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Need help from the computer geeks. - Focus man. Focus. - 12-29-2010
I am looking to get a laptop for personal use. I just picked up a SD card camcorder and I am going to need something half decent for storage and editing. Mostly everything comes with MS Home and Office now a days so that's a given. I am not a gamer by any means.
Main uses:
music storage (iTunes)
photo storage/editing
video editing
net surfing
I want to get something that isn't going to be obsolete within a year. That will have enough memory and speed so it won't slow down running multiple applications.
What are your suggestions? I see a lot of computers on sale right now and I am not sure where to start? I know if I go to a big box store they will try and sell me something I don't really need. Physical size isn't an issue as it will mostly be used at home on my lap or hooked to the television.
Let me know what you think I need. Thanks in advance
Links to retailers would be great too.
PS: Less than $700 prefered
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - meford4u - 12-29-2010
Not a puter geek.
Drink more beer.
That's my answer for everything in 2011
Cheers.
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - moon111 - 12-29-2010
How about?:
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=710_577_366&item_id=034989
Also, you might want to consider a regular PC. I've had a really good HTPC keyboard that worked from across the room.
Cheaper, more powerful, upgradable, easier to repair, more reliable IMHO. But then again, I've never been a big fan of notebooks unless
you can afford to upgrade as fast as the warranties expire.
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - Focus man. Focus. - 12-29-2010
(12-29-2010, 11:29 AM)meford4u Wrote: Not a puter geek.
Drink more beer.
That's my answer for everything in 2011
Cheers.
This is probably the best advice I could get. $700 can get me one hell of a hangover.
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - meford4u - 12-29-2010
(12-29-2010, 09:57 PM)Focus man. Focus. Wrote:(12-29-2010, 11:29 AM)meford4u Wrote: Not a puter geek.
Drink more beer.
That's my answer for everything in 2011
Cheers.
This is probably the best advice I could get. $700 can get me one hell of a hangover.
Pace yourself
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - Oscar The Grouch - 12-29-2010
Here's what I suggest. Dell Inspiron 17R Laptop.
You can get them from 500.00 and they come with a 17.3" monitor, 2gb ram (but I would upgrade to 3gb or 4gb), 250gbhdd. You could upgrade the ram and hd for 50 bucks and get MS Office Home and Student for 71 bucks.
http://www.dell.com/ca/p/inspiron-17r/fs
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - NefCanuck - 12-30-2010
Word of caution about the Dells though. They've really chintzed out on the warranty for the consumer warranty now (1 year return to depot) and are loaded with crapware that will take you hours to remove.
Check out their business lines if you can, better warranties and less garbage to wade through.
NefCanuck
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - Focus man. Focus. - 12-30-2010
I was actually hoping to pick something up from an actual store. That way I have somewhere to take it if there is an issue. My search continues...
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - NefCanuck - 12-30-2010
If you wanna see what's at a Costco and don't have a membership PM and we can hit the one nearest you whenever you have time. Nice thing about buying at Costco is that they have a 2 year no-BS warranty standard on all the computers/TV's etc. that they sell.
NefCanuck
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - Focus man. Focus. - 12-30-2010
How does this look for a half decent laptop? Lots of space, big HD screen, the software I was thinking of...
Everything has gone screwy? I can't seem to post a link from my iTouch. I will try from the PC upstairs.
Ah hell, seach this on Costco.ca.
Dell™
Inspiron 15R, English
i3-370M
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - Mystake - 12-30-2010
Just throwing out there, Asus has the best standard warranty of any manufacturer.
all laptops come with a 2 year warranty. the first year's warranty is like a premium package type of warranty too, check into it. 2nd year is just a regular warranty, nothing special other than being a full additional year of coverage vs. anyone else...
on that note;
I will never buy HP, Dell or Acer or even Gateway. Ever.
HP i've had a bias against since I was a kid... all I can remember about them is how much they suck lol
Dell; I've had 2 leases on Dell laptops. I'll start by saying my warranty included accidental and at-fault damage. I'll then continue to say that the D600 I had was a design failure. We had hundreds of them in high school and although yes, they did go through quite a bit of abuse, they sucked in general. I'll explain; the screen hinges were mounted to the motherboard and chassis with no reinforcement. A teacher flipped a student's screen back and it snapped entirely off.
Keyboards, you'd open them and the keys would fall off. I once leaned onto my laptop while it was on my lap but with nothing in the 2ndary bay (either battery or cd burner, they were swappable it was awesome). I pressed the laptop down on my knee to the point where the insides of my laptop were bent and the keyboard was pushed up/bent into the screen. Absolutely NO reinforcement.
The palm rest had no reinforcement underneath it, you could pinch the hard drive with a minimal amount if you pressed down just a bit on it.
USB ports were frequently breaking off, chassis' were losing their paint, screens were snapping off, keyboards breaking, buttons under the touchpad would stop working, harddrives were constantly getting damaged (no shock absorption capabilities, at all), the batteries all went to hell after a year too but that from what I gather is average. the motherboards also were awful to the point where dell dispatched a workforce to come by the school and every laptop underwent a motherboard replacement with a new updated model.
Next laptop, 2 years after I got that one was a D610. Admittingly, much much better. Dell learned from their mistakes but they still weren't all the way there yet. Chassis were a bit more reinforced but still weak. As before, the hinges for the screen were garbage and constantly kept coming loose, hard drive failures, etc. I wouldn't buy one expecting it to last more than maybe a year and a half without it finally becoming too broken to use. D600 and D610 were same chassis, btw.
Dell's warranty was great though, it was through my school but essentially overnight shipping on all parts, they'd dispatch a repairman if the case necessitated one. Our school had employed a 'help desk' for IT services that took care of it for students.
Funny enough, my step dad has a D600 after all this time and his is somewhat decent. Still feels like a cheap laptop though and it's got a loose screen.
Next laptop I had was a Lenovo Thinkpad. By far the most solid laptop I've owned. Titanium reinforced screens from what I remember. Hard plastic chassis, reinforced I'm sure (if not, it was stronger than the Dells were, after the recall and the subsequent redesign).
Also, Alienware was bought out by Dell.. if you buy alienware, it's a Dell!
My step dad also had an acer, that laptop lasted a year before it shattered. Mobo started crapping out (stopped registering the wireless card, which ironically made it into my step dad's D600), wasn't registering ram properly... mouse button under touchpad only worked if u pressed on a certain corner, in a certain spot otherwise it didn't click and register. kinda cheap chassis too tbh.
i was not impressed at all with the build quality. the buttons on the front seemed really cheap too. neat cause of the lights in them, but cheap and flimsy. dunno bout the hinges on this comp.
Gateway: my brother was bought a 1000$+ gateway laptop for christmas from our uncle because he didn't have a laptop (hell of a gift!). couple years later, if not a year later and he dealt with it ever since, the screen would fuzz out. you'd hafta hold the screen in a certain position for it to work. Otherwise, wires would cross or something and it'd throw everything off. you'd have to get the screen sitting juuuuuust right else, no dice.
the three companies Ive mentioned are all 2nd tier brands for a reason. I must admit, I'm not sure how my Asus will hold up in the long run but it'll either hold up to my use or it'll fall apart.
Dell's couldn't hang. Lenovo Thinkpad's did. I had one for 2 years and another for a half a year. The only repair I ever needed was to replace a worn out battery 1 1/2 years into the lease. Oh, and I'd carry it by the screen etc.
I wouldn't hesitate to grab a Lenovo by the screen but with Dell i'd be afraid I'm twisting some part of the chassis or component. Again, I don't know about my asus but a month old and it's holding up alright.
and for 700$, I doubt anything you'll find won't be outdated within 6 months.
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - Focus man. Focus. - 01-03-2011
Ok, I have changed my mind on what I am doing. Now I think it would be better if I built or bought a media computer. Something that will be hooked to the TV/Home theater system. I think I will be able to get a lot more for my money if I went this way. Much easier to upgrade and I don't have to worry about it.
Lindsey is getting a new laptop for work. And we already have 2 other laptops in the house. All I will need to get other than the CPU would be a cordless keyboard/mouse. I was thinking of an I4 or I5 processor along with somesort of gaming video card. Along with a 1T or bigger HDD.
What do you think of that?
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - Mystake - 01-03-2011
You can get external media hard drives. My brother has one, comes with a remote and everything, HDMI output.
You load files onto it via usb. I saw him do it from a flash drive but there must be a way to connect it to directly to a computer.
His is 1tb.
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - Focus man. Focus. - 01-03-2011
Well I want all the computers in the house on one network. The modem and router are upstairs, along with the printer. The rest of the laptops and my iTouch run off of that router. I plan on having them all on the same network so we can share the hardware.
Would I be better off buying something out of the box, or would my money be better spent piecing this all together. I am no computer wiz. The most I have done to any of my PC's is added hard drive and replaced a DVD Drive.
Am I on the right track? I just read Puppets thread on his build of a home NAS server and got completely lost.
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - Mystake - 01-05-2011
Long story short;
Someone else chime in.
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - darkpuppet - 01-05-2011
to be honest, you can usually get the better deals through the big box stores...
my pick would be this HP G-Series with i3 dual core @2.4Ghz with 4GB of RAM and a 320GB HDD at futureshop.
Play your cards right, you could probably get another hundred off it, and if you had to buy any other accessories over $100 or so, you could probably get an extended 4 year warranty thrown in for free (once all the price adjustments come in).
I think this machine is a good balance of performance to price. Of course, you're going to sacrifice a little on the build materials, but most folks wouldn't care for a budget machine with enough power to do hidef video editing.
Not that there's anything wrong with Asus, or Dell, or even Gateway (your results will vary depending on your budget).
If you can talk the dealer down a hundred bucks or so, you can get an external 2.5" 500GB drive for about $80-$90 (check tigerdirect.ca and pcvonline.com) to throw your videos on. Don't get a 3.5" drive since it needs external power cords, and gets pretty clunky.
you should be able to throw everything up on the same network no problem. With windows 7, you can share media across the network out of the box... it's pretty easy to set up.
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - Focus man. Focus. - 01-05-2011
That is a pretty sweet deal on that laptop, but like I said in a previous post that I have changed my mind on that choice. I want to get something like a desktop or tower of somesort. We already have 3 laptops in the house, 2 of which need minor repairs and batteries.
So after a lot of reading I think I am going to get an I3 or I4 processor. At least a 500gb or 1tb HD. Windows 7, 6gb of ram, and a graffics card with an HDMI output.
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - Spinal - 01-06-2011
(01-05-2011, 10:54 AM)Focus man. Focus. Wrote: So after a lot of reading I think I am going to get an I3 or I4 processor. At least a 500gb or 1tb HD. Windows 7, 6gb of ram, and a graffics card with an HDMI output.
i hope you mean i5, because i4 doesn't exist lol. and that is the best way if spelling graphics card i've ever seen lol. working at bestbuy, theres a lot of shiz that i see on a daily basis lol. are you gonna get a pre-built desktop or are you gonna make one yourself kev?
if you make it yourself you can save a lot of money, get quality parts and really fine tune it to what you need, its exactly like car modding lol. also for the price that internal 1TB hdd's are going for, you might as well get one.
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - Mystake - 01-06-2011
Disagree. If you build it yourself, you do not always save money!
You simply get to pick the parts you work with!
RE: Need help from the computer geeks. - darkpuppet - 01-07-2011
custom hand-built machines are ALWAYS more expensive than the same hardware in a volume produced machine.
Once again, to get the most hardware for the money, look to the larger manufacturers, HP, Dell, Asus, etc... Shop around... I find that the HPs can get you a lot of decent hardware for a good price, though you may not always get the best build quality, most people are fine with what they get.