Should I replace my 4 year old gaming laptop now?

Here's the spec on my current laptop:

HP DV9000
17" Glossy Screen
Core2Duo T7300 @ 2.00Ghz
8600M - GPU
300GB HD
4GB RAM
DVD-ROM
Altec Lansing Audio

I'm thinking of replacing it with this laptop:

MSI GT780DX-215US
17" Matte Screen
570M
i7-2760QM (2.4 - 3.5GHz)
16GB DDR3 (4G X 4)
120GB SSD
1TB 5,400 RPM HD
6X Blu-Ray Reader
Bigfoot networks Killer 1103
DynaAudio
Price is around $2,300

Is this a good buy?

I don't mind the extra weight as I won't be bringing this laptop out much. What's important for me is the build quality. I would like it to last me at least 4 years, just like my current laptop which is already 4 years old and still going strong. I currently don't play much and I hate FPS games, I'm more on strategy war games like Starcraft 2 and Warhammer series. But in the near future I would like to play games again, maybe next month I'll start playing again when things settle down at work.

What do you guys think? Any suggestion? Get the MSI now?

 

Is your current laptop still good enough? Do you think it will fill the need for the next 4 years? If so, I would stick with what you have.

 

Don't forget 28nm mobile gpus are supposed to debut end of this year/early next year.

 

For that money, go with a Sager NP8170. You can get it similarly configured for about the same price, but with Radeon 6990m, and I know build quality is superb. Check out XoticPC. Only thing is the Sager doesn't have a backlit keyboard.

 

Should probably move this to the "what should i buy" section...

GenTech PC - Customize System

Configure yourself a build there. Unless you have a lot of bluray movies I find a BR player is a waste of $80, and Sager is known to have better build quality than MSI. If weight really isn't an issue and you have the money, there you go. It doesn't offer a 570m but you can configure on with a 580m or a 485m or a 6990 (all more powerful) for less than the build you had in mind.

 

Honestly I'm really noticing how slow my laptop is now, and I just reformatted my HD and installed Windows 7 recently. There's nothing wrong with my current laptop, but when I tried to play a game with it like Mass Effect it slows down a lot, and on most game I have to lower the settings (much lower than medium) just so I could play it without hiccups.

I would like to consider myself as a power user, I'm a web designer and I normally have three browsers open at least with Photoshop running and music in the background. I'm noticing the lag on switching between browsers or programs that are already open.

I'm not sure what changed, why I'm noticing this slow down now. This is the reason why I'm looking for a replacement for it. Maybe it's going to break soon?

 

The backlit keyboard of MSI is the major selling point for me over the Sager/Clevo, call me crazy but I don't know why maybe I just want to try it.

Is the build quality between MSI and Sager/Clevo that big of a difference? MSI has 3 years warranty by default, and Sager has 1 year warranty only unless you buy an extension. Doesn't that say something about the build quality?

 

I'd say +1 on Sager, I've had several and always a nice machine to own. Table21 in the marketplace has an Alienware M18x that comes with a Radeon 6990m and still has warranty. Don't know if there are rules agaisnt referring people to the marketplace but it's where I got my current laptop and I'm very satisfied by its performance

 

If you want the longest life, get the most powerful graphics card you can afford. That is the main problem with your current laptop. The 8600M is a very weak card. It was only middle of the road even when it was brand new, and that was almost four and a half years ago!

Upgrading to 8GB of RAM from 4 would help.

 

Backlit keyboards are kind of neat to have, but honestly after having one, I'm not sure that would prevent me from buying a machine. I keep mine turned off much of the time since you should really be playing games in a decently lit room, but it IS pretty cool when you're playing a survival/horror game and all your room lights are off, but you can still see the keys.

Sager might have a worse warranty upfront but their cooling systems (which directly affect your laptop's lifespan) are first class.

 

Why are you spending money on 16gb of ram? For gaming there isn't even really a performance difference between 4gb and 8gb. You could spend that money on a better GPU which will help you out a lot more. For other uses you can see a difference, but I don't think many people will really see a difference between 8gb and 16gb of ram.

You kind of need a 32" screen for a lot of "normal people" to tell a significant difference between Blu-Ray and not Blu-Ray and I don't see a use for Blu-Ray other then movies (i.e I don't think games are going to release on Blu-Ray for the PC like how they switched from CDs to DVDs).

If you want to wait for Ivy Bridge and 7000 series you obviously can.

 

I like the MSi a lot, but you're paying an awful lot for it. It caters more towards the "gamers on a budget" segment.

Perhaps consider the non-branded barebone version of it? Same internal components, just no orange LED lights. Steelseries keyboard still there.

Configurator

Here are a couple tips when configuring on a budget:

- CPU upgrades are usually price gouging. The cheapest i7 (2630/70QM) is more than powerful for today's games. Very few users see benefits in CPU upgrades.
- Avoid SSD's that have a SandForce based controlled; this notebook is known to have issues with them. Those include: OCZ, Patriot, Corsair, and more. Crucial, Intel & Samsung, etc have far better reliability, but you pay more in the end.
- Faster / More RAM does not improve FPS and is generally a waste of money.
- Consider adding RAM / SSD as aftermarket upgrades as they tend to save you lots of $$.
- Aim for the best graphics card you can buy for your money now, you won't regret this decision.
- Killer 1103? I thought the notebook only has 2 antennae leads. If this is the case, stick with the 1102.

If you don't care too much about money, then the MSi is probably not your machine. If you really want a backlit keyboard and lights, perhaps the Alienware M17x with Radeon 6990m is your best option, they have very similar component options.

To clarify a couple things:

MSi's normally have two year warranties, but because of the Sandy Bridge recall they have three. MSi build quality is great, I own one and have zero complaints in that area. The MSi cooling system is superb and in no way worse than Sager's. It is actually more efficient, it has one fan for both the CPU and GPU as opposed to two separate ones and under load the 570m GTX hovers <80*C. One user has fit a 6990m into an MSi 16'' chassis without overheating issues <88*C load, to give you a perspective of how comparable it is to Sager's.

Whatever you decide on: Alienware, Sager or MSi, I think they're all great picks. Although I do see the Alienware probably being the best fit for you.

 

I agree on the RAM part, but as I mentioned on one of my replies I'm a web designer and I am a heavy user of Photoshop and other Adobe products like Illustrator and Flash which would greatly benefit from a large amount of RAM.

I've read on one thread here that Photoshop alone could consume 8GB of RAM!

I could replace the blu-ray and use the money to upgrade some other part of the laptop, but I want my laptop to be future proof as much as possible or at least for 4 years. We don't know maybe within 2 years from now prices for blu-ray disc would go down drastically to the same price of DVDs, if that happens for sure that's the time it would replace DVD as a backup medium.

But my main question here is that, if it is a great idea to get the MSI GT780 now or not based on my circumstances?

 

Thanks for the great reply Xonar!

I wish I have more money to spare for the laptop purchase, but $2300 is my limit.

My only concern for the MSI barebone is the warranty. I travel on different continent and I would stay minimum of 3 months on each place, having a global warranty would greatly help me here just in case. Not that I needed it in my current laptop, 4 years and I haven't encountered any problem with it at all. The warranty is just a backup.

- From the benchmark I saw online the difference between the stock CPU and the one I choose is around 20%, that's a lot for $180 upgrade so I will choose to upgrade it.

- I'm going to choose between Intel or Crucial, I'm leaning more on Crucial since it's cheaper.

- For RAM/SSD I've compared the prices on newegg and amazon, there's not a lot of difference from getting it from the resellers here. For RAM it's around $15 max and $20 max difference for the Crucial SSD. For that amount I would rather have the reseller install it and avoid voiding the warranty by doing it myself.

- 570M is the fastest GPU possible on the MSI GT780 laptop right? And it's in third place based on ranking the current NVIDIA cards.

- Nice save here, I will downgrade it to 1102 now.

 

$2300 is a lot for a Laptop. You can buy an Alienware m17x with the 6990m for cheaper then that.

Upgrading ram does not void warranty ~ even on Macs. Ram is considered user upgradeable on pretty much every laptop but "ultra books". If you got an m17x you could upgrade to 8gb of ram yourself and put in a 128 ssd yourself, and you would be at around 1.9k w + upgrades (like $50 for 8gb of ram and $200 say for 128 SSD) and it is still under your $2.3K.

I only suggest that well because an m17x feels like a more "premium" machine then the MSI computers. The MSI computers are great on a budget, but you are not buying on a budget at $2.3K. If you spend that kind of cash the "extras" of the alienware (appearance if you like it, keyboard, special back lighting etc) are kind of cool. All I am saying is the Alienware feels like a super premium machine, while the MSI feels like a well built, but not super premium machine.

Plus that Alienware would probably play games better. I would check on the 8gb vs 16gb more to see if its really worth it.

But the MSI is not a bad laptop, its a very good laptop.

I don't think Blu-Ray is not a storage medium because it is expensive. I think Blu-Ray is not a storage medium because it is not like the DVD was too the CD. I think its easier to buy 2 1TB hard drives that are cloned as your back up then Blu-Ray and more convenient to read all of the data that way.

 

1. What was the benchmark, any links? Many 'benchmarks' are misleading. Yes, your CPU may be technically faster, but it is limited by how fast the GPU is. Your GPU will be the limiting factor is most games, besides SC2 on ultra. Will you be doing any CPU intensive applications?

2. The RAM and HDD are hands-on for any notebook. Only touching the GPU and possibly CPU would void the warranty. 2 x 4GB kits can be found as low as $35 and the M4 128GB can be found between $160-180 on sale. Resellers have brought down prices to a reasonable level I must say though.

3. The 570M GTX is nVidia's 2nd fastest mobile GPU. Only the 580M GTX is better, but the Radeon 6990M fits right in between the two and comes in way cheaper than the 580M GTX. You can find the 6990m and 580m GTX in the Alienware M17x or Clevo P170HM.

 

I just checked Sagers website, you can get 16gb of Ram, 6990m, 120gb SSD + 500gb HD, 2.2 ghz i7,1080p +Blu-Ray for $2.184K + $100 discount which = $2084. That is more powerful, has everything you need and is prebuilt.

 

Since your laptop is still fine, it would probably be worth it to wait another half year for the new GPUs and CPUs to come out.

Yes, computer tech evolves very quickly and waiting for the next best thing is pointless, but the jump in efficiency and performance of the 28nm GPUs and Ivy Bridge will be a pretty big one compared to an usual update.

 

This one I can't believe.. Where could you order an Alienware m17x laptop that has the same spec as the MSI GT780 and has a better GPU 6990m but is still cheaper than the MSI.

 

1) You can easily check here: Mobile Processors - Benchmarklist - Notebookcheck.net Tech it plays around 20% difference. To check in detail, go to each processor's page there's a detailed benchmark for each CPU and you could do the computation from there. I do video converting as well on a regular basis. I believe GPU is important for shooter games or RPG, I'm more on strategy games which I believe are more CPU hungry that other games.


2) Where could I buy the 2x4GB kits for $35? Also to get maximum performance in your RAM, you should always strive to use the same brand and speed always? Otherwise it might perform lower than advertise? Is this correct?


3) Isn't the 485M much faster than the 570M? From that I understand the current NVIDIA ranking is like this: 580M > 485M > 570M > 560M


Actually Clevo P170HM is one of my choice as well, but the overall looks of that laptop is too plain for me and it has no back lit keyboard Since the 570M of the MSI could be overclocked to reach the same performance of the 485M the GPU is not an issue for me at all. I think the 570M is plenty fast already while the heat it generates is manageable unlike 6990M and the 580M, or am I wrong?

What is the benefit of getting the Clevo P170HM over the MSI GT780 aside from the cheaper price - I've checked around and the price difference on almost the same configuration is just around $150.

 

This build is the default glossy screen right? If you'll add the Matte screen to the build it would appear that the Sager is at the same price level with the MSI GT780. Try to build a Sager/Clevo laptop like the one I specified on my first post. The price difference won't be that huge at all, it would be around $150 only or less. I think the only thing the Sager/Clevo has over the MSI is the GPU and price. While MSI wins on the rest like the audio, overall looks, keyboard, warranty, etc.

 

My only concern with waiting for the newest tech is that the price would be very high, which I won't probably be able to afford when it comes out. So the half a year waiting time would be much longer than that.

 

That shouldn't be a problem - rather than coming in at a higher price-point, the new tech should replace the older stuff at the same price-points, so the Ivy Bridge version of the 2xx0QM should cost what the 2xx0QM costs now, the Kepler version of the 5x0M should cost what the 5x0M costs now, and so on.

However, it's still a six month wait. Since the upcoming refreshes are supposed to be die-shrinks, they'll probably offer a rather significant improvement over the current-gen technology, but they'll still be old news after a year. My take on upgrading half a year before a new tech refresh is that it's all fine and well to wait if you have no pressing needs, but if you have a good reason to upgrade now rather than six months from now you should probably just go for it.

 

Dude, as said before 28mm GPUs are the end, I would just upgrade RAM and put a SSD drive on your current system. (don't forget that you can always move your SSD to your new laptop) and then go for a new high tech next year.. However, I'm also looking for another laptop, than on my signature, and I'll most likely wait untill next year, but just orderd new RAM sticks and a new SSD drive. Oh, and a new keyboard

 

This makes more sense. Hopefully they'll release not only one model but at least the medium to top model for the new tech otherwise I still won't be able to upgrade as it would be priced very high. If you'll notice the specs I've chosen are not exactly the fastest and the greatest, just a notch or two below it.

 

I wish I could, I'm max out on RAM already can't add more. Not sure about the SSD if my laptop supports it, if it does I won't probably be able to use its max speed.

Your current laptop is much much better than mine

 

Meh, as far as build quality concerned, I would stay away from Alienware and Sager imo. Alienware R3 is a disgrace compared to R2.
Sager is cheap because of it is mediocre build quality. I could point out many flaws and things they are missing, but nevermind that.

However, if you want a machine that is cheap and feature good hardware, buy Alienware and Sager. Like mentioned, you get awesome GPU.
GT780DXR have a few features that I like too. LED keyboard made by steelseries that isn`t as flashy and toylike (Alienware). Dynaudio speakers that is the best out there. Aluminum. But you must be willing to pay a premium for it.

New GPUs from AMD/Nvidia arrives in March/April (?) so it is some waiting involved. Ivy bridge from Intel feature a bit less power consumption, and a small speed boost. Speed concerned, you don`t need anything faster than Sandy anyway. Power consumption in a already power hungry gaming laptop? Meh.
BUT, if you`re not in a hurry (ie need to play something asap) I would wait. Me personally hate to buy something and less than a half year something better is released. The new GPUs will be interesting. As an alternative solution you could buy something now and sell it for 80% or something when March arrives. I do that all the time, but I don`t really care too much about money anyways

 

I can sel you my laptop if you want?

lol, however, an SSD disk would work with your system, althrough as you said, if you buy a SATA 3 device, you won't be able to use the full advantage of it, but you will when you get your new laptop. I don't think my laptop supports SATA 3 either.. But still, the read and write 's are much higher and make more laptop overall more responsive..

 

Aren't the new GPUs supposed to be Q1 2012? Or is that desktop only.

I'm kind of in the same boat as the OP, but my computer's a bit better with an i5. It's good for a lot of games, but not BF3/Witcher 2/Metro and I'm really considering getting a Clevo P150H with a 6990. :/

 

Alienware's website?

But you can't get your 16gb of ram.

 

edit; nevermind, that was just too stupid..

 

@tunay, what happened to your laptop?

 

I'm rebulind my laptop my friend. So, I have orderd parts for about 300 USD (exculding, SSD drive I'm going to buy) this week. My laptop is not useable at the moment. But, when I get the new parts and rebuild it again, I swear it is going to be the most awesome Acer 5739G ever

You can follow the progress over at http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/588074-official-acer-aspire-5739g-owners-lounge.html if you are intrested my friend

 

I'm confused about MSI being more expensive. You can get the MSI GT780DXR-200US for 1900 with 1920x1080 Matte screen I7 2670 2.2 ghz, blu-ray burner, programmable keyboard steel series, gtx570m 1.5 gb, 16 gb ddr3 ram, 2x750 wd black in raid 0. You can swap out one ssd 128 gb for around 200 depending on what type of performance your looking for and that would bring you up to 2100 with a nice machine. I own the 099US (I7 2930 2.0 ghz) and for some strange reason, I put in two 128 gb mushkin chronos deluxe in raid 0, running smooth, no issues, which brought me up to 2400, put the 750 black into an external usb 3.0 enclosure and using the other black on another machine.

 

@tonyjanderson1 where did you order your machine? For that spec that's cheap.