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Jul - Computers and Technology - Getting curious with laptops New poll - New thread - New reply
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Gabu

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Posted on 10-11-11 07:25:35 PM (last edited by Gabu at 10-11-11 05:18 PM) Link | Quote
I'm starting to realize more and more that my computer, while I love many things about it, is becoming a slow, buggy piece of shit. And since I'm on a significant part of the time, I'm constantly tethered to my room and that's NO GOOD. So I'm thinking of buying/asking for a laptop. Or maybe a bit of both there since family is LOL POOR. I would also think that it'd be easier to take a laptop to school versus a big machine.

However, the problem lies in the fact that money is an issue, and I still would want a decent laptop for the money. I've looked at refurbished models on Best Buy and like the fact that 4GB RAM (upgradable to 8GB) Acers are on there for relatively cheap, though $260 would still be very expensive according to my family. And yet, I know that anything below $200 would be a useless piece of crap unless I bought it from someone else.

I'm just sick of my computer getting pokier and pokier when I'm doing the same things as I've always done on them. I've even tried conserving how many programs I have opened at the same time, and even downgraded the visual appearance to classic windows to try and speed it up a little, but to no effect.

Yes, I've defragged, checked for malware, and all that rigamarole. It's just not working like it used to be, even when I first got it used (from the family, since my sister didn't want her even older model anymore)

tl;dr WHAT DO

edit: this new school library computer I'm on, while having a better and actually dual-core processor has pretty much the same stats everywhere else, while running Windows 7.

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Posted on 10-11-11 09:25:40 PM Link | Quote
To be honest you might not get very far on 260.00 not unless you want a netbook in that price range.
Minus the fact most netbooks that are consumer affordable will have a decent single core cpu.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230091

If you can wait until the second week of november and add on 70.00 to your 260.00 this will be well worth it.



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Joe
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From: Pororoca

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Posted on 10-11-11 09:28:58 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Gabu
tl;dr WHAT DO
I'm not really one for buying laptops, so I don't think I could help you much there.

But, about your current computer... Have you ever cleaned the dust out of it? Some computers will slow down to avoid overheating.

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Gabu

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Posted on 10-12-11 01:08:09 AM Link | Quote
I honestly keep telling myself to go out and get some, but I've never got around to it. Even if I did manage to get that done though, my computer would still be getting slower and slower as it gets older. Plus since I want to leave the state anyway, while having an old machine would be a burglary deterrent, it would still take up a lot of precious space.

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Posted on 10-12-11 01:47:03 AM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Gabu
I honestly keep telling myself to go out and get some, but I've never got around to it.
Just open it up and pull out the clumps of dust. Use a toothpick or something to scrape dust off of fans and heatsinks, if there's any you can't reach with your fingers. If there's so much dust it overheats, you won't need canned air.

If you can make it work better, you might be able to sell it to make up for some of the cost of the laptop.

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Bagel

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Posted on 10-12-11 02:11:43 AM Link | Quote
The problem with laptops is that if you spend less than ~$650-700 on one you'll probably end up with something that doesn't last very long. Anything below $300 will probably be some kind of netbook that will not really be capable of much and could lack all kinds of ports, or have the ports but terrible battery life, or have low build quality, or something.

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Mike
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Posted on 10-12-11 03:53:29 AM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Bagel
The problem with laptops is that if you spend less than ~$650-700 on one you'll probably end up with something that doesn't last very long. Anything below $300 will probably be some kind of netbook that will not really be capable of much and could lack all kinds of ports, or have the ports but terrible battery life, or have low build quality, or something.



I agree with this mostly if you don't need a tank to tote around with you when you travel, a netbook with high end features is best.

Two I highly recommend for netbooks is MSI and ASUS, also keep in mind that netbooks late last year and this year are becoming alot more powerfull for those that need the speed and productivity side of office or college type work.

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paulguy

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Posted on 10-12-11 08:47:59 AM Link | Quote
Paulguy's Post configuration
Black friday and christmas season overall are coming up, so you might find some decent deals, but still expect to spend about $500 on a decent, long lasting laptop during a crazy sale like that. I'd say $400 for an absolute minimum, and skip out on high end gaming options (but if you can, make sure you can at least get SOME kind of nvidia or ATI graphics chipset, even if it's a low end one.).

Also, computers don't just "get slower" with age. If they're getting slower, something is malfunctioning either in software or something like overheating causing the system to underclock things. Beyond that, it'll perform the same as when you got it. On the other hand, if you're comparing like, playing games from 5 years ago to playing current games, then yeah, it will be "slower".

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Gabu

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Posted on 01-31-12 08:07:51 AM Link | Quote
I've poked into my parent's tax forms (seeing that I already need to look at them for the FAFSA). Maybe, just maybe, I can open up the conversation for a new compy.

In the meantime, I've essentially figured out that Firefox is the likely culprit in bringing my computer down the shit hole in terms of speed, so, like on dad's computer, I'll downgrade back to 3.6 and have it not look for updates. Maaaaybe 4. But if I'm correct on this assumption, then I probably won't complain about speed as much.

And I guess while I'm at it, install Avast or something. The new version of ZoneAlarm dad insisted I download also bogs down my computer something fierce.

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neotransotaku
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Posted on 01-31-12 11:30:54 PM Link | Quote
The question I have for you is...what do you do on it? Based on what you will be doing on it will determine what kind of components you need in it. If you are a gamer who cares about FPS and awesome graphics, then you need to chalk up some dough. But if you are a college student who needs something to type documents on, read email, play flash games, then you can back off on the top of the line components and get something of last generation and still be good for another year or three so that you can save up for something nicer.

Also for computers that bog down, a fresh OS install is helpful as well.
Gabu

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Posted on 02-01-12 03:13:41 AM Link | Quote
I'm a little bit of both, really. I need a laptop for college, but considering a lot of programs I use are graphical, would need a higher end laptop.

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Jul - Computers and Technology - Getting curious with laptops New poll - New thread - New reply


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