Solved! Help deciding between 2 ASUS notebooks

[brentdolan]

Hi, I'm trying to decide between 2 ASUS laptops. I am also open to other brands/models in the same price range:
ASUS K50AF-X1
http/www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003AM7VQQ/ref=pd_luc_mri?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

and

ASUS G51VX-RX05
http/www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RX43RE/ref=pd_luc_mri?ie=UTF8&m=A3TKZKIVCDNOJV

My main concern is that I cannot find a real review of the K50AF. It seems like it should have a slightly better battery life but I can find no info to back it up. From what I can tell, the K50AF has the better CPU but worse GPU.

K50AF-X1 vs G51VX-RX05:

2.3GHz AMD M520 Processor vs Intel Core 2 P7350 2.0GHz

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5145 vs GeForce GTX 260M

Anyone have any experience with either of these, or any other recommendations? If it was a matter of 3 hours battery life with the K50AF vs 2 hours with the G51VX I would probably go for the K50AF, but if it was a smaller difference I don't think I would want to sacrifice the extra GPU power.


1_What is your budget?
< $800

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
14-16"

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
somewhere in between

5_How much battery life do you need?
More is better.

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)?
Not my primary use but I do play occasionally.

13_What country do you live in?
USA

 

[Maziar]

Hello and welcome to the forums
In terms of gaming G51 blows away the K50,but since you don't want to game then go with K50.
A good alternative would be Lenvo G560 which has an i5 CPU(faster than both G51 and K50)
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834146774

 

[evilavatar]

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220733&cm_re=g72gx-_-34-220-733-_-Product&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3640576&SID=skim525X832

I am looking at this asus myself. I ahve a hard time justifying spending money, but this is a nice looking lappy with a decent video card, 6 gigs of ddr2, and lots of nice features. Not an acer and refurb but looks solid from what i have heard and can find.

 

[brentdolan]

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220733&cm_re=g72gx-_-34-220-733-_-Product&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3640576&SID=skim525X832

I am looking at this asus myself. I ahve a hard time justifying spending money, but this is a nice looking lappy with a decent video card, 6 gigs of ddr2, and lots of nice features. Not an acer and refurb but looks solid from what i have heard and can find.

Now why'd you have to go and show me that? I was pretty set on a 15.6", but that thing looks pretty sweet for the price.

Maziar: I'm intrigued by the Lenevo, but how much of a hindrance will no discrete gfx card be? I would like to be able to run somewhat newer games (not at full settings) but if the i5 processor can take up a lot of the slack it might be the way to go.

The Lenevo also interests me as I'm basically coming from an IBM Thinkpad x41 Tablet (Had an HP for about 2 years that gave out on me, so back to old reliable). While I don't expect my new laptop to give me 6 years, if Lenevo uses even some of the black magic that IBM did with x41 it should be quality. The x41 is still running strong but is falling behind a bit on speed for some of the things I do; only physical problem is a broken lid latch, and I have not been careful or kind. I imagine I'll be keeping this thing as my portable solution for a long time to come.

 

[Maziar]

What kinda games do you want to play ?

 

[buwish]

If you are wanting to game, have a look at this one as well (not a bad deal if you ask me):

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115795

 

[Maziar]

Great find Kevin! that's a decent choice.
A combination of i5/GT 330M can handle games fine on medium settings.

 

[brentdolan]

Wow buwish that is pretty nice as well. Quite a few good options around this price point apparently... a lot more than when I was looking a few years back.

Maziar, I would be running Fallout 3, but want to have power for the Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 when those come around. Also just got an invite for the new Microsoft MMORPG alpha test (they state minimum system requirements of 2ghz CPU and at least 256MB GPU RAM, or a Windows Experience score of 3).

 

[Maziar]

In your price range,that's a good choice and can handle SC2 and Diablo 3 on medium settings.
This Sager one is slightly above your price range but has better specs
http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np2180-built-compal-nblb2-custom-laptop-p-2776.html