Help Me Get a Laptop

MikeDawg

Banned deucer.
No. Everywhere it's mentioned that it's for a year. I haven't seen anything remotely saying indefinitely free. Feel free to share if you see anything of the likes.
I definitely inclined to believe you're mistaken. It's quite unlikely that they'd just give away their newest OS to their existing (and overwhelmingly larger compared to new adopters) market of users for free. That'd be a terrible business policy tbh.

^Shinryu, Even if not subscription based it's more like a 1-year trial, after which you basically couldn't be arsed enough to downgrade to your old OS (because hey, who wants to go down a rung in the ladder?), so you just buy a new license.
There is a 0% chance that you are correct. Even logically, causing the OS to stop working after a year sounds absurd. People did not like windows 8. As a result, they are pushing windows 10 for this short-ish frame of time, hence the free upgrade.

http://www.pcgamer.com/microsoft-windows-10-will-not-be-sold-as-a-subscription/
 
I have a 3200x1800 screen on a 15" laptop, and for comparison purposes my last laptop had a 1080p. it is pretty nice because I'm basically maximizing screen space relative to my tolerance for eye strain (with DPI scaling, there's about 20% more effective pixels than 1080p). everything looks pretty crisp, but it's not something that I would consider mandatory. what I would consider more important is getting a screen with relatively nice color coverage (color gamut). sometimes really shitty laptop screens will look faded out and lifeless because they only have the ability to display a smaller percentage of colors. my old laptop was 95% NTSC, the new one is 72% NTSC, typical cheap screen might be 60%, and I think I read reports of really bad ones being around 50%.
 
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Texas Cloverleaf

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MikeDawg biggest thing I want is speed of operation, tired of the degradation that's slowed down my current comp. Battery life and size aren't a big deal since current one is a 15 inch with a four hour life. Would be nice to have a battery capable of lasting 6 and change to get through double lectures but not mandatory. As much as I've heard awesome things about SSDs I store a number of movies and whatnot on my hard drive and recently had to delete a bunch because I pushed up to my 500 GB hard drive limit so 500 gb or less isn't especially realistic. Basically I'm looking for performance ahead of other considerations. Having a similar keyboard to the Lenovo I mentioned is a nice intangible n_n. Torn on how I feel about the touch screen tablet laps. In one h d I'd hate I tentiobally streaking my laptop, on the other the versatility is a plus
 

MikeDawg

Banned deucer.
MikeDawg biggest thing I want is speed of operation, tired of the degradation that's slowed down my current comp. Battery life and size aren't a big deal since current one is a 15 inch with a four hour life. Would be nice to have a battery capable of lasting 6 and change to get through double lectures but not mandatory. As much as I've heard awesome things about SSDs I store a number of movies and whatnot on my hard drive and recently had to delete a bunch because I pushed up to my 500 GB hard drive limit so 500 gb or less isn't especially realistic. Basically I'm looking for performance ahead of other considerations. Having a similar keyboard to the Lenovo I mentioned is a nice intangible n_n. Torn on how I feel about the touch screen tablet laps. In one h d I'd hate I tentiobally streaking my laptop, on the other the versatility is a plus
http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/inspiron-14-5458-laptop/dncwu2255b

This one is actually pretty perfect for you.

i5 processor, 14in HD (but not 1080p) screen, 7.5 hr battery life, 1 TB hard drive (sounded like a huge draw for you!), touch screen (but use of it really is optional, it's just standard now to stay competitive, and ultrabooks are literally required to have it), 8gb of ram, performed better than most of the competitors at the price range, nice keyboard, nice touchpad (with full gesture support, which is incredibly useful on newer versions of windows with things like swiping to go back on webpages, switch between desktops, manage windows, etc.), on sale atm.

Let me know if it seems appealing :) if not, i can dig up other options
 

Texas Cloverleaf

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http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/inspiron-14-5458-laptop/dncwu2255b

This one is actually pretty perfect for you.

i5 processor, 14in HD (but not 1080p) screen, 7.5 hr battery life, 1 TB hard drive (sounded like a huge draw for you!), touch screen (but use of it really is optional, it's just standard now to stay competitive, and ultrabooks are literally required to have it), 8gb of ram, performed better than most of the competitors at the price range, nice keyboard, nice touchpad (with full gesture support, which is incredibly useful on newer versions of windows with things like swiping to go back on webpages, switch between desktops, manage windows, etc.), on sale atm.

Let me know if it seems appealing :) if not, i can dig up other options
The 1TB wasn't a massive draw, it just seemed preferable if I was going to be hitting >500 GB of files on my comp.

How does performance change from an i5 to an i7? My current V570 is an i5 processor

One of the laptops I had been looking at was one of the Lenovo G series.
- 4th Gen Intel® Core® i7-4510U (2.00GHz 1600 MHz 4MB)
- Up to 8GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600 MHz
- 4h Battery
- 15.6" HD (1366 x 768) display
- 1TB 5400 RPM

If that helps for a comparable. I'm asbolutely willing to sacrifice battery life and smaller size if I get the other measurables at a noticeably higher level.

The Dell seems like a solid choice, doesn't blow me away though. (side note I've head Dell's come with a lot of bloatware? I'd have to know what to remove if i went there)
 
For what it's worth, you can get screen protectors for touch screen laptops, so at least you won't be messing up the actual screen. But yeah, touch is ok, but a mouse is still #1 for a reason as an input device lol, so it's a convenience if you have touch at best.

The step up from an i5 to i7 isn't that appreciable normally, though with laptops it could be I guess. Not sure what content you're doing, but an independent graphics card (not just a poor integrated one) can help boost performance. You can also always invest in a small portable external hard drive over paying more for additional hard drive space inside.
 

MikeDawg

Banned deucer.
The 1TB wasn't a massive draw, it just seemed preferable if I was going to be hitting >500 GB of files on my comp.

How does performance change from an i5 to an i7? My current V570 is an i5 processor

One of the laptops I had been looking at was one of the Lenovo G series.
- 4th Gen Intel® Core® i7-4510U (2.00GHz 1600 MHz 4MB)
- Up to 8GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600 MHz
- 4h Battery
- 15.6" HD (1366 x 768) display
- 1TB 5400 RPM

If that helps for a comparable. I'm asbolutely willing to sacrifice battery life and smaller size if I get the other measurables at a noticeably higher level.

The Dell seems like a solid choice, doesn't blow me away though. (side note I've head Dell's come with a lot of bloatware? I'd have to know what to remove if i went there)
That laptop in particular is perhaps only worth it if you really want the 15.6in screen over the 14in. It has very poor color accuracy, low battery (well under 5 hours with i7), and a relatively unresponsive touchpad when it comes to gestures. I assume that the price is higher than the inspiron with the i7, and build quality is going to be significantly worse than the dell (the inspiron is going to be the only laptop at that price range made of aluminum). Performance is actually going to be signifcantly worse than the inspiron in some areas, and about on par or marginally better in others (even with the i7). The jump from i7 is fairly marginal. Maybe a 10% increase as a whole. It would only make a difference in activities that require multiple threads (i5 has pseudo multi-threading for all other purposes) like rendering in photoshop (the gain isn't as significant as you would think either. Add in the increased power consumption and heat, and you'll find that the i7 is fairly niche). The g has a discrete graphics card, but the dell fares significantly better with graphic-intensive activities, oddly enough.

Lenovo really excels at the pads (thinkpad, ideapad), but those run quite pricey.

Lenovo actually has more bloateare than dell, I believe (though much of it can be useful). It' easily uninstalled on both systems regardless (dell's major one is mcafe security, which is easy to uninstall and replace. Windows defender is actually perfectly fine as long as you don't do anything crazy). I never cared for dell in the past, but their new computers are really great.

Both will run fine in everyday use. The dell is perhaps better in media consumption given the better graphics performance and accurate screen. It will really come down to the screen size (and perhaps the price difference).

I hope I was helpful :)
 

Texas Cloverleaf

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That laptop in particular is perhaps only worth it if you really want the 15.6in screen over the 14in. It has very poor color accuracy, low battery (well under 5 hours with i7), and a relatively unresponsive touchpad when it comes to gestures. I assume that the price is higher than the inspiron with the i7, and build quality is going to be significantly worse than the dell (the inspiron is going to be the only laptop at that price range made of aluminum). Performance is actually going to be signifcantly worse than the inspiron in some areas, and about on par or marginally better in others (even with the i7). The jump from i7 is fairly marginal. Maybe a 10% increase as a whole. It would only make a difference in activities that require multiple threads (i5 has pseudo multi-threading for all other purposes) like rendering in photoshop (the gain isn't as significant as you would think either. Add in the increased power consumption and heat, and you'll find that the i7 is fairly niche). The g has a discrete graphics card, but the dell fares significantly better with graphic-intensive activities, oddly enough.

Lenovo really excels at the pads (thinkpad, ideapad), but those run quite pricey.

Lenovo actually has more bloateare than dell, I believe (though much of it can be useful). It' easily uninstalled on both systems regardless (dell's major one is mcafe security, which is easy to uninstall and replace. Windows defender is actually perfectly fine as long as you don't do anything crazy). I never cared for dell in the past, but their new computers are really great.

Both will run fine in everyday use. The dell is perhaps better in media consumption given the better graphics performance and accurate screen. It will really come down to the screen size (and perhaps the price difference).

I hope I was helpful :)
Was talking with faint about SSD laptops, I do have access to an external drive and am currently carrying 313 GB of files so a 500 GB SSD could potentially work. What can you tell me about them?

edit: oh yeah as for price the G50-80 and Y40-80 are priced at 950 and 1200 but are on sale on lenovos website for 630 and 650 :]
 

MikeDawg

Banned deucer.
Was talking with faint about SSD laptops, I do have access to an external drive and am currently carrying 313 GB of files so a 500 GB SSD could potentially work. What can you tell me about them?

edit: oh yeah as for price the G50-80 and Y40-80 are priced at 950 and 1200 but are on sale on lenovos website for 630 and 650 :]
500gb ssds are, unfortunately, unrealistically expensive in a laptop given how new a technology it is. I think the first terrabyte one recently came out for $6k? I dont remember exactly. I don't actually know of any laptops that have them, to be honest. The standard configuration is one or two 128gb ones (and those are most common in high end laptops).

Ah, the price definitely evens the field. Personal preference between screens will probably cinch the deal, then :)
 

Soul Fly

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Texas if you want speed... go for an SSD lappy... ram/processing improvements taper out after a certain threshold. Trust me. You'll thank me later. 500GB models are pretty cheaper these days... even 256 GB is fine. Only your primary drive needs to be an HDD for the speed boost (only primary drive does OS chaching offloaded from RAM and stuff)

Many of them offer a secondary mechanical HDD for for media/idle file storage. or just get an external HDD. They're dirt cheap these days.

So yeah an SSD is lappy is completely doable. As a repeat suggestion check out ultrabooks.
 
if speed is your main concern get an SSD. don't even worry about the processor as long as it's not an i3.

I recommend looking at dell outlet and lenovo outlet (dell outlet has much steeper discounts). you can get a 500 GB SSD but it'll be $1500+ so just stick to 128 or 256 and store all your movies on the external. if you haven't looked at the dell latitude line, it's more expensive but seems to fit some of your needs (reliable performance, sort of thinkpad-style keyboard, long battery life)

bloatware is not really a big concern

does gaming/graphics performance matter at all?
 

Texas Cloverleaf

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if speed is your main concern get an SSD. don't even worry about the processor as long as it's not an i3.

I recommend looking at dell outlet and lenovo outlet (dell outlet has much steeper discounts). you can get a 500 GB SSD but it'll be $1500+ so just stick to 128 or 256 and store all your movies on the external. if you haven't looked at the dell latitude line, it's more expensive but seems to fit some of your needs (reliable performance, sort of thinkpad-style keyboard, long battery life)

bloatware is not really a big concern

does gaming/graphics performance matter at all?
Bloatware isn't a big concern I'd just want to know what it is so i can remove it :p

Gaming no, most I use on my comp is emulators for Pokemon and stuff. I don't know about graphics enough to make a call there, I watch a lot of shows and stream sports and whatnot on my comp.

I'm concerned a 256 won't be large enough. Looking at the properties on my comp I have 421 GB available for storage on a 500 GB drive. 313 in use, less 149 from movies, plus 79 from unavailable space totals 243 GB committed.

edit: Cleaned some stuff up, still 221 GB committed under that framework

edit2: laptops currently in consideration,
dell inspiron: http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-14-5458-laptop/pd?oc=dncwu2255b
lenovo y40-80: http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y40-80/?sb=:000001C9:000144D3:#tab-tech_specs

edit3: after talking extensively with faint my current options are the Lenovo Y40 or Lenovo Y50, and either option upgraded to a SSD. Relevant links below.
Y40: http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y40-80/?sb=:000001C9:000144D3:#tab-customize
Y50 (first option if solo, second option if SSD): http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y50/
500 GB SSD: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RQA6M5Y/ref=twister_B00RYVA4Y0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
 
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