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I need advice: which laptop to buy?

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brotherS:
Hi,

I'm looking for a new 15" TFT laptop and with roughly 105282443 different models on the market, I need your help!

- what I need it for: web, office, DVD watching (no gaming, no video editing)
- ~15" TFT (I think I have 15.6" now)
- not sure if I need a LED display, I mostly use an external TFT anyway
- I really dislike those reflecting displays (I forgot what it's called)
- no idea what CPU I should aim for (my current laptop has a Pentium Dual T2330 @ 1.60 GHz, and with Vista it sometimes feels a bit sluggish)
- I'd like Windows 7, I'm not open to Linux, Apple or whatever
- lots of RAM would be good since I love to run TONS of programs at the same time (got 4 GB now)
- I'm considering one with a ~120 GB SSD drive (because of speed, energy, noise, and heat)
- I like cool and quiet computers, and while my ex gf's laptop was both of that, mine is heating up a lot more, and is thus (thanks to the fan) not as quiet.
- the fan should run continuously if needed, not "on/off/on/off/..." like in some newer models (I think it was the cheaper DELL models and some other makes)
- battery life is not so important, as I found I rarely use it where there's no plug, but I like to be able to take it along when I travel or visit someone
- weight is not important
- a price tag of up to $1000 would be ok, less than that perfect (you might be able to convince me to spend more, but I'd really prefer not to)

None of the laptops I saw being advertised over the last months came with a SSD drive, would I need to have this one custom-built? Or is there something out there that's a fit?

Any pointers or feedback welcome!

40hz:

None of the laptops I saw being advertised over the last months came with a SSD drive, would I need to have this one custom-built? Or is there something out there that's a fit?

Any pointers or feedback welcome!
-brotherS (January 17, 2011, 06:26 AM)
--- End quote ---

You should be able to install one yourself fairly easily depending on the laptop you get. The usual way most people do it is to is to purchase a caddy adapter that holds the SSD. With this arrangement, the SSD replaces the optical drive. Since you want to watch DVDs. that's not going to be a workable solution for you.
 
However, you can also replace the HD with an SSD if you can't find a laptop that comes with one. The procedure is straightforward provided the contents of your harddrive don't exceed the capacity of your SSD. If they do, you will need to do some file pruning and bakup before you can switch over.

Here's the steps:


* image the laptop's harddrive
* remove the HD
* install the SSD
* copy back the harddrive image to the SSD
That's it!

If it's a new machine, and it ships with a system recovery/reinstallation DVD (or let's you make one) the project gets even easier. In this case there's nothing to backup or clone because you haven't used the PC yet. In this case:


* remove theHD
* install the SSD
* install the factory OS and applications from the OEM recovery DVD
Get yourself an external enclosure for the HD and you can put it to use as a backup device.

Some companies offer kits that contain everything (external enclosure for the old harddrive, cloning software, etc.) that you'll need to do this easily. But they add expense to an already expensive component, so it may not be worth it to you to buy a complete kit. You don't really need it. It just makes things more convenient.

There's a video that shows the process using a Kensington SSD laptop replacement kit. Watch it here. There's probably better how-to videos up on YouTube.

Luck! :Thmbsup:

brotherS:
Interesting... thanks for the info and link.

Should I decide to give up the optical drive to install a SSD there (I don't watch so many DVDs, an external optical drive might be an option), is it still possible to use that as the system drive, and the original HD as backup? Will I still be able to get the full SSD speed this way?

f0dder:
- I'm considering one with a ~120 GB SSD drive (because of speed, energy, noise, and heat)-brotherS (January 17, 2011, 06:26 AM)
--- End quote ---
Most SSDs end up drawing a bit more power in total than harddrives, as they have continuous power draw, whereas harddrives spin down when not in use. Speed is definitely better, but caveat emptor: you need one of the decent SSDs, some of them are slower than harddrives under real-world scenarios. Not sure about heat, my Intel X25-E seems relatively warm to the touch - but that might be ambient heat buildup from the case.

I looked a bit around for laptops last week, and I'm a bit shocked tbh. Does everybody use that damn crappy WXGA (1280x768) resolution for ~15" monitors?

f0dder:
Should I decide to give up the optical drive to install a SSD there (I don't watch so many DVDs, an external optical drive might be an option), is it still possible to use that as the system drive, and the original HD as backup? Will I still be able to get the full SSD speed this way?-brotherS (January 17, 2011, 08:00 AM)
--- End quote ---
Personally, I'd definitely go for an external optical drive if I needed more space than available with a non-insanely priced SSD. Looking back at the last 2½ years, I've probably used my laptop's optical drive 5-10 times, max. OTOH, my laptop not being my primary system, a 120gig SSD would be quite enough :)

Anyway, you definitely do want the SSD as the main drive, hosting Windows + Apps For Great Justice speed :)

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