M17x Screen/Video Card

Hello all,

My younger brother is looking to buy a M17x, but he is torn between two options as he does not have a lot of money. I was wondering what peoples thoughts were and if anyone had compaired the 900p screen to the 1080p screen.

These are Canadian prices

Option 1
900P screen
GTX 660m card
$1582 after taxes and everything

Option 2
1080p screen
HD 7970m
$2034 after taxes and everything

The rest of the system specs are the same

I understand that the 7970m is a beast, but what we are wonding is if the 900p screen is on par quality wise with the 1080p screen. If the 900p screen is an ok screen then the 660m should be able to run that resolution without issue.

Has anyone seen and gaming benchmarks on the 660m as I can only find 3dmark scores.

Thanks everyone

 

Xanius, get the 1080p screen and 7970m...trust me.

Then order it through reflexnotebook.ca for at least a 10% discount...i got 13% off

 

This may not be apples to apples here but I had an Asus G74SX with a 1080p screen for a while. When compared to my M17x R3's 900p screen, I really don't miss the 1080p screen to be honest. YMMV.

 

If he can afford it, 1080p and 7970m for sure. At the very least get the 1080p screen and then upgrade the GPU later when funds allow.

 

You shouldn't buy a M17x in any configuration that has the 1600x900 (900p) display instead of the 1920x1080 (1080p) display.

17.3" 1600x900 displays limit multitasking by making things onscreen large, and tend to have terrible image quality due to low contrast. This type of display is no better than what is available in a sub-$500 notebook, and I don't recommend this type of display to those who have a budget that allows them to get a laptop that has a better display and at the same time suits their needs, and who don't require larger text for eyesight-related reasons.

Also, gaming shouldn't be a reason to choose a lower resolution display, and having a higher resolution doesn't require you to choose a faster GPU. Games can be run in non-native resolution for increased performance when necessary, so you can run in 1600x900 resolution on a 1920x1080 display. In doing so, there will be blur, but not enough to outweigh the large difference in overall image quality between typical 17.3" 1600x900 and 1920x1080 displays. Games will often tend to look better running on a 17.3" 1920x1080 display in 1600x900 non-native resolution than they will look running on a 17.3" 1600x900 display in 1600x900 native resolution.

Granted, I would recommend the Radeon 7970M if you can get it in addition to the 1920x1080 display, but what it all boils down to is that the stock 1600x900 display is terrible but the stock GTX 660M is not terrible. Having something better than the GTX 660M may be ideal, but the 660M by itself isn't terrible.

---

If you are on a budget such that it is difficult to get both the Radeon 7970M and the 1920x1080 display at the same time, consider the Clevo P170HM (Sager NP9170)
- http://www.reflexnotebook.ca/index.php/sager-notebooks/sager-np9170.html

Select Windows 7 under Operating System or the computer will not ship with Windows installed, and upgrade to the Radeon 7970M.

This model comes stock with a 17.3" 1920x1080 display, and a configuration with Windows 7 and the Radeon 7970M is $1698

EDIT: fixed reseller link and price because I read that you're buying from Canada. Also take note of the shipping costs for the Sager from Reflex.

 

That is great thank you for everyones help. I have also been looking at the MSI GT70 there is a decent model with the i7-3610, 12gb ram, 1080p screen and a GTX 670 in it for $1499.99 CDN. I have a feeling he will just bite the bullet and buy the m17x with the 1080p and the hd 7970. You have to pay to play