Help me buy a laptop

[Jaxxxson Mayhem]

iPods have a lot more third party accessories which are useful, plus they're hard drive based and have more capacity than any other MP3 player out there. They completely own that market, as much as I dislike them, they did make a superior product there.

I just can't get on board with either the iPhone (I have a Pre, and the Motorola Droid with Google's Android 2.0 looks even better) or Mac OSX, and I'm a video editor so I have to hear it from idiot novice film editors all the time about Final Cut this and Final Cut that. I think I could run the hell out of OSX on my laptop (there's apparently ways to do this- "Hackintosh"es they call 'em) but much like when I used to run Ubuntu, my question is why? Guess it's just preference. Although Windows 7 is absolutely the best OS Microsoft has put out there. Sexy, functional, very customizable and runs very smoothly.

I hear the same shit from people about image editing. Guess what people, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc also work on PCs you fucking assholes.

 

[Vigo]

I too am looking for a laptop and need some advice as I have no clue when it comes to laptops. Anyway, is there like a brand leader or brands I should avoid? Also, I'm looking to be doing graphic design on it so what stuff should I look for in terms of hardware for it?

Where's a good online place to one at a decent price?

 

[Vitamin X]

I hear the same shit from people about image editing. Guess what people, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc also work on PCs you fucking assholes.

Not even that, but the 64-bit version of Photoshop CS4 is only available on Windows!

The frustrating part about the obsession with Final Cut is that it only works on Mac- Adobe Premiere works cross-platform and it integrates beautifully with Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Encore, and Soundbooth. Final Cut Studio has DVD Studio Pro (which is a good program) and that's about it. You have to buy stuff like After Effects and a full-featured audio editor like Soundbooth extra.

 

[Rendclaw]

Doc, I swear by Micro Center. They have good laptops for decent prices. www.microcenter.com

First thing is to get at least a dual core machine with good video. Second, make sure it has Windows 7. Third, make sure it has a bare minimum of 2 GB of memory, 4 is much better, or at least it can be upgraded to that.

Leo, Apple has all but shut down the Hackintosh in the last OSX upgrade. http://www.pcworld.com/article/181809/apples_snow_leopard_update_zaps_bugs_kills_hackintosh_netbooks.html

 

[Ripper]

Yeah, they killed it on netbooks.

As for the laptops, again, it does depend on what you need it for. Some people really suprise me when they get these ultra powerful laptops to go and surf the net and watch a move. You can get a 299.99 Acer and do that.

I would look to places like Slickdeals or search the Internet for Dell Coupons if you are looking to build something really powerful for the cheap. I have seen some stackable coupons that have gotten 1400 laptops down to 800 bucks, so thats always great.

And honestly, I say this to people alot, if you are a graphic designer and such...how often do you really need to PRODUCE graphic design on the go? I mean, for presentation purposes, sure, but for the most part, having a EXTREMELY powerful desktop to do your graphics work and a middle of the road laptop for minor edits and presentation purposes is a much better way to get the most performance out of your graphic designing.

 

[Vitamin X]

Leo, Apple has all but shut down the Hackintosh in the last OSX upgrade. http://www.pcworld.com/article/181809/apples_snow_leopard_update_zaps_bugs_kills_hackintosh_netbooks.html

That's so fucking stupid. God forbid people actually want to use your shitty OS, Apple! Okay, it's not shitty, but the company's practices w/r/t shit like this is so frustrating. I know it's just netbooks (they disabled support specifically for the Intel Atom processor actually) but that's a great market for MacOSX, since that's exactly the sort of simplistic, memory-light OS that would work great on that platform. Guess netbook users will be stuck with either Ubuntu or XP now.

And honestly, I say this to people alot, if you are a graphic designer and such...how often do you really need to PRODUCE graphic design on the go? I mean, for presentation purposes, sure, but for the most part, having a EXTREMELY powerful desktop to do your graphics work and a middle of the road laptop for minor edits and presentation purposes is a much better way to get the most performance out of your graphic designing.

I can only say that my laptop bears the majority of my workload out of convenience and because it can. I don't like having more than one machine unless that second machine is a HTPC like the small one I'm building these days, because I do like to bring my laptop with me wherever I go. Lots of free wi-fi here in town as well, so if my internet ever goes out or whatever, I can just latch on to that, which is incredibly useful.

 

[Rendclaw]

And its petty things like that are why I flat out refuse to support Apple, even a little bit. I would love an iPod, but I am not going to use iTunes and I am not going to pay for the brand, which is basically what you;re doing. I am going to have to do some serious research because my 60 GB Creative Zen is starting to show signs of breaking down (the headphone jack starting to go, and I need a player that supports FLAC files).

Sabre's little trick makes my underpowered laptop much more usable, so I can hold off on getting something news for at least a year.

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Now playing: Iron Maiden - [Somewhere In Time #08] Alexander The Great [foobar2000 v0.9.6.9]
via FoxyTunes

 

[tonyjaymz03]

Buying this Asus over the more expensive brands was a great decision. Windows 7 is a fucking dream, the machine runs quiet and smooth, and the screen is just bright enough, so I don't run into the problem I did with my last 2 laptops, where movies always seemed dark. I highly recommend Asus now.

 

[Jaxxxson Mayhem]

Sabre's little trick makes my underpowered laptop much more usable, so I can hold off on getting something news for at least a year.

You gave Sabre the credit!?!?! Now I know how ARPA feels when Al Gore claims he invented the Internet.

 

[Rendclaw]

My apologies. Call it early senility.

 

[vivisectvi]

I'm also thinking about getting a Mac,but is it really worth the money? or is it just a status symbol type thing?

I am vehemently anti-apple. It is strictly a status symbol. Stick to PCs.

I have both PC and Mac and the Mac's functionality and ease of use far outweighs the PC's.. and I'm a lifetime PC user. I just find that when using my Mac, I'm never annoyed or pissed off at stupid bugs or annoyances that seem to plague my PCs.

...and it's only a status symbol for douchey art students and yuppies who wish they were douchey art students.

 

[Ripper]

Not being finger pointery, but usually when I encouter people with all these "bugs" they are running into on PC, its because they fucked their computer up and want to blame Windows.

I don't get viruses and I don't have a dedicated antivirus on my computer. XP ran smooth...Vista(desktop version...seriously, fuck Vista on a Laptop) ran smooth and now Windows 7 runs like a dream. Mostly because I don't clutter up my registry with a bunch of crap, I use the internal windows antivirus the way you are supposed to, so I am fine.

Don't get me wrong, Macs are fine computers. Seroiusly overpriced, fine computers. But at the end of the day, if you spend 2000 on a PC laptop and a Mac laptop, the PC one will RIDICULOUSLY out perform the mac one. So the difference can't be the performance. IF its the UI, the 2000 PC still destroys the mac performance wise if you toss on Hackintosh..so what is left? Pretty little glowing apples that have become a source for smuggness because a commercial told you that their product was cooler than everyone elses.

 

[Jaxxxson Mayhem]

Not being finger pointery, but usually when I encouter people with all these "bugs" they are running into on PC, its because they fucked their computer up and want to blame Windows.

I don't get viruses and I don't have a dedicated antivirus on my computer. XP ran smooth...Vista(desktop version...seriously, fuck Vista on a Laptop) ran smooth and now Windows 7 runs like a dream. Mostly because I don't clutter up my registry with a bunch of crap, I use the internal windows antivirus the way you are supposed to, so I am fine.

Don't get me wrong, Macs are fine computers. Seroiusly overpriced, fine computers. But at the end of the day, if you spend 2000 on a PC laptop and a Mac laptop, the PC one will RIDICULOUSLY out perform the mac one. So the difference can't be the performance. IF its the UI, the 2000 PC still destroys the mac performance wise if you toss on Hackintosh..so what is left? Pretty little glowing apples that have become a source for smuggness because a commercial told you that their product was cooler than everyone elses.

Quoted for truth.

 

[Rendclaw]

Agreed 100%. $2,000 can get you one hell of a gaming laptop, which has the processor, memory and video to run circles around a Mac. I think a $2,000 Mac might equal the performance of a $1,200 PC. I could do the research, but its late and I am tired.

And almost every person I run into online in the tech circles I run in who own Macs are extremely arrogant and protective of their precious little Apple brand. They drink the Jobs brand kool-aid, and they laugh at us "poor, misguided" PC users because of all of the viruses and malware. The one fact I always bring up is that PCs possess something like 85-92% (or something along those lines) of the computer market, making that 10:1 or thereabouts. If enough people bought a Mac to make the ratio say 5:1 or less, you can bet that the viruses and malware would start infecting Macs, too.

 

[oldskool]

It's a good play on Apple's part, to market their product to pretentious moronic dicks who don't know enough about computers to tell the difference between laptops unless one's got a picture of a fruit on it, let alone how to make & spread a virus.

 

[kkktookmybabyaway]

Not being finger pointery, but usually when I encouter people with all these "bugs" they are running into on PC, its because they fucked their computer up and want to blame Windows.

At my previous job I had a new Mac. It crashed just as much as my home PC. Computers are computers. If you like it and the thing does what you want it to do, that's all that matters.

Now that the "help me buy a laptop" question has been solved for the most part, let's continue this thread.

I'm looking to get a desktop for gaming purposes. In terms of specs what should I be looking for, or what would be the minimum requirements? Advice on the pecking order of graphics cards out there would be appreciated. Most the games I currently play are older (5-10 years), but I plan on getting some newer titles as well.

 

[Rendclaw]

Quad Core, at least 4GB of RAM, a good speaker system (I use Altec-Lansing and have for like ten years, they sound wonderful, especially when paired with a good sound card), GPUs is where my knowledge is weak because I haven't had to replace my 256 MB card in four years.

 

[ZGangsta]

Yeah at least a quad core (I'd go with an i7 if I were building one today though) and 4GB of RAM minimum. Get a 64-bit version of Windows or else you won't ever be able to upgrade past 4GB of RAM (can't address more than 4GB of memory with a 32-bit integer).

I haven't looked at video cards since I built my last computer a couple years ago, but it seems like cars in the midrange (price-wise) have around 896MB of video RAM these days.

And I must say all the Mac hate in this thread pleases me greatly. There seems to be a lot more of that around the internet lately. Maybe Apple's ridiculously arrogant, smarmy marketing and the douchebag hipster attitude of the cult of Mac is finally starting to bite them in the ass (that and their products are not remotely worth the fashion premium you have to pay).