Help me decide between the NP9130, NP9150, and NP9170.

Hopefully no one is going to be annoyed by my new topic.

But nonetheless, I'm stuck on several issues. Anyway, before that, I want to mention that I'm getting the computer for programming purposes, everyday use, some gaming, and I also want to get into game modding. I'm looking to teach myself a lot of programming so I can get hired in the next half year. This machine will serve for my professional purposes too.

1) How nice is the Steel Series keyboard? How nice is the stock keyboard on each?

2) I don't know about the 95% Gamut screen anymore. Apparently for gaming and general use, a stock screen is still beautiful. And without calibration, the 95% Gamut screens apparently aren't worth the money. Not sure if I want to deal with the calibration issue. So perhaps people can give me their experience with these screens?

Also, the 9170 doesn't have such screen upgrades so I'd go with the STOCK 9170 screen. How is it?

3) I want to play the Mass Effect trilogy and eventually Skyrim. These are the most visually demanding games I own right now, as far as I'm aware. I also want to play FFXIV Online in the future. So would it be ideal to buy the 7970 or should I just stick with the stock 670? The stock seems to have quite the performance but I'm unsure.

4) For Eclipse, Visual Studio 2010 Professional, FL Studio, is the stock CPU on each okay? Seems more than enough but I'd like some situations where someone would WANT a CPU upgrade.

5) The general consensus, as far as I'm aware, is that the IC Diamond paste isn't necessary. Thoughts? Is this still applicable?

6) Now, I really like the aluminum finish on the 9170 and it seems quite sturdy. I heard the rubberized finish on the 9150 is annoying but my Asus G73 (from Best Buy a while back) had a similar finish and it was nice as long as I cleaned it now and then. I heard the 9130 has a nice sturdy plastic finish. I like that, and I don't mind the backlit keyboard. But I'm unsure about the 9130 because I do want the 7970, even though I probably wouldn't need it.

The stock 9130 seems like the best option, even if I don't get the screen upgrade. That's my biggest problem right now - I'm very unsure about the 95% Gamut screen. How can I calibrate it on my own? Do the profiles online work fine?

7) Is the stock i5 processor for the 9130 sufficient or is the $70 upgrade to the i7 ideal?

Edit - Thanks for all your time. I'm going to keep my questions on all three models to this topic so I appreciate anyone who will help me.

 

Don't have much experience with the 17' (looking at 15' myself). But in my case, I decided the 9130 is all I need - don't need the backlit kb, and the 670m should be enough for my needs, I will only play ME3 an Skyrim, and I don't even mind tuning down the graphics a bit. You can upgrade it to the 7970m, if you also get a 180w power supply.

Basically, you have to decide if the backlit keyboard and rubberized finish is worth it.

 

Well said.

I just noticed that the i5 to i7 upgrade for the NP9130 also gets me a free upgrade to 16 gigs of 1600 RAM, as well as a free HDD upgrade to 750 gigs at 7200 RPM. That is very tempting.

I'm unsure about the optical drive, though. I was thinking of getting RID of the optical drive and eventually buying an SSD and moving the HDD to the optical drive and using the SSD as my main. Thoughts? I think the 60 gig SSD is a bit too expensive right now. I'd use it for my OS and programs / games. If I get the 750 gig HDD upgrade and then put an SSD into the optical drive, can I install windows onto the SSD in the optical drive and use it as my boot drive?

 

2 - For anything but art and video editing, stay with the stock screen. It takes hacking to get the 95% screen to stay calibrated in games.

3 - I don't know what your monetary situation is, but I went with the 7970 just because it has such a great price erformance ratio. If you can handle the early driver issues and a little extra cost, it's a huge boost.

4 - FL Studio is the most intensive of the three, but you'll only run into problems if you're doing live work. You'll see only tiny boosts in compilers for the $160 extra for the 3720.

5 - The stock paste jobs are usually really bad according to people around the forums. Your best bet (if you can handle opening the computer) is buying it with stock, and getting your own thermal compound to re-apply.

6 - This comes down to personal preference. I've never had a "soft-touch" product last more than a year before melting into this nasty, flaky stuff. My brother has had his G73 for a couple of years now without a single issue. I can't speak to the quality of either finish, you should judge for yourself.

7 - The i7 will give you a significant boost in terms of parallel processing stuff, since it has 4 cores instead of 2. If you plan on doing video editing, 3D rendering, or very large music production, this can make a huge difference.

 

If you get the 150, the optical bay is sata2 and the main bay is sata3, so the ssd would go in the main bay. It's very common to ditch the optical and have a decent sized ssd for the os and programs, and an hdd for data.

 

Can anyone comment on the 9130's plastic finish and its durability?

Also, what about the stock wireless card versus the Intel Ultimate n 6300? I'm trying to find reviews that compare the two but no luck so far. It's not too expensive so if the upgrade is better, I'd definitely consider that.

 

From what I heard, the plastic is pretty durable. It would last a few years no problem, probably more.

As for the Intel N6300, in a nutshell: astonishing range, but you lose integrated Bluetooth.

 

1) From what I understand from other threads, there isn't a noticeable difference between the two. Also the Steel Series KB is mapped differently and you would need to hack your way around it. This is why I dropped that option from my build.

2) You might want to check this out: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/674980-why-high-gamut-screens-not-suited-gamers.html

3) Having played Skyrim.. I would say the 7970m will certainly wow you compared to the 670. You will certainly see a huge difference in FPS and quality. If your concerned about playability the 670 is sure to run the game, but youd have to turn down the effects a bit. I would think it will still freeze at times even on medium settings.

4) Personally I went for I7, but the I5 is capable.

5) If you 7970m I heavily recommend the IC thermal paste, I would not skip this option. Unless your very skilled and do it yourself.

6) If the finish is annoying you can apply a skin to your laptop, or for extended use plug in an external keyboard.. problem solved.


7) If you've got an extra USD 70 id say go for it.. but I dont think youll miss it if you dont.

 

kismat I would rate the 670m a bit higher though. If the various reviews are accurate, Skyrim should be perfectly smooth on high settings, probably a couple of dips in heavier areas, but no big deal.

 

Thanks kismat. I did see the thread. That's why I'm now unsure about the screen upgrade. That $90 can go elsewhere, especially if the stock screen is still beautiful.

As far as the 7970m goes...it seems the 670m benchmarks are VERY respectable. I haven't really played PC games much so I'm unsure how desirable it is to have 60fps as much as possible but I guess I'll consider the 7970m. I'm leaning towards the 9130 right now so that GPU isn't an option unless I buy the power supply too. Which would drive the price up to the 9150 range anyway, right?

 

1) Obviously, I have only one keyboard in my NP9150. I just got the stock one. I've heard complaints about it, with keys being hard to push, but I have no problems. The keys take less force to push down than any desktop keyboard I have ever owned. With that said, I do believe the NP9150/NP9170 and the NP9130 have different stock keyboards, so I don't know what the NP9130 would be like

2) I have the stock matte screen on the NP9150. It's beautiful and very sharp. I haven't done any calibration attempts or anything. There is a slight lack of definition between light colors for me in Battlefield 3, but I haven't messed around with in-game settings to see if I can fix that and I don't know whether the 95% screen will fix that if you can't use the profile in-game.

3) The 7970M is a fantastic card and I would say it is worth the upgrade. There are issues with drivers, but it runs games very well. I haven't managed to try Skyrim yet, but it runs BF3 on ultra settings and no AA at about 40 FPS, so I assume it can run Skyrim.

4) You definitely want an i7. The stock CPU in the NP9130 is only a dual core. The 3610QM is more than enough for anything you will be doing. Yes, you will see faster performance with better CPUs, but that extra performance is not worth the extra couple hundred dollars you will have to pay.

5) Not worth it. I have the 7970M and the stock paste and my temperatures never go over 78 C in Battlefield 3. I ran a Kombustor test with the 7970M at about 90% utilization and the max temperature was 81 C. These temperatures are more than sufficient, and I haven't even tried to do any of the temperature mods yet, like putting foil tape between gaps on the heatsinks. If you get your laptop and find the temperatures are too high, then it is easy to apply yourself. And about $25 cheaper.

6) Again, in my own experience, the rubberized finish is fine. The only time it becomes problematic is on the touch pad. For some reason, they thought putting a rubber coating on the touch pad was a good idea. But after a while, you will get used to it. And I usually use an external mouse anyway.

7) I said it in #4 and I will say it again. The $70 upgrade to the i7 3610QM is definitely worth the price. No need to go higher than that, though.

Extra) When making my choice, I was choosing between the NP9130 and the NP9150. With all the upgrades I wanted in both, the NP9150 was more expensive, but it wasn't a big difference. Maybe $200 (thank the 7970M for that). Since I am already spending over $1000 on a laptop, I decided the extra couple hundred dollars was worth the price of the 7970M, backlit keyboard, and the rubberized finish.

 

Thanks a lot!

I'm actually leaning towards a 9150 or a 9170 now. Mostly because the 7970 is so attractive. I'm watching xoticpc's comparison video between the stock 9150 and the souped up 9150 and the performance gain is just incredible.

I'm thinking about getting a stock 9150 with the 7970. Would be around $1470 if I downgrade to 1333 RAM. If not, then it's around $1516.

It's good that I went from three options to two, though.

But yeah, that's a few hundred bucks more than a stock 9150 and even a bit more than a stock 9130 but it seems like a beast of a laptop. :O

 

Yeah, if you can swing the 7970m, go for it. I think the 15" screens are much nicer than the 17" ones too. The only benefit you get from the 17" is of course the larger screen, two internal HDD bays at SATA III, and a brushed metal finish. Otherwise everything else is common even the keyboard.

Check out the size comparisons:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...evo-p170em-size-comparison-2.html#post8499438

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...evo-p170em-size-comparison-3.html#post8551741

I just wish Clevo would offer the option of the brushed aluminum on the P150EM.

 

1) How nice is the Steel Series keyboard? How nice is the stock keyboard on each?
- I'm liking the stock keyboard. I know some have issues with it, but I enjoy hearing the clicking of the keys, and the depth and pressure needed since I type furiously anyway. The backlit is awesome, the letters and numbers are very well lit.

2) I don't know about the 95% Gamut screen anymore. Apparently for gaming and general use, a stock screen is still beautiful. And without calibration, the 95% Gamut screens apparently aren't worth the money. Not sure if I want to deal with the calibration issue. So perhaps people can give me their experience with these screens?
- Disagree completely with the opinion above. The 95% out of the box, stock, is many times better than any screen I've ever used. Without question for me, I'd rather play games with an uncalibrated 95% than any other screen I've used so far.

3) I want to play the Mass Effect trilogy and eventually Skyrim. These are the most visually demanding games I own right now, as far as I'm aware. I also want to play FFXIV Online in the future. So would it be ideal to buy the 7970 or should I just stick with the stock 670? The stock seems to have quite the performance but I'm unsure.
- Stock 670 is more than enough for those games. 7970M plays em well, I'm impressed by it's performance. But the 670M will perform very well for those games.

4) For Eclipse, Visual Studio 2010 Professional, FL Studio, is the stock CPU on each okay? Seems more than enough but I'd like some situations where someone would WANT a CPU upgrade.
- No way any of those will fully utilize the 3610QM.

5) The general consensus, as far as I'm aware, is that the IC Diamond paste isn't necessary. Thoughts? Is this still applicable?
- Why not? MicroCenter here sells them in store for $6. Takes about 5 minutes to apply. So why not just buy it and do it yourself? If anything, it's fun!

6) Now, I really like the aluminum finish on the 9170 and it seems quite sturdy. I heard the rubberized finish on the 9150 is annoying but my Asus G73 (from Best Buy a while back) had a similar finish and it was nice as long as I cleaned it now and then. I heard the 9130 has a nice sturdy plastic finish. I like that, and I don't mind the backlit keyboard. But I'm unsure about the 9130 because I do want the 7970, even though I probably wouldn't need it.
- I am a G73JH owner. And I like the rubberized finish, I prefer it over the aluminum. The NP9150EM's rubberized finish isn't as good as the G73's, there are some bumps but it looks great. The matte look is fitting for this nothing but performance notebook.

7) Is the stock i5 processor for the 9130 sufficient or is the $70 upgrade to the i7 ideal?
- For your needs, the stock i5 will do you well. I don't see why you would need more. There will be plenty who say you need i7, but I suggest you do your own research, read the reviews and analysis of some tech sites who go through the benefits of different CPUs.

Since you are using your notebook for other uses, why not ask the opinion of those who share your interests and what their experience is with hardware?