I feel that a lot of people are misinformed when it comes to laptops, I know people who will go out and either buy a MacBook or some Razer "gaming" laptop that doesn't last for 1 year, I was wondering what you guys would recommend and hopefully we can inform people of what to buy when buying laptops, I normally recommend Dell Precision or Dell Latitude refurbished, because most consumer grade laptops suck. Hopefully you guys have some recommendations and hopefully the people buying crappy consumer grade laptops will get a business class one instead.
Well the business class laptops are usually not as "flashy" in looks. Of course someone like us don't care what it looks like as long as it performs. Some people people care more about the looks. Its all personal preferences. Of course I get what you mean, people should be informed instead of purchasing the most overpriced and overpowered laptop the shmuck at best buy can sell them.
*sigh
To each their own. You can't teach everyone laptops but being "that guy" in the family people turn to for computer questions definitely helps.
I'd say the Asus Zenbooks are quite nice. Look really nice and can be had with dedicated graphics. But they are quite expensive.
Personally, I'd never recommend a Dell product. In my experience they are absolute shit. I have an Asus that is quite nice. People just chose what they want. Sadly most people are misinformed.
Dell consumer grade laptops are shit, I can agree, but what I cant agree on is their business class laptops, those are amazing.
Its really a shame that you're right, I remember when Dell used to be great. As a matter of fact I've got 4 old Dell Windows XP era machines still kicking around here, but now they've got Debian on them. My favorite is the Inspiron 6000 laptop, its got a 1.33GHz Celeron and 2GB RAM, and a 120GB disk, and it makes a great web server. I know the specs suck and its a Celeron but its low heat and low power, and its rock solid. I'm gonna use it till it melts :P
I recommend lenovo and Asus. But for most people what's wrong with a Chromebook?
I wouldn't recommend Asus. My friend got 2 gaming Asus laptops, they were not used as much as my Dell Laptops. They got a shelf life of 2-3 years.
http://www.amazon.com/N550JK-DS71T-Full-HD-Touchscreen-Laptop-Aluminum-Body/dp/B00IAA5BSS/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1407861746&sr=8-9&keywords=zenbook SSD Version ofc. Bought one when this line first came out and haven't had a problem since. Performs great, handles most games pretty well on lower settings and is great for productivity on the go.
Lenovo thinkpads , and there is a DELL latitude that has a magneisium shell both are incredibly tough also there is an elusive inspiron i used to use when i was with dell it wasn't insanely spec'd but god it was tough its has a similar look to the inspiron 15 3531 that i use as my cheap "im going back home and i need my email and a few indie games laptop" its fairly tough too. i can get you the full model numbers of the DELLs, when im on shift ill sneak into the dell room:P. my team is trying to get new laptops in to replace a bunch of Woeful toshibas But unfortunatly we are victim to the flashy looks and specs that the higher ups like. we want something that can take a fall, bashed and lightly pushed out of the way with a foot.
prostar and cyber power are nice.
so is msi, their gx70 is the best in its price range, just wish there was more vram.
msi gx70 is only a thousand bucks right now http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152563&cm_re=gx70-_-34-152-563-_-Product great deal.
I don't think it matters much if you buy consumer grade or business grade laptops and that it depends more on the end-user's ability to handle computer hardware.
I mean, I have a consumer grade laptop from Toshiba the L500-1ZP since summer 2010 as my main computer for everything. I took it apart a couple of times to clean it and even re-applied thermal paste. Battery life is still good, even though for the past few months it has been running directly of the wall socket without the battery in it. The only thing is, I miss a key on my keyboard and the connector for my headphones is getting a little dodgy. Performance wise everything is cool.
It even replaced my main desktop that I had since 2008 as it runs the games I want to play: Dota 2, Crusader Kings II and Europa Universalis IV, on my 22 inch non-HD monitor. Even saving some energy in the process.
Just take a little care, watch how you store your cables and don't drop it.
If you want to get your hands on some business class laptops, I suggest going to the Dell refurbished site.
When it comes to laptops, I am always biased towards Lenovo's Thinkpads and Ideapads. They just are great laptops. Thinkpads are reliable and good productivity machines, and Ideapads make grade gaming laptops in disguise, that give you performance in a sleek, well cooled, laptop.
I wouldn't be caught dead with one of those Asus monstrosities they call gaming laptops.
The MSi Ghosts laptops actually don't look bad either, Aesthetically, pricewise though, they could use a bit of work.
If i ever buy a laptop, it'd be for on-the-go purposes, which i would aim to spend around 600$ for a light weight , sleek, thin design with a fairly good i5 and probably an extra 4 gb of ram stick it in there. I prefer Asus, cause they have bad ass design.
As far as gaming goes, i would definitely not spend money on a gaming laptop since i see no point in having gaming components squeeze in the tiny size of a laptop. That just makes it way harder to upgrade, cooling, and most people are gonna buy a gaming keyboard + monitor to hook up to it anyway. Whats the point of spending money on a monitor + a keyboard when you're not gonna use it? And then if you're gaming, im assuming you don't expect to be able to carry your rig around to school or with you on a road trip to play on, so no point in a laptop.