runic knight said:
Currently suffering through day 18 of the Beiberpocolypse.
You should contact staff (assuming you haven't already).
PinkiePyro said:
so my laptop is pretty much getting ready to die and I need a new one my dad has promised to buy one but i need to pick it out..
What do you use your laptop for? If you answer is "everything", that includes gaming and school work, you'd want a laptop with a large screen, preferably 15" or larger (for games it might be a good idea to get a 17").
(I don't know how much you know about hardware, so for some clarification: Intel and AMD are two separate manufacturers of processors. nVidia and Radeon are separate graphics cards manufacturers).
For gaming, you will need a somewhat capable graphics circuit, for example nVidia GTX950M or higher (higher means that the second number is larger i.e GTX9
60M). I recommend getting a laptop with Intel i7 processor, to get that extra oomph for games that might need it (i7 can be a bit expensive, so if budget doesn't allow that, you can go down to i5). I do not recommend an AMD processor (or Radeon graphics), as they get insanely hot and will require a whole lot more fan activity (their heat tolerance is higher, but other components in the laptop might not appreciate the higher temperature).
The number of cores on the processor (dual core, quad core and all those fancy words) is getting more important for games, an i5 or i7 will normally come with 4 cores, but make sure to check what the details say!! If the name of the processor ends with U (assuming it's an Intel processor, not AMD), it's a low-power processor and not ideal for gaming (and it has two cores, not four).
If you're NOT going to use if for games, then the make of processor isn't terribly important, you can go for an i3 processor, or possibly an i5 processor if you want a bit more power. You also won't need a separate graphics circuit, as processors today are capable of doing regular graphical tasks within the OS.
Regardless of what you're going to use your computer for, get a minimum of 8GB of work memory. (Memory is not the same as storage space).
I see that the laptop you mentioned is quite a beast. If you're satisfied with it, get a new Asus, they make quite decent systems. As for specific models, it's hard to recommend, since I don't know what is available in your area. Lastly, your parents shouldn't dictate what kind of laptop you get; you're the user, you should get to decide what you need (an exception would be economic restrictions).
I realize this might be a lot of information to process; if anything's unclear, just quote me here and I'll reply again, or PM me if you're more comfortable with that. I'm a total nerd and can make sense of most numbers and letters in computers.
Qvar said:
Hi. Simple question: How do I identify a GPU card without plugging it in? There doesn't seem to be any reconogizable number pattern printed on them or anything, and I have 3 of them which would probable a lot of work until I find the specs of each (assuming they work, because some are very likely incompatible with my motherboard).
If you're feeling brave and adventurous, you could try taking off the heatsink and check what is inscribed on the actual graphics chip itself (might require a bit of cleaning to see the numbers). I haven't had to identify GPU cards without markings before, have you tried googling the different part numbers printed on the circuitry?
