Technical > PC Hardware Discussion/Reviews > Need Laptop Advice.

Need Laptop Advice.

The 560 is better than the 6850, but close to the same performance if you need to drop the price.

Most of those processors are about the same, and as long as it has 8GB of ram for with a decent size hdd you'll be fine, otherwise you can cheaply upgrade the memory yourself. Some people swear by ssd, I don't really care currently, for the price especially now it's generally not worth it, and more of a expensive perk.

I take it you want to play some high end games.

Beyond the basics you need to focus on the other features you want. Screen size, and resolution should be big consideration for you. Usb 3.0 still has limited use, but there are some devices out there now. Many people don't even use the bluetooth on the computers, and if it's not widi 2.0 don't bother if you intend on using it, you'll likely have an hdmi out that works perfectly well without all the hassle anyway. You might want to make sure you get a nice big 9 cell battery, but hardware like this will be power hungry anyway, I'm sure you won't be able to do much for long without your charger. Blu-ray drive if you want to watch movies, but you'll likely have to pay for the updates to the blu-ray playing software unlike the free firmware updates to a home theater players.
--
I distrust those people who know so well what god wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires- Susan B. Anthony
Yesterday we obeyed kings, and bent out necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to the truth- Kahlil G.

reply to Rifleman
Thanks. I basically want a decent size screen and a possibly way to hook up to TV. Bluetooth I'll never use.
My main machine for 3 years has been this old Acer Netbook. I lived fulltime in a small RV and travelled around the States. It has done a lot of video editing and my entertainment--movies, etc,.
I play Microsoft Combat Flight sim and Silent Hunter 3 on my old quad core AMD and GT 8500 desktop but I left it with my old man and he's got his eyes on it as he uses an old P-4.
I think that Acer would do me fine but don't want a dog performance wise if I do find a new game or video processing. Used to take a loong time on this netbook.

The Asus is pretty loaded, some video editing software will render videos faster using the cuda on the nvidia card, and it has blu-ray since you want to watch movies. It is a significant price jump compared to the Acer obviously.

The screens on both 17" screens are barely 720 however, but you can connect them to a hdtv, otherwise the resolution on blu-ray is kind of a waste on the laptop screen.

The acer will still be good, most of the performance in general for about 2/3 the price.

If you can wait a few months hopefully we'll see Ivy Bridge come out, and the prices drop even more, no promises.
--
I distrust those people who know so well what god wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires- Susan B. Anthony
Yesterday we obeyed kings, and bent out necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to the truth- Kahlil G.

reply to Rifleman
Rifleman,

Take a look at the Sager 8130, here:

»www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8130-cle···973.html

The thing to notice is that you can customize it to suit your requirements. You also can get a separate Microsoft Windows system CD, instead of getting one of those OEM "restore" items on a separate partition on the hard drive.

The price depends on the options chosen. Click on the "Customize" button to see the options. I've purchased from this site, Xotic, with good results.

Freddy

reply to Rifleman
Three words.
BUY A DELL.

And now a few more.
And not the low end. You get what you pay for.
--
Shooter Ready--Stand By BEEP ********

reply to Rifleman
I don't know why but just don't like Dell. My first PC was a Dell and it ran perfect for years so no complaints there. The case was a slim ome though and upgrades were nearly impossisble.
I've spent a couple days looking for decent deals.
Freddy---I configured a few at that site and the specs I am looking for drive the prices up in a hurry to where. I may as well buy from a shop online in canada.

I've learned that finding what one wants is a huge pain in the ass.
There's many different I-7 CPUs for example.
RAM is another trap. There's 3 different speeds of memory that will affect speed.
GPUs are just a huge morass of model numbers, variations of the models, amounts of RAM on the same model. etc etc.

I got fed up and narrowed down to 3 choices.
This monster has a faster GTX570M and Smaller screen.
MSI GT683DXR-473US Intel Core i7 2670QM 12GB 2X500GB DVDRW 15.6IN NVIDIA GTX570M 1.5GB W7HP Notebook

»ncix.com/products/?sku=64207&vpn···ications

This one has a larger screen but less RAM, and only 1 hard drive

MSI GT780DX-277US Intel Core I7-2670QM 8GB 750GB 17.3IN HD GTX570M 1.5GB DVDRW HDMI W7HP64 Notebook

»ncix.com/products/?sku=64815&vpn···icroStar

This one has a smaller screen, slower GPU--GTX560M

MSI GT683R-664US Intel Core I7-2670QM 12GB 1TB 15.6IN HD GTX560M 1.5GB DVDRW HDMI W7HP64 Notebook

»ncix.com/products/?sku=64814&vpn···icroStar

I actually went through the process of buying the first one in the list and was going to pay with Interac Online. After swearing at myself to push the button and buy the freaking thing, I was told that I can only spend 1000/day on my debit card.

Rifleman,

Yeah, I understand perfectly. I've been through the same exercise myself. Your choices so far look good. Go for it.

Freddy

reply to Rifleman
I used iBuyPower, no complaints with what they gave me.

reply to Rifleman
Remember ram is cheap to upgrade, if you want more, it's usually cheaper for you to upgrade it yourself. The screen size, gpu etc are harder for you to upgrade.

The second link looks good, big screen, a decently large hdd, good gpu, and you can always upgrade the ram yourself.
--
I distrust those people who know so well what god wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires- Susan B. Anthony
Yesterday we obeyed kings, and bent out necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to the truth- Kahlil G.

reply to Rifleman
I repair laptops for a living. If I look at my shelf of work it will look something like this.

ACER,ACER,DELL,ASUS,ASUS,ASUS,ACER,ASUS,ACER,LENOVO,LENOVO,LENOVO,COMPAQ,LENOVO,ACER,ASUS,SONY,TOSHIBA,ASUS,COMPAQ
ACER,LENOVO,ASUS,ACER,ACER,ACER,DELL,ASUS,ASUS,ASUS,ACER,COMPAQ,ASUS,ACER,LENOVO,COMPAQ
LENOVO,LENOVO,LENOVO,ACER,ASUS,SONY,TOSHIBA,ASUS,ACER,COMPAQ,LENOVO,ASUS,ACER.

Draw your own conclusions.

But just in case you need a better indication.
Top three failed brands.
1. ACER
2. ASUS
3. LENOVO

We see very few Sony, Toshiba and Dell units. Now as for Dell it could be because they try to service their own first before we see them.
--
In need of a Vegas vacation.

reply to VegasMan
Could that also reflect popularity? The more popular the brand, the more units that might have problems, but I would take a guess some of those are not hardware problems, possibly cleaning up software issues, unless that is all you do.

reply to mityfowl

reply to BlitzenZeus

All,

Who Really Makes Laptops and What is behind the name of a laptop? Here is what this site has to say about that question:

»www.xoticpc.com/who-really-makes···-47.html

Freddy

reply to Rifleman
I was going to post to say I think you need to go in the 560m direction or better.

Do you have reason to believe that 8GB isn't going to meet your video editing needs? I don't think you are saving enough money on the 3rd option for the differences.

What are you wrestling with in trying to decide between choice 1 and 2?

I'm going to go with number 2. Bigger screen and I can upgrade RAM as was mentioned.

reply to Rifleman
Well--I broke down and bought this beast. For 1700 bucks taxes in, I couldn't find a better deal speedwise.
I'll probably put a new SSD in the second bay,
I also read a bit about buying a laptop with 2 videocards running SLI? Is that something that can be upgraded to? Doubt i'll ever need it but curious.
»ncix.com/products/?sku=64815&vpn···icroStar