Notebook/laptop/tablet Pc Buying Guide *updated 2011*

[Guest ~Sen~]

Not really a laptop question per se, but I need an external HD for my ASUS.

Does anyone have any experience with LaCie hard drives?

I'm looking into that brand since I've been hearing a lot of negative stuff about WD and Seagate.

Thanks!

[odaesan]

Not really a laptop question per se, but I need an external HD for my ASUS.

Does anyone have any experience with LaCie hard drives?

I'm looking into that brand since I've been hearing a lot of negative stuff about WD and Seagate.

Thanks!

Negative comments usually are from fanboys of other products or they usually come from people who have used products once and they were expecting more. There are many factors involved in hard drive durability. I have a Dell which had two broken hard drives. The first one lasted longer than the second one and the second one was a lower-end Fujitsu which has almost-generic labeling. The covering of the drive was a metal sheet and plastic covering that was four times thicker than it. I have a WD drive on it now and it hasn't broken but I haven't used it much.

I have an iOmega external and a WD external right now and I like the iOmega more than the WD. It's not that the WD is terrible, but it has some small problems like overheating and that it won't safely remove so I need to disconnect it without doing it every time. The iOmega doesn't have those problems, but the drive vibrates a little more.

I have used those two for a while now and I've had no problems, but keep in mind that I only use these two. I'm not running 10 of each brand or 10 of each model.

I don't know about LaCie, but it also probably has many negative comments. It's just the way things work.

[orangeman]

Not really a laptop question per se, but I need an external HD for my ASUS.

Does anyone have any experience with LaCie hard drives?

I'm looking into that brand since I've been hearing a lot of negative stuff about WD and Seagate.

Thanks!

The externals from WD and Seagate seem to be their slower, low-end drives. LaCie is probably using similar low-end drives since they don't make any themselves. Not worth the price unless one wanted absolute convenience.

Right now is a terrible time to buy drives of any kind due to the Thailand flooding price hike but in good times (a few months from now), consider internal drives and an external enclosure. You'll get great performance and can easily swap out problem drives without voiding the individual warranties they carry. Enclosures are easy to install and rarely break down. Most electronics go bad fast or last awhile after that initial period. Depending on the configuration, DIY enclosures come out cheaper for faster drives or double the capacity.

If you care about data, build your own redundancy setup regardless of  cost. If data is not that important, you can spend less or buy  convenience.

Notes:

• WD Green drives in many of the larger prepackaged enclosures are not bad in many regards but in terms of performance, I consider it low-end; the alternating RPM speed setup is a reliability concern for me for negligible power saving tradeoffs.
• Seagate developed a bad reputation for their most recent manufactured drives. Due to design changes, many have hated their drive models past 7200.10 which goes back to 2006 or so.
• Samsung I believe is in LaCie but I can't vouch for what model is being used. High acclaim from builders due to low failure rate although the hard drive dept. is now owned by Seagate and could get worse after the production plants are rebuilt/repaired.

[Godotology]

guide updated a bit. some things changed, others remain the same.

my apologies for not updating it in 2 years

[orangeman]

Good update, especially that Ultrabook one to keep people informed on an emerging market. First-generation models don't entice me to buy over a Macbook Air because they all cut corners in some place that make it seem cheap overall for only a meager hundred or two dollars less. I suggest users hold off now until manufacturers settle down and reassess design priorities as to offer PC innovations, not Mac clones. 22nm chips are around the corner and it should be the upgrade to wait for if you haven't bought anything in years.

I'd suggest users also take longevity into account when buying their next laptop. Too many of those $300 deal machines end up in the trash a year or two later and this disposable mentality regarding everyday products should be curbed for our own sake. A well-built laptop can easily last five years with some minor optional upgrades; if nothing breaks internally and the user has light demands, I don't see why another five can't be tacked on.

No storage/hard drive portion in the guide? Seems like the odd one out and although it's probably something better asked as a post in the thread, a general look at options would add more depth to the overall picture.

[Godotology]

Good update, especially that Ultrabook one to keep people informed on an emerging market. First-generation models don't entice me to buy over a Macbook Air because they all cut corners in some place that make it seem cheap overall for only a meager hundred or two dollars less. I suggest users hold off now until manufacturers settle down and reassess design priorities as to offer PC innovations, not Mac clones. 22nm chips are around the corner and it should be the upgrade to wait for if you haven't bought anything in years.

I'd suggest users also take longevity into account when buying their next laptop. Too many of those $300 deal machines end up in the trash a year or two later and this disposable mentality regarding everyday products should be curbed for our own sake. A well-built laptop can easily last five years with some minor optional upgrades; if nothing breaks internally and the user has light demands, I don't see why another five can't be tacked on.

No storage/hard drive portion in the guide? Seems like the odd one out and although it's probably something better asked as a post in the thread, a general look at options would add more depth to the overall picture.

thanks for the suggestions! I agree with you 100%, the current crop of ultrabooks are lacking in one way or another compared to the Macbook Air, and some of them are not price competitively to make up for this (especially the Asus and the Lenovo). I also believe the next gen of Ultrabooks using the next intel processors will see interesting models being produced. But until them, Macbook Air 13" or Lenovo X220 for me

PS. wanna help me author the guide together? I'll put your name on it

[orangeman]

With the forthcoming 15-inch (and possibly 17) wedge-like Macbooks slated for spring of next year, I don't see how ultrabooks can counter that product launch. They can market specs but consumers don't have an idea of what those mean in the long run and are affected more by the general software experience than the slightly faster or slower processor. I saw an ASUS ultrabook with a blatant copy of the Macbook Air's internals (nevermind the exterior) yet they still managed to screw it up somehow.

Microsoft needs to get its act together and develop a competitive built-in suite of programs that don't suck. Movie Maker has potential to grow, Live Gallery has had cloud storage for awhile now, and there should be a basic version or derivative of Outlook that's not Windows Mail. They have so many resources and cool test products but their focus is out of tune with the competition. Microsoft Surface should mean a laptop screen is available for direct gesture input - Apple isn't there yet so seize the opportunity.

As for PC makers, how about ditching wires and coming out with unified input ports? If you can't beat the Mac directly, do so indirectly.

The guide is comprehensive enough and any specific questions should be asked directly anyways. I don't see a need for another author.

[Godotology]

^I was hoping you'd volunteer to write the hard drive section

but in any case I've updated it again to include basic hard drive and tablet.

Unfortunately I also don't follow notebook news as much as I did a few years ago, so I can't really recommend anything beyond the stuff I'm personally interested in (a light notebook or business models).

[orangeman]

One bad aspect about solid state is that some of the newly proposed cheaper drives will be less reliable. The shrink from 34 to 25nm already cut down write cycles from 5000 to 3000 and this won't be the last stop. A few extra gigabytes onboard makes up for that small loss but newer designs (TLC from OCZ) seem to be lowering it down drastically to under 1000. Redudancy for overwritten cells would require several gigabytes of extra NAND on each drive, not making it much cheaper to produce and sell. A typical drive can last 10 years but these new TLC drives are rated "up to 4 years". And unlike a hard drive where you can delete stuff to gain space, once the flash chips go, you're stuck with a dud.

To get prices down to cents instead of dollars will require some technological breakthroughs if someone cared for their data - if not, the really cheap stuff can be bought and tossed yearly. Either that or we halt the size because physics don't work in our favor below ~20nm.

[Guest ahyungx3]

Hi, im looking to buy a new laptop sometime soon. I am using an old toshiba satellite, it has been good to me but ive dropped it way tooo many times and i think its time to retire it.

What I usually do with my laptop is just browsing the net, doing homework, and chatting. I'm also a movie junkie, I LOVE to watch movies, so what types of laptop is good for watching HD videos or has better screen quality? is there a specific types of feature i should look for? I'm really clueless about laptops. Some laptop suggestions would be nice. I don't have a definite budget, ideally I'd like it to be cheap, reliable and durable xD. But the last two factors are more important than the price.

I also think I'm going to add art as a double major and was wondering what laptops are good for working with art. I know alot of artsy people use Mac. Would that be a good option for me?

Thats about it, im not too picky about brands or looks. what laptops would be best for me? thanks! =)

[orangeman]

The artsy thing is stupid. There's no difference nowadays except for the person creating a design or work.

You need to provide a few more details. Any screen size range? Portability concerns or wants? Actually do give me an estimated budget or the most you're absolutely willing to pay. For example, most Macs are at least $800 so do you want to consider a PC of the same price range or is that only reserved for Macs?

[Guest krzyazn93]

I've had my current laptop for 4 years now and I'm looking for a new one. I'm a PC person, so please don't tell me to get a Mac. I've been looking at the new HP Envy 15, Dell XPS 15z, and the Dell Vostro 3500. 

Any comments about any of those laptops? Or another suggestion? I'm a student so I'm constantly carrying my laptop around so I need something light, yet durable, preferably 15 inch screen and 5.5 lbs or below.

So...comments? Suggestions?

[orangeman]

I hear good things about the T420. There is a 15" available but 14 is a better size for mobility without sacrificing too much performance or resolution. Durable for sure.

My friend raves about the RGBLED screen on one of those Dell XPS models which usually pops up in the Dell Outlet for a good price. 15z is reasonable for a discounter price - I don't see it being much of a value at full retail. The updated Envy 15 should be ok if you can get a Radiance IPS display but that will probably bring it into the $1200+ range and there's few reasons to not consider a Mac at that price bracket. 

[Guest Malice_Kaiser]

I bought a dell studio about two and a half years ago and it's already falling apart... given, I fell on it one day when it was in my backpack (took a nasty fall down a flight of slippery stairs) so that didn't help. It's really a bulky piece of crap though, compared to what's out now ^^;;;

I'm looking to buy a new PC laptop. Nothing fancy, I don't want to spend too much on one. Just durable and light-weight. Not too big either... I guess 13 to 14 inches is good. The most strenuous thing it'd have to do is run Adobe Illustrator... It'll be a few more months before I buy a new one though. I'm just trying to look now, but as is, I have no idea how to tell which laptops can run adobe programs decently. :/

EDIT: I'm intrigued by the ultrabooks, but they seem a bit pricey for not even having a CD drive...

[Godotology]

I bought a dell studio about two and a half years ago and it's already falling apart... given, I fell on it one day when it was in my backpack (took a nasty fall down a flight of slippery stairs) so that didn't help. It's really a bulky piece of crap though, compared to what's out now ^^;;;

I'm looking to buy a new PC laptop. Nothing fancy, I don't want to spend too much on one. Just durable and light-weight. Not too big either... I guess 13 to 14 inches is good. The most strenuous thing it'd have to do is run Adobe Illustrator... It'll be a few more months before I buy a new one though. I'm just trying to look now, but as is, I have no idea how to tell which laptops can run adobe programs decently. :/

EDIT: I'm intrigued by the ultrabooks, but they seem a bit pricey for not even having a CD drive...

optical drives are slowly fading out and its likely you'll see a significant percentage of new notebooks next year that will come with out it.

and yes so far most Ultrabooks are not falling within Intel's intended price range, although out of the ones currently available the Toshiba ultrabook is probably the best value for what you get (don't expect a cd drive in any ultrabook). Its likely that the next wave of ultrabooks will be cheaper.. are you willing to wait until next spring?

what's your budget?

with the right discounts and coupons a Lenovo Thinkpad X220 could be gotten for less than $800 including an IPS screen. If you're doing lots of visual work, an IPS screen would be something you'd appreciate. (if you don't know what an IPS screen is, look at an iphone and pay attention to the viewing angles). also because its a business notebook, the build quality should be much better than a consumer level notebook like the Studio you had. should be much more durable. however it may be too small for you, it's 12.5". and no optical drive either.

I also like the Sony Vaio SA series, very few 13.3" offers a higher end resolution screen the SA could be configured with, outside of the Macbook Air, Vaio Z, and the Asus UX31. it also has an optical drive. but i hear its fan can get loud under heavy activity. if money is no object... Sony Vaio Z.

[Guest ahyungx3]

The artsy thing is stupid. There's no difference nowadays except for the person creating a design or work.

You need to provide a few more details. Any screen size range? Portability concerns or wants? Actually do give me an estimated budget or the most you're absolutely willing to pay. For example, most Macs are at least $800 so do you want to consider a PC of the same price range or is that only reserved for Macs?

screen size although id love for it to be light and portable, at the same time id like a bigger screen for a better movie viewing experience, so i guess those two cancel out haha

My budget would be $300-$1000+ maybe up to $1200. im not really set on getting a mac or anything, so if a PC of a low price range can fulfilled my needs the same as a more expensive PC or mac and the only difference was the brand then id really prefer the cheaper one

[Godotology]

screen size although id love for it to be light and portable, at the same time id like a bigger screen for a better movie viewing experience, so i guess those two cancel out haha

My budget would be $300-$1000+ maybe up to $1200. im not really set on getting a mac or anything, so if a PC of a low price range can fulfilled my needs the same as a more expensive PC or mac and the only difference was the brand then id really prefer the cheaper one

I suggest the same to you as I did with Malice.. Lenovo X220 with the IPS screen. no other notebook screen will give you better viewing angles. although if you wanted a higher res screen, you'd have to settle for a TN panel (which most notebooks use). I wish there was a higher res IPS screen for smaller notebooks.

[orangeman]

screen size although id love for it to be light and portable, at the same time id like a bigger screen for a better movie viewing experience, so i guess those two cancel out haha

My budget would be $300-$1000+ maybe up to $1200. im not really set on getting a mac or anything, so if a PC of a low price range can fulfilled my needs the same as a more expensive PC or mac and the only difference was the brand then id really prefer the cheaper one 

I work with Photoshop and CAD on the X200 and it feels terrible because I'm always zooming in more than I have to. Movies are ok but I've grown accustomed to the size over the years; documents and web-browsing is fine for most daily usage.

12" is sure portable but I feel 13-14" is probably the best in terms of actual screen resolution and a fair weight compromise. I don't put much weight on the display technology because externals typically make more sense and are cheaper per inch. I rank being able to comfortably see the information higher than higher color gamut or viewing angles. 

I'm pretty biased now but my only suggestions are the Thinkpads or Macs, close in line to what Godotology thinks. Everything else is a compromise between the main features of these two product line. Some are too fragile (Thinkpads have durable composites and strong internal structures) and others skimp on the overall experience (Macs have a quality finished feel to them). 

X120e for a small, cheaper notebook. AMD Fusion is great for entertainment but don't expect the best computational performance.

X220 for an ultraportable. I'd switch to it without hesitation if I was looking for the same screen size again.

T420 for mainstream use. Supposed to have a poor display but the 1600x900 is said to be decent (looking to get this soon so I might be able to provide some input).

Macbook Air for portability in the OSX ecosystem. 13" would be my ideal. 

I'm not too fond of the MBP line and despise those ultrabooks coming out. 

[Guest Malice_Kaiser]

optical drives are slowly fading out and its likely you'll see a significant percentage of new notebooks next year that will come with out it.

and yes so far most Ultrabooks are not falling within Intel's intended price range, although out of the ones currently available the Toshiba ultrabook is probably the best value for what you get (don't expect a cd drive in any ultrabook). Its likely that the next wave of ultrabooks will be cheaper.. are you willing to wait until next spring?

what's your budget?

with the right discounts and coupons a Lenovo Thinkpad X220 could be gotten for less than $800 including an IPS screen. If you're doing lots of visual work, an IPS screen would be something you'd appreciate. (if you don't know what an IPS screen is, look at an iphone and pay attention to the viewing angles). also because its a business notebook, the build quality should be much better than a consumer level notebook like the Studio you had. should be much more durable. however it may be too small for you, it's 12.5". and no optical drive either.

I also like the Sony Vaio SA series, very few 13.3" offers a higher end resolution screen the SA could be configured with, outside of the Macbook Air, Vaio Z, and the Asus UX31. it also has an optical drive. but i hear its fan can get loud under heavy activity. if money is no object... Sony Vaio Z.

Haha, my budget is probably too low for what I want... I should probably just suck it up and keep saving for a nicer laptop, I'm just afraid my current one will die before I get to that point. Maybe it'll hold out. As is, though, I was hoping to spend no more than $700 for a basic laptop next spring (right after I spent $700 on my dell studio, my friend bought a much nicer HP for about the same price... which is why I was thinking maybe I could stick with that budget). Is this an unrealistic budget?

I'm sure I would have to compromise on the features I want. I know it's a pretty low budget, but I see Toshibas for like $400, though I'm sure they're nothing special.

I guess I'm pretty stubborn; I hate having to drop $1000+ on something that can become obsolete in six months anyway. Am I the only one who feels that way?

I don't have an iphone to look at for reference for an IPS screen so I'll try to find a friend who does. So is the IPS screen purely beneficial for viewing angles? I feel like if that is the case, I could maybe do without. Just because as is, design work is something I mostly do on the campus's nice Macs with the gigantic screens at school, not so much on my laptop. I like doing some illustration at home in my spare time though, and I'd like the option of doing my design homework at home if I can't get to campus that day. I'll have to try out that type of screen for myself first, but as is, if it costs a lot more maybe I could do without, at least until I graduate a couple years from now.

[Godotology]

Haha, my budget is probably too low for what I want... I should probably just suck it up and keep saving for a nicer laptop, I'm just afraid my current one will die before I get to that point. Maybe it'll hold out. As is, though, I was hoping to spend no more than $700 for a basic laptop next spring (right after I spent $700 on my dell studio, my friend bought a much nicer HP for about the same price... which is why I was thinking maybe I could stick with that budget). Is this an unrealistic budget?

I'm sure I would have to compromise on the features I want. I know it's a pretty low budget, but I see Toshibas for like $400, though I'm sure they're nothing special.

I guess I'm pretty stubborn; I hate having to drop $1000+ on something that can become obsolete in six months anyway. Am I the only one who feels that way?

I don't have an iphone to look at for reference for an IPS screen so I'll try to find a friend who does. So is the IPS screen purely beneficial for viewing angles? I feel like if that is the case, I could maybe do without. Just because as is, design work is something I mostly do on the campus's nice Macs with the gigantic screens at school, not so much on my laptop. I like doing some illustration at home in my spare time though, and I'd like the option of doing my design homework at home if I can't get to campus that day. I'll have to try out that type of screen for myself first, but as is, if it costs a lot more maybe I could do without, at least until I graduate a couple years from now.

well like I said, an X220 could be had for $800 with IPS panel if you got the right coupons.. or if you have some kind of employee discount.

if you dont have an iphone but access to iMacs.. I believe the current iMacs use either an H-IPS or S-IPS panel (in glossy coating.. the x220 would have one in matte, not glossy). but yes much better viewing angles, generally better color reproduction.

here's an example of the superior viewing angles of an IPS panel. on a normal TN panel, colors would invert at certain angles

on the other hand, I don't see many notebooks carrying IPS displays other than the X220, and this LG model that seems to be Korea only.. I think some of the larger, heavier, and more pricier workstation notebooks also have either an IPS display or something that allows full adobe color gamut with RGB-LED backlighting..

I agree with Orangeman that I'd wish the X220 was a 13.3" machine.. or rather, the thinkpad's 13" line came with an IPS display.