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Looking to buy a new laptop, any suggestions?


Zalor

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So it's about time I finally get a new laptop, and I'm in need of help for searching for one. I really would appreciate advice since this is likely going to be a 4 - 5 year investment. The laptop I am currently using I have been using for 4 years, and I want to at least get the same amount of life (if not more) from my next one. 

What I am looking for:

1) As a college student, I need a sturdy and portable laptop. It is the importance of this aspect that has even got me flirting with making the jump to a MAC, since those laptops I could easily fit in my bag and bring anywhere. They load up fast and are ready to go. My biggest problem with my current laptop is how it was hardly portable. It felt very flimsy moving it around, and I mostly treated it like a desktop. So if you know any well built and nicely portable windows laptops I would greatly appreciate suggestions of brands and models. 

2) I want to be able to play VN's. I am not much of a gamer, and the games I do play tend to be retro games on emulator. So while I of course want a laptop with good specs, I am not in the need of the high specs that gamers are desperate for. All I really want to do is browse the web, watch anime/movies, do work, play some retro games, and read VNs. 

3) I mentioned earlier that I am flirting with getting a MAC. If I do, what is the best way to play VNs. Are Windows XP emulators reliable enough? Would I need to do bootcamp? Can I realistically read VNs with a MAC? 

4) If there are well-built, slim, sturdy Windows 10 laptops, what are they. I really dont want to switch to a MAC, but again, the portability factor is very important to me. A list of brand and model names would be really appreciated (links would also be very appreciated).

5) Long battery life is important. 

6) My budget is $1000 - $1500. No more than that.

So yeah, this is what I am looking for. If you guys could help me out, I would be very grateful. 

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If you want to play VNs, don't get a Mac.  Running Windows via Bootcamp or Parallels does work, but you'll run out of storage pretty fast, and depending on the hardware, newer VNs may very well run like crap.  As someone that's actually tried this, don't do it.  If you already had a Mac, it'd be different, but I cannot, in good conscience, recommend getting a Mac if you want to play VNs.

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Avoid consumer models if build quality sturdiness concerned.

For $1000-1500 you can go gamey flashy high speccy 15.6" model with i7 and 970M+, something like Asus ROG Strix that still manages to weight < 5lbs (4.8ish) in the end and not a massive brick 6lbs+ https://www.amazon.com/GL502VY-DS71-Gaming-Laptop-NVIDIA-GTX980M/dp/B01G1TURPG // review http://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-ROG-Strix-GL502VY-DS71-Notebook-Review.167930.0.html

Or mainstream "i has da monies and don't need specs!@#" premiums 13.5" Microsoft Surface Book. Kinda small to have 2000p resolution on a 13.5" screen so you may wanna consider other premium options, but lemme tell you, small <3lb convertibles/2in1s lappys where you can detach screen from keyboard are actually really, really neat in the portability department and your lounging around potentials if all you really intend to do is web browse, youtube, netflix, manga, VNs, any media in general

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Microsoft-Surface-Book-Core-i7-940M-Convertible-Review.160679.0.html

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3 hours ago, Zalor said:

What I am looking for:

I would actually recommend you an ultrabook. The cons are power and ... well storage, but you're not a power gamer and an ultrabook will easily allow you to watch anime, play VNs and retro games, and surf the web. They have far more power than a typical netbook (don't confuse the two) and typically are priced lower than your price range. The storage issue is because they typically come with solid state drives.

An ultra book is light, slim, and easily portable.

Ultrabooks are fast, typically with solid state drives, but then again any computer with those drives are fast.

An ultrabook has a longer battery life because they don't need much power. Check the link below for some suggestions :P 

http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/laptops/best-ultrabook-18-top-thin-and-lights-1054355 

 

Actually I just looked at the prices in the link I posted … yeah, don’t check out those laptops 0.0

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Stick with Windows or setup Linux.  Mac is crap from a VN-player's point of view.

I recommend you find one that lets you keep Windows 7, as many older VNs and games simply don't have workarounds for 10.  At least with 7, the issues with various VNs are relatively well known. 

Stay away from gimmicks like SSDs if you aren't a heavy gamer.  They inflate the price a lot.  Consider getting a refurbished laptop if you find one that looks interesting within your budget. 

For someone who uses a laptop for writing, smaller laptops mean a smaller and more simplified keyboard... in other words, they mean a crappier experience.  At the very least, you'll want a 15".

Get last year's or 2014's model.  It'll reduce your costs if you don't find something refurbished.

Edited by Clephas
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8 hours ago, Zalor said:

2) I want to be able to play VN's. I am not much of a gamer, and the games I do play tend to be retro games on emulator. So while I of course want a laptop with good specs, I am not in the need of the high specs that gamers are desperate for. All I really want to do is browse the web, watch anime/movies, do work, play some retro games, and read VNs.

Just to be on the safe side, I recommend a laptop with a Radeon graphics card pre-installed. Some VNs require high specs to run properly, especially those that use the Emote system for animations. Standard Intel graphics cards may have difficulty running those.

Edited by KonpekiUmi
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2 hours ago, KonpekiUmi said:

Just to be on the safe side, I recommend a laptop with a Radeon graphics card pre-installed. Some VNs require high specs to run properly, especially those that use the Emote system for animations. Standard Intel graphics cards may have difficulty running those.

Agree on that. I have an onboard Intel graphic in my laptop (i5 8gb RAM DDR3 1 TB storage) card and tell you, if it's within your budget, go for a Radeon graphic card. 

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3 hours ago, KonpekiUmi said:

Just to be on the safe side, I recommend a laptop with a Radeon graphics card pre-installed. Some VNs require high specs to run properly, especially those that use the Emote system for animations. Standard Intel graphics cards may have difficulty running those.

E-mote works fine on my intel though. :sachi: 

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At that price point I would suggest the Microsoft Surface Book, HP Spectre X360, Dell XPS or some Lenovo Yoga, not too familiar with their models. Personally I would choose the Suface out of those, but the Spectre X360 is a solid laptop too and the battery life is enough to last through a school day.

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Thanks everyone for your replies! It's been a while since I last needed to search for a laptop, and I had no idea where to start looking. You have all helped me narrow down my options enough where I am now much closer to picking something. Very much appreciated. 

5 hours ago, atorq said:

At that price point I would suggest the Microsoft Surface Book, HP Spectre X360, Dell XPS or some Lenovo Yoga, not too familiar with their models. Personally I would choose the Suface out of those, but the Spectre X360 is a solid laptop too and the battery life is enough to last through a school day.

Actually, those are the laptops I have mostly narrowed my selection down to. I have just done a lot of research on the Lenovo Yoga and Dell XPS. Of those two I am more likely to get the Dell XPS. You recommended Spectre X360, is there any reason for that? I haven't much looked into this one yet. 

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9 hours ago, Zalor said:

Actually, those are the laptops I have mostly narrowed my selection down to. I have just done a lot of research on the Lenovo Yoga and Dell XPS. Of those two I am more likely to get the Dell XPS. You recommended Spectre X360, is there any reason for that? I haven't much looked into this one yet. 

It's the only one I have personal experience from, I bought it last year and ended up choosing it over the XPS (there was no Suface Book at this point and for some reason I ruled out Lenovo) for a number of reasons, full aluminum body, touchscreen available at a lower price (might have changed this year), supposedly better keyboard and better availability, for some reason almost no one sells Dell here anymore. Overall I would say I'm happy with my choice, but it hasn't been without it's faults. After about half a year of use one of the hinges got loose, would most likely have been just one screw that needed tightening but I ended up sending it in anyway. Smooth and quick process but the adjustment of the hinge was done so poorly that I ended up opening it up by myself anyway to adjust it.

The ridiculously large touch pad is mostly nice, almost Macbook nice, to use but the right click area is way too small. The keyboard is very nice, perhaps the best laptop keyboard I have used. The touch ends up getting utilized way less than it could, but it's definitely a nice feature to have and can be more useful with a pen if you for example need to write down a formula.

Edited by atorq
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Try ironside

http://ironsidecomputers.com/page.php?load=laptops

They start at just $1000 and should be able to run any VN at super mega max settings and some newer games at med-high. If you're interested DM me I have a discount code. I got my Dektop from them and it's the greatest PC I have ever owned. They also have incredibly fast support and will help you with any problem you have. I usually get a response within a day.

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