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Thread: New laptop recommendations

  1. #1
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    New laptop recommendations

    Been using the same old Asus for like 9 years...what's a good replacement for it these days? Prefer a larger screen, not wild about Windows 8 or touch screen stuff.

  2. #2
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    Stay away from Lenovo G50..
    because that's what I bought..
    and can't f-ing stand it.
    I prefer my 10yo Dell Inspiron 6400.

  3. #3
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    Good to know, thanks

  4. #4
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    New laptop processors seem to have gotten all about battery life and less about performance. I would find somewhere that still has a model from a couple years ago and buy that. You'll save a lot of money buying an equal performance laptop comparing a current model vs a couple years old.

  5. #5
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    That's my biggest gripe with my old Asus; the battery life. It's been a good computer but it's time to replace it. I can only get about 20 minutes worth of good logging and reflashing before I have to put it back on the charger.

  6. #6
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    Laptop batteries are typically easy to swap out so an option to consider when you get another laptop is to buy a spare battery for it. That's the idea I came up with when I couldn't get more than a couple hours without mine dying. I don't have a shop or anything and usually just meet people to tune so I needed enough battery to make sure I can finish.

  7. #7
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    2ghz+ cpu with 2ghz being the least I would want / somewhere around a 500gb solid state hard drive - wouldn't bother with any hybrid or spinning disk drives as they can still be sensitive to blows / backlit keys are a must / at least 4hrs of battery life / good graphics / somewhat impact resistant - preferably monitor with multiple hinges / good cooling with inlets and outlets on the back or side (had one sitting on a coat in the passenger seat that overheated and shut down once) / monitor that can be seen easy enough in sunlight

    These are the minimums I would look for - gaming laptops are probably closer, but usually heavy, expensive and have poor battery life? There's always the option of buying old "stuff" from ebay and building your own - this is what I currently have... Haven't seen anything new that I really like that isn't cheasy or flimsy looking... Plus as mentioned I like having easily removable and replaceable batteries that can be upgraded...
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  8. #8
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    Good input, that's what I'm looking for.

    Part of the reason I made this post was because everything I see in stores is just super thin and flimsy, like they're trying to build them paper thin and ultra lightweight with no regard to how they function.

  9. #9
    aldin
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    what's your budget?

  10. #10
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    Don't have a budget but I'm drawing the line at the 12-1500 range. No alienware bull***t or anything like that, just a good, sound piece of hardware.

  11. #11
    Advanced Tuner Montecarlodrag's Avatar
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    I bought a Dell Inspiron 15, I7 processor, 16Gb RAM and HD Touch Screen. I changed the 1TB hybrid drive to a Samsung 500GB SDD and upgraded to Win10.
    Very happy with it, very fast and screen is very nice for tuning.
    No issues with Win10 and HPT, however other tuning programs need XP so I use a VM, plenty of power to run the host OS and 2 VM at the same time.

    SDD is the best upgrade you can do to a Laptop, I have older laptops that I was going to retire. I upgraded them with more RAM and a SDD and they came back to life.
    9 sec Montecarlo SS

  12. #12
    Senior Tuner mbray01's Avatar
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    Seriously, i use a cheap dell, $300 gives me everything i need, speed is never an issue, and at this price, if it breaks, i get another. I have broken both expensive and cheap laptops. In and out of cars all day, with a large screen(which i need) you are bound to break something. Also i tune large boats, and well water and laptops don't mix, so i find it hard to spend any kinda coin on something i know isn't going to last more than a year. Keep everything backed up, multiple bateries(always cheap on ebay) and multiple chargers

    of course I keep an xp machine around for the older software
    Michael Bray
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  13. #13
    Advanced Tuner Montecarlodrag's Avatar
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    I still keep my old Dell Latitude D840 with DB9 serial port and WinXP. I upgraded it to the max RAM it supports and a SDD, runs like a champ. I have several programs that won't work outside XP and need a serial port.
    9 sec Montecarlo SS

  14. #14
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    When you say "SDD", are you referring to a solid state drive?

    despite using advanced tuning software to modify major OEM powertrain controllers, i'm not a computer guy, lol. i can't keep up with the tech and it's corresponding acronyms.

  15. #15
    Advanced Tuner Montecarlodrag's Avatar
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    Yes, Solid State Drive.
    They are the best invention after sliced bread
    9 sec Montecarlo SS

  16. #16
    Tuner JHPerformance's Avatar
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    Stay away from the new HP laptops, I have one and can't stand it, the track pad for the mouse is sensitive to the cold, locks up and lags. I am running a refurb macbook with a partitioned windows drive. I love it.
    Jake Hatfield
    Central KY

  17. #17
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    Been running on a MacBook via VMWare for years without any issues.

    If you go that route just get something with enough RAM. Apple has pretty much made their computers not upgradeable (RAM is soldered in) so have to get it up front or never
    Post a log and tune if you want help

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  18. #18
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    Aspire E1 with a 500G Samsung SSD. Not a hook with it in two years now. Nothing has stood up to my abuse before this one.
    2000 Trans Am WS6

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  20. #20
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    Microsoft Surface Pro 4 i7. The i5 will probably work fine though.

    Be sure to get the type cover. The stylus is hard to use going down the road, but the touchpad in the keyboard cover makes up for it.