Purchasing a new laptop for IT program.

[gelliott]

I'm entering the final year of my computer systems program and the laptop I've been using is just not cutting it anymore. This laptop will primarily be used for school, with some casual gaming on the side (as I use my desktop primarily for gaming). In my program we do a fair amount of virtualization in VMware, as well as some network simulations using a couple different pieces of software. This is the machine I'm planning to buy but figured I would throw it out there with the specs and price and see if anyone had a better suggestion for a deal. I'm in Canada and would prefer to deal with a Canadian retailer, and will confess to a bias against Toshiba, beyond that I'm fairly open minded.

Sager NP6370

Base
1 x Sager NP6370 Base CA$1,003.48
Display
1 x 17.3" Full HD LED-Backlit Display with Super Glossy Surface (1920 x 1080) CA$0.00
Video & Graphics Card
1 x Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M GPU with 2GB GDDR5 Video Memory CA$0.00
CPU Processor
1 x 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM Processor ( 6MB L3 Cache, 2.40GHz) CA$71.75
Thermal Compound
1 x Stock Standard Thermal Compound CA$0.00
Pre-Installed Operating System
1 x No Operating System License CA$0.00
Memory / Ram
1 x 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 2 X 8GB CA$112.75
RAID Storage Options
1 x Non-RAID Storage CA$0.00
Primary Hard Disk Drive
1 x 750GB 7200rpm SATA2 Hard Drive CA$20.50
Optical Drive
1 x 6X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software CA$76.88
Wireless Network Card
1 x Internal 802.11 B+G+N Wireless LAN + Bluetooth Combo Module CA$0.00
Primary Battery + AC Adapter
1 x Smart Li-ION Battery Pack + AC Adapter CA$0.00
Microsoft Office
1 x Microsoft Office Starter 2010 CA$0.00
Warranty & Services
1 x Sager 1 Year Limited Parts and Labor Warranty CA$0.00
Canada Two Way Ground Shipping Coverage Add-on
1 x Canada two way ground shipping service coverage add-on for Sager 1 Year Limited Parts & Labor Warranty CA$30.75

For a total of 1316.11 before taxes, with free shipping from reflexnotebook.ca

If there are any other suggestions of machines or things I might want to add in to this one happy to hear opinions.

 

[dextermat]

I am not aware of the brand but the only brand that is trustworthy nowadays is Asus.

Here's a few suggestion

http/www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230408

http/www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=71893&vpn=G75VW-RS72-CA&manufacture=ASUS

http/www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=77406&vpn=G55VW-DH71-CA&manufacture=ASUS

 

[jonathan_569]

the Sager NP6370 is a decent and solid laptop IMO, i'm currently using it for work and also for games at home, and I can definitely assure you that it will be worth it if you buy it. Also get the matte screen it would really be better as it doesn't create any glare. I would suggest a SSD + HDD combo in your system as it would really speed up your system and leave room for Storage space

hope this helps

 

[gelliott]

Thanks Jonathan, I was toying with the idea of the matte screen as the classrooms/labs I'll be using it in have alot of overhead fluorescent lighting, and figured the glossy might be an issue, so thanks for the advice. As for the SSD, for now I'll likely stick with the one mechanical drive in the interest of budget, and down the road when I have some more free cash I'll buy an 128/256 Gb SSD and just reinstall/setup that then!

 

[gelliott]

Best answer selected by gelliott.