I need a new (gaming) laptop...

As the title says...

My good old MSI GX740 is beginning to fail on me. I think I am going to need to buy a new laptop soon. My eyes are currently on Clevo P170EM/Sager NP9170 with 7970M.
I know these laptops had some issues with 7970M (Enduro related). Have these issues been solved with new driver releases?

Should I go with 675MX instead of 7970M?

Any other laptop suggestions?

Should I wait for Haswell?

 

Haswell is a few months away, so if you can buy a new one now go for it. Haswell's improvements, while nice, simply most likely aren't worth holding onto a failing laptop for 3-4 months in my opinion.

If you don't want to deal with enduro, grab a P370EM with a single 7970M in it, as it has no switchable graphics, and you can Crossfire it later. I personally am NOT fond of AMD's driver prowess and I consider nVidia's stance on the matter as well as general reliability of their cards (as I hear many stories of AMD mobile cards not being too long lasting) as being worth the extra cash, but the only real competitor to the 7970M's power is the 680M which is quite a bit more expensive, so the choice of video card is yours as long as you know the circumstances. I don't suggest a 675MX over a 7970M in spite of the potential problems with AMD, however.

If you still want to go with the P170EM, go right ahead; I believe enduro isn't as bad as it used to be with current drivers, but the P370EM is pretty much the same machine minus Enduro/Optimus + ability to SLI/Crossfire in the future.

 

Not really. I'd say they've improved, but there is still a chance you'll run into said known issues.

7970m is a better value, but the 675MX will sidestep Enduro's idiosyncrasies.

Haswell is slated for June 2, according to some blogs and online articles, but I don't know if that's official just yet. Whether you can/want to wait for an official release date at least, that's up to you.

 

I have a 675mx and while some more demanding games require me to turn down aa filtering 1 notch, everything else ive thrown at it runs on max settings at full hd. I'm guessing your level of tech is higher than normal, so you'll probably be able to handle any of the remaining enduro issues (especially with the help of this forum)

Nvdia isn't completely issue free either - see the recent issues with Tomb Raider (admittedly due to AMD's tresselation hair effect)

If you are comfortable troublshooting some potential issues, go with the 7970m. Much more powerful card.

If like me, you simply want a rig you can game on without dealing with any issues cutting into said game time, go with the 675mx (you can always upgrade later on with the clevo)

 

I would suggest alienware top one and check ebay there are cheap ones

 

Not sure your price range, but I would suggest going with MSI for quality and price, for the graphics card you wanted I only see MSI GX60 on the site I use.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-079-MS&groupid=959&catid=1828
but this is an AMD cpu and not sure what other specs you required, also I'm in England and you're in Australia, but at least the model should be sold worldwide!