PC brands

[Assassin +]

So it's coming to that time again where I am starting to look for a new laptop. I'm a student and I don't spend enough time at home or where I rent to build a desktop for myself. I will have my current laptop for 2 years this upcoming September and I'm starting to look for a new one.

Here's what I have now:

HP dv6t
Intel Core i7 2630QM
8GB ram
ATI Radeon HD 6770M (2G I believe)
750GB HDD
Windows 7 64bit

It's not the greatest laptop ever but it's been doing fine as far as games and design work I need to do for school/work.

As I'm starting to look around for new laptops, I see a lot of different brands. I want something I can custom build/configure online before purchasing but still there are lots of brands I don't know if I can trust. I'd like to hear what your guys' opinion is on what the best brand is for laptops. I don't want to spend anything over $1500 preferrably.

Some brands I keep seeing:

Alienware
ASUS
MSI
Sager
Powerpro
Lenovo
Cyberpower
Ibuypower

 

[chapp]

Honestly, I would just reimage the laptop and keep using it. Your specs are still very good and while there are better machines out there now, it's not going to be a big enough jump to justify the cost. This situation is what happens when you buy top of the line, while people that buy mid to low end up having to upgrade sooner.

 

[Assassin +]

What do you mean buy reimage the laptop?

And you have a good point, the only reason I was thinking to buy a new one is because it's falling apart lol, things are breaking off. And yeah I wanted to upgrade to a better video card and more ram.

Let's say I don't buy a new one, just out of curiosity then, what brands do you recommend?

 

[Shadow19]

I have a beefy Sager with all the latest tech..well as of last summer, and I love it. It's my baby. Asus is also pretty good although I don't have any personal experience. Avoid Alienware, you're paying 25-50% more than a laptop with same exact specs for just the brand name.

 

[chapp]

Re-image means to wipe the drive and reinstall Windows, applications, etc. Basically, the longer you use Windows, the slower it gets. Between installing programs, uninstalling programs, tons of patches, etc, Windows starts to slow down. At this stage, many people think it's "time to buy a new computer" but if you reimage it, it will be just as fast as the day you got it.

As far as laptop brands, they're all made with the same parts nowadays. I would go with one that has good reviews, at a good price with the specs you want. But like I said, I would just reimage your current laptop, the specs are great still.

 

[Assassin +]

alright, i see. well thanks for the input guys.

hopefully more people will post.

 

[Muffs]

Re-image means to wipe the drive and reinstall Windows, applications, etc. Basically, the longer you use Windows, the slower it gets. Between installing programs, uninstalling programs, tons of patches, etc, Windows starts to slow down. At this stage, many people think it's "time to buy a new computer" but if you reimage it, it will be just as fast as the day you got it.

As far as laptop brands, they're all made with the same parts nowadays. I would go with one that has good reviews, at a good price with the specs you want. But like I said, I would just reimage your current laptop, the specs are great still.

Not exactly true, brands such as ACER use cheaper hardware in their laptops. Very low quality, stay away from acer like the plague.

My suggestion for the OP would be to use a live usb and boot into a distro of linux use gparted to clean your hdd then boot into another usb with windows 8 enterprise on it and then install windows 8 enterprise on it... no need to buy the software though... and then wait a year or two to upgrade...

That is of course unless the hardware is falling apart.. then you should probably go onto newegg or tigerdirect and look for deals on ASUS lenovo or msi laptops

 

[chapp]

Not exactly true, brands such as ACER use cheaper hardware in their laptops. Very low quality, stay away from acer like the plague.

My suggestion for the OP would be to use a live usb and boot into a distro of linux use gparted to clean your hdd then boot into another usb with windows 8 enterprise on it and then install windows 8 enterprise on it... no need to buy the software though... and then wait a year or two to upgrade...

That is of course unless the hardware is falling apart.. then you should probably go onto newegg or tigerdirect and look for deals on ASUS lenovo or msi laptops

Yea Acer is junk but I figured that went without saying... Stick with well known brands: Dell, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo etc.

As far as making a live USB key with gparted, why go through all that hassle when you can accomplish the same thing with a Windows 8 installation disc?

 

[Snipeye]

Yea Acer is junk but I figured that went without saying... Stick with well known brands: Dell, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo etc.

As far as making a live USB key with gparted, why go through all that hassle when you can accomplish the same thing with a Windows 8 installation disc?

Stay away from HP and Dell at the moment. Dell is going through a huge ownership battle, and issues about their hardware and reliability has been a primary topic during this fight.

HP is... well, when HP decided to scrap its PC business, then changed their minds later, it takes a while to be reassured that they have reliable products again any time soon. The HP board is a bunch of idiots, I personally believe, and they have a very big image problem right now with how they're handling their business.

 

[Muffs]

Yea Acer is junk but I figured that went without saying... Stick with well known brands: Dell, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo etc.

As far as making a live USB key with gparted, why go through all that hassle when you can accomplish the same thing with a Windows 8 installation disc?

From what I've read using gparted is much better for permanently deleting files if you wipe the drive a few times, but if that isn't really an issue then formatting once with windows installer would suffice.

And surprisingly people still buy Acers lol tech specs look great.. but then you get the laptop lol

 

[Assassin +]

Thanks for the input guys,

I actually hate Dell, and I've always owned HP but always had problem with them. They were good price for the performance but there was always sth wrong so if I end up buying something new in the future, it definitely wont be dell or hp.

From what I've been reading Asus and msi are pretty good

 

[Maserati]

So it's coming to that time again where I am starting to look for a new laptop. I'm a student and I don't spend enough time at home or where I rent to build a desktop for myself. I will have my current laptop for 2 years this upcoming September and I'm starting to look for a new one.

Here's what I have now:

HP dv6t
Intel Core i7 2630QM
8GB ram
ATI Radeon HD 6770M (2G I believe)
750GB HDD
Windows 7 64bit

It's not the greatest laptop ever but it's been doing fine as far as games and design work I need to do for school/work.

As I'm starting to look around for new laptops, I see a lot of different brands. I want something I can custom build/configure online before purchasing but still there are lots of brands I don't know if I can trust. I'd like to hear what your guys' opinion is on what the best brand is for laptops. I don't want to spend anything over $1500 preferrably.

If I could throw in my 2 cents in here being a gaming laptop enthusiast,

Your laptop is almost like my laptop:
Processor comparison: http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-3630QM-vs-Intel-Core-i7-2630QM)

Video Card: http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=1151&gid2=832&compare=radeon-hd-6770m-2gb-vs-geforce-gt-650m-gddr5

Dell Inspiron 17R Special Edition.
Intel Core i7-3630QM (6MB cache, up to 3.4 GHz)
8GB Ram
Nvidea GeForce GT 650M GDDR5 2GB w/ 3D optional support
1TB HDD
Windows 8 Pro 64-bit.

Given that, I would just pop the laptop open and upgrade the processor to be honest (on ebay my processor for example goes between $169-$250.) I maxed out my system when I bought it through dell February, there was Alienware at a higher price with less in specs, made no sense to me as its operated by Dell too.

Now if you can afford, and you really want a new laptop and for under 2k, there is the ibuypower Valkyrie CZ-15 - V3 and Valkyrie CZ-27 - V3. They have an Nvidea GTX780m 4GB GDDR5 Memory that the MSI GT70 seems to have which is almost $3,000. This would be nvidea's latest and newest mobile video card.

Tip: Processors are always upgradable on laptops, the video card not always and rare if that (Asus G2?), keep that in mind when you buy your laptop and you'll be satisfied for a few years to come.

 

[_Sushi]

Given that, I would just pop the laptop open and upgrade the processor

There are so many variables and this is risky. The laptop's BIOS may not support the CPU, there could be multiple versions of the laptop with different motherboards/BIOS versions, you're going to have to do a lot of research. The processor may be soldered onto the motherboard. You might have difficulty finding a processor that even has the same socket as what your laptop's motherboard has.

It isn't just "popping the laptop open and upgrading the processor".

 

[Maserati]

There are so many variables and this is risky. The laptop's BIOS may not support the CPU, there could be multiple versions of the laptop with different motherboards/BIOS versions, you're going to have to do a lot of research. The processor may be soldered onto the motherboard. You might have difficulty finding a processor that even has the same socket as what your laptop's motherboard has.

It isn't just "popping the laptop open and upgrading the processor".

Of course you'll have to research it, the socket size etc, most of them now are upgradable. best thing to do is look up the one you have now and see what processors are in that line, if in doubt about the bios like I was called the manufacturer or look up forums. (ex. my IBM t60 came with a T2400 processor at 1.8ghz, I went and found it was a socket M. I choose to pop in a T7600 Processor. at 2.4ghz) This site helped me a lot as it lets you compare and see what is the next processor in your socket line is, power, etc. http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/CPU.html

 

[Lethedethius]

Hi Assassin, most people don't want to listen to me (and I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't either heh), but there is also a reason why I got money in the bank and nice things. Take your time, ride that laptop out until it crashes, then keep re-imaging (formatting it). When that fails run linux on it to keep it moving fairly fast.

All jokes aside, don't buy something unless it's imperative to your school work or lifestyle, and if your lifestyle is to live lavishly... then change that.

Secondly if it is a must I wouldn't recommend buying because of a name, example buying an alienware laptop expecting the old alienware performance will let you down, since it was sold to Dell so you're getting a dell computer with Alienware stickers.

MSI has always been a steadfast brand, I've gone thru two different AMD Computers and MSI was the brand for the motherboard on both, currently I've swapped video cards 3 times on this motherboard.

I can't speak to the affect of the others.

Lastly, don't buy the most expensive-buy something mid range. If you're buying a laptop to game then you're fooling yourself and you're filling the pockets of the company. Laptops are made for work not games, just because a laptop can play a game does not mean it was meant for that. Keep this in mind when purchasing anything.

P.S. In your search don't just focus on the specs of video in the laptop, see how much ram is currently in it and how much it can receive. Research the processor to see if it can be overclocked. Most importantly-Plan for a Desktop!

Background: Own 2 laptops, Have owned a total of 4, Own 1 Desktop, Have built 3, owned 10 in the past. Have a degree in IT, work with computers in the Military, I pay my own bills therefore must budget and think common sense wise if something is right or if it's just simply trying to keep up with the Joneses.

Please read:

http://vaconsumernews.com/2013/01/31/living-like-the-joneses-can-bankrupt-you/

Good luck!

 

[Assassin +]

Thanks for the input guys.

hyde895,

That is pretty close. I actually have no problem w my processor and it's still one of the higher ones out there, if I'm going to upgrade anything, it will probably be RAM. I'm thinking about maxing it out at 16GB as that will help me w running Adobe programs and autoCAD. And honestly I don't want to mess with the insides THAT much, I'm a student and don't have much money to mess sth up.

Lethedetius,

I'm probably not going to buy anything new for a while because this laptop is still going great, the only problems I've had were things starting to wear down. Cracks here and there on the plastic coverings or linings, things coming off, etc. Battery doesn't hold much anymore but that can be easily replaced. And like I said earlier, I'd like to upgrade from 8GB to 16GB. I use a laptop because I'm a college student and it's a lot more convenient because I will use it on campus and when I'm home. I study industrial design so I use Photoshop/Illustrator a lot, as well as auto CAD programs. I only game for fun and nothing too serious so I don't need a desktop really....altho if I had the money I'd def like to build my own.

What I think I'll be doing is upgrading to 18GB, replacing battery, reimaging, and maybe upgrading to a SSD.


I don't really care for the name of the brands, as long as reviews are good ...although I do trust some more than others from previous experience. I was mainly curious about what brands everyone thought were good/bad or what experience they had with it, that's all.