Dear Massassi (Notebook Edition),

I find myself in the market for a new computer. In an ideal world I would build myself a new desktop—yet I don't currently live in an ideal world & various factors prevent me from doing just that (e.g. space constraints—my office is my convertible IKEA dinner table that's also used for its primary purpose). I don't want to get in to a discussion about desktop vs. notebook vs. tablet. For the sake of discussion, let's just assume that we've already worked out that the best solution is for me to purchase a notebook.

I've built several computers in my life & worked in the industry for nearly as many years. Therefore, I recognize that a notebook isn't necessarily ideally suited for one or more of my needs (e.g. gaming). However, I no longer work in this particular field & haven't in several years (the last system that I built was a Pentium 4 with Rambus & a Ti4600—if that gives you any idea) & even though I tend to keep up with major advances (e.g. SSD), I can't pretend that I'm a well-informed consumer anymore (at least not as much as many of you probably are). Therefore, I'd like to give you a list of my needs (in no particular order) & see what you'd recommend.

• Budget: +/-1500€ (can be adjusted upward if reason is justifiable but doubt it will be)
• Longevity (something that'll allow me to play relatively new games for 2 years)
• Gaming (I would like to play modern sci-fi shooters & indie games)
• Aesthetics (I don't want something that's too flashy or has too much bling)

Note: There's not much else that I'd be doing that would be of much use to you (e.g. business/office-oriented things).

I'd also like to mention my current choice to see what you think about it. Here's a review of it that I recently read.

I've had to type this in a bit of a rush so please ask me any questions that you think are pertinent.

I think your choice is pretty solid really, although I'd strongly consider just getting one with an actual SSD instead of a tiny hybrid drive combo.

If you are going with Lenovo, go ThinkPad line. X or T series.

Edit: Maybe not for games but they are good office/business machines. I've seen them on construction sites covered in dust and dirt and they keep going just fine. I take mine everywhere work-related.

I'm a fan of Lenovo, but I have no experience with that model. Looking at a few disassembly videos the Y500 doesnt look that difficult to upgrade/repair.

It's using ExpressCache software for the SSD Caching, not Intel's SRT or RST. I had to look this up because 16gb isnt large enough for SRT, so I thought it might only be accelerating bootup/hybernation but ExpressCache will attempt to keep other application/game data on the SSD as well.

With the GT650M you might have to make some quality compromises to run well at 1080p. The GT650M looks to be a little weaker than a 5770. That will depend a lot on the game but realistically for something new like Crysis3, you should probably expect to run it at 1366x768.

Overall it looks like a fairly well rounded laptop. Not sure I can find something with a better GPU while still keeping the ssd caching at the same price.

macbook pro 15'' retina
fits all the criteria and i think it's within that price range. it's also the best looking laptop with the best build quality and best screen on the market
E: Yeah the 2.4ghz fits, and it has the same video card. Although I question the need for a gaming card on a laptop, just build a desktop for that you'll enjoy it more even if you can't ~game on the road~

Premptive argument against somebody saying "but lol osx is terrible (it isn't kill yourself)"
bootcamp

E2: Oh that's euros not pounds, barely away from the 15'' retina price, spend the extra 200 if you really think you need a gpu with you at all times, otherwise get a 13'' retina

Or don't give him ****ty advice.

He wants a laptop that can play games because he doesn't have room for a desktop. Read the thread next time. Macbook Pros are out by default because of that, they're awful for gaming (especially the retina versions, as they take a huge performance hit). Oh, and Bootcamp is terrible on a retina display.

I thought Apple was getting better with Macbook pricing, but then I went to check and see if what Tibby was talking about was even comparable, on Apple Store....

The NON-Retina display 15" Macbook Pro


2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
4GB 1600MHz memory
500GB 5400-rpm hard drive1
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 512MB of GDDR5 memory
Built-in battery (7 hours)


$1800

Clearly inferior specs, so go with the Retina display version:

2.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz
8GB 1600MHz memory
256GB flash storage
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
Built-in battery (7 hours)


$2,199.00



I'll call that equal, 256gb SSD trumps 1gb hybrid unless you really need alot of space. Half the ram/Half the video ram but it
s doubtful the full amount would ever get used anyway. Built in battery is a negative for me, but maybe someone prefers that.

But It's more than double the price! I'm guessing maybe you could do better buying from another retailer like Best Buy but still.

That has got to be some amazing build quality.

If it's anything like my 13'', yes.

And yet, somehow, I think the Lenovo will stand up to a lot more abuse than your 13" ever would.

Thinkpad yea, IdeaPad probably not.

Having used both, they're really not that far apart. Sure, the IdeaPad's got more plastic, but it's still surprisingly well built.

While I appreciate the build quality & style of Apple products, everything that I've purchased from them in the past few years (iMac 2009, iPad 1 & iPhone 4) has left a nasty taste in my mouth. Thanks for the advice but I'm going to avoid Apple products for a bit.

I went ahead & ordered the Lenovo Y500 that I linked to in my initial post (it seems that most of you thought that it was a decent system for the price). It was just too good a deal to pass up (the sale ends soon). I think that I'll probably look in to upgrading the SSD in the future if I'm not satisfied (apparently there are a few options in that departments). Thanks to everyone that contributed to the thread--I'm excited to finally have a decent computer for the first time in several years.

Wait... So he says he wants to play modern shooters and Tibby suggest an Apple product.

Way to go, moron. Mentat, it looks like you made the right choice. I hope it works out for you.

Tibby likes Macbooks because a forum full of web programmers told him they were good.

And they are good. For web programming.

i was just telling him what I thought was good, no need to get bizarrely aggressive about it, I'm sure he'll enjoy whatever he gets- and I enjoy my macbook.

Please note that mentat is the only person that replied to me without being a total ******* about it, it's almost like he understands how to have a nice conversation instead of trying to win internet fights

E: well also jon'c, because what he said is true.

E2: wait this was a really bad idea and just furthers the cycle of **** that got us here, lets just be friends

But you completely disregarded his criteria. It doesn't ****ing matter what you like. It matters what's best for him.

CANT WE ALL JUST GET ALONG YOU SONS OF *****ES!!!?!

wtf coolmatty stop censoring my freedoms

To be fair, I just saw that the $2200 Macbook is onsale at MacMall for $1600.

yeah i can't even say pocketwatch because it says ****

Edit- Well that's changed since the last time I wrote out pocketwatch here

you have a pocketwatch?

And I think a 15'' macbook pro retina would be worth the extra money, I was just saying things on the internet no need to get so mad man, nobody is going die over laptop choices.
Man.
Man!

You think the MBP is worth the money when it doesn't even do what he wants to do effectively? That's like saying "get a shiny new custom motorcycle" when he wants something to go offroading with.

Can you read? They teach reading in canadia right? IT DOESN'T DO WHAT HE WANTS TO DO! Are you ****ing retarded? Seriously? I'm confused.

Tracer.

Shut up. God. It's like I can't even hear myself think in here.

All that anger is probably clouding your mind, no real loss I guess.
To clarify, yes my suggestion does cover all of the OPs criteria, and in my opinion is fantastic and worth spending extra money. I'm sure you have a differing opinion and hey, that's cool we can work together to help the OP get da best computer for himself, which he did. This isn't a thread for you to pick a fight, it's a thread to help the OP find a laptop. I don't think you quite get this whole internet forum thing, internet forums aren't a place for petty fighting. In the end however the OP was happy, so thread is successful.
You could say this thread delivers!

For an example of what to do next time please refer to EAH_Triscuits post, his post added to the thread, the discussion, and enhanced everybodies understanding. Thus it was a good post.

Your posts however were not good posts because they contributed nothing, which seems to be a common theme with your posting, you should probably work to change this for the good of the forum community.

By this definition this is also a bad post, as it contributes nothing to the topic of the thread, however I hope to inform you in such a way that your posting and argumentative style will improve to the point where you are able to contribute to the forum and it's threads, instead of just picking fights with a member you happen to have a feud with.

Thank you, and have a pleasant Saturday night/ Sunday morning. Feel free to send any questions through PM because continuing this discussion would be considered a "Derail" and might warrant action by the moderation of the forums- veering away from the stated purpose of the thread is quite bad, and can lead to chaos. However I feel this post should be public because the information herein is valuable to any member of the forum that wants to be a good poster.

Also It's "Canada", please police your spelling more actively.

That's no spelling error. It's a joke -station .

Anyway, it's my job to play the Nazi.

What the hell are you talking about? It misses the core fundamentals of the OP's criteria. It's not what he wanted. Stop acting like it was a good suggestion. You didn't even read the original post.

And jesus christ, are you really mini-modding right now?

Hey tibby, you can start mini-modding when you stop ****posting. You didn't read the thread, and now you're trying to cover your ass with some lame excuse that even the most vocal Apple guys here know is bull****. If you think it's such a great deal for him, buy him one.

Brian would have never put up with this.

• Budget: +/-1500€ (can be adjusted upward if reason is justifiable but doubt it will be) Misses this by a bit, but IMO it would be worth it
• Longevity (something that'll allow me to play relatively new games for 2 years) Yeah, a 650GT will do just fine.
• Gaming (I would like to play modern sci-fi shooters & indie games) Again, a 650GT will be fine.
• Aesthetics (I don't want something that's too flashy or has too much bling) Unibody Aluminum looks damn fine

Missed the budget part, but it hits the rest (I do plenty of shooter mans and indie gamin' on OSX, and bootcamp works fine.)
If you have a differing opinion go hog wild, Triscuit did and stated it perfectly.
what's mini-modding im just trying in vain to make this place a little more friendly. At least your post isn't full of stars unlike the one below it, which copies half of your insults in some sort of awkward bandwagoning- but also says horse crap twice even though the site censors that so it just looks stupid.

Tibby c'mon just don't sweat it. If you're getting ragged on for a post that you don't think was bad, just ignore it.

But I guess there's no harm in carrying on this argument if it's just for ****s and you aren't really bothered by it.

Reported.

Sometimes I question what I do here, but I know it's for the best to fight for a forum where this sort of stuff doesn't happen as often. Even it's dumb, a waste of time, and totally in vain.
I'm going to war against bad posting! ~shoots self~

This is why you're wrong, Tibby. It's not an opinion.

It's a 650M, and only on the retina macbook pro, where it has a huge performance disadvantage. Plus, bootcamp is awful. I don't think you actually use it. Not only does it lack most of the power management features that other Windows laptops actually use (thus it gets hot and uses tons of battery), but support for Retina is horrendously lacking, and Apple's driver support is just all around bad. Even overall performance is somehow lower than an equally spec'ed Windows laptop. This isn't something you can argue, it's the way it actually is. Facts.

Let's throw in the fact that it's literally twice the cost of the laptop he's using now. He could buy a full-fledged gaming laptop for that price, and it'd do FAR better for games in the future. The 650M isn't THAT powerful, it's actually leaning towards the budget line (which is why Apple uses it, because they ONLY use budget video cards). The difference between the 650 and 660 alone is a massive jump in performance.

You literally haven't given a single reason why ALL OF THESE disadvantages are worth paying 2x the cost of what he's looking at. Other than it's "MADE OF ALUMINUM". Who gives a ****? Could get a goddamn Toughbook for that cost.

windows.xps

Tibby, do you ever get tired or sore from being constantly corrected (Gangbang Style)?

The Ideapad has the same video card, I guess you didn't read the OP?
Windows is a bad OS, on this we both agree. So just use OSX- it has support for high res displays and can play video games quite well, infact I just got done a game of Wargame: European Escalation on my macbook.