Need a laptop

[redhawtcar]

Hi there. I need a laptop real soon. Like I need to decide the model im going to buy tomorrow. I have a budget of 750€, and I need a laptop real soon.

I want it to play some games, audio edition, programming.. etc.

The candidates so far:



http/www.pccomponentes.com/sony_vaio_cb2m8e_b_i5_2410m_8gb_500gb_ati_hd6630m_15_6_.html

http/www.pccomponentes.com/samsung_rc520_s03es_i5_2410_4gb_500gb_gf_gt520m_15_6_.html

http/www.pccomponentes.com/toshiba_satellite_l755_18e_i5_2410m_4gb_500gb_gf_gt525m_15_6.html

Say why you would buy this or that one.

Btw, something that makes me really go like wtf, is what i've found here:

http/www.pccomponentes.com/acer_travelmate_5760_i3_2310_6gb_500gb_gf_gt540m_15_6_.html

This Acer laptop is around 300€ cheaper than the Vaio, and 200 than the other two, but it has a better ranked GPU on here, if you compare it to the other ones:

Rank:
98 NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M (Acer)

109AMD Radeon HD 6630M (Sony Vaio)

114NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M (Toshiba)

174[/bNVIDIA GeForce GT 520M

Can anyone tell me what the **** is going on with that anyway? Im really confused. What are you supossed to be paying when those other ones are so expensive?

For example, the Vaio wins at ram (1333 MHz8GB vs 1066MHz 4GB), CPU (i5 4MB Cache vs i3 3MB Cache), has x1 USB 3.0... besides that, can't really find the reason how it is worth paying 300€ more above the Acer..

Can anyone make this clear for me?



(PS: Im spanish so would be cool if it laptop you recommend can be bought on that site or at a spanish site. If it's overseas it can't take too long to arrive, because i have to work with it this monday)



Thanks

 

[RetiredChief]

part of the cost diff is because of quality which equates to reliability.
In terms of reliability: Asus -> toshibia ->...-> acer (which is real close to HP at the bottom. Don't get me wrong some buy the acer and have no problems.

The acer is definatly beter interms of "gaming" for 3D games that rely on a dedicated GPU. The I5 is a higher end CPU and would be better for some software and for multitasking. For gaming the two cpus would be close to the same w/equivqlnt GPUs.

Outside of gaming, the I3 uses the internal (IGP) that is part of the CPU which is a HD2000, The IGP for the I5 is a HD3000.

As to the sony, I do not touch with a ten foot pole - But that's me.

 

[redhawtcar]

part of the cost diff is because of quality which equates to reliability.
In terms of reliability: Asus -> toshibia ->...-> acer (hich is real close to HP at the bottom. Don't get me wrong some buy the acer and have no problems.

The acer is definatly beter interms of "gaming" for 3D games that rely on a dedicated GPU. The I5 is a higher end CPU and would be better for some software and for multitasking. For gaming the two cpus would be close to the same w/equivqlnt GPUs.

Outside of gaming, the I3 uses the internal (IGP) that is part of the CPU which is a HD2000, The IGP for the I5 is a HD3000.

As to the sony, I do not ouch with a ten foot pole - But that's me.

I don't get the people that critisize the Sony Vaio like that but never give arguments.

 

[RetiredChief]

redhawtcar
Let me explain; My beaf is with Sony in gereral and I do not buy there products (my Son Loves them and his Audio video and computes cost more than some pay for their car). (1) early on they were very propiratey and add ons HAD to be sony even though better and cheaper add on were available. (2) Initially sony products were outstanding, and they charged a preimum for this. Now they charge for the name, while quality/performance is no better than brands. Case in point my son game me one of the sony high end Blu-ray players, ened up giving it away and replaced with a samsung - By far better.

Like I said, this is me and MANY are happy with sony products. I just find that there are generally better, lower cost alternatives.
PS I typed "ouch", should have been "touch" edited my first post.
I'm sure if you do get the sony, you will like it.

 

[redhawtcar]

I just don't get the huge difference in price, yet the componentes are of inferior performance, compare this:

http/www.pccomponentes.com/packard_bell_ts44_hr_247_i5_2410m_4gb_640gb_gf_gt540m_15_6_.html

http/www.pccomponentes.com/sony_vaio_ec3l1e_i3_370m_4gb_500gb_hd_5470_17_3_.html


CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-2410M vs i3 370m
640 GB HDD vs 500 GB HDD
Nvidia Geforce GT 540M 2GB vs ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5470 512 MB

What the hell are you paying with those 200€ extra?

 

[RetiredChief]

Looked on the web for a review of the Packard Bell Laptop: Could not find one in English.

There is NO contest as to performance - The Pakard bell
Price not even close - packard Bell.

BUT before Buying you need to find some reviews, primarily on reliability and Quality of LCD panel. For laptops even if I'm going to buy online I try to find one in a store that I can look at.

As To cost difference. Probably the biggest is (1) Brand markup (2) May have a diff in quality of parts - unk and (3) Quality of the LCD panel (reason for trying to find reviews and/or personnally look at.

If you can not find a review that indicates NO, then buy the Packard bell

Side comment: Like the packard Bell Automobile, They have dissappered in the US.
The Auto was pretty good, but the Pakard bell computer was very low quality. The quality may have changed, but it is hard to change peoples concept so the line has phased out and I don't think it has been reintroduced.

 

[redhawtcar]

Hey, about to pull the trigger for this Asus:

http/www.pccomponentes.com/asus_n53sv_sx330v_i5_2410m_4gb_640gb_gt_540m_15_6_.html

What do u think?

 

[RetiredChief]

I think you will like it.
I've nothing against it and as I indicated they have a great reputation for reliability.

Buy and ENJOY.

 

[redhawtcar]

Just bought it. Hope everything goes okay.

Btw may i ask: Why laptops aren't including firewire ports anymore lately? Isn't it superior to usb?

 

[RetiredChief]

Firewire was faster than USB2, but was not as popular. Usb3 is as fast as if not faster than firewire. I think USB 3 will put the final nail in the coffenfor firewire. For exernal storage device such as HDDs esata, while specs are lower than USB3, it is a little faster. But not may laptops sport esata. Some laptops have a daul purpose port that supports both esata and usb2.

Neither of my current desktops have a front panel firewire port.

 

[redhawtcar]

Firewire was faster than USB2, but was not as popular. Usb3 is as fast as if not faster than firewire. I think USB 3 will put the final nail in the coffenfor firewire. For exernal storage device such as HDDs esata, while specs are lower than USB3, it is a little faster. But not may laptops sport esata. Some laptops have a daul purpose port that supports both esata and usb2.

Neither of my current desktops have a front panel firewire port.

Yeah USB 3.0 is fast as hell.

Btw can you find at what refresh rate (hz) max the laptop I bought can work at? I cant find that anywere.

 

[RetiredChief]

Have not seen that spec posted, if I was to quess I'd say 60 Hz and I not sure by you may find that it is fixed.

 

[redhawtcar]

I've got the laptop (Asus ns53v) for a couple of days. Something weird i've noticed is that the hard disk does sometimes some sort of mechanical noise, like "cli-lick" or something. It's not the regular loading disk sound because it happens specially when im not doing anything on the laptop. I haven't noticed any weird behaviour, but im having some problems installing stuff. For example im getting 0 x 80070643 error when trying to install Net Framework 4. I hope it has nothing to do with my hard disk and I can fix it because im going to be pissed.

 

[RetiredChief]

The noise, since you mention that it happens when idle, may be the HDD spining down and the heads are parking. To verify you can go into power management and set the HDD NOT to power off during idle.

Error message - Do not think it is related to HDD. See:
http/support.microsoft.com/kb/976982
also:
http/www.wiki-errors.com/wiki-errors.php?wiki=80070643


PS. If the laptop did NOT come with a Installation and recovery disk you may need to MAKE your own - Imporatant.
Also I recommend that you use the windows backup utility (In Control Panel) and create a system image. You can put this image on an external HDD or on DVDs. If you need to recover by reinstalling this image will be invalueble.

 

[redhawtcar]

i've cheked and the only options i see for HDD in "Energy management" is "shut down HDD after... 5 min with battery, 5 min when charging" and it happens way faster than 5 minutes, so I dont know.
I've found this:

http/forum.notebookreview.com/dell/168425-clicking-noise-issue-resolved-37.html

Some interesting info there. I'll try that Quiet HDD program and report back.

About the backup image, yeah I did one which is currently on the hard disk but i'll eventually get it out on an external hard disk when I get one (cant be assed to save it on 6 different dvds)

 

[redhawtcar]

btw, new question:

Trying to get my laptop mouse on the laptop working at 500hz, mostly because the default 125hz is terribly unsmooth in games. It's a pretty powerful laptop so it shouldnt have problems with it, the only problem is WIN 7 being gay. It's Win 7 64bits SP1.

I've read that thanks to Microsoft, Win 7 now needs a digitally signed certificate by microsoft to install custom drivers, so programs like hidusbfb don't work. I've encountered this workaround:

http/www.ngohq.com/news/15043-how-to-increase-usb-sample-rate-in-windows-vista-7-a-3.html

I finally managed to get it working at 500hz, but it would only work if the "Test mode" was enable. I can disable the watermark which is really annoying so i should be ok, but im kinda worried because I use this laptop for class and studying stuff so im connected in huge networks with lots of people, so my question is:

Does running in "Test mode" with that program present any sort of security problems, or just any kind of problem in the long run? I am safe leaving it in Test mode activated all the time? And

Is there any other way to get the damn mouse easily running at 500hz like in Win XP without needing to do dodgy ***?