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Geek Culture / Best Laptop for Under $1000?

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AndrewT
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Posted: 25th Jun 2010 18:26 Edited at: 25th Jun 2010 18:29
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I'm going to be away a lot in the next several months, so I'm looking for a new laptop. Aside from browsing the web, watching videos, etc. all I'll really be doing with it is software dev--more specifically, mostly OpenGL stuff. My requirements:

-I'd like a Core i7 if possible, but Core i5 will do if it's a really good deal.
-4GB of memory.
-A 15.6" display would be perfect, 16" and 14" are okay as well.
-Discrete graphics are a must, and I'd prefer NVIDIA to ATI.
-Decent battery life (>2 hours) would be nice.
-I'd like it to be under $1,000.

Yeah, I'm a little picky, I know. It's alright if one or two can't be met (i.e. ATI graphics with a Core i5 of memory would be acceptable).

Also, some questions:

1. I've heard Lenovo is very good in terms of build quality/reliability. What do you guys think? Anybody here have a lot of experience with Lenovo?
2. I've heard that Newegg has great customer service, so I'd like to buy from them. Does anybody have any experience buying laptops on Newegg, dealing with customer service, etc.?

This is my number one choice for the time being:

Lenovo IdeaPad Y560

Any suggestions are appreciated.

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Indicium
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Posted: 25th Jun 2010 18:31
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Can't help on anything really, but...

Quote: "1. I've heard Lenovo is very good in terms of build quality/reliability. What do you guys think? Anybody here have a lot of experience with Lenovo?"


I've had a lenovo for a year now, it's great, no heat problems, and the only damage that has occured is the disk drive no longer works as i dropped it.

Rawwrr. Sig Fail.
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Zeus
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Posted: 25th Jun 2010 18:46
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AlienWare m11x only has 11" display but is a very good laptop for under $1,000.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=DKCWNN1&s=dhs

It's over Shadowtroid!
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AndrewT
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Posted: 25th Jun 2010 18:56
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@Mad Nightmare:

Good to know, thanks.

@Zeus:

I'm trying to avoid Dell (as well as HP, for that matter), but thanks for the suggestion.

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charger bandit
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Posted: 25th Jun 2010 19:44
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Dell builds some of the best laptops but not desktops. Definately stay away from HP.

It is very hard to find such powerful laptop with a battery that actually holds more than 2 hours,my battery on AMD Turion X2 and integrated graphics struggles at 1,3h.


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AndrewT
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Posted: 25th Jun 2010 19:47
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Yeah, as I mentioned I'm willing to sacrifice some of my preferences for others.

I'll check out Dell, then. Thanks.

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bond1
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Posted: 26th Jun 2010 01:42 Edited at: 26th Jun 2010 01:47
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You don't need to sacrifice, get the Asus G60JX: Core i5 processer, with DISCRETE Nvidia GTX360 graphics. Enthusiast graphics performance for a laptop. And a 7200rpm hard drive. All for under $1000, around $850 to be exact.

I have this same laptop except I have the 6 month old version that has the GTX260 graphics, and I have to sacrifice very little when not working on my desktop. Just a bit of screen resolution. But it more than makes up for it in performance.

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"bond1 - You see this name, you think dirty."
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Satchmo
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Posted: 26th Jun 2010 05:20
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Quote: "It is very hard to find such powerful laptop with a battery that actually holds more than 2 hours,my battery on AMD Turion X2 and integrated graphics struggles at 1,3h."


My msi with hd5850 and core i5 lasts for >3 hrs on battery savings, so that's definitely not true.

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JoelJ
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Posted: 26th Jun 2010 06:27
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I have a Lenovo Thinkpad T61p. I love my Lenovo. I have hardly had a problem with in the 2 years I've had it. Once, my backpack failed on me as I was getting out of the car and the laptop jumped out (never have used that bag again) landed on the corner where the harddrive is. Drive still runs beautifully. The impact did kill my DVD drive though.
If I ever buy another Laptop, it will either be a MacBook Pro or a Lenovo of somekind.

Your mother has been erased by a mod because it's larger than 600x120
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AndrewT
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Posted: 26th Jun 2010 07:08 Edited at: 26th Jun 2010 07:09
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@bond1:

Looks fantastic, thanks for the suggestion. Only complaint is that it seems to be exclusive to Best Buy, but considering the price I may have to ignore that.

@JoelJ:

Good to know! I have this paranoia when it comes to laptops, after having so many problems with my last one, not to mention I'm clumsy, so build quality is important for me.

Looks like it's between the Lenovo in my first post and the ASUS that bond posted, at least for the time being.

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charger bandit
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Posted: 26th Jun 2010 09:39
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Satchmo: Sure,battery saving mode does extend the life but it splits the preformance of the laptop. Try without battery saving mode,your time will decrease drastically.

I suggest you go with bond1's pick since it has the best power/price ratio and also the Core i5 will make sure your battery will hold longer than on Core i7.


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bitJericho
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Posted: 26th Jun 2010 13:23 Edited at: 26th Jun 2010 13:24
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Surely using the power saver feature would be more effective at saving battery time on an i7 than using a fully clocked i5, and then when you want more processing power you can just turn off the power saver features. This said, I haven't actually tested this assumption.

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AndrewT
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Posted: 26th Jun 2010 17:53
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Thanks a lot guys, as I mentioned earlier there are factors other than power and price--namely the fact that I'd have to purchase from Best Buy . I'm not a big fan of Best Buy.

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bond1
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Posted: 26th Jun 2010 18:37 Edited at: 26th Jun 2010 18:43
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If you end up going ASUS, hit me up with an email. I have a color profile that makes the colors A LOT better than they are out of the box - which pushes blue pretty hard by default. I used a Spyder 3 monitor calibrator. You just need to drop the file in the proper folder and it will use it by default.

I do a lot of 3d content creation so I need to have my colors correct on ALL of my computers.

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"bond1 - You see this name, you think dirty."
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AndrewT
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Posted: 28th Jun 2010 19:03 Edited at: 28th Jun 2010 19:06
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Problem solved! I think. I did end up deciding to purchase from Best Buy, so I went over there earlier today and found the Samsung Q430-11.

Windows 7 Home Premium
Intel Core i5 450
NVIDIA GeForce 310M
14.0" Display

$800

Frankly it's not quite as powerful as what I was initially looking for, but the aluminum design, great build quality, nice keyboard, 4-hour battery life and fantastic size combined with a nice price tag have made it an easy decision. I'm fairly certain I'll never be playing anything more demanding than Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 so the 310M shouldn't present much of a problem. Besides, I haven't advanced far enough into OpenGL development to require anything more than integrated graphics, haha.

Anyways, thanks for the help guys. I'll be buying this tonight, and I'll update you guys with how it turns out.

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charger bandit
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Posted: 28th Jun 2010 19:36
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The laptop looks solid,quite a good pick. The Geforce 310M should run any modern game on atleast low details.


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AndrewT
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Posted: 28th Jun 2010 19:56
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If it was a 320M or 330M I'd be in heaven right now but a large factor for me is the overall feel/appearance of it. It feels very solid when you hold it, and I like the aluminum lid. The screen and keyboard don't flex at all, it's relatively thin and light, the screen size is perfect, it's quiet and doesn't produce much heat, and it looks very simple, which I like. The only thing I would like to see is a better video card, but that's not terribly important.

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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 28th Jun 2010 21:33
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Nice pick there, AndrewT!

Is the entire thing aluminum, or just the lid?

I saw an HP model the other day that was made entirely out of aluminum. It made me wish I had saved up a bit more money and gotten it instead of the current HP model I have (which, after only 7+ months of use, has already seemed to slow down and the hinges already seem to be wearing out).

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charger bandit
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Posted: 28th Jun 2010 21:47
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If you follow one simple rule for laptops,you can't really miss that much:

NEVER BUY A HP! THEY OVERHEAT AND ARE EXTREMLY HARD TO DISSASEMBLE AND CLEAN.

Looks like you made a good choice.


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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 29th Jun 2010 00:54
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Yeah, the next laptop I buy will either be a Lenovo or MacBook which I'd dual-boot Win 7 with. I really regret buying the stupid HP. It's weak and I should have done more research on it before purchasing it. Oh well. You live and learn.

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AndrewT
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Posted: 29th Jun 2010 06:22
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CoffeeCoder:

The lid and the upper portion of the body (the portion surrounding the keys) is aluminum, the bottom is plastic.

I picked it up a few hours ago, and overall it's very nice. It performs surprisingly well given the video card it uses, it feels very solid and well-built, and there is virtually no heat anywhere on the laptop with the exception of a very small area around the vent. It's idling at about 36 C right now, although I haven't actually tried any gaming beyond Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 .

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charger bandit
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Posted: 29th Jun 2010 09:25
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36°C only? Wow that's great,my laptop starts at 50 and goes to 60 in idle,in more rough conditions up to 75. But before I cleaned my crappy HP,it went over 100°C when playing a game.


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bond1
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Posted: 2nd Jul 2010 02:21
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Looks nice, glad you found something you like. Yeah the only thing about laptops with decent graphics is that they are aimed at "teh gamerz" and are usually very garish looking.

I guess the alternative is to buy a high-end Lenovo workstation laptop, but those suckers are SO expensive!

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Lemonade
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Posted: 3rd Jul 2010 10:08
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Quote: "NEVER BUY A HP! THEY OVERHEAT AND ARE EXTREMLY HARD TO DISSASEMBLE AND CLEAN."


I used to think all HP laptops were bad. However, my mom's laptop is an HP and it has lasted 3-4 years. It's still in very good condition, all except the battery, which lasts less than an hour. But that is typical for a used battery. She doesn't use the laptop heavily, but she turns it on at least once a day for like 20-30 minutes.

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charger bandit
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Posted: 3rd Jul 2010 12:18
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Older models were great,the new ones are cheap quality and overheat.


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Reconix
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Posted: 3rd Jul 2010 13:56
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If you want some thing decent you should've got any thing by Sony or Toshiba.
I'd sware down on a Toshiba laptop, they're built to last !
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