Processor: Intel Core i5-520M Processor (2.40-2.93GHz, 3MB L3, 1066MHz FSB) 1 Operating system: Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 1 Operating system language: Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 US English 1 Display type: 12.1" WXGA LED Panel, 2x2 UltraConnect II antenna; with Camera and Wireless Broadband Upgradeable 1 Total memory: 4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM) 1 Keyboard: Keyboard US English 1 Pointing Device: TrackPoint with Fingerprint Reader and Touchpad 1 Hard Drive: 128 GB Solid State Drive, Serial ATA 1 System expansion slots: 5-1 Media Card Reader and Modem 1 Battery: ThinkPad X200 Series 6 cell Li-Ion Battery 1 Power cord: Country Pack North America with Line cord & 65W AC adapter 1 Bluetooth: Bluetooth w/ antenna 1 Integrated WiFi wireless LAN adapters: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 (2x2 AGN) 1 Integrated mobile broadband: Integrated Mobile Broadband - Upgradable 1 Language Pack: Win7 Language Pack US English
I just ordered this exact same laptop last night, although for $300 dollars cheaper. I also got the 9 cell battery and the docking station included with that price. ~_^
I just ordered this exact same laptop last night, although for $300 dollars cheaper. I also got the 9 cell battery and the docking station included with that price. ~_^
A significant amount of time has passed, that's just expected.
There's a 11.6" Lenovo there for $350. It's kinda crappy with a slow AMD CPU, no SSD, bad battery life, a cheap screen, etc. However, that's a netbook price for something that is way way better than a netbook.
There's a 11.6" Lenovo there for $350. It's kinda crappy with a slow AMD CPU, no SSD, bad battery life, a cheap screen, etc. However, that's a netbook price for something that is way way better than a netbook.
No joke, I was actually able to get Starcraft II single player running just fine on a 5-year old eMachines black friday special. AMD processor with 1.5GB DDR2 and some crappy Radeon All-in-Wonder $20 video card I got on Woot 4 years ago solely to add a second monitor. Of course, multiplayer didn't run for shit and that's all that anyone really cares about, so it's kind of a moot point.
So, I'm just about certain that I'll be going abroad next year. I can't bring my rig to Newcastle, so I'm thinking I'll just upgrade my laptop to a true ultraportable. I want to be able to watch HD movies on it and play some strategy and minimally graphics-intensive games (Starcraft II at lowest settings, Super Meat Boy, Spelunky, emulators, the usual "laptop games") so that I have a single entertainment solution while I'm travelling. Right now I'm considering the Lenovo T or X series; can anyone with one of those or a similar laptop chime in with their thoughts?
I have the X300, and am generally well-pleased with it. At the time (a couple years ago), the SSD came with a hefty markup, but thankfully that no longer seems to be the case. Gaming is possible, though far from optimal - I can run Osmos, Spelunky, ZSNES, and Civ IV playably, though the last just barely. Video playback is a little spotty; the CPU can't quite drive it fast enough for DVD-quality video to be totally smooth.
Specs have presumably improved since I bought it, of course.
It's awesomely light and easy to carry. The keyboard is remarkably well-spaced for such a tiny machine. The display is 1440x900; I think this was the only ultraportable with that much resolution at the time, and the newer near-equivalent (X201) seems to have only kept the more common 1280x800 display.
That Alienware looks just about perfect, especially since I'll have a travel backpack with me to carry that weight during months when I'm travelling.
Also, my situation has changed from "New laptop maybe" to "New laptop definitely." I'm getting crippling slowdowns with only 25% RAM usage when I'm only using Chrome and my hard drive is making these curious whirrs and zips, and an occasional beep, on spin-up. If I replace the HD, I'll just give the current laptop to my little brother and grab that Alienware.
I'm getting crippling slowdowns with only 25% RAM usage when I'm only using Chrome and my hard drive is making these curious whirrs and zips, and an occasional beep, on spin-up.
How about you reinstall the OS? You are probably just virused or some such. Hardware failure usually doesn't result in that kind of problem.
I probably should do a clean install. Dunno why I'd be virused, though; haven't been installing warez or surfing without Adblock or participating in any risky internet behaviors.
I probably should do a clean install. Dunno why I'd be virused, though; haven't been installing warez or surfing without Adblock or participating in any risky internet behaviors.
Yeah if I can somehow get $600-ish I'm probably buying that. I know that thats only the core 2 duo verson, but still its pretty damn good and it will play any game I would probably want to play on a laptop. Also note, that the $600 price is only until march 31st I think, because they are having a special $200 off promo on it so if you're going to buy it, get it before then.
So, I'm getting the Lenovo X220 (placing the order in the next couple of weeks, student discount saves me $550), and this thing is hot shit. Total weight is 2.9lbs, and it has 23hrs of battery life thanks to the new Sandy Bridge processor architecture. I only have one question. I'm doing the config, and I have the option of upgrading the build from an i5@2.3GHz to a i7@2.7GHz with USB 3.0. Is this worth it for the USB 3.0? There are other, faster i5 options that are significantly less expensive, but none of them have USB 3.0. I'm just wondering how worth it all that extra speed is when most apps only ask for 2GHz at the most and the upgrade itself costs $220.
Do you have any USB 3.0 devices? If your USB peripherals aren't USB 3.0 then it won't make any difference at all.
Figured as much, the only thing it would matter for is a digital camera, which I'm in the market for. I take it the only reason to have USB 3.0 is for large file transfers; i.e., external hard drives and video cameras?
Figured as much, the only thing it would matter for is a digital camera, which I'm in the market for. I take it the only reason to have USB 3.0 is for large file transfers; i.e., external hard drives and video cameras?
Pretty much. Even then, there's not much USB 3.0 stuff out there I have seen. And thunderbolt/lightpeak might even beat it. Don't use the USB 3.0 as your decision point. Use the i5/i7 speed difference.
Figured as much, the only thing it would matter for is a digital camera, which I'm in the market for. I take it the only reason to have USB 3.0 is for large file transfers; i.e., external hard drives and video cameras?
Pretty much. Even then, there's not much USB 3.0 stuff out there I have seen. And thunderbolt/lightpeak might even beat it. Don't use the USB 3.0 as your decision point. Use the i5/i7 speed difference.
In your opinion, how valuable is the difference between a 2.5GHz i5 and a 2.7GHz i7? I'll be using the laptop for everything from light gaming (Starcraft, Minecraft, etc.) and photo/audio editing to just basic tasks while I'm traveling.
In your opinion, how valuable is the difference between a 2.5GHz i5 and a 2.7GHz i7? I'll be using the laptop for everything from light gaming (Starcraft, Minecraft, etc.) and photo/audio editing to just basic tasks while I'm traveling.
You probably don't even need i5, but I'd get i5 anyway.
Looking at the options for the X220, the 2.5GHz i5-2520M is probably the best choice; it seems worth the $55 over the i5-2410M due to extra clock speed (incl. Turbo bins) and support for AES-NI. Anything above that is way overpriced. Just note that there's plenty more specs than just clock speed, so in future if you ask a question like that you should give the model numbers.
Looking back, I'm totally threadjacking, but it seemed preferable to starting a new thread for just a few posts.
I'm soon to begin my first year of college, and just started looking into buying a laptop to use both for classes (likely a whole bunch of math and comp-sci) and for some gaming. Right now I'm looking really strongly at this laptop from Asus. For its specs, the price is pretty fantastic, but I'm doubting myself due to criticisms of its keyboard. Does there exist a way for me to try out the keyboard in order to see if I like it before I purchase, or do I have to bite the bullet and live with my decision?
No. Stop. I will tell you why this is a bad decision.
That computer is $1000. For $500-700, you can build a god-of-gods desktop gaming machine. You will not be gaming all over campus, so a portable gaming machine is unnecessary unless you intend on spending a year or more abroad in college; even then, it is still HIGHLY questionable. Put aside about $800, build a desktop this summer. You will not regret it, you will learn a lot, and you'll be able to run games at top settings without worrying about battery life. Then, go to the student discount section of HP or Lenovo and buy a netbook for $300 or less. You'll break about even and you'll be happier for it.
For classes, you need a lightweight machine with a ton of battery power that can browse the net and run OpenOffice and Flash. For gaming, you need a desktop rig. A gaming laptop weighs more than my heaviest textbooks (and I'm premed), and you don't want to deal with that shit.
Yeah, definitely this. It definitely doesn't sound like you're doing much in-class that'll need a lot of power there, so save yourself the hassle of spending a lot on a laptop that'll probably fail or otherwise break in a couple years. Added bonus, you really do learn a lot about computers just by building one, if you haven't done that already.
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There's a 11.6" Lenovo there for $350. It's kinda crappy with a slow AMD CPU, no SSD, bad battery life, a cheap screen, etc. However, that's a netbook price for something that is way way better than a netbook.
Specs have presumably improved since I bought it, of course.
It's awesomely light and easy to carry. The keyboard is remarkably well-spaced for such a tiny machine. The display is 1440x900; I think this was the only ultraportable with that much resolution at the time, and the newer near-equivalent (X201) seems to have only kept the more common 1280x800 display.
edit - I know its alienware, but I'm seriously considering this.
Also, my situation has changed from "New laptop maybe" to "New laptop definitely." I'm getting crippling slowdowns with only 25% RAM usage when I'm only using Chrome and my hard drive is making these curious whirrs and zips, and an occasional beep, on spin-up. If I replace the HD, I'll just give the current laptop to my little brother and grab that Alienware.
Just note that there's plenty more specs than just clock speed, so in future if you ask a question like that you should give the model numbers.
I'm soon to begin my first year of college, and just started looking into buying a laptop to use both for classes (likely a whole bunch of math and comp-sci) and for some gaming. Right now I'm looking really strongly at this laptop from Asus. For its specs, the price is pretty fantastic, but I'm doubting myself due to criticisms of its keyboard. Does there exist a way for me to try out the keyboard in order to see if I like it before I purchase, or do I have to bite the bullet and live with my decision?
That computer is $1000. For $500-700, you can build a god-of-gods desktop gaming machine. You will not be gaming all over campus, so a portable gaming machine is unnecessary unless you intend on spending a year or more abroad in college; even then, it is still HIGHLY questionable. Put aside about $800, build a desktop this summer. You will not regret it, you will learn a lot, and you'll be able to run games at top settings without worrying about battery life. Then, go to the student discount section of HP or Lenovo and buy a netbook for $300 or less. You'll break about even and you'll be happier for it.
For classes, you need a lightweight machine with a ton of battery power that can browse the net and run OpenOffice and Flash. For gaming, you need a desktop rig. A gaming laptop weighs more than my heaviest textbooks (and I'm premed), and you don't want to deal with that shit.