Solved! Looking for a new high powered laptop

[ndl555]

Hey guys,

I'm looking for an upgrade to my now fairly dated Gateway P-6831FX.

1_What is your budget?
I'd like to keep it under $2,000, but that's not really a hard cap, I'd just have to suffer with my current laptop a little longer.

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Anything around or under 17 inch is good. 18 is a little too large to carry around.

3_What screen resolution do you want?
1920x1080 would be fantastic, but I could live with a little less.

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Power is more important since I'll be using it mainly for software development with some gaming on the side, but I'd love something that's easy to carry around.

5_How much battery life do you need?
At least 2 hours.

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)?
High if possible, but I've got a decent desktop that I do the majority of my gaming on, so this isn't a big issue.

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
Mainly software/web development (Visual Studio, SQL Server, virtual machines) occational movies and games.

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
Doesn't really matter. I'll be putting my current 500gb 7200rpm drive in anyway. That should be plenty.

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Sony Vaio F1190X is the closest thing I've been able to find that matches my requirements, but I've heard that the display quality isn't very good, sot that concerns me a little.

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?
2-3 years hopefully.

11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD is fine, but Bluray would be neat.

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 really have any preferred brands, but I'd like to avoid Dell. I know several people that have had underpowered power adapters/supplies and failed H.D.Ds from Dell. I'd be fine with pretty much anything that's reputable.

13_What country do you live in?
U.S.A

14_Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Looks are fairly important to me. Since this is going to be mainly for work, I'd like to look fairly professional, which means no ridiculous looking gaming laptops (Alienware, some Asus models). I also need it to have an i7 processor. After making the mistake of getting a 1.8ghz Core 2 Duo a couple of years ago, I'd like to get something closer to the top of the line this time around.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Maziar]

Hello and welcome to the forums
Well,ASUS G73 is a great choice,but its battery life is about 1hr and 30mins,(which is quite good for its specs.
MSI GX740 is another good choice which has a better battery life(2hrs+),but lacks a Full HD display
http/www.xoticpc.com/custom-gaming-laptops-notebooks-laptops-ct-95_51_165.html

 

[IsabellaWinTeam]

Hey guys,

I'm looking for an upgrade to my now fairly dated Gateway P-6831FX.

1_What is your budget?
I'd like to keep it under $2,000, but that's not really a hard cap, I'd just have to suffer with my current laptop a little longer.

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Anything around or under 17 inch is good. 18 is a little too large to carry around.

3_What screen resolution do you want?
1920x1080 would be fantastic, but I could live with a little less.

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Power is more important since I'll be using it mainly for software development with some gaming on the side, but I'd love something that's easy to carry around.

5_How much battery life do you need?
At least 2 hours.

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)?
High if possible, but I've got a decent desktop that I do the majority of my gaming on, so this isn't a big issue.

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
Mainly software/web development (Visual Studio, SQL Server, virtual machines) occational movies and games.

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
Doesn't really matter. I'll be putting my current 500gb 7200rpm drive in anyway. That should be plenty.

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Sony Vaio F1190X is the closest thing I've been able to find that matches my requirements, but I've heard that the display quality isn't very good, sot that concerns me a little.

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?
2-3 years hopefully.

11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD is fine, but Bluray would be neat.

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 really have any preferred brands, but I'd like to avoid Dell. I know several people that have had underpowered power adapters/supplies and failed H.D.Ds from Dell. I'd be fine with pretty much anything that's reputable.

13_What country do you live in?
U.S.A

14_Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Looks are fairly important to me. Since this is going to be mainly for work, I'd like to look fairly professional, which means no ridiculous looking gaming laptops (Alienware, some Asus models). I also need it to have an i7 processor. After making the mistake of getting a 1.8ghz Core 2 Duo a couple of years ago, I'd like to get something closer to the top of the line this time around.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Hi there,

What about the Sony Vaio F series? It has an i7 processor and NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M GPU or 310M GPU graphics. It has a 16.4" screen and starts at $999.

Let me know what you think!

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team

 

[Maziar]

The OP likes to play games on high settings,and GT 330M/310M are quite slower than a 5870M.

 

[IsabellaWinTeam]

The OP likes to play games on high settings,and GT 330M/310M are quite slower than a 5870M.

Hi,

I agree, although he did mention that he has a desktop too for playing games. Another option is the Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q880 but it is quite a bit bigger.

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team

 

[ndl555]

Hmm, the MSI GX740 seems pretty good, but after looking at that link you sent, I decided to look around on that site some and came across the Sager NP8690 which looks pretty awesome to me. I got it configured with pretty awesome specs for under $2,000. but I'd never heard of Sager or even Clevo before a couple of days ago when I starting shopping around though, so I don't know anything about them. Any thoughts/comments on them as a company?

Also, I haven't had an ATI card for probably 7-8 years, so I don't really know how they compare to Nvidia cards.

Thanks again.

 

[ndl555]

Hi,

I agree, although he did mention that he has a desktop too for playing games. Another option is the Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q880 but it is quite a bit bigger.

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team

I listed the Vaio F series in the laptops I was considering, but after reading through some of the user reviews, it looks like a lot of people are unhappy with it.

 

[lostandwandering]

Hmm, the MSI GX740 seems pretty good, but after looking at that link you sent, I decided to look around on that site some and came across the Sager NP8690 which looks pretty awesome to me. I got it configured with pretty awesome specs for under $2,000. but I'd never heard of Sager or even Clevo before a couple of days ago when I starting shopping around though, so I don't know anything about them. Any thoughts/comments on them as a company?

Also, I haven't had an ATI card for probably 7-8 years, so I don't really know how they compare to Nvidia cards.

Thanks again.

Having owned a Sager for the last 3 years, I highly recommend them. Excellent quality and great bang for your buck. They should be releasing a couple of new versions with the GTX 480M in the next few months, so I would keep my eyes open.

 

[Maziar]

to Isabella
Yup that Toshiba looks good,but its 18.4"
to OP
Sager NP8690 is a great choice and has an excellent build quality,but its battery will last for an hour(you mentioned you need at least 2 hours)
And as for VGA,5870M is currently the second fastest card available(about 10-20% slower than a GTX 480M,but has considerably less power consumption)
to logan
I don't think we'll see 480M in a 15" barbone 😀

 

[IsabellaWinTeam]

Hi,

I agree, although he did mention that he has a desktop too for playing games. Another option is the Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q880 but it is quite a bit bigger.

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team

I listed the Vaio F series in the laptops I was considering, but after reading through some of the user reviews, it looks like a lot of people are unhappy with it.

Hi there,

What about the Toshiba? Is it much bigger than what you were hoping for? The specs are really great.

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team

 

[lostandwandering]

Hi there,

What about the Toshiba? Is it much bigger than what you were hoping for? The specs are really great.

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team

Not trying to answer for him, but he mention in his OP that 18 was too big.

 

[IsabellaWinTeam]

Hi,

I know he was hoping for a laptop smaller than 18". Just wanted to throw another option into the mix since he wasn't happy with other suggestions so far .

There is also a website worth checking out called PC Scout. You can enter the specs you want and it will generate gaming laptop recommendations for you:http/www.microsoft.com/Windows/pc-scout/laptop-set-criteria.aspx?mode=landing#.

Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team

 

[Josea]

I read the initial post and it sounded like a description of the Asus G73jh-S1.
http/www.powernotebooks.com/configure.php?special=786
I purchased from this vendor and am very happy with them B4 and after the sale. I would recommend asking vendor to flash BIOS to 209, and test the system prior to shipping. If you are into under clocking the CPU and/or GPU battery life can be extended to 2 hours plus. I would not purchase a machine of this genre from a big box store, but this is just personal preference. (Although that would be a good place to try out a similar model).

 

[Maziar]

Not trying to answer for him, but he mention in his OP that 18 was too big.

Yup that's what i meant 😀 the OP doesn't need a 18" laptop.
But yes its a great choice.

 

[chris41336]

Hey I still use one of those "Fairly Date" 6831-FX's all the time .

Haha, no I'm kidding. I'm planning on it lasting me at least another year before I have to change (in '11 it will be a 3 year old Laptop, and the fact that it can still run alot of new games at high or medium after two years says something about the kind of laptop it was.) That being said, I have upgraded it alot since i got it (Windows 7 Professional 64bit, 4GB RAM, better processor, etc.)