Search for a Media Laptop - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

CorsiHockeyLeague · 03-20-2015, 01:30 PM

I'm getting frustrated by the apparent non-existence of the laptop I want to buy.

Here is what I want. I want a laptop that can, without any difficulty, play movies on the highest-quality screen, with high-quality sound (for a laptop). This is the main reason I want this thing. I want a large screen. I do not care at all about size or weight.

I would like good performance, but do not need gaming-rig level performance. Assume I am doing nothing more load-intensive than watching Netflix, Gamecentre, or a 1080p video, but assume that I may be doing multiple things at once. So I probably need 8gb of ram, which is pretty standard these days.

Further assume that I don't care THAT much about battery life, but I do care about cooling. Particularly since all my laptops recently have had major overheating problems.

I would like the ability to use an SSD. Partly, this is because I happen to have a 500gb 2.5" SSD handy. If at all possible, the ideal setup would be an HDD/SSD setup (two drives). This setup is pretty common in gaming rigs, but only in gaming rigs so far as I can see.

Oddly, this setup does not seem to exist. When I was looking years ago (maybe 2011) there was one maker selling a 19" widescreen laptop with fancy front-facing speakers that was clearly designed for this specific purpose. There doesn't seem to be a product on the market that I can find now that would do this. The closest thing I can seem to find is the Acer V17 Nitro Black Edition (which is still more of a gaming laptop).

Can anyone suggest a solution here?

110% · 03-20-2015, 03:47 PM

I'm struggling to find a laptop that fits all your criteria (particularly the dual HDDs).

I'd suggest checking out the Lenovo y-50 UHD model (4k display). The sound on this laptop is the real deal and its really quite powerful. No room for a second HDD though, but at least it's easily upgradable.

There is also a 17inch model, but I do not believe the 17 inch has a UHD panel.

http://shop.lenovo.com/ca/en/laptops...eries/y50-uhd/

CorsiHockeyLeague · 03-20-2015, 04:59 PM

No it doesn't but it's the closest thing I've found to what I want. Outstanding display, high-end speakers, Good CPU, decent GPU, 16gb ram... The only things it's missing are dual HDD's, so I'll have to pop that hilariously terrible 5400 RPM drive out in favour of the SSD I'm not using for anything else. Aside from diminished storage all bases are pretty much covered (though it's sort of annoying that you have to spend over $4000 to get a screen bigger than 17.3 and even then it's only 18.4").

All in all I think I'll take the 17" inch screen over the 4K capability as the 15.6" screen format will make the benefit of the additional resolution negligible, and UHD is generally pretty damned impractical anyway.

Purchased. Thanks for the tip.

DoubleF · 03-23-2015, 09:10 AM

I know you have already purchased, but for sound quality, have you considered using a USB DAC to connect high quality headphones? Or do you prefer speakers?

CorsiHockeyLeague · 03-23-2015, 09:28 AM

I'll use both, so the speaker quality does matter.

Seriously though Lenovo is scheduling a 1 month wait time for delivery. That's BS.

DoubleF · 03-23-2015, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I'll use both, so the speaker quality does matter.

Seriously though Lenovo is scheduling a 1 month wait time for delivery. That's BS.

http://www.staples.ca/en/HP-Envy-17-...0_2-CA_1_20001

Consider canceling that one and taking a look at this? (Only if the wait time is stupid) I'm 99% sure this is the same as my laptop. It has an extra bay for another hard drive, but you need to go buy an internal cable of some sort for it (I was hoping to put in a second drive when I saw it was there but couldn't, link below says you have to buy a Drive Caddy and cable set). Not super sure the speaker quality as I usually use headphones, but IIRC, it's reasonable ok. Not awesome branded speaker like the JBL, Altec Lansing or some Sony ones etc levels, but reasonably comparable at a distance and not crappy either. You should be able to hop in a few Staples and get a hands on... or buy and tinker and return if it's not your thing?

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Hardwar...t/td-p/3521829

EDIT: Checked the specs, apparently this thing has beats audio in it. So the sound quality should be alright.

I recall having a little bit of annoyance finding drivers for the video card for windows 7, but I can assure you, they exist and work great, so if downgrading is your thing, it's possible.

CorsiHockeyLeague · 03-23-2015, 09:54 AM

I called them and they said I should have it end of next week, so the wait time isn't quite so bad (still pretty weak, but they're shipping it from China so I guess them's the brakes). I'd consider cancelling and trying to get newegg to price match - they're currently selling the same exact machine for 1699 - but the lenovo one has a different model number, probably precisely to avoid price-matching.

Quote:

http://www.staples.ca/en/HP-Envy-17-...0_2-CA_1_20001

Consider canceling that one and taking a look at this? (Only if the wait time is stupid) I'm 99% sure this is the same as my laptop. It has an extra bay for another hard drive, but you need to go buy an internal cable of some sort for it (I was hoping to put in a second drive when I saw it was there but couldn't, link below says you have to buy a Drive Caddy and cable set). Not super sure the speaker quality as I usually use headphones, but IIRC, it's reasonable ok. Not awesome branded speaker like the JBL, Altec Lansing or some Sony ones etc levels, but reasonably comparable at a distance and not crappy either.

Yeah there's a guy on youtube who has both that one and the one I ordered. He notes that that one has a few advantages - the frame materials aren't a total fingerprint magnet, and the trackpad is considerably better, and it does have the 2nd HD bay. However, the screen is garbage by comparison, the specs are worse (same processor, half the ram, worse GPU, worse speaker system).

But most importantly... It's an HP.

The reason the guy who's been reviewing it on youtube bought the y70 was because the HP broke on him already.

Same story here - I have an Envy 15 beats edn. from 2012. It lasted about a year. It still turns on, but it's functional for a span of about an hour if you're lucky (less on Netflix) before it overheats and gets cpu spikes and becomes inoperable, at which point you have to make it go to sleep (which is an ordeal in itself) until it cools. Great screen, I upgraded it significantly in the RAM department, but it's just non-functional at this stage. I've had other, cheaper HP's in the past (and still have a junker that's functional for web browsing) but the products just suck and I'm done with them. One of the things I'm thinking I'll do is when the y70 gets here I'll try putting its 1tb hybrid drive in the Envy and see if it's the latter's HDD that's causing the overheating problem.

Lenovo has a good rep, and my work uses exclusively lenovo tech (including thinkpads which are super reliable) so I'm going to give them a chance this go-round.

CorsiHockeyLeague · 04-01-2015, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I called them and they said I should have it end of next week.

Shouldn't have fallen for that - they keep pushing back the delivery date, which is now April 22. Over a month after my order date. Why companies think this sort of thing is acceptable I will never know.