Gaming laptop for workstation

Dblkk

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Oct 30, 2013
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I need a workstation laptop, for cad/solid works/amoungst other programs, plus I will be using photoshop cs5 for picture and video editing while on the go.

I don't necessarily want to spend $2000-3000 on a workstation laptop but found that other than workstation video cards vs gaming video cards that gaming laptops will do what I need. i7 and 2 hard drive bays (not including msata) are my minimal requirements.

Question is, ive found the Lenovo 510p around $1000, asus rog 750 around $1300, or a sager built to other two's specs around $1300. Which one is better or are there others I should consider.

Now the lenevo is cheaper, but will require a hard drive caddy to convert the optical drive into a hard drive slot. Also believe that the Lenovo will run hotter and battery isn't as good.
The asus, I love the brand, never had problems with any of their products that a good rma quick process didn't solve. theyre 750 laptop seems excellent, yet heavy and 4 hours of battery I guess is pretty standard in gaming laptops.
the sager, idk to much about, I guess you can almost totally customize it, but im happy with the asus specs.

Money isn't really an issue. I could very well go to $2000 or above, but I don't belive the added performance over these $1300-1500 laptops is enough to make me want to spend the difference. I have a custom build $3000 pc that im on all the time and anything that needs that extra power I will just use on there.

Plz, any help, comments, recommendations, things to think about or consider, personal experiences, ect.
 

Dblkk

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Oct 30, 2013
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Oh, I know theres alienware and msi, but at this price point specs are one in the same, but asus offers better cooling, and I believe just better all around until you get to the dell configurations above $3000 which asus doesn't offer.

I wont be doing any gaming on this, probably more photoshop and autocad '3d' than anything.
 
Feb 2, 2014
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both of those are super bulky laptop though the y510p is well priced for its features i would recomend staying away from the asus manly because it has an extremly slow hdd no ssd and it is 1300 plus tax on amazon, what i would recomend is a MSI Computer Corp. MSI GE60 2OE-003US its my own personal pc it is a gorgeous slim 15 inch 1080p laptop it costs only 1000 plus tax of course and it has an i7-4700mq/gtx 765m/ a steelseries keyboard and oh, did mention it is super slim for a gaming laptop making it portable. it even has a light up keyboard option and a button that will speed up the gpu fan so you can easialy overclock without having to worry about heat.

i hope this helped make your desision just so you know if you want a bigger display there is the ge70 which is identicale exept having a 17 inch screen.
 

Dblkk

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Oct 30, 2013
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Thank you for your quick respond and in depth explanation. Asus is offered with ssd, as well as hhd ssd combo, plus has 2 msate so could actually go with a 4x raid 0 option. I have plenty of ssd currently, would be putting a 512gb Samsung pro in so don't want an ssd thrown in. And since the hhd option would be for storage id wish it 5400rpm as to help with battery. I'd also put a msata 126gb ssd in for windows. Thing about Asus is it has dual fans and by far the best rated for not boiling, even msi with turbo fan on is warmer and extremely loud. Also don't think the msi has dual 3.25" bays, please correct me if I'm wrong though. Plus for Asus is also my local best buy has all 3 options from $1300-2400 in stock with the $1300 model on display and so far no complaints while I've went and played around with it several times now. But I will most definitely take a look at the msi you brought up, I'm on mobile right now so will be when I get home
 

V0RTEX

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Nov 13, 2013
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Since I'm on my phone I can't write the huge post I was going to write, but I would seriously suggest looking at Lenovo's workstation replacement series. They are absolutely amazing, I've had one and they run this kind of programs perfectly. Sorry for the short answer and if you have any questions feel free to ask them and when I'm on my computer I'll give a more detailed response.
 

Dblkk

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Oct 30, 2013
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Yes I've looked at lenevo hp and dell workstation. Fell in love with dells, can't remember the model. It was like $3500 but on sale for $2300. Just top notch everything including construction. But if I can get good performance for half that price its better off to me. I'm not really making money using my laptop, but would save me time which saves me money a little. But I will look again more once in home, and if you could explain which one you were talking about and a reasonable selling point vs a gaming laptop price performance when your able
 

Dblkk

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I really I guess have an endless budget, I just would need a reason worth spending more and more. To me a modest performance is not needed as I have my PC for that. I just want something powerful enough to not be a hinderance to performance, offers 2 hhd slots, i7, battery above 4 hours, and runs cool when at max load.
 

Dblkk

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Oct 30, 2013
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Alright guys, just got home. Have also found the Toshiba gaming laptop which offers 770 and i7 and same features as the other three mentioned yet this ones only $1100. But reading reviews found battery life around 1-2 hours, so def no go there. But also stumbled upon a gigabye p34 and a few other varients. Also priced the same, offers the gtx77m i7 1tb and 128gb ssd (which msata) but they offer a drive caddy to swap the dvd for 2nd hhd spot which same as nvida, haven't found anything as far as battery specs, but it looks slimmer and is rated lighter. So im guessing since its lighter and thinner it will either run hotter and probably with shorter battery life.

I'm going to copy paste and google the above recommendations, ill report back with my findings.
 

Dblkk

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Alright, that was quick. The lenevo workstation does seem nice and it is lenevos only workstation offered. I had looked into that as well before and found that the specs for price dell offers the superb laptop. But at the given price I would step up to $2000 and get dells next step up which upgrades the cpu and gpu.

As far as the msi, I had looked at that as well earlier. It is a nice thin steller screen laptop, but heat is an issue while using and battery life again is less than 4 hours. It also doesn't have 2 hard drive support without msata being an option. I'd really like msata as an option, but want/need 2 hhd bays. Also absent on the msi are thunderwire ports which would allow plc programming connections since parallel is no longer a standard.

So still leaning towards the asus as their warranty is stock very well, company has never let me down yet and im an advid buyer of their products. Cooling is not an issue nor is fan noise. Only cavat is for the price im only getting a gtx 665m, where some other models receive the 770m. But the next step up at $1599 offers the 770. not sure if that will make any difference as most programs I use were coded better for amd graphics and not nvidea, and I wont be gaming, so maybe the 665m with lower power consumption might actually be the better choice.
 

Kamal Chagla

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May 12, 2014
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The lenovo workstations have 3rd gen i7s,Think again,Go for the new dell if you have that sort of cash