Need a New Power Laptop

[TayeedzSA]

Happy Monday all,

I'm in search of a new laptop to fulfill my demanding needs however I have a specific budget.

Also, I'd like go desktop but I would rather not in this case because mobility for me is key. Plus the battery power is nice during load shedding

Anyways down to business.

My current laptop is an Acer Aspire 5733. I5-560M, Intel HD Graphics & 6GB DDR memory

I'm using this laptop for a few purposes. One being for school assignments, research, the typical student doings. However when it's not being used for student stuff, I do Photography and videos. The videos and photos are stressing my Acer right now, to the point where it's constantly working at 100% even with turbo boost. At times it has to use emergency shut off a few times because it overheats when I render some videos (I make sure that the laptop is ventilated well) and especially when I use my Elgato Game Capture (I've had to lower the settings to the absolute minimum and it still stresses my poor little Acer.)

I love my Acer but it's time to upgrade because of the Photos and videos. What's also very important is that I need reliability. My Acer caused a few issues but has been relatively reliable over the years that I've owned it.

TL;DR Me need power, Acer too weak. Me make good video and video.


I only have R11k to spend on a new laptop but I've been doing some searching. Goodness tech is expensive here
If I had the luxury of importing I would but local is also lekker .

I've seen some nice Dells for sale at Incredible Connection for the price I'm looking at. Ok it's a little over but I could stretch a little. Dell I know is a good brand and it's reliable which is exactly what I need but I thought maybe I should try elsewhere.

Then MSI comes to mind. I thought since what I'm doing with the laptop is rather demanding, then I should get a gaming laptop then. I checked up on Evetech and Rebeltech
. I'm liking what Evetech has to offer with the MSI on special but I don't really know MSI that well as a brand but I'm sure people on this forum have had experience with it. Are they reliable? Is it a good brand? More importantly, will that kind of spec fulfill my needs for photos, video and maybe the occasional game or 2?

Also with Evetech and Rebeltech, are they decent companies because I may order online?
Lastly, is there anything that you chaps may recommend? A lot of money is being spent so I want to make sure that every cent is worth it.

TL;DR So, MSI from Evetech or Rebeltech, Dell from Incredible Connection? Any spec you guys can recommend?

 

[TheMightyQuin]

Go Dell for the 3 year onsite warranty. Cannot beat that level of peace of mind. IF something goes wrong they come and fix it at your house.

BUT, you will always have cooling issues with laptops when you use it for what you are doing. Do you use a cooling platform for the laptop to stand on?

 

[TayeedzSA]

Go Dell for the 3 year onsite warranty. Cannot beat that level of peace of mind. IF something goes wrong they come and fix it at your house.

BUT, you will always have cooling issues with laptops when you use it for what you are doing. Do you use a cooling platform for the laptop to stand on?

My brother has a Dell and they literally gave him a brand new laptop for the price of his HDD that had failed. The Dell for peace of mind is great but the issue now is that I need solid power. Not where 1 month down the line I'll start complaining... My had a 2 year warranty but it had trouble right after lol.

Can putting in extra ram void my warranty perhaps?

I elevate my laptop now using rolls of duct tape (It fixes everything) whenever I render videos or use the Elgato just so there's ventilation.

What's wrong with the MSI?

 

[Gtx Gaming]

My brother has a Dell and they literally gave him a brand new laptop for the price of his HDD that had failed. The Dell for peace of mind is great but the issue now is that I need solid power. Not where 1 month down the line I'll start complaining... My had a 2 year warranty but it had trouble right after lol.

Can putting in extra ram void my warranty perhaps?

I elevate my laptop now using rolls of duct tape (It fixes everything) whenever I render videos or use the Elgato just so there's ventilation.

What's wrong with the MSI?

MSI uses partserve as there repair company ,which is the problem.

Partserve is a joke ,don't expect any service from them.

 

[TheMightyQuin]

My brother has a Dell and they literally gave him a brand new laptop for the price of his HDD that had failed. The Dell for peace of mind is great but the issue now is that I need solid power. Not where 1 month down the line I'll start complaining... My had a 2 year warranty but it had trouble right after lol.

Can putting in extra ram void my warranty perhaps?

I elevate my laptop now using rolls of duct tape (It fixes everything) whenever I render videos or use the Elgato just so there's ventilation.

What's wrong with the MSI?

Jirre, rolls of ductape??

Get a proper laptop cooling solution.

 

[TayeedzSA]

@GTXGaming I've used Partserve before to replace a Playstation and it was pretty easy. Didn't encounter issues. What issues did you come across?

@MightyQuin, just to elevate it. I may buy a cooling station soon. I'll see what I have to budget for.

So MSI seems like a no no but I absolutely love the spec. Could I maybe do better with the Dell? Also, what other brands with decent spec are good?

 

[Gtx Gaming]

My ps4 remote replacement had marks and did not look new. Did not even come in plastic bag or anything ,they said it is fine I have take it like that. This is after the 3 weeks waiting time!

I am still waiting on the quote for my laptop battery ,2 months later!

There is quite a few forums members which dislikes Partserve also.

 

[TayeedzSA]

Decisions decisions decisions.....

Guess Dell is looking lovely right about now

Any word on Laptop Direct or any good stores?

Also, what spec will I really need to focus on if I'm rendering videos & photos?

The Elgato also chews up power but from what I don't know.

 

[Johnatan56]

Decisions decisions decisions.....

Guess Dell is looking lovely right about now

Any word on Laptop Direct or any good stores?

Also, what spec will I really need to focus on if I'm rendering videos & photos?

The Elgato also chews up power but from what I don't know.

The most important would be the processor and the amount of RAM you have.
Look for 8GB or so and an i7. Laptops aren't really made to render, and you won't find any laptops at your price range that would be perfect

 

[hawker]

I have a feeling you're going to need a bigger budget.

 

[TayeedzSA]

The most important would be the processor and the amount of RAM you have.
Look for 8GB or so and an i7. Laptops aren't really made to render, and you won't find any laptops at your price range that would be perfect

GPU can also play a role in this can't it? Been looking at the Dell by Incredible Connection and seems to be way better in spec than my current laptop.

The issue is that a laptop is what I need. I know desktops are leagues better but it's not what I want.

I have a feeling you're going to need a bigger budget.

If I was a cheeseboy or one of the rich kids of Jozi then heck I'd dump R50k on a laptop

 

[BranMoney]

Hey man, I'm kind of in the same situation. Honestly, I feel like laptop prices are too high at the moment, but...

Z5070 Lenovo seems like a good deal in terms of value. I am currently using a 2+ year old laptop with a 640m and it plays the old 2013/2014 games on decent-ish graphics. Depending on your photography/video editing needs, I would probably say save up a bit more.

I also find Evetech to be slightly on the expensive side too.

 

[RedlineRacer]

Hey man, I'm kind of in the same situation. Honestly, I feel like laptop prices are too high at the moment, but...

Z5070 Lenovo seems like a good deal in terms of value. I am currently using a 2+ year old laptop with a 640m and it plays the old 2013/2014 games on decent-ish graphics. Depending on your photography/video editing needs, I would probably say save up a bit more.

I also find Evetech to be slightly on the expensive side too.

+1 The 840M is pretty good. It also has a 1080p display.

 

[Johnatan56]

Hey man, I'm kind of in the same situation. Honestly, I feel like laptop prices are too high at the moment, but...

Z5070 Lenovo seems like a good deal in terms of value. I am currently using a 2+ year old laptop with a 640m and it plays the old 2013/2014 games on decent-ish graphics. Depending on your photography/video editing needs, I would probably say save up a bit more.

I also find Evetech to be slightly on the expensive side too.

That is a dual-core processor. It is not a very large step up on what he currently has.
If you can increase your budget by 50% to R 14'499 you could try the Lenovo Ideapad Y5070.
The quad core would make video rendering a lot quicker, it is quite a large step up from your old laptop.
At your current budget, you will only see a small performance gain for any laptop you buy. Sadly the rand has dropped a lot, making electronics quite a lot more expensive than they were a year ago.

 

[fruitbat]

Any word on Laptop Direct or any good stores?

I bought a UPS from Laptop Direct... and it took < 1 week to get to me... this was sent from the supplier to me directly as im in Cape Town.
Wootware is awesome... have bought lots of stuff form them... but when i ordered a laptop, i drove to their office as i didnt fancy my 20k laptop going via courier.

 

[laptopfan]

Happy Monday all,

I'm in search of a new laptop to fulfill my demanding needs however I have a specific budget.

Also, I'd like go desktop but I would rather not in this case because mobility for me is key. Plus the battery power is nice during load shedding

Anyways down to business.

My current laptop is an Acer Aspire 5733. I5-560M, Intel HD Graphics & 6GB DDR memory

I'm using this laptop for a few purposes. One being for school assignments, research, the typical student doings. However when it's not being used for student stuff, I do Photography and videos. The videos and photos are stressing my Acer right now, to the point where it's constantly working at 100% even with turbo boost. At times it has to use emergency shut off a few times because it overheats when I render some videos (I make sure that the laptop is ventilated well) and especially when I use my Elgato Game Capture (I've had to lower the settings to the absolute minimum and it still stresses my poor little Acer.)

I love my Acer but it's time to upgrade because of the Photos and videos. What's also very important is that I need reliability. My Acer caused a few issues but has been relatively reliable over the years that I've owned it.

TL;DR Me need power, Acer too weak. Me make good video and video.


I only have R11k to spend on a new laptop but I've been doing some searching. Goodness tech is expensive here
If I had the luxury of importing I would but local is also lekker .

I've seen some nice Dells for sale at Incredible Connection for the price I'm looking at. Ok it's a little over but I could stretch a little. Dell I know is a good brand and it's reliable which is exactly what I need but I thought maybe I should try elsewhere.

Then MSI comes to mind. I thought since what I'm doing with the laptop is rather demanding, then I should get a gaming laptop then. I checked up on Evetech and Rebeltech
. I'm liking what Evetech has to offer with the MSI on special but I don't really know MSI that well as a brand but I'm sure people on this forum have had experience with it. Are they reliable? Is it a good brand? More importantly, will that kind of spec fulfill my needs for photos, video and maybe the occasional game or 2?

Also with Evetech and Rebeltech, are they decent companies because I may order online?
Lastly, is there anything that you chaps may recommend? A lot of money is being spent so I want to make sure that every cent is worth it.

TL;DR So, MSI from Evetech or Rebeltech, Dell from Incredible Connection? Any spec you guys can recommend?

Gigabyte also make good gaming laptops. Quite happy with my P17F.

Plus Rectron offers a very good after sales service.

However , with you budget , i think Lenovo i5 might be your best shot.

But , several benchmarks show their CPU under performs. A trade off you must consider.

http://www.evetech.co.za/laptop-specials-for-sale-south-africa.aspx