Geek S**T NUMBER 5

[quote]RSGZ wrote:

[quote]WolBarret wrote:

[quote]RSGZ wrote:

[quote]Soulja874 wrote:
Why would anyone get a Macbook over a high end laptop? I’m curious because I’m shopping for a laptop to use in college.[/quote]

Only to be cooler than someone else.

Seriously, they pose nothing over a good PC laptop.

What have you been looking at?

I can make a few suggestions.[/quote]

Laptop between 300-1,000 U.S. Dollars.
[/quote]

I have an HP which has served me very well for nearly 3 years now. You generally won’t go wrong with Asus, Samsung, Toshiba and HP laptops.

If I was to spend a $1000, like I said in another thread, I’ve get this:

Lowest spec while being able to watch HD porn:

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-dv6-3010us-15-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B003KN3HY0/ref=sr_1_18?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1296683890&sr=1-18
[/quote]

You know me so well. I love you, man. No homo.

Yeah so this happened.

About asus laptops… Careful… I own a G73JH, a gaming laptop…

Asus have made some really stupid mistakes with several of their laptop models… In the case of mine, it’s that the graphics card is basically some old or modified model where for some reason the fan speed is set to 40% or something, it’s also incapable of utilizing new drivers properly without several updates requiring flashing (the asus bios update utility is useless now it seems, and anyway, many of the needed update have to be done by hand).
It runs fine with the original drivers supplied with the laptop (which are WAY outdated, make for ugly and slow graphics by comparison to say, the Von Modded version… That modded driver basically allows me to play crysis on max details, FSAA etc all on 1920x1080, the native resolution of this laptop, fluently… Compared to the original driver which requires a reduction in resolution and no FSAA etc… Crysis without FSAA even on 1920 looks very pixellated in the tree-heavy areas…)…

Asus tech support is aware of all those issues (and many more) but does rarely react, if ever. The asus and general laptop forums are full of complaints.

Asus also rarely provides it’s own graphic driver updates (well, those drivers suck anyway).

Problem is, just updating the drivers worked fine for me for a while… And then, for no apparent reason, I start getting the grey screen of death a lot at random… Changing drivers does not help (unless I use the old original one)… So now I have to sift through thousands of threads about the GSOD issue, lots of people stating that I have to return the laptop and get a new one or a new graphics card etc (thank god I used to be a computer geek, or I’d actually have believed that)… Found the solution that worked for me after days of searching… Still, what I did did not work for many others etc… What a mess! It’s like how some game companies/publishers release games that won’t let you get past the first mission or something without crashing when they first come out…

Gotta say, lots of very obvious things going on here that Asus should have noticed really… Or at least reacted to the huge amount of complaints…

Another issue is the native screen resolution of 1920x1080. Going lower than the native solution makes many games etc look ugly, but this is a huge resolution and while it’s fine with older applications, very hardware hungry programs (games, 3d graphics design programs and whatnot) can really bring this high-end laptop to it’s knees even with an ati 5870 and 8 gigs of ram… As I said before, modded drivers help a lot (god, both ati and nvidia are really incredibly inept compared to the modding community… Seriously, they should just hire those guys and let them do the updates)… And they’re often more stable than the original’s…

So if you know how to tune your machine via drivers and overclocking (I did not yet need the latter fortunately, I’m not too keen on it esp. since graphics cards now seem to be somewhat sensitive to overheating and damage due to expanding and then contracting again) then you’ll be fine for now performance-wise, but I have a feeling that with the way game code/engines are written in such a messy and inefficient way nowadays or are bad console ports… That laptops like this will have a hard time handling the next gen games, at least the ones which are somewhat hardware hungry… Even though theoretically the hardware is entirely sufficient… If only they’d have left the native resolution at 12xx or at most 14xx… 19xx is completely unnecessary and resource intensive…

The laptop also comes with a metric fuck-ton of bloatware (no real issue, but it’s still annoying as hell), including programs such as asus live update which don’t seem to work well if at all.

All that being said, it’s a nice machine overall of course… Best laptop I’ve owned, but man, my problems are nothing severe compared to what many people have been going through, and as I said the solutions can be hard to find… And asus seem to be misdiagnosing them quite a bit (in the case of laptops sent back by users) if I’m not missing my guess… A lot of times they simply replace the graphics card when that isn’t even necessary or the solution to the problem… And then return the thing…

I’m personally not too impressed with the reliability of a lot of the current gen laptop models.
And of course battery life is usually inversely proportional to the power of the machine.

So if you want a high end laptop for gaming etc, just go with a regular PC… Alienware make some great ones (local hardware sellers have custom solutions by alienware which at times seem to be better than what you can get on their website… And cheaper… Some real monster machines at the same price as a high end gaming laptop or cheaper, but much more reliable and powerful… Or build your own machine…).

A regular laptop for work and standard multimedia stuff makes sense of course… But for gaming I wouldn’t bother… Plus they’re hard to clean and they definitely do get dirty.

If you do get one… Get one of those cooling rigs or whatever they are called, they can help quite a bit to prolong your laptop’s component’s lifespans if you constantly tax it heavily…

Edit: Also, there is more than one sound-driver installed (no idea if it has more than one sound chip or not, don’t remember), and those interact very badly and can cause all sorts of trouble and crashes…

De-install all the creative labs stuff… That’ll also make more audio config options become available to you, amusingly enough.

Oh, didn’t see the price post… My laptop is of course one of the more expensive ones… But quite a few issues crop up with the mid-end models as well apparently…

Just wanted to warn you guys that you may really end up shit out of luck with asus costumer service being not too great in certain (wide-spread) circumstances.

[quote]trav123456 wrote:
Are any of the newer FF’s worth playing?[/quote]

Hm. The most recent one (forgot the damn number, you know, with the characters being lightning and vanille and whatnot…) was basically just running along one endless corridor with very little player input… Felt like a movie, except that I had to press buttons occasionally…
I stopped playing it and returned it to the store, too much time wasted and not really interesting enough…
Can’t do that kind of thing anymore… I used to play the SNES FF’s all the time, just drinking something occasionally, not eating etc… FF7 and even FF8 were also favorites of mine… But past that… I dunno… Missed several titles, hate the childish chars… Now this last one I just dunno… You are thrown right into it with no explanations as to what’s going on (and to be honest the story is just meh anyway)… You barely get to do anything during battles anymore, you only control whomever is the current main char and hitting auto works well enough most of the time…
Several of the charactors are just incredibly annoying…
Supposedly it gets better MUCH later on (like 30 hours in or something)… But man I don’t have that kind of time anymore.

Felt a little like the latest MGS in terms of how dumbed down it was and how it’s basically more cutscenes (and the walking down an endless corridor between same-ish battles barely qualifies as gameplay) than game.

But if you have tons of time to spare and you love FF in general, you’ll probably still like it… It has it’s moments I guess.

But for me… I just can’t justify having to wait hours in a game just for something cool to happen… While you’re sitting there playing, real life goes on and you aren’t getting shit done and your real situation does not improve, so yeah.

Playing with the wife is a lot more fun, whether that be co-op computer games or… Other stuff.

^^Thank you for posting that whole bit about asus stuff. I didn’t know at all. My information was largely based on what I saw a few places post here and there.

From what it sounds like, laptops suck and you should just build your own desktop. For myself, though my laptop has the specs to run many games, it has trouble with it because of crappy hp laptop design–it overheats like mad (core temp can get over 70 C)

If you actually want a laptop for, say, taking notes, you’d probably be better served with a netbook, I’d imagine. In fact the only thing I ever used my laptop for that might go beyond a normal desktop might do is take it on the train to watch movies and use it to present my CAD stuff which was a newer version.

[quote]trav123456 wrote:
Are any of the newer FF’s worth playing?[/quote]

I stopped at X-2 and I’m NOT happy that I bought that on release day (I bought into the direct sequel hype). It was ok but it was almost too cutesy to play. It probably lowered my Testosterone levels a bit.

Everything else is garbage or a MMO.

Edit- Actually I take that back XII (12) was decent but you have to like the way a MMORPG plays to like it. Plus it’s dirt cheap nowadays.

[quote]RSGZ wrote:

[quote]Soulja874 wrote:
Why would anyone get a Macbook over a high end laptop? I’m curious because I’m shopping for a laptop to use in college.[/quote]

Only to be cooler than someone else.

Seriously, they pose nothing over a good PC laptop.

What have you been looking at?

I can make a few suggestions.[/quote]

I’ve been looking at the Alienware M11X, a Macbook Pro, and various Dells and HPs.

I was focused on getting a semi decent gaming laptop but it’s just not practical when I can build my own decent gaming desktop PC for half the price (roughly).

So now I’m looking for something that will let take notes/surf the web and will last me at least 2 or 3 (honestly 4 lol) years.

yeah I liked FF7-9 growing up. I never got through 10 though although from what I remember it wasn’t too bad. I’m just looking for something epic and long to play, maybe I’ll check out 10 again although maybe I won’t be able to get into those anymore since I’m older and they are kind of cutesy and dumb at times.

But I do love big shiny visuals, and the FF’s do that very well. I’m like a magpie that way.

Once Skyrim comes out I’ll be all over that shit

[quote]Soulja874 wrote:
I’ve been looking at the Alienware M11X, a Macbook Pro, and various Dells and HPs.

I was focused on getting a semi decent gaming laptop but it’s just not practical when I can build my own decent gaming desktop PC for half the price (roughly).

So now I’m looking for something that will let take notes/surf the web and will last me at least 2 or 3 (honestly 4 lol) years.
[/quote]
I have a 15,4 inch asus running windows vista with a battery that can last 90 minutes if I really try. Which means I can’t take notes for more than one lecture, and it isn’t that portable anyway.

If I were you I’d:
Buy a small and cheap netbook with great battery life and portability.
Hook it up to your tv or a big computer screen at home for surfing, do your gaming on a ps3/xbox and never worry about hardware again or
(As you say) get a decent gaming desktop at home.

That being said, the M11X looks great. But there are probably ways that offer more bang for your buck.

[quote]A Ninny Mouse wrote:
^^Thank you for posting that whole bit about asus stuff. I didn’t know at all. My information was largely based on what I saw a few places post here and there.

From what it sounds like, laptops suck and you should just build your own desktop. For myself, though my laptop has the specs to run many games, it has trouble with it because of crappy hp laptop design–it overheats like mad (core temp can get over 70 C)

If you actually want a laptop for, say, taking notes, you’d probably be better served with a netbook, I’d imagine. In fact the only thing I ever used my laptop for that might go beyond a normal desktop might do is take it on the train to watch movies and use it to present my CAD stuff which was a newer version. [/quote]

Yeah, I had one of those HP’s that used to overheat because it was made with a design flaw which HP wouldn’t own up to but were fully aware of. It died once in warranty which was a free repair, and then a second time out of warranty. After I found out it was going to happen again, I flogged it and bought a newer reconditioned model which has been stellar.

The one reason why laptops can be sold so much cheaper is the bloatware. Also reason #1 you should reload the machine as soon as you get it - although it’s a good idea to make a backup CD with their image so you can restore it to default if you ever sell it.

[quote]Soulja874 wrote:

[quote]RSGZ wrote:

[quote]Soulja874 wrote:
Why would anyone get a Macbook over a high end laptop? I’m curious because I’m shopping for a laptop to use in college.[/quote]

Only to be cooler than someone else.

Seriously, they pose nothing over a good PC laptop.

What have you been looking at?

I can make a few suggestions.[/quote]

I’ve been looking at the Alienware M11X, a Macbook Pro, and various Dells and HPs.

I was focused on getting a semi decent gaming laptop but it’s just not practical when I can build my own decent gaming desktop PC for half the price (roughly).

So now I’m looking for something that will let take notes/surf the web and will last me at least 2 or 3 (honestly 4 lol) years.
[/quote]

I always wanted a gaming laptop, but now I despise them. There really is no point because you quickly realize that carrying around such a beast is a bad idea, so it stays in one place and essentially becomes a desktop.

Netbooks are nice as Kakno points out, although a 13" laptop should have a decent battery life too and the keyboard isn’t awkward.


^ I want (and would suggest) one of these, Soulja.

I think they’ve just come out - it’s a 13" Macbook Air competitor essentially, but thinner and higher spec’d and it’s beautiful.

128gb SSD, 4gb Ram, i5 Processor.

$1600 though.

[quote]RSGZ wrote:
^ I want (and would suggest) one of these, Soulja.

I think they’ve just come out - it’s a 13" Macbook Air competitor essentially, but thinner and higher spec’d and it’s beautiful.

128gb SSD, 4gb Ram, i5 Processor.

$1600 though.[/quote]

What is that?

[quote]Soulja874 wrote:

[quote]RSGZ wrote:
^ I want (and would suggest) one of these, Soulja.

I think they’ve just come out - it’s a 13" Macbook Air competitor essentially, but thinner and higher spec’d and it’s beautiful.

128gb SSD, 4gb Ram, i5 Processor.

$1600 though.[/quote]

What is that?[/quote]

It’s the new Samsung that I can’t recall was released when, but is probably the sexiest PC on the market. If the battery lasts longer than 8 hours, it’s a great buy (most likely).

I only like my Macbook Pro for OS X, which I admit I love for it’s design elements (the OS). I still use PCs, too, and have used some really nice ones. I’m not about to deify a brand, though.

I didn’t even specify the name - my bad.

Samsung Series 9 13.3" Laptop.

It’s official and coming soon.

The PlayStation Phone.

[quote]RSGZ wrote:
It’s official and coming soon.

The PlayStation Phone.[/quote]

I’m only worried about battery life.

Now, though, I’m curious if the PSP element is only via emulators FOR Android, or if it’s a dual-boot style system that can boot into a PSP-OS image and run PSP games without emulation. I’m only positive it uses emulation but I’m not sure. I know there’s a PSX emulator for Android (but didn’t run on my phone).

I’d also be worried about updates to Android from Sony. Amazing concept, though.

[quote]trav123456 wrote:
yeah I liked FF7-9 growing up. I never got through 10 though although from what I remember it wasn’t too bad. I’m just looking for something epic and long to play, maybe I’ll check out 10 again although maybe I won’t be able to get into those anymore since I’m older and they are kind of cutesy and dumb at times.

But I do love big shiny visuals, and the FF’s do that very well. I’m like a magpie that way.

Once Skyrim comes out I’ll be all over that shit[/quote]

I’d just wait for Skyrim, I can’t recommend the latest Fallout as a purchase (it was[is] SOOOOO buggy), but it’s definitely worth a rent (or two), or you could go with Dragon Age 2 that comes out in March.

The latest FF just plain sucked, I have to echo a lot of sentiments Cephalic talked about, it just seemed to drag on and since there was so little player input I kept thinking,

“Now…why the fuck do I care about these characters?”

I just turned it off and returned it (had rented it).

[quote]WolBarret wrote:

[quote]Ct. Rockula wrote:
I’m kickin eerrbody’s ass in this thread.

fuckin geeks[/quote]

You sparkle so bright, Ct.Rock.[/quote]

ahaha Twilight Joke…oh wait…