What Is A Bad *ss Laptop Nowadays?

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StreetDogg316 said:
I have a IBM Thinkpad T-40, It's not the most powerfull laptop in the world, But it is alot faster than I thought when I bought it. And $4600 was for one of the top-of-the-line Alienware laptops built for gaming. And that's kinda one of my points about Vista, I mean I can understand upgrading your RAM to use it, And MAYBE even your processor, But having to upgrade your Video Card? Who ever heard of that? That's why MS is coming out with Windows 7, Because they gave up on Vista because people were having problems and constantly complaining about it. If you are just a casual user who just likes to get on the internet, Vista is fine, But if you like gaming(like me), I heard it is a nightmare. If you want a good 64-bit Operating System, Get Windows XP Pro. I will wait to see what Windows 7 is like, Untill then, I will keep Windows XP. And as far as buying one or building one, It's up to you. If you want one for the internet, Videos Etc. Just buy one from Best Buy. But if your into Gaming, Get one custom built to your specs, Most that you buy from the store is not that good for gaming, Especially the games that are coming out in the near future. Hope this helped.

Vista Home Premium 64-bit is a good operating system. You have to look at the people that complain about an operating system, 95% of the time the person doesn't even know what an operating system really does.

I've never had any problems with Vista and I've been running it since July 2007. I've experienced a few hiccups, but nothing compared to what I experienced with XP or Windows 98.

There's little things in Vista I'm not a fan of, however, I've been using Windows 7 beta now and all these things are pretty much improved. Windows 7 is what Vista should have been, Vista isn't bad, but experiencing Windows 7, it's just a better OS.

Alienware does make powerful systems, but IMO gaming laptop aren't worth it. They aren't really fun to carry around when the thing weighs 10lbs+ and gets as hot as a toaster. If you want a powerful machine, custom desktop is the best. I wouldn't bother looking at Alienware for anything besides a gaming laptop. Their desktops are overpriced. Besides, it's really easy to build a computer. I've been doing it since I was 13. Self taught, the internet is a valuable tool.

Is there any reason you want 8GB of RAM? The only time I've been able to max out my 2GB of RAM that use to be in my laptop was when I would run another operating system on top of Vista with VMware. And I was able to run Vista, Server 2003, and Suse Linux at the same time on 2GB of RAM.

I've upgraded to 4GB now, RAM isn't a bottleneck on most new systems, it's usually the video card.

If you want another computer just go with a desktop. Either buy one, or even better yet, build one. It's a fun experience. You have a pretty new laptop with some decent specs. I'd say you're good to go for portable computing.
 
Well, perhaps I should have stated that I was looking for the "State of the Cheap", not the best of the best. The sad thing about the $4600 Alienware machine, is that by the time you pay it off it will be about as good as a $499 Acer from Wal Mart. They make the very best machines, but they tend to be a bit pricey. I'm also not a gamer, so I don't need the best, but I want to get the most for my money just in case I ever change my mind.

As for good and cheap, I have a Gateway MX8711 (17in monitor, but I recommend a smaller one as it is quite cumbersome) now that has been very reliable, and it is almost 2 years old. Yes, I did just crash the hard drive, but my laptop is used all the time by me (10 hours a day is not unrealistic with some days being 18 hours) as a replacement for TV as I can't afford cable. I have heard bad things about HP as of late as it seems they have issues with their hinges and internal cables for the monitor. My sister has a Toshiba that feels cheap but is quite reliable. It also isn't even a year old yet, so time will tell.

As for Vista, for all the bitching people do about it it is a good system once you take a few days to configure it to your needs. Yes, the security features are a big PITA, but they can be turned off too. You do have to set it up properly and sort of know what you are doing with a computer, or be willing to experiment. PC's are not Apples, they don't just work out of the box without tweaking. That being said, once you set a PC up it can be just as easy to use and just as functional (if not more so) as an Apple for the typical user who is not doing the few things Apple does better (Graphics and movie editing). PC's are also more varied in how they can be set up which is one of their strengths if you like to tweak things. Anyhow, is Vista bad? I don't think so. It may not be perfect for every use, but it works just fine for the majority of people. I have set up 3 or 4 Vista machines for people who have been quite happy with it. I will also add that once you are used to Vista, XP feels clunky and old by comparison. That being said, Vista can't really run well on less than 1gb of RAM. This is why so many old computers run like sh*t with it installed. If I wanted to upgrade to Vista from an XP machine, I would just get a cheap Vista machine. A new machine is not much more than the OS by itself if you don't need the ultimate gaming computer.

Now, if you just need a basic lap top, I suggest at minimum getting a 15.4 in monitor, a DVD-RW drive, 1 gb of RAM, a wireless modem, a dual core processor and a 120GB internal hard drive. That should be around $500. Bluetooth connectivity is a nice feature to have too, but not necessary. Check to see what the machine maxes out at for RAM if you get a cheap one. Be sure you can expand it to 4gb. 4gb should run you $40 and it will greatly improve the machine. I also suggest doing a clean install of the OS when you first start it to eliminate all the trial software crap it comes with. Another thing is to be ABSOLUTELY SURE it comes with recovery discs!!! Don't just use a hard drive partition as a backup, because if the drive crashes, you are SOL and will need to buy a new OS if it is out of warranty. Oh, and one last thing, if you can, get a machine that uses 64bit Vista instead of 32bit. 32 bit maxes out at about 3.3gb of RAM capability while 64 bit is much higher. 64 bit will become the standard in the next year or two, so it is best to have it now to stay ahead of the curve.
 
phaZe said:
I've been running Vista for a while and it's just fine for me. It looks a lot better and those "annoying" security pop-ups only happen when you try to install something and they're not very annoying.

If you don't have the processor, ram or video card to run it, you probably won't like it very much.

The security popups are not a bad thing in a way as they prevent malware from doing an auto install in many cases. It also is a great idea to run two accounts on your machine. One with full administrative powers, and one as a limited user. Use the limited user account all the time and nothing can be installed without the administrative password. This is one of the best security tips you can use and I highly recommend it.
 
phaZe said:
I've been running Vista for a while and it's just fine for me. It looks a lot better and those "annoying" security pop-ups only happen when you try to install something and they're not very annoying.

If you don't have the processor, ram or video card to run it, you probably won't like it very much.

The security popups are not a bad thing in a way as they prevent malware from doing an auto install in many cases. It also is a great idea to run two accounts on your machine. One with full administrative powers, and one as a limited user. Use the limited user account all the time and nothing can be installed without the administrative password. This is one of the best security tips you can use and I highly recommend it.
 
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