help with laptop purchase

[tob1n]

hi guise,

ironical, but i'm considering buying a new laptop. i'll have one with 2/3 years of warranty, but i'm not sure about which brand should i choose. fujitsu is out, apple is too expensive atm, but i'm clueless whether i should choose lenovo/hp/dell/msi/acer. all of them offer a configuration that would suit my needs. any experinces? thx

[Mr. Pi]

Well I know that dells and HPs are just epic. we have 2 dells in the family and both of them work flawlessly after like 2 years. And we have a HP too and no probs with that either. That one is only around 1 years old tho.

I particulary dont like acers. Heard some ugly stories about their screen going to valuetown with 32off 8-9 months. About MSI and lenovo. Meh I dont like them cuz they are relatively new on the market.

Hope that helps,
Pi :)

[babyonboard]

+1 to dell laptops. i used an old inspiron model and it was built very well. also note that they all come with 3 years warranty as default and its a huge benefit since other brands usually provide 1 or 2 years. im also in a big decision because i wanna purchase a laptop for all-in-one using and i have realized after countless hours of browsing that there isnt "best" because it depends on what do you want to use it for.

[tob1n]

thx guys, i found a great deal i think, a dell inspiron n5010, with 4 gigs of ram, core i3 processor, ati HD6470 512MB, 1366x768HD-LED screen, 500gig HD for like $825. 3 years warranty.

Would use it for photography, retouching, gaming, movies. buy or no buy? thx

http://www.bestnotebook.hu/xls-sync/images/Dell_Inspiron_N5010.jpg

[tob1n]

+1 to dell laptops. i used an old inspiron model and it was built very well. also note that they all come with 3 years warranty as default and its a huge benefit since other brands usually provide 1 or 2 years. im also in a big decision because i wanna purchase a laptop for all-in-one using and i have realized after countless hours of browsing that there isnt "best" because it depends on what do you want to use it for.

What would you use it for?

[babyonboard]

thx guys, i found a great deal i think, a dell inspiron n5010, with 4 gigs of ram, core i3 processor, ati HD6470 512MB, 1366x768HD-LED screen, 500gig HD for like $825. 3 years warranty.

Would use it for photography, retouching, gaming, movies. buy or no buy? thx

http://www.bestnotebook.hu/xls-sync/images/Dell_Inspiron_N5010.jpg

i like your choice and this model is one of the bests in this category(good price/value ratio) but i suggest you to buy it with ati radeon hd 5650. it has almost the same price(a bit more expensive) but way better and faster graphic card and is able to run most of todays games. good place to check them is: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html

[babyonboard]

What would you use it for?

for everyday using, some poker, games, etc. i think u are planning to connect it to a bigger display, not a big deal to edit pics on a 15" display but maybe ok sometimes. my other choice could be the dell xps 15 alu, its also a good one.

[tob1n]

thanks, appreciate your help:) btw i quickly changed my mind, i saw that a newer version is out: N5110
it has a newer i3, 500gig HD, LED display, Geforce GT 525M (1gig) 4gig memory, HD webcam and stuff like that. it just came out, but i already read test that say the build quality is not so good...its a bit creaky and can get hot. they also say dead pixels are common. :S even though, for the money i have ($825) it still is the best choice with 3 years warranty...no?

http://www.laptopszalon.hu/img/webshop/product/thumb/110413092216_dell_inspiron_n5110_black.png

[babyonboard]

yeah ive also considered this model and seemed good and gt525m is a nice card for running new games also. its newer and stronger than the 5010 but has some negatives(good review here: http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/review/notebooks/dell/inspiron_15r_n5110/381366) i think both are good buys and they worth their price, its your decision:)

[Mr. Pi]

Aaaand what would be the end of the story? Which one did you choose? I hope its the Dell and I hope its the last one with the nasty little GT 424M GPU.
Pi :)

[tob1n]

hey guys, thanks for all your help! babyonboard, i read that exact same review a few days ago. :) i think i'll go with the newer one, i like the strong hardware, and the HD webcam. im only worried about the quality of the screen tho, i'd like to use it for photography and retouching so color accuracy would be nice...any ideas on that? if all goes well i'll buy the n5110 in like a week. I'll let you know if i got it;)

[babyonboard]

hey guys, thanks for all your help! babyonboard, i read that exact same review a few days ago. :) i think i'll go with the newer one, i like the strong hardware, and the HD webcam. im only worried about the quality of the screen tho, i'd like to use it for photography and retouching so color accuracy would be nice...any ideas on that? if all goes well i'll buy the n5110 in like a week. I'll let you know if i got it;)

all laptop displays are TN panels (except the most expensive premium category) so they are ok but not great to photography stuffs or making retouching tasks. connenct a good monitor (with ips panel) to it if it comes to photo editing and if u are doing it professionally. but the n5110 seems a good deal, i hope u will be pleased with it and im waiting for reading ur first experiences.

[tob1n]

i just checked, and my (recently died) macbook pro had 15" LED-backlit TN panel, with which i was cool with. i loved retouching with it. though, with my mom's older dell laptop(non-LED-lit) i had some serious problems, poor viewing angle, low contrast, yellow-ish whites and all that. does LED mean anything quality-wise?

[babyonboard]

does LED mean anything quality-wise?

not too much, it is just the backlight and makes the display brighter. but there are also TN panels in different quality so that can be the cause of your different observations.

[tob1n]

oh ok, i didn't know this much about monitors, thanks!:) i hope the dell has a better quality display tho. have you decided whic laptop to buy?

[babyonboard]

not yet. my candidates are dell n5110, asus n53 and lenovo y560, all are good machines and there are some pros and cons which one to choose.

[tob1n]

i checked the other two just now... they are very nice, but way too expensive for my budget now:) i'll get back to you when i bought mine

[babyonboard]

i checked the other two just now... they are very nice, but way too expensive for my budget now:) i'll get back to you when i bought mine

i dunno where u have checked them but lenovo has the same price as dell, but its true that the asus is a more expensive one.

[tob1n]

hi! its me again, i decided i'm getting the dell n5110 with the geforce 525m and 6gigs of RAM for 921 bucks. only question is: will the guys in the store allow me to check the display for dead pixels and stuff? i reckon there's some rule for this that they HAVE TO give me a chance to check in-store and i can take another one if i so wish. is this true? (just want to know what my rights are) thx!

[babyonboard]

hi! its me again, i decided i'm getting the dell n5110 with the geforce 525m and 6gigs of RAM for 921 bucks. only question is: will the guys in the store allow me to check the display for dead pixels and stuff? i reckon there's some rule for this that they HAVE TO give me a chance to check in-store and i can take another one if i so wish. is this true? (just want to know what my rights are) thx!

i dunno what the law is but if they dont allow this, choose an another store imo...

[tob1n]

i just received mail from the store, they said that the "usual" law is that 7 dead pixels are allowed at max, 2-3 in 1cm2. but i also have the chance to see it for myself before i buy it. so i guess it's kinda good news. :)

[babyonboard]

there is a difference between dead pixel and dead subpixel. (1 pixel stands for 3 subpixel: red, green, blue) if there is a dead subpixel, then a pixel cant make all the colors, but a dead pixel is a black point.
and if it comes to test them, take one of these programs on a pendrive and run it on the laptop, these are specific pixel tester applications:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchmarks/Dead-Pixel-Tester.shtml
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchmarks/Dead-Pixel-Buddy.shtml

[tob1n]

wow thanks for this! the only problem i think will be that the laptop won't have an OS installed, just free dos. :S i thought about a linux live cd at first but i dunno... maybe i'll test the comp as soon as i get an os on it....

[tob1n]

ooookay, so i'm back:) with my brand new dell inspiron n5110.:) im happy to announce that it doesn't have any dead pixels, i checked using the apps you recommended, thx again. finally i got the i5 version instead of the i3, it was just a bit more expensive, but i think it was worth it. its fast as hell, though i had a rough night trying to install all the drivers for the various parts of the computer. but now it's all right, i'm checking the gaming performance when i got home. btw, the looks nice, the display could be better, but can't complain, the build quality seems decent enough, even though the keyboard is not too massive. but hey, i switched from a macbook pro, so my expectations might be a bit too high concerning build quality.:) so all in all, great machine for the price so far.

Did you choose your laptop, babyonboard?

[babyonboard]

hey, congrat for buying, i hope u will enjoy using the machine:) i ordered the lenovo y560 after considering everything but it wasnt shipped yet. i will share my experiences after getting it.

[tob1n]

also, games run great on this little baby...getting to love my new machine:) btw, can you tell me why exactly did you go with lenovo?

[babyonboard]

it wasnt an easy decision, but i felt in love with its design, and the price/performance ratio of the machine made it clear for me that it is a best buy:) dell 5110 seemed too shiny to me but its also a very good one. i also like dell xps but its way more expensive cause its a very well built notebook. if all things go well i will get it on tuesday or wednesday:)

[tob1n]

ok, awaiting interested in your first experiences with your new notebook:)

[babyonboard]

hey tob1n,
yesterday i got the laptop:) its very cool(not when running games:P) and has some nice feature. i like its keyboard and display, and certainly the design! shipping took almost 2 weeks but was said 2day so i deserved the 500gb hard disk instead of 320gb and the blueray drive for free:) the only thing i dont like so much is the shining surface,it collects all the fingerprints. to sum my limited experiences after one day, i can say that lenovo y560 seems to be a very good machine!:)

[tob1n]

hey man, thanks for the update! i'm glad you're happy with your new laptop! also, i didn't know companies have this policy with delays...you came out of it good right?:) enjoy your machine as much as I'm enjoying mine ;)