Laptop shopping: First thoughts after a round of Crysis

[Bram Turismo]

Hey there guys!

For at least 3 years my small Dell Vostro 1000 has served me with outstanding durability. Back in 2007 I bought it because it was a cheap deal, even though the specs were never much to brag about.

But it's getting outdated, as much as it pains me to say this. Earlier people seemed to have a problem with Dell, which I can't understand because my Dell has served me better than any other computer I've owned.

But it's time to change to a new computer. I'm starting on my second year at university, I'm completing 50 hour work weeks during the summer which will earn me around 5,000 dollars. My plan is to shop a new computer and keep the rest for the stuff I always had to save up to last year. (Mainly large quantities of nice food instead of ready cooked meals )

Anyway, we will be working with AutoCAD, but I don't think we will use it on our computers, since that would require every student to have a powerhouse of a system to run it.

What am I looking for?
- A major upgrade. My Dell has 1Gb of memory. I'm not looking for a new computer with 2Gb of memory, but I'm rather aiming for a huge improvement that will last me at least 2 years. Minimum 4Gb of memory and a solid graphics card.

- Reliability. Even though I treat my purchases as if it were a girlfriend (oh wait...), I'm still looking for something that will not start to refuse to work after 2 months.

- No expensive crap. Yes, those Apples. As much as I love them, I'm not paying double the amount for half the hardware. No Apples, please.

- Minimum screen size of 15,6". My current computer is this size (1280X800) I think, and I want my new one to have at least the same screen size. Although if I could choose I would opt for a bigger resolution.

- No "build-your-own". Costs would be way too high with the purchase of an additional screen and all that, plus I don't even know how much space I will have for the thing.


Do I play games? What sort of games?
To be completely honest, I tend to play too much. Although it has been shortened by my work and the beautiful weather and its outdoor activities. Games I have currently:

- World of Warcraft (should not be any trouble for the new chap)

- Sins of a Solar Empire (there is currently no processor fast enough to play this game on ultra settings without any FPS drop, but my Dell plays it fine up to a certain amount of fleet size. Should not be a huge threat to the new one as long as I don't play the largest maps)

- FIA GTR (Giving this game to my brother as this only works with Windows XP, and I can't be bothered to start studying how to run multiple OS to play the darn game. I still have my Logitech DFP so I wouldn't be surprised if a new racing game would make it on the "To buy" list.

Other than those mentioned, I've always drooled over games like Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. Whether these will be playable on the systems that are on my current "Candidates" list, is entirely up to you to judge.


What kind of brands are you looking at?
Any. As long as it will last and it will perform as the specs indicate it should. I'm suspicious to HP machines, but I'd love to be corrected. Also, Acers seem to be highly popular as of lately, while I don't see too many Dell computers anymore.


What's your budget?
7,000 - 8,000 Norwegian kroners at the max. This translates to around 1,000 - 1,400 dollars I think if I have my currency right. But I'd like to keep 7,000 as a limit, 8,000 incase it's deadly needed.


Candidates:

Acer:
http://www.expert.no/product/product.aspx?identifier=148467
http://www.elkjop.no/product/data/barbar-pc/ASLXPUU02021/acer-aspire-5551g


Hewlett-Packard:
http://www.expert.no/product/product.aspx?identifier=126622
http://www.expert.no/product/product.aspx?identifier=126621


Just a quick list really. There are many other models out there but they seem to all share the same specs. My apologies it's in Norwegian, but I'll be shopping my new computer off a Norwegian store after all. For the expert.no links, the specs are listed under "Teknisk Data", while "Spesifikasjoner" on the elkjop.no link will reveal the specs of that PC. "Dedikert videominne" stands for dedicated graphical memory, just to give a heads up. Ask me for any translation you need 👍

Feel free to reply with your own recommendations and I'll see if I can find that system in a Norwegian store. The only thing I know for sure right now is that I want a minimum memory size of 4Gb and a minimum dedicated graphical memory of 1Gb 👍

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

According to Squaretrade, ASUS and Toshiba are supposed to be the most reliable. Sony and Dell aren't bad either. But I don't really trust any laptops in terms of reliability.

 

[nick09]

One brand I would recommend is Asus such as this one. This has 4GB of DDR3 RAM, i7 cpu, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 with 1GB of DRR3 RAM, and to top it off it has a subwoofer. The RAM is also upgradable to 8GB if you need that much for AutoCAD.

I currently run this laptop but it has a quad cpu and a Nvidia 240M GT for seven months now. What's real nice about this laptop is that the area below the keyboad is isolated from the cpu and gpu heat so your hands don't get fried. What's also nice is that the hard drive is isolated from the heat too so it's safe. My laptop also came with good bloatware from Cyberlink and other companies.

 

[Bram Turismo]

One brand I would recommend is Asus such as this one. This has 4GB of DDR3 RAM, i7 cpu, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 with 1GB of DRR3 RAM, and to top it off it has a subwoofer. The RAM is also upgradable to 8GB if you need that much for AutoCAD.

I have found some ASUS computers on a Norwegian website, but I don't think it's the exact same model:

http://www.ps.no/ArtDtl.aspx?i=175273&model=

It also has the subwoofer as you mentioned, but not the i7 processor. Instead it has a 1Gb NVidia card and a i3-330M processor. It also seems to have the same option to double the memory. I don't know much about computers, so I'm kind of clueless what the differences are between your link and my link.

How do you think this computer copes with gaming? Reason I'm asking is that gaming will be a deciding factor and processing since I do everything on my computer; iTunes for my iPod, Photoshop, watching movies, do work for school (Microsoft Office stuff mainly), play games, etc.

Here's a list of 17" screen models they have to offer:

http://www.ps.no/ArtLst.aspx?n=10100410051002&ac=9910341047

 

[nick09]

Well if you could afford a bit over your budget you can get this one. It's just like the one I linked to before but with a 640GB HDD, i5 cpu, no subwoofer, and a 16" screen with a 1366 x 768 resolution. With this laptop you should be able to play a good amount of today's games medium to high graphics. I know you should be able to get that from this laptop because my laptop does medium graphics with today's games.

It would help if you could find a few more sites because the selection lacks a little compared to what's on Newegg.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

It also has the subwoofer as you mentioned, but not the i7 processor. Instead it has a 1Gb NVidia card and a i3-330M processor. It also seems to have the same option to double the memory. I don't know much about computers, so I'm kind of clueless what the differences are between your link and my link.

How do you think this computer copes with gaming? Reason I'm asking is that gaming will be a deciding factor and processing since I do everything on my computer; iTunes for my iPod, Photoshop, watching movies, do work for school (Microsoft Office stuff mainly), play games, etc.

It should handle the games you listed fine. The i3-330m is a dual-core processor, while the 720 is a quad-core with a higher clock speed.

 

[Azuremen]

So, this is a laptop you are looking for, correct?

MacBook Pro. Honestly, its not that much of a premium and the housing alone makes it 10 times more durable than most "cheaper" laptops.

And I'd strongly advise against anything over 15 inches in screen size... just cumbersome. If you want a larger screen for working with at home, I'd suggest getting a monitor for home. Generally cheaper than upgrading the screen size, since 22" can be had for $150 USD.

 

[nick09]

Did you read his post?

- No expensive crap. Yes, those Apples. As much as I love them, I'm not paying double the amount for half the hardware. No Apples, please.

 

[Azuremen]

Did you read his post?

Yes, I'm literate. I also saw his budget.

I yes, I recommended something a bit out of what he asked for. And most people here would be familiar with my general anti-Apple sentiments. However, the 13-inch MBP starts at $1200 USD. Yes, it has a smaller screen than he asked for, but it is the same resolution. Yes, that ASUS you linked has a bigger hard drive and an i3 processor, and the large screen, but its not made from aluminum, the touchpad will suck in comparison, and the battery life as well.

Not that storage space is much of an issue with prices constantly dropping on external options. I believe some companies have USB 3.0 2TB drives coming to market for $250, and thus all other options will drop in price.

The point I am making, is with Laptops, Apple is double the price for the same feature set. It is a bit more, but the ergonomics and considerations (the back lit keyboard, etc) make it worlds better using the device for the course of 2 years.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

The money conversion didn't exactly work as planned.

The Macbook doesn't come with Windows, which he about needs for gaming. And a comparable Macbook unit is about twice as much as the ASUS, which is also about twice his budget.

 

[nick09]

Actually my ASUS touchpad is very good to use. I know for a fact that the models of ASUS that I have been recommending has software such as Elan Smart-Pad. It's usability is a bit behind using the mouse and to mention you have proper space on the touchpad. If I did not have my wireless mouse I would not mind using it all of the time.

EDIT: If you can ship internationally then you could buy this one or this one. The first one is a gaming laptop and the difference it is to the other one is that it has slighty better graphics with HD resolution(1920x1080) on a monitor that is 0.4 inch smaller, bigger hard drive, and a less powerful cpu since it has the i5 processor while the other ASUS has the i7 cpu and a slightly less powerful ATI HD 5730 gpu with DirectX11.

They are both good laptops but I think I would go with the second one since it has DirectX11(Will play more games in the future) and for the fact that it won't consume as much battery due to the fact that the monitor has a smaller resolution but once you hook it up to a TV via HDMI you can use it in full HD. With the extra money you save you should get a laptop case for it since you would not want to damage it.

 

[Bram Turismo]

No international shipments please. Last time I bought some Flying Lizard T-shirts, the Norwegian toll office asked toll that was more than the price of the actual T-shirts.

If I buy an ASUS from Newegg and it has to be shipped into Norway, I'm paying as much as a Macbook costs.

I love Norway, but on import and export they are some freaggin' communists!

Keep the suggestions coming guys! 👍


@Road-Dogg: Does a higher clock speed translate into overall better performance or only better performance in specific areas of use? If an i7 processor would perform better than the i3, I could as well search for an i7 processor laptop.


I've found another ASUS laptop. Specs seem to be quite good, although I don't know if it shares the same ability double the memory to 8Gb. It's a 16" screen laptop, and it also looks very slick:

http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=586017

That pricetag would be about my absolute limit by the way 👍

 

[Owen.C93]

Go and build it on Dell if you can. It's not really building but you can upgrade a specific part if you want.

 

[nick09]

Yes the i7 would perform better with multitasking and games that are more cpu intensive. Most games nowadays are dependant of the gpu instead of the cpu so I would not worry about it. Though what you have there is the best I could find for that price. I'd say get it since the GPU is high end currently and it supports DirectX11.

And yes you can double the ram to 8GB if you want to in that laptop. I'm pretty sure that would help you with AutoCAD since programs like that demand a lot of space while running.

EDIT: Dells have a mixed performance with their parts. My brother has a dell laptop and it has good specs but it has errors such as a few blue screens in it's life and it can run pretty uncomfortably hot in the area below the keyboard. Dell is okay at times but parts quality lacks in a few products that I have used before. I would do some intensive research before I buy any Dell product as far as I have experienced.

 

[Bram Turismo]

I'd say get it since the GPU is high end currently and it supports DirectX11.

The X64JA marked as current favorite 👍

The specs look pretty much what I was looking for, and it has a very slick and clean design as well. I was looking back at that HP I linked to in my original post, but even though it has 2Gb of memory more and it costs a 1,000 less, I'm suspecting it won't be close to the ASUS in terms of what I am expecting it to be. Add to the fact I've grown so tired of HP's horrible laptop designs lately.

Currently I can't find any high-res images of it, but if that top is indeed brown like it seems to be in the image I linked to, it would be another plus to it. I'd love a brown top instead of all this black I've had for 3 years!

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Man, I'm slow. I was just about to post that same laptop.

 

[nick09]

I found it here for a lower price. Yes these models do have the brown top and the material around the keyboard and touch pad is a thin rubber over plastic so it feels nice and your hands needs to be greasy before you ever leave a fingerprint on the rubber.

I had some experience with an HP laptop. It did fine for I had it do since it was a 5 year old laptop at the time. I had Linux installed so the only use it had was for movies, music, and a few windows games that were run through Wine so I could play them on Linux. Though the battery would only last 20 minutes at the most so I was not really impressed by it. The funny thing about those old laptops is that the fan blew down instead of up so the cooling system was already not that great.

I have seen some laptops similar to those HP's and the plastic is ugly! They took fingerprints easily and not to mention they looked cheap. At least my old HP had some metal parts on it.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Well the thing is that one of my friends has a 1 year old Pavilion. I've used it a couple of times and the first thing I noticed was that the area between the bottom edge of the computer up to the edge of the keyboard, including the mousepad area, got extremely hot. My friend's Acer seemed to share the same problem. And yes, both that Acer and HP had plastic covers and were full of fingerprints. The fact that I'm kind of disgusted by fingerprints makes it nice to hear I won't be having that problem 👍

I'm still open for other suggestions, but after I've read a preview on the N-series ASUS X64JA which scored a 90%, I'm leaning very heavily towards it now.

I found it here for a lower price.

The only thing with this link is that it's an unknown source to me and thus I don't know how reliable it is. I've shopped at the others and are the best and largest stores in Norway, but I can always run a check with some people over here to check up on the source.

May I thank you for your bravery to search in a pile of links and stores in a language you perhaps don't understand

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

That seems to be the best choice.

This should be a good choice if you're looking for something cheaper. Though there appears to be a supply issue.

 

[nick09]

Yeah I actually found the store from this website. No problem, I love looking this stuff up anyways even if I don't understand the language.

 

[Bram Turismo]

This should be a good choice if you're looking for something cheaper. Though there appears to be a supply issue.

The issue would be that it's out of sale to put it simple

No wonder though; It seems to share the exact same specs as the ASUS, yet it's a full 2,000 kroners cheaper

Unless there is a catch to it, though. The price listed does not include a warranty, and the cheapest warranty starts at 1 649,- which puts it right back up with the ASUS. Because, as far as I know, the Komplett store list their prices including the warranty.

*EDIT*

I logged on onto my account at the store I already had, and my assumption that the product comes with a warranty was correct 👍

 

[nick09]

That laptop has a smaller hard drive(500GBvs640GB), it has an HD 5650 gpu while the ASUS has HD 5730 gpu, a bit slower cpu, it has an 0.3MP web camera while the ASUS has 2.0MP, and ASUS has the advantage where it's Ethernet port can do 10/100/1000 while the Toshiba can only do 10/100(the speeds are in megabits).

Those are all the differences that I could find.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

I logged on onto my account at the store I already had, and my assumption that the product comes with a warranty was correct 👍

Wouldn't that just be the manufacturer's warranty?

 

[Bram Turismo]

Wouldn't that just be the manufacturer's warranty?

Not entirely sure, but I will return once I know for sure. I think the ASUS will be my current "Going to buy that one", unless a killer offer shows up throughout July.

 

[nick09]

Personally I would stick to the Asus because it's more future proof and they usually have good warranties.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Last question:

Is there a world of difference between an i5 CPU and an i3 CPU? I thought the laptop I was looking at was the N61JA model, yet all the N61JA models reviewed all have the i5 CPU. I cannot find anything related to "X64JA" on the ASUS website, but the ASUS website does list both the i5 and i3 CPUs under the N61JA model.

The i5 CPU model is around 9,500 which is surprisingly more money than the i3 CPU model we have been talking about now.

 

[nick09]

I have read up a bit about the processers and an i3 is an equalint of an Core 2 Duo while the i5 is roughly the same or better than an Core 2 quad. I found this information here.

Well I do know from experience that ASUS does not have much information on their new models that come to the market. So the X64JA is a new model that ASUS has released. The only thing that I could find about the X64JA is the driver downloads on ASUS website here. They got all of the downloads there.

About the N61JA I found it here for less than that price. It's the same as the X64JA we have been talking about but with an better processor. The cpu is an i5 so that is comparable to a quad cpu. If you can invest more money then you can get the N61JA.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

In my opinion, either get an ASUS or a Sony. My brother has had an HP tablet, it fried and it cost $1000. My dad had a $2000 laptop, it fried too. Toshibas are kinda in the same boat. Before my dad's HP, his Toshiba fried along with my mothers 2 other Toshibas. Sony computers are amazing. They're like Macbooks in terms of build quality and looks. ASUS makes amazing parts (I've had many ASUS mobos) but I don't know about when it comes for them wehen they make lappys. Don't get an Acer either, my mom had a short "rental" of the Aspire One, later to find out that the Windows files had corrupted under normal use in 1 week. Also, get an Intel processor for laptops, they're built better and better in speed. For university though, buy an IBM Tablet.. so you don't have to write out notes on a paper... also tablets are k00l. If you want, theres a new HP Tablet coming out and its apparently less fryable than my brother's... he's getting it sonce his previous once fried 4 times (now fifth since he decided to repair it again under warranty until the new one comes out which he can trade for it). It has an Intel processor too...

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Last question:

Is there a world of difference between an i5 CPU and an i3 CPU?

The i5's aren't much faster than the i3's. So in short, no. The first major jump is to the i7-720QM, which is the first quad core of the i laptop series.

I have read up a bit about the processers and an i3 is an equalint of an Core 2 Duo while the i5 is roughly the same or better than an Core 2 quad. I found this information here.

That's for the desktop versions.




This laptop is also pretty interesting. The graphics card is about on par with the 5730, but it doesn't support DirectX11.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Indeed, I was also checking that one out earlier today. In the review I read of the ASUS, it was being compared with that model of Samsung's laptops. From what I've read, they're pretty much equal to each other, trading the edges in different aspects.