Solved! Laptop Purchase

joedhiggins

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Sep 2, 2007
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Hello all, I am looking to pick up a laptop for workstation/gaming purposes. I am going on a 10 month cruise, so I can't consider a desktop for this purpose. Thanks in advance for any help.

1_What is your budget?
Budget: looking in the G73 Price range at the moment, but budget is very flexible: up to 2.5-3k if necessary, though I would obviously like to spend less if possible.

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15", a small 17" may work, but 15 is vastly prefered.

3_What screen resolution do you want?
1080P

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Desktop Replacement, but as portable as possible.

5_How much battery life do you need?
Sufficient for light to medium use, but not a top priority, maybe enough to watch a film.

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)?
Yes, Current Crop of games (MW2, DA: O, etc)/future releases on high settings.

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing, watching movies, Etc.)
Video editing, HI DEF video watching, 3D modeling/rendering.

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
Large single drive, no RAID required, will do data/media storage on NAS.

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Would love to know a good sight to purchase from, especially one that lets you configure ASUS laptops if they make a laptop that fits my criteria.

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?
I would like it to function for several years, though I am aware that I may need to replace it if I want to continue running new games on it.

11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer, Bluray ROM/Writer, Etc ?
DVD writer/BluRay if any, otherwise none required.

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.
This will be my first desktop replacement purchase, and my first non netbook purchase in years (been desktop only). I do like ASUS netbooks, but am open to anything of high quality.

13_What country do you live in?
USA

14_Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I will need the laptop by the end of may, early june timeframe.
 

joedhiggins

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Sep 2, 2007
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Which processor should I be looking at, the 620, 720, 820? Any decent benchmarks?

Also, 5870 or 285M? I dont have room to get one of the sli/xfire setups, so single card only.
 
I have seen several reports saying that the 820 is not an option on the Asus laptops because of reported heat problems in early models. I don't see very many sites any more offering anything but the 620 and 720. The Asus are great laptops but it seems the thermal management starts to get stressed above the 720.

I recently ordered this one for a client (just under $2400 from www.pro-star.com) about a month ago:

Model W870CU w/
17.3" 1920 x 1080 Full HD (16:9) LED Backlit GlassView LCD
Intel Core i7-820QM Processor, 1.73 GHz, 8MB Smart Cache
IC Diamond Thermal Compound
4GB, PC3-1333Mhz DDR3 - 2 DIMM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285M w/1GB GDDR3 (5670M option wouldn't run AutoCAD)
500 GB, 7200rpm SATA-300 (SATA II 3GB/s) with G-Force Protection
Windows 7 Professional Edition 64-bit
Operating System to be installed on 64 GB partition w/ rest of Hard Drive unformatted
No Trial Software or other "Bloatware" will be installed
2x Max. Blu-Ray Reader/8x DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive
Intel Ultimate-N 6300 Wi-Fi
Internal Bluetooth V2.1 + EDR Module
3 Year Premium Parts and Labor Warranty
Built-In 2.0M Pixels Digital Video Camera
Built-In Fingerprint Reader
Built-in 56K V90 Fax/Modem
Built-In 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet LAN Card
Built-In 7-IN-1 Flash Memory Reader(MMC/RSMMC/MS/MS Pro/MS DUO/SD/Mini-SD)
1 IEEE-1394a Fire Wire
1 Express Card 34/54 Slot
4 USB 2.0 Ports
1 eSATA Port
1 HDMI Output
1 DVI-I port
1 Kensington Lock Port
Built-in Microphone, 4 Speakers and Sub-Woofer
4 Audio Jacks for Line-Out, Line-In, Microphone-In, and S/PDIF-Out
100/240V Autoswitch AC Adapter
Standard Carrying Bag with Strap
 

donovands

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Oct 28, 2009
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Those are nice stats. The reason you don't see a whole lot of 820s out there is because of the price/performance on them is relatively poor. In other words, the $$ spent is not worth the amount of performance gained relative to the 620 or 720. Now, with your budget, it shouldn't be a problem. However few mainstream manufacturers run them. This is why you find them at performance custom boutiques like Pro-Star. BTW may I ask what was the weight of that laptop you sourced for your client?