Windows® 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-Bit, English
3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3210M processor (3M Cache, up to 3.1 GHz)
8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
1TB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Nvidia GeForce GT 650M 2GB
8X Tray Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Stealth Black Anodized Aluminum
17.3" Full High Definition (1080p) LED Display with Anti-Glare
48 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Battery
Intel® Centrino® Wireless 2230, 2x2 bgn + Bluetooth
I like the idea of the bigger screen and the number pad on the keyboard. I also want to be able to play Skyrim and whatever other games I can throw at it. For the price/component ratio, will I find a better deal taking into consideration my little discount?
Windows® 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-Bit, English
3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3210M processor (3M Cache, up to 3.1 GHz)
8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
1TB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Nvidia GeForce GT 650M 2GB
8X Tray Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Stealth Black Anodized Aluminum
17.3" Full High Definition (1080p) LED Display with Anti-Glare
48 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Battery
Intel® Centrino® Wireless 2230, 2x2 bgn + Bluetooth
I like the idea of the bigger screen and the number pad on the keyboard. I also want to be able to play Skyrim and whatever other games I can throw at it. For the price/component ratio, will I find a better deal taking into consideration my little discount?
One thing to keep in mind with the 17R SE is that for some reason that makes no sense to anyone they only gave it a 100 megabit ethernet port, no gigabit. when i was laptop shopping that was a dealbreaker for me. Other than that it's good.
Windows® 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-Bit, English
3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3210M processor (3M Cache, up to 3.1 GHz)
8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
1TB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Nvidia GeForce GT 650M 2GB
8X Tray Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Stealth Black Anodized Aluminum
17.3" Full High Definition (1080p) LED Display with Anti-Glare
48 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Battery
Intel® Centrino® Wireless 2230, 2x2 bgn + Bluetooth
I like the idea of the bigger screen and the number pad on the keyboard. I also want to be able to play Skyrim and whatever other games I can throw at it. For the price/component ratio, will I find a better deal taking into consideration my little discount?
One thing to keep in mind with the 17R SE is that for some reason that makes no sense to anyone they only gave it a 100 megabit ethernet port, no gigabit. when i was laptop shopping that was a dealbreaker for me. Other than that it's good.
I was foolish enough to miss this detail with my current laptop. Not a big issue most of the time but you feel it when you need to move a VM.
Hello laptop thread, like many others before me I'm on the prowl for something relatively thin and light with great battery life. I'm thinking ultrabooks since my comfortable budget is in the $1,000-$1,2500 range and while I'd appreciate great performance my desktop would remain my gaming platform, I'm mostly looking for something that wouldn't blink at say Solidworks, with just the odd WoW login or Civ5/SotS game otherwise.
Extra Challenge: I really like the IBM style laptop keyboard, in fact my current laptop is a thinkpad that I got right as they were selling the brand off to Lenovo. But I don't know if I can trust Lenovo's quality, I've heard some bad things. So, are Thinkpads (or Ideapads or whatever) still good and/or is there another brand of laptop that has a compact "real key" kind of keyboard, i.e. not chiclet?
Naming question. Looking into a new laptop and I want to stick with integrated graphics. The top of line for intel is ivy-bridge base, hd4000 graphics right? And the top of the line amd is trinity based HD76??D right? Seems like every amd mobile apu has a different name for the graphics, while pretty much all intel chips are hd3000 or hd4000. Also is it still the case that amd trinity destroys the graphics side, while intel i-anything destroys the processing side?
Jebus314 on
"The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it" - Dr Horrible
It's a little more than I wanted if I upgrade to an i7 (what's the difference between a 7 and a 5 really? Both are ivy bridge)
Mobile i5's are dual cores with hyper-threading. i7's are quad cores with hyper-threading. If I remember correctly.
Actually i5 and i7 don't mean anything. You need to look up the features of each chip.
Ideally, yes. But broadly speaking I am pretty sure all mobile i5's are dual-cores with four threads. I think it was even discussed a couple pages ago.
I'm not as sure about what the deal with the mobile i7's is, though.
Ok I'm looking to purchase in the next 24 hours most likely. It seems many sales end today, and I wonder if this will go up in price (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246628 ) as leenovo's sale ends today. Wonder If that'll affect newegg.
Anyways, I'm looking at that model, seems to have pretty good components for the price ($899) it'd be nice if it had a 7200 rpm HD or 2 4gb sticks of ram, but I can upgrade those cheaply enough if I choose to.
I know absolutely nothing about leenovo except it used to be IBM. I remember them being talked Bout earlier in the thread though so going to re-read that.
Anyone have any other models to look at? The 660 m seems like a decent video card and can run the games I want at high settings. I also believe it has an ivy bridge processor. Would be nice to save $50 and get an i5, but I haven't seen too many.
Wish I could find this laptop or one comparable at amazon to get free 2 day shipping and no sales tax, although newegg frequently gets me stuff in one day (I'm in so cal). Thought about looking at a blu ray drive, but those seem fairly cheap to get, and I could always upgrade/do an external anyways later.
So what do you guys think? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246628 . Good buy? Anything you'd recommend instead/another site to look at? Oddly enough, newegg seems cheaper than leenovo's site, although it appears theres a way to get a 10% discount there.
I have the Y580 with the 1080P screen and it is beautiful/a great laptop,would highly reccomend it. but yeah i would be worried about 720P, i've heard not only is it a lower resolution but the colors aren't as good/accurate as the FHD panel
I haven't read any reviews but a 720p screen wouldn't bother me I don't think. I've had 720p tv's that didn't look different than the 1080's. Is it going to be noticeable? My first thought on the lower resolution laptops was "woo hoo higher frame rate!" lol. I honestly didn't even look at the resolution on this pc. Ill look at some reviews on resolution and the monitor tonight it seems.
Personally, 720P wouldn't bother me for viewing video content or laptop gaming. It would bother me when doing document editing or basic web browsing as I tend towards text heavy sites.
*EDIT*
*. After seeing that one for $850 and no sales tax I couldn't resist. I'm hopin the 720p doesn't bother me. I mostly will use it to game and surf the Internet , and hook it up to a tv for movies when I'm out of town for work. With the $50 I saved, (well like $150 when you count the sales tax) I decided to splurge for overnight shipping. Kinda regret that part, but come Friday I won't heh. Anyways I'll post a full review when I get it, and if I even notice the 720p. It'll play diablo 3 at ultra settings though so that makes me happy
*
*/EDIT*
Been searching the Internet for reviews of the screen and it seems a pretty mixed bag. Some love it, some say they wish they would have upgraded it, some like it for certain things but don't like it for others. I'm gonna take the plunge and think it'll be ok. If I upgraded to 1080p screen, I think I'd have to go with sager although then I'd get a hybrid drive or a faster hd (and 2gb more of ram)
I did however find a site that's $50 cheaper (making the cost $850) and doesn't have sales tax. I'd pay $20 for slow shipping though. So $870 with shipping and delivery but next Wednesday.
Because I live in ca I'm looking at $970 from newegg, although I'd probably have it in a day or two.
Gonna keep looking, and pricing some pc's. Gonna relook at xotic pc and see how much it'd be with shipping and everything for a full HD display.
I'm thinking 720 won't bother me though, I mean most likely it's still better than my last laptop. I wonder If that was full HD. I'm gonna have to look. (edit it was 900p. )
So, the wife's laptop finally ate it last night. After 3 years of service, the net book finally gave up the ghost. Now I'm in a situation where I need to replace that machine.
I've got two ways to go. Either I buy another netbook to replace the burnt out netbook, or I get a new full featured laptop and pass along the perfectly serviceable core i5 thinkpad that I use for work.
There are really only three problems I have with the current laptop. It's underpowered in terms of graphics (I can't run the secret world / some other games I play reliably), it's pretty low on memory for what I do for work, and it won't drive two external monitors. The third thing is the real killer. I've gotten used to working on dual monitors over the last couple years, and losing that capability kills me. I work on a laptop + 1 additional screen setup right now, but I'd rather just drive multiple monitors and keep the laptop closed. Basically I'm looking for a mobile workstation.
So, the first two issues are easy to fix with new hardware, but I'm not finding a lot of laptops that say if they can drive two external monitors or not. Anything that could help in uncovering that?
A10-4600M processor and 6 gigs of ram means it should handle games at mediumish settings, but after reading this thread I get the feeling Toshiba is kind of bad at making laptops?
A10-4600M processor and 6 gigs of ram means it should handle games at mediumish settings, but after reading this thread I get the feeling Toshiba is kind of bad at making laptops?
I had a satellite for a couple of years, and it was not a great machine. It would regularly over heat, had a bunch of bundled software that I didn't want at all, the one time I tried to have it repaired (for a busted fan) was a nightmare. I'm not sure how representative my experience is though.
A10-4600M processor and 6 gigs of ram means it should handle games at mediumish settings, but after reading this thread I get the feeling Toshiba is kind of bad at making laptops?
I had a satellite for a couple of years, and it was not a great machine. It would regularly over heat, had a bunch of bundled software that I didn't want at all, the one time I tried to have it repaired (for a busted fan) was a nightmare. I'm not sure how representative my experience is though.
Spec wise I would say the Toshiba wins. With some tweaking I can personalize a VAIO to be just as good for about same price.
Argh ><. Basically, i told my sister I would help her pickout a good laptop. If I was buying one for myself, I'd get that Toshiba, because if I came across any problems I am tech savy enough to fix them myself. My sister on the other hand isn't, and she's married and on the way with a baby. She needs something stable and reliable. So I'm looking for something from like a mainstream brand that is know for consistent reliable laptops for under $700
I'm really just looking for something that can run a Diablo 3 or a Guild Wars 2 on med. My dad has a similar Acer ultrabook, purely running SSD and it's quite impressive for the price.
On the one hand, the ASUS is a bit cheaper, has an option to expand the ram to 16 gb, and it's an ASUS. The MSi seems to have faster GPU ram, a bigger/faster HDD, and a non-reflective screen.
I think in the case of such similar specs, it's up to the superficial wants to decide. Plastic case, or magnesium alloy case with a customizable backlit keyboard?
A10-4600M processor and 6 gigs of ram means it should handle games at mediumish settings, but after reading this thread I get the feeling Toshiba is kind of bad at making laptops?
I had a satellite for a couple of years, and it was not a great machine. It would regularly over heat, had a bunch of bundled software that I didn't want at all, the one time I tried to have it repaired (for a busted fan) was a nightmare. I'm not sure how representative my experience is though.
Spec wise I would say the Toshiba wins. With some tweaking I can personalize a VAIO to be just as good for about same price.
Argh ><. Basically, i told my sister I would help her pickout a good laptop. If I was buying one for myself, I'd get that Toshiba, because if I came across any problems I am tech savy enough to fix them myself. My sister on the other hand isn't, and she's married and on the way with a baby. She needs something stable and reliable. So I'm looking for something from like a mainstream brand that is know for consistent reliable laptops for under $700
I didn't need support until I needed the piece replaced. So I have no idea what the experience would have been like had I needed something smaller. I've got no experience with Viao, so I can't recommend anything one way or another there.
GTX 650 vs 670 -- Worth 170 dollars?
seabass on
Run you pigeons, it's Robert Frost!
0
jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
Not 170 dollars, depending on how much you love ur gfx.
Mainly web/email etc but would also like to play some games. I have a dedicated gaming pc, but sometimes having the laptop option is nice.
$500 is about all I'd like to spend, open to suggestions...
0
mrt144King of the NumbernamesRegistered Userregular
Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Processor 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
Graphics card NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 650M Graphics with 2GB GDDR5 memory [HDMI, VGA]
Memory 12GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Hard drive 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
Primary battery 9 cell Lithium Ion Battery
Display 17.3-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1600 x 900)
Primary optical drive F Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
802.11b/g/n WLAN
Keyboard Backlit Keyboard with numeric keypad
Included Warranty Services Included 2 Year Warranty
$1269.
Do I wait for Labor Day or do I pull the trigger in the middle of the month.
So as of right now I'm very happy with the new laptop. Performs great for the price. Eventually I'll pop out the 2gb ram stick for a 4, and get a faster HD. It really does bottled neck start times and such. So much nicer than my last one though.
The 720p screen hasnt bothered me. Haven't watched any videos yet though or done heavy surfing. Everything looks good to me, but I dont have anything to compare it to.
Sound is ok, no bass but gets fairly loud and stays clear.
I really like the keyboard with its individual keys. And a full number pad.
I'm pretty happy with the purchase. Has an ivy bridge, and a i7. The 660m seems like a powerful video card, at least for me as the most demanding game I play is diablo 3. At $850 it's a lot of machine, and it seems solid.
I think in the case of such similar specs, it's up to the superficial wants to decide. Plastic case, or magnesium alloy case with a customizable backlit keyboard?
I'd like to know who thought moving the windows key was a good idea. So help me if it's the same people that make me jump through hoops to get an English keyboard in Canada I will burn the building down...and take their staplers.
I think in the case of such similar specs, it's up to the superficial wants to decide. Plastic case, or magnesium alloy case with a customizable backlit keyboard?
I'd like to know who thought moving the windows key was a good idea. So help me if it's the same people that make me jump through hoops to get an English keyboard in Canada I will burn the building down...and take their staplers.
Yeah, it used to be on the right side if I remember. Oh well, advancing technology!
Completely weird thing: I remember when a 103 key keyboard was not only a selling point, it was luxurious.
0
jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
So as of right now I'm very happy with the new laptop. Performs great for the price. Eventually I'll pop out the 2gb ram stick for a 4, and get a faster HD. It really does bottled neck start times and such. So much nicer than my last one though.
The 720p screen hasnt bothered me. Haven't watched any videos yet though or done heavy surfing. Everything looks good to me, but I dont have anything to compare it to.
Sound is ok, no bass but gets fairly loud and stays clear.
I really like the keyboard with its individual keys. And a full number pad.
I'm pretty happy with the purchase. Has an ivy bridge, and a i7. The 660m seems like a powerful video card, at least for me as the most demanding game I play is diablo 3. At $850 it's a lot of machine, and it seems solid.
errr, if you purchased the 850$ laptop you linked earlier, it has 6 gigs of ram, 2 3 gig sticks. It's the videocard that has two gigs and you ain't adding to that. The y580 does have an abominably slow boot with the stock install though, if you wipe it and install a clean copy of windows it boots in half the time.
So as of right now I'm very happy with the new laptop. Performs great for the price. Eventually I'll pop out the 2gb ram stick for a 4, and get a faster HD. It really does bottled neck start times and such. So much nicer than my last one though.
The 720p screen hasnt bothered me. Haven't watched any videos yet though or done heavy surfing. Everything looks good to me, but I dont have anything to compare it to.
Sound is ok, no bass but gets fairly loud and stays clear.
I really like the keyboard with its individual keys. And a full number pad.
I'm pretty happy with the purchase. Has an ivy bridge, and a i7. The 660m seems like a powerful video card, at least for me as the most demanding game I play is diablo 3. At $850 it's a lot of machine, and it seems solid.
errr, if you purchased the 850$ laptop you linked earlier, it has 6 gigs of ram, 2 3 gig sticks. It's the videocard that has two gigs and you ain't adding to that. The y580 does have an abominably slow boot with the stock install though, if you wipe it and install a clean copy of windows it boots in half the time.
I'm pretty sure it came with a 4gb stick and a 2gb stick.
Load times are pretty long thought. I don't have a windows 7 cd though . Although I don't know what software disks came with it, I assume a "recovery cd"
Posts
Dell Inspiron 17R $1.000.00 (My wife gets 15% off)
3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3210M processor (3M Cache, up to 3.1 GHz)
8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
1TB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Nvidia GeForce GT 650M 2GB
8X Tray Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Stealth Black Anodized Aluminum
17.3" Full High Definition (1080p) LED Display with Anti-Glare
48 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Battery
Intel® Centrino® Wireless 2230, 2x2 bgn + Bluetooth
I like the idea of the bigger screen and the number pad on the keyboard. I also want to be able to play Skyrim and whatever other games I can throw at it. For the price/component ratio, will I find a better deal taking into consideration my little discount?
One thing to keep in mind with the 17R SE is that for some reason that makes no sense to anyone they only gave it a 100 megabit ethernet port, no gigabit. when i was laptop shopping that was a dealbreaker for me. Other than that it's good.
I was foolish enough to miss this detail with my current laptop. Not a big issue most of the time but you feel it when you need to move a VM.
Extra Challenge: I really like the IBM style laptop keyboard, in fact my current laptop is a thinkpad that I got right as they were selling the brand off to Lenovo. But I don't know if I can trust Lenovo's quality, I've heard some bad things. So, are Thinkpads (or Ideapads or whatever) still good and/or is there another brand of laptop that has a compact "real key" kind of keyboard, i.e. not chiclet?
I know what they indicate, I'm just curious how likely it is I'll run into one of the other networks and not be able to connect
It's a little more than I wanted if I upgrade to an i7 (what's the difference between a 7 and a 5 really? Both are ivy bridge)
http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_info&model_name=NP9130
Wonder how long the back to school savings last.
Mobile i5's are dual cores with hyper-threading. i7's are quad cores with hyper-threading. If I remember correctly.
Actually i5 and i7 don't mean anything. You need to look up the features of each chip.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Ideally, yes. But broadly speaking I am pretty sure all mobile i5's are dual-cores with four threads. I think it was even discussed a couple pages ago.
I'm not as sure about what the deal with the mobile i7's is, though.
This leenovo seems like its a really good price for what you get
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246628
Anyways, I'm looking at that model, seems to have pretty good components for the price ($899) it'd be nice if it had a 7200 rpm HD or 2 4gb sticks of ram, but I can upgrade those cheaply enough if I choose to.
I know absolutely nothing about leenovo except it used to be IBM. I remember them being talked Bout earlier in the thread though so going to re-read that.
Anyone have any other models to look at? The 660 m seems like a decent video card and can run the games I want at high settings. I also believe it has an ivy bridge processor. Would be nice to save $50 and get an i5, but I haven't seen too many.
Wish I could find this laptop or one comparable at amazon to get free 2 day shipping and no sales tax, although newegg frequently gets me stuff in one day (I'm in so cal). Thought about looking at a blu ray drive, but those seem fairly cheap to get, and I could always upgrade/do an external anyways later.
So what do you guys think? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246628 . Good buy? Anything you'd recommend instead/another site to look at? Oddly enough, newegg seems cheaper than leenovo's site, although it appears theres a way to get a 10% discount there.
Thanks everyone.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
*. After seeing that one for $850 and no sales tax I couldn't resist. I'm hopin the 720p doesn't bother me. I mostly will use it to game and surf the Internet , and hook it up to a tv for movies when I'm out of town for work. With the $50 I saved, (well like $150 when you count the sales tax) I decided to splurge for overnight shipping. Kinda regret that part, but come Friday I won't heh. Anyways I'll post a full review when I get it, and if I even notice the 720p. It'll play diablo 3 at ultra settings though so that makes me happy
*
*/EDIT*
Been searching the Internet for reviews of the screen and it seems a pretty mixed bag. Some love it, some say they wish they would have upgraded it, some like it for certain things but don't like it for others. I'm gonna take the plunge and think it'll be ok. If I upgraded to 1080p screen, I think I'd have to go with sager although then I'd get a hybrid drive or a faster hd (and 2gb more of ram)
I did however find a site that's $50 cheaper (making the cost $850) and doesn't have sales tax. I'd pay $20 for slow shipping though. So $870 with shipping and delivery but next Wednesday.
Because I live in ca I'm looking at $970 from newegg, although I'd probably have it in a day or two.
Gonna keep looking, and pricing some pc's. Gonna relook at xotic pc and see how much it'd be with shipping and everything for a full HD display.
I'm thinking 720 won't bother me though, I mean most likely it's still better than my last laptop. I wonder If that was full HD. I'm gonna have to look. (edit it was 900p. )
It's just so hard to commit to one haha
I've got two ways to go. Either I buy another netbook to replace the burnt out netbook, or I get a new full featured laptop and pass along the perfectly serviceable core i5 thinkpad that I use for work.
There are really only three problems I have with the current laptop. It's underpowered in terms of graphics (I can't run the secret world / some other games I play reliably), it's pretty low on memory for what I do for work, and it won't drive two external monitors. The third thing is the real killer. I've gotten used to working on dual monitors over the last couple years, and losing that capability kills me. I work on a laptop + 1 additional screen setup right now, but I'd rather just drive multiple monitors and keep the laptop closed. Basically I'm looking for a mobile workstation.
So, the first two issues are easy to fix with new hardware, but I'm not finding a lot of laptops that say if they can drive two external monitors or not. Anything that could help in uncovering that?
A10-4600M processor and 6 gigs of ram means it should handle games at mediumish settings, but after reading this thread I get the feeling Toshiba is kind of bad at making laptops?
I had a satellite for a couple of years, and it was not a great machine. It would regularly over heat, had a bunch of bundled software that I didn't want at all, the one time I tried to have it repaired (for a busted fan) was a nightmare. I'm not sure how representative my experience is though.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=orderHistory&A=details&Q=&sku=872545&is=REG
Should handle most games on high no problem. HDD is probably its bottle neck.
What about The Toshiba Satellite i listed over a Sony Vaio. Specifically: http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SYCTOProcess?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&LBomId=8198552921666458493&categoryId=8198552921644870001
Spec wise I would say the Toshiba wins. With some tweaking I can personalize a VAIO to be just as good for about same price.
Argh ><. Basically, i told my sister I would help her pickout a good laptop. If I was buying one for myself, I'd get that Toshiba, because if I came across any problems I am tech savy enough to fix them myself. My sister on the other hand isn't, and she's married and on the way with a baby. She needs something stable and reliable. So I'm looking for something from like a mainstream brand that is know for consistent reliable laptops for under $700
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230489
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=64681&vpn=LX.RSF02.187&manufacture=Acer&promoid=1145
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=62601&vpn=LX.RH002.014&manufacture=Acer&promoid=1145
I'm really just looking for something that can run a Diablo 3 or a Guild Wars 2 on med. My dad has a similar Acer ultrabook, purely running SSD and it's quite impressive for the price.
ASUS or MSI
On the one hand, the ASUS is a bit cheaper, has an option to expand the ram to 16 gb, and it's an ASUS. The MSi seems to have faster GPU ram, a bigger/faster HDD, and a non-reflective screen.
I think in the case of such similar specs, it's up to the superficial wants to decide. Plastic case, or magnesium alloy case with a customizable backlit keyboard?
I didn't need support until I needed the piece replaced. So I have no idea what the experience would have been like had I needed something smaller. I've got no experience with Viao, so I can't recommend anything one way or another there.
GTX 650 vs 670 -- Worth 170 dollars?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell---14"-Inspiron-Laptop---6GB-Memory---640GB-Hard-Drive---Diamond-Black/4559043.p?skuId=4559043&productCategoryId=pcmcat247400050000&id=1218705947299
Mainly web/email etc but would also like to play some games. I have a dedicated gaming pc, but sometimes having the laptop option is nice.
$500 is about all I'd like to spend, open to suggestions...
Processor 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
Graphics card NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 650M Graphics with 2GB GDDR5 memory [HDMI, VGA]
Memory 12GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Hard drive 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
Primary battery 9 cell Lithium Ion Battery
Display 17.3-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1600 x 900)
Primary optical drive F Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
802.11b/g/n WLAN
Keyboard Backlit Keyboard with numeric keypad
Included Warranty Services Included 2 Year Warranty
$1269.
Do I wait for Labor Day or do I pull the trigger in the middle of the month.
For cheap+"playing some games", you'll probably want a AMD powered laptop. Their built in GPUs are much better than Intel's.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
The 720p screen hasnt bothered me. Haven't watched any videos yet though or done heavy surfing. Everything looks good to me, but I dont have anything to compare it to.
Sound is ok, no bass but gets fairly loud and stays clear.
I really like the keyboard with its individual keys. And a full number pad.
I'm pretty happy with the purchase. Has an ivy bridge, and a i7. The 660m seems like a powerful video card, at least for me as the most demanding game I play is diablo 3. At $850 it's a lot of machine, and it seems solid.
I'd like to know who thought moving the windows key was a good idea. So help me if it's the same people that make me jump through hoops to get an English keyboard in Canada I will burn the building down...and take their staplers.
Yeah, it used to be on the right side if I remember. Oh well, advancing technology!
Completely weird thing: I remember when a 103 key keyboard was not only a selling point, it was luxurious.
This is why I stick to larger laptops. I can't go without a full number pad anymore.
errr, if you purchased the 850$ laptop you linked earlier, it has 6 gigs of ram, 2 3 gig sticks. It's the videocard that has two gigs and you ain't adding to that. The y580 does have an abominably slow boot with the stock install though, if you wipe it and install a clean copy of windows it boots in half the time.
I'm pretty sure it came with a 4gb stick and a 2gb stick.
Load times are pretty long thought. I don't have a windows 7 cd though
How do the GeForce 630M and 640M's hold up?