Need some thoughts regarding choosing a Laptop

[Hildebrand]

Hello Tom's Hardware,

I turn to you for your thoughts on which laptop i should get. Currently i'm traumatised by HP and their DV7 series. I had switchable graphics with drivers that where more outdated then Atari, Overheating issues, Irregular fan speeds, BSOD's. This was my first laptop expierence without an integrated GPU.

So i sat it on fire and let it truly overheat mwahahahah.

Anyway i need a new laptop for school and i got 3 choices.

Option A. : Lenovo G710-00725 € 683
1TB HDD, i7 4702MQ, 8GB (1*8GBDDRIII1600), Intel HD graphics 4400

Option B. : Acer Aspire V3-772G €843
500GB HDD, i7 4702MQ, 8 GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 4GB

Option C. : Asus N750JV €1043
750GB HDD, 4700HQ, 8 GB DDR3L 1600 MHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750 (N14P-GT) DDR3 2 GB VRAM


Here are my questions regarding the laptops.

1. The price differs allot and i'm wondering if its worth it to go above 683 for essentially.. a 3D card. Is it worth it?

2. I like gaming.. that is.. i like emulation (Dolphiin, ppsspp, epsxe and pcsx2) and i love it on highest settings with awesome rendering.

But isnt that asking for trouble? due to heat and heavy load? will i be cutting deep into the lifespan of my laptop?

3. Whats the difference between VRAM 2gb and 4GB (in regards to the asus and acer option)

4. Which brand is more durable? after all the domestic violence i've been thru with HP.. i just want to be loved again.. not beaten to death by BSOD's and outdated drivers.

5. Asus claims (on the site where i'm ordering) that its cool and efficient in its heat management. Its supposed to have alluminiun has better heatpipes etc. Is this a load of ****? or is this actually true?

Much love to all of you trying to advice me.

Thanks!


PS. All laptops are 17 inch

 

[Tom Tancredi]

Hello Tom's Hardware,

I turn to you for your thoughts on which laptop i should get. Currently i'm traumatised by HP and their DV7 series. I had switchable graphics with drivers that where more outdated then Atari, Overheating issues, Irregular fan speeds, BSOD's. This was my first laptop expierence without an integrated GPU.

So i sat it on fire and let it truly overheat mwahahahah.

Anyway i need a new laptop for school and i got 3 choices.

Option A. : Lenovo G710-00725 € 683
1TB HDD, i7 4702MQ, 8GB (1*8GBDDRIII1600), Intel HD graphics 4400

Option B. : Acer Aspire V3-772G €843
500GB HDD, i7 4702MQ, 8 GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 4GB

Option C. : Asus N750JV €1043
750GB HDD, 4700HQ, 8 GB DDR3L 1600 MHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750 (N14P-GT) DDR3 2 GB VRAM


Here are my questions regarding the laptops.

1. The price differs allot and i'm wondering if its worth it to go above 683 for essentially.. a 3D card. Is it worth it?

IG is great that you can just RUN the computer without the need for the extra power, heat and demand a GPU needs, BUT that is because your only to Facebook, Farmville, Youtube, Check Email, write papers, etc. small stuff. IF you plan to anything 'graphical' then the separate GPU is needed, like playing the PC games out there, like Minecraft, COD, etc.

2. I like gaming.. that is.. i like emulation (Dolphiin, ppsspp, epsxe and pcsx2) and i love it on highest settings with awesome rendering.
But isnt that asking for trouble? due to heat and heavy load? will i be cutting deep into the lifespan of my laptop?

Honestly, those may be demanding, but considering the original platforms designs specs, those wouldn't really be enough to cause hear, heavier load on the PC and so on. There wouldn't be any issue with the lifespan of your laptop, your system hardware is normally only warranted for 3 years, and by year 5 you wouldn't be able to use it with current hardware / software out there anyway and need to replace it.

3. Whats the difference between VRAM 2gb and 4GB (in regards to the asus and acer option)

4-2 = 2! I think I got it right. Just means less demand is pulled from the use of the onboard RAM if it needed the 'extra' RAM for video (like WatchDogs like 3GB VRAM, so where would it get the other 1GB? Yep from your slower RAM then VRAM)

4. Which brand is more durable? after all the domestic violence i've been thru with HP.. i just want to be loved again.. not beaten to death by BSOD's and outdated drivers.

Then forget PCs and get a console if your going to game. Sorry bub, but owning a PC requires you manage it, meaning you need to update drivers, update antivirus, run malware sweeps weekly to monthly, get patches, update Windows, etc. etc. etc. If you don't want a computer to ever do that, most people settle for the ease of Apple instead, and the cost for it builds in with the 'babysteps' level of support they provide.

5. Asus claims (on the site where i'm ordering) that its cool and efficient in its heat management. Its supposed to have alluminiun has better heatpipes etc. Is this a load of ****? or is this actually true?

Much love to all of you trying to advice me.

Thanks!


PS. All laptops are 17 inch

Actually the metal does make a difference with one system and another, but will it be as cold as the USB keyboard desktops use? NO. Laptops by their design are HIGH heat makers, no matter who makes them, and worse if you 'lay it on your lap' your blocking those grills that suck in the cold air and just causing more. Lastly if your NEVER routinely blow out the grills on the laptop your asking for issues, as all your body hair, the cat's hair, the dust in the air, the car exhaust, etc.. all comes into your space no matter what gets sucked in and BOOM CLOGGED, till it basically chokes the life and overheats the system. Again basic management and support YOU have to provide.

 

[iceclock]

Option B. : Acer Aspire V3-772G €843
500GB HDD, i7 4702MQ, 8 GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 4GB

 

[Hildebrand]

@Tom Trancendi
I know you have to manage your system, as you said this isnt a console. But HP didn't provide updates for their drivers (specifically their switchable GPU) so i was stuck with outdated drivers. HP also didnt provide a solution for me to install the official drivers since you couldnt turn off the GPU switching. (even with their BIOS update)

Due to HP being an <mod edit> i couldnt even upgrade to Windows 8.1 because guess what? no GPU drivers.
System was overheating hardcore and i wanted to clean it but this did not fix it. People advised me to cut off a piece of the metal surrounding the CPU fans (Google DV7 4035-ed overheat, this was a known issue) and lets not forget that that laptop is a pain to open up and get to the CPU fans, so please dont try to school me in managing my systems as that is NOT what im asking. Your post felt a little condescending.

I'm simply asking if its worth paying 160 eur extra for graphical power. And if graphical power doesnt influence my systems lifespan.


@iceclock
I think i'm going to go with Acer seeing as paying 1050 eur for the same specs seems a little overkill to me.
Unless i'm wrong? Does ASUS n750JV build quality really influence the overall expierence?

 

[ex_bubblehead]

All right gentlemen knock off the bickering and watch your language in the forums. Any more and I'll lock the thread.

 

[ssddx]

agreed. lets keep it civil here shall we?

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afaik emulators are typically cpu intensive and more affected by a good cpu then a good gpu.

if you want to only play emulators then you could get away with a decent cpu and average gpu and you should still be fine. however, if you wanted to play other games then a good gpu would be worthwhile.

i would typically avoid integrated graphics in laptops as i've had some pretty severe driver issues with one compared to two with discrete cards (though this might be a model fluke and your results may be different)

the k55 has an i7 and a 610m and should be cheaper than the last two options and would likely work. generally i've had good luck with asus laptops (we have three) and they have been pretty rock solid. the integrated graphics model had a little bit of an issue with drivers (regarding netflix silverlight not loading and some strange cursor display problems) but that is resolved. the ones with dedicated gpus worked flawlessly thus far.

if i must pick from the three you listed... likey option b however there must be a good reason why the asus costs more. perhaps it has a much better screen or ssd?

 

[iceclock]

i agree asus is quite good

 

[Hildebrand]

agreed. lets keep it civil here shall we?

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afaik emulators are typically cpu intensive and more affected by a good cpu then a good gpu.

if you want to only play emulators then you could get away with a decent cpu and average gpu and you should still be fine. however, if you wanted to play other games then a good gpu would be worthwhile.

i would typically avoid integrated graphics in laptops as i've had some pretty severe driver issues with one compared to two with discrete cards (though this might be a model fluke and your results may be different)

the k55 has an i7 and a 610m and should be cheaper than the last two options and would likely work. generally i've had good luck with asus laptops (we have three) and they have been pretty rock solid. the integrated graphics model had a little bit of an issue with drivers (regarding netflix silverlight not loading and some strange cursor display problems) but that is resolved. the ones with dedicated gpus worked flawlessly thus far.

if i must pick from the three you listed... likey option b however there must be a good reason why the asus costs more. perhaps it has a much better screen or ssd?

Thanks for your input. I guess i will look around a bit more for an ASUS laptop seeing as i do value quality build.
I'll also steer away from integrated gpu's

 

[iceclock]

yes especially if u want good graphic power