Solved! Looking for a Laptop

[whatisacomputer]

Hello,

Looking for something like below:

1. What is your budget?
800-1400

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
size doesn't matter

3. What screen resolution do you want?
prefer 1080p

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
portable thin/ light weight less than 5lb

5. How much battery life do you need?
4 hr is plently

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)?
some gaming like bridge, starcraft 2, guildwar 2 or diablo 3 if it comes out, watch dvd

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
mostly email, ms access light data base building and excel database work( need fast processor)

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
200+GB will be more than enough

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
no preferences, but perfer reliable site

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
2+ years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD is fine

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.
No brand preferences

13. What country do you live in?
USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
None

 

[Maziar]

Dell XPS 15 is worth considering especially with the updated SB CPUs(It also has an option for Full HD display).
Also make sure you customize it with GT 550M.

 

[whatisacomputer]

I did a little research and I really fell in love with this but its a little above my budget... are there any substitute like it?

ThinkPad T410s laptop with switchable graphics 3.9 lbs

http/shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=996BA0BF589A40D489F5FC222AA15BDE


Could some explain the processors to me I'm not sure whats the best? is i7 the fastest? I see some with i3 but the price are quite high for them for example the alienware m11x .

Also, I'm thinking about making my purchase within a couple of month... I'm wondering if the Sandy Bridge chip will be available by then?

 

[Maziar]

In previous generation CPUs,i7 was the fastest.(same rule goes for SB CPUs)
T410s is good but doesn't have a powerful GPU(Which is important since you want to play games)

 

[WindowsTeam_Kevin]

How about the Samsung QX410. It's small, lightweight at 14' inch screen and 4.7 lbs. 640 GB storage, which is about 3 times more than you wanted, and i5 processor.

It also has a 512 MB dedicated graphics card, NVIDIA GeForce 310M graphics.

Might be worth a look at least. Good luck on your hunt!

Kevin
Windows Outreach Team

 

[Fadekyn]

If you plan on playing SC2 or Diablo you really want to focus on getting the best graphics card you can get. Follow that by display, CPU, RAM, then storage, especially if the size of the laptop does not matter.

For the mid/upper end of your price range you can easily get a GTX level Nvidia card and most likely an ATI 58xx level card. Realistically you'll want to at least play those games at medium settings so that's why I recommend those priorities.

In the case of you desiring to play Diablo 3, this approach also safeguards you since we don't know what the exact system requirements will be.

Try and do a little research on graphics cards so that you can wrap your mind around their importance, as I was a little overwhelmed at first myself and learned useful information that helped me purchase a machine recently.


One important thing is that most CPUs now are no longer the bottleneck for machines. It really has become the graphics card and amount of RAM limiting the potential of peoples machines. Lastly, the better the card you get the longer your machine will remain viable.

 

[Maziar]

How about the Samsung QX410. It's small, lightweight at 14' inch screen and 4.7 lbs. 640 GB storage, which is about 3 times more than you wanted, and i5 processor.

It also has a 512 MB dedicated graphics card, NVIDIA GeForce 310M graphics.

Might be worth a look at least. Good luck on your hunt!

Kevin
Windows Outreach Team

GT 310M is a low-end card and not recommended for gaming.

 

[whatisacomputer]

I might have answer the questions a little misleadingly.

I will mainly use this for email , database , excel .... pretty large files 100-500mb work wise. (looking for a fast processor)

Gaming will be secondary but I do want a good enough graphic card so it might perhaps handle something like Diablo 3 without over heating. also can play dvds hi res screen would be great.

I need this to be light because my work requires me to travel every 3 -6 weeks.

Maziar I' really intrigued by the new models of T420 Lenovo that will be out in march with gen 2 icore processors. Also I did price a dell xps 15 for under 1600 with unbelievable specs but I'm just not sure about the weight of it.


http/configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dndodq3&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&model_id=xps-l502x

 

[dj1001]

ASUS G53SW
not out yet but will be in a month or two
spec will be as follows or better
2630QM SB i7
4-8GB ddr3
15.6" screen
1920x1080
Momentus XT 500GB hybrid drive
Nvidia Gefroce GTX460 w/ 1.5Gb DDR5
battery life should be somewhere in the 2-4 hour range in power savings mode.

It is also the thinnest gaming laptop that I know of and weighs just over 5 pounds

price is 1299

 

[bliq00]

I might have answer the questions a little misleadingly.

I will mainly use this for email , database , excel .... pretty large files 100-500mb work wise. (looking for a fast processor)

Gaming will be secondary but I do want a good enough graphic card so it might perhaps handle something like Diablo 3 without over heating. also can play dvds hi res screen would be great.

I need this to be light because my work requires me to travel every 3 -6 weeks.

Maziar I' really intrigued by the new models of T420 Lenovo that will be out in march with gen 2 icore processors. Also I did price a dell xps 15 for under 1600 with unbelievable specs but I'm just not sure about the weight of it.


http/configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dndodq3&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&model_id=xps-l502x

That dell should be about 6.0-6.5 lbs realisitically. It's gonna be tough to get an ultralight with serious gaming horsepower aside from the M11x (which is really getting long in the tooth). That said, 6lbs isn't that much- I don't know what exactly you consider light but it's a fair trade for what you say your requirements are. I carry a MacBook Pro and it's right in that range and I consider its weight travelworthy if you need full capability. I have a lighter, smaller laptop but I consider that as a compromise of less functionality in exchange for less weight and (more importantly) less bulky to carry (i.e. when I'm on call but walking about the mall with my kids or something).

 

[Maziar]

I might have answer the questions a little misleadingly.

I will mainly use this for email , database , excel .... pretty large files 100-500mb work wise. (looking for a fast processor)

Gaming will be secondary but I do want a good enough graphic card so it might perhaps handle something like Diablo 3 without over heating. also can play dvds hi res screen would be great.

I need this to be light because my work requires me to travel every 3 -6 weeks.

Maziar I' really intrigued by the new models of T420 Lenovo that will be out in march with gen 2 icore processors. Also I did price a dell xps 15 for under 1600 with unbelievable specs but I'm just not sure about the weight of it.


http/configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dndodq3&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&model_id=xps-l502x

One of my friends bought XPS 15 today.(With i7 740QM/GT 435M/6GB RAM/640GB HDD).
Pretty much like many windows laptops it had lots of bloatware installed,so make sure you do a clean install of OS if you bought it.
It's 2.9kg which isn't very light,but I can call it heavy either.

 

[whatisacomputer]

Just to give an update on this. I ended up holding out for a 2nd i7. ordered a Lenovo Y460P today for 923 + tax & free shipping, less than 5Lbs. I thought its a pretty decent deal:

System Components
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM Processor ( 2.00GHz 1333MHz 6MB )

Operating system
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64

Graphics
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6550M 1GB

Total memory88 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz

Display
14.0" HD LED Glare 1366x768

Pointing device
Industry Standard Touchpad

Hard Drive
750GB 5400

Optical Drive
DVD Recordable (Dual Layer)

Battery
6 Cell Lithium-Ion

Network Card
Intel 1000 BGN Wireless

Bluetooth
Bluetooth Version 2.1 + EDR

Warranty
One Year

Finger Print Reader
None