Lost in the laptop jungle

Hello!

I need some advice to buy a new laptop. There are so many, which seem so alike that I'd like feedback from users who've tested or own them.

Today my choices are between (all Asus machines):
V1Sn (WSXGA+, Go9500M, T9300)
M50Sa (WSXGA+, HD3650, T9300)
G1Sn (WSXGA+, Go9500GT, T9300)

Basically, which one do you recommend?

I plan to use it for video conf, administrative work, photo/video (but not editing) and little gaming, but not recent games (I have my [email protected] system for that ). My first concern is fan noise (as low as possible), screen comfort and keyboard comfort. Must have bluetooth. Draft n for wireless is not required, since I have three other Wifi laptops in-house, limited to 11g, and I heard horror stories when mixing 11b/g/n with DIR-655 Router. Weight and autonomy are not so critical (the machine won't travel at all).

Prices are similar here i Norway (around 2500$) , and I'm open to other manufacturers, if you think there are suitable models with more interesting features.

Thanks for your help,

Skogkatt

 

OK, first welcome to the forum.

For a balanced picture of two models you're looking at, including pros and cons, I suggest scanning or reading through the (admittedly) long Owner's lounge threads for the V1 and G1 that can be found on the InfoBooth sticky at the top of the forum. For the M50, this is a quite new model that has only been out a few months with not many owners here, so you're better off either doing a search or waiting to see who replies to your post.

All of your potential systems are more than adequate to meet the planned usage that you describe.

The issue with mixing g/n is that pretty much all draft-n routers, including the DIR-655, suffer from performance drops when they have to keep all the frequencies open for both protocols. On a practical side, unless you're doing large file-sharing or transfers, or streaming video, 11g is plenty of bandwidth for what you're doing.

 

Thanks for your quick reply!

I'll have a look in the forum as you suggested. On the graphic side of things, is there a big difference between ATI HD3650 and Go9500GT (or M)?

 

They are direct competitors in the mainstream market, according to a recent post on the NBR main news page. You may have to search for benchmark reviews, but they should be fairly comparable.

 

9500GS right?

it is better than the HD3650 I think but that is what I am now considering too , I think I will bring my pendrive with 3Dmark 06 and bench mark them at my local dealor's , to see it myself since I can not find any test for the ATI.

Now , I am comapring M51SE with the ATI against F8SN with the NVIDIA9500GS.

I found lots of benches for the NV but none for the ATI.