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19 Posts
Note: tl;dr at the bottom, sorry for length
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I've spent the majority of my free time in the last two weeks researching laptops. It's getting a little ridiculous - I'm sure many of you can relate - and I'd like to just make a decision so I can get back to enjoying my life, haha.
My currently laptop is the Alienware M11X R1, which I got for $550 or so in February. I've been mostly happy with it, but of the games I play on a regular basis, the only one it plays especially well is League of Legends. Starcraft 2, being CPU intensive, still stutters somewhat on low, and Battlefield 3 is pretty much out of the question. MW2 runs amazingly well maxed out, but I don't play it very much due to long matchmaking, and Black Ops doesn't run well.
Since the M11X is heavy, chunky, and not particularly good at the games I play, I decided to sell and replace it. Ebay prices seem to be relatively close to what I paid for it, so I shouldn't take much of a loss. My first thought was to replace it with a laptop better suited for gaming, so I could play BF3 on the weekends, which I spend away from my desktop.
Candidates:
HP Envy 14 - latest generation with 160gb SSD for $999 on Amazon, last generation with Radiance + 256gb SSD for $1100 on eBay
Lenovo Y470 - $850 for i7 QM model, $699 for i5, both with 550m
M11X R3 - lacks the new and fun aspect of other choices, but maintains the portability while beefing up the specs substantially
There are quite a few more options in this category, but the trouble really comes from this: it occured to me that getting a laptop that is BAD at gaming could be a very GOOD thing. I'm a writer, and I have a nasty procrastination habit, which gaming contributes to. So, getting an ultraportable would mean that gaming isn't a distraction 3 days a week.
Candidates:
Macbook Air: 2011 or 2010, 2010 brings lower price and better gaming performance for moments of weakness, while 2011 is snappier overall with a slightly better keyboard.
Samsung Series 9: $1039 13" refurb on Ebay - sexy, but falls short of the MBA's touchpad and resolution. Also has many reports of poor Wifi performance.
Ultrabooks: I'm not big on the Acer that just launched, but the Asus UX21 looks promising.
The short list today seems to be HP Envy for the first category, due to SSD, build quality, display, and great audio w/ headphones or speakers, and an 11" Air for the second. I think I would slightly prefer the 13" for pure use considerations and battery life, but the size of the 11 would make it more easy to bring everywhere, and it's cheaper.
tl;dr Replace M11X with an ultraportable to focus on writing/schoolwork or a more capable 14" laptop, and which one [for both]
Thanks, I'd appreciate any help getting this godawful decision out of the way.
Corin
I've spent the majority of my free time in the last two weeks researching laptops. It's getting a little ridiculous - I'm sure many of you can relate - and I'd like to just make a decision so I can get back to enjoying my life, haha.
My currently laptop is the Alienware M11X R1, which I got for $550 or so in February. I've been mostly happy with it, but of the games I play on a regular basis, the only one it plays especially well is League of Legends. Starcraft 2, being CPU intensive, still stutters somewhat on low, and Battlefield 3 is pretty much out of the question. MW2 runs amazingly well maxed out, but I don't play it very much due to long matchmaking, and Black Ops doesn't run well.
Since the M11X is heavy, chunky, and not particularly good at the games I play, I decided to sell and replace it. Ebay prices seem to be relatively close to what I paid for it, so I shouldn't take much of a loss. My first thought was to replace it with a laptop better suited for gaming, so I could play BF3 on the weekends, which I spend away from my desktop.
Candidates:
HP Envy 14 - latest generation with 160gb SSD for $999 on Amazon, last generation with Radiance + 256gb SSD for $1100 on eBay
Lenovo Y470 - $850 for i7 QM model, $699 for i5, both with 550m
M11X R3 - lacks the new and fun aspect of other choices, but maintains the portability while beefing up the specs substantially
There are quite a few more options in this category, but the trouble really comes from this: it occured to me that getting a laptop that is BAD at gaming could be a very GOOD thing. I'm a writer, and I have a nasty procrastination habit, which gaming contributes to. So, getting an ultraportable would mean that gaming isn't a distraction 3 days a week.
Candidates:
Macbook Air: 2011 or 2010, 2010 brings lower price and better gaming performance for moments of weakness, while 2011 is snappier overall with a slightly better keyboard.
Samsung Series 9: $1039 13" refurb on Ebay - sexy, but falls short of the MBA's touchpad and resolution. Also has many reports of poor Wifi performance.
Ultrabooks: I'm not big on the Acer that just launched, but the Asus UX21 looks promising.
The short list today seems to be HP Envy for the first category, due to SSD, build quality, display, and great audio w/ headphones or speakers, and an 11" Air for the second. I think I would slightly prefer the 13" for pure use considerations and battery life, but the size of the 11 would make it more easy to bring everywhere, and it's cheaper.
tl;dr Replace M11X with an ultraportable to focus on writing/schoolwork or a more capable 14" laptop, and which one [for both]
Thanks, I'd appreciate any help getting this godawful decision out of the way.
Corin
