Between the 180HM and the 170HM

So, I've finally made up my mind about a lot of things but now I can't decide between these two laptops. Basically trying to decide between the Veda and the Satori.

The reason I want the 180HM is the well priced 6990m Crossfire.=1,875.98
I figure if some games don't recognize the dual gpu, I still have my preferred graphics card loading it. Also, if there is microstuttering, I can disable (or just remove one). Lastly, when I upgrade the GPU, 6990m's currently go for 400-500 dollars each on ebay, and laptop gpu's are rare to come by.

The reason I want the 170HM is the 120Hz 3D screen with the 580m.=1,968.13 (price with RAM, hopefully I'd be able to order it w/o)
nVidia makes much better drivers than Radeon. Since I'll be playing both new games and old, and with the 580m I'll definitely be able to get in the range of 100-120 fps.

With both, I would get the 2760QM, 1 500 HDD, no RAM if possible (have tons of 1600 laptop ram), no OS, stock thermal, stock disk drive (yay for buying an external) and I'll put in one Patriot 60GB SSD for booting and a few games.

Advice would be appreciated.

 

Well, depends on what you want. My last desktop system was xfire and the microstutter was terrible. I had the somewhat rare setup 4850X2 x 2 (two dual gpu cards, so 4 gpus total). Could have been driver related, but I will never go xfire again after that experience.

Its tough to say. I would focus on benchmarks for the games you care about the most. Also the 2760QM is overkill if all you care about is gaming. The 2630QM is more processor than you'll ever need. If the driver support is good for the games you care about, the 6990Ms in xfire will easily beat a single 580M... buuuut... the 580M is a safer choice for consistent performance. Research = best bet to get something you're totally happy with. Not much advice I know, but what I am saying is with these types of made to order laptops you have too look at what your needs are and the games you plan to play.

 

I love my 6990's. I was hesitant at first because of the same fears. However I have yet to experience any micro stutter in any games. 3dmark 11 is the only program I've seen it in. Nvidia does provide better driver support but you end up paying $300+ for a 580m over a single 6990m. Don't get me wrong though. I love Nvidia too. I have an desktop with 560ti's in SLI.

I chose the i7-2760qm for video encoding. If you want to run 1600mhz ram you have to have a i7-2720qm or above for the memory controller to use the ram at full speed.

 

FYI the human eye cannot see anywhere near 100fps.

 

^ This.
Unless you want it to be future proof, there is no reason to go as high as that.

 

There is no proven limit to the number of fps the human eye can see.
Anything under 46 fps "strains the eye"
I would probably go with the two 6990s, as you can get much higher frame rates (Assuming you aren't concerned with battery life or mobility).

 

for 18.4inches are too bulky, I had toshiba qosmio x505, 17inches are good. if dual graphics is a must, then you can get the 18 inches. I dont think 2.2quads are an overkill like dante316 was saying, there are a lot benchmarks available online where the games are cpu bottleneck, if you paying $2000 for a laptop, $50 cpu upgrade is not where you want to be talking about overkills! 1600mhz 16gb rams really? good luck

 

also i dont think 30fps is playable, I like 45-60 as my standard! 100 is overkill for sure!

 

Well, I could downgrade the CPU and buy a new one in a few months if there are problems. My problem is that I would be playing games like GTA4, a few RTS along with GPU intensive games, so I'm worried that a 2630QM would suffer in those conditions.

I know 3D is gimmicky, but I don't think I'd have another opportunity to get a 3D or 120Hz monitor any time soon. Also, I kind of need SOME battery life.

But mobility wise, I don't feel 18.4" would be all that big. I am a large person. When my hands are comfortably stretched, they span 19".

 

Battery life on the P180HM is like 1 hour, P170HM goes for about 2.5 hours.
The CPU shouldn't really limit you regardless, but I would still go with at least a 2670.

 

Says who? I get 2 hours+

 

I get you are tall and all. I am 6'1 and 180 pounds too.18.4 inches look nice, like i said if you want dual graphics card get it, otherwise get 17inch and buy a 27/24inch 1080p led screen. the diff in prices are like $500 to $600 and if you want to add dual graphics its more!also there is 4 pounds extra weight. you can save a $1000 by not getting the 18inch wait a year, sell the the laptop you are buying and get a newer model with 28nm parts in it. i highly recommend 17inch but if you have the money!

 

ok malibal.com has really good deals on veda for amd graphics cards so you are looking at $400 - 500 premium for dual graphics!