Best Laptop Under $2000?

tinkermaths

Honorable
Nov 5, 2012
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10,510
I'm looking to purchase a new laptop over the next couple of months.

1. What is your budget?
$2000

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Don't mind.

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Don't mind.

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

5. How much battery life do you need?
Decent. Over 5 hours definitely preferable.

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)?
Some games. Star Wars: The Old Republic on high would be nice.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Video editing, mostly with Adobe Premiere. Filmmaking is a hobby.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Not too chuffed, over 300gb.

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

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
As long as possible. Longevity is a big plus.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
None needed.

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.
Happy with all brands, even Apple if that's a good option? Not turned off by Mac OS.

13. What country do you live in?
Australia. Fine if you post US links though, I'll do the translations.

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Fairly nice keyboard would be a big plus. I do a lot of typing.

Thanks!
 

tinkermaths

Honorable
Nov 5, 2012
9
0
10,510


Could be wrong, but I believe there is not.



I'll check it out, thanks very much!
 
Well the Premier demands CUDA for the Mercury Playback Engine and that leaves you only with nVidia options.

5 hours is doable with Optimus technology but if video editing or gaming, call it 2.5

I'd suggest a Clevo P170EM often marketed as a Sager NP9170 (Asterisked items are upgrades from base build)

17.3" Full HD 1080P LED-Backlit with Super Clear (1920 x 1080) Display
Switchable GPU by NVIDIA® Optimus™ Technology
Intel® GMA HD GPU
NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 675MX 4GB GDDR5 Memory *
Intel® Core™ i7-3740QM Processor*
Intel® HM77 Express Chipset
Windows® 7 Professional 64-Bit Edition*
16GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 2 X 8GB* (upgradeable to 32GB)
750GB Seagate Momentus XT ST750LX003 7200RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 8GB SSD Hybrid*
6X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive*
Intel® Centrino™ Advanced-N 6235 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN + Bluetooth 4.0 Combo Module*
8 cells smart Lithium-Ion battery pack 76.96Wh
Integrated Fingerprint Reader
Free Shipping
$150 Discount
High Definition audio interface
S/PDIF digital output
Built-in Microphone
Built-in two speakers made by Onkyo
Built-in one sub-woofer
External 7.1CH audio output supported by headphone, microphone, S/PDIF and Line-in jack
THX TruStudio Pro
Illuminated Full size keyboard with numeric pad
W/A/S/D gaming key
Integrated touchpad with Multi-gesture and Scrolling function
1 HDMI 1.4a output Port (with HDCP)
1 DVI-I output Port (single link)
1 DisplayPort 1.1 output Port
1 USB 2.0 Port
3 USB 3.0 Ports (One powered USB port, AC/DC)
1 eSATA Port (USB 3.0 combo)
1 Mini IEEE 1394a Port
1 Headphone Jack
1 Microphone Jack
1 S/PDIF output Jack
1 Line-in Jack
1 RJ-45 LAN (10/100/1000Mbps)
9-in-1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/SD/Mini-SD/SDHC/SDXC)
Built-in Gigabit Ethernet LAN
Built-in 2.0M Digital Video Camera
Kensington® Lock

Would cost me $1950 here in the states from here
http://www.lpc-digital.com/sager-np9170-features.html

Down under look at:

http://www.logicalblueone.com.au/store/526-horize-p170em-clevo-gaming-laptop.html
http://www.affordablelaptops.com.au/contents/en-us/d411_metabox-clevo-p170em-laptop-notebook.html#p2170

Also look at p4laptops.com.au and pioneernotebooks.com.au

Larry at LPC Digital (link above0 will ship internationally but of course free shipping offer goes out the window.
 

tinkermaths

Honorable
Nov 5, 2012
9
0
10,510
Hmm thinking and looking at these options, I actually think I need something a little less powerful. Something that'll generate less heat and give more battery life. Should I look at something less than the nvidia GTX 670M?

I guess I've decided I'm willing to forsake some performance/power for reliability/mobility. Hopefully I can get a desktop in a couple of years to be my powerhouse.

And since I'm unsure as to the state of mobile GPUs these days, I should add that it's important to me that it's a very quiet computer.
 

Pyree

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Moderator


Yes, there is. Total price = (Price of laptop + custom duty + insurance (if you choose to do so) + transport) x 1.1 (10% GST)

Also, the 7670 is no where near a GT 650m.

http://www.affordablelaptops.com.au/contents/en-us/d387_metabox-clevo-p150em-laptop-notebook.html

Clevo P150EM

Config: 750GB HDD (-$50), no bonus ODD drive caddy (-$40), W8 (+$99), AMD 7970m (+$249), matte screen (-$9), 8GB RAM (-$44), 1 year pick up return, 2, 3 year return warranty (+$59). Total $1753. Get yourself a 256GB SSD from MSY/Umart (e.g. Samsung 830) and put it in the empty 2nd HDD bay. That will use up the $2000 budget neatly.
 

Pyree

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Moderator
Hotfix for Enduro is out already (12.9 hotfix). Then there is a new driver coming (12.11), which is now in beta.

75w (7970m, GTX 670m)
100w (GTX 675m, 680m)

So 7970m is the obvious choice for battery. But you wouldn't play games on battery, putting the GPU on full load right? The battery will run out very quickly, like 30 minutes.

The 2.5 inch SATA SSD are the same for laptop and desktop. The PCIe SSD, that is for desktop. Some older SATA SSD are 3.5 inch, but I don't think they are produced any more. The mSATA SSD you can get and put in that laptop as well. There is a slot for it in that laptop but I will not recommend it because of the price is higher and you have an empty SATA HDD bay.
 

tinkermaths

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Nov 5, 2012
9
0
10,510
Thanks! This is looking like my best option.

Although I do kinda wish the GTX650m or GTX660m were options in this laptop, 'cause I'd be happy to sacrifice that power for battery life.

But if I don't run any games or graphics-intensive software, this should still give some decent battery life?
 

Pyree

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Moderator
Owner of this laptop on notebookreview said that the battery last around 3.5 hours on balanced power profile doing web browsing. Xoticpc estimate the laptop to last 2-3 hours on battery. That's a rough idea on how long the battery will last. The laptop with GT 650m or GTX 660m will last about the same since GPU is turned off and it's the CPU that's draining the battery when Optimus or Enduro kicks in. If you need more battery, you need a lower power CPU (i3, i5 or low power i7). Also, SSD + HDD config will drain the battery faster. If you need 5 hours+ battery, you really need an ultrabook and no game for you! :D
 

Labrynthian

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Oct 9, 2012
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10,860
It sounds to me like you actually need the Dell Inspiron 17R Special Edition. It's got a fairly good balance of everything you're looking for and it'll handle your mid level games to a reasonable extent. It doesn't sound like you're going to do much gaming, so you should be all right with the 650M it has. Here are the specs, take a look. It's very different from the other things that people have suggested for you, but I do think it will suit your needs.


Processor: 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM (6MB cache, up to 3.4Ghz)

Operating System: Windows 8, 64-bit, English

Display: 17.3" 3D Full High Definition (1080p) LED Display with Truelife

Memory: 8GB 4 Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz

Hard Drive: 1TB 5400RPM SATA HDD + 32GB mSATA SSD w/ Intel Smart Response

Optical Drive: Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD) with Cyberlink Power DVD 9.6 (Blu-Ray)

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M GDDR5 2GB w/ 3D Glasses

If you're interested, here's the link:

http://www.dell.com/us/p/laptops?~ck=mn#!facets=226291~0~14720665,55846~0~14833549&p=1

Dell has really good warranty and customer service, so you'll be ok with both reliability and durability. As for battery life, I think you're going to be hard pressed to find a mid-high functioning laptop that would last more than 3 hours on a full battery, especially if you're gaming. The 5 hours you're looking for might just about work if you're running nothing but notepad. Anyway, hope I helped :)

 

tinkermaths

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Nov 5, 2012
9
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10,510
Ah seems I should decide what it is I actually need hehe...

One more question I have just now: in the Clevo P150EM how much is upgradeable? Is it correct that you can easily swap in a different graphics card, harddrive and RAM?
 

Labrynthian

Honorable
Oct 9, 2012
231
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10,860
It's default specs are really good, as well as it's price. So I'm not sure why you'd want to change/upgrade even more... I'm not sure if it can be done though. But it's a proper gaming laptop, which means its battery life will be 3 hours or less, at best. It's default GPU is a GTX 670M which is a mid level class 1 graphics card. It'll suck up the battery when you use it. If you're not going to game much, don't get it...