Wow! A lot of new laptops have come out!

[MRoss]

Ok. If you are in the market for a laptop now you have a large selection than every before. Here are the main categories:

1) Netbook
2) Ultrabook
3) Ultra-Portable
4) Thin-And-Light
5) Standard
6) Gaming
7) Business
8) Sony Vaio Z

I will do my best to break down these categories for you and to explain when you should purchase which laptop.

1) Netbook:
1.5-2.5 lbs
6"-11" screens
$200-$400
Computing Power: Very Weak

The netbook is a gimmick. With the introduction of tablets and ultrabooks it is a market that will die very soon. Out of the box these "laptops" seem to run Windows 7 just fine... until you install just about anything. Then they slow down to a crawl. With minimum processing power, zero graphics, and limited disk space I cannot imagine why anyone would ever want a netbook. Go with a tablet instead.

2) Ultrabook: What the netbook should have been.
2.5 lbs.
10"-13" screens
$800-$1,400
Computing Power: Average- Very Good

Ever dream of having a laptop sexier than a MacBook Pro for less money? Meet the ultrabooks. Any of them will do. Personally, I would go with the Asus. They have almost above-average power, using i5-i7 ULV processors and have SSDs built in. Very sweet, but not practical if you need sheer power.

3) Ultra-Portable: What Thin-And-Lights are about to become.
4-5lbs.
12"-13" screens
$700-$1,300
Computing Power: Good - Very Good

If you just want a "laptop" and don't want a large screen, you should look into ultra-portables. Many of them come as convertible tablets which is a pretty sweet deal. Again, not for the power hungry.

4) Thin-And-Light: A soon to be extinct category.
5-6lbs.
13"-15" screens
$450-$1,200
Computing Power: Good

Why buy this when you can get an Ultra-Portable? I guess if you are truly strapped for cash and want to spend $500 on a laptop this could work.

5) Standard: See Thin-And-Light.
5-8lbs.
14"-16" screens
$500-$1,400
Computing Power: Good-Very Good

Again only buy this is you really don't want to spend money. If you are willing to spend $900+ I suggest seeing another category.

6) Gaming: Shouts: "I WANT ATTENTION!"
7-12lbs.
16"-18" screens
$1,200-$6,000
Computing Power: Very Good - Insane

Heavy, Clunky, but super powerful. Some are really eye catchers such as Alienware or the Asus Lamborghini . Will be top of the line and run well for years. Battery life is usually atrocious.

7) Business: Gaming laptops without the weight or flair.
5-8lbs.
15"-16" screens
$1,000-$4,000
Computing Power: Very Good - Excellent

These very-powerful-but-boring laptops will last for a long time. Even HP who I HATE makes a very solid business laptop the Elitebook series. Dell matches HP with their Precision series. Both will rock anything but are heavy, have pretty bad battery life, and are unattractive.

8) Sony Vaio Z: A business laptop; ultrabook style.
2.5lbs
13" screen
$1,800-$5,000
Computing Power: Very Good - Excellent

See business laptop and add: lightweight, great battery life, and attractive.

Hope this helps you all on your Black Friday grabs, and remember: before splurging $1,000 on an amazing deal on a laptop check eBay and make sure it's not cheaper there

Ross out!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

So what is the natural progress from my T60, Ross? I want my trackpoint

 

[MRoss]

As a side note. I just purchased a laptop which actually is in a category of its own. I just didn't want to give Sony too much attention. It is a fairly powerful laptop with a 15.5" screen that weighs only 4.4lbs and can be had for under $1,000. Very nifty! I am going to try it out and report back to you. I upgraded mine to the max + got a free sheet battery from Sony, so mine was more expensive.

My specs (I am upgrading the HD to an SSD):

Intel® Core™ i7-2640M processor (2.80GHz / 3.50GHz with Turbo Boost)
8GB (8GB fixed onboard ) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
AMD Radeon™ HD 6630M (1GB) hybrid graphics with Intel® Wireless Display technology
15.5" LED backlit Full HD display (1920 x 1080)
128GB (Crucial C300 SSD) hard drive

 

[MRoss]

So what is the natural progress from my T60, Ross? I want my trackpoint

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246119

Wow they are still selling them!

Just get another Thinkpad. Unless you want to have fun in which case get the Dell Precision 15" model (it has a trackpad). It is a powerhouse. I loved the thing but my wife said it "looked like an armored metal suitcase and weighed too much". So I bought the Vaio Z.

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m4600/pd

 

[Andy Nguyen]

That's a huge step down from my current T60 which I replaced CPU and maxed it out which has been working like a workhorse since mid 2006. Very surprised that after 5 years and I have found no good reasons to replace this. Unlike someone who buy/ebay stuff every 45 minutes

 

[MRoss]

The Dell is a huge step down?? I don't think you are looking at the right configurations.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

No Dell for me. Probably T42 is my next machine.

 

[MRoss]

I concur that Thinkpads are awesome. They just look downright ugly. And to all those naysayers who claim: "Well, six of my friends all owned Thinkpads and they all broke within 2 months..." STOP DROPPING YOUR LAPTOPS!

 

[alain]

Ever dream of having a laptop sexier than a MacBook Pro for less money? Met the ultrabooks. Any of them will do. Personally, I would go with the Asus. They have almost above-average power, using i5-i7 ULV processors and have SSDs built in. Very sweet, but not practical if you need sheer power.

Not really, still waiting for 13'' laptop with the same resolution or better than the Macbook Air.

 

[MRoss]

1600X900 is not better than 1440X900? I certainly like it better.
Sony Vaio S, Asus Zenbook, ... and more. All 13" (1600X900).

And of course: Vaio Z 1080X1920... but who has that kind of money.

Eitherway, 1080 is overkill at 13". Can't imagine why anyone would use it over 1600X900.

 

[Barny]

Get a mac.

 

[MRoss]

Thank you Mac lovers. We know you love your precious shiny laptops. However, they are overpriced. Period. That is specifically why I left them out of my original post. Macbooks are very good machines but way overpriced for the performance.

Example. See the specs of the new Sony I bought. A comparable Mac costs $1,000 more than my Sony! Ridiculous! Not to mention the Sony is 2 pounds lighter!

 

[Manos Makrakis]

You should post the Macs under furniture-ware . Few beat them in design.
Is it my impression or have the Alienware ones dropped substantially in price after Dell bought the company? Haven't looked into them since they were independent.

 

[MRoss]

Is it my impression or have the Alienware ones dropped substantially in price after Dell bought the company? Haven't looked into them since they were independent.

Yes. When Alienware was private they were significantly more expensive. It was for good reason. If you max out an Alienware now on Dell.com it is only slightly higher specwise then a maxed out business laptop. I do not know how they did it but when Alienware was private every single maxed out spec on their machines could not be pre configured at any other company.

I vividly remember about two years ago when the most you could get at any company was a laptop with 512mb video ram and Alienware had a dual 1GB SLI graphics card option. The fastest HD in any laptop was 7200rpm at that time as well and Alienware was offering a dual 10,000rpm HD option. Even now two years later you cannot find such an option in any brand laptop!

They were gods...from another planet.

 

[Manos Makrakis]

Yes. When Alienware was private they were significantly more expensive. It was for good reason. If you max out an Alienware now on Dell.com it is only slightly higher specwise then a maxed out business laptop. I do not know how they did it but when Alienware was private every single maxed out spec on their machines could not be pre configured at any other company.

I vividly remember about two years ago when the most you could get at any company was a laptop with 512mb video ram and Alienware had a dual 1GB SLI graphics card option. The fastest HD in any laptop was 7200rpm at that time as well and Alienware was offering a dual 10,000rpm HD option. Even now two years later you cannot find such an option in any brand laptop!

They were gods...from another planet.

You also had voodoopc back then but I think HP bought those as well. Are there any reputable privately owned custom made ones these days like Alienware and voodoopc used to be?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Get a mac.

Is it childproof? It's as important to me as other specs

 

[bansalmohit]

Thank you Mac lovers. We know you love your precious shiny laptops. However, they are overpriced. Period. That is specifically why I left them out of my original post. Macbooks are very good machines but way overpriced for the performance.

Example. See the specs of the new Sony I bought. A comparable Mac costs $1,000 more than my Sony! Ridiculous! Not to mention the Sony is 2 pounds lighter!

Just like in financial markets, intelligent investors buy premium products at value prices. Just purchased Macbook Pro (2.0 ghz quad core, 500 GB 7200 RPM, 4GB Ram) with 2 year remaining Apple Care for $1100 from craigslist.

 

[MRoss]

Just like in financial markets, intelligent investors buy premium products at value prices. Just purchased Macbook Pro (2.0 ghz quad core, 500 GB 7200 RPM, 4GB Ram) with 2 year remaining Apple Care for $1100 from craigslist.

I would certainly do that. Good job.

 

[Mike_B]

Is it childproof? It's as important to me as other specs

Not if it is anything like iPads - my daughter broke mine by dropping it from about 1.5 feet off the ground (backlight works but no image) - not very durable - and Apple refuses to fix it due to a small scratch/dent which had nothing to do with the fall that apparently voids the warranty - what a load of crap!

 

[Barny]

Thank you Mac lovers. We know you love your precious shiny laptops. However, they are overpriced. Period. That is specifically why I left them out of my original post. Macbooks are very good machines but way overpriced for the performance.

Example. See the specs of the new Sony I bought. A comparable Mac costs $1,000 more than my Sony! Ridiculous! Not to mention the Sony is 2 pounds lighter!

Why are they overpriced? Sure, the hardware is overpriced, but you get much more value-added via Mac OS X, the best operating system on the market, period.

If you buy any of those other laptops your options are windows (which is a sack of shit) or installing a linux-distro. As someone who has done this and values his free-time, I would recommend that as a poor option unless you want to be a systems administrator, since you'll have to spend most of your time in the terminal trying to get software to work. Not a great use of time IMO.