Buying a new laptop

If you recall a few weeks ago my PC got struck by lightning. [Nobody remembers? Oh okay ]

So anyways I'm looking for a replacement. I'm wondering if this would be suitable:

HP ENVY 17-1181NR NoteBook Intel Core i7 720QM(1.60GHz) 17.3" 6GB Memory 750GB HDD 5200rpm BD Combo ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850

Now the i7 means it can double as a oven but I'm worried about the reviews. The specs seem great but I don't want any trouble. So any tech expert want to help me out. Find a more suitable laptop?

I'm looking for a computer that can do a little bit of everything with a slight emphasis on gaming. Like playing Oblivion or Fallout 3 on max settings. Older games but not too old.

I'm also a video maker but I can manage with a long render time so long as it works.


One of the reviews makes me think this laptops only problem is the heat:

Those are just some of the things about this laptop. I play games on this thing and they run externally well. For Fallout New Vegas, I have settings set to Ultra and res at full 1080.

reply to post by drew1749


Whatever laptop you decide to get always get the most "extended" warranty you can afford. After 15 years in the I.T industry it is amazing how many "Brand Name" laptops I see that fail (motherboard) just outside either the one year or two year warranty periods. I then watch their jaws drop when they find out how much it will cost to repair (the brand names do not sell replacement parts cheap). They wished they had spent that extra $100 on extended warranty!

reply to post by phatpackage


Happily I'm on Newegg and the warranty only costs $80 so I'll definitely be doing that.

Would that cover over-heating?

That's the one thing that's worrying me. I don't want to get burnt alive.

Any notebook that gets hot usually has poor battery life. If you plan on keeping it plugged in all the time then it's no big deal... I have a netbook atom n270 2gb so I can't really do too much gaming, but I get 7+ hours of battery... And that my friend is double plus good!

Originally posted by JJDoggie84
Any notebook that gets hot usually has poor battery life. If you plan on keeping it plugged in all the time then it's no big deal...

Yeah that's the plan. It probably won't move much.

I feel like a little kid on Christmas morning. I prolly shouldn't enjoy shopping this much. I'm just glad I can afford it.

Thanks for your help. One thing though would you recommend this laptop?

reply to post by drew1749


If I had cash to blow I would get it

reply to post by JJDoggie84


Awesome. Thanks for all your help and if I have any problems I'll be sure to post here and warn everyone aware from this laptop.

reply to post by drew1749


Being from Australia I have only seen "New egg" on the internet and never purchased from them. Over here in most cases overheating is covered except in circumstances where dust has been blocking fans/vents. Also in most cases electrical surge damage (mains and lightning) is not covered either. be careful some warranties will exclude the warranty if there is a cigarette smoker where you live!

Here is where I get my parts for computers I work on: www.outletpc.com...
I have bought thousands of dollars worth of parts from there, never got ripped off, and they exchange things no questions asked. They use Fed-X too.

Originally posted by drew1749
Like playing Oblivion or Fallout 3 on max settings. Older games but not too old.

If you want max settings, you should go Alienware. You won't get max settings on any other laptop. You'll be lucky to get moderate settings with any laptop other than Alienware.

Laptops aren't built for high-graphic or CPU-intensive games. Alienware laptops are. Dell has a couple/few that are gaming-grade as well.

reply to post by _BoneZ_


Someone said that it runs New Vegas well. Which is newer. So idk.

Based on that shouldnt it be able to run the others I mentioned?

reply to post by drew1749


I didn't say it wouldn't run them. You should be able to play those games just fine. But don't expect high graphic settings. That's all.

Originally posted by _BoneZ_

Originally posted by drew1749
Like playing Oblivion or Fallout 3 on max settings. Older games but not too old.

If you want max settings, you should go Alienware. You won't get max settings on any other laptop. You'll be lucky to get moderate settings with any laptop other than Alienware.

Laptops aren't built for high-graphic or CPU-intensive games. Alienware laptops are. Dell has a couple/few that are gaming-grade as well.

No such machine as Alienware. Dell bought that company up:
news.cnet.com...

My wife just bought a new Toshiba Satellite Laptop computer, AMD based with Nvidia chipset and South Bridge, and she loves it. Of course when she got it we wiped the drive and installed PC Linux on it. For myself, I would never just but a computer. I would much rather buy parts and put it together myself, that way I get the best parts, and I know what I have to work with. For less that $500 I can build a system that would leave any store bought PC in the dust. I am on a home built computer right now.

Originally posted by _BoneZ_
If you want max settings, you should go Alienware. You won't get max settings on any other laptop. You'll be lucky to get moderate settings with any laptop other than Alienware.

I recently bought the Toshiba Qosmio (X505 Q888) and I'm yet to encounter any problems with the games I play at full settings (those being the three Portal games and all of the half-life series).

The only downsides I've found to it so far are the size of the power brick, whch is about as long and wide as my hand (about 20x10cm), the weight of the laptop (desktop replacement really) itself is around 4-5kg and the touch buttons on the side are irritating sometimes, but given all that, I still woundn't buy any other laptop for gaming.

Also, Alienware still exists, it's just an insanely expensive subdivision of Dell (and I hear their laptops suck)



Roswell.

If you're going for the "hot" laptop, meaning poweful cpu, and powerful (for a laptop) integrated ATI or nVidia or some such mobile video chip, and more expensive model, buy the extended warranty. DO IT!

Just do it, chances are, you'll be glad. Quality wise the higher end laptops are still pretty flaky, and often i find the hotter faster models have more problems and fail more. Just from my own experience.

EDIT: Lenovo ThinkPads have a reputation for being more reliable then your HP's, Dells, Toshibas etc.
But you will pay a bit more for one with the same specs.

reply to post by elcapitano75


I ran it by my tech friend with the price attached. Turns out I'm getting a stealer deal here.

Newegg is getting away with $999 on a $1,500 dollar laptop

reply to post by roswell1


I'm not an intense gamer. I just love Bethesda games. Those are probably the only ones I'd get on a PC. Because the console versions aren't as good.

reply to post by phatpackage


Hmmm thanks for the heads up on that. I mean this thing gets hot. I bet it could double as a oven...or heater. XD

p.s - I saw you on the forums today. Didn't agree with you on your support for Israel but this isn't the thread for that. haha

reply to post by autowrench

No such machine as Alienware. Dell bought that company up: news.cnet.com...

THAT HAPPENED?

lol I never really wanted an Alienware but I was sure they'd be around a long time. So they don't exist anymore? Sucks that now people have to pay attention to the specs on dells. See before it was like "Alienware...hmmm must be good for gaming"

Edit:

Also, Alienware still exists, it's just an insanely expensive subdivision of Dell (and I hear their laptops suck)

Lawl nvm

Originally posted by autowrench
No such machine as Alienware. Dell bought that company up:
news.cnet.com...

Alienware is going to be a subsidiary of Dell, according to the article. That means that Dell will hold at least a 50% stake in Alienware. And although because of this, future computers made by Alienware would be considered Dells, as far as I can tell, Alienware will still retain its name and continue to make computers under that name.

Originally posted by autowrench
I would much rather buy parts and put it together myself, that way I get the best parts, and I know what I have to work with. For less that $500 I can build a system that would leave any store bought PC in the dust. I am on a home built computer right now.

Same here. I've been building, troubleshooting, and fixing computers for about 15 years. Besides my AMD laptop and Viewsonic Tablet, I have an AMD game server that I built for me and my friends to play online games on.

And my main gaming computer is AMD/ATI and it's approaching $3000 in price as I keep adding things here and there. I bought every single part from NewEgg.com for both my server and my gaming computer. I must've built about 10 computers since December alone for myself and friends.

One thing I did with my laptop was put a fresh copy of Windows on it. I don't care for all the bloat-ware that companies install on laptops nowadays.

I do have Linux as a dual-boot on my gaming rig so that I can learn it. But there is such a steep learning curve that it dissuades me. I've been trying Ubuntu, but I may put Linux Mint on as I've heard it is a little more user-friendly than Ubuntu.