What notebook to buy now that vaio is no more?

ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
So I always bought vaios except for my wifes notebook, she likes mac which I hate...

So now what? the sony's have always treated me well, they were affordable and lasted a while...

I want to replace the laptop in my bedroom, the charger broke a while back so I drilled a hole in the case pulled the carger wires out and soldered them directly to the charger, then about a 6 months later the battery died {probably because I charged it 24-7}, so I took the battery rite out and soldered the charger directly to the battery pins, and it still works, but I broke the case apart with pliers to get at the wires, so its a mess and burns me sometimes when I touch it in the wrong spot...

Its only for the internet, thats it, but I don't like using a tablet, I just want a notebook..
 
crossedover

crossedover

Audioholic Chief
Budget? Screen size? I've had good luck with the upper end amd apu based notebooks.
I've have this one with a ssd hd and it works perfect for surfing and video, and enough processing to run rendering if needed.
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
I dont know? No budget just want a lot for my money ....
 
GO-NAD!

GO-NAD!

Audioholic Warlord
Toshibas are highly rated. My wife has one and it works well.
 
slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord
Toshibas are highly rated. My wife has one and it works well.
Yeah, I have an older Toshiba Satellite that I bought refurb from Fry's at least 5 years ago. It's seen all kinds of abuse and still going strong.

Nothing fancy, and I paid around $300 refurb. But I am surprised out how well it has held up with the daily abuse. I have had to replace the charger and battery though, but no real surprises there.

My work laptop is a Dell E6410, same story, plenty of abuse and still going strong. I do prefer this Dell to the Toshiba.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
For the guy with large budget Imc - you are sure love to tinker (and tinker in very ugly way if I may say so) - next time if you like the lap - just get a replacement power brick/cable.
They are not that expensive - I had good luck with both 3rd party (new) and the original used ones from ebay.
$20-30 max and you wont have to mess-up the lap next time around.

Toshiba - stay the heck away - Nothing but crap there.

If you want something to last - get a business level laptop. HP, Dell and Lenovo make these - Yes, these cost more , but typically they are designed to be a bit tougher than consumer models.
Speaking of tough laptops - Nothing quite like Panasonic rugged laptops - police and military use them all the time
 
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M

MidnightSensi2

Audioholic Chief
I have a Lenovo running Ubuntu Linux (but it could certainly run Windows, and, originally did..).
ThinkPad W540 | Mobile Workstation | Â*| Lenovo US

I also have a MacBook Pro Retina 15", but, if Apple makes you want to stab yourself with a fork, then, for your own safety, let's stick with something else - but just thrown' it out there because I have friends that don't like Apple phones, desktops or workstations - but love the laptops.
I'd wait until the new ones come out though (pretty soon I believe, just waiting on the new chipsets).

The Lenovo W series has been a good laptop, the only problem I have is I got used to the Apple's enclosure where its stiff enough to pick it up by the corners... well, with the Lenovo, don't do that lol. It eventually starts to bend the enclosure.

Performance wise, both are probably 10x more than the average business user needs. hehe.
 
Rickster71

Rickster71

Audioholic Spartan
I'd like to add a bit of info about power packs and batteries.

Many (not all) power packs are running at their max when powering a laptop and simultaneously charging the battery.
That is the leading reason for power block failures.
While it's normal for the charger to get warm, it shouldn't be hot.

If you can wait just a little while for a new laptop.
Look for a laptop with Intel's fifth-generation processor a.k.a. Core M. Broadwell chip.
That CPU requires much less power and generates much less heat.
That ends up translating into smaller laptops and batteries that last longer.
 
lsiberian

lsiberian

Audioholic Overlord
What you need is an origin pc laptop. For only 8100 dollars I can set you up with a laptop that will make you the envy of your neighbors, children and nerds everywhere.
 
GranteedEV

GranteedEV

Audioholic Ninja
Irv, it's time to the Falcon Northwest TLX route



You know, since they're a small, North American business :p

Besides that, I do like the Lenovo Yoga.
Re: Toshiba - i've actually been very impressed by their build quality and low temps.

...and just stay the hell away from HP. Build quality could not be crappier. I bought one back in 2007 and it was always just a heat machine with a noisy fan. During warranty, its screen backlight died on me, and thn recently the motherboard died on me a while ago. When I opened it up I just wasn't impressed by the system design.
 
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ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
Irv, it's time to the Falcon Northwest TLX route
You know, since they're a small, North American business :p

Besides that, I do like the Lenovo Yoga.
Re: Toshiba - i've actually been very impressed by their build quality and low temps.

...and just stay the hell away from HP. Build quality could not be crappier. I bought one back in 2007 and it was always just a heat machine with a noisy fan. During warranty, its screen backlight died on me, and thn recently the motherboard died on me a while ago. When I opened it up I just wasn't impressed by the system design.
Tha falcon looks like a nice unit, but 5 weeks to get it built, that sucks, I will be sick of it before it gets here, I am American, I want it NOW.... I did look into that lenova, I think that is going to be the one...

What you need is an origin pc laptop. For only 8100 dollars I can set you up with a laptop that will make you the envy of your neighbors, children and nerds everywhere.
$8100, lol, I am going to put a picture of my laptop tomorrow {wife is sleeping next to me so don't want to be snapping pics she will wake up in a panic {again} ;), but then you will understand why I won't spend $8100 on one lol...

I'd like to add a bit of info about power packs and batteries.

Many (not all) power packs are running at their max when powering a laptop and simultaneously charging the battery.
That is the leading reason for power block failures.
While it's normal for the charger to get warm, it shouldn't be hot.

If you can wait just a little while for a new laptop.
Look for a laptop with Intel's fifth-generation processor a.k.a. Core M. Broadwell chip.
That CPU requires much less power and generates much less heat.
That ends up translating into smaller laptops and batteries that last longer.
I can wait, but I think I am pressing my luck with this thing, the fan constantly runs but its exposed so it gets stopped by the blanket or my shirt under it, lol... I could just take my laptop from down stairs up here, but that will be really inconvenient...

For the guy with large budget Imc - you are sure love to tinker (and tinker in very ugly way if I may say so) - next time if you like the lap - just get a replacement power brick/cable.
They are not that expensive - I had good luck with both 3rd party (new) and the original used ones from ebay.
$20-30 max and you wont have to mess-up the lap next time around.

Toshiba - stay the heck away - Nothing but crap there.

If you want something to last - get a business level laptop. HP, Dell and Lenovo make these - Yes, these cost more , but typically they are designed to be a bit tougher than consumer models.
Speaking of tough laptops - Nothing quite like Panasonic rugged laptops - police and military use them all the time
It wasnt the power brick that broke, it was the little piece inside the patop, its a bad design they start tight, then get looser and looser until you are like propping them up with tape and slivers of paper so they charge... I will put a pic tomorrow you will see what i mean...

Budget? Screen size? I've had good luck with the upper end amd apu based notebooks.
I've have this one with a ssd hd and it works perfect for surfing and video, and enough processing to run rendering if needed.
I had some amd issues, I don't want to revisit, they were affordable so we bought some and donated them to the local middle school for after school programs {16 laptops for under $6000} and the bulk of them didn't last the school year.. the laptops were made by acer but the issues were from the amd...
 
Ponzio

Ponzio

Audioholic Samurai
Dell Latitude e6400 line ... reliable, reasonable cost and nice mix for business/pleasure (music/video). I have to date owned 3 Dell Latitude laptops within the last 15 years and not one ever failed. They've either been retired because of upgrades to OS, technical obsolescence or been passed on to family members who are still using them.
 
haraldo

haraldo

Audioholic Warlord
Quite a few of my colleagues do employ the Lenovo Carbon X1 14", which is quite slick, all of them are happy about the PC
Trackpad is a ba***rd to use, though... Battery life is quite good...
to me it's a bit too small screen size, so I do have a brick

It comes with up to WQHD - 2560x1440 resolution
128GB to 512GB SSD...
maybe it's overkill if it's only for surfing, though
ThinkPad X1 Carbon Business UltrabookÂ*| Lenovo US

 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
I wouldn't touch a PC made by Sony :)

Lenovo was our corporate PC supplier for a long time and they no longer are for a reason. Their standard business systems were just that - standard. I'd personally go with Dell. I have an M4700 (bulky, but solid machine) and we currently have users switching to the M3800 - hate the keyboard, but love the form factor of the machine, and its a decent performer. I HAVE had a Dell die on me, but that thing traveled with me a lot and was pretty well abused.
 
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haraldo

haraldo

Audioholic Warlord
A problem with Lenovo, as far as I have seen, none of the models do have backlit keyboards, many of the Dell's will give you that. This is a great feature!
I had a Dell XPS 1645 for a long time, it has some issues now, but screen is absolutely great, backlit keyboard the same .... it's starting to break down now after many years of road-use (it has lived a tough life)
Maybe some of the Dell XPS models would be worth looking at...
 
H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
A problem with Lenovo, as far as I have seen, none of the models do have backlit keyboards
Mine does. My wife's does. Both are "T" series.
2 levels of backlight... low & high... and led at the top of the screen that shines down on kybd. Fn + Spacebar to toggle between the 3 lights or off. With the Fn key at the very bottom left of the kybd, it's easy to do in the dark.
 
haraldo

haraldo

Audioholic Warlord
Mine does. My wife's does. Both are "T" series.
2 levels of backlight... low & high... and led at the top of the screen that shines down on kybd. Fn + Spacebar to toggle between the 3 lights or off. With the Fn key at the very bottom left of the kybd, it's easy to do in the dark.
Hmmmm.... Capgemini saves some bucks here :eek:
I never seen this
 
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