New laptop

[ICIT2LOL]

A, thinking of going a new laptop as I have jusy given my old Toshiba A200 to the pertners daughter and it was my back up.

Currently a Toshiba L550 with SSD 8MB RAM and 8.1 running 7 style but think I need to get myself something a little better.

I have been looking at the Toshiba P70 with the full HD screen and plenty more but also the
HP Envy 17-J108TX both with heaps of RAM, 17.3" screens (a must have) although the Toshiba has the better specs is $400 more.

An ideas - use is just general surfing here Ebay mail etc.

 

[essenbe]

John, just my opinion. If all you are going to do with it is browse the net, email and stuff, go with the cheapest one. You won't notice a difference.

 

[Mellon Head]

John, I've had zero luck with HP laptops so I can't recommend them but the Toshiba seems a bit on the high side for just general use. Isn't there something with the same size screen with half decent specs that doesn't cost as much as the Toshiba? Just my $0.02, but I would look at ACER and ASUS lappies to see if I could find something similar to the P70 without the high price tag.

Like essenbe says, you won't notice the difference in general use.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok Steve I just thought the i7 would be quicker but I suppose as this machine has an i5 430M I could cope with it as the new stuff is as you know the 4th gen Intel cores. The one thing I will not be without though is the 17.3 screen and the res on that Toshiba just seemed to be so good but there again one is paying a premium price for it.

I mainly asked because most of my browsing and stuff is done at Lynne's place and work when I get the chance. But I am trying with a few simple graphical things.

One thing I did notice is that fair few come with hybrid drives which is very interesting as I have just put in one of those drives for Lynne's daughter and it really is very quick even it is an old Toshiba A200 with only 2GB DDR2 RAM and I am waiting a 1TB for Lynne's machine so I keep you up to speed (no pun) on how it goes as her machine is reasonably slow too.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

John, I've had zero luck with HP laptops so I can't recommend them but the Toshiba seems a bit on the high side for just general use. Isn't there something with the same size screen with half decent specs that doesn't cost as much as the Toshiba? Just my $0.02, but I would look at ACER and ASUS lappies to see if I could find something similar to the P70 without the high price tag.

Like essenbe says, you won't notice the difference in general use.

Yes mate I have my eye set on an HP I did see on display but there seems to be a lot of threads in here with HP problems and I know they do have a lot of bloat.

Trouble is too remember that stuff out here is genrally speaking a lot higher priced than in the US for example even though we are very close to China and Japan and do a lot of trade with them.

Anyway am not going to rush in and seeing I have had so many bad experiences with Toshiba in the past until I have put new drives and RAM in them (for reasons I cannot fathom) it will need to be very good deal on one of them.

 

[essenbe]

John, unless I'm mistaken, I believe the i5-430M is a 1ST Gen I core CPU. I think you would find more features and better performance in a 3rd or 4th Gen core.

 

[andrew129260]

Why not just get a tablet? That's what there made for.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

This was just on sale for $399.00 with free shipping. If you max the ram and place a inexpensive ssd in this it will scream !

Dell Inspiron Intel Core i3 4GB Memory 500GB HDD 17.3 Notebook Windows 8.1 64-bit - I5748-2143SLV at TigerDirect.com

I use a HP with an i3, 8gb of 1600 and 256 ssd and it does everything well but game or render fast.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok I might just go with the i5 and not being funny or anything Andrew but I do really not like those tablets - my son has one and maybe because I am old fashioned it is to me a bit of a gimmicky toy.

I just like a bit of overkill and well at my age and finally winding down from work feel like treating myself for a change

Linne we cannot access Tiger or Newegg out here and prices are in general about 30% more than folks in the US pay for gear so I am looking at something (if I didn't mention) around $1200 - $1400 and even that is fairly low cost for a decent machine.

My other problem is living out in the country one doesn't have the access to choice from the major stores like they do in Sydney or Melbourne where the prices are better because of the competition.

I get my hardware and general supplies from Melbourne and was looking at what tye have and found what I want ranges from this MSI CR70 17.3in Notebook [2M-063AU] [CR70-2M-063AU] - $899.00 : PC Case Gear

to

MSI GP70 Leopard 17.3in Gaming Notebook [2PE-016AU] [GP70-2PE-016AU] - $1449.00 : PC Case Gear

in my price range. Now I know the last one is a gamer and I really don't know much about MSI apart from not seeing it mentioned much and a few threads with issues.
The one I saw that originally gave me the idea to renew as this
HP Envy 17-J108TX Laptop - Laptops - Computers - Computers & Tablets | Harvey Norman Australia < it was $120 less than this price and I did try it in the store and I could probably beat them down a tad but again one see so many HP problems in here I wonder.
But it does show pricewise the situation out here.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Have just found this from my local suppliers at a very reasonable price - only thing is that I have not seen many good things about MSI stuff.
MSI CR70 17.3in Notebook [2M-063AU] [CR70-2M-063AU] - $899.00 : PC Case Gear there is also this one but everyone is saying an i7 is overkill
MSI GP70 Leopard 17.3in Gaming Notebook [2PE-016AU] [GP70-2PE-016AU] - $1449.00 : PC Case Gear although maybe for graphical stuff it might be better.
Depends o that brand of course.

Have just seen these too but again not real sure http://www.dell.com/au/p/laptops.as...40~0~282306,42240~0~192326,42240~0~192325&p=1

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Well heck I thought you wanted or needed a more basic machine but if your talking about splashing out some then the MSI Leopard looks wicked. I've been admiring these MSI lappys for some time. My point is for this basic surfing needs the top i3 with a nice ssd and 8gb of ram does provide a level of performance more than up to that task.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yep well I picked those last machines out because I can afford them and not just for the specs though the screen size is the top priority. I must say I do like some overkill though.

 

[Angelina786]

Hi
I have terrible luck with Toshiba and lenovo so can't recommend these on the other hand samsung and sony are the best choices for laptop. The rest is your choice

 

[Computer0304]

The MSI laptops get way better reviews than their motherboards, they seem to have the best price-performance ratio. The GP70 Leopard seems overkill but overkill is always better than underkill if affordable.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yep Angelina the Toshiba's I have had have all had bad faults mainkly in the rubbish hard drives they put in them. Both of my existing two have SSD's and an OEM the only fix in my view.

Yep Computer overkill is better when I leant that form my Sandy Bridge build so when doing the Ivy Bridge I went the K Intel i5 instead of the bog standard i5 and find it a bit more fun if nothing else and so I might give the MSI a try.

The Dells look good but I alwasy think there is a such a confounded performance if one has to return one on warranty.

 

[andrew129260]

I actually find lenovo quite good.

My order is: (top best to bottom)


-Asus (don't confuse with acer)
-HP
-Lenovo
-Sony (they are no longer in the business)
-Toshiba
-Dell
-Acer

 

[Computer0304]

Yep Angelina the Toshiba's I have had have all had bad faults mainkly in the rubbish hard drives they put in them. Both of my existing two have SSD's and an OEM the only fix in my view.

Yep Computer overkill is better when I leant that form my Sandy Bridge build so when doing the Ivy Bridge I went the K Intel i5 instead of the bog standard i5 and find it a bit more fun if nothing else and so I might give the MSI a try.

The Dells look good but I alwasy think there is a such a confounded performance if one has to return one on warranty.

Yeah same for me about Toshiba. The hard drive was close to failing and I almost lost my data. (I didn't know about SevenForums back then)

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Very similar experience and the first one was two weeks out of warranty - $500 to replace and wished I had know about this forum and fixing stuff a bit more than I did.
The second was so irritating I just swapped it out for an SSD and an OEM - cheaper than the other one!!