New laptop

bigaudiofanatic

With the new job taking off like a rocket, I see myself needing a computer. Even though I can dual boot with my mac, I simply do not have the space nor do I want to void my warranty by swapping out the hard drive for a bigger one.

I have been looking over the alienwares "now owned by dell" and the gaming asus laptops.

Anyone have any experience with either of them?

cokewithvanilla

what's your goal of the laptop?

bigaudiofanatic

To be powerful and do anything I want to do wether that be working on the server, or maybe play a game or convert a video.

audiobliss

Lenovo ThinkPad W-Series. :biggrin:

messiah

Alienware used to be pretty bad **** back in the day. Made by Dell now, huh? I'd steer clear of that then, but that's just me. I hate Dell, and every time I have to deal with one it's a headache. Just use your google man, do your research, figure out a budget, and make a decision. Then show us the new toy. :biggrin:

cokewithvanilla

http://www.falcon-nw.com/

bigaudiofanatic

messiah wrote: »

Alienware used to be pretty bad **** back in the day. Made by Dell now, huh? I'd steer clear of that then, but that's just me. I hate Dell, and every time I have to deal with one it's a headache. Just use your google man, do your research, figure out a budget, and make a decision. Then show us the new toy. :biggrin:

I to hate dell, but I was just asking about alien ware now being owned by them and if that effected their quality....probably did.

bigaudiofanatic

After a quick trip down the road from the college to best buy, I like this one.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung+-+Laptop+/+Intel%26%23174;+Core%26%23153;+i5+Processor+/+14%22+Display+/+4GB+Memory+/+640GB+Hard+Drive+-+Aluminum/1255544.p?id=1218243229782&skuId=1255544#tabbed-customerreviews

EndersShadow

I dropped 700 on a HP triple core AMD system and am honestly in love.

Check places like newegg, tigerdirect, ect as well. You can get decent deals. Also check if you get any discounts through work (we did but not as good as this deal I got on the web)

jmwest1970

How about a new Macbook Pro with 8GB of RAM? With VMware Fusion or Parallels you can do anything with it.

nguyendot

Dell Precision M6500

17" WUXGA RGBLED screen (best colors...ever)
dual hdds - Get an SSD + normal for awesome speed + batt life
1 gig dedicated video card (Quadro or firegl..both wicked fast)
up to 32gb ddr3 1333

Eh..check it out. Not much it can't do.

cokewithvanilla

I second the idea of a precision, or a business class laptop. The quality of business class laptops is always better than that of consumer class. Also, the warranty on business class laptops is unbeatable (for example, dell offers 3 years next day service).

If you wanna get a deal, Lenovo, HP, and Dell have "outlets" that sell laptops at good prices.

((sorry it seems your thread was derailed and I am just contributing... just haven't had experience with the alienware laptops.))

bigaudiofanatic

nguyendot wrote: »

Dell Precision M6500

17" WUXGA RGBLED screen (best colors...ever)
dual hdds - Get an SSD + normal for awesome speed + batt life
1 gig dedicated video card (Quadro or firegl..both wicked fast)
up to 32gb ddr3 1333

Eh..check it out. Not much it can't do.

It's a dell, its to big, if I went with raid no cd drive, and the price. I will pass thanks though, not to emanation the battery life.

bigaudiofanatic

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

After a quick trip down the road from the college to best buy, I like this one.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung+-+Laptop+/+Intel%26%23174;+Core%26%23153;+i5+Processor+/+14%22+Display+/+4GB+Memory+/+640GB+Hard+Drive+-+Aluminum/1255544.p?id=1218243229782&skuId=1255544#tabbed-customerreviews

Link does not work here is one that does.

http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP-QX410-J01US

EndersShadow

Thats a pretty decent machine. I went with AMD simply due to the lower cost for the cpu and features, but I paid for it w/ performance loss.

Since I dont game on my laptop at all (and have a 4k desktop setup for rendering and anything else I can throw at it) I didnt worry to much about it...

Typing this from that laptop in bed....love this!

bigaudiofanatic

In bed right now with my mac, ya I love amd but the i series is pretty nice.

EndersShadow

it sure is. I went with a Phenom X3 since realistically it was more than I needed (I was looking at the i3 series anyway so I got one more core but only @ 2.0)

but like I said my main rig is a QX9650 @ 3.8 w/ 8 gigs DDR2 and a 5450 card (sold my 4870x2 and am gonna get a FirePro card instead)..add in dual TV tuners, 2 640 gig and a 1 terrabyte hard drive....

Yeah, thats my kinda computer....and then there's my server build waiting on HDD's hehehehe....

nguyendot

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

It's a dell, its to big, if I went with raid no cd drive, and the price. I will pass thanks though, not to emanation the battery life.

Why would raid mean no cd drive?

I have two hard drives + optical and it works fine... I can raid it and still have the optical. Also - I doubt you'll be getting RAID on a machine less than 17", so if you want RAID you'll be looking at one this size.

You didn't mention size previous to my post, so no way I could have known it was "too big".

Battery life is quite long considering it's RGBLED (uses quite a bit less power than CCFL, better colors than normal led backlight).

It's built like a tank, and reliability for Precision / Latitudes is quite good considering the numbers. As for price, you'll have to look pretty far and wide to get what one of these has for less. You didn't mention a price range, either.

Also, Alienware, while owned by Dell, hasn't changed it's production or support structure. It's the same as it was previous to Dell owning it. The support group isn't even connected to the support you'd get with an Inspiron from Dell.

mantis

There's go good reason to buy a PC only machine when you already are a mac owner.

If your current mac doesn't have enough space , get a external hard drive like a raid so you also have back up's of everything you do. They make 4 and 8 T back ups. They are redundant "Raid" style.

You can go to the Apple Store and get a Bigger Hard drive installed in your current mac. If you want more power just add memory , let the Apple store do all upgrades and void your warranty you will not.

orrb_05

Check some of these out:

http://www.ztsystems.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1304

AsSiMiLaTeD

I though Macs were all powerful and can already do everything, why would you want something else?

audiobliss

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

I though Macs were all powerful and can already do everything, why would you want something else?

'like'

bigaudiofanatic

mantis wrote: »

There's go good reason to buy a PC only machine when you already are a mac owner.

If your current mac doesn't have enough space , get a external hard drive like a raid so you also have back up's of everything you do. They make 4 and 8 T back ups. They are redundant "Raid" style.

You can go to the Apple Store and get a Bigger Hard drive installed in your current mac. If you want more power just add memory , let the Apple store do all upgrades and void your warranty you will not.

Have two of them, but I do not like the idea of dragin all my music on a external hard drive that to me is not where I want my music.

Macs are great love mine even the admin likes mine and wanted me to get a macbook air and dual boot that. But it would be better just to have a windows computer until mac takes over the world. J/K

Demiurge

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

I though Macs were all powerful and can already do everything, why would you want something else?

They do a great job of working you up into a lather. Pretty hilarious.

AudioGenics

MacBook Air

http://www.apple.com/mac/