That's what I did with my last one. The limit is 90 days. I bought it in Nov. 2012 and returned it to Costco 89 days later in February. I mean laptop. Here are the finalists. The price inside the parentheses is the listed price; the price before the parentheses includes WA State sales tax. The / slash is the rating of the processor or graphics card per the sites below. The prices from Toshiba (direct) supposedly expired Sept. 1. $1399 Asus 4710HQ/123 15" 16gb DVD GTX850M/85 256gb SSD 4cell 59WHrs 6.0lb Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231949 $1300 Lenovo 4700HQ/124 15" 16gb external DVD GTX860M/71 8gbSSD 4cell 5.29lb Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834317887 $1141(1050) Toshiba 4710HQ/123 15" 16gb DVD R9 M265X/~100 Toshiba(direct) http://www.toshiba.com/us/computers/laptops/satellite/P50/P50-BBT2G22 $1250(1150) Toshiba 4710HQ/123 17" 16gb DVD R9 M265X/~100 5.9lb Toshiba(direct) http://www.toshiba.com/us/computers/laptops/satellite/S70/S70-BST2GX2 To get the prices I listed, you have to customize the Toshiba's to my requirements: Touchscreen with 1080p, i7 processor and graphics card both ranked in the top 150, backlit keyboard, under $1400. Ranking sites used http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php The best laptop I found for its price is the one with the SSD drive, but I'm thinking about it.
RoyToy being RoyToy ITT Howard averaged 26.0ppg during the series, that's very good, but I'd hardly call it putting up "monster numbers". The guy is an 8-time All Star, so the fact that he put up All Star like numbers shouldn't come as a surprise - especially when Stotts elected not to double team him, and also elected to employ the Hack-a-Howard strategy that gave him several additional intentional FTA per game. The guy only cracked 30 points once in a six game series where his team scored => 120 three times. Very good, but not a performance for the ages. Oh BTW, his team lost the series in six games in spite of having HCA. Once again, very good but it's not like he put his team on his back and carried them to victory. I think the fact that he put up 26.0ppg is more of a reflection of Stotts' defensive strategy than Lopez' deficiencies. I don't find it at all surprising that a 28-old, 8-time All Star was able to average 26.0ppg when he was not constantly doubled and was gifted several FTs per game as the result of intentional fouls. Yes, putting Asik on Aldridge changed the series, but not the outcome. It made scoring more difficult at both ends of the court. Yes, Aldridge's shooting percentage went down, but playing Asik big minutes also hurt Houston's scoring. And, it wasn't just Asik on Aldridge. After the first two games, Aldridge faced constant double teams. That made it harder for him to score, but also created wide open looks for his teammates. In games 3-6, Lillard, Mathews and Batum all saw their scoring go up dramatically because they were getting wide open looks on the perimeter due to the fact that Aldridge was getting doubled every time he touched the ball. Did Asik do a decent job on Aldridge? Sure, but he didn't do it alone (unlike Lopez on Howard). He had a lot of help, and all that helping created easy, uncontested scoring opportunities for Aldridge's teammates. Is Asik a better defensive center than Lopez? Probably, although all he really showed is that he's better at guarding an All Star power forward (with a whole lot of help defense) than Lopez is at guarding an All Star center (1-on-1). But, his better defense hardly makes up for his other inadequacies. The guy is an offensive zero. When McHale decided to start Asik on Aldridge, Houston was basically playing 4-on-5 on offense. Yes, defense is important, but so is the ability to score the ball. Lopez isn't a scoring stud, but he's MUCH better than Asik. "It continues to amaze me how things that are obvious continue to be argued against on this forum. Watch the game and learn the facts." On this I agree 100%. Watch the games, don't just look at the box scores. If you watched the games, you surely noticed that Asik had help every time Aldridge got the ball anywhere near the basket and Lopez was left alone on an island to defend Howard 1-on-1 in the low post. Bottom Line: Would I take Asik over Lopez for the same $ and same length of contract? Fuck no, and I bet there isn't a single GM in the league that would. Asik is three years older than Lopez and a worse all around player. He can't score and he can't shoot FTs, and at his age, there isn't a whole lot of upside. He is what he is, a mediocre journeyman who is best suited to being a back up center. The one year in his career where he was a starter, his team won 45 games. Exchanging Lopez for Asik would be a step backwards toward mediocrity, not a step forward toward to winning a franchise record number of games.
Yes, he does. Much better marketing potential. I can't see anyone, ever, wanting an Asik doll or tee shirt.
Lol at acting like Howard didn't have a monster series His regular season averages - 18/12/2/59% Playoff averages - 26/14/3/54% Not only did his playoff numbers drastically increase over his regular season averages, he put up the best PER of his playoff career. It was arguably the best basketball he's ever played. You can talk 8-time all-star all you want and that it's supposedly expected from him. The numbers say you're wrong and that he had a monster series for his standards. I see you think the total outcome of the series somehow means something, and that Houston losing is supposed to be Howard's fault or it should be used against him. Last I checked he was by far the best player for Houston, and probably the best player in the series. It was Harden that didn't show up for them, so really that's just a dumb argument to make. Howard did his part and more. Stotts covered him 1 on 1 because Howard doesn't have the reputation of being a great low post scorer and he didn't want to give Houston wide open 3's by doubling him. Well guess what. When he plays against Robin Lopez he is a great low post scorer because Robin Lopez can't move his feet. He absolutely abused him. Please...please don't act like putting Asik on Aldridge hurt the Rockets. Don't even start to make that argument. First of all they were 2-2 with Asik on Aldridge, 0-2 without. Second, Aldridge was considerably far less effective the rest of the series compared to the first two games of abusing Terrence Jones. Putting Asik on Aldridge was a great move by McHale that worked, but the Blazers had a 2-0 lead in the series before it happened. Neither offense had trouble scoring in the series, and the Rockets were often ahead as well. Asik didn't hurt their offense. At least not enough that it should be used in an argument.
The Rockets averaged 108 points per game in the regular season In the 4 games Asik started they averaged 112. Asik hurt their offense :MARIS61::MARIS61:
Oh and btw During the regular season Howard averaged 26/14 against the Blazers in 4 games. So in 10 games last season he averaged 26/14 against the Blazers. The numbers and eye test say Howard owns Robin Lopez, yet I'm sure there are some that will continue to argue against this obvious fact.
Everyone knows Dwight Howard is better than Robin Lopez. I didn't think that was in doubt. What is in doubt, and is to me doubtful, is that Asik would be a better fit on the Blazers than Lopez. I vote we keep Robin.
... wth is Roytoy babbling about? None of this has anything to do with Steve Blake. He's going against his word.
So are you arguing that Asik would have done a better job against Howard on single coverage? And do you think that Asik would have helped us offensively like Lopez? What we can be grateful for is our Brass didn't have the near sight like many of you to dump Lopez for Asik. And of course Aldridge had a tougher time, having Howard (best defensive center in the game) and Asik (another defensive minded center) take turns guarding him all game.
Can't believe I have to tell a Portland fan this about the Houston series, but Roytoy: SCOREBOARD! Houston didn't win. We did. All this other stuff is ba-log-na. Oh, and I and most of Portland would rather have Lopez than Asik. Asik lost. Lopez won. Asik is somewhere else because he whined. Lopez is here because he's Lopez, and he and the Blazers beat Asik, Howard, and the Rockets. This argument can go on for months, and probably will. But Asik didn't do enough for Houston to win. Lopez did. Lopez means more to this team than Asik ever would. And remember, Lopez still has a prime to get to, and we will probably get to see it if he re-signs.
Nah. It's only shitty because it's true. You only ignore me because I'm right. You must ignore everyone on here. Roytoys' reponse: I only ignore you, because (enter reason here).
I'd argue Asik might do a better job defensively against Howard 1 on 1. But would not come near helping us offensively like Robin.
I can accept that. Makes a ton of sense. I just love Lopez. I think he will be even better next season too
I think Asik is legitimately an excellent defensive player, which is why he's had value in the NBA despite being an offensive zero. There's a pretty reasonable chance that he's a superior defender to Lopez, though Lopez has been surprisingly good...significantly better on defense than I expected. But Lopez has a greater advantage on offense, and is younger, so I wouldn't consider swapping Lopez for Asik, dollar for dollar.
