Solved! 14-15.6 Gaming w/ NICE DISPLAY?

[skylinegtr191]

Hi everyone. I currently have an Acer TimelineX 3820TG. I was very optimistic about it at first until I started using it more and more. The display on it is so bad, that I'm just ready to throw in the towel. There is no angle where colors are not over saturated or completely inverse.

The battery is pretty good, until you play games. I understand this to be the case with most laptops. But I'm managing just over an hour from 100% life to 5%. In my opinion, that is a little quick.

Because of these two main issues, I have listed it for sale on Craigslist and am now in the market for a new laptop. I thought I'd found that in the Lenovo Y470, but a lot of reviewers have noted its mediocre display. How hard is it for these companies to provide a decent display? I mean seriously.. I shouldn't have to be afraid to purchase a really nice looking laptop because I might get a crappy screen.

This is why I'm coming to my fellow forum goers and asking for help. Here we go..

1. What is your budget?

$1400 Max.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

I really prefer anything under 15 inches, but I'll go for a 15.4-15.6 if it's really light and thin. I want some portability.

3. What screen resolution do you want?

1366x768 - 1920x1080. I've only ever had two laptops and both were 1366x768. Is 1920x1080 way too much on a 15 incher? Also, having a good display is my top priority right before powerful GPU. I have learned.. what's the point in a powerful laptop if you can't even enjoy what you're seeing?

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

No, but i want to be able to game and play anything. Obviously not maxed out, but med/high.

5. How much battery life do you need?

Looking for optimus technology.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?

YES!
City of Heroes - High
Age of Conan - Med
Elder Scrolls 5 - Med/High
Mass Effect 2/3 - Med/High

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)

Gaming/Web Browsing/Photo Shop/Movies

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?

Don't care one bit.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

Don't care.. but I will look for deals/coupon codes.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?

Over a year and a half, at least.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?

I could care less about these, but in order to get higher quality graphics (550m/555m) they all come with a drive of some sort anyway.

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.

I want to stay away from Acer. Not because they are bad, but because I did not like MY experience with them. HP.. sick of the whole *beats by dre* thing but I'm hearing good stuff about the displays on their Envy line.

13. What country do you live in?

US, but I don't mind ordering from CA.

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

Sorry about the long post guys, but I really need some enlightenment here. I looked at the Lenovo Y470, M14x, G53, and a few Sonys so far. Thanks for ANY help or advice as it will be very appreciated!

 

[WR2]

What are your expectations for your new laptop LCD display?

 

[jaguarskx]

Yes, please define what you mean by a "nice display".

I am pretty what I consider a "nice display" is much different from what you consider a "nice display".

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

Asus G53SW - the 1080p model.

 

[skylinegtr191]

I'm sorry if I didn't clarify that correctly. I want a display that actually has decent viewing angles. With my 3820tg, there is no good viewing angle and I have to move it around and fine tune it every time I reposition myself.

I am looking at the 1600x900 Dell M14x, but some of the reviews say it has terrible battery life and very loud cooling. The G73SW is definitely nice, however the sheer size of it and all the ports being on the right side concern me.

My current laptop has the 6550M in it and whatever I buy to replace it can't be a downgrade in performance. That's why I've pin pointed in on the 550M/555M/460M.

 

[WR2]

I'm sorry if I didn't clarify that correctly. I want a display that actually has decent viewing angles. With my 3820tg, there is no good viewing angle and I have to move it around and fine tune it every time I reposition myself.

That's the nature of a TN LCD panel - narrow viewing angles. It's the IPS LCD panels that have the excellent viewing angles.
And you won't have any IPS panel laptops available to you, in your price range.

Check this review on the HP Pavilion dv6t and see if it's reviewed LCD screen is something you'd be comfortable with. It's available in Core i5 / Radeon HD 6770M or Core i7 / Radeon HD 6850M combos.

 

[jaguarskx]

To the best of my knowledge there are no gaming laptops with IPS panels. Workstation laptops can have IPS panels, but they are not gaming machines and are not in your price range.

Sorry, but you will just have to settle on a laptop with a TN panel.

The only laptop with an IPS panel option in your range is the 12.5" Lenovo ThinkPad X220; "premium screen" option. But that's not for serious gaming since it only comes with the Intel HD 3000 graphics core.

 

[skylinegtr191]

Ah, okay I never knew that. Thank you for the heads up. What about these display options that give you a 95% gamut option instead of the default screen. What does that mean?

Also, I'm looking at the dv6t right now and it's got some good specs for its price.

 

[jaguarskx]

There's normal color gamut screens (72% of sRGB) and wide color gamut screens (92%+ of sRGB).

Basically wide color gamut screens have a wider range of colors on a rRGB map. They are generally extended more in the green spectrum. This can make some images seem a little greener than normal, but overall will give you "better looking" colors since it can make colors a little more vibrant.

Wide color gamut was basically intended for color printing at first, then I suppose it was released into the consumer market place. It helps with doing critical color accurate printouts. The wider range makes it easier to calibrate both screen/monitors and the printer so that printed colors look exactly the same as on the screen. Normal color gamut screens/monitors are generally more difficult to calibrate for critical color printing because colors tend to look slightly different when printed out. An easy example would be any publisher that prints magazines with color photos.

 

[skylinegtr191]

Okay I don't care to have that, then.

I just got back from Frys and was able to play around with some of the laptops. They had that new Sony Vaio Z.. beautiful laptop but way too expensive and I don't want to care around a big block for extra graphics.

The M14x was also up there and I have to say I am impressed. The 555m in it seems powerful after reading up and I like the higher res 1600x900 screen. It looked pretty good, at least from what I could tell in the store. My only concern is the cooling vent placement. It's on the very bottom and I think that is stupid.

 

[WR2]

Alienware M14x Review

 

[skylinegtr191]

Only 4 hours of battery life with optimus? But it's not really possible to find a powerful laptop that can also last 6 hours.

 

[WR2]

[strike]Or the Alienware with the extended life battery.[/strike]
It looks like it already ships with the High Capacity 8-cell Lithium Ion (63whr) as the standard battery.

You could probably squeeze some longer battery life. They tested with WiFi active which you don't need for note-taking type tasks. And you could probably dim the screen more than they did - which is what I think is the major factor in battery life.

 

[jaguarskx]

Okay I don't care to have that, then.

You may have already used a monitor or laptop that has a wide gamut screen. Generally speaking you probably will not be able to tell the difference between a normal gamut monitor/screen and a wide gamut monitor/screen unless they are side by side.

The Alienware M1x uses a wide color gamut screen.

 

[skylinegtr191]

Alright guys I'm gonna go out on a limb and try the dell.. I would be happy with 2 hours of gaming from 100% using low brightness and medium settings. I'm also not too concerned with noise as my 3820TG has always been loud when trying to game. I want to thank you all for your help and advice. I don't care much for the look of it, but it has the specs I want.

The keyboard on the DV6 turned me off. And that Asus is beautiful but so big lol. I checked out Sager/Clevo too, but couldnt find anything small or 14 inch which is unfortunate. The Sony's were all too expensive and underpowered, in my opinion.

Once again, thanks everyone I really do appreciate it. I'll keep this updated on my experiences with it.

 

[skylinegtr191]

I think I'm too indecisive. I'm looking at these Sagers/Clevos and I think they are a better price for the same performance as the M14x. Is Clevo a reputable brand?

 

[jaguarskx]

Clevo has been around for a while. Many gaming laptops are built around their chassis design. For example, the Alienware Area-51 m7700 uses the Clevo D900T chasis. The Sager 98xx series and the Hypersonic EX7 also uses that same chassis.

 

[Ari3sgr3gg0]

I can attest personally that clevo and sager both make a great laptop and I have been happy every time I get one. To answer another question I personally don't think 1080 is too high on a 15.4" screen because I've had several laptops with 1900x1200 resolution on 15.4" screens. My vote for a laptop is not with the m14x since the 555m in my opinion doesn't give good enough performance. Plenty of nice laptops with the much more powerful 560m here http/www.xoticpc.com/custom-gaming-laptops-notebooks-laptops-with-nvidia-video-cards-ct-95_51_178.html

 

[skylinegtr191]

I can attest personally that clevo and sager both make a great laptop and I have been happy every time I get one. To answer another question I personally don't think 1080 is too high on a 15.4" screen because I've had several laptops with 1900x1200 resolution on 15.4" screens. My vote for a laptop is not with the m14x since the 555m in my opinion doesn't give good enough performance. Plenty of nice laptops with the much more powerful 560m here http/www.xoticpc.com/custom-gaming-laptops-notebooks-laptops-with-nvidia-video-cards-ct-95_51_178.html

Hm, yeah those are not bad at all. Does the 560m have Optimus? I need some relatively decent battery life while not gaming.

 

[Ari3sgr3gg0]

I don't think it does, optimus is sadly pretty limited once you go for a gaming laptop