I'm interested in buying a new laptop, but the things I need are pretty damn specific... In terms of Windows machines I've heard a lot of good things about Asus (a lot of bad too, but the same can be said for literally every company out there making computers) but I have no idea where to find a good selection of models or to "make" one on the PC. The thing I love about sites like Dell, Sony or even Mac if I recall correctly is that they all allow you to build your own computer. All Asus seems to do is list every model they've ever made in a way that makes it nearly impossible to find out which is better than which since I can't figure out if the A, G, N or K series came first.
Well Asus makes prebuilt laptops and desktop parts. I don't know if they make customizable laptops to order.
But if you want to figure out which model is "better" you should make a priority ranking of exactly what you want to do with the laptop and see which model matches that the best.
-- _foolmo_ 'and out of the blue and completely unprovoked came foolmo and his insult' - Anagram
From: foolm0ron | #004 Well Asus makes prebuilt laptops and desktop parts. I don't know if they make customizable laptops to order.
But if you want to figure out which model is "better" you should make a priority ranking of exactly what you want to do with the laptop and see which model matches that the best. Well I meant that on their website I would click a letter and then realize that all models under that letter were good about 3 years ago, and I had no idea which series were better than others.
From: ninkendo | #002 My brother got his Asus from xoticpc.com This site looks pretty good.. seems to let you customize quite a bit. Newegg was actually the first place I tried, they had some decent PCs, but what I needed seemed to be far too specific for what they offered. It seems like I can customize pretty much everything with Xotic though. I'll have to compare this price to a couple other sites, thanks for the suggestion!
So I've come to a decision... probably not going to go with Asus at all. The HP Envy 14 has literally everything I'm looking for and has amazing aesthetics as well. Thanks for the help though. I may use those sites if I ever decide to build a desktop...
I dunno, $1400 for a decent processor, no dedicated graphics, and only a 900p screens seems really overpriced.
Wait, apparently there are multiple Envy 14s? The Spectre is the overpriced one. The 2130nr is probably a decent deal at $800, though. I haven't looked at laptops for like 4 years though so I dunno what has changed.
-- _foolmo_ 'You are obviously intelligent and insightful' - Sir Chris about me
From: foolm0ron | #013 I dunno, $1400 for a decent processor, no dedicated graphics, and only a 900p screens seems really overpriced.
Wait, apparently there are multiple Envy 14s? The Spectre is the overpriced one. The 2130nr is probably a decent deal at $800, though. I haven't looked at laptops for like 4 years though so I dunno what has changed. Yeah, there are some different configs. I'm looking at the HP Envy 14-2100 Beats Edition. Still $1300 (Canadian) but it's got a Radeon 6630, 80GB SSD+750 HDD and 6GB RAM.
I guess you want it for the special audio hardware? The SSD is pretty nice, too, but you could just get the 2130nr and buy an additional SSD for a cheaper total since it is the same in all the other specs (assuming the laptop has 2 harddrive bays, which I'm pretty sure it does). But if you want the special audio stuff (which may or may not be worth it) then yeah the Beats is your only option.
-- _foolmo_ 'but that statement is something only an Aspergers patient would say' - UltimaterializerX
From: foolm0ron | #015 I guess you want it for the special audio hardware? The SSD is pretty nice, too, but you could just get the 2130nr and buy an additional SSD for a cheaper total since it is the same in all the other specs (assuming the laptop has 2 harddrive bays, which I'm pretty sure it does). But if you want the special audio stuff (which may or may not be worth it) then yeah the Beats is your only option. Also 6GB RAM, although that could be upgraded with not too great a cost. Only problem is that I can't seem to find that model on any Canadian websites. The Beats edition is supposed come with a pair of Beats Solo HD headphones as well, which does sweeten the pot, and it's only listed at $200 more than the 2130nr on the US website, which leads me to believe the price difference will be similar if I did find it on a Canadian site. I think all things considered I would end up paying roughly the same with upgrades (not including the $150 headphones) and the Beats ediiton just has a little more style. I'll look into it more though, since paying less is always good.