Need a New Laptop

[wooohooo]

I was just walking around Future Shop this morning and saw all the Toshiba's have a new keyboard. Did they just change this? It looks more like the french keyboard which is hella annoying. I was trying it out and just typing drove me up the wall.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

I was just walking around Future Shop this morning and saw all the Toshiba's have a new keyboard. Did they just change this? It looks more like the french keyboard which is hella annoying. I was trying it out and just typing drove me up the wall.

Most brands seem to have gone to the new keyboard style (which I believe basically is the Canadian French layout). I found them to be a nuisance at first (mostly because of the left shift key being further away), but you get used to them pretty quickly. I guess this way they only need 1 model for the entire country.

[Temporary_User]

Latitude E6410: $1,213.00

Processor:
Intel® Core™ i5-520M (2.4GHz, 3M cache) with Turbo Boost Technology I5520M
Operating Systems:
Genuine Windows® 7 Professional, 64-bit, no media W7P6GB
Hardware Support Services:
3 Year Limited Warranty and 3 Year Mail-in Service S3YOSMI
LCDs:
14.1" WXGA(1280x800) Anti-Glare LED WWXGA
Graphics and Expansion Slot:
512MB NVIDIA NVS 3100M discrete graphics with ExpressCard
Memory:
4.0GB, DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM, 2 DIMMS 4G2D3
Internal Keyboard:
Internal English Backlit Keyboard ENGBL
Camera/Microphone:
Light Sensitive Webcam and Noise Cancelling Digital Array Mic CAMMIC
Primary Storage:
320GB 7200rpm Hard Drive 320G72
Primary Optical Device:
8X DVD+/-RW w/Roxio and Cyberlink Power DVD™, no media
Wireless LAN (802.11):
Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6200 802.11a/b/g/n Half Mini Card IW6200

This is essentially what I have picked out right now on Dell.com
Is this sufficient? Is the processor & graphics card enough to run SC2?
The graphics card gives me the option of a "PC Card" or "Express Card"; which should I choose?
Is the ram good, or too much? I could drop down to 2 gigs. (as of right now I think this is the spot I could save money if need to)
Does anyone have any experience with a 14.1" compared to a 15.6" monitor? I'm used to 15", but figure the 14" will be more portable, will I miss the extra inch?
I upgraded the wireless card on step which added $10. Should I do this or save the $10?

[FlamingStuffedTiger]

This is essentially what I have picked out right now on Dell.com
Is this sufficient? Is the processor & graphics card enough to run SC2?

Here's a profile check on your graphics card:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-...M.24738.0.html

I'd say it looks decent for a business class gpu and probably enough to run SC2. Just don't expect to have everything on the highest of settings. For comparison, my laptop uses the following card and can play SC2 on medium/low settings:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mob...70.9594.0.html

^ EDIT: However, I am forced to run SC2 on low settings when I'm playing on an external 22" monitor.

The graphics card gives me the option of a "PC Card" or "Express Card"; which should I choose?

It depends. If you have some legacy peripherals that use the PC Card interface, then I'd get that. If not, then I'd just go with an Express Card interface.

Is the ram good, or too much? I could drop down to 2 gigs.

Personally, I think 4 GB is the current sweet spot for laptops. It's fine.

Does anyone have any experience with a 14.1" compared to a 15.6" monitor? I'm used to 15", but figure the 14" will be more portable, will I miss the extra inch?

When I picked out my laptop, I specifically went for a 14" rather than a 15" (like my old laptop) and I can't really say that I miss the extra 1". Its kind of a question of personal preference I'd say. However, I am dearly missing the fact that if I did pick a 15", I could have picked up a much beefier graphics card option. I miss that way more than the loss of an inch... Just my two cents on that.

I upgraded the wireless card on step which added $10. Should I do this or save the $10?

I upgraded. I just didn't want to deal with the possibility of getting a inferior card that might cause all sorts of wireless connection problems down the road. I think its worth it.

[Hack&Lube]

You might be able to get away with SC2 with that latitude but I'm pretty sure it will slow down with many units on screen. The graphics hardware isn't that powerful, even on low settings.

[boogerz]

Originally Posted by Regorium

Might sound like an Asus shill, but I truly don't own their stock or have any interest in them, just love their products. Have 3 notebooks, motherboards, vid cards, basically anything from them, and have never had any issues. They also moved near the top rankings in reliability and service in the last couple years, so I don't think it's just me that's been very impressed with them. I also find their products to have ridiculously high specs for the price.

Here's one from MemEx:

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX27213(ME).aspx

i7, decent graphics chip, 500GB, USB 3.0, 1366x768 screen, 6GB RAM - all for $1169. It's a bit on the high end, but bang for buck + future proofing, I would say this is second to none. Consider that I play SC2 on my 3 year old Asus Laptop that cost me $1000. They build their products and spec them so that they last for a long time.

This is a top notch laptop. Excellent value for the price.

My Asus M50 which was the predecessor to the N series was around the same price and just over two years later the average laptop still hasn't caught up to it in terms of hardware. Asus' support is top notch as well. I needed the screen replaced last year so I used their accidental damage coverage(which is free with the laptop from that Memory Express link btw). They fixed the screen, and after seeing that my e-sata port didn't work(unknown to me when I sent it in) they replaced the motherboard. The laptop was picked up on Monday and back in my arms by Friday. I'd like to see Dell do that for free...

I can't believe people still deal with crap service and overpriced laptops from Dell and HP when companies like Asus and MSI are much better at everything

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Regorium

Might sound like an Asus shill, but I truly don't own their stock or have any interest in them, just love their products. Have 3 notebooks, motherboards, vid cards, basically anything from them, and have never had any issues. They also moved near the top rankings in reliability and service in the last couple years, so I don't think it's just me that's been very impressed with them. I also find their products to have ridiculously high specs for the price.

Here's one from MemEx:

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...27213(ME).aspx

i7, decent graphics chip, 500GB, USB 3.0, 1366x768 screen, 6GB RAM - all for $1169. It's a bit on the high end, but bang for buck + future proofing, I would say this is second to none. Consider that I play SC2 on my 3 year old Asus Laptop that cost me $1000. They build their products and spec them so that they last for a long time.

What kind of battery life do you get on that thing when not gaming? Just curious how power hungry that i7 is when the video card isn’t a major factor.

Also, is the "ASUS Splendid Video Intelligence Technology” truly splendid, or merely dandy?

[Torture]

Is this sufficient? Is the processor & graphics card enough to run SC2?

You could probably run it on Low. Starcraft has low minimum requirements, but that computer's processor and graphics card aren't very powerful.

[FlamingStuffedTiger]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

You might be able to get away with SC2 with that latitude but I'm pretty sure it will slow down with many units on screen. The graphics hardware isn't that powerful, even on low settings.

This is true. My card does run SC2, its just not as smooth as I would like all the time. I sometimes get a 10-15 fps when there are lots of units or fancy animations on the screen. It is a bit annoying for sure. Btw, I already got SC2 on low settings.

[MickMcGeough]

This looks like a pretty sick machine for the price:
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...EM1812-_-email

[Hack&Lube]

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...sus%20G51JX-X2

This would kick that Dell's ass for less money.

Asus G51JX-X2 Notebook PC
# Intel Core i7-720QM 1.6GHz processor (2.8GHz w/Turbo Boost on Single Threaded Applications)
# 4GB of DDR3 memory
# NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M graphics with 1GB of DDR5 VRAM
# 15.6-inch widescreen display with a 1920 x 1080 (1080p native) resolution
# HDMI, USB 2.0, FireWire and eSATA connections
# Wireless 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth
# Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit operating system
# 320GB Hard Drive @ 7200 RPM
#2 Year Asus Global Warranty

Price: $1,099.97

[FanIn80]

Nvidia bad, ATI good.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Nvidia bad, ATI good.

Apple bad. Everything else subjective.

I'm running ATI, but I wouldn't mind going back to Nvidia on the desktop if they sort out their heat issues on Fermi. For mobile graphics chips, the 360M is pretty good and much faster than any of the ATI mobility chips we've seen in this thread (5730 on both the MemEX Asus and the TD Lenovo) according to Notebookcheck.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Nvidia bad, ATI good.

But I thought Apple used Nvidia?

[FanIn80]

What does Apple have to do with the quality of one video card vs another? They don't make video cards. Why don't we stay on topic for once?

Every. Friggin. Thread.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

What does Apple have to do with the quality of one video card vs another? They don't make video cards. Why don't we stay on topic for once?

Every. Friggin. Thread.

It's just your repuation, every poster eventually gets one and gets lightly jabbed for it. It's just like ribbing between friends. The main idea is probably you have been stereotyped as obsessively loving Apple and therefore your opinion on tech in general is not seen as objective even if that may not be true. They are just teasing you because it's easy.

Your statement of Nvidia bad, ATI good was a very fanboyish statement and meaningless in terms of actually helping this thread so it was an easy lead-in.

Too bad the haters thread is closed. Apple guys should have stayed out of it.

[FanIn80]

ATI is currently better than Nvidia. Nvidia used to be better than ATI, but ATI surpassed them. Nvidia does have some new things coming out soon though, so it could get more interesting soon.


See what I'm doing here? I'm having a conversation that has nothing to do with Apple, in a thread that has nothing to do with Apple. How about we all try doing that for a change?

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

ATI is currently better than Nvidia. Nvidia used to be better than ATI, but ATI surpassed them. Nvidia does have some new things coming out soon though, so it could be more interesting soon.

Do you want to have an actual videocard discussion? What do you mean by this? The GTX 460 is extremely good value for the money and I dare say better than any of ATI's offerings when you consider it's only $200 a card and running them in SLI beats a $400 5870 while also offering you 3D Surround whereas ATI will only give you 2D Eyefinity.

Your Nvidia bad, ATI good was a bit of a derail in the first place, offering no real information and deceptive to people actually trying to find a good gaming laptop in this thread.

Maybe just accept people will give you a gentle ribbing about Apple wherever you appear on CP? It's too late, like that guy in the group who did something everybody will always tease him about forever :P

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Do you want to have an actual videocard discussion? What do you mean by this? The GTX 460 is extremely good value for the money and I dare say better than any of ATI's offerings when you consider it's only $200 a card and running them in SLI beats a $400 5870 while also offering you 3D Surround whereas ATI will only give you 2D Eyefinity.

I'd rather just run one card, and not have to worry about powering two cards. Not to mention the extra heat that multiple cards produce as well as the reduction in airflow from having to give up extra room for another card.

Higher power consumption, more heat and less airflow is not worth the $20 I'd save in dollars per performance metric.

[Temporary_User]

Thanks for all the input and recommendations everyone.

Chatting online with a Dell.com rep he stated that business computers are more reliable because they are built to be running for 8hrs a day while a personal computer is built for 3hrs. Any truth behind this?

I have the option to buy in the states as I have an adress down there and will be down in about 3 weeks. Does anyone know a reputable site I could purchase from (thinking about the machine hack&lube posted)