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The Computer Question Thread


aznriptide859

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  • 3 weeks later...

I need some advice - my laptop (Compal NBLB2) is pretty shagged, just over 3 years old and the battery's gone which would have bothered me too much but then I dropped it and buggered the screen, which now flickers eye-strain-inducing-ly on anything less than full brightness and loads of the pixels are knackered. I've got designs on a new desktop PC because I want to be able to play GAIMZ and also for engineering-y stuff my laptop's pretty slow...is it worth fixing the screen or can I get a decent light-ish laptop to carry around, take to uni etc. without spending all my desktop fund? One idea I had was a second hand ThinkPad, something like this. Is that a good idea?

 

Cheers.

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Well like I say the plan is to build a proper desktop for intensive stuff so in theory I don't need that much puter in my laptop. Just a semi decent processor would be nice, running a first gen i3 at the moment.

 

This the sort of thing you meant?

 

Like, I don't even know where to start looking at laptops nowadays, there's just soo many different makes and models.

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Which one are you hankering after stunt?

 

Edit: I knew there was a reason I singled out the T420: it comes with a 1600x900 screen. I'm used to 1080p, and the standard 1366x768 just look awful to me now, and I can't fit nearly as much on the screen.

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I do like Lenovo's and the last couple of times I've been tapping up my supplier for a spreadsheet Lenovo appears to send around to the trade, the specs do vary (Don't assume all T420's have 1600x900 screen) and it's worth having a good look at the range above and below, prices do vary and sometimes a little more will net you something a lot nicer.

 

Sometimes they have very good deals on there website (build to order mainly), so always worth a check.

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No I know they don't all have the higher resolution, I've been scouring the listings very carefully. It's true, for ~£350 there's one in very good nick with a 2nd gen i5 and an SSD. The T420 seems to be about the only laptop that's available 2nd hand, any good at all and has a res above 768p.

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  • 3 weeks later...

So, I did it.

 

I'm windows free on my laptop. 

 

Downloaded 14.04, backed up all my important files (and the ones from the windows partition), and formatted the drive and now I only have 14.04. (formatting and installing 14.04 seemed easier than removing windows and repartitioning and all that).

 

Loving it :D

 

Didn't like the Unity interface - still don't, so back to Gnome for me, but she's all gravy.

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  • 1 month later...

That's what I thought.  Just re name the old logo with the new name.  Delete the old one and copy the new one in to replace it.  It looks like Steam overrides on startup though.  Not sure how to stop that.

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  • 3 months later...

It's good too but both of those could be built a lot cheaper yourself.

 

Do you have an existing computer?

 

You can re-use the optical drive, hard drive, keyboard, mouse, monitor and probably case.  Perhaps even the power supply depending on how juicy your old one was...

 

When you build a 'puter out of an old one you only really need RAM, mobo, processor/cooler and graphics.

If your budget stretches you can fit a whizzy SSD and use your old hard drive for porn storage.

 

Scan do self-builds, today's (18-11-14) is a bit out of your budget since it is about the same as you have been quoting but with no graphics:

www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/

That is not a perma-link so the deal will change every day and once at the weekend.

 

This is a handy website that lets you know where things fall in a scale and what the best components to use are if you are building to a price:

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

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Thank you very much. I've only got a *suitcasey* *albatross* netbook so salvaging parts not an option. Building it is something I have considered but;

 

1) I haven't done it since 2001

2) I'd *fruitcage* it up, I just know it. I really would. Everything I touch turns to *suitcase*.

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