Advice for a frustrated/confused laptop consumer!

Schadenfreude · 11-06-2009, 03:50 PM

I'm looking to get a laptop (not a desktop - I move around/travel quite a lot) and well, here's the thing; I'm not too familiar with the newest and the greatest of computer tech (I usually hang out at OT, so bear with me

); so I was thinking -

1. I have a budget of (up to)$800.00
2. Don't laugh at this one: the last laptop I had was a Dell Vostro 1500 - C2D 1.6Ghz/Nvidia 8400m GS/2.5 Gigs RAM
Please stop laughing
3. I'm a gamer, but I'm okay with playing newer games on "medium" settings
Which means a fast CPU/GPU would be nice . . . and yes, I played games on it - no, not solitare
4. I do use graphic design programs (Photoshop/Illustrator) and am planning on investing a lot of my future time (to the ire of my wife, which is another thread altogether . . .) on learning to use Blender/Silo 3D, 3D modeling programs.
Which also means that I'd like to pile on the RAM so I can get something done, too
5. I'm currently using an EeePc 900 as my main computer
Yes, it IS slower than my last laptop

Well, to my (pleasant) surprise, turns out I can get a fair amount of laptop for $800.00; for example
http://www.buy.com/prod/asus-g51vx-r...212446723.html
http://outlet.lenovo.com/laptops/ca6475xd4.html
And of course, there seems to be pretty good deals on the for sale forums on the tech forums as well.

I did look for deals on Black Friday, but I didn't see any good deals on gaming/multimedia laptops. And when I did some basic research, there seems to be a contingent of people who say just hold out for the i7 processor. But my problem with that is - it's technology! And as soon as it comes down in price, the next newest and greatest thing comes out so people say wait for THAT one! And so on and so forth!

And then there's the ION for the netbooks . . ..

Well the thing with the ION is, that it's based on the 9400m and hell, that's still better than the last laptop I've had (Again, please stop laughing)! I know that the ION2 is coming out soon/early 2010, and if I can play games (say, Borderlands or Batman on the bare-minimum setting) and run Blender on that (relatively) smoothly, I'd be happy as a pig in mud!

To be honest, I can't help myself - the idea that I'd be able to use a netbook for all my computing needs *does* tickle my fancy, and while some of the programs that I mentioned are used on workstations; hey, I'm just an amateur consumer, not a pro! It doesn't have to flow like silk, just chug along! (and I have a 22" monitor I can hook it up to for the display at home, as well as an external HDD)

So my questions are this, oh-better-informed-denizens of AT:
1. If you were in my shoes, would you
- Get one of the refurb'd laptops linked,
- Wait for prices to go down/a deal on an i7-equipped laptop,
or,
- Get a ION2 netbook?

2, With the current generations of netbooks, there's the minor limitations of CPU/GPU/RAM for what I'd like to do - is waiting for ION2 to come out and expect it to be the bee's knees a fruitless endeavor (And keep in mind - considering the last laptop I've had I don't exactly have the highest of expectations)?

Tbirdkid · 11-06-2009, 05:14 PM

Honestly, unless you are in a hurry, i would wait to get closer to Black Friday. The egg or another retail merchant of your choice will have better deals around the holiday season purely to attract sales...

Gooberlx2 · 11-06-2009, 06:30 PM

Yeah, wait for current i7 (clarksfield) deals (if any) on black friday. I doubt arrandale + decent discrete GPU will be had for ~$800 when stuff starts rolling out.

GTX 260M -- Middle of Class 1
Quadro FX 570M -- Bottom of Class 2

Asus g51vx review (has quad core though).
Thinkpad T400 review (integrated graphics)

So yeah, I'd say GPU, ram, possibly screen go to Asus. CPU, build quality, portability and battery life go to Thinkpad.

IlllI · 11-06-2009, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schadenfreude

To be honest, I can't help myself - the idea that I'd be able to use a netbook for all my computing needs

netbooks are not what you should be looking at. the atom cpu in a netbook is about as fast as a pentium III

Schadenfreude · 11-07-2009, 04:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tbirdkid

Honestly, unless you are in a hurry, i would wait to get closer to Black Friday. The egg or another retail merchant of your choice will have better deals around the holiday season purely to attract sales...

Riiiight, that's what I'll likely end up doing, just that it looks like - what with the economy and all - that there aren't that many good deals all around this year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IlllI

netbooks are not what you should be looking at. the atom cpu in a netbook is about as fast as a pentium III

Also riiiight - but there are rumors of ION2 being paired up with other processors (C2D, VIA Nano [although I don't think the Nano's all that much faster] or even the CULV?) and I was thinking about that possibility;

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/14152/41/
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...d.php?t=789214 (goes to different forum thread)

Looks like that's a possibility, but I guess I'll look into it some more! By the way, is there some more information about ION2? All I know is that it's got "more than 2x the shaders of ION" but I don't know if its still based on the 9400m, or anything else about it . . ..

IlllI · 11-07-2009, 07:41 AM

you realize ion is just a marketing gimmick, right?
seems like you have ion fever. to me rebranding 3 year old technology is nothing to get excited about.

Schadenfreude · 11-07-2009, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IlllI

you realize ion is just a marketing gimmick, right?
seems like you have ion fever. to me rebranding 3 year old technology is nothing to get excited about.

You're probably right - anyhow, looking for a laptop on black Friday is a lot sooner than waiting until 2010 anyways!

Gibson486 · 11-10-2009, 02:38 PM

Go to lenovo outlet. They have discrete graphics t400/t500 for $700. If you find a coupon, you can get a new one for $800 (with discrete graphics)

bamacre · 11-12-2009, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schadenfreude

If you were in my shoes, would you

I would snag a Dell Outlet coupon (coming via email sometime today) and check out their inventory to see if you can get a good deal. Otherwise, a week later some coupons are coming for their small biz outlet, and there might be a coupon for Precisions (M4400 maybe). One reason I advise this, you'd get a 1yr warranty with a consumer laptop, or even a 3yr warranty with a Precision.

wwswimming · 11-13-2009, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schadenfreude

1. I have a budget of (up to)$800.00
2. Don't laugh at this one: the last laptop I had was a Dell Vostro 1500 - C2D 1.6Ghz/Nvidia 8400m GS/2.5 Gigs RAM
Please stop laughing

BWA HA HAHAHAHAHAHA !

oops ... sorry.

check out this hunka burnin machine

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834114704

$800

" TOSHIBA Satellite P505D-S8960 NoteBook AMD Turion II M500(2.2GHz) 18.4" 4GB Memory DDR2 800 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Radeon 4100 - Retail
Comes with Windows 7 Premium"

you might be able to get it with free shipping & no sales tax from Amazon.

Schadenfreude · 11-14-2009, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wwswimming

BWA HA HAHAHAHAHAHA !

oops ... sorry.

check out this hunka burnin machine

That's just evil.

On to the thread, however - it's only a few weeks until black friday and well, the "deals" that were leaked so far have been mediocre - I know for sure that any of the fine machines mentioned would suit the bill, but now I'm tempted to look for deal on a machine equipped w/ i7 in it - which I think would be usable for a longer duration than buying a dual-core laptop - what are the chances of finding such a machine, in your opinions?