Is it balanced P170HM?

Been thinking of replacing my really old laptop for long time now. Had really bad experience with Kobalt UK. Placed an order in May and got my refund sorted in September. Well I consider now myself one of the lucky ones, since the company went under.

I really like to have the 17" screen without any kind of mirror effect. Lots of space and I only have to take my laptop away once or twice a year, if I have to work away. Still it's really rear.

17.3" Matte Full HD (AUO B173HW01 V.5). Hopefully from AUO.
Processor i7-2760QM
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY
1.5GB nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560M - DirectX® 11
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
ARCTIC COOLING MX-3 HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
GIGABIT LAN & INTEL® CENTRINO® ADVANCED-N 6230 inc BLUETOOTH
WIN 7 Pro

I'm not heavy gamer but still really tempted to have a go time to time. I know that high end cards (580/6990) can be really loud. What I've been thinking is to have a decent card and not to try to max it out. How are they when you just doing some document work and surfing.
I know that power brick is big.

It just seems to me that P170 could be the best compromise in looks and performance from all the laptops on current the market (well maybe HP Elitebook & Dell Precision as well in looks).

Any comments appreciated.
Thanks.

 

would add a SSD

 

My 6990M sits quiet and idle when I'm doing basic surfing and even auto-cad work. I really never hear the fan unless I'm doing gaming, except for these random rev-ups but I think it's from the CPU fan and it may be a BIOS issue? I'm still trying to confirm what this is.

I'm also very surprised at how cool the keyboard is after a few hours of use, my old asus G1 got so hot you could hardly keep your hands on it.

 

It's just I have set myself a budget for now. Thinking of adding SSD in the future. Like a little upgrade. Just wondering how complicated that would be? Or should I take an SSD now (80GB INTEL® 320 SERIES SSD or 120GB INTEL® 320 SSD)? I'm not really convinced in their reliability and for how long they would last. That's another reason to go with good old HDD.

I just would liked it to run for next 3 or 4 years.

 

Not difficult at all! Check out the disassembly guide: P17xHM_ESM.zip (via user theriko)

 

Having one of the more powerful cards isn't going to make the machine run louder. when you put the GPU under heavy load, the fans are going to ramp up heavily, even with the GTX 560M.

 

I was able to get a 64gb crucial M4 for like $100, so when the laptop came I just moved the stock 500gb one to the space under the dvd drive and dropped the SSD into the main bay. Took a total of maybe 5 minutes, but I did it before an OS was even on it rather than later and trying to move data over. With windows 7 ultimate and a bunch of basic stuff, the drive still has around 25-30gb free still.

 

I can see what you saying but it's all just comes down to one major factor - money.

 

I think it really comes down to buying it with the best possible GPU you can possibly afford right away, that part is something that will cost you a fortune to upgrade yourself later. I got mine pretty bone stock with a 6990m because I can upgrade every other part myself for about the same or less than the options by resellers, including the screen.

 

Thanks guys taking time to reply.

Here's the well said quote from notebookcheck.net about 560m.

"The performance of the GeForce GTX 560M varies depending on the resolution. Although the graphic card usually has enough power to run games with high details and quality improvement features (AA and AF) in the HD+ format (1600x900), it lacks enough juice to deliver the same results in Full-HD format (1920x1080). Anti-aliasing with demanding games like Crysis 2 are out-of-reach, and so are maximum details.

Still, users who enjoy gaming and are not willing to shell out more than 1500 Euros for a notebook, will find the GeForce GTX 560M the answer to their prayers. The graphic card deliver good performance as a mobile companion. Passionate gamers, on the other hand, should consider paying more and getting a high-end GeForce GTX 570M or Radeon HD 6970M. The fastest gaming platforms currently are available from the Clevo-Barebone providers."

Well now you can have 580m/6990m.

I consider rather spending on SSD.

Thanks again.

 

If money is a factor, you're wasting a bunch of it on your CPU choice.

 

It's just seems to me this upgrade for me is more affordable in future proofing aspects. Computers need carry out more and more processing on everyday basis and I really would like to start to learn some CAD.

How you Kevin using SSD and HDD combination. Could you enlighten me a bit.
Thanks.

 

On the CPU topic, the problem with your logic is that the 276 costs $160 over the 267, and only brings a 10% increase to the table. That isn't at all future proofing or economical.

On the drives, I bought the SSD, then moved the default HDD over to the secondary bay. I use it to hold all of my data and music, while the SSD only holds the OS and whichever games I'm playing at the time. That $160 would bring a massive performance gain to your system, if it was spent on an SSD instead.

 

Maybe he's comparing it to the 2630, if that is the case the increase is over 20% and that is a lot in my book.

If you think you'll use that much processing power then get it. Check your CPU usage when doing the most extensive task that you regularly do, if it is around 90% or more and you notice a slow down then by all means get a fast processor.