Good response, thanks. The local shop has only the third one*, though. My googling found that it's slower, but power efficient and works with older games. On that note, I don't think I'm going to install any games on the chosen machine anyway. Well, not many, if I ever do. Basically, a laptop for chrome ;D.

So far, my only reservation is the advice from friend that no portable computer is fine without SSD, and this model doesn't even offer a choice for that. Anything to say about that issue?

--
*Lithuanian link that has the tech stuff on the bottom

 

Not really - I don't have personal experience with one. They're probably right though. I keep hearing from peeps that adding an SSD to their laptop/PC was the single greatest change that they ever made. It makes the system that much more slick that it's a major speed upgrade in itself.

My laptop doesn't have an SSD because at time of purchase I decided that they cost more than I wanted to spend. It's several years later now and they're a lot cheaper, so if you can afford a model with SSD, then make an effort to get one; but if not, then no worries, there's plenty of laptops without them.

It is a little odd for an ultrabook to not have an SSD tho, I think. But at a price point of 290 Euros [$380 USD, £230 GBP] it's hard to complain.

As an aside, you're not wrong to like Asus. They have a reputation for better build quality and less maintenance issues than some other brands. They're not exactly hacker friendly though if you're looking at modifying yours after purchase. Don't get too stuck on them, but they're not bad.

...some time later.

X200CA reviews:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/asus-x200ca_Laptop_review
http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/laptops/1304095/asus-vivobook-x200ca/page/0/1
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/laptops/387484/asus-vivobook-x200ca

After doing a bit of research, it's possible to install an SSD in the X200CA yourself if you want.

You asked for alternative ultrabooks a while ago:

All of the reviews for the X200CA make note of the same problem, that the screen is both poorly lit and also glossy. I suspect that this would make using the X200CA a mild frustration every time as you try and find the right lighting conditions to use it.

Try the Asus Transformer Book T100. It's a little more expensive, and it runs on an Intel Atom chip which is perhaps slower than the Celeron, but it's a slick machine, with awesome battery life, on a small SSD, doubles as a tablet when desired, comes with full Windows 8 and Microsoft Office Home & Student 2013.

It weighs the same as the X200CA. If you need extra storage you can use a micro SD card or a USB hard drive.

The T100 has fewer features than the X200CA but it might suit you better. It seems like a very well put together package. The weakness is the trackpad, but it has a touchscreen anyway so it's unlikely to be an issue.

Some reviews:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/asus-transformer-book-t100_Tablet_review
http://www.notebookreview.com/notebookreview/asus-transformer-book-t100/
http://www.zdnet.com/asus-transform...netbook-in-hybrid-tablet-disguise-7000026837/

 

Awesome, ever more information than I've expected.

As for the T100...

Well, 44% price increase in not a little, it's 44%.

The sad part is that it goes over my planned budged, and I'm not sure how ready I am to budge it around. I am saving for a better gaming machine to buy later - and these 140 euros would go to that one.

Tough choice, but still thanks.

 

It shouldn't be anywhere near 44% more expensive.

Currys UK and PC World UK sell it for only £249.00. That's... 313.45 Euro, only 25 Euro more than the x200CA. If you can't buy it from them, is there nowhere cheap in Europe that you can get it?

 

Capitalism, ho!

I tend to stay away from foreign sellers for technical things that might need warranty coverage. It's a lot more complicated if the warranty service is off-county. Here, their warranty service includes drive to my place, picking the PC, and returning it after fixing.

My personal guess is that the cost is bloated with mandatory ms office. Which I don't need since I get licenses for personal use by working at my company. I could even fire up MS Office 1995 if I so wished.

Sadly, couldn't find cheaper local alternatives for T100 yet.

 

I've realised that I don't really need to game while I live in the US, so my laptop needs now are just cheapish and... That's About it.

I'd like it 15" or smaller, under $600 if possible. I'll be doing a lot of coding and running code, so I'm not sure how that affects requirements.

I really have no idea on this stuff, so I'm open to many suggestions. Cheers guys

 

So, I ordered it, and it got in today. I haven't done much with it yet - just cleaned out the crapware and installed antivirus and stuff. I can type up my thoughts in a week or two if anyone has been looking at the computer and is on the fence.

 

So I know I said I would buy the laptop but I continued saving from my goal of 1200 to 1800 and now I am like a kid in a candy store and I don't know what to purchase.

I don't really go out, I tend to stay at home and only go out like once every three months. Social outings I mean, or situations where I would take a laptop and maybe game. Since it occurs so infrequently I've been considering switching to a desktop.

But that nagging thought that I need a laptop persists. It's all I used to use as a teenager. So for some reason I cling to it.

So maybe it's a bad decision but I'm inching towards a laptop.

I'm looking for something that has 4k resolution and a graphics card. Touchscreen too.

So far the only contenders are the Toshiba P55 and the Lenovo Y50. The Toshiba goes for 1300-1600 and the Lenovo is 1700. That's for the touchscreen 4K version. I am also aware of the soon to be released Asus GX500. I'm a bit of an Asus fanboy. I got a laptop and tablet from them that I enjoyed greatly. The GX500 is rumored to go for 1800-2000. I can save 200 more but at that point I feel I am overpaying for what is an 860M Nvidia chip and 4k monitor.

I should say that these three models will come with an Intel i7 4700 or slightly higher.

I just want the little feeler nodes that is an online community in gathering information about all released and upcoming touchscreen 4k resolution computers. If you see one that I have not listed please let me know.

Also am I crazy for wanting the highest performance for my dollar? At the same time I think I want the highest level of performance. lol. If I could afford a 4960k I would.

Bah.

Then there is also the new chips that intel released. Broadwell. I wonder when they will roll out new chips for laptop computers and not just tablets. It's said to be 30% more energy efficient.

I kind of want to wait now and see what comes out with the new chips. Lower power consumption means more battery life. FOr those rare occasions I do go out.

I will keep looking. I swear it's like a disease. I just keep googling to see what will be released as far as graphics, processors, laptops and other little things.

Thanks for your help locating my perfect laptop.

Edit: Oh god then I see this or this and I drool. I don't know which path to take...

 

I got to be honest and say spending up to 1800 on a laptop seems silly to me, considering just how much hardware you could get if you bought a desktop, not to mention the longevity of a desktop compared to a laptop. They just don't last as long and they get outdated faster, too. Your choice, of course. No judgement from my side

Your choices in desktops look nice, but remember to make room in your budget for the monitor; no sense in buying an awesome desktop if you can't afford a good monitor to go with it.

Try to go for IPS monitors if you want a great picture, or go for 120-140 hertz monitors if it's for gaming. That said, I play on a IPS monitor and I'm pretty happy with my choice, but each to his own.

 

Have you thought about getting a gaming desktop and then a cheaper laptop for basically browsing and some lower resolution gaming for when you're away from home? I assume you're aware of all the drawbacks of gaming on a laptop, especially you wanting 4k resolution will mean that you have to lower the quality options in games quite a bit.

Also I just looked up what the hardware for the Asus PC you linked would cost by itself and, without a case (since that's pretty much personal preference) the hardware itself would cost about $1774,92. If you drop all the unnecessary things from that (like the i7 and the 32GB RAM if you don't do video editing, the Blu-Ray drive if you don't plan to use it and not use such and expensive $190 motherboard like I did in this) it would go down even lower to around $1500.

In addition to a lower price the other advantage of building it yourself is being able to upgrade parts whenever you want. If you were to upgrade or exchange something in a pre-build PC you would most likely loose your warranty (though there might be exceptions to that rule).

 

I have an HD television in my room to which I could connect the PC to. That's why I'm not too worried about the screen. A good 4k screen costs around 800 last I checked and that would dig in too much to the PC cost. I can always save and purchase it at a later point. a 5930K is desirable with a 980 GTX since that's the latest hardware I could probably get. Assuming I can build it.

I will wait for new laptop hardware. A PC looks more and more appealing now though. Especially since as you pointed out it would be relevant longer.

Curse my indecisiveness. I'm glad I have time to wait for new laptop hardware.

 

So, I wanted to buy a good gaming desktop a few months ago, had a thread here and all, but some stuff happened and I couldn't go through with it. By now, the laptop that I've been using is slowly but surely dying, so, I need to find a replacement. Seeing that will be moving frequently between 2 places, for at least a year, and that I need a laptop for university, that replacement has to be a laptop.

I'm living in Germany, and am willing to spend somewhere between 600 and 700€ on it. Not going to do any video editing or other similar shenanigans on it. It will be used for uni work, writing, surfing the web (tumblr, fanfiction, watching series, web comics etc) and occasionally gaming.

Now, I know that there are few true gaming laptops in that price range, and I don't need one per se. I've been using the Medion Akoya P6624 for the past 3-4 years and honestly, it had been completely sufficient for the games I've been playing. (Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Civ 5 recently, Telltale games, Assassin's Creed until revelation)

Also, I use the laptop a lot, no matter where I am. Generally speaking, every day from just a few hours to 12+ hours, depending on where I am and what I have to do.

So, ideally, for that price, it should be a laptop that can withstand that sort of usage, and play games as those listed above, including the new dragon age, fluently.

I have no idea whether I had just the devil's luck with my last laptop and it's generally impossible to play games fluently with specks like those but yeah, I'd be looking for something similar. A laptop that isn't super expensive but can do those kind of things just fine. Do not need to play Titanfall on high def or anything or play COD online. I would at most play stuff like Team Fortress 2 and Overwatch online.

Are there reccs you'd have for me, laptops on sale in Germany or a reliable online store for that?

So far, I've found the MEDION AKOYA P6647, DELL Inspiron 15 5547 -3214, Acer Aspire E5-771G-59AT and the Asus X555LN-XO112H.

Specks I've been looking for so far were 8 GB RAM, and either and i5 or i7. Am completely lost on the graphic cards, so, hence me asking here. Are those to viable options? Are there better? So far, the Acer Aspire has been my favorite.

 

So you need something with good battery life. You'll have to look up (user-)reviews for that, since no one here who doesn't own/knows someone who owns the same model you want to go for will be able to really help with that.

What exactly do you mean by fluently? Are we talking 1080p 60FPS with the highest settings, or do you not care about what the game looks like?

You should check out any deals that stores (Expert, MediaMarkt, Saturn, PC-Spezialst etc.) near you have. As for online stores, it's pretty much the same ones you would by hardware from. Besides Amazon the nex biggest three are probably Mindfactory, Alternate and Caseking. Mindfactory tends to be the cheapest out of those three, but you should still use geizhals to find the cheapest price.

The 825M in the Medion isn't really that great, and if you care for graphical fidelity in the new Dragon Age you probably shouldn't pick that one. Also SSHDs are worse compared to a proper SSD+HDD combo. The GPU in the Dell is even worse, so I wouldn't go for it. The Acer looks pretty good, but it's got a 1080p display, and since I assume you'll want to run games in the native resolution the 840M could become a problem if you don't turn other things down. The Asus is basically a worse version of the Acer, so you can completely irgnore it.

That's pretty much it. Getting one with a 860M would be nice, but you probably won't find one within your budget. You could maybe find one with a 850M - that would also be pretty good, but if none of those appeal to you with their other specs you can go for a 840M (though I would advice against getting anything lower). Do you have a copy of Windows you can use? If yes maybe this one that has a 850M. It has only 4GB RAM and no SSD, but unlike a GPU those are things you can upgrade later if you want. It also comes without windows, so if you don't have a copy you can use you'd have to buy one for 39€.

If you'd rather get one where you don't have to upgrade but with a lesser GPU (unless you can find one with a 850M and 8GB RAM that's in your budget), then the Acer you've found looks pretty good, though I would still advice you to look for deals in your local shops. You can also open a thread here on computerbase for some additional opinions, and to get some input from people who also know the AMD alternatives to Nvidia (since I personally only know my way around Nvidias mobile GPUs).

 

Thanks for your help once again. Sorry that you helped me so much last time and I ended up not getting the desktop >_>

With fluently I mean that I don't really need highest resolution of the triple A games but it shouldn't be the crappiest resolution either. Solid middle ground in that regard would be my preference. Don't care that much for graphics as long as the game runs without lag.

Hmm, rather than spending 700 for a laptop with a meh graphics card and then 40 € for windows, I guess it would be smarter to make 800 the limit and go for one that has both.

The Acer Aspire VN7-571G-52DB seems to be good in that regard, or the Lenovo U430p, Lenovo U430 and Lenovo U530. Although, I do not care much for touchscreens. Don't need one, so, just because those three Lenovo's had them, don't think I'm seeking them out.

 

Heh don't sweat about the desktop, things change.

The lenovos all have the GT 720M, it's rather old now and since it's a X20 GPU it doesn't really have that great performance - it's worse than the 840. The Acers looks good but...I don't like that the base clock of the i5 is at 1.7 GHz. It's already only a dual core (only the mobile i7s are quad cores), and couple that with such a low baseclock. He can go up to 2.7 via turbo boost, but if the notebook gets to hot it'll throttle down. I'd say wait for another opinion on that one, since I'm not really sure how well it would perform (I'm more of a desktop-guy).

 

I strongly recommend the Acer solely because it has the SSD+HDD combo. HDD on its own is slow, and an SSD on its own doesn't have enough space for everything (unless you have an external drive of course).

As for the rest of the bits, the only thing that should matter would be the video card. An SSD+HDD combo and a good (no need for great) video card are gong to be able to handle anything outside of heavy video editing - everything else just fits around those two bits.

 

Okay, will then be looking for laptops that have SSD+HDD combos, graphic cards that are 840 and upwards and processors with base clocks higher than 1.7.

One that has all three, and with preferably 8GB Ram would be the best option, if I understood correctly.

The thread on computerbase recommended this laptop:

MSI GE60-2PCi745FD (0016GF-SKU13)

No SSD and only 4GB Ram but both of these are things I can upgrade later on, at least, I should be able to. But it's 800 without windows, so, there is that as well.

Was in a store today, and they brought the one that was mentioned in the thread and these ones to my attention:

MSI GP60-Proi545FD and MSI GP60-2PEi585

---------- Post automerged 21-11-2014 at 09:29 AM ---------- Previous post was 20-11-2014 at 09:44 AM ----------

Okay, first, sorry for the double post.

Second, i think I have things relatively measured out, at least as close to it as someone like me can get.

I'm pretty sure that barring a surprise entry, I'm going to go with one of two things:

It's going to be either the MSI GE60-2PCi745FD or the MSI GP60-Proi545FD.

They are virtually the same except for one big thing and a few small things. The big difference is first, that the 2PCI has an i7 while Proi54 has an i5. It also has one less USB 2.0 slot and only a 3 in 1 card reader as opposed to the 4 in 1 of the 2PCI. It also lacks a glowing keyboard, which is a feature I really don't care about.

Basically, it is the difference between an i5 and an i7. Is an i7, for my purposes, worth the difference in 100 €? Because otherwise, I'd go with the cheaper one and with the money would get the 4GB Kingston ValueRAM and the 128GB ADATA XPG SX300 mSATA. or Crucial M500 120GB, mSATA 6Gb/sif, if those fit, of course.

What do you guys say?

 

Well at this point it seems that MSI never ships laptops with windows.

As for the CPU, I can only second what Tammy said on CB. The i5 is a dual-core and the i7 a quad. I'd say you're probably fine with the i5 if you don't crank the graphic settings up to high, but I can't be sure (especially since I can't find any benchmarks for the i5, or the laptop itself). In the end getting the one with the i7 would probably be safer, unless you can find some benchmarks for the i5 or get some way to test it (keep in mind that if you order online you could just send it back within 14 days if it doesn't hold up and get the one with the i7 instead - though I'd assume you'd rather avoid that).

 

Okay, think I will get the i7 one then, I think. Thank you so much for your help. One last question, I prefer windows 7 but is there a reason to go with windows 8?

 

Win 8 has a few DX11 effects that win 7 doesn't have, and is a bit faster. I'd say go with whatever you prefer or whatever is cheaper, it's really not that much of a difference if you don't have a touchscreen.