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Time for a new laptop...

Kottwitz-Graphics

Kottwitz-Graphics

New Member
Hey guys...

I have been having issues with my laptop. An old Toshiba Satellite, that has been pretty good to me. It has the 17" screen, which I love. I just replaced the top cover because the hinges were shot, and it was easier to replace than just the hinges. I've gone through several chargers (the cord end gets frayed, and stops working), and now it looks like the charging port may be going up. The battery won't hold charge, and well, it has seen better days....

The specs on this one are its a Pentium 4, 2 GB ram, 3.2 GHz.

I don't run a RIP program. I do use it for surfing the web, and I have Corel X5 installed, as well as Xara web design.

I started looking around tonight, and honestly, I'm lost.

What should I be looking at in a new laptop? 4 Gb Ram seems pretty common, but I'm not seeing 3.2 GHz in any of the laptops that I have looked at.

Will I see a difference?

And where should I start looking? Staples, Amazon, Ebay? I have a budget of about $500 right now. Enough to get a good machine?

Any help is appreciated.
 
artofacks1

artofacks1

New Member
Mac book Pro, worth every penny and with Parallels you can run Windows and it runs it faster, better and more effecient than any PC.
 
graphicwarning

graphicwarning

New Member
Vital Designs said:
I agree with Mac book Pro being the best laptop but Corel is very buggy when running on Parallels in my experience.
Click to expand...

I agree with the Macbook, however the OP said they had a budget of $500... pretty hard to get a Macbook on that budget.

BUT... I'm using Corel with VMWare fusion and it works like a charm. Never tried it with Parallels... but it works seamlessly in Fusion. Might want to give it a try...
 
Marlene

Marlene

New Member
www.computerrefurb.com is where I got my laptop really cheap. it works great and I will be using them to when I need a new one. they are used and refurbished some a lease returns. can't hurt to take a look to see what they have
 
WildWestDesigns

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
graphicwarning said:
I agree with the Macbook, however the OP said they had a budget of $500... pretty hard to get a Macbook on that budget.

BUT... I'm using Corel with VMWare fusion and it works like a charm. Never tried it with Parallels... but it works seamlessly in Fusion. Might want to give it a try...
Click to expand...


It's going to very greatly with the specs on the computer. I had a horrid experience during my brief foray into the Mac world with Parallels since all my digitizing software is Windows based.

As to the MacBook Pro. Alicia has one of the latest ones and that was a booger to get stable. It was to the point that she was very seriously going to go back to Windows and the programs that she uses are nowhere near resource intensive. So take that for what it's worth.
 
DigitalSignsOnly

DigitalSignsOnly

New Member
You cannot compare just cpu clock speed anymore. Modern cpu's are much faster and more efficient than older CPU's despite a lower clock speed. For $500 I would stay away from a Mac. Without a decently spec'd one running any virtualization software will require more than 4GB of ram to be useful. $500 gets you a decent laptop, look for 8GB of ram and a CPU with at least 2 cores (intel). If you are OK with the weight of a laptop with 17' then go for that..
 
Kottwitz-Graphics

Kottwitz-Graphics

New Member
Marlene said:
www.computerrefurb.com is where I got my laptop really cheap. it works great and I will be using them to when I need a new one. they are used and refurbished some a lease returns. can't hurt to take a look to see what they have
Click to expand...


Thanks for the link. I checked out their site, and emailed them about finding a 17" and they were nice about answering all my questions. They told me that they thought they may have one coming up, and told me they would email me when it was available...





DigitalSignsOnly said:
You cannot compare just cpu clock speed anymore. Modern cpu's are much faster and more efficient than older CPU's despite a lower clock speed. For $500 I would stay away from a Mac. Without a decently spec'd one running any virtualization software will require more than 4GB of ram to be useful. $500 gets you a decent laptop, look for 8GB of ram and a CPU with at least 2 cores (intel). If you are OK with the weight of a laptop with 17' then go for that..
Click to expand...

I did find this on ebay.
HP Pavilion 17 e067cl Notebook
REFURBISHED ITEM - HP Pavilion 17-e067cl Notebook PC, Windows 8, AMD Elite Quad-Core A8-5550M Accelerated Processor (2.1GHz up to 3.1GHz), 8GB, AMD Radeon HD 8550G graphics with up to 4206MB total graphics memory, 750GB, Finish: HP Imprint finish with the micro dot design in anodized silver, HD Webcam, SuperMulti DVD burner, 17.3-inch HD+ LED-backlit display (1600 x 900), 1x1 802.11b/g/n WLAN, Full-size keyboard with numeric keypad,

For under $500, I think this is the one that I am leaning toward...
 
D

Design it Graphics

New Member
Honestly, the Refurbished elitebooks work great, I use it for doing sales calls / quoting jobs / assisting my designer if we have alot of design work in Que.


Oh, and you don't have to deal with windows 8.

[h=1]HP EliteBook 8440p Notebook PC[/h]

$300-400 depending on which one you get.

It doesn't have to be HP per say either, You can get these refurbished i5 laptops from all makes. Just google Refurbish i5 laptop.
 
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