ATTN Geeks

[durallymax]

Im looking for a new laptop. My 7 year old HP just isnt cuttibg it anymore.

Im looking for a good high performance one that is adecent value.

Im not ahardcore gamer but do play some racing games and some simulators. Not COD or anything for me though.

I also want one fast enough to let me edit my videos quickly and smoothly. Also prefer 17" screen

Suggestoons? Thanks.

 

[Bustedknuckles]

Sub because I'm looking for the exact same thing.

 

[elliottw]

Lenovo 570 I believe it is? Good laptop. Msi makes good stuff for gaming too without crazy ass prices. Look at asus too.

 

[Woodster]

Just make sure you get something with a dedicated graphics card. If your doing any gaming or rendering your going to have to shell out some dough to get something decent. I'd plan on something around the $1000+ range for starters.
Unfortunately computers and their parts are a lot like truck parts. They make crappy one's and really good one's. Don't go cheap!:thumb:

 

[durallymax]

I hadnt planned on spending any less than 1k but wanted to stay under 2k and preferably under 1500

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Woodster]

Here you go. Build it up how you want it. Let me know if you have any questions.

http://www.malibal.com/boutique/pc/configurePrd.asp?idProduct=625

 

[durallymax]

Thanks for that. Anything good about the alienware ones or are they overpriced? Kind of seem that way.

 

[Balindir]

Alienware makes a great product, the pricing isn't worth it though... Like Woodster said for decent rendering your will definitely want a quality graphics card, and fair amount of ram.

 

[05smoker]

Dell Precision M6600 or 6700 is what we use for our CAD dept. Can be had on ebay refurbed in your range.

 

[darkone98]

I like the Asus and MSi brands myself, Acer can be had cheap but they are hard on batteries. For the price, MSi would be the best bet for a powerful computer without breaking the bank. If you want anything custom, I would highly recommend Eurocom over Alienware.

 

[beanpole209]

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/ gets my vote!

Ive had horrible luck with alienware. Ive seen several Hp's lose their power supply over the years. Digital storm makes good PC's, well almost as good as me! But I don't build laptops.

 

[Poltergeist]

I currently have a Dell XPS 17" laptop that is my daily user. I also do video editing on it. They dropped the XPS line a while back, I think the closest thing is the Inspiron 17". I've had pretty good luck with Dell over the years for laptops both work and for home.

 

[elliottw]

If you're looking to spend a decent amount I'll also throw Razer into the ring

 

[durallymax]

Alienware makes a great product, the pricing isn't worth it though... Like Woodster said for decent rendering your will definitely want a quality graphics card, and fair amount of ram.

Thats what I figured. It seemed like more of a name than anything.

When looking around I noticed the SSD(spelling?) Hard drive options on some gaming setups. Whats that all about?

Which graphics cards should I be looking for. Obviously theres top of the line ones but which do you feel would be adequate for my needs.

How fast of a processor do I want?

Thanks again guys. Youve been very helpful so far, I knew there were probably smaller specialty brands that made the best products at a good lrice and I knew I wouldnt find them just by googling. My Internet quit at the farm again so I havebt been checking out the other brands listed yet.

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Balindir]

SSD is a "solid state drive". Its digital memory... its a lot faster than your standard disk hard drive. Im not completely up on all of the laptop series graphics cards... but at basemark your looking for a card that has its own dedicated memory. As for a processor, most mid grade dual/quad core cpu will be fine for what you want to do... Youll probably want at least 3.0ghz..

Sent from my LG-LS970 using Tapatalk

 

[Woodster]

SSD's are the "next big thing" with computers. A bit more expensive but completely worth it. Super fast load and boot times. Also much more durable and less likely to fail when your drop you system. You'll love it I promise. Get the biggest SSD that you can afford. I'd steer clear of the smaller sizes 120GB/128GB because you'll eat though that in no time. If funds allow I'd get a 240GB/256GB.

GTX 765M should be fine for you. You could jump up to the 770M/780M but at the 1080P resolution the 765 should be fine for a "little gaming" as you stated earlier.

All the new "Haswell" CPU's are out and you won't much difference between those listed speed wise. For instance you will not be able to tell the difference between a 2.4GHz vs a 2.7GHz. Again I'd go with the cheapest option.

Hope this helps :thumb:

 

[PACougar]

Another plus is SSD's are silent(which effectively makes cool running laptops completely silent) and they use way less power. After you've used a computer with one in it you won't be able to go back.

 

[Kat]

I currently have a Dell XPS 17" laptop that is my daily user. I also do video editing on it. They dropped the XPS line a while back, I think the closest thing is the Inspiron 17". I've had pretty good luck with Dell over the years for laptops both work and for home.

Pat just bought one of these off e-bay for $550 shipped.

nVidia 445M graphics
16gb DDR3 1333
i7-840QM 1.86ghz turbo = 3.2ghz quad

5.1 sound with subwoofer

etc.

Pat just put a SSD card in it to speed up it more

It might become my new computer for home.

 

[Poltergeist]

Pat just bought one of these off e-bay for $550 shipped.

nVidia 445M graphics
16gb DDR3 1333
i7-840QM 1.86ghz turbo = 3.2ghz quad

5.1 sound with subwoofer

etc.

Pat just put a SSD card in it to speed up it more

It might become my new computer for home.

I have an SSD as my boot/application drive and the second drive for data is a normal hard drive. With the SSD my laptop boots in about 18 seconds.

 

[durallymax]

Okay so with some help from Woodster I have decided on the Satori 17" enthusiast edition and I am working out the specs right now on it.

I upgraded the RAM to 16gb

I upgraded the DVD drive to a Bluray writer

I upgraded the main hard drive to a 256gb Samsung SSD drive.

The things I am still looking for opinions on though are the following.

Hard Drive 2, SSD drive 1 and SSD drive 2. Hard drive 2 I can spec any of the Samsung, Intel and Crucial SSD drives or a regular 500,750 or 1TB hard drive. SSD drive 1 and 2 can only spec a crucial 120,240 or 480gb SSD drives. Should I leave hard drive 2 and SSD drive 2 empty and put a 240gb crucial SSD drive in SSD drive 1? Or should I leave all 3 empty and add the drives later on as I need them? I will be making a lot of videos so I'll fill up a lot of storage but I will not need it all right away and i'd prefer to keep the initial price down if I can add them later and save the money for things that can't be changed. Unless the deal they are offering on these drives is a killer deal, but I am sure down the road when I need another one they will be cheaper anyways.


The CPU is another one I need advice on. The little bit of research I did said the 4700 that comes with it is plenty for a 780 graphics card. The 780 graphics card is a $445 upgrade whereas the 770 is only a $95 upgrade and the 765 is standard. The CPU upgrade to 4800 is $185, $370 for the 4900 and $880 for the 4930. Which graphics card and CPU should I be going with.


I will also be upgrading to Windows 7 Home over the windows 8 system unless there is a reason I should stick with windows 8?

The only other option is to upgrade the wireless/bluetooth card. They have two Intel upgrades and two Killer upgrades all between $30-65. Is this needed?


Thanks again guys, its hard to stay on top of this stuff and I certainly havent for awhile.