AU Diary: Recommend Me A Laptop, Please

43 responses to “AU Diary: Recommend Me A Laptop, Please”

1. 

   Chris Barns

   June 17, 2009 at 11:07 am

   A desktop pc and a big arse suit case… Just a thought… OK that was silly.

   Reply
2. 

   Stinky

   June 17, 2009 at 11:17 am

   Buy a decent desktop PC and a couple of cheap netbooks.

   Reply
3. 

   Bjergi

   June 17, 2009 at 11:19 am

   My friend just bought an acer gemstone blue, and he’s really pleased with it. I think he paid about 2.5k for it, maybe a little closer to 2.

   I think it’s a good laptop, but the blu-ray player is just a little far over the top, imo. You could probably pick up a similarly spec’d one sans blu ray player for about 2.

   If you want battery life, though, get a macbook pro, and just put boot camp on it to play the PC games.

   Man that must’ve sucked going to E3 without a laptop! Chose the perfect time to kick the bucket, didn’t it?

   Reply
   1. 

      David Wildgoose

      June 17, 2009 at 11:44 am

      Yes, it did suck. Fortunately I was able to borrow a laptop from a friend. But, unfortunately, the internet at my hotel was mysteriously not working for the entire week.

      Reply
      1. 

         Will

         June 18, 2009 at 1:03 pm

         I work for a hotel, concierge. Any half arsed hotel should have contracted IT support. Tis tis.

         Reply
4. 

   Segiy

   June 17, 2009 at 11:23 am

   well i’ve ordered the new Macbook Pro 13″, portable and enough grunt.

   Reply
5. 

   Ryan

   June 17, 2009 at 11:26 am

   I really like my Dell XPS 1530, the build quality is good, it is light enough for me to carry on the train each day and it can easily handle Team Fortress 2. I think Dell in general have really picked up their game in the past few years. It looks like they have been replaced with the Dell XPS Studio 16 which I am sure will be my next laptop.

   Reply
   1. 

      Mr Waffle

      June 17, 2009 at 12:32 pm

      Second here for Dell- I’ve got an XPS1330 and it was wonderful when I took it overseas. Light and portable (especially with the LED screen), while snappy enough to do everything I wanted (though admittedly I didn’t game on it).

      So at least give the XPS range a look in. I’ve heard the regular laptops aren’t quite as good, though.

      Reply
      1. 

         who am iiiiii

         June 17, 2009 at 6:15 pm

         Dell? Really? I have an XPS 1730 and am not happy… had a world of trouble getting the damn thing to work in the first place, has dual SLI 8700s but SLI sucks and doesnt work for anything so its basically an expensive laptop with a single 8700 in it which chugs with TF2… Mirrors Edge is barely playable on absolute minimum settings… L4D surprisingly not bad tho. Only thing i like is the backlit keyboard.

         Reply
6. 

   Bradley Eggleton

   June 17, 2009 at 11:32 am

   you should get a macbook pro, they’re a bit expensive but the quality and performance is unmatched, plus you can run windows on them for games.

   Reply
7. 

   Jason

   June 17, 2009 at 11:37 am

   I use a HP Pavillion DV9700t. got 17″ screen, dedicated NVIDEA 512MB graphics card (be careful you need dedicated not on onboard chip for gaming) 4GB RAM and Dual core 2.2 ghz. its about a year old now but runs UT3 just fine, Empire TW on low ish settings and fallout 3 only suffers when using VATS.

   also use it for video editing/motion graphics/3D modelling everyday. has travelled over from the UK and not died.

   so a long winded recommendation for HP PAvillion Laptops.

   Reply
8. 

   Adison Clarke

   June 17, 2009 at 11:46 am

   I would honestly recommend a MacBook or macbook pro.
   The pro now comes in a 13″ model which is pretty portable without sacrificing any graphical abilities or processing power. And as far as games go there’s always boot camp so you can boot it as a windows PC or you could run windows virtually (which i do)if you have 3-4GBs of ram you can run windows virtually dedicating 2gigs to windows and the remaining to OSX which works fine for me with most games. Not trying to be a fan boy as im in the middle, but as far as laptops go both of the intel mac laptops i own have served me quite well, including travelling overseas etc. 🙂

   Reply
   1. 

      Steve

      June 17, 2009 at 12:35 pm

      I’m going to wholeheartedly concur with the MacBook Pro suggestion, though I think you might prefer one of the 15″ models with a dedicated graphics chip in addition to the integrated chip the the smaller models have. The integrated chip should work well enough for most games, but the dedicated unit is obviously going to give you much better performance.

      Reply
      1. 

         Daniel Purvis

         June 17, 2009 at 2:43 pm

         Another vote for the MacBook Pro. Booting into Windows XP / Vista is a breeze (and in my experience, run better on the Mac than on Asus and Acer laptops). I’ve got last years version with an 8600GT gfx card and I can play most of what’s released now without a hitch (though with the graphics turned down) but the newer models ship with the 9600 range of gfx (a nice boost).

         MBPs great for writing and graphic work, are hardy, reliable and have excellent customer support.

         Downside is that they’re also relatively expensive in comparison to other laptops with similar specs built for Windows.

         Try and get hold of someones to play with for a little while to see what you like. Otherwise, why not invest in a desktop and spend 300 on an EeePC to take when you travel?

         Reply
9. 

   Flash

   June 17, 2009 at 11:48 am

   I love my XPS1530. Though, if you’re on the go a little more, you might want to look at the 1330.

   Reply
10. 

    Rook

    June 17, 2009 at 11:51 am

    Have you got any price limitations… if not, go for a macbook pro.

    Great machines, well built and best of both worlds in terms of OS. I’m sure you could get it on their KCP, through one of your workplaces, which gives you like 10-15% off and 3 year warranty.

    Reply
11. 

    DeeK

    June 17, 2009 at 11:51 am

    These guys seem to make a pretty powerful gaming laptop.

    http://www.alienware.com.au/

    Not that I’ve ever owned one, but if someone offered it, I wouldn’t refuse. Battery life may be a tad low, though.

    Reply
12. 

    JimmySnuff

    June 17, 2009 at 11:55 am

    Get an Asus N50VN.
    T9600 2.8Ghz, 4GB Ram, 500Gb HDD, 1GB GeForce 9600M, 15″ Backlit LED Screen.

    Go for around $2498

    Reply
13. 

    Stewart Walker

    June 17, 2009 at 12:00 pm

    I run a similar rig to Jason HP dv9205tx. Bought it when Vista came out. No issues ever (I’m a developer, and we tend to need a new PC after about 1 – 2 years minimum).

    Currently running win7 no issues as well.

    HP has released an ultra high end version too now. 18″ widescreen, with four core CPU and 8 GB of memory.

    The downside of my laptop. Even on power saving mode it chews through a full charge in about 1 hour. On full power, it can last about 20-30 minutes. Those big ultra bright screens (perfect for sunny conditions) suck down the juice majorly.

    For the guys that think MacBooks, it’s just an unchangable, small keyboarded, one mouse button brick that I would hope you would all see. Plus what is the highest spec of it? I hardly think that they are the same at performing running on the same os.

    For all, try win7. It kicks arse. the speed of XP plus the capabilities of Vista Plus some more.

    Reply
    1. 

       NegativeZero

       June 17, 2009 at 12:52 pm

       Apple have had multi-button mice as a standard feature since 2005, and they have had right-click support since at least OS 7. The keyboard on the Macbook Pro covers more area than most equivalent-sized laptops. The hard drive and RAM is easily upgradeable (you just open a latch).

       If you want to criticise Apple there are a hundred things that you could point at that are actually factual instead. Including that Apple fanboys are some of the most annoying people on the planet. But that doesn’t mean that their actual hardware is terrible.

       Certainly you can get a slightly more powerful Windows-based gaming laptop from another manufactuer. It’ll have lower battery life, much lower build quality, weigh five kilos and cost about the same. Considering that the OP suggested he wants to be able to actually travel with it (and I presume use it for doing actual work in addition to playing games) a Macbook Pro fits the bill far better than a high-end gaming laptop.

       Reply
    2. 

       Daniel Purvis

       June 17, 2009 at 2:47 pm

       Unfairly harsh criticism. I’ve been through an ASUS G1, and friend’s have tried Alienware and other laptops, and they’ve all bitten the dust in record time. They all have major issues running Windows. After churning through three Windows spec laptops and arriving at the MacBook Pro, it’s the first time I’ve been happy with a lappy.

       You’ve never used an MBP before, have you?

       Reply
14. 

    Andy Te

    June 17, 2009 at 12:10 pm

    I would recommend getting a Macbook Pro. It’s got massive battery life and will cater your gaming needs, provided you Boot Camp Windows or run it as a virtual machine using VMWare. Otherwise I also recommend the Asus N50VN, it’s a powerful gaming laptop, but is a bit heavy and it’s battery life doesn’t compare to that of the Macbook Pro

    Reply
15. 

    Metalisticpain

    June 17, 2009 at 12:11 pm

    I have a Samsung (yes samsung) r55 laptop. Id say preety much anything is good these days. Just ensure that you have a decent amount of Ram 2GB min. Don’t want to be stuck with vista and 1GB. Also may want to put Windows 7 on is asap, or go back to XP.

    Dedicated graphics card is a +, integrated or shared are just terrible.

    http://www.cybershop.com.au
    These guys had decent priced laptops, avoid places like Arrow Computers…

    Reply
16. 

    meshuggahner

    June 17, 2009 at 12:16 pm

    word of warning on the hp pavillion laptops – the screen on mine died a slow and horrible death (lines gradually filling up the screen). a mate with the same laptop had his screen just stop working altogether. this happened to both just outside of warrenty – funny that.

    now got a toshiba p300 – there’s lots of different varients with good specs depending on how much you want to spend (start around 1800 mark). i find it a great desktop replacement and for a 17″ its very light and portable.

    Reply
17. 

    Ben Glock

    June 17, 2009 at 12:26 pm

    Maybe http://www.hunch.com might help you.

    Reply
18. 

    Eric Chan

    June 17, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    Not sure what the current macbook pros are like, but I have one from about 2 years ago.
    I find mine heats up quite fast when games are pushing the processors, and the fan is quite distracting when on full.
    Battery life wise, you get about 3-4hrs on OSX, and 2.5hrs on bootcamped XP (not as good battery management?) both cases were a bit less than the then advertised hours.

    but then again it was from 2 years ago.. current models might have improved..

    Reply
    1. 

       Daniel Purvis

       June 17, 2009 at 2:49 pm

       Running OSX on the Feb 2008 model I can get about 4 hours life if I’m just doing writing / web-browsing.

       Far less for Windows in dual-boot though. Have some issues dimming the screen, which I think helps suck down the juice.

       Reply
19. 

    Meh

    June 17, 2009 at 12:35 pm

    While Stewart Walker’s hate for Macs is unfounded. His right about one thing, the highest spec is not very high…on the cheap models. So it depends on your price point. If you’re willing to get the 15in with dual graphics cards and 4gigs ram, you’d be probably be sitting gravy. Otherwise I can’t really recommend the 9400M chipset for gaming.

    I guess it depends on what games but your future-proof changes are quite slim. If there’s one thing Apple is great at doing, its cheaping out on graphics card, you don’t need to look far to see that. Look at *any* of their computers.

    Personally I own only Macs but that doesn’t mean I think they’re suitable for everyone. Obviously also running games is a hassle and you have more performance and capability issues depending on how you’re doing it. Bootcamp being the best way but also the most annoying in terms of rebooting every time.

    I definitely do not recommend getting a Mac and then installing Windows primarily…what is the point, unless you like the physical appearance and quality of build. There are far more powerful and cheaper WIndows dedicated laptops.

    Reply
20. 

    NegativeZero

    June 17, 2009 at 12:38 pm

    Macbook Pro. You pay a slight premium, but the hardware is excellent, the whole thing is extremely well-built, not overly heavy and has great battery life. Upgrade the RAM and HDD yourself – don’t buy the parts from Apple, they’ll sting you for a massive premium and use boot camp to throw Windows on for games. The only downside is that in Windows the fantastic trackpad doesn’t have any of the multi-touch support that you get in OS X. Once you start using that trackpad, every other Laptop is going to feel terrible. 🙁

    I picked up a 15″ MBP a few months ago and couldn’t be happier with it.

    Reply
21. 

    Nathan

    June 17, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    Buy an Acer, nah joke, it’ll just crash and burn.

    Reply
22. 

    Matthew Meola

    June 17, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    I would recommend the Toshiba X300 Qosmio.

    I bought one of these a few months ago, and so far its been very reliable. It IS a gaming laptop and does have quite a high retail price.

    I have seen it in shops for around AU$4000… not sure what your price limit is. Check it out…Its able to support the vast majoirity of games, has amazing video/sound quality, and truly is a beast of a laptop.

    It IS

    Reply
23. 

    rc

    June 17, 2009 at 1:02 pm

    15″ Apple MacBook Pro.

    There are so many things right with this revision.

    To start, the build quality is excellent. Fit and finish is superb.

    It’s 2.5kgs of weight, while not perfect, strikes a good balance between weight and strength of build.

    The CPU+RAM combo is perfect for mid-tier applications (or lots of applications+multitasking)

    The GPU+GPU combo, which is not being used now, will eventually be made useful in Snow Leopard with the GPU processing.
    For now, the chip scores roughly 60% of an ’06 2.66Ghz Mac Pro w/8800GT on 3DMark2006.
    -And the MacPro can do TF2 on 1920×1200 w/4xAA-AF about 45-50fps. (fairly fast)

    The battery life is absolutely amazing. 7-8 hours doing light tasks; 5 hours heavy use.

    And if you game, you can easily switch over to Windows through Boot Camp. The machine operates just as a regular laptop would. Best of both worlds.

    There is one glaring issue, and it’s the SATA debacle. It’s been caped at SATA1 speeds for some strange reason. If you’re using SSDs you won’t get full benefit. If they fix that, it’s the perfect laptop.

    If you forgo the technical mumbo jumbo, it’s a very good machine.

    Reply
    1. 

       url404

       June 17, 2009 at 2:56 pm

       Nice work giving actual specs on TF2 on a Macbook.

       Has anybody run Crysis on a boot-camped Macbook at all? Care to give any FPS details? More curiosity than anything else. Seems pretty resounding that Macbooks are the way to go but don’t know how many actually play games on it rather than just use their consoles for gaming and laptops for the net.

       I will say in my personal experience, avoid HP due to hardware failures (particuary to do with the GPU integration – yikes!). Dell are good all rounders and Lenovo thinkpads are solid but I haven’t really gamed on any of them so I don’t have the facts to back it up from a gaming POV.

       Reply
24. 

    Vanguard

    June 17, 2009 at 1:17 pm

    Desktop for gaming, get a cheap laptop for anything else.

    Reply
25. 

    Clocks

    June 17, 2009 at 1:51 pm

    Macbook Pro (15″). Buy a copy of Windows and dual boot it. It’s rad.

    Reply
26. 

    Jad

    June 17, 2009 at 2:11 pm

    I’ll second the new Macbook Pro. I don’t even like Macs but technically its a package you can’t ignore. Details after the jump…
    http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3582

    Reply
27. 

    Dr_Stef

    June 17, 2009 at 2:36 pm

    Lots of ppl saying Macbook Pro which I agree on, however I am pretty convinced Toshiba’s Laptops last you like at least 10 years. You can get a good one with not too much maxed out settings but you can play the latest games for lower than $1000.

    Had my Toshiba for about 4 years now, I am just about ready for my 2nd (yes 2nd 😉 ) reinstall. Only thing that does happen on nearly every Toshiba is that the cooling fans start to make horrible noises after about 2 yrs. (Cheap fans?..)
    All my mates who have Toshibas complain about it, yet they all had theirs for 10 years or longer.

    Reply
28. 

    Adam Steel

    June 17, 2009 at 2:59 pm

    I’m not a huge fan of Mac OSX (Do love my iPhone though…) BUT the unibody Macboox Pro is a freakin’ nice unit. And you can install windows or Linux on it.

    It’s one piece of metal for the main body, so all that gunk doesn’t get stuck in there. It’s also nice and sturdy and doesn’t have too much excess stuff.

    Also, the touchpad is to die for. It’s gigantic, feels great, and the way you click is fantastic: Instead of having 2 buttons below the touchpad, you simply click the whole thing down wherever your finger is. It’s fast, accurate, and you don’t accidentally move the pointer when you want to click. To right click, you just click with 2 fingers. It also supports all that 2 fingered zooming and scrolling stuff the iPhone started.

    And believe me, I’m no mac fanboy. I just recognize what a great job they’ve done with their phone and latest laptop.

    The catch is it only comes with a gloss screen. Which is pretty much a dealbreaker for me.

    Reply
29. 

    plmko

    June 17, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    If you can find one get a HP DV5-1139TX, it has a 15″ screen, 4gb of ram, 400gb HDD, 512mb Nvidia 9600GT graphics, 2.53ghz Intel Dual core. All for $1500AUD.
    I’m enjoying L4D on full graphics!!!

    Reply
30. 

    Savin Wangtal

    June 17, 2009 at 7:27 pm

    Well.. why not wait a bit and get those Nvidea Ion stuff? Those seems to be very good. Ultra cheap, tiny, yet it will play any games (or HD media) out there.

    Reply
31. 

    leviN

    June 17, 2009 at 8:25 pm

    asus or msi laptops are cheap. gaming laptop you’ll be wanting something with a good gfx card that won’t churn and burn out like the dell xps does after a year

    Reply
32. 

    Steve

    June 17, 2009 at 9:41 pm

    Check here:

    http://forum.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=789276&highlight=asus+m51va-as046g

    Reply
33. 

    Cheuk

    June 18, 2009 at 1:39 pm

    The current laptop I’m using is pretty good. It’s an Acer Aspire 6920G.

    Intel Core 2 Duo T8300
    16″ FullHD 1080P Widescreen (i know, weird 16″)
    512MB NVIDIA Geforce 9500M
    2GB RAM
    250GB HDD
    Blu-Ray
    Wireless 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N
    5.1 Surround Sound Output with Bass booster.

    It’s more of a media laptop, with bluray and HDMI-out support, a funky/weird media touch panel for volume/play/stop/forward/back control.

    Heat is also surprisingly not a problem, since it has a pretty good cooling system. I can actually use this on my lap and not feel uncomfortable.

    I haven’t tried Crysis on this laptop, but it runs TF2 on mid-high settings no problems. Same with NWN2.

    Reply