Ask Slashdot: How To Shop For a Laptop? 732
jakooistra writes "My sister recently asked me for a laptop recommendation. I said, 'Sure, what are techie brothers for,' and diligently started my search for her perfect laptop. Two days later, I feel like I've aged two years. Every laptop vendor seems to want to sell a dozen different, poorly-differentiated models, with no real way of finding out what is customizable without following each model to its own customization page. And there are so many vendors! How am I, as a consumer, supposed to find what I need? Is there a website, hiding somewhere I just can't find, that tracks all the multivariate versions and upgrade choices in an easily searchable database?"
jakooistra adds a few criteria, in case you have specific laptop suggestions: "It needs a good CPU, but we almost don't care about the GPU (HD 3000 graphics are acceptable). A model that doesn't get very hot would be nice. We'd like an SSD and an internal optical drive. A 15"-17" screen at 1366x768 or higher would be ideal. Budget is around $1,500, but could go up to $2,000 if it's really worth it."
$299.00 (Score:5, Interesting)
Lenvo B575 with a AMD APU. Does everything I want, cheap enough to throw it out the window if it doesn't.
For Linux users ZaReason and System76 (Score:4, Interesting)
both have nice websites with the obvious base choices for you being:
https://zareason.com/shop/Strata-6770.html [zareason.com]
Stock at $849
with a 160GB SSD comes to $1,148
and for me the winner would be:
https://www.system76.com/laptops/model/gazp7 [system76.com]
3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3610QM Processor
Stock at $899
With 180 GB SSD comes $1178
Btw, for what you are asking for, your budget seems high actually :).
1366x768 on a 15" $1500 laptop? (Score:5, Interesting)
Holy crap, that's a horrible idea.
I almost bought an Asus G55. Fifteen inch screen, full 1920x1080 resolution, and just around $1500. Only reason I didn't end up buying it was because I was mislead by the pre-order page to believe that it had two hard drive bays as well as the optical drive bay. Apparently Asus removed that feature without notifying resellers, because I got an email weeks later telling me the machine I'd configured was impossible - I got upgraded to the larger G75 instead.
Now, that particular machine would be terrible for light office/home use. But I've used 1366x768 screens - they are *terrible*, and when you're spending a grand and a half on a laptop, they're completely underspec.
Try to get at least a 1600x900 screen. Seriously. That's just about the most important advice I can give you.
Re:mac (Score:4, Interesting)
Her price range ($1,500 - $2,000) and level of technical aptitude (or lack thereof) makes her a perfect Apple candidate. This is my recommendation too.
If she ever just -has- to run Windows, make sure to get the 256GB SSD in it, so you've got room for two healthy sized partitions.
Re:Pink one. (Score:1, Interesting)
Get a pink one. She'll be happy.
Why pink? Oh, I get it, pink because she's a gurl. Because you've heard tell of creatures in this world called gurlz, and, legend has it, they're irrationally fond of the color pink. Also you've heard you can palm off pastel-colored cheap computers on gurlz because they won't know the difference, since gurlz treat computers as accessories, not as equipment, right? Because persons born female cannot be sophisticated computer users, let alone programmers, as the lady parts are well known to strangle up the neural pathways, right? That's very funny. Ha ha. Now, I want you to imagine that you are a programmer born with lady bits who is reading this thread. How exactly do you feel right now?
Re:mac (Score:4, Interesting)
Configuration Price $1,999 * 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7 * 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM â" 2x2GB * 128GB Solid State Drive * SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) * MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy Widescreen Display * Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide * Accessory Kit
Try to leave range in the budget so that you can add AppleCare. The extended warranty and support is very nice to have.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:mac (Score:5, Interesting)
Single-button, multi-touch trackpad. Two two fingers to right-click or scroll. It works better in Windows than any trackpad I've ever used.
The strongest argument I can see against getting a Mac is they're expensive compared to PCs. I got mine second because of that.
Re:mac (Score:5, Interesting)
If you go to Dell's website, for example, you might find 10 different models of 15" laptops, and it won't be very clear what the difference is between models
And anything a geek cares about (max ram, HD slots - some come with one drive but hold more, and videocard range, as they show "common" config, usually base to go with the base price shown) is hidden from the comparison. But some details are in there most don't care about (i5 vs i5 where you have to look up processor codes to see what the differences are). And damn if half can be upgraded to "HD+" and a few to "Full HD" and you can't know until you try to configure every single one of them, though some comparison screens do show the difference, but not always, and not easily.
I hate Dell for that. I want to be able to put in some options, get some pull downs for other options, then given a choice of "this one has a numeric keypad, and the others don't" or "this one has 2xUSB 3.0 and the other has 4x USB 2.0" or whatever the difference is between the inspiron and latitude versions is when essentially identical configuration.
Re:Buy a Macbook Pro, even for Windows/Linux (Score:4, Interesting)
Huh. My father was a big Dell fan. He bought himself one, then my mother one, then my sister one. All the batteries died, and the replacements too. He has a macbook pro now. My sister is currently using a Toshiba. And my mother has an iPad.
Re:Just go to store.apple.com (Score:2, Interesting)
i think apple's 'here's what we have take it or leave it' approach will not work if hp/dell tries to pull it off. only apple can bully their customers into buying stuff without mulling over specs and value. i've seen the same thing with iphone too. if someone's gonna buy an iphone, he's gonna buy an iphone. if somebody's gonna buy an android, he's gonna compare the shit out of varios models, choosing the best mix of cpu, ram, and other specs.
maybe its because apple's stuff almost always works, no matter the specs.
5 basic steps. (Score:5, Interesting)
Step 1: The biggest problem with laptops are generally reliability. Figure out the reliable brands. Apple, Dell, Toshiba, and oddly Asus generally do well there, and Sony & HP are usually close to last. Start at those manufacturer sites.
Step 2: The major differentiation is in CPU type & Speed. Is it a quad-core i7? an i3? If you're doing video editing or realtime code debugging, you need a top level i7. For gaming, an i5 is fine, and for everyone else an i3 is AOK. Note: Everyone offers laptops in whatever screen size you want. So pick your screen size and ignore the rest. Also, ignore anything over 8 lbs. The weight is never worth it.
Step 3: GPU. If you need a gaming processor, configure the biggest the manufacturer offers. This can never be upgraded, there are no real options, and you can't get it later. So get it. If you don't need gaming, then Great! Nothing else uses the bloody thing, so don't bother.
Step 4: Battery length. It's usually worth splurging on the biggest battery you can find, so configure that into the build. Everyone has a "long" one that lasts about the same length. Look for manufacturers who have battery settings that keep the charge withing 20% min and 80% max... This will greatly extend the lifespan of that extra 100 bucks.
Step 5: Now figure out which setup is the closest to what you want, and go for it! Why haven't I mentioned RAM, Hard drive, software, or other optional extras? Because buying this from the manufacturer is flushing money down the toilet. Buy these after-market.
Re:Just go to store.apple.com (Score:4, Interesting)
It's marketing.
You have a bunch of different people buying computers. There's one guy who is just going to buy the cheapest laptop he can, and he's just looking at price. Dell wants him to buy a Dell computer, so they offer a total POS computer at the cheapest price they can muster. Meanwhile, there's a guy who's basically going to buy the most powerful and expensive thing he can find, so Dell is going to offer the highest-end overclocked liquid-cooled tech with a fancy carbon fiber case with lots of blinking lights,all shaped to look like an alien. Right?
And then you have a whole mess of people in between. You have a lot of people who aren't really sure what they want and need. You have a guy who wants a fairly low-end system, but he wants it to be really lightweight. There's a guy who wants a mid-grade system, but it needs a webcam built in. There's a guy who wants the best thing he can get for $2000k. Then there's a bunch more.
So what Dell wants to say is, "Whatever it is you want, we have it. Look, we have 30 different laptops, each a little different, and so surely one of them will fit your needs!" But then you go to comparison shop, and it's not even clear what the differences are. They offer helpful little summaries like, "Good for working on the road, telecommuting," on one and "Good to tote back and forth from work, working from remote locations," on another, as though it's helpful. Sometimes the differences are just the cases, which are comparable in size and weight anyway, but Dell will let you upgrade to an SSD in one and not the other.
So you spot two computers with identical specs in your price range. You can upgrade to 8GB or RAM in this one, but you can't get a webcam. This other one only lets you have a maximum of 4GB of RAM, but you can get a webcam. You need 8GB of RAM and a webcam. Whoops, you have to upgrade to yet another model that supports it all. That'll be $300 more than the others would be with the upgrade. Now could you buy the laptop that Dell is only letting you buy with 4GB of RAM and do an aftermarket upgrade? Maybe. If you can do that, you'll save yourself $300, you'll have to do a lot of research, and if you're wrong you just bought a laptop that doesn't meet your needs.
Now if Dell didn't want this kind of confusing shopping, they'd seriously simplify their product lineup. But they want it. They don't want you to be very clear about what the differences is between the business laptop and the consumer laptop. The business laptop costs more, and they want to be able to tell businesses, "You need this, for lots of reasons I wont' tell you. But the consumer laptop will be no good for you." It might be because the consumer laptop is completely crappy, but when a consumer shows up to buy that consumer laptop, they still want to be able to say, "Oh, yes, that's a very good choice."