can't find the old one, so thought id ask here
i need a new one, laptop that is, want to run ableton on it, few games (football manager), watch the odd movie
any suggestions or will anything out of the box do that?
anything to avoid?

any budget jd?

id love to do it for a k if i could, but 1700 would be (as in need to ask wife lol)
i keep looking at the mini things, but doubt they could run much?

there are a few different options, the other question is 'what size?' and 'how important is battery performance?'

id prefer 15 inch as have one now and its fine as in dont need a 17inch one really. not worried re battery performance, if i ended up with alight one i would take it on the odd train trip, but 99% of the time i use it on the couch

Get a magna doodle instead.

thread was going so well too
Ive got a mega doodle already though?

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdoodle

can't find the old one, so thought id ask here
i need a new one, laptop that is, want to run ableton on it, few games (football manager), watch the odd movie
any suggestions or will anything out of the box do that?
anything to avoid?

13" macbook air with ram upgrade = $1749

bam.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rancho

13" macbook air with ram upgrade = $1749

bam.

^

get yourself a Sony Vaio E Series and save yourself $500.

128gb of hard disk?

You really have not even given any indication on what it is going to be used for...

Games ? Web browsing ? more details will help people save you cash and get only the things you need.

abelton, and some games like football manager. yes to web browsing
not high performance games, as dont play them

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbb618

^

get yourself a Sony Vaio E Series and save yourself $500.

sure, if you want a bigger, heavier laptop with lower resolution screen. 1.32kg vs 2.35kg... yep, tough choice imo.

lulz and only 3hr battery.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdoodle

128gb of hard disk?

get a 750gb wd passport from office works for $129. why do you need more than 128gb on a laptop?

If all you are doing is sports manager type games, abelton and web browsing you can get away easily with 1k or less

No point dropping anything over that to be honest, I could suggest an exact model but for those tasks anything this gen will absolutely smash it. have a look around http://www.cybershop.com.au / http://www.portacom.com.au ect depending on where you live

Just get something that is current genish and pretty... or a magnadoodle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rancho

13" macbook air with ram upgrade = $1749

bam.

rancho, do you ever miss chimby sometimes?

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigGroovyFcuker

rancho, do you ever miss chimby sometimes?

do i ever miss him? no.
do i sometimes miss him? no.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rancho

sure, if you want a bigger, heavier laptop with lower resolution screen. 1.32kg vs 2.35kg... yep, tough choice imo.

lulz and only 3hr battery.



get a 750gb wd passport from office works for $129. why do you need more than 128gb on a laptop?

before i posted in here i was looking round, and kept seeing all these 500gig hds, so was just asking
good point though

havent had a mac in 15 years though, was my first laptop
ill have to have a play on one first though

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdoodle

before i posted in here i was looking round, and kept seeing all these 500gig hds, so was just asking
good point though

havent had a mac in 15 years though, was my first laptop
ill have to have a play on one first though

yeah, for sure have a play and see what you think, see if you like OS X etc. there'd be a bit of an adjustment period but you'll pick it up pretty quickly.

the 128gb is solid state though, so your programs launch crazy quick, startup/sleep/shutdown is quick (17 seconds cold boot to useable, 1.5 seconds shutdown is what i've read for the new mba, plus the whole instant wake from sleep factor). the 500gb hdds you see are all 5400rpm so much slower than an SSD.

i reckon once youve felt how light they are you'll be sold

are dell any good at the moment? anyone I should avoid? i always thought you paid more for sony due to the sony name

Quote:

Originally Posted by rancho

yeah, for sure have a play and see what you think, see if you like OS X etc. there'd be a bit of an adjustment period but you'll pick it up pretty quickly.

the 128gb is solid state though, so your programs launch crazy quick, startup/sleep/shutdown is quick (17 seconds cold boot to useable, 1.5 seconds shutdown is what i've read for the new mba, plus the whole instant wake from sleep factor). the 500gb hdds you see are all 5400rpm so much slower than an SSD.

i reckon once youve felt how light they are you'll be sold

whats the battery like on them? if its that light i could be playing games on the train and shit, current one it would be a pain in the rectum

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdoodle

whats the battery like on them? if its that light i could be playing games on the train and shit, current one it would be a pain in the rectum

apple's battery life estimates are much more accurate than many. the mba is rated as 5 hours battery which involves wifi and light use. i doubt you'd ever get 3 hours out of a sony unless it's sitting idle with wifi off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rancho

yeah, for sure have a play and see what you think, see if you like OS X etc. there'd be a bit of an adjustment period but you'll pick it up pretty quickly.

the 128gb is solid state though, so your programs launch crazy quick, startup/sleep/shutdown is quick (17 seconds cold boot to useable, 1.5 seconds shutdown is what i've read for the new mba, plus the whole instant wake from sleep factor). the 500gb hdds you see are all 5400rpm so much slower than an SSD.

i reckon once youve felt how light they are you'll be sold

zzzz why are you trying to sell features no one's asked for? if op said "need it to boot up in less than 20 secs" then by all means launch into a full chimby mac wank.

jd, i don't doubt some dell lappies would be fine for your uses. what you need to figure out is the priority of importance (portability, performance, battery life), find the specs that suit you in each of those regards, look at a variety of options in your budget range, then read reviews on them. lots of reviews.

if you can't be arsed, pay for the name - macbook / vaio etc

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigGroovyFcuker

zzzz why are you trying to sell features no one's asked for? if op said "need it to boot up in less than 20 secs" then by all means launch into a full chimby mac wank.

if you can't be arsed, pay for the name - macbook / vaio etc

lol, because he outlined EXACTLY what he was looking for so thoroughly didnt he.

apple could have branded the new mba the purple ****scrape jew and it would still be a great laptop for $1749, assuming portability is important to you, and if you're buying a laptop then to me that should be right up the top of your requirements.

If you buy an apple laptop, beware the cult you are buying into.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rancho

lol, because he outlined EXACTLY what he was looking for so thoroughly didnt he.

apple could have branded the new mba the purple ****scrape jew and it would still be a great laptop for $1749, assuming portability is important to you, and if you're buying a laptop then to me that should be right up the top of your requirements.

well i got a pretty good idea of what he's using it for without needing to be EXACT:

ableton, football manager, odd movie...
mostly on the couch, wouldn't mind on the train.

meaning portability is not as high a priority as you might have it, moderate battery life would suffice (length of a return train trip, a movie or a session of football manager = few hrs most).

like yerg saig, any current gen processor with a decent amount of ram and he should be sweet. skimp on the gpu, bear with a bit of extra weight without needing it to fit in an envelope, no one apart from boottime-spergin nerds are using ssd, and really your pitch for a macbook air just sounds stupid.

perhaps he'll take it more places if it doesn't weigh over 2kgs or set his cock on fire. anyway, he seems interested in my suggestion, so how about you let him speak for himself, eh?

he already is, and he doesn't require my permission to speak for himself. i'm speaking to you about your suggestion, and whether he's interested in it or not, is of no interest to me.

Wait who the fuck would suggest a new macbook air ?

$1700 for light travel use,football manager and web browsing on the couch ?

fucking idiot.

considering he has a budget of $1700, i'd say i'm not the idiot here.

i'm gonna go with yerg on this one

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdoodle

id love to do it for a k if i could, but 1700 would be (as in need to ask wife lol)
i keep looking at the mini things, but doubt they could run much?

He clearly stated he would love to do it for 1k.

You seriously are a fucking idiot Rancho, It's like the kid went into a car yard asking for something to get him from A to B and you suggested a Merc because you are a Merc fanboy and a new model just came out.

I am not doubting the new Air is good, but is it really needed in this situation ? No.

Moron.

HP unveils $799 tablet with a PC feel
Reuters, Also appeared in CNBC, 10/22 , Gabriel Madway

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) unveiled its first product for the fast-growing tablet market, a $799 device running Microsoft (MSFT.O) Windows that is aimed at business customers.

HP's Slate 500 attempts to replicate the PC experience in a tablet form, providing a contrast to rivals who have brought more of a smartphone feel to their devices. The Slate runs the same version of Windows 7 used by many companies on their standard PCs.

HP's offering has an 8.9-inch, multi-touch-enabled screen, weighs 1.5 pounds and comes with 64 gigabytes (GB) of storage and a digital stylus pen. It gets five hours of battery life.

Carol Hess-Nickels, director of business notebook marketing at HP, emphasized the Slate's business utility. She expects retail, healthcare and insurance companies, among others, to build custom applications that take advantage of the device's portability.

"It's really like a full-function PC, it runs Windows, it will run your office applications, it just so happens to be in a slate form factor," Hess-Nickels said.

The HP Slate features the Intel (INTC.O) Atom processor, which is commonly found in inexpensive netbook computers. Rival tablets run on low-power ARM-based chips found in smartphones.

The device is equipped with cameras in the front and back, enabling video conferencing, and a USB port. It comes with a case and a docking station.

HP's Slate is now available online, and the company will be selling it to businesses through its direct sales force.

yeah, best play it safe and not risk being ostracised by the anti-apple circle jerk.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yerg

He clearly stated he would love to do it for 1k.

You seriously are a fucking idiot Rancho, It's like the kid went into a car yard asking for something to get him from A to B and you suggested a Merc because you are a Merc fanboy and a new model just came out.

I am not doubting the new Air is good, but is it really needed in this situation ? No.

Moron.

rage more. also, he clearly stated he was interested in small form factor (aka 'mini things') but expressed concern they'd be underpowered, which generally they are (new mba being an exclusion reflected by cost).

I have an ipad an iphone and I am looking to get a macbook in the next month or so.

I am clearly in on the anti-apple circle jerk, Your suggestion is just moronic. He doesn't need anythiny close to a new Macbook Air and clearly stated he would love to spend 1k.

Edit: I am fairly sure he would be looking at the "mini" things due to price. Considering he said it wouldn't be leaving the couch too often.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rancho

yeah, best play it safe and not risk being ostracised by the anti-apple circle jerk.

let's play "spot the backpedal"

i'm not anti-apple. and yerg has an ipad, so...

edit: ok so yerg is actually an apple fanboy too, but certainly he has not let it blind him.

he asked for suggestions, i made a suggestion. pretty simple, innit?

but it's fun watching you both get so upset at a friendly suggestion, so please continue.

Because I would feel bad for the kid if he spent $1700 on something he doesn't need.

ok enough of that, here's actually some helpful suggestions for you jdoodle:

CPU
will do: intel i5-850 or equivalent amd
possible upgrade: i7

RAM:
will do: 4GB
possible upgrade: more, if you plan on running 64-bit OS (which you should)

GPU:
will do: 1GB of anything, ATI HD4xxx series, or equivalent nVidia card
possible upgrade: for football manager? dont bother

HD
will do: all pretty much the same, so 32MB cache, 500GB, 7200rpm.
possible upgrade: more space or SSD, if you want that blazing fast boot rancho talks about

battery life, screen size, weight all subjective (parts you choose from above will affect this). whether it's encased in a sony, mac, dell or someting non-descript, doesn't really matter imo. i find it's always better judging on specs rather than brand. of course brands come in handy because some are more trusted than others, more reliable etc, but this information comes purely from personal experience, preference and other people's reviews.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigGroovyFcuker

ok enough of that, here's actually some helpful suggestions for you jdoodle:

CPU
will do: intel i5-850 or equivalent amd
possible upgrade: i7

you're suggesting a desktop processor for a laptop. yep, real helpful

edit - wait, does i5-850 even exist?

thanks guys, wasnt trying to start a fight or anything, just i never pay attention to this stuff unless im in the market, which is every 3 years
ill start looking using the above specs as a guide, and pick a few up. my current one is too heavy for trains really, so hadnt considered the option

And honestly if you want to go Mac, base model MacBook (depending on how much you want to spend and size) would be more than fine for what you want to do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdoodle

are dell any good at the moment? anyone I should avoid? i always thought you paid more for sony due to the sony name

Yep, still good. I just got the Studio XPS 16 and it's fucking sweet. If you take the base GPU, base i5 and get rid of all the optional extras, you're looking at around $1400 if not less.
You can go for the smaller one too and shave even more off.

Asus n61jq - initial asking price @ $1254

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/...q=n61jq&spos=3


*15.6" LED screen, 1366 x 768 - not the best res, but in this price range pretty standard.
*i7 720QM (quad core) - plenty of grunt for abletronz
*4 gig ram
*640gb hdd
*win7 home premium x64
*1 gig ati 5730 (good enough for most games with alright detail, but not overkill enough to create heat internal issues like some high end cards)
*11n, bt etc
*in some cases blu ray as a few are configured differently, I believe it has hdmi out too

I have the bigger brother n71jq with the 17.3" LED screen and hasn't missed a beat so far.

Only thing missing is the firewire port for your audio interface (if it doesn't support usb2), but nothing a firewire expresscard won't fix.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fledz

Yep, still good. I just got the Studio XPS 16 and it's fucking sweet. If you take the base GPU, base i5 and get rid of all the optional extras, you're looking at around $1400 if not less.
You can go for the smaller one too and shave even more off.

I know that trick, though Dell make it hard to compare pricing quickly with their new configurator.

Tips for laptop shopping with Dell:
Look at the model above/below what you are considering and upgrade/downgrade to match.
Try and dig up a discount code for extra cheapness, 10% for nothing, yes please.

And for the OP, with those usage patterns second hand is always an option. Especially with the new macs out there will be a lot of the older laptops (PC and Mac) flooding the market over the next few months. Older Sonys lose their value super quick if you want some hardcore tech (also Toshiba portege).

Quote:

Originally Posted by rancho

you're suggesting a desktop processor for a laptop. yep, real helpful

edit - wait, does i5-850 even exist?

lol rancho i'll let you have that because you were getting told for half the duration of this thread.

anyways jd besides the typo, rancho's right, i was throwing any number out there.. the 750 is a desktop processor, whereas the mobile versions are dual-core.

and i believe my post was still more helpful than "<stupid suggestion about a macbook air with ram upgrade> ... bam." no, not bam. not bam at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigGroovyFcuker

lol rancho i'll let you have that because you were getting told for half the duration of this thread.

anyways jd besides the typo, rancho's right, i was throwing any number out there.. the 750 is a desktop processor, whereas the mobile versions are dual-core.

and i believe my post was still more helpful than "<stupid suggestion about a macbook air with ram upgrade> ... bam." no, not bam. not bam at all.

yeah, pretty sure i wasn't 'getting told'. also, standard intel mobile processors are i5-5x0M.

but you already knew that since you're so helpful, right?

man at least chimby was good at this

It's threads like I wish my career didn't take an upward turn with more responsibility and a decent payrise 6 months ago and I wish I still had time to sit on ITM constantly during the day

Quote:

Originally Posted by plan-b

It's threads like I wish my career didn't take an upward turn with more responsibility and a decent payrise 6 months ago and I wish I still had time to sit on ITM constantly during the day

you write post good

You get job work at reverse bank with j-rod friend or some ting?