThinkPad yet.
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-11-23 16:54
  IdeaPads are probably not bad. They're designed for consumers, unlike ThinkPads, however. I don't really know much about their build quality, so I just assume it's decent. But at $800, that's almost $100 more than the T430 I listed.. and with inferior specs/build quality/durability. D: BestBuy wants to rip you off!
• Claudia wrote on 2012-11-23 16:56
  Shame on Best Buy!
  
  I'll probably end up getting the T340. Are there any...nice-looking accessories for it? I mean, i'll be trololo'ing all the way to the bank because my ThinkPad is way cooler than everyone else's Macbook Airs, but it can be pretty too, right?!