Hey guys. I'm moving to California for college this fall and since I currently live in Sweden, bringing my desktop with me won't really be an option. Because of this I'm planning on selling my desktop within the next few weeks and buying a laptop instead. Basically, I'm interested in buying a laptop that has at the minimum similar specs (if that even is reasonable considering my budget) to that of my now ancient desktop.
My Desktop Setup:
Processor: Amd 3.2ghz x2
Gfx: Nvidea 8800GT, overclocked quite considerably over stock (the exact figures escape me atm since I haven't fiddled with it in over a year)
Ram: random brand, 4gb ddr2 (I believe)
I suppose the other specs don't really matter when considering a notebook. Feel free to ask if I left something out. Now, onto the questions 😀
1. What is your budget?
$700 --> $1,000. The cheaper the better. $1,000 would be the absolute most I'd consider spending and would only do so if it no other option exists.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Don't care. Nothing too big, perhaps 15" or smaller? I will be having it connected to my LCD screen whenever I'm in my dorm and the only other time I plan on using it is in classes. Screen size really doesn't matter to me.
3. What screen resolution do you want?
As long as I can run 1920x1080p on my lcd screen I couldn't care.
[strike]4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?[/strike]
5. How much battery life do you need?
The higher, the better since I'll be using it for classes a lot. Preferably 5-6h+ with only a word processor, a light browser and dimmed screen (if such a better life is possible).
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
I'm not necessarily going to, but I'd like to have the option to. Anything that would be on par with a 8800GT or better in a desktop computer. I should be able to run TF2 on high (it's the only game I really play).
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Aside from studying and the occasional gaming, I will be using my computer mainly for photo editing and movie screening. Once again, I'll be using an external screen so the screen specs don't matter at all for this. Last time I checked, even cheaper modern laptops seem to run the adobe CS5 package with little to no effort. As long as the laptop can run photoshop, indesign, aperture etc. without choking I'm happy.
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Again, doesn't matter haha. I'll be using an external harddrive for practically everything but the OS.
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Newegg has been good to me before, so why not. Not sure how good they are with laptops though. I'm not really picky, any site will do. It's a plus if they accept international credit cards though.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
4-5 years. I'm looking to keep it at least until I graduate with my BA (4yrs). This is one of the points that needs to be stressed the most as in my experience most laptops tend to have a very short lived career in comparison to their desktop counterparts.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Doesn't matter, preferably none. I rarely use CDs anymore, and if I find a need to I'll just buy an external drive.
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
I don't really have any preferences as so much has changed since I bought my desktop. If I had to choose (and based on what was the best about 4 years ago), I like AMD for processors, Nvidea for GFX and ASUS as a whole. Bought my current MB from ASUS and was amazed at how many peripherals were included in the purchase. I've also heard a lot of good things from relatives with ASUS notebooks.
13. What country do you live in?
Sweden, but I'll be purchasing my laptop in the US. because of the amazing rate of the USD in comparison to Swedish currency at the moment. Basically, I'm interested in purchasing the laptop from an american site that ships nationally.
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I'm considering a macbook as well atm, but am a little weary of the price/specs ratio. I absolutely LOVE the design of them and they've always been good to me (my current laptop is a still functioning, 7 year old ibook used for word processing). I'm planning on running W7 as an OS either way though and I figured I could probably find a better PC deal by asking you guys. What do you think?
Thanks a lot beforehand, I'm sorry if this was a lot to read. I GREATLY appreciate any answers or suggestions I can get.
My Desktop Setup:
Processor: Amd 3.2ghz x2
Gfx: Nvidea 8800GT, overclocked quite considerably over stock (the exact figures escape me atm since I haven't fiddled with it in over a year)
Ram: random brand, 4gb ddr2 (I believe)
I suppose the other specs don't really matter when considering a notebook. Feel free to ask if I left something out. Now, onto the questions 😀
1. What is your budget?
$700 --> $1,000. The cheaper the better. $1,000 would be the absolute most I'd consider spending and would only do so if it no other option exists.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Don't care. Nothing too big, perhaps 15" or smaller? I will be having it connected to my LCD screen whenever I'm in my dorm and the only other time I plan on using it is in classes. Screen size really doesn't matter to me.
3. What screen resolution do you want?
As long as I can run 1920x1080p on my lcd screen I couldn't care.
[strike]4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?[/strike]
5. How much battery life do you need?
The higher, the better since I'll be using it for classes a lot. Preferably 5-6h+ with only a word processor, a light browser and dimmed screen (if such a better life is possible).
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
I'm not necessarily going to, but I'd like to have the option to. Anything that would be on par with a 8800GT or better in a desktop computer. I should be able to run TF2 on high (it's the only game I really play).
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Aside from studying and the occasional gaming, I will be using my computer mainly for photo editing and movie screening. Once again, I'll be using an external screen so the screen specs don't matter at all for this. Last time I checked, even cheaper modern laptops seem to run the adobe CS5 package with little to no effort. As long as the laptop can run photoshop, indesign, aperture etc. without choking I'm happy.
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Again, doesn't matter haha. I'll be using an external harddrive for practically everything but the OS.
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Newegg has been good to me before, so why not. Not sure how good they are with laptops though. I'm not really picky, any site will do. It's a plus if they accept international credit cards though.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
4-5 years. I'm looking to keep it at least until I graduate with my BA (4yrs). This is one of the points that needs to be stressed the most as in my experience most laptops tend to have a very short lived career in comparison to their desktop counterparts.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Doesn't matter, preferably none. I rarely use CDs anymore, and if I find a need to I'll just buy an external drive.
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
I don't really have any preferences as so much has changed since I bought my desktop. If I had to choose (and based on what was the best about 4 years ago), I like AMD for processors, Nvidea for GFX and ASUS as a whole. Bought my current MB from ASUS and was amazed at how many peripherals were included in the purchase. I've also heard a lot of good things from relatives with ASUS notebooks.
13. What country do you live in?
Sweden, but I'll be purchasing my laptop in the US. because of the amazing rate of the USD in comparison to Swedish currency at the moment. Basically, I'm interested in purchasing the laptop from an american site that ships nationally.
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I'm considering a macbook as well atm, but am a little weary of the price/specs ratio. I absolutely LOVE the design of them and they've always been good to me (my current laptop is a still functioning, 7 year old ibook used for word processing). I'm planning on running W7 as an OS either way though and I figured I could probably find a better PC deal by asking you guys. What do you think?
Thanks a lot beforehand, I'm sorry if this was a lot to read. I GREATLY appreciate any answers or suggestions I can get.