›
This forum is in permanent archive mode. Our new active community can be found here.

What New Laptop Should I Get?

RymRym
edited June 2012 in Technology
My old laptop (Fujitsu Lifebook P8010 purchased Februrary 2008) is no longer adequate to play HD video at conventions, nevermind mess with Unity, use Adobe suite tools, or play any game past Civ IV. I'm planning to turn it into a kitchen PC for use while cooking.

I need a new laptop. So far, this one is still the winner. I haven't found anything quite as good at a comparable price point.

http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/thinkpad/x-series/x230/
«13

Comments

  • AndrewAndrew
    Alienware
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    Always Lenovo X2xx series. My X220 runs CS6 flawlessly.
  • YoshoKatanaYoshoKatana
    That Lenovo x230 looks pretty spiffy.
  • Dragonmaster LouDragonmaster Lou
    Yeah, does look pretty good to me too. However, I'm probably not one to ask as I typically go by the "buy a laptop that's just barely better than a netbook to go with my big honking desktop" rule.

    However, if I switch back to Windows from Mac, that may change as I'll probably get a MacBook Pro (the lowest end model, in all likelihood) so I'll still have a Mac around the house for my various Mac programming related hobbies.
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    I like my computers like I like my cars: A sleek, light, fast coupe for daily driving (X220), and a barebones, open-cockpit, street-illegal 12-cylinder monster for track days (the desktop).
  • RymRym
    Well, I need it to be powerful enough for video/audio editing and Unity stuff.

    The biggest drawback to the X230 is the lack of Firewire support. While I generally feel Firewire is dying a deserved death, most of the audio equipment out there still supports it, and USB audio equipment... sucks.
  • AprecheApreche
    I wonder if anyone will make PCs with thunderbolt, or if it will remain Apple only. Apple actually is pretty nice about making all their weird connectors open standards, but nobody ever adopts them except for Mac accessory makers.

    Frankly, I would just be happy with more USB 3 proliferation.
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    edited June 2012
    The biggest drawback to the X230 is the lack of Firewire support. While I generally feel Firewire is dying a deserved death, most of the audio equipment out there still supports it, and USB audio equipment... sucks.
    There's an ExpressCard interface so you can slot a Firewire 400/800 adapter.
    Post edited by WindUpBird on
  • Dragonmaster LouDragonmaster Lou
    Well, I need it to be powerful enough for video/audio editing and Unity stuff.
    Yeah, you can't go el-cheapo that way. Given how I typically use my laptop as something I use while sitting on the couch or when on the road and don't do any real heavy lifting with it, el-cheapo works fine for me -- especially since going cheap means I don't feel quite as bummed if it dies. However, it's not a use case for everyone.
  • RymRym
    My goal is to pre-process video and audio from cons at-con, to have a more rapid turnaround on video. (I still have four or five PAX East videos I need to finish editing together).

    I also intend to really double down on getting better at Unity, and I want to do this while lying in the sun somewhere. ;^)
  • RymRym
    The biggest drawback to the X230 is the lack of Firewire support. While I generally feel Firewire is dying a deserved death, most of the audio equipment out there still supports it, and USB audio equipment... sucks.
    There's an ExpressCard interface so you can slot a Firewire 400/800 adapter.
    Yeah. They're cheaper than I expected too.

    I'd like it to be integrated, but so far I don't like any of the laptops I see that have integrated firewire.

  • no fun girlno fun girl
    My goal is to pre-process video and audio from cons at-con, to have a more rapid turnaround on video.
    I don't know if it would be as applicable to you, but if I want to get renders done quickly while away from home, I upload them from laptop to a dropbox-like server (they sync with my desktop) and then VNC the desktop to run pre-set render settings.
  • RymRym
    I can do that with the Adobe Cloud stuff pretty well actually. ^_^

    I mean more along the lines of editing out relevant clips and adding metadata when the events are still fresh in my memory. That way I have a set of tagged and trimmed clips ready to rock when it's time to make a video.
  • Dr. TimoDr. Timo
    edited June 2012
    Wait a week for new Apple laptops with USB3 and Thunderbolt. Usually right after launch the price difference between Apple and similar PCs isn't too bad. Gaming would pretty much require dual booting though.
    Post edited by Dr. Timo on
  • RymRym
    Maybe. I really don't like using OSX though, and dual boot is a super pain.
  • AprecheApreche
    Maybe. I really don't like using OSX though, and dual boot is a super pain.
    Yeah, the Mac keyboard sucks in OSX, and sucks worse in Windows. The touchpad is awesome in OSX, but almost useless in Windows.
  • Dragonmaster LouDragonmaster Lou
    Maybe. I really don't like using OSX though, and dual boot is a super pain.
    Yeah, the Mac keyboard sucks in OSX, and sucks worse in Windows. The touchpad is awesome in OSX, but almost useless in Windows.
    Meh, you're just saying it sucks in OSX because you're not a long time Mac user. The OSX keyboard shortcuts (which if I recall are what you complained about) existed long before Windows' shortcuts did. Heck, MacOS was using the same Cmd-Whatever shortcuts when Windows was still using things like Ctrl-Insert for paste and whatnot.
  • AprecheApreche
    Maybe. I really don't like using OSX though, and dual boot is a super pain.
    Yeah, the Mac keyboard sucks in OSX, and sucks worse in Windows. The touchpad is awesome in OSX, but almost useless in Windows.
    Meh, you're just saying it sucks in OSX because you're not a long time Mac user. The OSX keyboard shortcuts (which if I recall are what you complained about) existed long before Windows' shortcuts did. Heck, MacOS was using the same Cmd-Whatever shortcuts when Windows was still using things like Ctrl-Insert for paste and whatnot.
    Doesn't matter who was there first. Matters who is right.

    Firefox has the same shortcuts on Windows and Linux, but not on Mac. Mac is the one that deviates from the current standard. Every other computer has a keyboard with the same default layout, except Macs. Get in line you non-conformists. Stop thinking differently.
  • ninjarabbininjarabbi
    I don't know if I'd want to become an OSX user at this point, considering we don't know how much longer they will even support it.
  • Dragonmaster LouDragonmaster Lou
    edited June 2012
    Doesn't matter who was there first. Matters who is right.

    Firefox has the same shortcuts on Windows and Linux, but not on Mac. Mac is the one that deviates from the current standard. Every other computer has a keyboard with the same default layout, except Macs. Get in line you non-conformists. Stop thinking differently.
    "Right" is relative. If you've been using a Mac since 1984, the Mac is the "right" way to do it. Apple's customer base consists of first and foremost existing Mac users. Most of the people who transition to the Mac from Windows tend to be people who don't even use keyboard shortcuts anyway. The ones that do usually have no problem changing context as necessary. I know I don't get mixed up between my Mac shortcuts and my Windows/Linux shortcuts. Windows itself changed its shortcuts to copy the Mac (they originally were Shift-Delete to cut, Ctrl-Insert to copy, and Shift-Insert to paste instead of Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C, and Ctrl-V) somewhere between Windows 3.0 and Windows 95 or so. However, since the PC keyboard lacked the additional modifier key that the Mac did with the Command key, they had to overload Ctrl.

    How much do you wanna bet that if the Windows key existed back in the Windows 3.0 or earlier days, Windows would be using it as the primary keyboard shortcut key instead of Ctrl?

    FWIW, I argue that the Mac shortcuts are superior than the Windows ones anyway. Why? Because I can use Cmd-C, Cmd-V, etc., to copy and paste in a shell session with impunity. On Windows, I cannot because I need to pass all Ctrl-combinations to the shell/terminal emulator. That's why we have to have silly hacks like Putty's drag copy/right-click paste in order to cut copy/paste in a Unix terminal on Windows. Putty does it wrong because right-click is supposed to bring up a pop-up menu, not paste or anything like that. However, hacks like this (or Alt-C/Alt-V to paste and what-not) and other non-standard behaviors are rampant in every Windows terminal emulator I've used. On a Mac, this isn't a problem because Command sends a completely different key code than Control.

    Oh, one other thing -- the Command key is much easier to reach than the Control key using a default keyboard layout. Even if your keyboard has Control mapped to left of A, one may argue that it's still better as you can hit Command with your stronger thumb as opposed to your pinkie finger.
    Post edited by Dragonmaster Lou on
  • no fun girlno fun girl
    The conveniences I get from using OSX outweigh the annoyances. I really do wish there were a good multi-touch plugin/app/something for windows though... i keep trying to change desktops or view all my open windows or go back in browser, and it's so very disappointing.
  • RuffasRuffas
    The only things I really miss from my MacBook are the touchpad and the Japanese IME. The default Windows one just isn't anything near as good.
  • DiagorasDiagoras
    The only thing I'll miss when I eventually switch to a PC from Mac is Quicksilver, and that's not even made by Apple.
  • AprecheApreche
    The only thing I'll miss when I eventually switch to a PC from Mac is Quicksilver, and that's not even made by Apple.
    There's no need for Quicksilver on Mac because Spotlight is now built in. On Windows you just use Launchy. http://www.launchy.net/
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    I really like using Alfred.
  • trogdor9trogdor9
    edited June 2012
    The only thing I'll miss when I eventually switch to a PC from Mac is Quicksilver, and that's not even made by Apple.
    There's no need for Quicksilver on Mac because Spotlight is now built in. On Windows you just use Launchy. http://www.launchy.net/
    There's no need for Launchy on Windows (7) because you just use the start menu search.

    Also, Alfred is awesome. It's much more powerful than Spotlight (and it's better than Quicksilver).
    Post edited by trogdor9 on
  • AprecheApreche
    Start menu search doesn't include things that aren't in the start menu. Spotlight and Launchy both do.
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    Actually, it does.
  • RymRym
    Actually, it does.
  • trogdor9trogdor9
    Actually, it does.
    Yep. Also, you can customize it a lot more than you may think:

    http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/28111/make-windows-7-start-menu-search-find-your-applications-faster/
Sign In or Register to comment.