Author Topic: Lap-top desk-top upgrade (Read 4035 times)

Kay · « **on:** June 25, 2012, 01:48:27 am »

Hey everyone!
I have a bit of a predicament.
I got my first lap-top nearly 5 years ago, and I've loved it to death since then... But needless to say; it's had it.
The screen is held together with duct-tape, the underside is split from heat. I can't close or even move it without fear of permanently breaking it and it's OH SO SLOW.
But like most families out there at the moment; mine can't afford to get me a new one.
Well, I'm heading off to college in a year, and want to EARN MYSELF the money to get a decent lap-top that has enough memory to store documents and download things.
I also am an AVID player on an MMO RPG, and require a fairly decent graphic's card.
I'm fine without speakers, that's what head-phones are for.
But other than that; that's my basic requirements.
Any advice on what to look for?

Alsek · « **Reply #1 on:** June 25, 2012, 02:09:31 am »

How much money do you have to spend? Also, do you prefer desktop or laptop? Desktops will always be more power for cost.

Budget is everything.

redyoshi49q · « **Reply #2 on:** June 25, 2012, 03:14:42 am »

Since you're looking to save up for a computer rather than get one right now, and since it's difficult to precisely predict market changes or the rate of technological advancement, the answer I give below is more of an estimate than anything else.

From what I've seen recently and in the past, I'd say that $300 would be a good estimate for getting a basic new computer (that amount would buy you a computer at the low end of current spec standards). Of course, a higher amount would be able to buy a better computer. Since you want a moderately good graphics card, you may have to save up $350 or $400. $500-$700 would almost certainly be plenty (or even more than enough), and $1000 would probably be overkill for your intended purpose.

Newegg is a website that has good deals on computers; the link I provided leads to a list of sold desktops ordered by lowest price first (the first computer listed as of the time of this post is deceptive; it's really cheap at $100, but has such low specs that it might even be worse than your laptop). Since you're planning on getting your computer a year from now, the actual computers you see will be obsolete by then, but you can still peruse the list to see what the price progression is (that should not change too much in the next year).

Also, I feel that this is worth mentioning before you start looking for a new computer. A computer's capacity to store documents and downloads is determined by the size of the hard drive, not the memory. A high amount of memory allows your computer to run more programs before becoming slow (this happens because computers start using the comparatively slow hard drive as RAM if there's no more room in the "real" RAM). It's likely that you already knew the difference but just used the wrong word (it happens), but I mentioned it just in case that wasn't the case.

Weisseman · « **Reply #3 on:** June 25, 2012, 12:24:47 pm »

Desktop is cheaper than a Laptop but it depends if you want portability or not.

Does it matter if you can't carry it around with you?

Kay · « **Reply #4 on:** June 25, 2012, 12:57:05 pm »

Thanks, I'll check it out.

I do know that desk-tops are cheaper, but I REALLY think I'd need to go with a lap-top, because in a year or two I'm moving off to college, and the availability of a lap-top would be much simpler than a desk-top.

As it is I'm not going to lie; when going over to my fathers house and have to share my sisters computer with her; both of us tend to get VERY irritable, because the table that the computer works on is right next to my bed.
Right now a lap-top would be amazing... Though I know that it's not a possibility and we both just have to deal with the fact we have each others needed resources.

Weisseman · « **Reply #5 on:** June 25, 2012, 01:19:12 pm »

Laptop graphics cards are quite bad in general compared to desktop. However I can't image any MMO would need a overly powerful card to begin with. You're probably going to be looking at easily $600+ for one with a half decent graphics card. Since I don't live in the US can't really give a finer price point. What sort of limit do you have on price?

As for models. Asus and MSI seems to get good reviews. I've got an Acer which has served me well along with a Toshiba.

Perhaps someone else can narrow down on choices.

Kay · « **Reply #6 on:** June 25, 2012, 03:27:19 pm »

That's the thing; It'll be a year or so before I can actually get it, and I'm trying to save up for it. I wanted to see how much I should save up, which is why I made this thread!
Considering that time; I think getting a Desk-top would be best if my sister still has her lap-top; and for now I must make do.

My sister and I have a scholarship to go to our college for at least, and my family has a bunch of junk such as tv's and cookware for us to use when we leave. Right now all we lack are cars and I lack a movable computer.
XD

Weisseman · « **Reply #7 on:** June 25, 2012, 04:42:34 pm »

Well aim for $1000 then

That should get you something decent. If you go over then you can get something alittle better

Ziel · « **Reply #8 on:** June 25, 2012, 06:00:26 pm »

Quote from: Weisseman on June 25, 2012, 04:42:34 pm

Well aim for $1000 then That should get you something decent. If you go over then you can get something alittle better

Yeah, I'd target $1k saved up.

To make a couple comparisons, I have both a desktop and a laptop. All put together, the desktop cost me right around that $1k mark, without a monitor (already had two, so no need to buy). But I used a lot of 'better' stuff in it in hopes that it lasts me several years with maybe just a few minor upgrades here and there. This thing is strong enough to run whatever I throw at it (games at max settings).

The laptop was about $375. It has decent specs, but is still on the lower end of the spectrum. It is capable of running Diablo III, for instance, but I keep all the graphics settings at their lowest to keep things running smooth. But I don't intend to use it for gaming at all. It is more intended to just use as a portable personal machine when I go on business trips or visit the family.

For the record, I went through all of college with a desktop, and never really had any problems. I just set it up so I could remote-desktop into it from the school's computer labs. Though for some majors, I'm sure it would be easier/better to just have a laptop you can take with you.

Mylo · « **Reply #9 on:** June 25, 2012, 06:18:06 pm »

If you're going to spend $1000 on a desktop, then you really won't have to worry about not running a game (because at that price point, a desktop can drive a 1080p monitor on pretty much any game at max settings). But if you are looking at a laptop for $1000, with today's tech, it is perfectly reasonable to run most games at modest settings at the native res of the screen. Doing a quick search on Newegg, I found an Acer for $899 with one of the latest Intel mobile processors and an Nvidia Kepler GPU (also new) that is most certainly capable of running an MMO. Also keep in mind that this is pretty much the latest technology, so previous generation stuff is also capable but $100-$200 cheaper. In the end though, its up to you whether on not you want laptop or desktop.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215410 (I only looked on the first page, so there are plenty more laptops I assume with these specs that are cheaper or more expensive).

Alsek · « **Reply #10 on:** June 25, 2012, 07:11:33 pm »

Lenovo.

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?action=init&current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=C46D71ACFD7C4475B8E490358F8CA8C3

Let's see, from personal and work laptops, i've had 4 dells, 2 HPs, 1 gateway, 1 toshiba, and 2 lenovos. The lenovos are the only ones that didn't have problems over time. They do NOT easily break, or wear down from regular use. Their build quality is just so much better.

Even the business models typically come with halfway decent graphics cards for laptops.

WhiteStorm · « **Reply #11 on:** June 26, 2012, 09:15:00 pm »

Quote from: Kay on June 25, 2012, 01:48:27 am

the underside is split from heat.

:|

This is bad, and you should feel bad.

Avan · « **Reply #12 on:** June 27, 2012, 10:53:08 am »

I have to ask... was that first computer a Dell? >.>

And yeah, if you can, spring for a Lenovo - while most of the well reviewed brands tend to go from average to good (mostly because dell falls so far off the bottom that they result in ridiculous skew on the curve), Lenovo tends to have the best build quality. If you can get a student advantage card, or catch a particularly good sale, you can get the computers really cheap, for hundreds, if not over a thousand, dollars off. My sister just got one on sale at costco.

Weisseman · « **Reply #13 on:** June 27, 2012, 12:12:08 pm »

Had 2 Dells. Current laptop is a Dell. Never had anything wrong with them. Dell must have really bad build quality over there as everyone I know that has one here hasn't had issues the US seems to get.

Avan · « **Reply #14 on:** June 27, 2012, 02:18:47 pm »

O_o regional build quality differences? I thought they were all manufactured in the same place, to the same specs, just different software for the localizations.

Mylo · « **Reply #15 on:** June 27, 2012, 03:14:47 pm »

On a side note, I haven't had very good experience with HP, and my friends who do have Dells haven't had very good experiences with them either. So...

Storm Fox · « **Reply #16 on:** June 27, 2012, 03:37:56 pm »

Quote from: Mylo on June 27, 2012, 03:14:47 pm

On a side note, I haven't had very good experience with HP, and my friends who do have Dells haven't had very good experiences with them either. So...

Huh, so strange… :\
I use HP products everyday, computers, cameras, etc. And they all work great, HP’s software is mostly crap, but I’ve found their hardware to be top notch.

Maybe you just got a bad one, after all, someone out there is going to get stuck with the factory defect.

Avan · « **Reply #17 on:** June 27, 2012, 04:17:39 pm »

HPs tend to be decent hardwarewise in my experience. Its only been Dells that I've found that tend to have catastrophic material failures.

WhiteStorm · « **Reply #18 on:** June 28, 2012, 01:06:00 am »

Dell has always worked fine for me, too.

I hear people actually put up with dead pixels on new screens in the USA. Fascinating.

Alsek · « **Reply #19 on:** June 28, 2012, 05:07:20 am »

I had a dell laptop screen backlight go out the first day of ownership.

They had to send out their tech support to replace the screen which took a week. Tech support guy told me that he gets called out for dells more than any other company, and usually from them using really crappy parts on things like hinges for laptop lids.

I've had lots of hinge breaks on consumer dells, but never with any other laptops. The business model i have from work has solid hinged but the USB ports are completely fried for no reason i can think of. Only way to use an external mouse or connect a disk on key to it is to dock it and use the ports on the dock.

HPs are okay. Mine overheats and i can't get to the fan easily to clean it out because it's in the worst possible location.

Lenovos... on the other paw... Now those don't die. Keyboards are much nicer to type on too. :3

Storm Fox · « **Reply #20 on:** June 28, 2012, 01:46:57 pm »

I know that in the case of HP, different brands of internal parts are used for different classes.
The last time I did thorough research for buying a pre-built computer was in 2005 / 2006, so things may have changed since then.
But at that time, the lower end HP computers, ($700 or less), used Toshiba hard drives and optical drives, and either Toshiba or Compaq brand memory.
Compaq memory was mostly used throughout the mid range, ($700 to $1,300), with a mix of the lower or higher end parts.
And the higher end HP computers, ($1,300 and up), would have Hitachi hard drives, Toshiba optical drives, and HP memory.
I don’t know what other brands were used for things like fans, monitors, ports, etc.
But it’s probably similar, expensive parts in the higher end, cheaper parts in the lower end, and a mix in between.

Other brands likely do the very same…

That may even be why Dell’s in the UK seem to be made better, because the company stands to make more money per unit there, thus they use better parts.

Avan · « **Reply #21 on:** June 28, 2012, 11:38:29 pm »

Quote from: WhiteStorm on June 28, 2012, 01:06:00 am

Dell has always worked fine for me, too.

I hear people actually put up with dead pixels on new screens in the USA. Fascinating.

Its mostly because they can cover their rears by saying that dead pixels under a certain count are not RMA-able, but you can still do an exchange or return or something with a proper vender

Weisseman · « **Reply #22 on:** June 29, 2012, 03:33:27 am »

For here you need a minimum of 5 dead pixels for the screen to be considered broken. I'd imagine that number could be pretty universal.