Getting the N81Vp-C1 soon, need some questions answered

I'm heading to college soon and I am looking for a smaller sized laptop that can play current games as well. The Sager NP8662 seemed to be great, but it's just over my budget. The N81Vp is small, light (at 5.5 lbs), and has an HD4650, which seems to be stronger than the 9600m, but not as good as the 9800m. Anyway, I've never owned a laptop, and I'm very unfamiliar with them, so I have many questions:

1) How will this laptop be as a desktop replacement? I won't have a desktop in my room, just the N81Vp. Will it be a fine laptop to type papers on, browse the internet on for extended periods of time, watch movies on, etc? I ask this because I'm not sure how small the screen is.

2) Games! I'm not looking to play Crysis here, but I would like to play current games such as Dawn of War II and Sins of the Solar Empire. Can I run these games smoothly at medium settings?

3) In terms of the GPU, it is a major upgrade from my desktops 6800GT, right? I don't want a buy a new computer and not see better results in gaming.

4) I plan to buy it from buy.com, since it is only $1150 there, and includes free shipping. How does their warranty work, or will I just be dealing with Asus's warranty? I'm not computer illiterate per se, but if something goes horribly wrong with my computer...who would I send it to, and would the costs be free?

Thanks for all the input. I'm sure many of you have seen in here and in the Sager section. I've been doing a lot of research and I'm come down to this. If I don't buy it now I'll never buy it, as I keep researching and researching.

 

1. great

2. yes

3. lol, yes.

4. buy.com may have a return policy, but your coverage is from Asus. You have 2 yr global parts and labor, 1 yr accidental (1 claim), they pay both ways for parts labor, 1 way (back) on the accidental.

I recently had servicing on my Asus (accidental), they started the afternoon I drove it to their repair centre and my laptop was fixed and shipped out the next morning, they paid shipping to my house 2 hours away.

Asus Warranty > any company you can think of; given the price is embedded in your puchase, great deal.

gl

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220519

That is a different model of the N81 for $1000. It has an Nvidia GT 120M, which is only about 10-20% less in performance than a 4650.

1. The laptop should be fine. Although a 14" is a tad bit small for a desktop replacement, it definitely will be usable. Why not get a 15"?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9173262&type=product&id=1218044029168
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9050279&st=asus&type=product&id=1218012519873
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152108

The 2 Asus from Best Buy are 15.6" laptops that weigh around 7lbs, a little less than an NP8662.
The MSI from Newegg is 6lbs and a 16". the 4670 is not too far from the 9800M GS, but the GS has better tweaking ability and has better drivers, overclocking, and can be flashed to a 9800M GTS, which is almost as good a desktop 9800M GTS.

2. You can definitely run those games smoothly. If you get any of the 3 laptops I recommended, you can run Crysis on medium-high settings.

3. the 6800GT is no competition to even the 120M GT.
4. You get a 2 year Asus warranty.

 

The 15.6's and the 16" just don't seem to be as mobile as the 14.1".

Also, I read from someone on the forums that the 120m isn't as good as the HD 4650. In fact, someone made a thread about that $1k Asus you mentioned in these threads.

 

Yeah the 120M isn't as good, but its up to you if you want to spend the extra $150-$200.
The 15" is only 2lbs more and the 16" is only 1 lb more. the Asus is at a pretty heavy 5lbs for a 14"

 

The screen on the N81 is a treat, being LED-based it's super bright and clear, but as for "desktop replacement?" Not so much. What's there is crisp and super readable but there's just so much space available on a 14 inch notebook. For writing and surfing the Net etc. no problems whatever, but if you want 2 full width documents open side by side, etc., you need to get a machine with a bigger screen and at least 1600 x 900 resolution.

Games - absolutely; it'll tear 'em up!

Don't know about the rest of your issues, but I love my 81 and think it would make a great college computer: it's rugged, "right-sized" for portability, and packs plenty of power.