So with my college starting an "All students must have a laptop" policy, I now have an excuse to spend money on getting a laptop! I plan to spend, at a max, 1000$. I'm looking for something with a solid dual core, a good clock speed, enough RAM to easily multitask//run whatever I need to render//do, and a full speed HD to compliment all this. I definitely need to be able to play high end graphics at high frame rates.

Battery life will be negligible, but I would prefer a laptop with a longer battery life.

Style//color is also negligible.

I have no screen preferences whatsoever, as well as size.

Basically, I'm interested in learning how to spot good deals in laptops, and how to tell from bad ones. In my other topic about building desktops, Ex helped me learn a lot about computers in general, but I still don't feel like I can learn a lot more. I won't be actually buying a laptop for a few months, but I would love some help on picking out a few that are great deals, under 1000$, that do what I need it to do. If we end up finding some amazing deal, I'd buy it right now, but all in all that probably won't happen

So far, I found this one, and it seemed to be a pretty decent deal:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157046

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Dec 2 2009, 2:44 am by CecilSunkure.

Simple Laptop rules:
You go with a midrange GFX (4850 as apposed to 4870, 9800GT as opposed to GTX or GTSxxx or GTXxxx variants. Note I am not up on the latest GT210/220 elements but I hear they're pretty shitty.)
Keep an eye on CPU speed. (Lots of laptops offer CPUs that sound nice being dual or quad, but have very low GHz, and 99% of laptops cannot be OC'd.)
Check reviews about thermal issues. (My dads toshiba is a registered fire hazard and space heater.)
Check HDD RPMs as well as storage. (7200rpm doesn't appear in most laptops and isn't good for them to begin with. 5400rpm is common and nice. Single platter drives are more of an advantage in laptops as opposed to desktops.)
Check the brand. (All a matter of personal preference.)

I do a lot of design stuff since it's in my field.

All I can say that you need at least 4GB ram and loooots of processing speed. Minimum would be a dual core but if you can get a quad it'd be much better.
Even with 4GB RAM you'll run out of memory quite easily while rendering.
The problem with rendering with a laptop is cooling them. While rendering lots of processing takes place and it heats like hell, there's no way around that. So in a way, digipen is failing at assuming you'll only need a laptop.

I personally would recommend you get a cheap laptop with a dual core and at least 3 GB ram and get a REALLY good desktop computer. The laptop since you need one, and to do little design stuff, you'll handle photoshop just fine along with some video editing programs. But to get serious into rendering/modelling I wouldn't go for a laptop.

EDIT: I just saw the deal you posted.
DONT GO HP. It has very lame graphics drivers, wireless card, sound drivers, it has lame drivers overall.

Lawl, I'm sure they know what they are doing.

Thanks for the info both of you!

Ex, if you could post up something, if you find something, that is just an overall good price//performance ratio, please do

No, I'm pretty sure that if you ask further, or you ask your teachers when you already wasted your money on your super expensive laptop they'll tell you that laptops aren't recommended for that kind of work.

Corbo is correct. You could get a laptop that can do minor design work, but what you really want is one that will handle basic work while you can do your extensive things on a good desktop.

Once you understand this, give me a price range, and I shall do my best for you.

No you guys are both absolutely right. I didn't meant to imply that you were wrong; when I was visiting the college I specifically asked them what they thought about laptops vs desktops for the work they do there. They said: most people that get a laptop get a mid-range one, and do heavy lifting with their own desktop//friends desktop. So I don't disagree, and will probably end up building a desktop during college. They are just enacting a new policy, probably because there were issues with desktops being stationary and hard to personalize, so now they are switching to having each student have a laptop. I just meant that DigiPen knows what they are doing, in enacting the policy.

My price range is 1000 and lower. I don't want to get a super expensive one since desktops are so much cheaper in price//performance (which is also something the students I talked to said), I just need one that I can work comfortably with.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Dec 1 2009, 7:08 pm by CecilSunkure. Reason: grammar

Yep.

Desktops are much easier to personalize. Laptops are easier to conform, since they are all prebuilt.

In any case, here's my suggestions for stuff:
-Dual core whatever. Stay around 2 GHz. I wouldn't do turion.
-Graphics must be over 6 (ie 8600, 4650 etc...). Higher for better gaming, but a 4650 will play anything (just not well). Lower if you only want video. Rendering typically needs large VRAM, but that's the last of your worries.
-Screen size 15" max. My personal opinion. Any higher and it gets ridiculous to carry. You might want more, but I value portability and battery life.
-4 GB RAM is more than enough for anyone right now. When rendering/raster editing you can hit 2-3 GB pretty easily. I have to watch my RAM like a hawk on my eee when I'm editing images since I only have 1 GB, and I don't have a pagefile.
-Mouse. If possible, I'd get a clit mouse, because it's hit or miss with a touchpad, especially if you have sweaty hands like me. However, the arguments between the two are much like dvorak vs qwerty.

Chances are you'll get something way too powerful than what you actually need, so don't sweat the small stuff, just find a good deal.

I had to.

considering he may actually need to do some work on his laptop, he may want to get an uhh, waddyacallit? Ummm.... a USB mouse...

Haha, that comic was the first thing I thought of when I saw rockz's post.

Also, I agree about saving most of your money for a desktop. I spent 1200$ on this Asus M51 series laptop the summer before my freshman year. It's great and all, but I ended up spending 1300$ on a desktop anyway this year. I gamed a lot of my laptop and it overheated a LOT.

My birthday is actually coming around in the middle of December, then Christmas hits -I'll be having a "graduation" party over winter break. I'll be getting a boost of money from relatives. My parents just mentioned this to me today. This means, that if one of us finds a great deal on a laptop, I'll buy it.

And, Lol at Ex's post.

I was looking through Newegg earlier today at the 600~$ range, and there were quite a few laptops that interested me. I'll go pull up a short list and see what you guys think of them.

None of them are up to the specs, in the 500-750$ range, that rockz posted except one -which had a terrible terrible battery life, and some other weird features.

Here is the best looking laptop I could find that meet rocks's specs, and isn't 1000$. What do you guys think of this one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220635

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Dec 2 2009, 2:33 am by CecilSunkure.

The laptop you chose above has a nice video card for gaming but does not feel like it has the processor to match.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220639
If you have the extra cash, that laptop costs 1,199.00 with free shipping. I bought one like a month ago without free shipping.

It runs cool and plays half life 2 pretty well. It has 7200rpm hard drive but that is bad because it drains the battery fast (lasts about an hour 30 mins) I bought it because I needed the high resolution because my eyes hurt looking at low resolution.
I do not like windows 7 I prefer windows vista. The 64bit is sometimes annoying and I wish I had 8 gbs of ram. Back lights never turn off.

This.

You will also need a mouse. Don't get the small ones unless you have a small hand, otherwise you will suffer from great hand pains until you get used to or more like your hand stays in a claw-like form.

Certainly not enough for me. I don't know what kind of work you do (not pretending to flame you, just giving more input to cecil) but the things I do (architectural) hit 2GB while modelling... and even more while rendering. I have *almost* 4GB (3.5GB) and sometimes max just crashes at me because I'm out of memory

I'd expect a game design to hit this limits since it'd somehow also involve a bit of architectural stuff too.


EDIT: oh dear, you have to go for best performance not for better looking

I have my own mouse, USB mouse, laser, small, awesome; had it for a couple years and I love it. I'll be using it.

And, I'm in a programming degree, not actually game design

Not too big of a difference for now though between the programs, and I shouldn't be doing heavy 3d rendering till my Junior year, maybe Sophomore.

The only thing I don't like about the one I posted is the HD, which has fast RPM's which probably take down the battery life.. Also, the OS isn't 64 to come with, so if I want more RAM that means more work for me to do, in order to get a 64 bit OS onto the thing.

Thanks for the info guys.

ArcMap, Civil 3D, Gimp, Pro/E, and sketchup. I easily get to 2 GB on my desktop (how much ram I have) so I limit myself. However, I have a hard time getting much higher (perhaps because it gets so slow using the pagefile).

I suppose I'm too close to power supply requirements and actual power supply ratings. It's practically impossible to use a kW of power without dual processors and graphics. To use more than 4 GB you have to be doing something pretty big. Anything that requires more than 4 GB you AREN'T going to want to be doing on a laptop.

@ clit mouse:
When I first used one on my thinkpad back in 2005, that's exactly what I thought. I also laughed my ass off when I first saw that comic.

Ah, cool. That means I won't have to spend time getting a 64 bit OS

I'll see what I can do about buying the one I posted earlier. Any objections? Should I wait for a better deal?

It's important to know if they recommend more than 4 GB. Obviously corbo has a use for more. I don't. You might. Doesn't the school have a set of recommended laptops or something?

Yeah, aka, what we've been trying to tell cecil

I don't actually like doing EVERYTHING on my laptop for I think that it will just collapse any second due to a lot of heating, but my other computer is an old 234MB ram (yes, 234MB) pentium 4 Dell

@cecil, you have to decide yourself wether you're going to aim for a laptop that's going to take over all your work (somewhat) or one to just make minor stuff and then use a monster desktop to do all the intense work.
It'd help if you got more info on what the use is going to be, just the use you needen't tell anything else, according to the use you and us can have a better idea on what to go for.
When's your bday exactly? Or can you get it a while after you bday? Don't you guys get somewhat a "second black friday" after chrismas season and have good deals?

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Dec 2 2009, 9:17 am by Corbo.