68 replies to this topic

[RShack]

Thanks for all the quick and thoughtful advice yall, due to my heavy office/google/android phone use, I'm now leaning away from Apple.

 

Its still tough for me to decipher the difference between all these acronyms and numbers when looking at the specs. Jeremy and others, any thoughts on the difference between:

 

http://www.toshiba.c...Z30/Z30-BST3NX3

 

and

 

http://www.toshiba.c...a/Z40/Z40-B1410

 

350 dollars more for the latter, can't tell how much more computing power I'm getting for that though. Also, I hated Windows 8 and would want to use 7 or whatever the new 10 is as long as it's not another smartphone style setup.

 

Both have screen technology that is OK but not great...  screen will look OK head on, but off-center will fade fast... IPS screens are better, they cost more, whether they're worth it to you, I dunno...

 

If I was buying something to live with for a few years, I'd get IPS...

 

SSD vs HDD... SSD's cost more... and they're incredibily fast... which is like power windows in a car: you don't need them until you have them, but once you have them, you need them...

 

SSDs are about to get way cheaper... so, one idea is to plan on upgrading to a big honking SSD later... which mostly depends on whether or not you're afraid to take a laptop apart-enough to get to the drive... it's not hard but, depending on the model, it can be annoying...

[SammyBirdland]

Like this, http://www.toshiba.c...Z30/Z30-BST3NX4 has a

• 256GB mSATA solid state drive

And the one I posted before http://www.toshiba.c...0/Z40-B1410 has a 

• 500GB (7200RPM) hard drive

Which is more GBs but not a "Solid State Drive"

 

So which is better?!?!?

 

 

Sold State Drive (SSD) is crazy fast.  No moving parts, whereas a conventional hard drive has to spin.   SSD makes a huge difference.

[JeremyStrain]

Like this, http://www.toshiba.c...Z30/Z30-BST3NX4 has a

• 256GB mSATA solid state drive

And the one I posted before http://www.toshiba.c...0/Z40-B1410 has a 

• 500GB (7200RPM) hard drive

Which is more GBs but not a "Solid State Drive"

 

So which is better?!?!?

 

SSD is better. MUCH faster, and unless you are storing GB and GB worth of music and photos, you'll never need 256 GB let alone 500GB. IF storage SPACE is an issue, just buy an external or a large flash drive, but you'll find yourself using the cloud more and more as we go forward anyways, so stick with the SSD.

[RShack]

I forget who, but somebody's making a thin-bezel 14" that's pretty much the same size as a 13.

 

I was thinking of the wrong thing... here's a 13" that's sized like an 12"... various model choices mean the price range is pretty big from cheapest to most expensive...  http://www.cnet.com/...non-touch-2015/

[RShack]

I was thinking of the wrong thing... here's a 13" that's sized like an 12"... various model choices mean the price ranger is pretty big from cheapest to most expensive...  http://www.cnet.com/...non-touch-2015/

 

http://www.laptopmag...-non-touch-2015

[BSLMikeLowe]

+1 for SSD drives.

[RShack]

FYI... for a 13" laptop, any screen rez that's better than 1920 * 1080 is pointless... it's spec-shopping, your eyes can't tell...

 

Whether 1920 * 1080 is a cost-worthwhile improvement over 1366 * 768 depends on your priorities... once you get a screen bigger than 13" it is... but for 13" it's debatable...

[SportsGuy]

Apple

[RShack]

Once you get down in size to a 13", you're paying extra to get small... which is OK, just be aware...

 

Also, 13's are so space constrained that often the RAM is soldered in... to save the size of a socket... which means you can upgrade the drive but often you can't upgrade the RAM... depends on the model...

 

You want a MIN of 4GB... and 8GB is better...  although with SSD's the advantage of more RAM is mitigated by how fast the drive can swap things in and out of RAM...

[Mashed Potatoes]

Leaning towards a customized version of this Toshiba with some upgrades, http://www.toshiba.c...40/Z40-BSMBN22. I do have a ton of music on my computer (75GBs worth, though that's all on the cloud now thanks to google music, so I guess I don't need to waste space transferring all that.

 

• 5th Gen. Intel® Core™ i5-5200U Processor (3M Cache, up to 2.70GHz) with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0   
• Windows 7 Professional (available through downgrade rights from Windows 8.1 Pro)   
• 1 month trial for new Office 365 customers
• Toshiba Plus
• 8GB DDR3L 1600MHz (8GB x1)   
• 256GB mSerial ATA solid state drive   
• No optical Drive
• 14.0" HD+ TFT LED Backlit Display (1600x900)   
• Intel Dual-Band Wireless-AC 7265 Plus Bluetooth 4

[Mashed Potatoes]

Leaning towards a customized version of this Toshiba with some upgrades, http://www.toshiba.c...40/Z40-BSMBN22. I do have a ton of music on my computer (75GBs worth, though that's all on the cloud now thanks to google music, so I guess I don't need to waste space transferring all that.

 

• 5th Gen. Intel® Core™ i5-5200U Processor (3M Cache, up to 2.70GHz) with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0   
• Windows 7 Professional (available through downgrade rights from Windows 8.1 Pro)   
• 1 month trial for new Office 365 customers
• Toshiba Plus
• 8GB DDR3L 1600MHz (8GB x1)   
• 256GB mSerial ATA solid state drive   
• No optical Drive
• 14.0" HD+ TFT LED Backlit Display (1600x900)   
• Intel Dual-Band Wireless-AC 7265 Plus Bluetooth 4

 

This seems like it has way more powerful components than a lot of the prebuilt stuff, is 14 inches, and is 1,169, vs. more for the others i see that don't seem as strong.

[SammyBirdland]

I'm a Mac guy, but Windows 10 looks like it's going to be nice improvement over Windows 8.   I honestly don't know how anyone uses Windows 8 in a mission critical environment without going homicidal.   Windows 7 is the nicest OS user interface I've ever used.

[JeremyStrain]

I'm a Mac guy, but Windows 10 looks like it's going to be nice improvement over Windows 8.   I honestly don't know how anyone uses Windows 8 in a mission critical environment without going homicidal.   Windows 7 is the nicest OS user interface I've ever used.

 

I set mine to default to desktop so I never notice the stupid tiles. You can change it all almost identical to Win 7, with a couple quirks. But I'm leaning towards going 10 once they work the launch bugs out of it.

 

Fortunately on mine, it's pretty much just web browsing, MS Office, and GoToMyPC.

[RShack]

For a 14" screen, you definitely want to upgrade the screen beyond 1366 * 768...

1600 * 900 is probably the sweet spot for that size screen...

 

Re: SSD cost... current street prices for quality SDD's are (more or less):

* 250GB:  $100

* 500GB:  $165

* 1 TB:  $350

 

And the prices are dropping fast...

 

Depending on your preferences and budget, I'd think about this one too:  http://www.amazon.co...l/dp/B00RBDB2G0

[RShack]

Dunno if your size constraint is weight vs. dimensions... but for the same weight as the Tecra 14, you can also get this:

 

http://www.pcmag.com...,2460011,00.asp'

 

http://www.cnet.com/...-9-2014-edition

 

Ignore the prices they mention... it can be had for way less....

 

ps:  Not trying to change your mind... it's just that whatever you buy will be something you live with for a pretty long while... so, just be as sure as you can be, that's all...

[RShack]

This seems like it has way more powerful components than a lot of the prebuilt stuff, is 14 inches, and is 1,169, vs. more for the others i see that don't seem as strong.

 

The more I look at the spec's you picked, the more I like it...

 

The only thing I see as possibly-debatable is paying $250 for that SSD when you can get it for way less and pop it in yourself... and if you wait 6 months, it won''t just be way less, it will be way-way-way less... but, then again, I don't know if the idea of installing one makes you too nervous... (if we lived near each other, I'd do it for you... but we don't...)

[Mackus]

Whichever new one you buy, keep the old one for exclusive use as a...uh...internet browsing machine.

[Matt_P]

This seems like it has way more powerful components than a lot of the prebuilt stuff, is 14 inches, and is 1,169, vs. more for the others i see that don't seem as strong.

 

It sounds like you're looking for a mid level laptop (closer to low-end rather than high-end) but you're shopping for a high-end laptop. Do you really need 8GB of RAM? Do you need an SSD of 256 GB? I'd say you probably need neither and would probably look at 4GB of RAM and an SSD of 128 GB.

 

Do you specifically want a Toshiba?

 

If you don't, this HP laptop is probably the same quality and some $500 cheaper after codes and rebates.

 

http://store.hp.com/...ontractId=10003

 

http://slickdeals.ne...rc=featured-377

[JeremyStrain]

This seems like it has way more powerful components than a lot of the prebuilt stuff, is 14 inches, and is 1,169, vs. more for the others i see that don't seem as strong.

 
It sounds like you're looking for a mid level laptop (closer to low-end rather than high-end) but you're shopping for a high-end laptop. Do you really need 8GB of RAM? Do you need an SSD of 256 GB? I'd say you probably need neither and would probably look at 4GB of RAM and an SSD of 128 GB.
 
Do you specifically want a Toshiba?

If you want speed you need 8gb. 4 is the bare minimum for windows 8 and its painfully slow.

[Matt_P]

If you want speed you need 8gb. 4 is the bare minimum for windows 8 and its painfully slow.

 

I disagree with that assessment. I have 4 GB for the computer I use at home for some gaming. It's fine speed-wise.