Laptop Purchase

Hello, I'm looking to make a purchase on either a 15.6" or 17.3" Model in about one month. I would like the various resellers here to quote me their information(including military discount, full up-front cash purchase, shipping time and cost to California, and any other offers) regarding the following builds. I can't seem to send PMs, so email can work for private discussion.

15.6"-
15.6" 1920 x 1080 FHD LED AUO B156HW01 V.7 95% NTSC Glossy Display
i7-2630QM
8G RAM
AMD® Radeon HD 6990M 2GB GDDR5
120GB Intel® (510) SATA III 6Gb/s SSD2 Drive
500GB 7200rpm 2.5" SATA 300(Instead of Optical Drive)
Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium; 64-bit
Intel® 6300 Ultimate-N 802.11A/B/G/N LAN Card
IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound, CPU & GPU

17.3"-
17.3" 1920 x 1080 FHD LED Backlit 120Hz 3D 72% NTSC Matte Display
i7-2630QM
8G RAM
GTX 485M 2GB GDDR5 or GTX 580M 2GB GDDR5
120GB Intel® (510) SATA III 6Gb/s SSD2 Drive
500GB 7200rpm 2.5" SATA-300
6X Blu-ray Reader 8X DVD+/-R DL Super-Multi Drive
Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium; 64-bit
Intel® 6300 Ultimate-N 802.11A/B/G/N LAN Card
IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound, CPU & GPU

The 15.6" model is pretty much solid reguarding what I would want, whereas the 17.3" model has some wiggle room(mostly the gpu and screen) where a special deal might sway me. I would prefer PMs if its possible, but like I said, I can't seem to initiate with them.
Also, if any non-reseller here has any advice or reccomendations reguarding my builds, feel free to chime in.

 

Hi, you need at least 5 forum posts before you can send and receive PM's.

 

Ok, I'll fix that. ty

 

5 post 10 char XD

 

Both builds look decent.

I personally would, if you can of course, bump the CPU's up one level. While its not really going to help games with the recent refresh intel did its a decent bump in speed.

On the GPU part, both laptops can take the same GPUs. If you are going for 485M for example you can still upgrade to 580M down road if you want, though not much of a bump, and maybe the next cards when they come out.

If I had to pick between 485M and 6990 I would do 6990 as I think its a hair better and both seem to be same price. The 580vs6990 I would do 580 but that's a big price jump.

Otherwise your builds are good. One thing to keep in mind is with 6300 intel card you get no bluetooth. If you don't do anything network intensive on your LAN like file copy etc you can use the 6230 to get bluetooth. Its a good card and will have no problem maxing your internet connection out, heh.

The main difference between 6230 vs 6300 is 6230 is 2 antenna and has bluetooth and max speed is 300Mbps, vs 6300 is max speed 450Mbps (IF your router supports that even, a lot don't) and it has 3 antennas. Not many people in the US can get internet near that fast so I say both cards are a good way but I myself went for bluetooth option just in case I wanted it. I like built in vs a USB dongle.

The only other thing to consider really is weight/size and raid. The big brother is bigger, can do raid and have more HDD while the 15" is smaller, no raid and less HDD.

You are in the boat I was in. I decided to go for smaller though. Only thing I wish was different was a little more powerful PSU on the 15" would make me feel better but so far shes going great.

Oh also the bigger one can of course do 3D if you get that model....

Good luck though. You will be happy either way though and order soon before the discounts end...

 

I think you still need to wait for the system to update at midnight, before your PM's will be enabled.

 

Yeah, it looks like PMs are working now.
I'll be fairly busy during the week, but I should be able to check my messages during lunch hours.

 

I just got one for my wife, its the 15.6 with a 485. She is very happy with it, and if you are ever going to take it anywhere with you I would get the 15.6 over the 17. You will probably use a 2nd monitor on your desk anyway so you wont miss the screen difference.

 

@Bryanu
1) I plan to use the laptop for gaming mostly. The cpu seems sufficient for that.
2) I would choose the 6990m for the 17" if it supported the 120hz screen, but I have to go with nvidia if I want that screen.
3)As for the wireless card, I wanted the highest capability to pick up signal.


The big draw to the 17" for me is the 120hz screen, as I've read its pretty nice for gaming/movies.

 

You look all set It's an excellent machine for your price range.

As others have said, the 6300 has NO bluetooth. Then again, a dongle is only $0.50, so that's no issue. I haven't even started using bluetooth with my machine, lol.

Mr. Mysterious

 

QFT

. . . . . . .

 

Those systems look pretty good and along with the one i am thinking about getting (the 17" one)

I like my screen space so the bigger the screen the better. Though i don't like the almost 9 pounds of the laptop itself. I used to have an old sager model back in the beginning of 2000 and that thing was heavy!

David

 

Is it likely that the next iteration of laptop graphics cards will be compatible with the current sagers?

 

There's no way to know at the moment. We'd all love the MXM standard to stay the same, but ultimately it's up to Nvidia (who control MXM-SIG) whether the standard stays the same or changes.

 

Let's all keep our fingers crossed..

I want to try the 9990m!