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Told to get a new laptop

tinkerbell1112

tinkerbell1112

Offical Ambassador of the Magic Kingdom
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Dec 31, 2011
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We just got a notice in the mail that if we didn't use our Best Buy card by mid - December it would be closed. My husband looked at me and said "go get a new laptop". what!? LOL. You got it!!

Now, question for you all - has anyone used a gaming computer for digital scrapbooking? I know they're a bit more expensive and a bit heavier from what I understand, but I'm no longer going to the dr every month for 3 hours, which is where I typically brought my laptop to scrap outside of the home. I don't expect to take it many places but scrapbook retreats, so size isn't really an issue.

Just curious if anyone has any experience with these computers? I use Artisan and have now installed Photoshop Elements & Premiere to try to learn that as well. My existing computer has been lagging severely for about a year and has no battery charge any longer, so I can't take it to the couch either. Would love to try to find a deal this weekend on something.
 
I have not used a gaming computer myself, but more than once I have read that's a good choice. I never liked scrapping on a laptop when I had one for a year or two, several years ago. I had an old desktop at the same time and always preferred that. In 2011 I got the iMac I still use today. The only thing I like better about a laptop is the portability. But since I got my first smartphone in 2013 I don't even miss portability, because I can carry my phone wherever I go. LOL

Good luck with your search and I hope your new machine works perfectly!
 
I bought a gaming machine from Best Buy last January and I love it. I have the Asus ROG Strix. I seriously research stuff like this to death (DH laughs and just says "pick one already"), and this one showed up on several lists with good reviews and it was in my price range. There are ones that are more expensive. Mine is not too heavy at all. DH has an Alienware and that thing is no fun to carry. Totally not trying to sell you on that one specifically, but the things I was most interested in were the RAM, the graphics card, and having a solid state drive. You may find all those things in another laptop, gaming or not. I would look at getting the most of all those things within your budget. I have had like 15 tabs open, PS running, LR running, and Lord knows what else, and had no issues. I went with 16GB RAM, but made sure I could upgrade it to 32 if I needed to.
 
I haven't used a gaming system for scrapping but like you, I've heard they're great. When I was looking (at Best Buy, no less), I checked out a gaming system but it was quite a bit more money for very little "more" than the laptop I ended up buying (HP Envy 17" with i7; 1 TB HD, 16GB RAM). The graphics card was better in the gaming system, but it wasn't that much better than the HP, and its processor wasn't super great; I couldn't justify the price difference since I'd rather have a better processor cuz I like to listen to music or surf the Web while I scrap.

Anyway, my point is, I guess it's best to compare and see which computer checks the most boxes for you. I love this laptop, but if I needed a new one, I'd definitely look at gaming computers again. We DSers need POWER lol! Enjoy the search!
 
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tinkerbell1112 said:
We just got a notice in the mail that if we didn't use our Best Buy card by mid - December it would be closed. My husband looked at me and said "go get a new laptop". what!? LOL. You got it!!

Now, question for you all - has anyone used a gaming computer for digital scrapbooking? I know they're a bit more expensive and a bit heavier from what I understand, but I'm no longer going to the dr every month for 3 hours, which is where I typically brought my laptop to scrap outside of the home. I don't expect to take it many places but scrapbook retreats, so size isn't really an issue.

Just curious if anyone has any experience with these computers? I use Artisan and have now installed Photoshop Elements & Premiere to try to learn that as well. My existing computer has been lagging severely for about a year and has no battery charge any longer, so I can't take it to the couch either. Would love to try to find a deal this weekend on something.
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Awesome! Merry Christmas!! I have an HP Envy 17" too.. the gaming is for graphics so it is perfect for scrapbooking! Enjoy! Get it during black friday sales :) I got mine a year ago October at Best Buy.
 
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I recently got a new laptop and looked pretty hard at the gaming ones. I actually ended up with an HP Envy laptop (which seems to be very popular in this thread!) with a 17" screen. It has very similar specs to the gaming laptops, including a 1 TB solid state hard drive and 500GB disk drive. It is also a touch screen which has been awesome for using my pencils and stylus. I am pretty sure Best Buy has that model, though probably not with the 1TB additional drive. I will say that I absolutely love it!! I decided against the gaming ones because the look of them was very aggressive and masculine, which probably sounds weird, but I just didn't like it.
 
lmccandless said:
I recently got a new laptop and looked pretty hard at the gaming ones. I actually ended up with an HP Envy laptop (which seems to be very popular in this thread!) with a 17" screen. It has very similar specs to the gaming laptops, including a 1 TB solid state hard drive and 500GB disk drive. It is also a touch screen which has been awesome for using my pencils and stylus. I am pretty sure Best Buy has that model, though probably not with the 1TB additional drive. I will say that I absolutely love it!! I decided against the gaming ones because the look of them was very aggressive and masculine, which probably sounds weird, but I just didn't like it.
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I have the same one with the 17" :) I love it!!
 
Tree City said:
I haven't used a gaming system for scrapping but like you, I've heard they're great. When I was looking (at Best Buy, no less), I checked out a gaming system but it was quite a bit more money for very little "more" than the laptop I ended up buying (HP Envy 17" with i7; 1 TB HD, 16GB RAM). The graphics card was better in the gaming system, but it wasn't that much better than the HP, and its processor wasn't super great; I couldn't justify the price difference since I'd rather have a better processor cuz I like to listen to music or surf the Web while I scrap.

Anyway, my point is, I guess it's best to compare and see which computer checks the most boxes for you. I love this laptop, but if I needed a new one, I'd definitely look at gaming computers again. We DSers need POWER lol! Enjoy the search!
Click to expand...
that was actually one that was open in one of my tabs. the reason this one might win is because it has a dvd reader. the gaming system I have open doesn't. But this one I have open is a mixed reality computer - not sure what that means unless it means it's like a hybrid of laptop and gaming computer. need to look and compare a bit.
 
lmccandless said:
I recently got a new laptop and looked pretty hard at the gaming ones. I actually ended up with an HP Envy laptop (which seems to be very popular in this thread!) with a 17" screen. It has very similar specs to the gaming laptops, including a 1 TB solid state hard drive and 500GB disk drive. It is also a touch screen which has been awesome for using my pencils and stylus. I am pretty sure Best Buy has that model, though probably not with the 1TB additional drive. I will say that I absolutely love it!! I decided against the gaming ones because the look of them was very aggressive and masculine, which probably sounds weird, but I just didn't like it.
Click to expand...
it does actually have the 1TB. and it was open in my tab already from my search this morning!
 
tinkerbell1112 said:
that was actually one that was open in one of my tabs. the reason this one might win is because it has a dvd reader. the gaming system I have open doesn't. But this one I have open is a mixed reality computer - not sure what that means unless it means it's like a hybrid of laptop and gaming computer. need to look and compare a bit.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, I forgot about saying it has the reader, and it has a full keyboard (with numbers: I love that). Oh, it also has 4 USB ports and an SD card reader--beautiful for backing up EHDs and of course the SD card is great for camera cards. :) "Mixed reality computer" is a new term. Now I'm off to Google it lol!
 
Tree City said:
Oh yeah, I forgot about saying it has the reader, and it has a full keyboard (with numbers: I love that). Oh, it also has 4 USB ports and an SD card reader--beautiful for backing up EHDs and of course the SD card is great for camera cards. :) "Mixed reality computer" is a new term. Now I'm off to Google it lol!
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yes, a must for me is the usb ports, which the HP seems to have more of. I constantly have 2 EHD's and a wireless mouse connected to my laptop
 
I have the old version of that HP 17" envy! It's 3 years old and still works well. I had RAM issues because it only came with 12 GB, and I like to run too much at once! So definitely go 16gb ram!

The desktop we built has a gamer processor or graphics card or both. I can't remember. I know it was built as a gaming desktop, but the laptop wasn't worth the gamer label.
 
Always buy as much memory, fastest processor, and biggest hard drive that your budget can allow. The graphics card in the "gamer" computer is what makes it great for scrapping. Those graphic cards have their own processor so the drawing on your screen is faster and better looking than a regular default graphics card.

I am a Dell girl. They cost more than HP but in general lost longer and are better built. This one has lasted me almost 4 years. I should ask my son about a memory upgrade as things are starting to slow down.
 
I did. I got the HP Omen. here are the specs:
HP OMEN Gaming Laptop
•Operating system:Windows 10 Home
•Processor:7th generation Intel Core i7-7700HQ Processor
• Display:17.3-inch diagonal UHD IPS UWVA anti-glare WLED-backlit (3840x 2160)
•Memory:32 GB DDR4 SDRAM
•Hard drive: 1TB SATA + 512GB SSD
•Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Graphics with 4 GB GDDR5 graphics memory
•Audio:Bang & Olufsen with dual speakers
•HP Wide Vision HD Camera with dual array digital microphone
•Product weight:6.28 lb
•Keyboard:Full-size island-style back-lit keyboard with numeric keypad
•2 USB 3.0; 1 USB 2.0; 1 HDMI; 1 RJ-45; 1 headphone/microphone combo
•1 multi-format SD media card reader
•HP Image pad with multi-touch gesture support
•SuperMulti DVD burner

I got mine in March 2017. Amazon. No issues with the order, plus a Warranty included through them. I do like it.... it's fast, easy to use, great images, and runs everything smoothly. Honestly, I was a long time Mac user... if I have the opportunity to go back to a 17" Mac, I would in a heartbeat. They just don't sell them.
 
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