So, as the title says, I'm looking to buy a new computer when I get back to the states in a couple weeks. I know a bit about cmputers, I built one about 5 years ago, but I have kinda missed out on everything since the, which is to say, alot. Anyhow, if anyone here is tech-inclined and would like to imput suggestions as to what brand I aim for or whether I should avoid or buy a certain piece of hardware - or software - I would lurve to hear it.
Anyhow, here is what I'm kinda looking for:
1. Leaning towards laptop
2. I like to game, but I gravitate towards non-flashy single player games. So I don't need to run Cyrsis 2, but I do like Total Wars and the Elder Scrolls: I'm guessing that Skyrim will be the heaviest game I will want to run for quite a while as nothing on the horizon peaks my interest.
3. Im an audiophile, and need to store lots of music. But im very impartial to movie, so I could care less about them.
4. Looking to spend no more than about 700US$.
Any ideas would be great!
My experience recently for laptops has been that Toshiba is currently the best overall for cost, computing power, and customer support. Other people will probably offer other brands, that's just been my personal experience. As an aside Gateway makes good solid computers but you better be willing to do your own support as their customer support is absolutely horrific.
I would avoid HP. Over the years I have bought two and each lasted just long enough for the warranty to expire.
This might suit your purposes: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+Inspiron+Laptop+/+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i7+Processor+/+17.3%22+Display+/+8GB+Memory+/+750GB+Hard+Drive+-+Diamond+Black/3104149.p;jsessionid=A84AAFEA49C37D982C058F4A43709A1B.bbolsp-app02-25?id=1218377777232&skuId=3104149&st=dell%20inspiron%20laptop&cp=1&lp=2
It's about 100 more than your suggested price, but I think it does everything you want. And it has a big monitor. You could probably find something similar for 100 less with a 15.6'' monitor.
Gateway is owned by Acer. I've been pleased with both companies' products... much more pleased than I was with Compaq. And Dell had that 'bad year production run' in 2004 where it made laptops that seemed to burn out in 2006 for a variety of reasons. I suppose that Dell improved its quality since then. I have considered buying HP, but when I've tried out their products in stores, they have seemed a bit 'off' in some respects.
If you want to store music though- just buy a solid state drive and use that as your music hard drive...unless you're worried about battery drain.
Yeah, HP products are somewhat untrustworthy. I have had 2 HP laptops over the years and they have always developed the oddest of errors and they are prone to overheating as well.
If you don't want to watch movies I really, really wouldn't bother with a 17" screen. They are cumbersome as hell and are only borderline worthy of being called a laptop. I get by fine with a 12" laptop for music, surfing, writing, light gaming, and programming and if you increase that to 14"-15" you should have no trouble with bigger games (screen-wise). Otherwise you can always opt to buy an external screen for when you are home and get the best of both worlds: full mobility and full immersion.
If you are going to buy an external screen for at home, make sure your laptop has a HDMI cable. Mine does not, so I must make due with my 17'' widescreen for viewing. The 17'' travels surprisingly well, but I prefer taking my netbook out when I'm going places.
Quote from: Light Dragon
If you want to store music though- just buy a solid state drive and use that as your music hard drive...unless you're worried about battery drain.
I'd steer clear of using an SSD for music storage. You don't gain anything from the speed and the SSD won't last as long as a standard platter drive (it's also alot more expensive). If you want external storage for music just get a 1TB 7200RPM western digital and an external drive enclosure. Much cheaper, more reliable. Just a quick look on newegg shows that you can get a 1TB HDD and an enclosure for $240. Same amount will only get you a 128GB SSD.
Quote from: NomadicI'd steer clear of using an SSD for music storage. You don't gain anything from the speed and the SSD won't last as long as a standard platter drive (it's also alot more expensive). If you want external storage for music just get a 1TB 7200RPM western digital and an external drive enclosure. Much cheaper, more reliable. Just a quick look on newegg shows that you can get a 1TB HDD and an enclosure for $240. Same amount will only get you a 128GB SSD.
Theoretically SSDs don't last as long as HDDs. In practice, however, well-used HDDs fail long before SSDs reach their theoretical upper limit of reading and writing.
The cost, on the other hand, means that any possible benefit you'd gain from an SSD is, at this point, overwhelmed by the sheer vastness and cheapness of an HDD.
Quote from: limetom
Quote from: NomadicI'd steer clear of using an SSD for music storage. You don't gain anything from the speed and the SSD won't last as long as a standard platter drive (it's also alot more expensive). If you want external storage for music just get a 1TB 7200RPM western digital and an external drive enclosure. Much cheaper, more reliable. Just a quick look on newegg shows that you can get a 1TB HDD and an enclosure for $240. Same amount will only get you a 128GB SSD.
Theoretically SSDs don't last as long as HDDs. In practice, however, well-used HDDs fail long before SSDs reach their theoretical upper limit of reading and writing.
The cost, on the other hand, means that any possible benefit you'd gain from an SSD is, at this point, overwhelmed by the sheer vastness and cheapness of an HDD.
SSDs are getting better but I've never seen a HDD fail faster than an SSD (barring of course ones that were defective out of the box). Having said this I know an acquaintance who seems to have bad luck with HDDs and so swears on solid state. My experience however has been that you can still get more mileage out of a quality HDD (remember to buy quality don't buy a cheapo HDD).
Thought SSDs were supposed to be the new big thing and that they'd last longer because they had no moving parts?
thanks all, definately food for thought. ive also figured I would need/like 6-8GB of memory, at least 2GHz proc., and a solid video card. I figure I can add more harddrive space for music and whatnot through external drives, so thats not as pressing as I was thinking. A larger screen would be nice, but having a desktop monitor at home would also be a good ideam - does an HDMI port usually come standard or is that something I have to look for?