LAPTOPS

[microsoft windows]

So, what kind of laptop do you use? Or if you often use multiple laptops, which one is your favorite?

I'll start with my laptop, a Compaq LTE 4/75CX. I use it for basic web browsing and word processing on the go.

[SpAmRaY]

I've got a Dell L702x the wife has the Vostro 3460

[Altis]

Thank you for lowering to normal case.

I got rid of my Macbook Pro late 2007 model in 2011.  I only have my main desktop now.

I have a work laptop, some Dell Latitude e6420.  The trackpad is awful and the encrypted hard drive makes it brutally slow.  Too bad, it'd probably be okay otherwise!

[neevers1]

Thinkpad X1 Carbon.

[rowdy]

Thank you for lowering to normal case.

It was a temporary slip-up - he'll be back to normal soon.

[Leslieann]

Sony Sz750n
Carbon fiber and highly tweaked.
At 5 years old it holds it's own against new I5's, even in terms of battery (I can get almost 5 hours).

[tipo33]

Thinkpad T60 with A T61 motherboard and a LED baclit UXGA panel.

[davkol]

Lenovo ThinkPad X200T, currently disassembled for cleaning purposes. I guess I should replace most parts, including battery, keyboard, some hinges, HDD etc. Then, I'll have no motivation to switch to anything newer, unless they make basically the same laptop, but with reasonable screen resolution, better battery life and USB 3.x.

[kishy]

Posting in a troll thread posted by a trolling troll, but whatever.

ThinkPad W520. i7-2760QM, 8GB, 64GB SSD + 500GB 7200RPM HDD, Quadro 2000M, 1920x1080 (TN) LCD option, with mini dock
The exhaust vent can burn skin but this machine can play GTA IV (don't worry, I have V on PS3) smoothly and be the classiest looking laptop around in the process, so it's all good.

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

Lenovo IdeaPad S9 Netbook.  TBH it's a piece of ****, but it still runs laps around my work-issued laptop (which has better specs).

And it was free, so I can't complain...

[microsoft windows]

WHAT KIND OF CRAP ARE THEY RUNNING ON YOUR WORK LAPTOP?

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

WHAT KIND OF CRAP ARE THEY RUNNING ON YOUR WORK LAPTOP?

Simple specs work laptop:



Simple Specs my netbook:

[microsoft windows]

Ooh....that thing's a slug I bet. I'm surprised they're even still running those old AMD ****box PC's. And no service pack 3?

Let me guess...that machine comes with IE7.

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

Ooh....that thing's a slug I bet. I'm surprised they're even still running those old AMD ****box PC's. And no service pack 3?

Let me guess...that machine comes with IE7.

IE6. I never, EVER use it.  Chrome is superior.

[microsoft windows]

Ooh....that thing's a slug I bet. I'm surprised they're even still running those old AMD ****box PC's. And no service pack 3?

Let me guess...that machine comes with IE7.

IE6. I never, EVER use it.  Chrome is superior.

IE6? WOW, YOU'RE LUCKY! I'D SAY THAT MAKES IT A BETTER COMPUTER THEN.

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

For what it's worth, the IT dept. screwed me over with this POS.  My job is going to require video editing, and this is what they give me...


Oh, and MS Office is perpetually broken. It can't even open spreadsheets or save word docs...

[microsoft windows]

HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT APPLYING FOR WORK AT THEIR IT DEPT? I'M SURE YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THROWING AMD CRAPBOXES WITH XP SP2 AT PEOPLE.

[Thimplum]

These days, when I'm not on my PC, I use an Asus U56E

[Leslieann]

Ooh....that thing's a slug I bet. I'm surprised they're even still running those old AMD ****box PC's. And no service pack 3?

XP SP3 is over three times the size of the original OS and needs at least 5 times the memory to run right as it did on release. 

Years ago, many admins wouldn't dare install SP3 with any less than one gig of ram and it's only gotten worse. 1 gig was simply not enough by the time you install Sp3 so some admins use a bandaid of simply ignoring SP3 and relying on their security to deal with threats. That trick worked for a few years, the problem today is that the security patches have caused even Sp2 to grow to the point that 1gig is barely enough even for it. Also, while Xp has more than tripled in size since release, everything else running on it has grown at even faster rates, an Antivirus on release was 10-30 megs, now they reach 100-300 or more. It's just becoming too much data for the older hardware and Xp's memory management, it was never designed to deal with that much data.

A lot of tweaking can keep them running okay, but XP's best days are behind it. In fact, it's nearing the point that unless it's a modern machine custom ordered with XP, I rarely see Xp anymore and one of the first things I tell customers with it is to consider moving to Win7. Even with only 1 or 2 gigs, it outperforms Xp at this point.

[moogle]

MacBook Air

[Tarzan]

Wasn't there already a "What Laptop Are You Using" thread?

[kishy]

Ooh....that thing's a slug I bet. I'm surprised they're even still running those old AMD ****box PC's. And no service pack 3?

XP SP3 is over three times the size of the original OS and needs at least 5 times the memory to run right as it did on release. 

Years ago, many admins wouldn't dare install SP3 with any less than one gig of ram and it's only gotten worse. 1 gig was simply not enough by the time you install Sp3 so some admins use a bandaid of simply ignoring SP3 and relying on their security to deal with threats. That trick worked for a few years, the problem today is that the security patches have caused even Sp2 to grow to the point that 1gig is barely enough even for it. Also, while Xp has more than tripled in size since release, everything else running on it has grown at even faster rates, an Antivirus on release was 10-30 megs, now they reach 100-300 or more. It's just becoming too much data for the older hardware and Xp's memory management, it was never designed to deal with that much data.

A lot of tweaking can keep them running okay, but XP's best days are behind it. In fact, it's nearing the point that unless it's a modern machine custom ordered with XP, I rarely see Xp anymore and one of the first things I tell customers with it is to consider moving to Win7. Even with only 1 or 2 gigs, it outperforms Xp at this point.

My personal experiences are not consistent with what you're suggesting about XP SP3.

I have installed XP on many machines, ranging from 350MHz Pentium II machines (I forget if I ever tried SP3 on AMD K6s, but I definitely ran SP2 on them) with 160MB of RAM to late P4s with a gig or two. SP2 was great for stability, and SP3 was at very least as good, if not better. Performance-wise, zero difference, although in some cases the machine ran noticeably better with SP3.

I do know there were some headaches when ITs were rolling it out in large quantities so I can't say how frustrating it was, but suggesting SP3 created performance issues is just not right. Perhaps in some configurations, but I can say that it ran just as well on 160MB of RAM as SP2 did (and was quite usable on 512MB).

[Gunni]

My laptop is an Acer Aspire 5740. Lately I've been using a school computer instead of the 5740, it's an Acer Aspire One netbook.

[microsoft windows]

Ooh....that thing's a slug I bet. I'm surprised they're even still running those old AMD ****box PC's. And no service pack 3?

XP SP3 is over three times the size of the original OS and needs at least 5 times the memory to run right as it did on release. 

Years ago, many admins wouldn't dare install SP3 with any less than one gig of ram and it's only gotten worse. 1 gig was simply not enough by the time you install Sp3 so some admins use a bandaid of simply ignoring SP3 and relying on their security to deal with threats. That trick worked for a few years, the problem today is that the security patches have caused even Sp2 to grow to the point that 1gig is barely enough even for it. Also, while Xp has more than tripled in size since release, everything else running on it has grown at even faster rates, an Antivirus on release was 10-30 megs, now they reach 100-300 or more. It's just becoming too much data for the older hardware and Xp's memory management, it was never designed to deal with that much data.

A lot of tweaking can keep them running okay, but XP's best days are behind it. In fact, it's nearing the point that unless it's a modern machine custom ordered with XP, I rarely see Xp anymore and one of the first things I tell customers with it is to consider moving to Win7. Even with only 1 or 2 gigs, it outperforms Xp at this point.

My personal experiences are not consistent with what you're suggesting about XP SP3.

I have installed XP on many machines, ranging from 350MHz Pentium II machines (I forget if I ever tried SP3 on AMD K6s, but I definitely ran SP2 on them) with 160MB of RAM to late P4s with a gig or two. SP2 was great for stability, and SP3 was at very least as good, if not better. Performance-wise, zero difference, although in some cases the machine ran noticeably better with SP3.

I do know there were some headaches when ITs were rolling it out in large quantities so I can't say how frustrating it was, but suggesting SP3 created performance issues is just not right. Perhaps in some configurations, but I can say that it ran just as well on 160MB of RAM as SP2 did (and was quite usable on 512MB).

I have deployed Service Pack 3 on large fleets of Pentium 4 and Core 2 Duo machines in an IT setting with no problems at all. It runs perfectly fine. I've even run Windows XP Service Pack 3 on a computer with a Pentium processor and 80MB of RAM and it worked great. Only problem I ever had on that machine was that it wasn't fast enough to do online video.

[evolveS]

Thinkpad X220, the last true Thinkpad before Lenovo adopted chicklet-style keyboards.

WHY IBM WHY?

[microsoft windows]

Thinkpad X220, the last true Thinkpad before Lenovo adopted chicklet-style keyboards.

WHY IBM WHY?

Oh no...they better not have joined the Dark Side! Any thinkpad should come with a proper keyboard and a trackpoint.

[IPT]

Sony VAIO s13

[evolveS]

Thinkpad X220, the last true Thinkpad before Lenovo adopted chicklet-style keyboards.

WHY IBM WHY?

Oh no...they better not have joined the Dark Side! Any thinkpad should come with a proper keyboard and a trackpoint.

X220 on the left, X230 on the right. RIP in peace Thinkpad.

[davkol]

Ha, I actually think the one the right feels a tad bit better when new. Blasphemy! Although it's not like it actually matters anyway... because ErgoDox. ^_^

[ynrozturk]

I'm currently using an Asus laptop which I am very, very happy with. Had it for close to 8 months now and no problems. i7 CPU @ 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, came with a 750GB HDD which I swapped with a 250GB SSD. Gorgeous screen, too. Couldn't be happier with it.

[Thimplum]

I'm currently using an Asus laptop which I am very, very happy with. Had it for close to 8 months now and no problems. i7 CPU @ 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, came with a 750GB HDD which I swapped with a 250GB SSD. Gorgeous screen, too. Couldn't be happier with it.

what model???

[ynrozturk]

I'm currently using an Asus laptop which I am very, very happy with. Had it for close to 8 months now and no problems. i7 CPU @ 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, came with a 750GB HDD which I swapped with a 250GB SSD. Gorgeous screen, too. Couldn't be happier with it.

what model???

Asus K55VJ

[Leslieann]

Performance-wise, zero difference, although in some cases the machine ran noticeably better with SP3.

I do know there were some headaches when ITs were rolling it out in large quantities so I can't say how frustrating it was, but suggesting SP3 created performance issues is just not right. Perhaps in some configurations, but I can say that it ran just as well on 160MB of RAM as SP2 did (and was quite usable on 512MB).

SP3 was just a "roll up", it was a way to install a few hundred patches, in one shot.

It's not just SP3, SP2 and SP1 both needed more memory than the original OS. Also, SP3 was mostly a compilation of patches, it wasn't anything new, but it's not that they patched things, it's the sheer amount of data having to be processed.


Out of the box, yes, they will run fine, problem is, go load up any other software, MS Office (specifically Outlook) and an HP MFP in particular and see how it runs in 2 months. That's not good when your employment depends on your reputation.

Your ideas of speed may be different than mine, but it's my reputation on the line and a slow computer is a bad computer. I not only won't sell them, I won't even work on them. When my labor charge will clearly exceed the value of the computer or it's going to run terribly even after I finish, it's time to replace it.

Only problem I ever had on that machine was that it wasn't fast enough to do online video.

Thanks for proving my point.
Explain to a customer why they can't do something even their cell phone or web enabled TV/DVD/XBox/Playstation can do.

[microsoft windows]

I think you're forgetting that the computer I was talking about is 17 years old and has a 160Mhz processor and 80mb of ram. No matter what OS is on it it ain't gonna do Youtube. But it'll take care of just about anything else!

I was personally surprised that XP SP3 would run so well on it, but it did! You can get by on XP with very little memory.

[Leslieann]

I think you're forgetting that the computer I was talking about is 17 years old and has a 160Mhz processor and 80mb of ram. No matter what OS is on it it ain't gonna do Youtube. But it'll take care of just about anything else!

I was personally surprised that XP SP3 would run so well on it, but it did! You can get by on XP with very little memory.

Yes, you can get by on it, but in business, time is money. You have to know when to cut your losses.
I've seen faster systems struggle with it as well. Flash uses quite a lot of resources, it's why Apple doesn't like it.


By the way, you can find better computers for free. Check Craigslist, ask offices, watch street corners and curbs (I stick them at the curb and watch them disappear like magic). Heck, I throw away/recycle almost anything that I get from customers who upgrade that aren't dual core with 2gigs at this point. Anything over about 4 or 5 years old is just not worth the effort. I do sometimes use the older machines for file servers, but that's about it.

[Pacifist]

A dell Insprion 15R special edition

i5-3210 @2.5 GHZ

6GB ram (but upgrading to 8 in about a month)

700GB HDD

AMD 7730M 2GB GPU

The keyboard is a backlit scissor switch in a 75% layout.

[Burz]

Thinkpad X220, the last true Thinkpad before Lenovo adopted chicklet-style keyboards.

WHY IBM WHY?

Oh no...they better not have joined the Dark Side! Any thinkpad should come with a proper keyboard and a trackpoint.

Show Image

X220 on the left, X230 on the right. RIP in peace Thinkpad.

My main system is a Thinkpad T430s (i5-3320M) which I bought for the reliability and ability to run a VM-centric OS like Qubes securely. So I can do things on the Internet or whatever with little risk of having my laptop compromised.

I'm in agreement with davkol on the keyboard: The new one is noticeably better than the old. It has the same keyswitches underneath, but the wider/lower keycaps are still sculpted so they aren't "chiclet". I think all keyboards should move to the same keycap width.

The newest iteration of Thinkpad keyboard (T431s, etc.) has no volume buttons and the default setting has the F1-12 keys on the Fn layer-- that's going a little far for me. Its almost like having a 60% layout. Windows and Unix get a fair amount of use out of the F keys still... its not really the same as on Macs (the keyboard layout Lenovo are emulating).

[microsoft windows]

I think you're forgetting that the computer I was talking about is 17 years old and has a 160Mhz processor and 80mb of ram. No matter what OS is on it it ain't gonna do Youtube. But it'll take care of just about anything else!

I was personally surprised that XP SP3 would run so well on it, but it did! You can get by on XP with very little memory.

Yes, you can get by on it, but in business, time is money. You have to know when to cut your losses.

By the way, you can find better computers for free. Check Craigslist, ask offices, watch street corners and curbs (I stick them at the curb and watch them disappear like magic). Heck, I throw away/recycle almost anything that I get from customers who upgrade that aren't dual core with 2gigs at this point. Anything over about 4 or 5 years old is just not worth the effort. I do sometimes use the older machines for file servers, but that's about it.

I don't even run Flash on any of my machines because I have a deep hatred for all Adobe products. That includes my little old Compaq from 1996.

I've seen faster systems struggle with it as well. Flash uses quite a lot of resources, it's why Apple doesn't like it.

From my IT experience, I wouldn't say that SP3 is what really caused peoples' XP computers to slow down. It was usually other things like background processes, network security policies, too many user folders in the "Documents & Settings" directory, etc. Most of those issues were fixed by reimaging the machine or reinstalling Windows. It was my job to run IT on a shoestring budget, and we got pretty darn good performance out of stinky old Pentium 3's and Pentium 4's running XP SP3.

[Linkbane]

I have an MSI GT70 (0C-260US).
I got it earlier this year, and it's very nice (the SteelSeries keyboard on it especially) and the technology inside of it is quite sufficient to run LoL and many of the 2009-2010 games that I play.

[Leslieann]

From my IT experience, I wouldn't say that SP3 is what really caused peoples' XP computers to slow down. It was usually other things like background processes, network security policies, too many user folders in the "Documents & Settings" directory, etc. Most of those issues were fixed by reimaging the machine or reinstalling Windows. It was my job to run IT on a shoestring budget, and we got pretty darn good performance out of stinky old Pentium 3's and Pentium 4's running XP SP3.

True to some extent, but you still have far more data than when the OS came out.

Also, in an IT department, you don;t really give a darn about a users files, it's a company computer. You do what you have to to keep them running smooth.

[tp4tissue]

using x230, Will be opting for x240 once that comes out... it seems pretty solid with haswell n all.

[smknjoe]

ASUS N53JQ-XV1 (you can see it in the top right of my avatar)
Quad I7
16GB RAM
1TB Crucial SSD (2x512GB in RAID 0)
Dual 27 inch monitors
ESATA and more...

...and it's 3 YEARS OLD! Best computer I ever had by far. I wanted a mobile desktop replacement and I got it. $1000 well spent. Previously, I was having to purchase a new laptop (some of them Macbooks) every year, but not after getting this one.

I also have a Toshiba Z835-P360 that I use for short visits that don't require a lot of performance.

[tp4tissue]

ASUS N53JQ-XV1 (you can see it in the top right of my avatar)
Quad I7
16GB RAM
1TB Crucial SSD (2x512GB in RAID 0)
Dual 27 inch monitors
ESATA and more...

...and it's 3 YEARS OLD! Best computer I ever had by far. I wanted a mobile desktop replacement and I got it. $1000 well spent. Previously, I was having to purchase a new laptop (some of them Macbooks) every year, but not after getting this one.

I also have a Toshiba Z835-P360 that I use for short visits that don't require a lot of performance.

Lol n00bing it up

[oscillik]

using x230, Will be opting for x240 once that comes out... it seems pretty solid with haswell n all.

Show Image

Really? I found out about the lack of external battery slice, and the fact that you can only have maximum of 8GB RAM (which looks like it is not easily changed) and I decided that I want to make sure I get an X230 before Lenovo stops selling them.

[microsoft windows]

From my IT experience, I wouldn't say that SP3 is what really caused peoples' XP computers to slow down. It was usually other things like background processes, network security policies, too many user folders in the "Documents & Settings" directory, etc. Most of those issues were fixed by reimaging the machine or reinstalling Windows. It was my job to run IT on a shoestring budget, and we got pretty darn good performance out of stinky old Pentium 3's and Pentium 4's running XP SP3.

True to some extent, but you still have far more data than when the OS came out.

Also, in an IT department, you don;t really give a darn about a users files, it's a company computer. You do what you have to to keep them running smooth.

I never cared too much about user files-- I'd erase tham all when I reimaged the machines on the company fleet every year anyways. And now they don't show up at all ever since we started running this software called "Deep Freeze" that erases any new data written onto the hard disk at every restart during business hours--effectively keeping the computer on its original image. (updates are run overnight)

But Windows XP Service Pack 3 will run fine on just about anything newer than a 486. If you were having problems with computers being too slow, there was probably too much background crap running on the machines. When I'm running XP on an older box, I don't use antivirus or any other background processes at all. I try and strip it down as much as possible and I've gotten some pretty decent performance results.

[Leslieann]

But Windows XP Service Pack 3 will run fine on just about anything newer than a 486. If you were having problems with computers being too slow, there was probably too much background crap running on the machines.

That's the problem, they all want to retain the 20gigs in pictures and 10 gigs of Outlook files, along with HP scanner software (which is horrible in itself). 

The economics are different for small businesses who pays on a per repair basis, versus one who has a full time staff.

[tp4tissue]

using x230, Will be opting for x240 once that comes out... it seems pretty solid with haswell n all.

Show Image

Really? I found out about the lack of external battery slice, and the fact that you can only have maximum of 8GB RAM (which looks like it is not easily changed) and I decided that I want to make sure I get an X230 before Lenovo stops selling them.

well, those things arn't final..

But the slice battery might be unnecessary given Haswell because you'll already be looking at 8 hours of HEAVY use and 17+ hours of LIGHT use on the beefy 9cell.

[dustinhxc]

So, what kind of laptop do you use? Or if you often use multiple laptops, which one is your favorite?

I'll start with my laptop, a Compaq LTE 4/75CX. I use it for basic web browsing and word processing on the go.

Show Image

haha your posts are so crazy  :p love it...

[oscillik]

using x230, Will be opting for x240 once that comes out... it seems pretty solid with haswell n all.

Show Image

Really? I found out about the lack of external battery slice, and the fact that you can only have maximum of 8GB RAM (which looks like it is not easily changed) and I decided that I want to make sure I get an X230 before Lenovo stops selling them.

well, those things arn't final..

But the slice battery might be unnecessary given Haswell because you'll already be looking at 8 hours of HEAVY use and 17+ hours of LIGHT use on the beefy 9cell.

Single channel DIMM is confirmed (maximum 8GB RAM), and no slice battery. In fact, the built in battery is a massive "no" for me, and the RAM is incredibly difficult to access.

For what it's worth, I get this long out of my Ivy Bridge X230, which are real world figures. Although there are no real world figures yet on the X240, I'll assume that as in most cases, battery life will fall short of the quoted 17.4 hours Lenovo say it's capable of.

Needless to say, I'm very glad I got the X230 over the X240, there are way to many negatives for me with the X240.

edit: also, the true HD panels that have been mentioned in official Lenovo videos seem to be mysteriously missing from the configuration options on the Lenovo website. This is really the only positive of the X240, and it's not even available on launch! Fail.

[tp4tissue]

using x230, Will be opting for x240 once that comes out... it seems pretty solid with haswell n all.

Show Image

Really? I found out about the lack of external battery slice, and the fact that you can only have maximum of 8GB RAM (which looks like it is not easily changed) and I decided that I want to make sure I get an X230 before Lenovo stops selling them.

well, those things arn't final..

But the slice battery might be unnecessary given Haswell because you'll already be looking at 8 hours of HEAVY use and 17+ hours of LIGHT use on the beefy 9cell.

Single channel DIMM is confirmed (maximum 8GB RAM), and no slice battery. In fact, the built in battery is a massive "no" for me, and the RAM is incredibly difficult to access.

For what it's worth, I get this long out of my Ivy Bridge X230, which are real world figures. Although there are no real world figures yet on the X240, I'll assume that as in most cases, battery life will fall short of the quoted 17.4 hours Lenovo say it's capable of.

Needless to say, I'm very glad I got the X230 over the X240, there are way to many negatives for me with the X240.

edit: also, the true HD panels that have been mentioned in official Lenovo videos seem to be mysteriously missing from the configuration options on the Lenovo website. This is really the only positive of the X240, and it's not even available on launch! Fail.

dang... well I think I could work with the single channel memory.. as long as it's 1600mhz..

mmm.... well now it's a tough choice, cuz the surface pro 2 seems like a better gadget cuz it has the pen.... not gonna get both since I don't actually need either one.