Here are the Windows Experience Index Scores I got from my computer. I probably need to update a few drivers, however. I may upgrade to 8GB of faster RAM. Easy performance upgrade. I got Metro 2033 running with the settings scaled back. It it can run Metro, it can run almost anything. Well, except Rockstar or Ubisoft ports most likely...but what can? Processor: 7.1 Memory: 5.9 Graphics: 6.7 Gaming Graphics: 6.7 Primary Hard Disk: 6.7 Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 i7 Q740 Mobility 5730 4 GB RAM RapidDrive SSD/HDD hybrid It's certainly no high end gaming rig, but it will blow the consoles away in terms of power. It should be able to run about anything. Mass Effect 2 ran quite well and looked very nice.
power can be had, but I pretty much only look for battery life. In the realm of power, you get what you pay for, but when it comes to battery life you never know. other things to think about are keyboard comfort, thermals and weight. you might find the most expensive to also be the least comfortable (usually not the case as they would be bigger...), hottest (heat or thermal wise) and heaviest and worse battery life whereas your cheaper product actually is better in all of these categories. Generally with power, you get what you pay for. Older AMD based laptops (Phenom/ Athlon) aren't that great, I don't suggest them. AMD started selling Fusion products a bit ago and more recently (like last week... with the real launch happening soonly...) Lano, these are GREAT laptops... though their not as easy to find as Phenom/ Athlon/ i# whatevers. If your not too keen on gaming than even the older intel based notebooks would be a nice cheap selection. Stay AWAY from the Atom based netbooks though. Their not all bad, but the amount of good ones are about as few as the Athlon ones so in general I say stay away o.0 My HP DV1z WEI Processor: 3.8 Memory: 5.7 Graphics: 4.2 Gaming Graphics: 5.7 Primary Hard Disk: 5.9 (default score for IDE based 7200rpm HDs) again NOTHING like the i7s... but at half the price, 2x the battery life. I'm happy for any more information see http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-pavilion-notebooks/501683-hp-dm1z.html for the ULTIMATE HP DM1z thread. If you want a gaming laptop on the cheap you need to look into Llano, or the HP DV6 and more. The Lano chip isn't as fast as the i7s of the world, so it doesn't encode DVDs or all that stuff as well, but if you just want it to be decent at those extra things, yet on par with the best at gaming... with battery life that would choke a monkey with envy. You need a Llano. In the same way, the Zacate/ Fusion E350 series is well good enough to play some games, but only barely good enough to watch HD video, all at a bargain price with loooooong battery life and cool thermals and hey! The DM1z even has a great keyboard!! Can't say the same about the screen though... it's just your average bargain basement screen (maybe even a little worse... though it could be even worse with a lower resolution >.>).
I'm favouring chiclet style keyboards, was in the Sony centre today and they have some funky silicon keyboard covers. They had an orange one on a pink laptop, very bright. So these AMD Llano chips are just coming out now? The lenovo ideapads are very tempting specs wise but I may have a look around for something which has a chiclet keyboard and comes in a few different colours, nothing outrageous, just sleek and different.
HPs are trash, and I would stay away from netbooks. Llano is just another dumpster processor like the intel atom. What are you, a woman? My aunt's Pentium 4 that I was working on scored a 3.9 for the CPU, so that's nothing to brag about.
Ok, so no HP, it's getting hard to tell netbooks apart from the smaller notebooks/laptops. I may have a look at some when I'm in Fortress or Broadway in china, be able to get a hands on on some. Wouldn't buy any from there though, cos they've all got American keyboards where the @ and " are switched round.
Netbooks are slow and pathetic. Unless you either have nothing to spend, or you only care about portability, don't get a netbook. HP is terrible, but also stay away from Toshiba. Toshibas have horrible build quality. Toshiba makes some of the worst notebooks on the market. Seriously, just go with a Lenovo. I recommended them because everyone I know who has bought one has been happy. They're well made, dependable notebooks that usually have at least decent specs.
You know, a small list of Components in order of goodness would be handy. So far I have From best to worst processor: i7 - amd equivalents ? i5 i3 Graphics: Mobility geforce I saw a geforce quattro, which sounds cool. Intel integrated something
Half of the i7s are now dual core as well. i7M = dual, i7QM = quad. http://www.intel.com/products/processor/corei7/mobile/index.htm All 2nd gen i5s are now dual core. Intel is getting wacky with their brand labels. I didn't realize they changed things up until a few weeks ago. http://www.intel.com/products/processor/corei5/mobile/index.htm
Mine has been working pretty well. I'm using it for 90% web browsing and it's just as fast as any desk top. Of course it does have a 4GB of DDR3 memory and a 7200rpm Hard drive.
There's that delicious in between line that you can walk on. Just look for the ultraportable laptops. They have the power of a regular laptop in the form factor of a netbook (most also have the same battery life). The Acer Timeline series have 13" sizes that have a good build at affordable prices. http://www.acer.com/timeline/home.html
I knew they were ghetto-izing the i5s, but I didn't realize they had started doing that with the i7s too. It sucks that they're using the i5 and i7 monikers to sell rebranded i3s. Very deceptive on their part.
and you know this how? word of mouth (both from you, your friends AND me) has very little importance really lol listening to Newegg reviews or IMDB reviews may be your thing, but that doesn't hold much on my decision. Regardless I love my HP, I have a little problem with the headphone jack going in and out at home (but not on the road... think it's a latitude thing) and I may not be as picky as some, but really, it's quite good enough for what he wants. After looking at the HP DM6s (in American markets) what he says might have some truth to it. If Llano costed less than Sandy Bridge (Intel) than maybe, it'd have to be like 20% less... but. I don't think Llano holds any advantage over SB at all. Other than perhaps thermals and a slight battery length depending on manufacturer. BUT it came out as roughly the same price :/. OFC I did have one that was the top of the line AMD (quad core) proc vs an i5 but... does your aunts P4 weigh 3 pounds and run on a battery through a plane flight from Seattle to Hawaii?? (watching TWO DVDs) Oh yeah, talk to the hand :| You sound like a worst buy sales man, how many add on warrantys have you sold today?? Oh btw Acer KB's are notorious for suckage OK first of all, the Zacate and the Llano are what's called APU's, or a FUSION of the gpu and cpu. In the same way though, Intel's procs FUSION a lot of processes too... Most of it is just marketing hype lol... So anyway I'd put them like this- Procs: i7QM (second gen or Sandy Bridge) i7M (second gen or SB, specializes in video encoding... it's just freaky how good and how much battery SBs encoder saves) i7 (first gen quad core) i5 (second gen or SB) i5 (first gen quad core) Llano (best guess? it's still VERY new :x) i3 (second gen or SB) i5 (first gen dual core) i3 (first gen) Core Duo AMD Phenom (virtually tied with Core Duo) AMD Athlon Neo Pentium Atom AMD Zacate (virtually tied with Atom really) But see the advantage that the Zacate and Llano hold is that they have graphics units that cannot be tied with any other processor... for instance anandtech said the Llano is the first integrated graphics processor that gave them no problems in games (not that it couldn't be any faster...) So as far as GPUs go (including IGPs) Geforce (anything under 400m is terrible... but still better than anything from Intel but their newest stuff) Llano A Radeon (forget about anything under 3xxx as well) Llano M (?) Zacate . . . . Latest intel Honestly I don't pay much attention but... this should get you started.
Also Re: Switchable graphics vs. Mobile Crossfire (SLI?) Many higher end Intel lappys have switchable graphics (must be Geforce). This just means when 3d applications are executed it turns on the descrete (Geforce) graphics processor and to save processor power it turns it off otherwise. If your lappy has a crappy intel gpu but switchable graphics, don't worry, it won't use it in games. Than we have SLI. Few laptops have sli though, but... in sli you use both gpus. this wastes a TON of energy and also makes your compact laptop hot very quickly. The Llano has Mobile Crossfire. It works like SLI AND switchable! Unlike switchable it uses both gpus at the same time. And unlike sli it can turn off one gpu when the program calls for it.
The Lenovo Thinkpad Edge series is something you also might want to look at. It skirts that line Khaid was talking about: eg ultraportable form factor with a real CPU and a reasonable price point. http://shop.lenovo.com/us/notebooks/thinkpad/edge-series/overview From repairing a bunch of HP notebooks for friends and family with fried motherboards and dead hard drives because they put cheap crap in their notebooks. I know Toshibas are terrible because my parents bought 10 of them for their business and they were all dead within two years. Most of them died in the first year. I had one and it would randomly shut down. I took it apart and it was made of coffee cup plastic and held together by masking tape. Their build quality is an embarrassment. And how do I sound like a Best Buy salesman? They're the ones who push these crappy brands on people like HP and Toshiba. I don't believe in warranties. I believe in buying something that's reliable and doesn't need repairs very often if at all. Among mainstream brands, that's Lenovo. And sorry bro, but something that benches like a Pentium 4 from the better part of a decade ago qualifies as a dumpster processor. Netbooks are pretty much trash. It's why they're one of the most returned items to computer and electronics stores.
I've never had my HP repaired and neither has my Dad who had his for 2+ years. Perhaps their quality has gone up a notch?? I know their screens have gotten much crisper than they were before. Plus they were terrible before buying Compaq... but that was 15 years ago lol. Anyway either way I wouldn't put very much into word of mouth. You might be right... N I hate salesmen that TELL you what you would and would not like. that's the comparison I was making.