Help me buy a new laptop!

[Punky]

There are a few DPC issues with the power management on the mobile nvidia chipsets that will cause issues. Currently the 330M is a known problem chipset, but ALL nvidia mobile chipsets seem to have varying degrees of DPC nastiness.

Cellular radio is being built into LOTS of laptops now. It turns a 3G or 4g signal into an internet connection.

Huh. Interesting. Thanks for letting me know. I'll be sure to go with an ATI chipset in that case.

And I don't need 3G or 4G internet on my laptop anyway. I'd probably just use it to waste time checking Facebook anyhow.

I found a good reputable Ebay seller selling refurbished HP laptops. They put some nice looking i5s and i7s within my price range. Think I should consider them?

[xtianw]

id look at an hp envy.

great features. unibody construction. and a little thing about the beats audio that surprised me. its got dual soundcards. traktor recognizes them both, so you can headphone preview in one, send the second out to your speakers. this allows for dj'ing with a VERY minimal setup if need be.

i picked mine up for 999 at the microsoft store. they have an unadvertised academic discount thats basically the same one apple offers.

[BennyJ]

Yeah the envy is sexy but it was out of my price range.

[b3nz0n8]

Great feedback from owners (Tablet/Notebook/etc)



http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/



http://forum.notebookreview.com/



Deals/Coupons:

HP: Latest HP Coupon Deal Tracker

Currently, 12-31-10, it's an instant savings of $135. This is not a deal, yet. Watch the instant savings plus coupon discount rise over the new few weeks/month. I suggest keeping an eye out for the big $400 coupon and be prepared.

The high value coupons are used up quickly and usually last only a few hours, act fast when you see it or it's <sad face>


Current HP Coupon:

HP TouchSmart tm2-2150us 12.1" Touchscreen Notebook PC
The HP TouchSmart tm2-2150us is only $799 after $130 in Instant Savings

How coupons work:

HP has changed their coupon structure over the last 2 years. Coupons are now stackable on top of the standard 'instant savings' and different coupons apply to different HP laptops/tablets etc.

Link to current coupons and coupon tracking forum posts

Tablet: HP TABLET TM2/may apply to other systems as well

Laptop: uncertain location, TRY HERE



For example: If you see an instant saving of $135 off a base system purchase of $799, with no other coupons, you are starting at the bottom of the coupons pile.

Coupons will increase in coupon value over the next few weeks/months, depending on new product releases scheduled for the year as well as product demand vs. coupon usage. Coupons are used up at a rapid pace and if you are watching them rise in value, you are ready to strike the same day the $400 + instant savings is released. Don't hesitate when you see it available, and I suggest building your expected system in advance so you are ready. I've missed out before, the coupon lasted 4 hours...4. hours.

Around March, HP begins to release the new products, leaving January/Feburary to clear out remaining stock.

*NOTE* With the introduction of Intel chips into the TM2 tablet line, there have been up to 4 revision releases in one year. This in contrary to the 2 releases per year when HP solely used AMD CPU's.

Thank god they switched to intel. Faster, cooler, more reliable...AMD & Nvidia GPU heat wrecked tablets back in the day.


These instant savings will then allow for the first stackable coupon (generally $150 or $200 depending on the system), of values of something like $200, $275, $325 and $400.

You can then stack these coupons together with the instant savings. As the coupon discount increases, so does your base system price. In the case of $135 + $400 coupon, it is generally a base price of $1399.

This means in order to meet the $135 instant savings + $400 coupon, you must:

1) Act quickly and plan ahead. When you see the $250 coupons, those elusive $400 coupons are only a few weeks away at the most,
2)$400 stackable coupons can be used up within a few hours of being offered...yes, they go that quickly.
3) Upgrade the CPU, GPU, RAM, Bluetooth, Wireless Card, Fingerprint Reader, and any other hardware and/or Operating System.
4) All other accessories do not count towards the $1399 base price.

If your coupon is not working at checkout, you have not upgraded the base core hardware components to meet the $1399 base price. Go back and upgrade these to meet the requirements. This is where most usually miss it and during checkout it will tell you your coupon is invalid.

There are two reasons for an invalid coupon.

1) You did not meet the base core components price
2) You waited too long and the coupons expire after a certain number of uses

**NOTE** The $400 stackable coupon usually lasts no longer than a few hours to the most, that I've ever seen in 5 years of watching, 1.5 days before it expired.

Saving up to $550 off a tricked/Maxed out system....you're over halfway to adding an S4 to the mix.

I hope this helps you save money...you know, so you can buy more DJ Stuff and pay for the home entertainment...

....Dollar Dollar Billz Ya'll

[Punky]

Hmm I don't think I'm looking for a tablet system though. I don't think I'd use that functionality... well... ever.

[b3nz0n8]

id look at an hp envy.

great features. unibody construction. and a little thing about the beats audio that surprised me. its got dual soundcards. traktor recognizes them both, so you can headphone preview in one, send the second out to your speakers. this allows for dj'ing with a VERY minimal setup if need be.

i picked mine up for 999 at the microsoft store. they have an unadvertised academic discount thats basically the same one apple offers.

Agree with xtianw, the HP Envy is nice. The coupons apply to laptops as well. If you go HP, check out the coupon link above.

www.slickdeals.net and www.fatwallet.com can save loads of cash. Use the 'search' function on both sites to narrow your deal search.

There are also trackers for pricing so you know your getting the best deal, or to wait for something else.


Hope this helps

[Punky]

Agree with xtianw, the HP Envy is nice. The coupons apply to laptops as well. If you go HP, check out the coupon link above.

www.slickdeals.net and www.fatwallet.com can save loads of cash. Use the 'search' function on both sites to narrow your deal search.

There are also trackers for pricing so you know your getting the best deal, or to wait for something else.


Hope this helps

Thanks, I'll check these out.

[DJAttackZ]

I'm a little hesitant to get a Core 2 Duo, as my current Core Duo 2.0 is barely cutting the mustard as it is. I know it's a step up from a 32 to a 64 bit processor but is it really that much of a change, worth investing tons of cash into? I was considering an i5 and up because I wanted to future proof myself a bit.

the core 2 and core 2 duo are very differnt chip sets and no matter what the only way to future proof ur investment is with a mac.. sorry to say it. i have a 3.5 year old black macbook that runs all the newest softwear and os without a problem.. show me a pc laptop from 07 in the 0-1000 price range that can run win 7 64 bit and be stable.. dont think so. apple does a good job with their computers atleast making them last. plus dealing with anti spywear and virus is annoing as hell.. imo spend the extra 200-300 on it or buy used its the industry standard for a reason

[Nosferatu]

.. show me a pc laptop from 07 in the 0-1000 price range that can run win 7 64 bit and be stable.. dont think so.

uh... Dell D830 running Win7 64bit.

Traktor 1.27 AND Cubase 5.5. (my last two tracks were produced entirely on this machine)

...and Stable enough to do a weekly 5hr gig without a glitch.

I still don't understand the "no PC can do this" mentality...

PC's have a proven track record for mission critical applications (have you been to a hospital lately?!?!?!) It could be argued that Traktor is far from being a clinical application, but how is it that I've been DJing on a PC since Final Scratch 1.0 (yes, the round one) without so much as a single glitch. (dirty stylus' and drunken clubbers elbowing the decks notwithstanding)

Not hating on Macs, but let's call a spade a spade... I guarantee macs have had their fair share of issues... a quick search will prove that.

[astromech]

PC's have a proven track record for mission critical applications (have you been to a hospital lately?!?!?!)

Haha. Oh god. Remind me never to get ill.