Looking for a decent cheap laptop or PC

Last updated on 9 years ago
HugTheNerdyAnteater
Title saids it all, i'm already getting tired with my laptop, and i've only used it for a MONTH, so before christmas, which is in 10 months from now, I want to know a great laptop that runs fast, but cheap.

Estimated Specs i'm looking for:

Price: $250-$500
HDD: 500 GB-750GB
RAM: 4GB-6GB
Processor: Any Intel or NVDia processor that is 2GHz or higher.
Alex Kidd
I see, thanks for explaining it.
- Alex Kidd
"Do I really have to graduate, or can I just stay here for the rest of my Life ?"
Spazbo4
i already did a tut on sony vegas rendering settings, but with amv2mt you at least want to have the quality settings to be on one of the lossless settings, since there are multiple i just have it on the one that requires the smallest transfer rate.

also my 3.0 external drive runs much faster than my ssd does on writing, not by a whole lot but it is better
If I can't be the best then I certainly won't be the worst.
Alex Kidd

Quote

Jihao wrote:

Quote

Alex Kidd wrote:

I see....


amv2mt is a codec by the way, what it does is shrinks the recording down enough that it won't cause problems when it reaches the HDD.
It also has quality control settings, so you can make the file smaller/bigger.
But even with this you either need an HDD fast enough to get all the data, or you can just cut to the chase and get an SSD.
SSD is incredibly fast, and should be pretty much guaranteed to get the data with no issues.
Once it goes on there, just copy the files somewhere else.

When Spazbo feels like it he might post a tutorial or something (Unless he already did).

The speed makes a big difference and the SSD is really recommended if your planning to become a DJ.
- Alex Kidd
"Do I really have to graduate, or can I just stay here for the rest of my Life ?"
Jihao

Quote

Alex Kidd wrote:

I see....


amv2mt is a codec by the way, what it does is shrinks the recording down enough that it won't cause problems when it reaches the HDD.
It also has quality control settings, so you can make the file smaller/bigger.
But even with this you either need an HDD fast enough to get all the data, or you can just cut to the chase and get an SSD.
SSD is incredibly fast, and should be pretty much guaranteed to get the data with no issues.
Once it goes on there, just copy the files somewhere else.

When Spazbo feels like it he might post a tutorial or something (Unless he already did).
Anything that isnt COD is a game that may be worth playing.
Alex Kidd
I see....
- Alex Kidd
"Do I really have to graduate, or can I just stay here for the rest of my Life ?"
Jihao

Quote

Spazbo4 wrote:

my external drive runs fine recording losslessly with lagarith on pc games and amv2mt for console 1080p works just fine


The transfer speed on that joint must be pretty good, thanks for the tip Spazbo, I'll note it.
Anything that isnt COD is a game that may be worth playing.
Alex Kidd
I cant wait for HD 8k to be release for the public. :)
here is a video of displaying the HD 8k T.V. inside the museum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U7e_quvkPQ
- Alex Kidd
"Do I really have to graduate, or can I just stay here for the rest of my Life ?"
M
yeah i wanna upgrade my pc also. but dont forget about the monitor. i want a new 144hz 4k monitor with gsync ;)
Spazbo4
my external drive runs fine recording losslessly with lagarith on pc games and amv2mt for console 1080p works just fine
If I can't be the best then I certainly won't be the worst.
Jihao

Quote

Spazbo4 wrote:

Quote

Jihao wrote:



You need an SSD to record USB 3.0 footage properly


where are you going to get an external drive that has an ssd in it?
i record my pc and 1080p xbox one longplays on this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product...6822152409 and it records all my pc games just fine at 60 fps, as long as you dont go higher than 720p, which is what pc longplays are to be recorded at, then you are fine, and as long as you use the right codec when recording 1080p in lossless then it is fine for that too


Sorry I mean't lossless, I don't know how you do your recording. I did not mean an external drive, I meant an internal one. SSD's can be stored in the PC just like HDD's why would you want it external?
It's not about having a need for speed, if the data being sent to the computer (transfer speed) doesnt match the amount your drive can handle, your recording will lag.
So you need something faster, like an SSD or raid 0, orrrrr you can just shrink the recording to something your HDD can handle. But that depends on how you record it.
The recording won't be lossless in that case, but you can get pretty good quality out of it depending on how you set it up.
Anything that isnt COD is a game that may be worth playing.
Alex Kidd
I agree the SSD is the best method of storing your data, plus the speed is worth mentioning. However "Unless you can justify a need for speed, most users won't need expensive SSDs in their system".
- Alex Kidd
"Do I really have to graduate, or can I just stay here for the rest of my Life ?"
Spazbo4

Quote

Jihao wrote:



You need an SSD to record USB 3.0 footage properly


where are you going to get an external drive that has an ssd in it?
i record my pc and 1080p xbox one longplays on this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product...6822152409 and it records all my pc games just fine at 60 fps, as long as you dont go higher than 720p, which is what pc longplays are to be recorded at, then you are fine, and as long as you use the right codec when recording 1080p in lossless then it is fine for that too
If I can't be the best then I certainly won't be the worst.
Jihao

Quote

Spazbo4 wrote:

i paid about $300 for my desktop
decent case, motherboard, cpu, and power supply for about $120 from a friend
ram was 8gb and cost me about $80 i think
cpu was amd phenom 2 x4 970 @ 3.5 GHz
gpu was nvidia gtx 650ti which is good enough for any game that was made before 2013 that did not need super graphics to play on, so basically it could play the same graphics as an xbox 360 or ps3 game and it cost me a little over $100 i think, not you might be able to get one for $80 or less
i've put in several old hdds that i've had from laptops in there, i would suggest a 320 hdd for the OS and games and get a 2tb hdd, external or internal it doesnt matter as long as the external is usb 3.0, for recording games

so getting a $500 desktop computer will let you do pc longplays as long as the games are either telltale games or games that are a couple of years old or not very demanding indie games


You need an SSD to record USB 3.0 footage properly, the data transfer is unreliable unless you do that or either a raid 0. SSD "Can" be expensive, but Raid 0 is risky, if one of the drives die, the data will be corrupted and lost forever.
If you do go the SSD route, you can probably record on the SSD and then archive it on a bigger HDD and operate from there.

But it's just like Spazbo said, it doesn't matter how you start off with a desktop PC, the best thing about having a desktop is that they are extremely to upgrade or replace individual parts for cheap. It's like permanent insurance, you can simply replace and rebuild anything that stops working or you feel needs an upgrade. It is a wise investment.
Anything that isnt COD is a game that may be worth playing.
Alex Kidd
I agree getting a desktop its the best approach for a budget gaming pc
- Alex Kidd
"Do I really have to graduate, or can I just stay here for the rest of my Life ?"
Spazbo4
but currently i am saving the money to get a better desktop and i have bought the nvidia gtx 970 and a new power supply and 16 gb of ram which all of that together was about $500, soon going to get a new bigger case, liquid cooler, ssd for the OS, i7 5th gen processor, new $140 motherboard which will cost me about $700 more, but it will allow me to record any game for the next few years considering it is a lot more powerful than a ps4 or xbox one, also costing a lot more than both combined but PC games can be really cheap during sales so i wouldnt have to spend as much on those the next few years as i would for console games
If I can't be the best then I certainly won't be the worst.
Spazbo4
i paid about $300 for my desktop
decent case, motherboard, cpu, and power supply for about $120 from a friend
ram was 8gb and cost me about $80 i think
cpu was amd phenom 2 x4 970 @ 3.5 GHz
gpu was nvidia gtx 650ti which is good enough for any game that was made before 2013 that did not need super graphics to play on, so basically it could play the same graphics as an xbox 360 or ps3 game and it cost me a little over $100 i think, not you might be able to get one for $80 or less
i've put in several old hdds that i've had from laptops in there, i would suggest a 320 hdd for the OS and games and get a 2tb hdd, external or internal it doesnt matter as long as the external is usb 3.0, for recording games

so getting a $500 desktop computer will let you do pc longplays as long as the games are either telltale games or games that are a couple of years old or not very demanding indie games
If I can't be the best then I certainly won't be the worst.
Jihao
Word, Laptops are useless unless you have a job/ you have no problem with SNES/GBA emus.

Anything bigger than that and you wont be able to play even Splinter Cell Conviction without burning out your Laptop. 2GHz is trash, you can get a Desktop PC with a superior (everything) at the same price. Hell, you can probably get one around $400 tops if you budget wisely.
Anything that isnt COD is a game that may be worth playing.
M
if you want to play games on it i suggest you get a desktop pc
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