Jump to content

I'm looking at a new laptop.


Ysne58

Recommended Posts

I'm torn between Asus, Acer and Alienware.

My current one overheats and is 4 years old, even with a chillmat/fan, it gets so hot it shuts itself off regularly. I'm playing Sacred2 on the desktop down in the dungeon of a basement.

  • Like! 1
Link to comment

I'm torn between Asus, Acer and Alienware.

My current one overheats and is 4 years old, even with a chillmat/fan, it gets so hot it shuts itself off regularly. I'm playing Sacred2 on the desktop down in the dungeon of a basement.

Well the first question I would have is: what are you planning to use it for? Out of the above brands you mentioned, I am going to be a spokesperson for Asus. Asus has a much better build quality and reliability compared to Acer products, and (tend) not to be as ludicrously expensive as an Alienware. If cooling is a concern, build quality (which leads to better heat dissipation) is probably pretty high on your priority list :)

Link to comment

Gaming --- and Asus laptops seem to be pretty good. but yes I don't want to be dealing with another laptop that consistently runs hot if I can help it.

I did get another chill mat that seems to be working better than the one I was using and is much quieter. I want to avoid 8.0 if I can and 8.1 isn't out yet.

Link to comment

I'm torn between Asus, Acer and Alienware.

My current one overheats and is 4 years old, even with a chillmat/fan, it gets so hot it shuts itself off regularly. I'm playing Sacred2 on the desktop down in the dungeon of a basement.

 

Before you take your old laptop and toss it to the wind...

 

Take it in for service! Odds are quite good you've got a bunch of crap inside the unit - and that is why it's overheating.

 

I have a friend of mine who had a Dell laptop and it had the EXACT same symptoms. He spent $50 bucks getting it cleaned and everything worked just as if it was brand new. That is, until numbnuts dropped a cup of coffee on the keyboard. DOH!

 

BUT... If you've got your heart set, I would not look so much at the brand name on the thing - but what's inside under the hood.

 

For gaming - especially on the level Sacred 2 demands, I would pay heavy attention to the graphics chipset in the game. These days, most CPUs are pretty much equal in terms of power - in other words - they're all fast enough - but the graphics chips are where things will falter.

 

Case in point - my desktop system has an AMD 5200+ chip - it's fast enough. But the built in graphics chipset is low end and cheap. I can and do play Sacred 2 on here - but at times, it feels like I'm watching a slide show at times - like when I'm in the Orc territory in the place where the Magic flows from the Earth or I'm up against the Mist of Miasma in the swamps. Previously, when I had my discrete video card, It was slower in those areas, but not quite as bad as it is now with the built in chipset. Those two areas, I'd say are the most graphically demanding...

 

That said... I'd look for options along those lines. I'd pay attention to the chipset in the laptop. You can compare them on this list on Tom's Hardware which will give you an idea as to which one will give you the best bang for the buck...

 

As far as Windows 8 goes... It's not that bad. Yes, it may be a bit confusing at first, but it's not so bad. I ran with it for 9 months during the beta. It's actually faster than Windows 7 in many respects. Under the hood - it's still Windows.

Link to comment

Gaming --- and Asus laptops seem to be pretty good. but yes I don't want to be dealing with another laptop that consistently runs hot if I can help it.

I did get another chill mat that seems to be working better than the one I was using and is much quieter. I want to avoid 8.0 if I can and 8.1 isn't out yet.

Some benchmarks you're probably gonna want to keep your eye on are at least 6-8gbs of RAM and a decent dedicated card for gaming. Although the current Intel 4000 are decent for running browser games, anything more demanding is going to need a dedicated card. Although the ROG (Republic of Gamers) series has excellent internals, you'll be paying premium for the whole "gamer" tag. On the other hand, most laptops that aren't specifically labeled gaming today have a touchscreen, which also increases the price. If you can I'd try to search for a non-ROG Asus laptop that does not have a touch screen but comes with a dedicated video card :)

Edited by Ryanrocker
  • Like! 1
Link to comment

I am happy with my Schenker. Even the reasons for it were maximum math power for work, image processing,... But you know: game graphics are just maths too.

It is nice if the graphic card can solve maths faster than the CPU ;)

Link to comment

I am happy with my Schenker. Even the reasons for it were maximum math power for work, image processing,... But you know: game graphics are just maths too.

It is nice if the graphic card can solve maths faster than the CPU ;)

 

Actually, there is a growing trend for having the GPU doing some of the workload when you're doing intensive stuff like video processing and gaming.

  • Like! 1
Link to comment

 

I am happy with my Schenker. Even the reasons for it were maximum math power for work, image processing,... But you know: game graphics are just maths too.

It is nice if the graphic card can solve maths faster than the CPU ;)

 

Actually, there is a growing trend for having the GPU doing some of the workload when you're doing intensive stuff like video processing and gaming.

Plus the dual cpu/gpu datamining for bitcoins! ;)

Link to comment

I suppose those higher end graphics cards can handle the math better.

I will follow that advice about checking on the dedicated graphics cards.

@Wolfie, thanks for that advice, I did that once already with this computer.

I'm playing sacred on my desktop which seems to be handling it fine.

Edited by Ysne58
Link to comment

One word. Haswell! I still have my core 2 duo pc because of this. I was debating an upgrade last year but when I read news of the coming Haswell I decided to wait. Granted I did buy an SSD drive which greatly increased my old pc's performance. Haswell systems have already begun to sell in various forms so when you start searching, make sure it's a Haswell. I can't wait to buy a Haswell. :D

Now Is a Horrible Time To Buy a Laptop

Should you buy a laptop now, or wait for the Haswell invasion

  • Like! 1
Link to comment

Granted I did buy an SSD drive which greatly increased my old pc's performance.

Ermahgerd, SSD power :D My desktop boots to Windows in roughly 12 seconds, now that I'm spoiled everything else seems slow :P

Link to comment

Gerves mah gersberms! Still surprises me how fast it comes on compared to before. I used to turn on my pc in the morning and then go make a coffee knowing it would take about that long for everything to completely startup and load. Now if I turn my pc in the morn and happen to pause for a moment, I end up turning around and realizing my pc is already completely loaded before heading off to make my coffee. I seem to be drinking less coffee these days. :D

Link to comment

Something like this will be probably my next in september. It has the haswell already.

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Schenker-XMG-A523.94290.0.html

 

Not quite cheap, but it is well below the 2000 euro limit my company allowed me. Included is a 48 month warranty with a 48hour pickup and repair guatantee. It is used for job, so I need this.

just Windows on it, I am not a fan of too much bundled software preinstalled which I never use anyway. Will add QNX as another OS on it.

For maths I like the haswells turbo-boost of a single cpu. Sometimes you can't distribute calculations on several cores and a single fast is better.

The graphic card is highend but older. So there is math software for it already. Will order it with abigger than normal SSD and a very effective cooling. Maths are eating Watts and I want both operating systems on the SSD.

 

Nice display, I have to do some paralell Fortran coding on it.

 

If I would buy a private laptop/dexktop I would make sure that my image/video processing software uses the graphic card, its so much more performance.

Link to comment

Probably for the best it isn't... What if you buy one and have issues...? Getting it serviced might be a bit challenging.

 

Shipping a laptop to Germany likely isn't going to be cheap...

Link to comment

I'm torn between Asus, Acer and Alienware.

My current one overheats and is 4 years old, even with a chillmat/fan, it gets so hot it shuts itself off regularly. I'm playing Sacred2 on the desktop down in the dungeon of a basement.

I love AlienWare for it's past name and insane design...but haven't really looked at their hard ware in a loooooooong time..is it still considered ultra premium high end?

 

:)

 

gogo

Link to comment

oh

then, meh

 

:lol:

 

gogo

 

p.s. then what would be an ultra lap top? I'd actually heard from a friend who loves these things that Dell can produce some very high end lap top hard ware. Though he did actually to an about turn and ended up with a ChromeBook for 250.00

 

:)

 

gogo

Link to comment

Don't get me wrong.. From my perspective, Dell isn't nearly as bad as SOME people make them out to be.

 

I have had some occasion to use their support service - mainly when I needed to sort out some defective hard drives on a RAID array in one of their servers.

 

I also have a friend who's bought one of their laptops and it lasted him a good 5 years - before numbnuts spilled coffee on the keyboard. He wound up buying another Dell afterwards.

 

Some people haven't had quite such a positive experience with Dell support or hardware, though. It's a mixed bag. Sometimes you get good support, sometimes not so much.

 

As far as your friend with the Chromebook.. Ok.. Whatever. Guess he's not into anything but simple, basic stuff you can do in a browser. No Sacred 2 for him!

Edited by wolfie2kX
Link to comment

A Dell was actually my first own computer that my parents bought for me years ago. The coolest thing they got was this amazing warranty, complete satisfaction for two or three years. So expensive back then, but boy did it ever save me a few times. I'd just call, they'd send me the replacement, and I just put my item in the emptied box.

I don't if warranty's exist like that anymore, I remember they had really shortened the years, increased the price, and it wasn't complete satisfaction anymore.

Just for that kind of an experience, where you know you're being taken care of 24/7, I was always recommending them to everyone.

:)

 

gogo

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...
Please Sign In or Sign Up