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[Off Topic] I need help finding a new laptop!

Ok I need a new laptop as my 17" Pavillion dv9410us is starting to die.
what I'm looking for.
1080p or 1080p capable display.
Blu Ray Drive.
15.5" - 18.8" screen
Lots of storage (needs lots of room for all those roms xD)
full size keyboard.
Good hardriver & videocard.
64bit.
I'll be using it for light gaming, doing stuff to my hero, and Video & Audio editing.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think this is what a Quad Core is generally used for. I might do a little multitasking.
My budget is $1000 try to keep it under that, but I'll take a look at stuff up to 1.1k, but no higher.
Thanks, oh yah OS doesn't matter I'm going to put Win 7 Ultimate 64bit or Linux when I get it.

Do not get anything with an intel chipset. I dont care if its a 5.0 ghz quad core laptop. The reason being is because Intel has generic graphic drivers also infamously responsible for the intel 945 chipset which is subpar Geforce 2 mx 4000 quality graphics. When looking for laptops always get Nvidia or Ati chipsets with modern graphics cards inside them such as the Ati HD series or Geforce 9 or Geforce GTX series video cards. If you end up with intel chipsets you will have a bottlenecked PC. I dont care what anyone else says to you if you get a intel chipset you just wasted money lol.

Gotta agree with him, ATI is the way to go. I'd recommend an HP laptop, just because..... they don't suck as much as Dell or others.

chococrazy said:
Ok I need a new laptop as my 17" Pavillion dv9410us is starting to die.
what I'm looking for.
1080p or 1080p capable display.
Blu Ray Drive.
15.5" - 18.8" screen
Lots of storage (needs lots of room for all those roms xD)
full size keyboard.
Good hardriver & videocard.
64bit.
I'll be using it for light gaming, doing stuff to my hero, and Video & Audio editing.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think this is what a Quad Core is generally used for. I might do a little multitasking.
My budget is $1000 try to keep it under that, but I'll take a look at stuff up to 1.1k, but no higher.
Thanks, oh yah OS doesn't matter I'm going to put Win 7 Ultimate 64bit or Linux when I get it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have the Asus - Laptop with Intel® Core™ i5 Processor G60JX-RBBX05
its got everything but the blue ray its a beast of a laptop for 899 check bestbuy

If you are willing to spend some decent money, I can highly recommend a Sager. I got a NP8690 and have had no problems with it, and it plays everything I throw at it on max (L4D2, BC2, SC:C, etc.) I spent just about 2 grand and got a 820QM processor, 8gb of memory, a 5870M (dx11 graphics card).
Best laptop I have ever used, I doubt I will ever buy from a mainstream (dell, apple, hp) company again. ODM companies are the way to go.
Edit: And if I can speak from personal experience for a minute here, while I don't actually have anything against HP, they were the highest percentage of laptops I fixed during this past year at college. That could be that the people that tend to use them are idiots, or that there are more of them floating around, or it could be that they just suck. I don't know. Just saying. Never had one for myself, so I can't really say.
edit2: sorry, I missed the part about your budget. But I still think Sager is worth a gander, they have really REALLY great machines.

I've got a Toshiba Satellite A505-6033 that I got at Best Buy (A505 also available elsewhere). It's got an Intel chipset, but it's also got nVidia mobile graphics card that runs the games I've thrown at it so far very well. Those games would be Warhammer, Ultima Online (lol), and....well I guess that's it
It's got a quad core Core i7 720M and 4GB RAM with a 500GB HDD

afazel said:
I've got a Toshiba Satellite A505-6033 that I got at Best Buy (A505 also available elsewhere). It's got an Intel chipset, but it's also got nVidia mobile graphics card that runs the games I've thrown at it so far very well. Those games would be Warhammer, Ultima Online (lol), and....well I guess that's it
It's got a quad core Core i7 720M and 4GB RAM with a 500GB HDD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really wanted a 1080p so I can watch 1080p Movies on my laptop
I was looking at A Sony Vaio Laptop that was 1080p.
So should I be looking at an ATI processor, and an Nvidia GPU?
This one is 1080p and I liked it, the screen was a little small though.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127087

chococrazy said:
I really wanted a 1080p so I can watch 1080p Movies on my laptop
I was looking at A Sony Vaio Laptop that was 1080p.
So should I be looking at an ATI processor, and an Nvidia GPU?
This one is 1080p and I liked it, the screen was a little small though.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127087
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bang for the buck you are still better off with Intel processor and Nvidia graphics. Intel is still ahead of AMD in the processor dept...I am hoping AMD will come back as I was a big fan until the dual and quad core's from Intel came out and just smoked em......

I got this in March and have been very happy with it.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=sony+vpcf115fm&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=16969849650323262583&ei=57f5S8n4H8OC8gbTgbW0Cg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCQQ8wIwAg#

Sorry, just saw your price range. WOuldn't be surprised if you found one for $1100 or cheaper since they're about to refresh that series.

funcrusher said:
Sorry, just saw your price range. WOuldn't be surprised if you found one for $1100 or cheaper since they're about to refresh that series.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How's the fan on it?
Everyone says it's loud on the reviews.

You could alwyas customize a compaq cq61z to your likings here

http://www.cheapstingybargains.com/...15-1067nr-15-6-inch-Notebook/product/39E0BEAE
HP Envy 15-1067nr Notebook with Intel Core i7-720QM 1.6 GHz and 15.6" Full HD LED Display (Microsoft)
$2004$1204 Shipped (40% off)
Microsoft Store has the lowest and best price on the HP Envy 15-1067nr Notebook for $1199 after $800 coupon discount using coupon code CLR-MSAFL-40%-PC at check-out for 40% off (limited time) + $5 shipping. Get it now on sale for a cheap deal.
The HP Envy 15-1067nr Notebook features
Intel Core i7-720QM 1.6 GHz, L2 cache 6 MB, 15.6" Full HD Ultra BrightView LED backlit (1920 x 1080), ATI Mobility Radeon 4830 (M97) with 1 GB graphics memory, Windows 7 Premium, 6GB RAM, 500GB SATA 7200 RPM, External Super Multi 8x DVD±R/RW with double layer support, 802.11a/b/g/draft N with Bluetooth, 6-cell lithium-ion and 9-cell battery slice

Its kind of loud, but I don't notice it anymore. Plus, no heat issues which is a problem with a lot of other i7 laptops.
-------------------------------------
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http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5725517&CatId=4001
How does this laptop look to you guys.
I might be able to get it if i work for my Dad.
It doesn't have a blu ray drive, but it does have nice specs. If you can find one like this with a blu ray I'll love you
Here's a toshiba version, blu ray driver, but the HDD is half the size.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114804

chococrazy said:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5725517&CatId=4001
How does this laptop look to you guys.
I might be able to get it if i work for my Dad.
It doesn't have a blu ray drive, but it does have nice specs. If you can find one like this with a blu ray I'll love you
Here's a toshiba version, blu ray driver, but the HDD is half the size.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114804
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...517&CatId=4001
The tiger direct laptop doesnt spicify that it has a Sata hard drive, To me thats a potential deal breaker. Its got all the horsepower but the drive speed can bog down the computer and bottle neck it. also doesnt have a blueray player.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114804
This laptop doesnt have quadcore but it has all the bells and whistles you would need for extreme gaming like the GPU ram has GDDR 5 . i would look for a laptop that has quad core with blue ray and video card with GDDR5 memory. also either SSD or SAta drive.

Powers16 said:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...517&CatId=4001
The tiger direct laptop doesnt spicify that it has a Sata hard drive, To me thats a potential deal breaker. Its got all the horsepower but the drive speed can bog down the computer and bottle neck it. also doesnt have a blueray player.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114804
This laptop doesnt have quadcore but it has all the bells and whistles you would need for extreme gaming like the GPU ram has GDDR 5 . i would look for a laptop that has quad core with blue ray and video card with GDDR5 memory. also either SSD or SAta drive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The tigerdirect is not Sata
I'm really liking the Asus, butt my friends over at Tech geeks online said that if I disable my page file it wont matter. He said I'd only experience slow deleting & file moving.
If someone can find me one with the Asus specs but sata I'd love them.
Blu ray is now optional.

Um.. dont ever disable the page file system.. Unless you have 8gb of ram you should always keep your pagefile even if you disable it and use a 8gb flash drive for swap you still need a swap no matter what. They probably suggested that you disable pagefile because you are possibly getting 8gb of ram with your laptop. Even then, there is no reliable reason why the pagefile should be disabled its there for a reason.

Ok guys I have narrowed it down to the Final 3.
Do not stray pick the best one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...20-704^34-220-704-TS,34-220-695^34-220-695-TS

chococrazy said:
Ok guys I have narrowed it down to the Final 3.
Do not stray pick the best one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...20-704^34-220-704-TS,34-220-695^34-220-695-TS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SONY VPCF117FX/B 16.4" Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit NoteBook
This one has blue ray, Geforce GT vid card, Sata drive 6gb of ram though but its worth the goodies you get, the expensive laptop in the list is mainly ram and hard drive and no blue ray player which is shocking i would go with the SONY VPCF117FX/B 16.4" Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit NoteBook and upgrade the ram on it to 8gb it will be worth the money and its a powehouse machine.

Dual Core 1GHz Tegra2 Viewsonic G-Tablet

The Viewsonic 10 inch "G-Tablet" discussed in the link below ($349 from Sears) has the Nividia dual core 1ghz Tegra 2 processor. It sounds like it has pretty decent hardware but lacking in software due to not being an official Google product and having a poor performing UI.
http://androidandme.com/2010/11/tablet/viewsonics-tegra-2-tablet-on-sale-now-at-sears-for-379/
Viewsonic G-Tablet specs include:
NVIDIA Tegra 2 Dual ARM cortex (1Ghz)
Capacitive Multi-Touch/Multi Tasking panel
10.1” 1024 X 600 TFI LCD Screen
512 MB RAM, Mass Memory 16 GB
Mini USB x 1; Full size USB x 1
1.3MP Front –Facing Webcam
Earphone x 1
Micro SD card slot
2 x 1 W speaker
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
G sensor/Light sensor
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
3500mAh/7.4V Li-polymer Battery Life 8-10 Hours
Slim design (267 x 173 x 14.3mm) Wt. 820 Grams
Buttons: Home/Back/Menu/Volume/Power
OS / Android 2.2
Headphone Jack
Built in Microphone
"Original information out of Viewsonic said this device would cost over $500, but Sears is selling a WiFi-only version that lacks the sim-card slot of the more expensive model. Some overseas models were also reported to include 1 GB of RAM, but the Sears unit is shipping with 512 MB RAM."
"The good news is that this tablet comes with Android 2.2, but that might be there the fun ends. This tablet was not certified by Google so it lacks all the Google Mobile Services including the official Android Market. Thankfully you can still sideload apps and alternative markets like SlideME."
You can buy the "G-tablet" here: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00382001000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1 Use the zoom feature on the picture to get a really good close up of the device buttons and LEDs etc. I like the clean and simple look. Three buttons is nice too and the Wifi only will work perfectly with a tethering Nexus One (see it's not OT). At $380 it is ~$120 cheaper than the equivalent iPad.
I think this would be a good candidate for dev support to take advantage of the hardware to root and optimize for 10" display. If developers are interested in rocking this device I am definitely picking one up.
Do you think developers would work with this device?

At the pricepoint they are selling it for, this device would be appealing if we have developer support.

Let's face it, developer support will be the deciding factor for a lot of people, almost (but not completely) regardless of the hardware...
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

Let's also face it; it has nothing to do with the Nexus. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=824804

I might pick one up the next time I'm in there browsing the lawn mowers

Archos 101 for 299 is more appealing no ?

Superpad - Archos-like tablet

I happened to catch this today and looked at the specs and the price. I couldn't help but compare it to the Archos 101.
http://www.buy.com/prod/superpad-10.../q/loc/111/listingid/135638472/220692978.html
Anyone know more about it? Other than being OS 2.1, it seems to have some nice extras over the 101 like built in GPS and an Ethernet jack.
Features
Display: 10.2" TFT Touch Screen (1024 x 600 resolution)
OS: Android 2.1 Processor: ARM11 1Ghz - RAM: 256MB DDR2
Internal Hard Drive: 2GB Flash with 2 TF slots for expansion (supports MicroSD 32GB max)
Ports: 2 x USB 2.0, 2 x MicroSD Slots, Mini HDMI, DC Jack, 3.5mm
Headphone/Line-Out, RJ45 Ethernet
GPS Antenna and Stylus Included

is it captive touchscreen? i would guess not because if it was you wouldn't need a stylus.

Haven't seen this particular tablet before, but seen hundreds like it.
There's no way they can provide all those specs without cutting corners, which means the overall experience won't be great. Also, looking at the images, looks like they've stuck a custom launcher on top.
This is probably one of the reasons Google have withheld the Honeycomb source code. If they released it now, any fly-by-night startup can churn out poor quality, cheap tablets running HC. People pick these up based on the "great price" and then find out they're a PITA to use, with none of the smoothness, flair or ease of use that you'd get with a Xoom, Transformer or (say it quietly) an iPad. The opinion they then come to? "Android is rubbish."

jbradshw said:
I happened to catch this today and looked at the specs and the price. I couldn't help but compare it to the Archos 101.
Anyone know more about it? Other than being OS 2.1, it seems to have some nice extras over the 101 like built in GPS and an Ethernet jack.
Features
Display: 10.2" TFT Touch Screen (1024 x 600 resolution)
OS: Android 2.1 Processor: ARM11 1Ghz - RAM: 256MB DDR2
Internal Hard Drive: 2GB Flash with 2 TF slots for expansion (supports MicroSD 32GB max)
Ports: 2 x USB 2.0, 2 x MicroSD Slots, Mini HDMI, DC Jack, 3.5mm
Headphone/Line-Out, RJ45 Ethernet
GPS Antenna and Stylus Included
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
Just got one.
This one only has 1 Micro Slot.
Positive:
Wifi, thouch screen and GPS function well.
Easy to install from the market.
I love the size because it's so much easier to use than an android phone.
It's an external GPS receiver
The display is fine.
Stylus is usefull because some web buttons are soooooooooooo small
Negative:
Power cable connection broke within 24 hours
USB is not activated/blocked for PC connection
Two hardware buttons sank in frame (still can use them)
Helen

its a tft, that means resistive touch...

My wife has one:
- speed is (much) less than the Archos
- battery life is down to 20 minute max (!) after some months

Shall I sell my NOTE Pro 12.2 and get the Surface Pro 3?

The SP3 has been announced. It is of similar weight as the Note PRO, same size, has stylus and touch screen, similar or better power consumption and run Windows. Is there any reason that I should keep the PRO 12.2 rather than trading it in for the SP3?

Have to admit that I'm tempted as well. The only thing is that many android apps aren't available for win8.1. Although you could run android in a virtual machine...
Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 08:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:23 PM ----------
If CyanogenMod can add the SM-P900 to their build list, pretty sure I'd keep it...
Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

What kind of Android apps that do not have an equivalent or superior version under Windows or Mac OS? If that SP3 were running Mac OS, I would definitely trade in.

hajime_android said:
The SP3 has been announced. It is of similar weight as the Note PRO, same size, has stylus and touch screen, similar or better power consumption and run Windows. Is there any reason that I should keep the PRO 12.2 rather than trading it in for the SP3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sold mine. Not for a windows tablet though.
Just couldn't stand the lack of development for the tablet.

What's the price of the Surface Pro 3? I read somewhere that it's in the $1900 range . .
Edit: Guess thats the high end one, low end starts at $800.

Mine is on the way.. Damn. If the pen technology is the same, i will keep the note, as the surface pro will likely retail at around 750 gbp since its 800 dollars. The note pro was recently discounted thus bought it cheaper at 500 gbp. I hope the note taking is not better than the note
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

Yeah the surface pro 3 is going to be a good laptop replacement. I'll stick with android though, I like my toys and want to tinker with things. When development gets going on this tablet things should be fun.
Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

Will it though?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

It's tempting, VERY tempting, untill you take a look at this:
Intel Core i3, 64 GB storage and 4 GB of RAM—$799
Intel Core i5, 128 GB storage and 4 GB of RAM—$999
Intel Core i5, 256 GB storage and 8 GB of RAM—$1,299
Intel Core i7, 256 GB storage and 8 GB of RAM—$1,549
Intel Core i7, 512 GB storage and 8 GB of RAM—$1,949
I'd want the one I could use as a real PC, and I'd want to be able to play my Games on it. And for 1949, I'll just buy my own gaming laptop(i7 3.2Ghz, 2TB, 16GBRAM, GT740M 4GB) again and take that with me. (Size and weight are of no importance to me, what's 1.5kg on an average 40kg backpack?). And still have enough money left to buy a TabPro for portable entertainment purposes.
12.2" is not enough for my work usage (As a graphic designer I require at least 22").
Also, it runs a Intel HD 4400 integrated GPU. No way in hell am I paying 2000 quid for that nightmarish piece of rubbish! Running Photoshop CS6 on an Intel HD, as if! Also, as a serious Gamer (Skyrim, Mass Effect), it's useless.
Once it starts having serious Nvidia GPU's, I'll consider it. For now I'm more than happy with my NotePro.

The key consideration in question is the 800 quid model
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

Yeah i am probably getting it. I have the original Surface pro and needed a larger screen - i like it thinned down alittle and all the other refinements they did. If you are in the US looking for a good deal on the Note pro- PM me.

hajime_android said:
What kind of Android apps that do not have an equivalent or superior version under Windows or Mac OS? If that SP3 were running Mac OS, I would definitely trade in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android and iOS are great for consumption. Windows is great for productivity and business connectivity. Android fakes productivity better than Windows fakes consumption. Windows is Windows. With driver issues, desktop apps not designed for touch or an ultra HD display, and having to rely on a browser for a lot of things where apps aren't available. The SP3 changes none of that. My Note is a far better laptop supplement than the SP3 is a stand-alone tablet. My "laptop replacement" is still a laptop and Samsung's Pros and the SP3 haven't changed my thinking. What has changed is I can now leave my laptop and its bag full of paraphernalia at home 50% of the time because of the productivity and performance gains Samsung's introduced with the Pro's.
The second vignette in this commercial says it all...
P.S. - For those who handwriting is important, research N-trig. It's what MS is using in place of an active digitizer and Wacom which Samsung uses on the Notes. It's a pretty big compromise and I'll bet highly problematic on such a high-res display.

BarryH_GEG said:
Android and iOS are great for consumption. Windows is great for productivity and business connectivity. Android fakes productivity better than Windows fakes consumption. Windows is Windows. With driver issues, desktop apps not designed for touch or an ultra HD display, and having to rely on a browser for a lot of things where apps aren't available. The SP3 changes none of that. My Note is a far better laptop supplement than the SP3 is a stand-alone tablet. My "laptop replacement" is still a laptop and Samsung's Pros and the SP3 haven't changed my thinking. What has changed is I can now leave my laptop and its bag full of paraphernalia at home 50% of the time because of the productivity and performance gains Samsung's introduced with the Pro's.
The second vignette in this commercial says it all...
P.S. - For those who handwriting is important, research N-trig. It's what MS is using in place of an active digitizer and Wacom which Samsung uses on the Notes. It's a pretty big compromise and I'll bet highly problematic on such a high-res display.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mines got the retina thingy lmao
Sent from my SM-N900A using XDA Free mobile app

ryant100 said:
Mines got the retina thingy lmao
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to give Samsung credit. In less than a minute they took out the iPad Air, Surface, Kindle, and iPad Mini.

BarryH_GEG said:
Android and iOS are great for consumption. Windows is great for productivity and business connectivity. Android fakes productivity better than Windows fakes consumption. Windows is Windows. With driver issues, desktop apps not designed for touch or an ultra HD display, and having to rely on a browser for a lot of things where apps aren't available. The SP3 changes none of that. My Note is a far better laptop supplement than the SP3 is a stand-alone tablet. My "laptop replacement" is still a laptop and Samsung's Pros and the SP3 haven't changed my thinking. What has changed is I can now leave my laptop and its bag full of paraphernalia at home 50% of the time because of the productivity and performance gains Samsung's introduced with the Pro's.
The second vignette in this commercial says it all...
P.S. - For those who handwriting is important, research N-trig. It's what MS is using in place of an active digitizer and Wacom which Samsung uses on the Notes. It's a pretty big compromise and I'll bet highly problematic on such a high-res display.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah if the note taking is expected to be better in Note pro 12, then I am sticking to it. mine is on the way. but microsoft made a fuss about their pen technology being really good with surface pro 3..

nesx87 said:
Yeah if the note taking is expected to be better in Note pro 12, then I am sticking to it. mine is on the way. but microsoft made a fuss about their pen technology being really good with surface pro 3..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point. Though I'm still not convinced of the Windows 8.1 as a tablet interface. Android feels more comfortable for tablet use, and I can customize it quite a lot (Switchr + NotesMobile which I feel is the best note taking app, beats even OneNote though misses on the online sync).
So for extensive reading and writing(wacom!) Note Pro really is the best available. For more productive work I still can't forego windows, and that is on a laptop with a big screen (14+).
Maybe Windows 9 and Office 2015 can change my mind. But will wait and see.

ShadowLea said:
It's tempting, VERY tempting, untill you take a look at this:
Intel Core i3, 64 GB storage and 4 GB of RAM—$799
Intel Core i5, 128 GB storage and 4 GB of RAM—$999
Intel Core i5, 256 GB storage and 8 GB of RAM—$1,299
Intel Core i7, 256 GB storage and 8 GB of RAM—$1,549
Intel Core i7, 512 GB storage and 8 GB of RAM—$1,949
I'd want the one I could use as a real PC, and I'd want to be able to play my Games on it. And for 1949, I'll just buy my own gaming laptop(i7 3.2Ghz, 2TB, 16GBRAM, GT740M 4GB) again and take that with me. (Size and weight are of no importance to me, what's 1.5kg on an average 40kg backpack?). And still have enough money left to buy a TabPro for portable entertainment purposes.
12.2" is not enough for my work usage (As a graphic designer I require at least 22").
Also, it runs a Intel HD 4400 integrated GPU. No way in hell am I paying 2000 quid for that nightmarish piece of rubbish! Running Photoshop CS6 on an Intel HD, as if! Also, as a serious Gamer (Skyrim, Mass Effect), it's useless.
Once it starts having serious Nvidia GPU's, I'll consider it. For now I'm more than happy with my NotePro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think SP3 is designed for game lover. It is a replacement for laptop. So it is very tempting for the people who have Note Pro or is considering Note Pro.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Free mobile app

Alexsandra said:
I don't think SP3 is designed for game lover. It is a replacement for laptop. So it is very tempting for the people who have Note Pro or is considering Note Pro.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it has to replace my laptop, it has to be game-capable. Particularly if it's 500 quid more expensive than my laptop.... (Yes, my laptop was 1300 euro.)
Because my laptop is used 70% of the time for gaming. (and the other 30% for Photoshop)
They can't give it a general tagline and after the fact say "Oh, but we didn't mean that..".

The thing is though that the need for portability and the power requirements of high performance gaming graphics chipsets compete against each other. Desktops always trump laptops in gaming and because the tablet form factor is expected to be smaller than laptops they will always be trumped by laptops.
As for development on this tablet hopefully it will come; in the meantime modifications using Xposed fill the void quite well.
Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

ShadowLea said:
It's tempting, VERY tempting, untill you take a look at this:
Intel Core i7, 512 GB storage and 8 GB of RAM—$1,949
Also, it runs a Intel HD 4400 integrated GPU. No way in hell am I paying 2000 quid for that nightmarish piece of rubbish! Running Photoshop CS6 on an Intel HD, as if! Also, as a serious Gamer (Skyrim, Mass Effect), it's useless.
Once it starts having serious Nvidia GPU's, I'll consider it. For now I'm more than happy with my NotePro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2 grand for the one I would want, and stupid on board intel HD graphics? Going to have to pass on that. Zeesh.

Cube i7 Book review: smart design paired with decent internals

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Windows tablets have been gaining popularity since the release of Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface Pro. Windows 10, which made its way to millions of PCs and tablets through free online upgrade last year, further enhanced the experiences of those two-in-one Windows devices.
Although Microsoft’s very own Surface and Surface Pro lines are still considered as the market-leading Windows tablets and also remain to be most popular, many other manufacturers, big and small, are trying to have a share in this fast-growing market of tablet & PC hybrids.
Cube, a Chinese brand mainly known for making budget Android tablets, has already released a bunch of Windows tablets since 2014. One of their most successful products was the Cube i7 Stylus, a Windows tablet which came with a Core M processor, 4GB RAM, a comfortable keyboard base and Wacom digitizer. Recently, Cube has released an upgraded version of the Cube i7 Stylus – the Cube i7 Book, which comes with many improvements such as an all new Skylake Core M3 processor, a USB Type-C port and a rotary keyboard base. The tablet itself is only priced at RMB2,199 ($329), even cheaper than the entry model of Microsoft Surface 3. You might need to spend more on the rotary keyboard base and a Wacom, but I am sure the added cost the two will be under $100.
Cube i7 Book Main Specs
OS: Windows 10 Home
Screen: 10.6-inch IPS, 10-point multi-touch, IGZO
Display Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (16:9)
CPU: Intel Skylake Core-M 6Y30
CPU Frequency: 0.9GHz (Base clock) – 2.2GHZ (Turbo clock)
GPU: Intel HD 515
RAM / Storage: 4GB DDR3L / 64GB SSD
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.1
WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi hotspot
Camera: 5MP back camera, 2MP front camera
Battery: 9,000mAh
Ports: Micro SD Card Slot, Micro USB 3.0 Port, USB Type-C port, 3.5mm Headphone Jack, DC Charging Port
Size: 273*172*9.6mm, Weight: 710.5g, Color: Black front and blue rear
Retail Package
The Cube i7 Book has the same packaging used on other Windows tablets from Cube. Inside the box you will find a wall charger, an OTG adapter (Micro USB 3.0 to full USB 3.0), a warranty card and a user manual.
Design
The i7 Book looks like a triplet brother of the Cube i7 Stylus and Cube iWork 11 Stylus. The front is dominated by a 10.6-inch IPS display, with relatively big bezel around. We do love the small bezel design deployed on the Huawei Mate Book and Samsung Galaxy TabPro S. But when we use the slate as a standalone tablet, we do need the bezel to rest out fingers on.
The slate has an Aluminum rear side, which is coated in blue. I used to praise the use of blue color on Cube’s Windows tablets, as it reduces the industrial feel of the device. However, Cube seems to use this color combination in all of their Windows tablets, and it feels quite boring. Maybe it is just me who have this feeling because I have tested many of Cube’s tablets, first-time buyers may still appreciate the aesthetic.
Unlike the Huawei Matebook and Samsung Galaxy TabPro S, both of which only come with a single USB Type-C port and a headphone jack, the i7 Book still offers a slew of ports and slots. On the left side you will find a headset jack, a Micro USB 3.0 port, a 3.5mm DC charging port and a Micro SD card slot which supports cards up to 128GB.
There is also a USB Type-C port which can be transformed into a full USB port or an HDMI port, or both if you have the right adapter. I used the type-C adapter for my Macbook and it works brilliantly with the i7 Book.
The keyboard port can be found on the bottom side of the slate, this time it is an 11 contact magnetic port, as opposed to the 5-contact port we have seen on other Cube’s Windows tablets. So the magnetic force which draws the tablet and the keyboard could be potentially stronger.
If the Huawei Mate Book and the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S represent the design of Windows tablets in 2016, the Cube i7 Book still feels like a product from early 2015. The slate itself measures 273*172*9.6mm, and weighs just 710g— light enough for one-handed use with a stylus. As the tablet has a metallic build, it feels very solid, and could survive some pressure or even occasional drops. With the keyboard base attached, the total weight comes to 1.1 kilograms, still on the lighter end of the convertible tablet range.
Display and sound
The Cube i7 Book sports a 10.6-inch full HD IPS display, manufactured by Samsung. Although not as exciting as the AMOLED panel on the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S, it is still quite decent and offers a lot in terms of sharpness, colors and viewing angle. The brightness of the panel is towards the lower end of Windows tablets, but it is way more than enough for indoor use.
The sound quality of the side-facing speakers is in the same class of the Microsoft Surface Pro 3, and it is not a compliment. Although everything is clear and easy to make out, the bass is muddled, and there is not enough volume for you to listen to music or podcasts in a large bedroom. External audio systems such as a speaker or headphones are highly recommended.
Input mechanism
The Cube i7 Book came with five distinct input options. There’s the touchscreen, the optional Wacom Pen ($30), and the keyboard base, which in addition to its keys offers a touchpad, you can also connect the slate with a mouse.
Touchscreen
The touchscreen felt great in our tests. The surface was smooth and consistent, as you’d expect, and gestures were all correctly registered. Unfortunately, the screen is not made of Corning Gorilla scratch-resistant glass, but only a standard soda lime glass panel, a screen protector is necessary if you don’t want any marks on your screen after a long time of using the tablet.
Pen
If you want more precision than your greasy fingers can offer, the optional Wacom pen delivers. It makes stylus input quite natural, and works well with the Windows desktop thanks to its built-in buttons. Hover a bit above the screen and you’ll see a pointer, which makes it easy to avoid accidentally tapping a button or icon.
Drawing and taking notes with the pen is also quite easy, although it isn’t as comfortable as drawing on a paper due to the glossiness of the screen, the experiences are still quite similar. The Wacom pen supports 1,024 levels of pressure, so you can easily draw lines with different weight. This makes the i7 Book much more usable as a standalone tablet, as you can actually write things down on it and won’t always feel the need of a keyboard for input.
Rotary keyboard base
Keyboards for tablets are always somewhat uncomfortable to use. I have personally struggled to find my top typing pace with the Surface Type Cover and the stock Bluetooth keyboard for the Acer ICONIA W700. The keyboard bases for Cube i7 and i7 Stylus were actually more comfortable to type on than average tablet keyboards, but they were also very thick and heavy.
The i7 Book comes with an all new rotary keyboard base, which is, in my opinion, better designed than any other tablet keyboard. Not only can it instantly turn the tablet into a laptop, you can also use it as a stand to support the tablet in many different modes.
The screen can be adjusted from 0 to 120 degrees, limited, but still a huge improvement from the docking mechanism of the original i7 and i7 Stylus, which can only have a fixed angle.
Although the keyboard base still doesn’t quite measure up to the keyboard on an average laptop, it comes pretty close. The keys are well-spaced, and give enough feedback for touch typists to develop a flow. Of course, certain compromises had to be made to fit a full keyboard into such a small dock, so don’t expect the full laptop experience. The depth of each keystroke is noticeably shorter, which dampens the tactile experience. With that said, this is still one the closest things to a laptop keyboard available for any tablet, and is among the best tablet keyboards we’ve used.
The keyboard base also features a trackpad, which supports lots of gestures. There are also distinct left and right click zones to give you an experience which is similar to using a mouse.
You also get two additional full USB 2.0 ports with the keyboard base attached, one on the left, and one on the right. Which further enhances the usability of the device.
Windows 10
The Cube i7 Book ships with Windows 10 Home and a valid license. Thankfully, the tablet comes with no bloatware, and you don’t need to uninstall anything before using it.
You can install Office Mobile for free from Windows Store, but it is always a must to have the desktop version of Microsoft Office for more productivity, and the newer versions (Office 2013, Office 365 and Office 2016) all support touchscreen and stylus input very well.
There are a few other applications I strongly recommend for the i7 Book and all Windows tablets with stylus support. One Note for Windows, WRITEit, Squid, PAINT are all applications to make the best of your Wacom Pen.
Performance
The Cube i7 Book is powered by a Skylake Core M3-6Y30 processor, which isn’t as powerful as the i3, i5 or i7 processors used in high-end Windows tablets and ultrabooks, as it seeks to balance performance, efficiency and portability. There is also 4GB of RAM on board to take care of multi-tasking and 64GB of SSD for internal storage for apps and files.
Our Cinebench R10 scores show just how much this processor can do. The single core rating was 4,280, and the multi-core score was 8,424. The Cube i7 Book can keep up with most Windows 10 tablets on the market right now, and that includes the Surface Pro 4.
In the Cinebench R15 Open GL test, the i7 Book handily beat all the other tablets we compared it with, and in the CPU test, it also scored higher than the Huawei Matebook and Samsung Galaxy TabPro S, although still behind the i5 Powered Surface Pro 3.
In the Fritz Chess Benchmark, the i7 Book was also returned a very decent score of 4,030.
In the PCMark 8 Home Accelerated test, the Cube i7 scored 2,785, which is better than the other Core M powered tablets we have tested, including the entry model of Surface Pro 4 (2,750) and the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Tablet (2,675).
In the cross-platform Geekbench 3 test, the Cube i7 Book scored 2,404 in single-core and 4,682 in Multi-core, better than the i3 version of Surface Pro 3 (1,566 & 3,235), the ivy-bridge i5 powered Acer W700 (2,064 & 4,378) and the Core M powered model of Surface Pro 4 (2,339 & 4,429).
We also ran other Benchmark tests on the i7 Book, and were returned some pretty decent scores. From the numbers, we can tell that the Core M3 in the Cube i7 Book is on par with the Haswell Core i3 in the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 and betters the ivy-bridge Core i5 in the Acer ICONIA W700, betters the Atom Cherry Trail processors in the Surface 3 and other budget Windows 2-in-1s, but not as powerful as the Haswell i5 and Skylake i5 used in the Surface Pro 3 and 4. Core M is built for efficiency but, in certain situations, it can perform very well.
The benchmark scores are reflected in day-to-day usage, the Cube i7 Book performs general productivity tasks easily. Performance was so good that we forgot this entire machine was crammed into a tablet form factor, thinking of it instead as a full-blown laptop. Browsing the web and writing were no problem, but neither were more processor intensive tasks such as unzipping a large compressed file. Atom based tablets, including the Surface 3 and ASUS T100HA, suffered a bit with this kind of tasks. But the Core M3 chip is competent, and the 4GB memory allows you to handle a decent amount of multi-tasking.
You shouldn’t really even consider running an intensive 3D game on the i7 Book, but it can chew through some basic 3D tasks, thanks to the improved Intel HD515 GPU.
As fast as the i7 Book could be in your everyday tasks, it is still a tablet, and can’t really replace a workstation desktop or laptop.
Storage
The Cube i7 Book offers a Foresee O1229B solid state drive, with 64GB of storage space. There is a Micro SD card slot to help expand the storage, but you can add no more than 128GB.
The Speed of the internal SSD is generally slower than the drives in other high-end Windows tablets, but much faster compared to the eMMc used in those Atom based Windows slates. Our AS SSD benchmark showed a read speed of 481.21 megabytes per second, and a write speed of 153.87MB/s. That’s significantly slower than the Surface Pro 4 (822.36mb/s & 347.34mb/s) and Surface Book (1,012.33mb/s and 498.74mb/s), but on par with and even betters most of the Windows tablets currently on sale.
Temperature
As with other Core M powered tablets, there are no fans in the Cube i7 Book, meaning you’ll never hear it no matter how hot it gets, and it will get hot occasionally.
After running a few benchmark tests, Ludashi reported a CPU temperature higher than 80 degrees centigrade, and the rear side of the tablet felt quite warm, and unpleasant for the my hands to hold.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
The Cube i7 Book features an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165 chip to take care of internet connection, and it was pretty solid in our test. Even when there were two walls and 10 meters between the tablet and the router, it could still reach its top downloading and uploading speeds. Bluetooth 4.0 is also on board to establish easy connections to wireless speakers and input devices.
Battery life
The Cube i7 Book features an 8,600mAh battery, on par with the original i7 Stylus but slightly smaller than the battery inside the Huawei Matebook. I test battery life using a looped HD video, playing until the battery finally gives out. Here, the i7 Book performed slightly below average—still, at 6 hours, 50 minutes, it delivers pretty close to an all-work-day computing experience.
Cameras
There are two cameras on the Cube i7 Book, a 2MP front-facing camera and a 5MP rear-facing camera. The front camera naturally takes care of video chatting. I used to say that the rear-facing camera on tablets are not necessary, well, I was wrong. The Huawei Matebook doesn’t offer a rear camera, and once when I was chatting with a friends on Skype, and wanted to show him the things I was looking at, I needed to flip the tablet around and use the front-facing camera to do that, and I didn’t even know whether I framed what I needed to show because the screen is not facing towards me.
With that said, both cameras on the i7 Book are not good at all. Even when there is proper lighting, Photos can still have a lot of noises. Smartphones of even the lowest end could do a better job at taking pictures.
Verdict
The Cube i7 Book is not a perfect 2-in-1, but it is a very good one. It exceeds the Microsoft Surface 3 on almost every benchmark, and offers a much nicer keyboard. In some ways, the i7 Book even manages to compete with the entry level model of Surface Pro 4, with similar processing power and graphics capability. The display, while not perfect, is in line with the competition. And a unique docking system gives users the ability to use the tablet in many different modes, something very few competing Windows 10 tablet currently offers.
The Cube i7 Book offers all this, and is competitive on price. With a Core M processor and 4GB of RAM, it is priced at only $399, lower than the most basic version of Microsoft Surface 3, which sports a much weaker Atom Cherry Trail Z8700 processor and 2GB of RAM. Also, accessories of the i7 Book are much cheaper than those of the Surface. The Wacom Pen is only $39, and the keyboard base, which looks and feels much more premium than the Surface Type Cover, is also only priced at $59.
The main weaknesses of the i7 Book are the battery life and the temperature. The battery life is below average in the Windows tablets category, and the i7 Book can get unpleasantly hot during intense tasks. Also, it doesn’t look as modern as the Huawei Matebook and the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S, I personally consider those two as the best looking two-in-one Windows devices currently available.
Still, the Cube i7 is a great alternative to the Surface 3, and betters the latter and most of the similarly priced tablets in almost every aspect. It could also give the awkward iPad Pro and Jide REMIX Ultra tablet a run for their money, using iOS and Android for work is simply a joke, Windows can still do everything much better when it comes to productivity tasks.

Please watch our video review here: https://youtu.be/RW2wPfMsdhE

jupiter2012 said:
Please watch our video review here: https://youtu.be/RW2wPfMsdhE
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How hot does it get exactly, how much higher than 80C?

Is this tablet compatible with all Wacom stylus models or only specific ones? I've also heard some Samsung Galaxy Note Stylus's work too?

Hello, thank you for the review
I ordered mine on Sunday on aliexpress and I shall have to receive the tablet (with keyboard&stylus) in 3 weeks
About the problem of temp, there is mods to decrease it (you have to open the tablet).

I'd also like to know about the compatibility with other wacom stylus'
I found the answers to the other two questions at techtablet.com - http://techtablets.com/2016/07/cube...ck-first-impressions-hands-first-impressions/
The other question is regarding charging - can you charge the tablet through either of the USB port (micro 3.0 or Type C)? Yes, it can charge through this port
Is the storage an M2 SSD that is removable? I've been burned by EMMC on tablets that have died so want to transfer my storage to a new device in the event of a failure. Yes, this is an internal M2 SSD

Thirtybird said:
I'd also like to know about the compatibility with other wacom stylus'
I found the answers to the other two questions at techtablet.com - http://techtablets.com/2016/07/cube...ck-first-impressions-hands-first-impressions/
The other question is regarding charging - can you charge the tablet through either of the USB port (micro 3.0 or Type C)? Yes, it can charge through this port
Is the storage an M2 SSD that is removable? I've been burned by EMMC on tablets that have died so want to transfer my storage to a new device in the event of a failure. Yes, this is an internal M2 SSD
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According to Chris @tech Tablet's video review other Wacom stylus will work including Samsung Note stylus.
Also he confirms the SSD is replaceable as well.

Thanks for the nice write-up.
Can you please advise how bad is the sound quality and volume on this tablet? I know it's probably hard to describe and it's always subjective but from what I noticed all reviews mention this so it has to be quite bad. I know the sound is thin, lacks bass and is not very loud but is it possible to watch a movie during the day (with some background noise) without headphones or external speakers?
Also did you have a chance to test USB speed on this one? Tech Tablets mentioned it's only limited to USB 2.0 speed. Cheers.

Did anybody find a powerbank that allowed you to charge the tablet via the USB C port? From my own attempts and what I've read online it seems that even though quick charge should deliver the necessary 12V, I tried a Tronsmart powerbank and wasn't able to make it work either from the Quickcharge port or the USB C port. Other people seem to have similar experiences, so any hints to those that work would be welcome!

czajunia said:
Thanks for the nice write-up.
Can you please advise how bad is the sound quality and volume on this tablet? I know it's probably hard to describe and it's always subjective but from what I noticed all reviews mention this so it has to be quite bad. I know the sound is thin, lacks bass and is not very loud but is it possible to watch a movie during the day (with some background noise) without headphones or external speakers?
Also did you have a chance to test USB speed on this one? Tech Tablets mentioned it's only limited to USB 2.0 speed. Cheers.
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i just got my tablet and the speakers are terrible... But they work, i dont find them to quiet, they are loud enough to watch a movie. But the sound quality will make your ears bleed if you watch a full movie

heatfire said:
i just got my tablet and the speakers are terrible... But they work, i dont find them to quiet, they are loud enough to watch a movie. But the sound quality will make your ears bleed if you watch a full movie
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Thanks for the confirmation. I decided to go for Cube iWork10. I guess I am gonna get comparable sound quality

IS it worth upgrading from i7 stylus to i7 book???! performance and gaming ??

Hi, can we install androidt to this tablet?

Regarding updating, it depends, as always. If you need the better WiFi card or the transformer style keyboard dock or the USB c port, or if you're after the last drop of performance, maybe. I haven't got the older model, but I think the performance difference is supposedly around 30%. I guess for me that wouldn't justify an upgrade, but if the other changes are appealing/important enough, it might be worth it.
As for android, you can definitely run remixOS on it and I suspect also other varieties of Android-x86. But notice that they are all running on kernel 4.4 or so, which doesn't make good use of the power saving of the skylake cpu, so it's running full power most of the time, which reduces battery life of course. Hopefully, there'll be a way to get a newer kernel (4.6 upwards) soon, that should help with that issue. Apart from that remix seems to be working OK, although I haven't tried a whole lot yet.

Windows 8.1 camera drivers
Does anyone have Windows 8.1 image/iso with full working drivers? Maybe mirror from official Cube baidu images?
Or just drivers themselves?
Can't find working drivers for both cameras. Please, help. Windows 8.1 x64.

Are there driver for the keyboard. More specifically the touchpad? Under settings there are no touchpad settings. I want to disable the win10 gestures. I am getting sick of the task view always popping up.

Regarding the touchpad, I think they mentioned some registry hack you need to do to disable touchpad gestures on techtablets.com, so maybe have a look there (I haven't been using windows enough to care about disabling it, although I also find it quite annoying when I'm on windows).
On a different note, since there was a question about Android above and I just mentioned remix os, there is a different project porting android to the x86 framework which is working relatively well. It's called Bliss-x86 and can be found here on xda (https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3534657).
I've got a post there describing how it worked on the cube i7 book a month ago or so. Some things are still not ideal, there still seems to be some process forcing the CPU to run circles even when idle, so it probably wasn't just the kernel on remix as I suspected above. But overall quite worth trying out.

franzli said:
Regarding the touchpad, I think they mentioned some registry hack you need to do to disable touchpad gestures on techtablets.com, so maybe have a look there (I haven't been using windows enough to care about disabling it, although I also find it quite annoying when I'm on windows).
On a different note, since there was a question about Android above and I just mentioned remix os, there is a different project porting android to the x86 framework which is working relatively well. It's called Bliss-x86 and can be found here on xda (https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3534657).
I've got a post there describing how it worked on the cube i7 book a month ago or so. Some things are still not ideal, there still seems to be some process forcing the CPU to run circles even when idle, so it probably wasn't just the kernel on remix as I suspected above. But overall quite worth trying out.
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Thanks! I tried asking this over there but I am unable to post. Not only that, but I cannot even send an email using the "Contact Us" link. I will try searching over there again.