Choosing a laptop that fits me for as cheap as possible

[Bakuryu42]

I'm trying to find a laptop that fits my lifestyle and having a bit of trouble. The specs I've been using are as follow.

CPU: Maybe something in the Intel i Series if not a really fast Dual Core.
Memory: 4Gb
HD: At least 500GB
Graphics Card: Using this site as a reference (http/www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html) I'm looking for something at least in the top 30's
Screen Size: At least 15" no bigger then 17"
Battery Life: 2 hours would be nice, but I'm not picky on this anymore if there a cheap secondary battery option it would be a plus.
OS: Not to picky on this one although I would like Windows 7.
Price: Trying to keep this low I'm setting the cap at $1,500 for now.

Things I want to use this laptop for are as follows and in no particular order.

Maya
Adobe Products
Gaming
Movies
Internet Surfing

Two laptops I have found so far that kinda fit the bill

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834101203

and

http/www.amazon.com/Pavilion-DV7-2270US-17-3-Inch-Espresso-Laptop/dp/tech-data/B002ONCCL6/ref=de_a_smtd

This decision would be easier if I knew if I should get a Quad core or not. That's the only down side of the first one. The second one the graphics card is not nearly as good and it only 2.0GHz, but its Quad.

So if anyone can help me figure out what to do or suggest another laptop it would be extremely helpful as I really want a laptop and soon, I just don't want to order one and not be happy with it.

 

[Maziar]

In terms of gaming,the Gateway model beats the HP one because GTX 260M is significantly faster than a GT 230M,however there are better options than those too like AW M15x

 

[Bakuryu42]

I'm trying to find the laptop your talking about and not seeing it could you like me to it and/or tell me the specs?

 

[Maziar]

Here is it:
http/www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/alienware-m15x/pd.aspx?refid=alienware-m15x&s=dhs&cs=19&~ck=mn
I could have recommended you the SAGER NP8690 too but its battery life is poor(about 1 hour)

 

[Bakuryu42]

This looks like an awesome star, problem is I don't get what the Intel i Series is are they all Quad if so is this ok? I've read the Quad is good if they can take advantage, but bad if they can't. But from what I've read so far the Intel i series can manage what is needed so this doesn't happen is that correct? Which processor is good for my needs?

 

[Maziar]

i7 720M would be the best price/performance option since its quad core and has a reasonable price

 

[Bakuryu42]

It jacks the price up to 1.8k =\ is there no other way or is it always going to cost me this much? Also the battery life on these are good the original option is a 6 cell but you can put a 9 but its another 100 =\

 

[Tunafish]

i HIGHLY reccomend the following based on what I have seen:

-sony VAIO F (for gaming and movies)
-dell studio xps 16 (movies and mid level gaming)
-toshiba quosmio
-custom built mysn or ibuypower or cyberpower rig...

remember: with custom built rigs u save a significant amount, but also lose significant quality...(custom rigs thick, keyboard flexes, etc. etc.)

 

[Bakuryu42]

i HIGHLY reccomend the following based on what I have seen:

-sony VAIO F (for gaming and movies)
-dell studio xps 16 (movies and mid level gaming)
-toshiba quosmio
-custom built mysn or ibuypower or cyberpower rig...

remember: with custom built rigs u save a significant amount, but also lose significant quality...(custom rigs thick, keyboard flexes, etc. etc.)

I can't find a link for the Sony Vaio F, but I've check them out before and heard there battery life is terrible.
I checked the tell out and it wasn't bad specs for price, but I also checked out the Toshiba quosimo and the toshiba had a bluray,faster processor, and better graphics card as the dell was cheaper till the shipping cost pretty much matched it.

I checked the custom build websites, but they give you no options the Toshiba has this problem to. I don't really need that big of a screen, but all the big screens have the bigger specs and they don't let you select a graphics card its based entirely on the computer you put first.

I think I need to take a step back though this is a lot of money I'm spending so I really want to make it count, problem is if I get this good of a laptop why bother having a desktop? I don't want to replace my desktop I just want a portable alternative that can still do some of the things I do on my desktop. With a 2 year old desktop even the primitive laptops are better then it =\

 

[Maziar]

As i said i easily could have recommended the SAGER NP8690 but it only has 1 hour battery life,its hard to find a gaming laptop with 3+ hours of battery

 

[Bakuryu42]

This is incredibly frustration for me. I'm actually going to look up how to make you own laptop just to see if its less painful than this. Why can't these website actually let you customize the laptop. It you not customizing you upgrading it. And you can't upgrade to things you want from lower start off specs its BS!

 

[Maziar]

Is there any way you can sacrifice the battery life ?

 

[Bakuryu42]

2 hours I could deal with maybe any less then that and whats the point? I mean why have a laptop if you are restricted to being near an outlet?

 

[Maziar]

wait take a look @ HP Envy 15:
http/www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/cto.do;HHOJSID=3JS0Lf1SthGXQnnhdV0fv7vbfrGq7lGcC81YMd1l64yGphm8GNr1!1684291678

 

[Bakuryu42]

Hows the battery life on it? Also are i5 Processors good? Hows the graphics card stack up? looks like its 32 on the list not bad, but I can't find any benchmarks for it.

 

[Maziar]

HD 5830M is a good VGA and should perform better than the old 4830M(which was a good performer).
About CPUs,well for tasks like Maya,3D rendering etc you will benefit from a quad core CPU so going with i7 720QM would be the best option,with that it will cost $50 more than your budget.
i5 CPUs are good too and can handle apps well,but as i said 3D rendering and apps like those benefit from a quad core CPU.

 

[Bakuryu42]

What about the battery? Btw once I add the 500GB harddrive I want and the i7 720QM it comes to $100 over =\

If the battery decent maybe It will be worth it.

 

[Maziar]

Here are 2 reviews for Envy 15(the older version which has HD 4830M)
http/www.laptopmag.com/review/laptop/hp-envy-15.aspx?page=4
"Don’t even think about leaving home without the Envy 15’s large power brick, or the optional slice battery. On the LAPTOP Battery Test, which involves continuous surfing over Wi-Fi, the notebook lasted a mere 2 hours and 5 minutes, which is 1 hour and 26 minutes less than the category average of 3:31. The 15-inch MacBook Pro lasted a whopping 8:06 on the same test running OS X, while the more powerful ASUS G51J lasted only 1:15. The good news is that HP offers an optional nine-cell battery slice ($125 extra) that the company claims will add up to 5 hours of endurance. However, it also adds two pounds to the weight."
http/www.notebookcheck.net/Review-HP-Envy-15-Notebook.22272.0.html
"It is not chance that HP put a supplement battery in the box. Quickly it turns out that this 'goodie' is an absolutely necessary add-on, because the battery life of the integrated battery is very short. With a capacity of 93 Wh the external battery promises double the runtime than the integrated one. Both together can about treble the listed runtime. However, also the total weight increases by about 50% to 3580 gram and limits the mobility. Thereby the supplement battery weighs 1210 gram. Speaking of weight. Weighing 770 gram also the power adapter with its long cables does not belong to the lightest of its class.

The battery life in detail: The maximum possible battery life with optimized energy settings (min. Displayhelligkeit, WLAN aus, Energiesparprofil), tested with the Battery Eater Readers test, is about 160 minutes. In the worst case, i.e, under load with deactivated energy saving options, the battery had to be recharged after 70 minutes."
Not sure about the new version though since there aren't currently any reviews for it.

 

[Tunafish]

VAIO F Link:

http/www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644691998&N=4294953518

i highly recommend the as the hp envy is not very usable based on reviews. btw the envy doesnt have an internal cd drive.

 

[Bakuryu42]

Every thing except the graphics card is good on the Sony. According to http/www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
Its ranked 102 which isn't fantastic and I'm not sure how well it would do with games and Maya.

Just to throw this out there I've given up on the idea of have a laptop have great battery life and be this powerful, but having the ability to get a cheap secondary battery would be a plus.'

I've updated what I'm looking for at the top so make sure to check it if your making suggestions.