[jonwon]

So, I'm looking to buy a laptop for school and some occasional gaming and I was wondering if I could get some helpful input to narrow down my choices since I'm a computer noob. I tried to pick up an Asus U35JC-B1 over the weekend but it was sold out. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and my budget is about $900, no Acers and relatively portable with good battery life. Thanks

Here are my choices so far...

Asus K52JC-X2
http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=69%2C70%2C71,3635&webid=884738&affixedcode=WW

Sony Vaio 15.5"
http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/sony-sony-vaio-15-5-laptop-featuring-intel-core-i3-350m-vpceb24fdb-black-vpceb24fdb/10147936.aspx?path=e07f96a7d9f33a513350bef5018313b aen02

Asus UL80VT-A1
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=46753&vpn=UL80VT-A1&manufacture=ASUS

Asus K50ID-X1
Saw it in store at staples and it was on sale for $646 from $846

Asus G51VX
Found an ad on craigslist for $800

[illicitstylz]

I'd go with the asus k52jc
-core i3
-1gb dedicated video card

Sony is just overpriced. asus has one of the lowest failure rates as wel.

[Hondaracer]

imo the added price that comes along with the Vaio's are justified in build quality

my Vaio is almost 3 years old and running windows 7 it runs better than a toshiba a buddy bought 3 months ago, out of the 15+ computers ive owned in my lifetime, the Vaio has been handsdown the most reliable computer ive ever owned

[illicitstylz]

I'd check out notebookreview.com

they've got a great community there with a lot of details that should help you decide.

[Razor Ramon HG]

Out of that list, the only thing worth getting is the UL80VT. Nothing else on that list will give you as perfect a mix between performance and battery life.

:lol @ the G51 even making it on there.

If you don't mind purchasing used online, then like illictstylz said, you can easily get good deals on a laptop off their B&S. Here's an example ad - http://forum.notebookreview.com/notebooks-desktops-sale/520815-fs-asus-ul30vt-a1-2-year-warranty-12-hour-battery-life-512mb-gddr3-4gb-ddr3-500gb.html

[jonwon]

Ya... I shouldnt get the G51... the GPU really intrigued me though :( I'm currently pretty set on the MSI FX600 but I'm not really familiar with the quality of MSI.

[gars]

imo the added price that comes along with the Vaio's are justified in build quality

my Vaio is almost 3 years old and running windows 7 it runs better than a toshiba a buddy bought 3 months ago, out of the 15+ computers ive owned in my lifetime, the Vaio has been handsdown the most reliable computer ive ever owned

I'm with you there. Their top end laptops are quite expensive and niche laptops, but I'm really liking their current mainstream line.

I do really learned to appreciate a lighter laptop that has an insane battery life. you could charge it up and bring it to school and not have to worry about it dying through the day.

that said, if you do actually want to play games, the UL80VT won't give you good performance, even with the dedicated graphics. I'd go with the Sony if you want decent performance... but make sure you just uninstall all the bloatware that comes on it (albeit less that what they used to have).

I'm not a huge fan of buying laptops used. They're different from desktops in that if a part fails, it's usually not worth replacing it as it could cost you as much as the laptop itself. warranties are worth paying that extra bit, and if you're actually clumsy - buying accidental damage coverage might actually be worth it.

[Eclypz]

No Lenovo/IBM love?
I just picked up a Thinkpad Edge 13 to replace my Thinkpad X61s (which is for sale, btw). The Thinkpad Edge fits right into your price range: http://goo.gl/aSKR

I was a little worried about the keyboard redesign, but the new keyboard is just as good as the old one. I'm also pushing 10hrs battery life with surfing, and about 3.5 hours of 1080p MKVs. (6cell)

PS: Buy through Visaperks.ca (http://visa.ca/visaperks/shopping/Lenovo/index.jsp) for a discount.

[Razor Ramon HG]

Just wondering if there was any reason for the Acer hate. I picked up the Acer TimelineX 3820TG the other day for $730, and it's arguably one of the best computer related purchases I've ever made. I mean I highly doubt you will find a better all around notebook.

13.3" LCD @ 1366x768
Intel Core i5-430M @ 2.26GHz
Hybrid ATI Mobility Radeon HD5470/Intel GMA 4500MHD
4GB DDR3 RAM
500GB HDD

I can play CS:S/HoN on high settings and SC2 on medium perfectly fine. And not to mention, I can get 6-7 hours of battery in school with WiFi off and the display turned lowest.

[jonwon]

oh it's not really any Acer hate, it's just I've read some reviews and I heard the build quality is not so good... but I did look into the Aspire TimelineX series and apparently they are pretty solid. The 3820TG is great but I believe that there was no optical drive on that one. The 4820TG seems pretty damn good with the ATI 5650 but I cant seem to find it anywhere. I'm also looking at the Acer Aspire 5745PG-5978 with the Geforce 330m for $829 on memoryexpress

[Fuhrër-Z]

^ With laptops, the reliability is completely random in my experience. There is no perfect brand, everything fails and also has it's stories of lasting 2+ years of issues. I'd grab an extended warranty and just get the one with the best performance/bat life balance. My 2 cents.

[illicitstylz]

Just wondering if there was any reason for the Acer hate. I picked up the Acer TimelineX 3820TG the other day for $730, and it's arguably one of the best computer related purchases I've ever made. I mean I highly doubt you will find a better all around notebook.

13.3" LCD @ 1366x768
Intel Core i5-430M @ 2.26GHz
Hybrid ATI Mobility Radeon HD5470/Intel GMA 4500MHD
4GB DDR3 RAM
500GB HDD

I can play CS:S/HoN on high settings and SC2 on medium perfectly fine. And not to mention, I can get 6-7 hours of battery in school with WiFi off and the display turned lowest.
3820tg for 730 taxes in, locally and brand new?

[lilaznviper]

my cousin got the asus ul80vt from ncix on the weekend when it was on sale. i have to say it has pretty good battery life. on battery saving mode, it says 10 hours of battery life.
if your bringing it to school u want to have a light laptop with a lot of battery life

[MoBettah]

Just wondering if there was any reason for the Acer hate. I picked up the Acer TimelineX 3820TG the other day for $730.

Wait a few months. You'll find out why.

[Razor Ramon HG]

3820tg for 730 taxes in, locally and brand new?

Yeah. Staples had it on sale for $699, then I stacked coupons.

Wait a few months. You'll find out why.

I've owned two Acer laptops prior to this one, and my brothers each own an Acer monitor. None of us have ever had problems.

[gars]

statistics don't lie though. It's like buying a car with reliability issues - you might be the lucky one that doesn't have issues, but chances are, it will have problems before the reliable models...

Asus/Toshiba/Sony were found to be the top 3 reliable ones. Acer, along with HP, were near the bottom.

[rageguy]

I got the acer too for 710 tax in from staples. Put in an SSD and the laptop flies.
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[Razor Ramon HG]

statistics don't lie though. It's like buying a car with reliability issues - you might be the lucky one that doesn't have issues, but chances are, it will have problems before the reliable models...

Asus/Toshiba/Sony were found to be the top 3 reliable ones. Acer, along with HP, were near the bottom.

Yeah, that's true to an extent.

In my opinion, you can't really judge a laptop brand based on something like that. I mean there's no doubt HP has the highest return/malfunction rate, but you also have to take into consideration the market that buys the brand.

[EDawg]

I'm selling a Asus N50Vn b1b for $700!
(it's similar to the G51)

if interested let me know

[!MiKrofT]

Yeah, that's true to an extent.

In my opinion, you can't really judge a laptop brand based on something like that. I mean there's no doubt HP has the highest return/malfunction rate, but you also have to take into consideration the market that buys the brand.

Actually acer has improved quite a lot recently in the past few years.
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[_Hotsauce_]

Got the acer 3820tg as well, fucking love this laptop. Build quality is top notch, awesome battery life, plays Lol, HoN, WoW, SC2 etc with out a hitch. Stays super cool too, slim design is sexy imo.

[jonwon]

thanks for the input guys :)

EDIT: Well, my decision has been made and looks like im gonna go with the Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820TG i3-370M with the ATI HD 5650. Read some reviews and this notebook has been getting some high praise and it's in high demand as well. Gotta order it online and every site has it on back order... Anyone got experience with www.pccanada.com or atic.ca?? and is i3-370M a huge drop off from i5-430M because the i5-430M with the 5650 is nowhere to be found in North America.

[rageguy]

If I remember right, i5-430 vs i3-370m is not much different. You'll gain so much more in games with the ATI 5650.

[Eclypz]

I personally take benchmark results with a grain of salt, but here's a comparison chart for you:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html
According to this chart, i5-430 vs i3-370 are very close in performance. So close that the i3 actually gets ranked 1 place higher than the i5.

[Razor Ramon HG]

You can always put in an i7 CPU yourself later on if you're comfortable btw.
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[ImportPsycho]

get Asus, one year accidental damage warranty/2year global warrantyy
Acer is ok, repair center is in Burnaby, turn arround time is about less than a week
go buy from Memoryexpress in richmond and get 4 year in store product replacement plan
PM me if you have any questions

[jonwon]

^ thanks but I already tried asking for them to special order and they couldnt do it :( so I had to order from cendirect

gahhh do the ones from staples have the bilingual keyboard as well >.< shit looks so messed. And have you guys had any problems with like crumbs and stuff falling inside the keyboard lol

[_Hotsauce_]

^
Dont be a slob? lol

[Vinny G]

I had my Acer Timeline since last August. One of the best laptops I've ever owned. Awesome battery life, light, looks great, and best of all cheap price. Whereas I used to own a 13" Sony Vaio S series and it was a huge piece of crap. It was overpriced, had a crappy keyboard, crappy touchpad, loud constantly-on fan, buggy ass drivers, non-existent support, and FILLED with crapware.

Don't judge Acer on the garbage they used to make 3+ years ago. The Timeline series really turned the company's image around in my eyes.

[dyan]

I had my Acer Timeline since last August. One of the best laptops I've ever owned. Awesome battery life, light, looks great, and best of all cheap price. Whereas I used to own a 13" Sony Vaio S series and it was a huge piece of crap. It was overpriced, had a crappy keyboard, crappy touchpad, loud constantly-on fan, buggy ass drivers, non-existent support, and FILLED with crapware.

Don't judge Acer on the garbage they used to make 3+ years ago. The Timeline series really turned the company's image around in my eyes.
I agree. I picked one up a month ago and im getting a good 7 hours on a full charge just surfing the web. You can game on it as well
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[illicitstylz]

Where are you guys getting your 3820TG's? The ones I saw locally came with a card differing from the US one (5670?)

[gars]

I had my Acer Timeline since last August. One of the best laptops I've ever owned. Awesome battery life, light, looks great, and best of all cheap price. Whereas I used to own a 13" Sony Vaio S series and it was a huge piece of crap. It was overpriced, had a crappy keyboard, crappy touchpad, loud constantly-on fan, buggy ass drivers, non-existent support, and FILLED with crapware.

The old S Series were pieces of crap. The SZ that replaced it was much better, but still had crappy battery life. The SR that replaced it was even better, and was at a good price. but the current S Series is amazing, one of my favorite machines - amazing keyboard, good battery life, good power.

[CRS]

http://atic.ca/index.php?page=LongDesc&sku=68409

Lowest price I could find for the 3280TG...

Maybe others will have better luck!

[taylor192]

What do you take in school?

I bought a dell cause I could get a 1080p screen on a 15" laptop. The extra resolution makes a huge difference when working on spreadsheets, documents, and computer programming.

[jonwon]

Where are you guys getting your 3820TG's? The ones I saw locally came with a card differing from the US one (5670?)

http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/501992-acer-3820tg-north-america-purchase-options.html

[jonwon]

http://atic.ca/index.php?page=LongDesc&sku=68409

Lowest price I could find for the 3280TG...

Maybe others will have better luck!

hey CRS, I saw your thread from before, did you happen to pick out a laptop yet?

[-lincolnboi-]

Just recently bought the u35jc-a1 from ncix for a grand. Costs a bit more than an acer with similar specs, but the warranty is pretty reassuring. I posted a review on ncix if you want to read it ;)

Last laptop was an acer travelmate too, I think it would've lasted at least another few years from the 2 years i've had it...apart from the broken hinge :)

tigerdirect has a refurbed ul50vt for $565 too

[_Hotsauce_]

You wear glasses or something?

[tegz]

Out of that list, the only thing worth getting is the UL80VT. Nothing else on that list will give you as perfect a mix between performance and battery life.

:lol @ the G51 even making it on there.

If you don't mind purchasing used online, then like illictstylz said, you can easily get good deals on a laptop off their B&S. Here's an example ad - http://forum.notebookreview.com/notebooks-desktops-sale/520815-fs-asus-ul30vt-a1-2-year-warranty-12-hour-battery-life-512mb-gddr3-4gb-ddr3-500gb.html

hmmm ionno, i tried playing dota on my ex's UL... it was shit to say the least, frame rates were terrible despite the decent sounding gfx card in there..

the SU cpus really hit the fan by bottlenecking or something when it comes to gaming imo

[Razor Ramon HG]

hmmm ionno, i tried playing dota on my ex's UL... it was shit to say the least, frame rates were terrible despite the decent sounding gfx card in there..

the SU cpus really hit the fan by bottlenecking or something when it comes to gaming imo

I meant that it was the best choice out of those options.

[dinamix]

screw pc...get a macbook. best screen. best warranty.

[StylinRed]

i like vaios but my only complaint is the adapter plugin gets loose real quick (this is true across 3 systems ive owned) the plug doesnt fall out but it like loses the connection to the notebook and if your brightness settings are set differently for battery & plugin it'll look like someones turning on and off the lights (gets annoying but it wasnt annoying enough for me to get warranty service on it)

im not sure if the current models use the same plug or if they've taken care of it

[illicitstylz]

So I'm assuming you've got your 3820TG, how's it running so far?

[alex.w *//]

bro just bought the Asus U30JC-B1 from memory express for $749. the notebook finish is awesome. brushed aluminum. Even though it has a i3 cpu, it still lags a bit. Maybe downgrade to 32bit windows 7 home premium?

[jonwon]

So I'm assuming you've got your 3820TG, how's it running so far?

It's pretty good :D only problem I have with it is the bilingual keyboard... but other than that, battery life is great. Haven't tried anything gaming related on it yet cuz of fucking midterms. Might do the i5 430M swap later on, CPU is a bit laggier than I expected. Overall this is a great notebook for it's price range

[!MiKrofT]

Can't you just swap the keyboard with a non billingual one from ebay? I did that with my old Acer.