Looking at getting a laptop

Ausaris

Baseband Member
Messages
62
Location
Canada
Hey all, i'm back for advice again, but this time it's about laptops!

So, I bought a samsung galaxy tab 2 10.1" quite a while ago to replace my old laptop, bought a nice case and bluetooth keyboard for it, and it was great! But, now that i've had it long enough for the novelty to wear off, I barely use it anymore and want to switch back to the laptop world.

The mobile games got old within the first few months, watching my shows on it can be uncomfortable because of the smaller screen and awkward positions I need to be in while doing so, and even with the keyboard (which is far too small for me) I absolutely hate using it for my writing and schoolwork.

Essentially, i'm looking for a laptop that will be functional for the things I just mentioned; doing schoolwork in Excel, Powerpoint, and Word, hanging out on forums and running a simple website/blog, and watching my shows while comfortably seated on my bed/couch. But aside from the things I could sort-of do on the tablet; I wouldn't mind being able to play some of my games on steam, and if it can run AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor it would give me more maneuverability when working on projects for school. I would also like to know it will last me a good while.

The one i'm looking at right now is the Inspiron 15 3000 Series Non-Touch, but the only two reviews on the site say they had problems with it. The cheaper one HERE has a lot more reviews, and most of them are positive. I could also go a step up into the 5000 series and get THIS, although I can't see much of a difference between it and the first 3000 series I linked. I'm looking for a 15" because all my old laptops were 15", and I found the size was perfect; anything bigger or smaller feels awkward.

So basically, my question here is; is a Dell Inspiron any good for what I would want/in general? I am looking at Dell laptops because I would be able to finance it, which will allow me to save the money for now and pay it off in the summer once I start working full-time again, and all before the 6 month interest-free period ends! :p

Thanks in advance!
 
Post your budget, and what kind of games you're wanting to play.

IMO, I'd avoid Dells.
 
Without the financing option, my budget would be next to nil; probably about $300 max (Taxes and everything included). Which isn't gonna get me much lol That's why I was hoping one of the Dells would be worth getting, I don't have much room in my budget until summer break starts and I get back to work full-time.

As for the games i'd be playing, would most likely just be stuff along the lines of banished and some smaller RPG games that I have on steam. I play all my high-graphics games on my desktop, and the games i'd play on the laptop would probably be just to kill time during my free periods at school or something of the sort. Banished would probably be the main game i'd be playing, now that I think about it, so I really don't think I need much for graphics power. Other than that, if it can handle the HD stream on crunchyroll, and the battery lasts long enough for me to work on my writing and such while out at a coffee shop, it should be exactly what I want.

What would the reason for avoiding Dells be in specific? Basically if the laptop will do the things I mentioned, and will have a decent lifespan, i'll take 'er.
 
Without the financing option, my budget would be next to nil; probably about $300 max (Taxes and everything included). Which isn't gonna get me much lol That's why I was hoping one of the Dells would be worth getting, I don't have much room in my budget until summer break starts and I get back to work full-time.

As for the games i'd be playing, would most likely just be stuff along the lines of banished and some smaller RPG games that I have on steam. I play all my high-graphics games on my desktop, and the games i'd play on the laptop would probably be just to kill time during my free periods at school or something of the sort. Banished would probably be the main game i'd be playing, now that I think about it, so I really don't think I need much for graphics power. Other than that, if it can handle the HD stream on crunchyroll, and the battery lasts long enough for me to work on my writing and such while out at a coffee shop, it should be exactly what I want.

What would the reason for avoiding Dells be in specific? Basically if the laptop will do the things I mentioned, and will have a decent lifespan, i'll take 'er.

I've worked on a lot of Dells. They're not quality units.

Worked on them at 2 places I've worked - as a student tech at the Help Desk when I was attending college where I helped other students, and an actual company where we had Dell as our systems - so I've used both the consumer and business side of their laptops. Both for the most part aren't that great - the Latitude (business) series are slightly better than their consumer line...but not by much.

Honestly I'd look into Lenovo (their Thinkpad line specifically), and maybe HP (but not their lower end systems). If you can, look into MSI or Asus - they make nice laptops that aren't too spendy, just depends if you can find a way to finance them.
 
I've worked on a lot of Dells. They're not quality units.

Worked on them at 2 places I've worked - as a student tech at the Help Desk when I was attending college where I helped other students, and an actual company where we had Dell as our systems - so I've used both the consumer and business side of their laptops. Both for the most part aren't that great - the Latitude (business) series are slightly better than their consumer line...but not by much.

Honestly I'd look into Lenovo (their Thinkpad line specifically), and maybe HP (but not their lower end systems). If you can, look into MSI or Asus - they make nice laptops that aren't too spendy, just depends if you can find a way to finance them.

Lenovo?

What the company that now loads malware by default?
That lenovo?

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/lenovo...rable-hacking-experts-111931281--finance.html

Superfish - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Heck even a lower end HP is more suitable on the merit that malware isnt default on them.
 
Lenovo?

What the company that now loads malware by default?
That lenovo?

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/lenovo...rable-hacking-experts-111931281--finance.html

Superfish - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Heck even a lower end HP is more suitable on the merit that malware isnt default on them.

Not being shipped on new systems since they got called out on it, plus you can just do a reformat with an OEM Win7 disc and poof, it's gone ;).

They still have oustanding build quality - which is what's mostly important in a laptop since it will be moved around constantly, possibly banged against surfaces, etc. Thinkpads are indeed built very well.

Lower end HP won't last as long as a ThinkPad will - software will just degrade into crap and components will go bad - remember the whole dv6 series fiasco anyone? Where they used crappy ventilation and crappy solder, which when the nVidia GPU heated up it caused the solder to melt and crack when cooled? Yeah I'd rather have easily-removable malware than **** build quality.
 
Last edited:
Superfish itself isn't malware. It allowed PCs to be exploited with unpatched holes in the software.

No new Lenovos come bundled with it and they are still quality notebooks.
 
Alright, so avoid Dell at all costs. I was looking at the HP laptops they have on their site, and the HP Beats Special Edition seems to have good reviews by my google search, but they don't have a financing option; I suppose I could pay for it with my student line of credit, as I would be using it for school, which wouldn't cause me too much trouble in the end as I could still work on paying it off when I get back to work in the summer. I'll look into an MSI laptop, as I know that is a very reputable name, but if the HP I linked would be a decent item by you guy's review I think I'll go for it.

By what I read on different review sites and amazon reviews, it has great sound quality, has good processing power and a good GPU, and is good and sturdy. What do you guys think of it?
 
You're paying extra for the Beats name on that one. If a bit of extra sound means a lot to you then go for it.

Otherwise this Acer gives you more for your money. Acer and HP are about the same quality and reliability (middle of the pack). Shopbot found it for even $50 less at DirectCanada (which NCIX owns) so you can pricematch it on NCIX and get it for $100 cheaper than the HP Beats.

APU comparison for the two: AMD A8 5545M vs A10 7300
 
Back
Top Bottom