I just bought an expensive laptop, so - was it a $2500 mistake?

This is the perfect forum to ask this critical question because I know that there are some people here that have a lot better understanding of computer hardware than I do. Note that I have not yet booted up this laptop and I am not a gamer. Moving on...

The base price for this laptop is $1300. I paid $2500 for it because I'm a speed freak.

I customized it for speed. I customized it for work and school projects....9 to 5 stuff. I'm a little schizo. Between 9 to 5 I'm a madman. Or maybe, thanks to genetics and coffee, I have a type A personality between 9 to 5. I'm all business between 9-5, The words "lighten up - take it easy" aren't in my vocabulary between 9-5. All I know is that when I use the computer to work on a school or work project and I experience a slowdown or blockage, I go mad. I go nuts. I scream. I act like a racehorse who's stuck in quicksand. I have a little meltdown is what I'm saying.

So that's why when I ordered this computer I told myself to emphasize speed, speed and more speed. So I built it with 8 gigs of RAM and a quad core processor. That is the main reason why it went from being a $1300 laptop to a $2500 laptop. (no desktop, thank you - I bought a laptop so I could get out of the house and work away from home 3 or 4 days a week).

So did I make a mistake in ramping up a $1300 laptop to the tune of $2500?

Before you answer that, you need to know what I'll be using it for: I'm going to build websites with Wordpress and Dreamweaver. I might be using several programs at once. Programs like Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Flash. I might even have a web based video tutorial open when I'm using Photoshop or Dreamweaver. In a nutshell: I'll be using a lot of Adobe software.

So now that you know all there is to know, don't hold back with your answer. If I made a mistake just say so. Or maybe I bought the perfect laptop, one that has the type of speed that a busy body like me can utilize? A laptop that'll handle anything a worker bee can throw at it 5 years down the road? Either way, tell me what you think, because I want THE TRUTH, and unlike Tom, I can handle the truth so take that, Jack!

 

Yeah, little bit too much for a laptop. $1000-1500 is a good price.

 

If you love the laptop, then its worth every penny. 8 Gigs of RAM and a QuadCore on a laptop. i wonder what kind of battery life you could get... But if you are happy and got what you desired, then its worth $2500...

You're lucky... not everyone can buy happiness with money..

 

So you think 8 gigs of RAM is overkill? So you don't think a person can never have enough RAM?

 

A quad core processor might constitute overkill in the eyes of someone who's hardware savvy.

 

I would say you overshot the sweet spot, by about %120, you want to try to get the maximum bang for your buck, people try to 'future proof' their machines but they just end up wasting a lot of cash on a %10 increase in power.

You could have walked away with a cracking laptop with 1300, yes.

 

Well, I don´t think that therés a huge difference between 4gb ram or 8. At least if you don´t have 10 programs of at the same time ^^

 

I had never heard of the term "future proof" until now, but that's exactly what I was aiming for when I customized the HDX18. You hit the nail right on the head with that call.

Keep the constructive criticism coming

HDX18: http://www.shopping.hp.com/series/category/notebooks/HDX18t_series/3/computer_store

 

I guess if you are happy with it and can afford it thats the main thing !!!

 

It's still wrapped up in the box. I haven't even booted it up yet

It's in 'new in the box' mode

 

I bought a laptop for ~$1250 about 7 months ago and it works perfectly for me. I'm a developer, currently working mainly on web development, so i don't really need so much power to compile stuff or something like that, but could always use a faster laptop for sure Given the choice between buying THE expensive product rather than a-bit-less-productive-but-much-cheaper I'd always choose the second one. The Dell i bought for that $1250 returned the investment pretty shortly and i still can do anything i like on it. It will be too slow and old in lets say 2 years, if I bought a $2500 laptop i think it will be old in 2 and a half to 3 years. If you do the math you will see that the expensive is always a worse investment. There are some rare cases where you need everything to be top-notch. You say you're a speed freak but i doubt you will really sense the difference between your laptop for $2500 and another one with a little bit less of everything which costs $1700 or something like that. New hardware is much more expensive than the 1 month old one

 

It depends on your usage of laptop and all, i think its fair price mate

 

What's the laptop model?

 

What you want to aim for is buying what you need right now instead of thinking about years down the line, or 'future proofing' and instead putting the money you save toward buying a new computer in say, 4-5 years, no harm in that.

Right now there arent that many uses for a quad core or 8 gigs of ram, computer hardware is optimizing better then it use to so just throwing raw numbers around itsent really the best gauge of what you should be buying.

Take your quad core for example. unless you have specific applications (like video encoding or 3D rendering) which will benefit from having more than 2 cores, it doesn't make sense to go with Quad Core or i7. You will get a better price to performance ratio out of dual core chips.

You should also look closely at the extras that rack the price up, all those bells and whisle like webcam/mic/Integrated HDTV Hybrid Tuner, do you plan to hook your laptop up to a projector or HDTV? If not then you dont need the HDMI 1.3 port and theres not a whole lot of noticeable difference from 720p to 1080p definition either and most certainly not on a screen monitor of only 18.4"

Looking over the specs you could pick up a computer with all the cheapest options and still walk away with a laptop that could do everything you would have liked for the next few years.

 

get a $1000 laptop, use the money u save for Adderall

seriously, a $1000 laptop make no different than a $3000 laptop unless you do intense video editing stuff. Many program are not optimize for quad core anyway.

IMO, a second monitor is the only sure way to boost productivity. A dual 24 inches monitor will cost you less than $500. but since you want a laptop, it is not an option for you

 

http://www.shopping.hp.com/series/category/notebooks/HDX18t_series/3/computer_store

 

should of gone for a macbook pro

 

I think that's way too much. I'm like you, except I won't mind waiting an extra 10 seconds when doing my video rendering while saving $1000. Are in college, BTW?

 

Too expensive for me ... I bought a laptop with 1000 euro and it a little expensive for me

 

so expensive, what laptop do you buy? but I guess is the best if you are satisfied, you can still get the get the money again