Buying a new laptop

**edyzmedieval** · 09-27-2016, 23:27

Hah, loved the point of Romanian summers. You're quite right on those - either you freeze with an air conditioner or your laptop melts. One or the other.

So technically the ROG is sound. This is one of the main selling points of it that I'm really liking - good components put together and a solid build.

**Xiahou** · 10-04-2016, 23:41

This probably isn't what you're looking for spec-wise, but less than a year ago, I bought a laptop on Ebay using this guide. I got a fully functional HP Elitebook 8460p for less than $150. I upgraded it to 8GB of RAM and an SSD and replaced the battery for just about another $100. So for right around $250, I got a very rugged business-class laptop that has some respectable stats (i7 SandyBridge, 8GB RAM, Intel HD3000 graphics). I installed Linux Mint on it instead of Windows, because I'm kind of over Windows, but it has a BIOS that will activate OEM Windows7 installs if you wanted to go that route too. I run a number of low to mid-spec games on it without issue aside from the general office/productivity software.

For me, the big thing (aside from price, obviously) is the build quality and components that go into high-end business laptops vs the cheap plastic construction of many consumer level ones.The keyboard, touchpad, the aluminum/magnesium case - all top notch.

So anyway, it sounds like this might not be what you're after- but I thought I'd share my experience just in case it's useful to you or any others that read this....

**edyzmedieval** · 10-05-2016, 08:45

150 $ for a business-spec laptop?

That is one serious bargain score right there. Quite impressive. I would never expect a business-spec laptop, second hand ok but still, to go for such a low price.

Thank you for the tip, Xiahou.

**Xiahou** · 10-06-2016, 02:58

Glad you found it useful.

The prices on these types of laptops are really a phenomenal value, IMO. I'm guessing that most of them are laptops were leased to corporations, and then are being auctioned off cheaply once the leases are up and the businesses refresh their laptops. Sure, a Skylake i7 has better performance than a Sandybridge i7- but not as much as you might think. And certainly not enough to justify the price of a brand new laptop (for me at least).

Here's a fun video that shows what I mean by "build quality" with HP Elitebooks.

**Husar** · 10-09-2016, 23:47

From what I heard (and seem to experience), at least in the mainboard department ASUS is not anymore what it once was.

I also wouldn't recommend running Attila or Battlefield on an HD3000, if the games can even start on that thing.

Not sure about recommendations, I almost made a long post with lots of tangential blabbering because there are so many notebooks, I wouldn't know where to begin.

Maybe try some internet search engine that lets you choose the specs you'd like, I only know German ones at the moment though.
Actually...something like this one, where you get a lot of filters to choose what you want. Then you can see what is roughly available and go from there, look for reviews and whether you can get it in your country.

https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=nb#gh_filterbox

**Xiahou** · 10-10-2016, 18:47

Originally Posted by Husar

I also wouldn't recommend running Attila or Battlefield on an HD3000, if the games can even start on that thing.

Of course it will play!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

You just might have to.... turn down... some settings...

In all honesty, I do play a lot of games on it- I just save the graphically demanding ones for my desktop.

**Husar** · 10-10-2016, 20:54

Originally Posted by Xiahou

Of course it will play!

You just might have to.... turn down... some settings...

In all honesty, I do play a lot of games on it- I just save the graphically demanding ones for my desktop.

Haha, the video says HD 3000 2GB, seems weird as I can only assign up to 512MB to the HD 4000 in my notebook.
The reason I said if it runs is that IIRC a lot of games didn't work well with the HD 3000 drivers and even the HD 4000 drivers are not great.
I think I had some issues with not being able to stretch a lower resolution picture to fit the screen and so on.

For some gaming on the go or on holiday etc. they're fine, it was all I had in my semester abroad and it played World of Warships quite fine, too. It's just that if this is the only gaming machine, and that is how I understood edyz, I wouldn't ever recommend it. If it has to be integrated, AMD may be a better choice anyway, their integrated graphics are usually faster.