calling all computer geeks!

[CamaroZGuy]

so on new years eve my laptop took a poop on me (charging port broke) and im looking for a new laptop. looking at a different type then i have had in the past (always had gaming based). what im looking for is a smaller laptop under 15.4, win7, non-integrated graphics. mainly will be used for web, minor Photoshop and occasional gaming, and under $1,000.

i think i have narrowed it down to 2, but looking for input
first one is a ASUS, my last one was ASUS and i loved it just had the problem with the charging port.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+U+Series+13.3%26%2334%3B+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+750GB+Hard+Drive+-+Black/1304487689.p?id=mp1304487689&skuId=1304487689
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230262&Tpk=U36SG-DS51

second is a Sony VAIO, i have always had a bad taste about VAIO's because a old family PC, but i think it sucked because it was Win ME...
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony+-+VAIO+S+Series+13.3%26%2334%3B+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+500GB+Hard+Drive+-+Carbon+Fiber+Black/5690364.p?id=1218682374126&skuId=5690364#tab=overview
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127828

[HAND HERPES]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+U+Series+13.3%26%2334%3B+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+750GB+Hard+Drive+-+Black/1304487689.p?id=mp1304487689&skuId=1304487689

[CamaroZGuy]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+U+Series+13.3%26%2334%3B+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+750GB+Hard+Drive+-+Black/1304487689.p?id=mp1304487689&skuId=1304487689

i guessing that is your choice? lol

[HAND HERPES]

Lol, yes

[CamaroZGuy]

not sure if that one will make the cut....just realized no optical drive...

[HAND HERPES]

Totally missed that... I mean how often do you even use it. Everythings digital nowadays. When the one in my moms laptop broke I bought a replacement off Ebay for around 15 bucks too.

[CamaroZGuy]

mainly, moving stuff from work computer to home. we cant use any type of flash drive on DoD networks...but i looked and an external is only like $30...im liking the Asus more and more though. wish a store around here carried them so i could mess with it first. i hate not having a laptop!

[Blackbird96WS6]

I would go with the Asus as well personally. None of the Ultrabooks are going to have an optical drive, but if you're just looking to move data, I'd say an external drive is the way to go. It'll be a bit slower than a built-in one, but it's easy enough to copy/paste and do something else while it finishes lol.

[CamaroZGuy]

i have just been out of the computer world for way too long! (about 2 years)

and i also like the price tag on the Asus too.

[Blackbird96WS6]

Yeah, VAIOs are waaay overpriced IMO lol. Sony's full of themselves, like Apple...

But if you aren't necessarily looking for a laptop and would be interested in a desktop, I build desktops as a hobby on the side and am willing to put one together for you if you're interested ;)

[LT1RUNNER]

Mmmm computer........porn.

[CamaroZGuy]

Yeah, VAIOs are waaay overpriced IMO lol. Sony's full of themselves, like Apple...

But if you aren't necessarily looking for a laptop and would be interested in a desktop, I build desktops as a hobby on the side and am willing to put one together for you if you're interested ;)

i too build desktops ;) but my rig is WAY out dated! LOL im running a gen 1 i7

[Blackbird96WS6]

Lol :embarassed: dude my rig is pretty outdated, I'm on an i3-540 (pre-sandy bridge). But it still gets the job done for anything I need haha. i3 3.07GHz, 8GB DDR3 1333MHz, and 2x GTS 450s in SLI with 3x 750 GB HDDs lol. I used to game a lot more than I do now, but now it's a pretty kickass media center :jest:

[CamaroZGuy]

ya, at least my over priced media center looks cool in a Lian Li custom case! LOL
i7-920, 6 gig ddr3, x58, GTX 260....

[Blackbird96WS6]

Haha I love my case, RAIDMAX Sagitta 2

14115

Although it looked a lot better before my wife broke the front door off of it =(

[CamaroZGuy]

i hate them front doors! they always open the wrong way!

[Blackbird96WS6]

Lol I set my tower up on the proper side of my desk so that it does open the correct way, but my wife has a bad habit of sitting way too close to it with the desk chair and one day got too close :( as she spun around to get up, the chair caught the door and snapped it off the hinges.

[Badbird_96]

Would not get a vaio. Had some friends get two and both last maybe 2-3 months and started having major issues. I liked my xps but they had an overheating issue with the heatsink and it eventually toasted my motherboard. Haven't heard anything bad about Asus from anyone I know. Usually only good stuff.

[nstg8r]

Having worked in IT for ~13 years, my advice is to stay away from the Sony Vaio. I love just about everything else Sony, but their laptops are garbage!

[meissen]

I personally like Dell's laptops. Some people have had issues, most of the people I know haven't or if they do run into issues it's a really easy warranty fix. I have an Inspiron N7110 - 17" lcd so it's pretty big. But I love it.

[CamaroZGuy]

i have had dells in the past, and just never had luck with them. (PC's and notebooks)

[meissen]

Do you buy their home laptops or small business? I always try to buy from their small business section and have had good luck. Only issue I've had with my N7110 so far is that there is a metal ring surrounding the keyboard and I seem to get electrical shocks from it every now and then like static shocks. :lol: Aside from that though the laptop works great. I think what helps for me is that I was a Dell certified repair technician so I know the ins and outs of how to fix these things if they ever take a dump. I've only had Dell laptops since 2004 and I haven't had any major issues with any of mine. Only one hard drive died and I blame it on not using any type of cooling pad between the laptop and my lap which allowed the hard drive to get too hot on a regular basis causing it to fail over time.

[Blackbird96WS6]

Lately Dell's quality has gone to crap. They sell out to the lowest bidder and get junk parts frankensteined together for their machines. I know this because one of my company's regions uses Dells only (the rest of the company all uses Lenovos which are great) and we've recently had a rash of them failing left and right and really pissing off the head honcho of that region - so much so he said F it and agreed to switch back to Lenovos like the rest of us have haha.

[CamaroZGuy]

i dont remember what line they came from...lol last time i had a dell was 02-03? use to love Toshiba, but haven't had one since about 04-05, after that i had an AlienWare i bought in 05 before Dell bought them out (still works good). brother and a friend got Alienwear's after Dell bought them and they only lasted for about 9-11 months till some thing fried in them. but since i have had Asus, always loved the quality of there PC parts and years back decided to pick up one of there Republic of Gamers line laptops and only problem i had was the charging port pin break. (and it lasted through a 8 month deployment to the middle east). still going to try and fix it, but still looking for something smaller.

[CamaroZGuy]

http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac278/A_Roubal/2013-01-06_02-48-00_445.jpg

this is my brothers Alienwear/dell.....i decided to F' with is again, and trying to find a replacement mobo. would be awesome to get it fixed for him since its a $3k paperweight right know.

[Badbird_96]

I bought my xps after dell bought alienwear and basically it was a rebadged alienwear for less. Still cost me $3k and after 2 years when the mobo gave out I could buy a mobo for $300-400 and I could buy a laptop from Walmart with pretty similar specs and a bigger hd for like $500-600. Didn't seem worth fixing.

[meissen]

I've always gone with Inspirons or Lattitudes. My old company was a Dell shop and with 2,000 employees yeah we had failures here and there but nothing too bad. My GM laptop is HP but the new laptops they're giving new employees are Dells.

[will.i.am]

Why not just fix the charging port on it? They're cheap, and fairly easy to replace.

[CamaroZGuy]

Why not just fix the charging port on it? They're cheap, and fairly easy to replace.

waiting on the new port, just been looking at options. $7 is much better then $900

[will.i.am]

waiting on the new port, just been looking at options. $7 is much better then $900

Ah, I didn't see that if you already posted it. I had a friend recently that was asking for laptop recommendations, so I asked her why she was replacing hers. Charger port broke. $3 on amazon, and a $20 for my time and she's good to go.