ultimate dorm room rig

Hey guys this is my first post at notebook review. I saved up about 3 G’s from my job and spent about 1 month research develop my “ultimate dorm room rig” lol. By the way I’m flying overseas to study medicine so I have to somehow carry all this (I think the limits 70 lbs or something). Feel free to give me any suggestions on what I should drop/add since I am a noob, and I will just start gaming next year.

Laptop:
Asus G1s with 100gb@7200rpm upgrade $1899.99 CDN + $59.99

Audio: (no clear winner here)
Shure e2c’s (Already have)
Sennheiser PX100 $61.12
I really want the logitech z5500's @ 289.99, but I think they weigh too much for luggage...55lbs! dunno about precise weight limits for luggage.

Video:
Samsung 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor (226BW) - $399.99

Controls
G15 Logitech keyboard $78.99
Logitech MX518 Free with G1s
Gel Mousepad $10

Camera
Sony Cybershot DSC-T100 3.0” LCD / 5x Optical Zoom / 8.1 Megapixel $445.99

Other:
HP Photosmart All-In-1 Multifunction Centre (C3180) 99.99
Asid Tech ASD-002 DVI To HDMI Cable 24.99


TOTAL + 14% tax: $3512.40

 

You should upgrade to the E4c/g's, I have a pair(Went from E2c, to e3c and last year I got the E4g's, amazing IEMs) and it's pure awesome

The z5500's are a great option, but heavy yes, where are you moving to? Perhaps buy speakers there?

The Samsung 22" is a tad expensive IMO, you could probably grab a Dell 24" for the same price, or a 20" or 22" Dell UltraSharp.

IMO, the camera is a bit overpriced, you can grab a really good Canon for much less, around $340~.

Other then that, everything else looks sweet!

 

May I ask where you plan to buy the G1S for $1899CDN? I live in Toronto and I've been looking at Infonec and MilestonePC.

I have a z5500 and they are worth every penny. I bought them for around $400CDN two years ago. I don't think you can use full 5.1 unless you get a express audio card. Anyhow, virtual 5.1 for movies is just as great. The external decoders in the 5500 helps too if you don't have a dedicated sound card(I use them for my desktop mainly).

 

Well, buying a gaming laptop for such a purpose, gaming during next year, is kind of foolish. You'd be better off getting it just before you plan to game, since the technology develops all the time. With the same money, you'd have a much better laptop in 2008.

And why you need those 22" monitor and an external keyboard? Buy some 17" desktop replacement.

 

$1,899.95 Cdn @ http://www.pcvonline.com/productDetails.aspx?id=5510

You can get the same price at milestonepc with the pricematch policy.

 

I meant to say next year as next school year (after the summer holidays are over), not 2008!

I decided not to get Asus G2 because it is ugly, and you lose the portablity of a laptop at 10lbs. With G1s and 22" external you get best of both worlds for a little more money.

 

I'm going to wait a month for the price to go down for the dsc-t100, but i think this is the best and sleekest ultracompact camera and it fits all my needs. I'm not sure if i should buy E4g's, since they have week bass according to reviews. But i might get the Shure SE310's @ $235.99 that just came out, since according to cnet they have better alot bass response than the e4c's.

I'm going to Ireland by the way, so i have to buy some type of converter or something. Anyway everything is wayyy overpriced in Ireland, so i'm not buying my stuff there. I might buy z5500's if i stay under the weight limit of the luggage (does anyone know what that is?). If I find an airline that gives flight from vancouver--> dublin with 2 bags at 70lbs each, i'll definitely consider it.

 

Hi Punjab,

Where on that website you listed does it give you the option to 'upgrade' the Hard Drive to 7200 RPM for the Asus?

I couldn't not see any 'customization' options.

 

Bryan,
He pricematched with milestonepc.com and upgraded the hd there.

 

I'm just going to buy from milestonepc using the pricematch policy they do (you just fill the cheaper price's url and some info on the site I give below), since they are more trusted. And on their site, they have a $59 upgrade for g1s: http://www.milestonepc.com/canada/product_info.php?products_id=1728

 

As for the camera I highly recommend that you go with the Sony Cybershot DSCW70 in Black which is ofcourse a bit more but doesn't look womanly.

It takes great photos 7.2MP as well as videos, I can take a 1 1/2 hour video with my 2GB stick.

You can also use more attachments than with the 100.

 

22" panels are no good they are TN panels and poor quality vs 24" panels that are IPS.

The Dell 24" is a good recomendation, but a Benq 24" is even better ^^ hdmi, dvi, vga, component, hdcp, built in scaler capable of aspect scaling AND 1:1 pixel maping (wich is rare and important) and it has one of the best prices and best quality around.

If you really wanna go big (literly) the Westinghouse LVM37W3 is what I use. Its a 37" HD LCD they go for about 1000$ shipped, best deal on the net for somthing that size and the quality is outstanding.

http://widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10105
http://widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7036

Oh and Camreas Fujifilm Finpix F30 ^^ thats the best point & shoot I know of. You cant find a single flaw or bad review on it.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_f30-review/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilmf30/

Besides those recomendations, I think the only thing your missing on your list is a controller!
Get the Xbox 360 wired controller, and then download the XBCD drivers to run it. I think by far its the best and most popular PC controller, and as a bonus you can use it on the 360 too.

 

I looked at that camera as a cheaper option, but read one review that it has slightly grainy pictures indoors because lack of image stability. But other than that it is great alternative. Thanks for the info, ill definately buy this cam if the dsc-t100's price doesn't drop significantly during the summer break, because at $450 it is a huge ripoff.

 

Do i need the wire controller if i have g15 and mouse? Not sure about that but i agree with you that 360 is the best controller for pc.

What does TN and IPS mean? From the reviews I read, the 226BW has very close to 1080p with the dvi wire, and it is the "sweet spot" for price/performance for moniters.

 

I recomend the wired controller since its cheaper and less hassles than the wireless one, for that one you have to also buy the wireless pc adapter. Your mouse wont effect the controller.

TN is the panel type TN is rather old tech and known to be a poor quality vs IPS panels and thus why they are so cheap, but IPS have gone way down in price due to competiton between diffrent brands and have suppiror display properties.

Id recomend jumping into a AVS forum, or even widescreengamingforum.com has alot of experts on this stuff. Im a wiki admin there so I am pretty knowledgable in the subject but there are people that know alot more than me.

Im going to go look up the exact specs on your monitor now and make sure it is indeed a TN, we may even have it listed on our wiki. Its just a general rule to avoid 22" panels and thats the main reason why, the other is people say the resolution is odd for that size, 24" gets you into 1920x1200 wich is great and also needed for native support of 1080p, the res on the 22" can not give you true 1080.

 

For the 360 controller, is there any pc games that actually use the rumple feature?

 

Update:

yes its a TN panel:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001096

its also got the Dynamic Contrast thing I was just talking about aswell, the net is FLOODED with complaints about that function because it can ruin a game making dark areas too dark too see and cause other varies issues like banding.

Some info on panel types:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/specs.htm

TN is poor because its 6bit color instead of 8bit and the view angles are bad aswell. "some" gamers prefer it they say but that was a long time ago when IPS panels had bad response times, today they are in the 6-8ms area and perform just as good but with higher quality.

Im not saying you will dislike your montior, you may love it. Some people are more picky/sensitive to this stuff than others.

I look at the display as the most important part of my computer tho, no matter how much power it has (the computer) its pointless if your not seeing it on a good screen.

Beware the one you bought tho has a "good" version and a "bad" version out there. The bad one has pretty bad gradiants because samsung swiched panels on the model for a cheaper one.

The good one is the "S" revision panel and the bad one is the "A" revision panel you should see wich it is on the back of the monitor somewhere.

 

Yeah, so far I know both the tomb raider games I have played recently used it. Tomb Raider Legend and Tomb Raider Annaversary.

 

Thanks for the research you did for me. Yeah i heard about the good "S" version made in south korea and the crappy "A" version in China. I'm just gonna go futureshop and tell the employee to open the box and show me the serial lol ill find someone who'll do it after i explain my situation. I'm not sure what the difference between 6bit and 8bit is, but now you mentioned it I might reconsider my moniter after research. My main concern though is horrible headaches causes either by reflections off my glossy glasses, glossy screen, or maybe soem other factor from the moniter. I can't stand more than 2 hours before I have to get off the computer do to a headache.

 

The A version supposedly is nearly as good if not identical to the S after you tweak it some. Just a matter of backlight bleed in the A some have, you cant tweak that out.

 

Should I just keep my e2c's, upgrade to the Shure SE310's , or get Sennheiser PX100, or the logitech z5500's? And do you guys think shure's sound better than the z5500's?

I've also been thinking, does the asus's sound card Intel® High Definition Audio ( Azalia ), output 5.1 sound? I read somewhere you need something called Sound Blaster for 5.1 sound. No idea what that means. Or should i just get a good 2.1 system like z2300's for a third the price???

 

bump bump bump

 

I would go ahead and the the Z2300's they are pretty good speakers, and they will save you some money.

 

On the contrary the G2S looks lovely in my opinion. You really have to see it in person. And it's actually really light. 10 lbs isn't much anyways and is far from losing portability especially with the backpack it comes with. I've rarely carried my textbooks to class b/c they just aren't necessary most of the time. In the past school year, I carried 15 lbs or so in my backpack including my 10.5 lb Alienware more than a mile to campus and barely felt anything. I'm not athletic either. It was common in high school to carry 30 lbs to school anyway, mind you, you could drive to school back then. I think weight is really a nonissue for school unless the computer weighs like 20 lbs. The G2S actually weighs only 9.6 lbs with the battery. But then again, I'm still an undergrad pre-med, not where you're at yet. Maybe med school requires running around all day with your notebook?

 

Thanks for your opinion. I'm still leaning towards the 15" g1s instead of the 17" g2s, not only because of looks, but because g1s is both cheaper and lighter. Not only that, but 17" kind of still seems too small for me compared to an external 22" screen (226bw). After thinking for a long time, I decided getting both the external screen and g1s would give me the best of both worlds, both portability and large screen size for gaming (while inside my dorm). And it will cost only a couple hundred more.