2011-04-30, 10:57 PM
What is your current budget?:
$500-$1200
What part are you looking for? Why do you need it?:
A laptop. My current one is over 5.5 years old. The hard drive is slow. 512 MB RAM + slow hard drive = pain when stuff starts paging. Having more than 1 core would be nice. I'd like a keyboard that can register at least 3 keys at a time, preferably 4 (important for games). 80 GB hard drive feels kind of cramped, especially with some of that going to a Linux partition.
What parts are in your current computer? Be as specific as possible. Links to Newegg/Tigerdirect are best. If you have a pre-built, include the make and model.
Compaq nw8240
How do you intend to use this new part or new computer? What's the heaviest load it's likely to encounter?
I'd like to be able to run 4 instances of Visual Studio or another big fat IDE while debugging an application that takes another couple hundred MB of RAM and with 20 Firefox tabs open. I'd like to be able to run Linux in a VM. I don't play any really graphics-intensive games. Stepmania is probably the most graphically-intense game I run, but I'd like the option to play games like Elsword. Battery life is not an issue; I'll almost always be plugged in.
I want:
$500-$1200
What part are you looking for? Why do you need it?:
A laptop. My current one is over 5.5 years old. The hard drive is slow. 512 MB RAM + slow hard drive = pain when stuff starts paging. Having more than 1 core would be nice. I'd like a keyboard that can register at least 3 keys at a time, preferably 4 (important for games). 80 GB hard drive feels kind of cramped, especially with some of that going to a Linux partition.
What parts are in your current computer? Be as specific as possible. Links to Newegg/Tigerdirect are best. If you have a pre-built, include the make and model.
Compaq nw8240
How do you intend to use this new part or new computer? What's the heaviest load it's likely to encounter?
I'd like to be able to run 4 instances of Visual Studio or another big fat IDE while debugging an application that takes another couple hundred MB of RAM and with 20 Firefox tabs open. I'd like to be able to run Linux in a VM. I don't play any really graphics-intensive games. Stepmania is probably the most graphically-intense game I run, but I'd like the option to play games like Elsword. Battery life is not an issue; I'll almost always be plugged in.
I want:
- A keyboard that can register at least 3 keys at once is an absolute must. Preferably 4 keys.
- Judging from my requirements above, I think I'll need 4 GB of RAM. Not sure if I'll need more.
- At least 2 CPU cores. 4 would be nice, but I'm not sure how much additional cost it would justify.
- I'm sure any laptop on the market will have enough hard drive space for me. ~150 GB would be plenty. Hard drive speed is more important to me than hard drive capacity.
- S-video output would be nice but not strictly necessary. I play pad stepmania in my basement using S-Video to connect my laptop to the TV. I could still use my current laptop for that.
- Hardware should play nice with Linux.