Buy advice

So I'm going to uni in a month or so and I need a good desktop replacement notebook. Started out by taking a look at Alienware, however it's way too expensive and I'm looking for a dual card solution on a smaller, 17 inch screen.

Now I found out about this laptop, which with a i7-970 and a dual 6990M is simply a beast.

However I will be moving it around so, how's portability for this device? Also battery power, how long is this going to last? I'm hoping for something between 2 and 3 hours.

Also, if this doesn't fit my standards, would love some advice on what does.

Thanks.

 

For what you are looking at the X7200, battery life is going to be measured in minutes, especially with two cards.

If you want some decent battery life, I would look into something like a P170HM as it will still be 17", but it will only have one card, but it will be lighter and have a bit better battery life.

 

Hi, welcome to NBR!

If you mean the x7200, that thing looks pretty massive to me.

As mythlogic pointed out, the battery on the x7200 is a glorified UPS system in case of power outage, giving you time to shut the laptop down.

Well, first things first. What would you like to accomplish on your laptop? Desktop replacement is actually possible with something smaller and lighter, like the P150HM. The configuration in my signature is powerful enough to rival some very respectful gaming desktops, and if others are not lying, it should be able to give 2 hours of battery life with low brightness, wifi off, power saver mode, etc.

Second, you say you will be moving it around a lot, but is this moving across long distances? In my campus, buildings are far apart, so I need to walk for several minutes between class breaks. If you mean moving it around a lot in an apartment, then the x7200 will be okay.

 

What were you planning to do with the machine? If you were talking about the x7200, it's more portable than a desktop but still much larger than most laptops. As far as portability, if you plan to carry it around with you, say, at school- then it's not going to be a great choice. If it's just to move around inside your house or take with you when you drive somewhere, then that's totally different.

Battery life is going to be probably around 30 minutes or less depending on power settings, so it'll be far short of the 2-3 hours you want.

I'd say check out these benchmarks for a single card:

AMD Radeon HD 6990M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

If they look good to you, then you may be great with a P170HM/P150HM with a single card. Battery life on both those models would fall between 2-3 hours as well. (Not to mention that they're far more portable)

 

alienware m18x is the best machine this round by far.

relatively equally configured they run pretty much the same price with these upgrades;

-6990m xfire
-3 year warranty
-no dead pixels (alienware replaces screen if you are not happy with it)
-500gb or more hard drive space
-6gb or more ram

place your order over the phone with dell rep and it is easy to get a 5-10% discount to cover the taxes plus free bag and free next day air shipping.

why m18x is better?;

-full size number pad
-illuminated keyboard
-larger screen and same weight as x7200
-5-6 hour battery life when running under integrated gpu mode
-quieter system at idle and light tasks.
-hdmi-in port
-better sound system, extremely loud
-dual microphones
-webcam turns on automatically when requested by software and does not require to be turned on through media button.
-does not require 2 power supplies when taxing the system (psu is 330w)
-better media keys, button-based, not the screwy touch-sense.
-battery status light indicators on battery itself.

unless you need the quadro card for 3dsmax / maya, or the alienware look might offend your clients, i do not see a clear reason to go with clevo this round.

 

I think everyone has addressed your questions so on another side note if you are able to, any Sager Branded machine right now is at the lowest prices they have ever been with the $100 Instant Discount on orders over $1500 until 9/6/11.