Which laptop is better?

[altun]

I m trying to find the best laptop for myself. There is a couple I found with some coupon codes but I am willing to see what other options you guys might bring to the table. Please take a look at the 2 pics I shared down below the questionaire.


1. What is your budget?
$1150 to $1250

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15 Inches. 14" might be OK too if found an amazing deal.

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Decent resolution, you get the idea..

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
I'm leaning 60% on the portable, %40 on the desktop replacement side. So maybe 14" is the way to go for me but I dont want to give up on the nice speakers or performance etc... I guess it all depends on the deal I find.

5. How much battery life do you need?
Decent battery life.

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)?
Yes, but not a huge gamer. I would be happy if I can find a better deal than the 2 I found with better GPU's though.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Little bit of photoshop, watch HD movies, surfing the web etc..

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
250GB is fine, 500 max..

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Any reputable site is OK i guess

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
at least 2 yrs

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
I need it to be able to read and burn regular dvd's and cd's. watching and being able to burn bluray would be a plus, but not a must

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 do want something with a name brand. I m kind of iffy buying brands like zxykotek, SonicSoft etc that noone ever heard of. (i just made up these brands)

13. What country do you live in?
USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I m looking for performance. something really fast installing programs, rebooting etc but also has a decent gpu and sound card too. Take a look at the 2 I found and tell me if I should buy any of these two or should I buy something else? Also which of these has better graphics card?


DELL XPS 15

HP ENVY 15

 

[lycros]

http/www.gentechpc.com/

I bought my ASUS laptop from them a few years back. You can customize it a little bit. If you're serious about watching blu-ray shouldn't you be looking at screens with at least 1920x1080?

 

[altun]

http/www.gentechpc.com/

I bought my ASUS laptop from them a few years back. You can customize it a little bit. If you're serious about watching blu-ray shouldn't you be looking at screens with at least 1920x1080?

You are right about the resolution.
I m also about to check out the site you mentioned. Lets see what they got. Thank you

 

[altun]

http/www.gentechpc.com/

I bought my ASUS laptop from them a few years back. You can customize it a little bit. If you're serious about watching blu-ray shouldn't you be looking at screens with at least 1920x1080?

I just took a look at the site and picked a 1200 dollar asus. I added the same i7 chip thats on the two i have in pics and the price jumped to 1700.

 

[Kishere]

the hp envy is the most up to date it has a 7000M card and that is most updated so get the evny

 

[Kishere]

but on the other end you want battery life and performance so the xps is good also so it comes down to you...do you want the batterylife or the power (xps for batterylife envy for power)

 

[altun]

but on the other end you want battery life and performance so the xps is good also so it comes down to you...do you want the batterylife or the power (xps for batterylife envy for power)

I'd probably choose envy for the power.
But do you think thats a really good deal or should I look around more?
What do you think of this laptop for 1200 dollars overall?
is the gpu better than the one on xps?

 

[Kishere]

I'd probably choose envy for the power.
But do you think thats a really good deal or should I look around more?
What do you think of this laptop for 1200 dollars overall?
is the gpu better than the one on xps?

it is the best thing u can most likely get

 

[AntiZig]

I'd be hesitant to be ordering a GPU that hasn't even been benched anywhere yet.

540 in xps is a known gpu. 7690 I would expect it to be somewhat better than 6690, but by how much is anyone's guess. In any case, I doubt it will be significantly better than a 540. If it's a remark of 6770 then that would be the better card, but again, not by much.

with regard to battery power, envy has an 8 cell battery, while xps has a 6 cell. So by definition 8 cell should last longer if you got comparable consumption rates. No idea what features the 7000 series include (if there's anything comparable to optimus)

And you might want to double check which laptop has the better screen (I'm thinking HP, but I cannot remember for sure)

 

[Kishere]

i geuss for it to be better by maybe 10-20 FPS i wouldnt expect much tho

 

[AntiZig]

are you particularly set on 2860? I'm guessing you need the advanced capabilities the cpu offers over 2670, if not I'd strongly urge to consider dropping down to lower CPU and looking for a better GPU.

For one, Asus G series base model should be in the price range of $1200

 

[altun]

are you particularly set on 2860? I'm guessing you need the advanced capabilities the cpu offers over 2670, if not I'd strongly urge to consider dropping down to lower CPU and looking for a better GPU.

For one, Asus G series base model should be in the price range of $1200

Is there a big difference in performance between the base i7 chip versus the one I chose in the image?

 

[JustAnotherNoob]

Actually the real question would be if you could drop to an i5. The difference is hyperthreading (4 additional "virtual" CPUs) and possibly some encryption/virtualization features.

Nvidia's optimus is a proven technology to dynamically switch between integrated graphics (for power saving) and the dedicated Nvidia GPU (for graphics performance = gaming). I don't know if ATI has finally caught up in that aspect. I believe the 7000-series mobile GPUs are just rebranded older models, check the GPU-section on tomshardware to be sure.

The thing that is really horribly crappy about both models you posted is the screen resolution. 1366x768 is ok for a 13" laptop, but really an embarrasment for a 15". Especially if you want to watch movies on it.

 

[AntiZig]

Actually the real question would be if you could drop to an i5. The difference is hyperthreading (4 additional "virtual" CPUs) and possibly some encryption/virtualization features.

you're wrong on that one. Your statement is correct for desktop CPU models, laptop i5's are dual core, and all second gen sandy bridge mobile cpu's have hyperthreading afaik.

OP: if you don't need 2860 for VM features there's no point getting it over 2670.

 

[altun]

The thing that is really horribly crappy about both models you posted is the screen resolution. 1366x768 is ok for a 13" laptop, but really an embarrasment for a 15". Especially if you want to watch movies on it.

How about this configuration Boss? You think this would be a better laptop for the price?

 

[Pyree]

The 76XXm uses Whistler Pro core. Just rebadge of the 67XXm. So refer back to the 67XXm benchmark. 6750m is slightly faster than GT540m.

For what you are doing (Little bit of photoshop, watch HD movies, surfing the web etc and some gaming), a laptop with i7-2630m + GTX560m (in the gaming laptop category like ASUS G53 or Sager NP8130) is better value simply because the CPU will handle everything you do with ease and the much stronger GPU will handle more demanding games and the useful life of the laptop is extended.

 

[TheFNCount]

I would go with a Sager Brand or a company that "rebadges" it such as Malibal, Origin, etc. Malibal I know also uses MXM (user upgradeable basically) GPUs to somewhat allow you to upgrade them. Other companies may use those, but they are the only ones that I know of. For example:

Malibal Lotus P151HM1 (just under $1200)
http/www.malibal.com/boutique/pc/configurePrd.asp?idProduct=285

15.6 inch 1920 x 1080 matte
Intel Core i7 2670QM
8 GB RAM
Nvidia GTX 560m (user upgradeable)
500 GB Hybrid HDD/SSD
Win 7 HP

 

[AntiZig]

clevo uses mxm, any rebrands of that is still the same mobo.

altun:

take a look at this:
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230141

and this
http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8150-clevo-p150hm-p-2972.html