NP7378 vs NP7358

I am looking for some thoughts on a NP7378 vs an NP7358 laptop.

How good is the default screen on the NP7378 for mostly desktop type work and some gaming and movies?
I know I can upgrade the one on the NP7358 pretty cheap but I also don't know if it is something that I need.
Can I get either of these laptops without an mSATA drive and just install one myself later?

Mostly I would be doing MATLAB calculations on the machine since my current laptop is just not fast enough anymore and some GPGPU work. For the GPGPU I am not that worried about how much it actually accelerates it because I just need it to do some dev work with, I can run the actual simulations later on a supercomputer.

I am currently an engineering student and I graduate in a little over a month but I have been asked to go to germany for additional education and my current laptop just can't handle the kind of work I am doing on it anymore. Mostly what I need is CPU power and the 4810MQ looks like a good option.

This would need be my primary computer since I am not about to have a desktop shipped to germany and it looks like I would need to be pretty mobile there for a while. Most of the workstations I have looked at are far too expensive for me and not really any faster for the work I would be doing. These sager laptops look pretty nice for what I want since I can carry an extra battery with me whenever I need to use it for long away from a power source.

 

Both should actually treat you very well. The 7358 with the backlit keyboard would be my preference between the two especially if you'll be mobile. They're both thin enough it won't be a huge issue, but a 17" laptop just hasn't traveled well with me when I tried but that's just me. As far as the display goes, we typically hear pretty positive remarks on the default screen. For what you'll be doing, one of the upgrades isn't necessary for sure, just a nice added bonus if you're looking for something that will make media pop a bit more or if you'll be looking to use that extra gamut for showing a visual presentation on the display itself. I'd say focus on the other hardware first and if you find yourself with some extra budget and wouldn't mind a little nice display go for it!

 

Thanks a lot for your response. I will just stay with the default screen on the laptop them since mostly I will be reading text and graphs. I doubt I would ever do a presentation off the laptop screen.

Can I just buy an mSATA drive later and install it in the laptop? I have a regular 1 TB drive in my current laptop and it looks like it would fit in these laptops so my plan was to use the drive the system ships with for windows, install my other drive for linux and if disk IO is a problem later I could get an mSATA hard drive and install it.

 

Yeah, there would be nothing stopping you from installing down the road.

 

Thanks for you help. Now all I have to do is get the money together to order it and hopefully that will happen soon.

 

You're very welcome, be sure to let us know if any other questions come up.