Solved! AMD vs INTEL laptop for gaming/performance/price Whats should I buy?

[mikepronin]

Reader I need a little advice I was going to purchase the Asus G73SW-A1 with i7 2630 for a great gaming laptop and good for rendering video and stuff. But with this sandy bridge news it make me wonder what should I buy. I love asus products but im willing to go to another manufacture if the price/performance is right. Can anyone give me any good advise. Here are 3 manufacture im looking at Sager,Asus, dont really like dell but i guess alienware. reader I asked a question on the sandy bridge problem with intel and i hope i get some great responses. But i have one more question hope the readers can help me with. Even though I might get a Intel laptop for gaming and video rendering and stuff. What about AMD? Im a die hard AMD fan I dont care if they are not the best CPU but for the price/performance they are awesome. Is there any manufacture out there that make a kick ass AMD Laptop with at least these spec. AMD Quad Core or higher, 17.3" screen or bigger with 1080p res, High end mobile video card and have a blu-ray drive and if possible have those seagate mentus hybrd drives. If they have a system made like that. I'm all in... no Intel for me but if not i guess i have no choice but to go with Intel Thanks in Advance... here a laptop i found but still missing that wow factor and im not a HP or a ACER fan Newegg.com - PCsp. & Laptops,Laptops / Notebooks,AMD Phenom II Quad-Core,17" - 17.3" P.S. i was also looking at the best mobile graphics card gtx 485 or radeon 6970 please advice a system with one of those and cost 2000 or less

General Questions

1) What is your budget? 2000

2) What size notebook would you prefer?


Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen

3) What country are you buying this in?
USA

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
Asus, Sager, MSI, maybe dell xps or alienware series

5) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?
Gaming and video rendering and some maya and 3d max

6) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?
mostly desktop replacement but portable when needed

7) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?
yes Cysis, Metro 2033

8) How many hours of battery life do you need?
Dont matter

9) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?
i dont mind as long as i can see a video review

10) What OS do you prefer? (more details below)

-Windows 7 64bit

Screen Specifics

11) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer? (more details below)

WUXGA - 1920x1200; Wider viewing version of UXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets. or atleast 1080p

12) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non glossy screen?
mostly glossy but might take a matte

Build Quality and Design

13) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
important to a extent

14) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?
will by in the next month and last about 2 years or more upgrade ability is a option but not a must have

Notebook Components

15) How much hard drive space do you want; 80GB, 160GB, 250GB, 320GB, 500GB, 1TB, or 1.5TB? 500gb or more

16) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, CD/DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?
blu-ray player but it would be nice if i can get it with a blu-ray burner

17) What speed CPU/Processor would you like? Dual core or Quad Core CPU?
this is the hardest question. i love power but im a AMD faithful and i cant afford the best so this is what i like to have but willing to change for price reasons
AMD quad core or higher if i have to go with Intel witch it looks like they dominate the laptop gaming world i7 quad or higher

 

[dogman_1234]

Hello and welcome to THG.

www.ibuypower.com/

 

[Bigmac80]

I have the Asus G73H and it's amazing! It plays every game i throw at it. Specs are i7 quad 6gigs of ram and ATI 5870. The best part is you can't even feel the heat when you game because it has 2 exhaust behind the laptop so all the hot air doens't hit your hands.

 

[fazers_on_stun]

Hmm, this probably belongs in the notebook section instead of CPUs. However, I just bought an Asus G73JW-3DE Republic of Gomers (Gamers ) 17.3 lappy, with an extra pair of the 3D stereo glasses, for about your budget of $2K. Has the i7-740QM quad-core with native turbo up to 2.9GHz, 8GB memory, 2x 500GB + 4G SSD drives, BD burner, GTX 460M GPU with 1.5TB VRAM, illuminated keyboard and the usual assorted features like 802.11BGN, bluetooth, etc. They even throw in a backpack & gaming mouse. 1080P screen is matte instead of glossy but I've had both (this replaces a Dell M1710 lappy with 17" glossy 1920 x 1200 screen) and this compares favorably and doesn't show glare and fingerprints (have a 4-yr-old son...).

The 3D is excellent - now I'm in the market for a 3D TV to replace the 50" Pioneer plasma that I was previously using with the Dell for gaming when at home in my so-called "office" .. However the beauty of a gaming lappy is that when you travel, so do your games (esp. handy for those boring but necessary family reunions 2x a year)..

 

[AGPC]

Get AMD

 

[bearclaw99]

Go for Intel with a laptop. As far as I know, there aren't even any higher end laptop AMD CPUs out there. Even their quads max out around 2 ghz and don't have any sort of turbo to run higher when needed, which will kill on single or dual threaded apps or games

Take a look at this list. AMD has maybe one CPU in the top 30-40. The only one I'd consider is a high speed X2 dual core if you can get it
http/www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

 

[BaronMatrix]

Check out Newegg. The Phenom IIs are up to 2.1GHz and the duals are up to 3GHz. I saw a nice ACER with a 6650M, but it doesn't have 1080p.

 

[BaronMatrix]

Go for Intel with a laptop. As far as I know, there aren't even any higher end laptop AMD CPUs out there. Even their quads max out around 2 ghz and don't have any sort of turbo to run higher when needed, which will kill on single or dual threaded apps or games

Take a look at this list. AMD has maybe one CPU in the top 30-40. The only one I'd consider is a high speed X2 dual core if you can get it
http/www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

SuperPi and Cinebench aren't good examples of real-world performance. For PLATFORM perf\dollar AMD wins hands down.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

WAIT for a sandy bridge laptop to be released. The SB I3's trounce even the X4's in gaming.

http/www.tomshardware.com/forum/65313-35-sandy-bridge-laptops

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Intel ..... I'd look at AMD only in the < $1000 range. I'd look at the Clevo and Asus models .... not sure how the SB defect affects the laptop arena tho Dell and others are promising delivery March 1st in their ads.

http/www.pro-star.com/index.cfm?mainpage=product&filter=7
http/www.xoticpc.com

 

[fazers_on_stun]

SuperPi and Cinebench aren't good examples of real-world performance. For PLATFORM perf\dollar AMD wins hands down.

To quote the OP, who mentioned his budget is $2K:

5) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?
Gaming and video rendering and some maya and 3d max

From http/www.anandtech.com/bench/Mobile/156:

My laptop (Asus G73JW series) is 3rd from the top on the list, with an i7-740QM and GTX-460M, at about $1930 for the laptop, carrying case and mouse and 3D glasses. On BBC2 high settings, it gets 46 fps. The highest-ranked AMD laptop, the Toshiba A660D is currently priced at $949 online, and gets 19.8 fps. So in fact the Asus gets .02383 fps per dollar whereas the Toshiba only gets .02086 fps per dollar, which means the Asus gets about 14% higher performance per dollar. The Asus has a 17.3" 120Hz 1080P screen, the Toshiba a 16" 768P screen.

Now if we compare the cheapo, non-3D version of the Asus ROG laptops, which go around $1400, it would get much worse. Or if using other gaming benchmarks, like Dirt2.

Interestingly enough, the top performer in each category is the Clevo X7200, using an i7-980X and a couple GTX-480M's in SLI. The single-GPU versions start at $2680 however . Plus I would imagine battery life is for sh!t, unless you carry a couple Sears DieHards in a wheelbarrow .

 

[fazers_on_stun]

that G73 is one spunky lappy. It was going for 999usd during the holidays

Probably so - I see Amazon has a 720QM + ATI 5870 model for a bit over $1300.

I was going to get the A1 version with the 740QM and 460M, which after rebate was about $1500, until I saw the 3D version. So, adios tax refund .

 

[fazers_on_stun]

^ The A1 has a GTX-460M which is better than the HD 5870.

 

[fazers_on_stun]

^ +2 to that . Alienware may look cool next to the ROG, but if I wanted to pay too much money for looks, I'd buy an Apple .

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been moved from the section CPU & Components to section Laptops & Notebooks by Mousemonkey