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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Good ~15" Laptop

Ears and Eggs

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Looking to upgrade my ancient Dell Latitude D420. :D

So many choices though, so looking for some recommendations. :D

I don't need anything too powerful, for the most part only use web, music, YouTube, Facebook, Netflix, etc.

The only catch is that it has to be able to play Minecraft with a reasonable frame rate, which kind of complicates things because I am not sure how that will work on a lot of the integrated graphics cards. :D


Would like one with a screen ~15", this 12" screen I am using now is an eye strain. :D
 





sinner

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Loving the hp envy series, do check out the envy 15 (a bit pricey) or the Envy 14 ultrabook if you donot care much about the optical drive, I have the later and i've been enjoying it.
 

Ears and Eggs

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Loving the hp envy series, do check out the envy 15 (a bit pricey) or the Envy 14 ultrabook if you donot care much about the optical drive, I have the later and i've been enjoying it.


Yeah, I don't need an optical drive. Touchscreen isn't important to me either way. Looking to keep the price at around $1000 or under. :D
 
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From personal experience, anything with an Intel HD 4000 or higher intergrated graphics will run MineCraft on decent settings with a decent framerate.

(I have a lightly used 15" ASUS laptop with a GeForce 610M 2GB Graphics card I might be able to part with if your interested. I would have to figure out shipping though)
 
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Cool! Shipping can't be $200 so yeah that's totally cheaper.

Holy crap, that's pretty much what I payed for for the laptop I'm typing on right now, only 6 years back. Also Lenovo... but Dual core Pentium, 2GB DDR2 and nVidia 9300.

Anyhow, hardware aside, one of the most important things to keep an eye out for in laptop purchases is how easily it is to access the fans.

Because they NEED to be cleared out every 6 months or even less depending on environment and where you live.

Lenovo's models almost universally have a panel on their backside, which on my model is removed as easily as removing two screws, and behind it is entire heatsink assembly, RAM memory and fan itself.

On the other hand, avoid Toshibas like the plague because to access the fan in there, you need to remove entire display, keyboard, front cover, optical drive and a wireless module, removing about 35 screws, 6 ribbon cables in the process and tearing through at least 1 plastic riveted assembly. It's a pain, literally, I cut my finger on one occassion.
 
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Lenovo is definitely a good brand, but myself and my classmates have had good luck with ASUS too. They aren't AS solidly made, but still decent, and I think a bit less expensive.
 

ARG

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I love my lenovo T430s. Might be worth it to wait for back to school sales? Best time to buy a laptop is then.
 

sinner

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Cool! Shipping can't be $200 so yeah that's totally cheaper.

Holy crap, that's pretty much what I payed for for the laptop I'm typing on right now, only 6 years back. Also Lenovo... but Dual core Pentium, 2GB DDR2 and nVidia 9300.

Anyhow, hardware aside, one of the most important things to keep an eye out for in laptop purchases is how easily it is to access the fans.

Because they NEED to be cleared out every 6 months or even less depending on environment and where you live.

Lenovo's models almost universally have a panel on their backside, which on my model is removed as easily as removing two screws, and behind it is entire heatsink assembly, RAM memory and fan itself.

On the other hand, avoid Toshibas like the plague because to access the fan in there, you need to remove entire display, keyboard, front cover, optical drive and a wireless module, removing about 35 screws, 6 ribbon cables in the process and tearing through at least 1 plastic riveted assembly. It's a pain, literally, I cut my finger on one occassion.

Man, six years is a long time if it is still running it is actually paying you back :crackup: I agree the fan does collect little dust nests over time I opened up my last laptop and nearly did what you described above to reach into the part where the intake was nearly blocked with 2 years worth of dust.
 
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Man, six years is a long time if it is still running it is actually paying you back :crackup: I agree the fan does collect little dust nests over time I opened up my last laptop and nearly did what you described above to reach into the part where the intake was nearly blocked with 2 years worth of dust.

I take great care of my tech until it's old enough to buy beer on it's own.
Or develops sentience.

My laptop is 6 years old, only had one OS reinstall years back, still runs like new with exception of battery lifetime which naturally degrades anyway. PC is 5 years old, not a single OS reinstall or disk format, runs better than new (upgraded GPU).

People always think computers have an extremely limited lifetime, not realising computers needs just as much maintenance as your average car. It goes neglected and instead of googling a solution they just buy a new one.
 

sinner

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I hear ya , One must find himself in need of newer ones depending on their usage. The price tags on the high end machines may sound outrageous to some but to a few "its a steal" go figure. I guess you have to realize the actual requirements. tbh a pentium dual core should do it for most of us but they keep pushing newer generations systems so you know you will need newer ones eventually.
 

ARG

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People always think computers have an extremely limited lifetime, not realising computers needs just as much maintenance as your average car. It goes neglected and instead of googling a solution they just buy a new one.

Definitely. I reinstall my OS every year, keeps the computer running smooth as butter. My ex once complained to me that her computer was running slow so I look at it and there's dozens of tasks running on startup that would use every bit of ram in the computer.
The reason buying a new computer works is because it removes all the shit people have running on it 24/7
 




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