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Help Me Get a Laptop
- Thread starter Jukain
- Start date
Don't switch operating systems. It's a long a painful process that is worth every cent to avoid.
So I have decided it is nigh time to start looking for a proper upgrade for my 2010 MacBook Pro 13". It has suited me well, but due to gaming and whatnot I realized I needed a better graphics card. Unfortunately the graphics card and the motherboard to MacBook pros are soldered together. Thus, I have taken an interest in upgrading to a desktop platform, mainly because I don't move my laptop around TOO much. I am currently debating on either the iMac 21" with the 2.9GHz intel quad core processor and NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 1GB GDDR5 graphics card. Here are the most basic specs
My question is this:
If I were to look into running a PC platform, would I be able to find one that would accept my 500gb ssd that has OSX 10.6.8 installed? In other words, I'm looking to have dual boot functionality since I much much prefer Mac OS vs Windows.
Otherwise the other option I am looking at is getting a new 13" retina with 8gb ram. That'll run for roughly $1400...
- 2.9GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
- 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X4GB
- 1TB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 1GB GDDR5
- Apple Magic Mouse
- Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
- Accessory Kit
My question is this:
If I were to look into running a PC platform, would I be able to find one that would accept my 500gb ssd that has OSX 10.6.8 installed? In other words, I'm looking to have dual boot functionality since I much much prefer Mac OS vs Windows.
Otherwise the other option I am looking at is getting a new 13" retina with 8gb ram. That'll run for roughly $1400...
i actually ended up ordering the retina mbp 13" (got the 8gb ram + i5 + 256gb ssd model), as at $1400 w/ education discount with my 8gb config of the 13" mba, i was paying roughly that much for a lower quality computer. it's been pretty great.
if you're looking for game performance and etc., the imac is the clear choice, but as far as everything else, i'd go with the mbp retina. the integrated intel iris isn't giving astonishing results, but you can get to good playable quality. it depends on what you value. furthermore, since you have an old mbp, it might be better to spring for the imac, which gives you your gaming rig. the old mbp gives you the portability aspect. keep in mind whether you want to be tethered to the desktop for the good quality, as it would certainly be a big shift. the retina mbp is gonna give you what you need -- certainly better than the old one you have.
it's all trade-offs.
as far as pcs: you'll have to make a hackintosh, which is a...process, and not a particularly easy or simple one at that. the quality of the apple desktop is bound to be better if os x is what you want.
if you're looking for game performance and etc., the imac is the clear choice, but as far as everything else, i'd go with the mbp retina. the integrated intel iris isn't giving astonishing results, but you can get to good playable quality. it depends on what you value. furthermore, since you have an old mbp, it might be better to spring for the imac, which gives you your gaming rig. the old mbp gives you the portability aspect. keep in mind whether you want to be tethered to the desktop for the good quality, as it would certainly be a big shift. the retina mbp is gonna give you what you need -- certainly better than the old one you have.
it's all trade-offs.
as far as pcs: you'll have to make a hackintosh, which is a...process, and not a particularly easy or simple one at that. the quality of the apple desktop is bound to be better if os x is what you want.
Good laptop in terms of price/performance, but the battery life is awful. If you are looking for a desktop replacement that can game, this is perfect. If you were hoping to game + have it last around 6 hours on a full charge, this won't do the trick. From what I've read the average battery life is around 3.5 hours, mostly because it has dual-GPU's, but it's still pitiful.
I hope you don't mind me requesting for help on this thread, jukain, since I am also having trouble finding a new laptop, too (and I don't want to make a new thread ;x)
My college made it mandatory to buy a lenovo t61 with OS Windows 7 and I am still using it now (2007 - current). It's starting to get slow, so I decided to buy a new laptop. All I wanted was a simple upgrade from the archaic thinkpad, nothing expensive or fancy. I was able to do everything I wanted to do on that old laptop (working on assignments, chat online, play on showdown!, listen to music, watch shows), so I simply wanted to do what I've been doing on a new laptop. My friend suggested to me Toshiba Satellite (15.6'' and 4GB Memory) for $229.99 ($299.99 with 1 yr warranty), and I thought it was a major steal. It seemed like it was an all-round improvement from my old laptop, and cheap, too!
Unfortunately, I was wrong. The audio quality was SHIT. I enjoy listening to music on my laptop via spotify / youtube and watching shows online, so the shitty audio quality was a huge turn-off. Although everything about this laptop is great, terrible audio alone is a dealbreaker for me; I am thinking of returning this laptop and get my money back.
Can you help me find a laptop that does everything better than lenovo t61 without having to pay $500+? Or is there some inexpensive device that I can buy that would improve the sound quality? Maybe it's even something that I can resolve by simply changing the default audio settings? (I am a computer dummy) I agree with Bass that keyboard, mouthpad, and the screen is a large factor in user satisfaction, and I believe audio quality comes in play here, too.
My college made it mandatory to buy a lenovo t61 with OS Windows 7 and I am still using it now (2007 - current). It's starting to get slow, so I decided to buy a new laptop. All I wanted was a simple upgrade from the archaic thinkpad, nothing expensive or fancy. I was able to do everything I wanted to do on that old laptop (working on assignments, chat online, play on showdown!, listen to music, watch shows), so I simply wanted to do what I've been doing on a new laptop. My friend suggested to me Toshiba Satellite (15.6'' and 4GB Memory) for $229.99 ($299.99 with 1 yr warranty), and I thought it was a major steal. It seemed like it was an all-round improvement from my old laptop, and cheap, too!
Unfortunately, I was wrong. The audio quality was SHIT. I enjoy listening to music on my laptop via spotify / youtube and watching shows online, so the shitty audio quality was a huge turn-off. Although everything about this laptop is great, terrible audio alone is a dealbreaker for me; I am thinking of returning this laptop and get my money back.
Can you help me find a laptop that does everything better than lenovo t61 without having to pay $500+? Or is there some inexpensive device that I can buy that would improve the sound quality? Maybe it's even something that I can resolve by simply changing the default audio settings? (I am a computer dummy) I agree with Bass that keyboard, mouthpad, and the screen is a large factor in user satisfaction, and I believe audio quality comes in play here, too.
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couple of options: all are sub $500 notebooks
Lenovo G505: $349.99, shitty quad-core, 15.6 inch display, 500 GB HDD, Windows 8 (free upgrade to 8.1)
Dell Inspiron 15: $469.99, 15.6 inch touchscreen, 500 GB HDD, Windows 8 (free upgrade to 8.1), matte finish
Asus Q200E: $429.99, 11.6 inch touchscreen, 500 GB HDD, Windows 8 (free upgrade to 8.1), 3.1 pounds, meh battery life
Pros:
Lenovo: Great brand, great price/performance ratio, sleek look for #349.99
Dell: Touchscreen, matte finish, seems very solid overall
Asus: Great Brand, extremely portable, sleek, nice finish, touchscreen
Cons:
Lenovo: Quite bulky, 5.73 lbs, average battery life (5 hours)
Dell: Will ship with a fuckton of bloatware, can't find specifics on battery life but I would expect about 5 hours of light-use
Asus: Terrible battery life, small screen
thanks, Faint! Of those 3, lenovo seems the most appealing (I could care less about touch screen, and asus's screen is way too small)
How do you know if these options have good audio quality, though? I am guessing that lenovo would have the same or better audio quality than my t61, since they are the same brand, so it's probably safe to choose it ;d
How do you know if these options have good audio quality, though? I am guessing that lenovo would have the same or better audio quality than my t61, since they are the same brand, so it's probably safe to choose it ;d
I did my best to look at reviews and search for what people were saying about audio quality, but a lot of time that's barely mentioned. I wouldn't worry too much about it though. If you're satisfied with the volume from a 2007 Lenovo laptop I think you'll be happy with what you'll get in this. Not to mention, the entire grill above the keyboard is dedicated to the speakers, while on the Toshiba laptop you linked, the speaker grill is about half the size in height of the Lenovo and doesn't span the full size of the base (look at the Amazon pics). Even though at the end of the day speaker quality is determined by the driver and not by the size of the grill, I think it's safe to say that the smaller grill on the Toshiba laptop was not helping you, so I think the much larger grill on the Lenovo will be a big improvement.
did my best to show a comparison:
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^ Going on to that, if you're a real audiophile, you could always invest in third party speakers. Personally, I've never had any problems with a laptop speaker, so you should be fine, but those nerds on /g/ are all about muh moosicks, so you can always get something else if you notice a sizeable downgrade or something.
You shouldn't, though, no need to worry.
You shouldn't, though, no need to worry.
Hijacking the thread so I don't have to start a new one.
Plus I feel like a lot of the info posted is outdated so I was unable to take too much info from this so far to get some solid ideas.
Im in the market for a laptop. I don't game, but I will need programs like the Office package and Photoshop for starters. My price tag is anything less than $1,200.
I keep looking at the apple laptops as I've never owned one and have yet to hear a single bad thing about them besides maybe the screen quality and it's price tag for getting probably less in a unit compared to PCs. (and I'm unsure if they can get Microsoft office). But there are three diff styles of MacBooks and have no idea which balances price = performance best.
One thing I absolutely despise from these current Windows computers is the ridiculous desktop/tablet split screen they have. Idk what it's called but I just hate the look. It's like having a tablet screen as your laptop.. And it's just sloppy and confusing to me. But I've always felt these laptops gives the users so much for such a little price.
I know technology is upgraded practically on the daily. So it's impossible to always have the latest thing. But I heard new laptops on both sides are on their way. So do I just wait regardless?
Plus I feel like a lot of the info posted is outdated so I was unable to take too much info from this so far to get some solid ideas.
Im in the market for a laptop. I don't game, but I will need programs like the Office package and Photoshop for starters. My price tag is anything less than $1,200.
I keep looking at the apple laptops as I've never owned one and have yet to hear a single bad thing about them besides maybe the screen quality and it's price tag for getting probably less in a unit compared to PCs. (and I'm unsure if they can get Microsoft office). But there are three diff styles of MacBooks and have no idea which balances price = performance best.
One thing I absolutely despise from these current Windows computers is the ridiculous desktop/tablet split screen they have. Idk what it's called but I just hate the look. It's like having a tablet screen as your laptop.. And it's just sloppy and confusing to me. But I've always felt these laptops gives the users so much for such a little price.
I know technology is upgraded practically on the daily. So it's impossible to always have the latest thing. But I heard new laptops on both sides are on their way. So do I just wait regardless?
If we're hijacking threads I'm also starting to look for an upgrade to my Lenovo V570. Looking for something more in line with current tech, fast operation is a plus. Currently am running close to the 500GB limit so a TB is nice. Fast boots are an asset. Fuck Macs. Price range 400-800 though I can go higher if I'm really happy with one. Would also appreciate knowing what bloatware comes with any suggested comps.
Can help with laptop searches in a lil bit, but worth noting two quick things:
Macbook pro and air are both p nice. New macbook is shit (and far too expensive). Not even the thinnest computer on the market lol. Imo, the entry level pro isn't worth it, but upgrading a bit offers better value. The air does better with its lower end components. Both of them have crap storage (as do most thin laptops/ultrabooks).
Also, windows 10 gets rid of the split and it comes out in like two weeks, so you shouldnt worry too much about windows 8 qualms (though the tablet mode is completely unobtrusive anyway. You can treat it like a faster windows 7 pretty much. Start menu is super overrated when you have a really quick search bar always available, anyway).
Texas Cloverleaf Phadunk do you have any particular desires? Size? Thickness? Battery? Etc. there's a big "best one for YOU" element here :)
Thanks for the input so far.
Battery life; 10hr+is nice. I heard the MacBook Air has such shitty resolution, which is a huge thing I feel makes it so bad. Like, I don't want a pc that is old compared to even 2015.
I honestly just want a thin, crisp, reliable laptop that won't be incredibly outdated asap.
I feel like if the air had the MacBook Pros crisp resolution and retina. It'd be over.
http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-13-9343-laptop
Yay you win!
Thinner+lighter than air. Better battery life. Full Hd and Quad Hd options. Up to 15hr battery life. Soon to have windows 10. i5 processor on $1k version and up :)
Storage is tight (as it is with any ssd on any relatively thin laptop, apple is even worse at this), but there may be expansion options (don't remember), and cloud storage or external hard drives (for movies and things that you don't need immediately) make things easier.
https://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/ASUS_ZENBOOK_UX305/review/
Another beautiful option. I'm partial to asus (have a ux301la), if it's worth anything. This one is super cheap (like, strangely cheap), has more space, quad hd, thinnest 13in on the market, i think, handles well, etc. still have no idea why it is so cheap.
Benefit of ^ too is that you can upgrade in a couple years to a laptop that will blow away either of these two, and you will still have spent less than for a macbook or xps overall :)
May as well throw this in there too:
http://www.amazon.com/Zenbook-13-Inch-Touchscreen-Laptop-VERSION/dp/B00EPGHE0E
That's the base version of the ux301 (the 301 line is pretty much taking macbook pros and putting them inside macbook air cases), and it is on a very nice sale. The graphics card is a teensy old and it isn't iris, but it will do whatever as long as you aren't trying to get past 30 fps on skyrim lol the higher end versions are still above $2k since they aren't on sale, so that would be, im guessing, your only option. Lovely computer.
The whole asus collection atm seems fitting to what you are looking for. If you dont like something about the 305, check out the other ones on their website (like the 303)
Final note: anything above 1080p gets iffy on a 13in screen. It looks sharp, but differences become very minute, and scaling on some programs is iffy (much better now than it used to be when windows 8 was first out. Adobe was the biggest offender. I havent updated photshop or premiere or audition to current, though, and the scaling is fine enough atm for me to not have cared enough to update haha).
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In the years since, I bought one of those laptop/tablet things (Asus) and I find it functional for normal uses; it came with a full version of MS Office (not some crappy 1 year MS 360 subscription) and I like the small portable size and option to split off the keyboard base for a functional tablet. It might not be able to do gaming by itself, but what it does nicely is stream stuff from my main PC if I happen to want to play in another room thanks to Steam.
Anyways on topic, at a $1200 price tag, go with whatever you want really. Basic 4k screens are within that price range, or you can opt for normal HD with probably other upgrades like a larger hard drive or graphics card. Just remember battery life usually dives down with bigger systems and more powerful ones.
Anyways on topic, at a $1200 price tag, go with whatever you want really. Basic 4k screens are within that price range, or you can opt for normal HD with probably other upgrades like a larger hard drive or graphics card. Just remember battery life usually dives down with bigger systems and more powerful ones.
As much as I hate to admit it, Apple has a pretty good lappy game (except their latest macbook wtf is up with that single connector crap). Also on a laptop sceen anything above 1080p is practically useless. You just don't have the real estate to make the most of that pixel count. mayyyybe 2K (not 4K) if you're really pushing it.
With what you suggested go for a mid-high end ultrabook (maybe delay by a month to get Windows 10), it basically meets everything you've asked for.
With what you suggested go for a mid-high end ultrabook (maybe delay by a month to get Windows 10), it basically meets everything you've asked for.
Windows 10 is a free upgrade foa ll computers. You literally click an icon at any point in time, and it will download it when it comes out
Lol what? You don't only get an operating system for a year. If you have windows 8.1 or 7 (i believe), then you can upgrade for free (lol and you get to keep you operating system indefinitely)
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That's the thing no one really knows, remember the rumors are out there about Windows becoming potentially subscription-based or some weird crap. So I'd be wary of any offer to upgrade to Windows 10 "for a year" until the full details come out. I'll keep 7 on my PC and 8.1 on the laptop for now.
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.
It is free indefinitely. It is only available for free for one year. You receive the same version you are upgrading from (W7 Pro --> W10 Pro).
If any of you do not have updates set to install automatically like me, just know that unless you are using a pro or higher version of W7/8.1, you will be forced to install updates automatically.