- May 26, 2011
- 6
- 0
- 18,510
So after spending plenty of time looking at parts and getting opinions here on what to put in a new desktop build, I learned that I will likely not have enough room for a desktop for at least one or two 7-month periods in the next 4 years. I really can't justify putting upwards of $1300 into a system (the remaining $300 was for monitor, keyboard, mouse, and traveling protection) that will be a pain to move around the country (very likely to happen a few times in the same time frame) and that I won't even be able to have with me for the better portion of a year. Ergo, time to look at laptops. Too bad they can't even scratch the performance of the lower-cost desktop build, but that's what one has to put up with when moving about becomes a way of life.
1.What is your Budget?
~$1600 (willing to go a couple hundred higher, but only for very substantial improvement)
2.What is the size of the laptop that you are considering?
17"
3.What screen resolution do you want?
Not picky, but the capacity for 1920x1080 would be nice
4.Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Desktop replacement
5.How much battery life do you need?
Not an issue. This will almost always be used near an outlet.
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)?
Starcraft 2, Mass Effect 3, Skyrim, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Shogun 2, etc. Medium or better settings
7.What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop?
Web surfing, web games, the usual office software, and watching movies (but HD is not necessary)
8.How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
500Gb or more
9.If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Looking at Pro-Star and XoticPC right now for customizable performance without exceeding my price range, but any site that is reputable and has what I want at a good price is fine. Falcon Northwest and Origin were recommended to me, but I don't see anything there that would be affordable for me.
The two specific models I'm considering at the moment (open to others; these were just the two that seemed the best fit of features-to-cost of what I've seen) are:
MSI GT780DXR-446US from XoticPC - upgraded 12Gb 1600MHz RAM, removed second HDD, switched ODD to DVDRW/CDRW combo, clean OS install and recovery disc, and rushed assembly (1-4 days) for $1712 -$100MIR, free shipping, and the military discount (anyone know what it is? I'm still waiting on a reply from their supposedly 7 days a week live chat's "nobody's here; leave a message" thingy)
MSI GT780DX-406US from Pro-Star - only has the 1.5Gb 570M (waiting on a reply from them to see if they can put in the 3Gb instead), upgraded to 12Gb 1600MHz RAM, and priority assembly (1 day) for $1606 with no MIR, uncertain shipping, and no military discount that I can see.
10.How long do you want to keep your laptop?
About 4 years
11.What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc?
CDRW/DVDRW combo
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 don't trust Dell's quality. Other than that, no particular likes or dislikes.
13.What country do you live in?
USA
14.Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I'd really like to get something with the GTX 570M or better GPU. The 560M seems like it will start to choke on new games, even at low settings, before my expected 4 years of use are done, and I want to at least have new games playable on low settings up to that point. I'd like to keep the RAM at 1600MHz, and 12Gb would be nice (will settle for 8Gb, but most of the systems I've looked at have a minimal charge for the 4Gb step up, like $8 at the Pro-Star link above). If the system comes without an OS (with accompanying price drop, of course), that would be great, too, since I already have a Win7Pro disc on hand.
Questions: I doubt I'll ever be connecting to a really fast network anyway, so is there any point in upgrading from the basic 802.11 Wireless B/G/N wireless card?
How big of a difference would going from the GTX 570M 1.5Gb to the 3Gb version make?
How essential is a laptop cooler pad, and are either of the ones on the build pages above decent deals?
Why does it seem like all of the 17" laptops, especially the ones with GTX 570M or better GPUs, come with i7 processors as the base instead of a top-end i5? I know the i5-2500K (saw the 2550K on sale for $5 less this week, too) is considered the premier affordable gaming processor, so will a sub-$2000 gaming laptop actually benefit any from a more expensive i7?
Is buying the better dead-pixel protection worth it?
EDIT:
Forgot another question: Is getting the better thermal compounds worth it for a laptop?
1.What is your Budget?
~$1600 (willing to go a couple hundred higher, but only for very substantial improvement)
2.What is the size of the laptop that you are considering?
17"
3.What screen resolution do you want?
Not picky, but the capacity for 1920x1080 would be nice
4.Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Desktop replacement
5.How much battery life do you need?
Not an issue. This will almost always be used near an outlet.
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)?
Starcraft 2, Mass Effect 3, Skyrim, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Shogun 2, etc. Medium or better settings
7.What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop?
Web surfing, web games, the usual office software, and watching movies (but HD is not necessary)
8.How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
500Gb or more
9.If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Looking at Pro-Star and XoticPC right now for customizable performance without exceeding my price range, but any site that is reputable and has what I want at a good price is fine. Falcon Northwest and Origin were recommended to me, but I don't see anything there that would be affordable for me.
The two specific models I'm considering at the moment (open to others; these were just the two that seemed the best fit of features-to-cost of what I've seen) are:
MSI GT780DXR-446US from XoticPC - upgraded 12Gb 1600MHz RAM, removed second HDD, switched ODD to DVDRW/CDRW combo, clean OS install and recovery disc, and rushed assembly (1-4 days) for $1712 -$100MIR, free shipping, and the military discount (anyone know what it is? I'm still waiting on a reply from their supposedly 7 days a week live chat's "nobody's here; leave a message" thingy)
MSI GT780DX-406US from Pro-Star - only has the 1.5Gb 570M (waiting on a reply from them to see if they can put in the 3Gb instead), upgraded to 12Gb 1600MHz RAM, and priority assembly (1 day) for $1606 with no MIR, uncertain shipping, and no military discount that I can see.
10.How long do you want to keep your laptop?
About 4 years
11.What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc?
CDRW/DVDRW combo
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 don't trust Dell's quality. Other than that, no particular likes or dislikes.
13.What country do you live in?
USA
14.Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I'd really like to get something with the GTX 570M or better GPU. The 560M seems like it will start to choke on new games, even at low settings, before my expected 4 years of use are done, and I want to at least have new games playable on low settings up to that point. I'd like to keep the RAM at 1600MHz, and 12Gb would be nice (will settle for 8Gb, but most of the systems I've looked at have a minimal charge for the 4Gb step up, like $8 at the Pro-Star link above). If the system comes without an OS (with accompanying price drop, of course), that would be great, too, since I already have a Win7Pro disc on hand.
Questions: I doubt I'll ever be connecting to a really fast network anyway, so is there any point in upgrading from the basic 802.11 Wireless B/G/N wireless card?
How big of a difference would going from the GTX 570M 1.5Gb to the 3Gb version make?
How essential is a laptop cooler pad, and are either of the ones on the build pages above decent deals?
Why does it seem like all of the 17" laptops, especially the ones with GTX 570M or better GPUs, come with i7 processors as the base instead of a top-end i5? I know the i5-2500K (saw the 2550K on sale for $5 less this week, too) is considered the premier affordable gaming processor, so will a sub-$2000 gaming laptop actually benefit any from a more expensive i7?
Is buying the better dead-pixel protection worth it?
EDIT:
Forgot another question: Is getting the better thermal compounds worth it for a laptop?
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