Need Advice

Hey guys, I'm currently looking into getting a new gaming laptop from Sager/Clevo and was looking around for advice. I stumbled upon this forum and hopefully this will be the right place to seek the advice I need.

I'm currently a college freshmen with an old Macbook (nearly about to break down) and it's definitely time for me to invest into a new laptop.

I'm looking for a portable desktop replacement (currently borrowing my friend's 2 year old gaming desktop, not the best hardware but it runs the games I play on all high/max settings) that can replace both my current macbook and friends' gaming desktop.

I'm into gaming, the most intensive games I'll play will probably be Starcraft 2, Battlefield 3 and League of Legends. I'm hoping to find a laptop that will run these all on max settings, if not then decently high settings.

My only requirement is that the screen be 15" and I prefer a battery with above decent/average battery life. Other than that - I'm pretty open to whatever. Price isn't an issue for me, I've saved up enough money in my rainy day fund for this day - so I'm looking to invest in a laptop that will hopefully last me throughout my undergrad years of university.

I've looked around a little bit and I like what I see on Malibal and XoticPC. Especially the Sager NP8150/Clevo P150HM. I've read reviews on the Sager/Clevo laptop, but was wondering about the companies. Is there any real difference between those two? (or should I just go with whatever company sells the parts I want for cheap).

Other than that, I just have a handful of questions that I couldn't really find an answer to on the forum:
- Is it worth getting the thermal paste upgrade? Is it also worth upgrading the wireless cards? (I live in a dorm right now, wireless networks are abundant. My friend told me to invest into a good wireless card if I could for my laptop).
- How is the onboard sound card on the laptops?
- What CPU/GPU/RAM combo should I get?
- What are the differences between the screens? (Matte vs Glossy, NTSC Gamut, etc.,)
- Is it worth investing into an SSD? (I currently have a 3TB External USB2.0 Hard Drive).

Thanks so much for the help guys.

 

Let's start by answering your questions:

1) If you're heavy into gaming then yes get the thermal paste upgrade, i'll keep your CPU and GPU about 5C cooler - rough estimate. If you're going to game get the Bigfoot wireless card, your MS/ping will benefit from it.
2) Onboard sound is passable to good. Not amazing.
3) CPU get 2670QM, GPU get the 6990M - great bang for buck GPU. 8GB of RAM is plenty for gaming, i'd suggest the 1600Mhz but the 1333 will do just fine.
4) Screen differences come down to color depth and if fingerprints drive you bonkers like they do to me.
5) Definitely go the SSD route, you'll never go back to HDD for your boot drive after seeing it on an SSD.

Most Sager resellers will price match, so don't be shy to shop around and send companies official quotes of other companies, worse thing they'll tell you is no. Never hurts to ask.

As far as battery life goes, listen, if you're gaming AND only on battery, you're looking at around 40 minutes to 1 hour of game time before it's time to plug in, and that's pushing it.

 

Thanks so much for helping answer my questions.

As for battery life - I was thinking more or less the fact that I use my laptop to take notes in class. I don't plan to play games without the AC Adapter.

How is the noise on the laptop as well? I don't mind noise, but I'm more or less concerned of having a loud laptop in a lecture hall or using it late at night to type an essay while my roommate is asleep (or gaming).

 

My pleasure. The noise won't be an issue if you're not running an intensive program, at least not enough to disrupt the class.

As far as taking notes in class, you can always dim down the brightness of you monitor and it will greatly increase battery life.

 

Ive got that thing (look in sig) but with a better CPU - I think its worth the extra cash for Starcraft 2 since it relies heavy on the processor. It runs at 3.3ghz in starcraft and outperforms the 2670qm in heavy maps.

Battery life...ive watched a 2:40h movie with reduced brightness. Draw ur conclusions from there.

And buy the laptop! Join the happy gamers like me!

 

everything novah said, look into hybrid drives if you want storage plus good performance for the money! maybe raid 0 of momentus xt 2nd gen will cost you about $500 for 1.5tb with 16gb flash memory!

 

I would personally be careful about a RAID 0 setup with the hybrid drives. I don't now if Seagate has ironed out the bugs yet or not. I have a 500GB XT that worked amazingly at the beginning, but at 6 months I started getting random BSOD. The newer firmware updates helped, but only in that it went from around a dozen crashes per day to around 4.

But if these new ones work, would you still get all the benefits in a RAID array? I would be very interested in seeing some benchmarking numbers.

 

you got BSOD with raid or normal? because I used 1st XT for 6 months with absolutely zero problems! . The 2nd gen xt is 70% faster!

 

I think you would be much better off getting a SSD and putting it in the sata 3 location with a 2nd in the sata 2 slot and forgetting about raid 0.

 

unless you dont need space, you can go with hybrids, but the hybrid prices are super high due to floods, so look for ssd deals this holiday season and maybe get a hybrid later, i got my xt gen 1 for $89 on black friday!

 

I didn't use a RAID, another person suggested it earlier in the thread. And I'm glad that yours work at least!

 

I don't fully understand hybrid drives, I've heard that they have a lot of issues form my friends who are techies - but I don't understand the difference between that, a normal SSD and a hard drive.

I'm thinking of either investing into a SSD with SATA III (probably a small one just to hold all my programs, my files such as movies and pictures will most likely sit on my external HD).

Also, how is the performance from 6990M to GTX 580M, why is there such a price difference? IIRC, they both perform near equivalent in benchmarks.

Is there any discounts/coupons some of the resellers might be able to give me?

Thanks so much again for the help guys, I'm really new at all of this.

 

The 6990 is a much better value for money, the 580 is slightly faster but costs a lot more. Comparison of Laptop Graphics Cards - Notebookcheck.net Tech

Nvidia drivers tend to be a little better. Get up to 5 posts and you can PM the resellers here asking for their deals - many have them posted on their respective websites now too....Black Friday/holiday deals generally lasting up until Christmas.

 

I see, I see.
What about the difference between a reseller and a builder? I was looking between Malibal, XoticPC and Mythlogic and I see their prices are different and are willing to match price, but what's the difference between a reseller and a builder and how can you tell which company is what?

 

Do a quick search on the forums, this question is asked all the time. Some mostly resell Clevo/Sager as they arrive from the factory, others assemble the barebones units themselves and do some additional testing, potentially with some additional cost.

 

Check the Sticky: Clevo Guide 3.0 about the seller and builder question

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...-0-faq-reseller-info-read-before-posting.html

 

Have you thought about getting a tablet for this? (7inch or 10 inch). Or even a Kindle/Nook? They're so much more massively convenient for classes. To be honest, you will be hard pressed to lug even a 15inch gaming notebook around daily. LAN parties sure, but classes, bah (Just a sidenote).

 

There is no tablet that will satisfy a gamers appetite. As for the 15" laptop, I have 2 offices, one at each end of the county, and I have to go to the corporate office once a week. I have my 8150 and carry it in a messenger bag. I use it every day at each office and at home. I did get an extra addapter, keep that at my main office so I don't have to lug that around, but I have no issues taking my lappy everywhere I need to. Non gaming I get close to 3 hours battery without lowering brightness.

As far as noise, unless I just became deaf, mine is very quiet to me. I do clean out the chassis every month so the fans do not get overworked. Temps are great and I have a SSD in the HDD bay, and I removed the BR and put a Scorpio Black in a caddy, so I have speed and storage room. I use an external drive for the rare need for an Optical drive. I love this thing.

 

So I think I've settled on a couple of specs.
Definitely I'm going to drop the extra $30 on the Matte display.

I'm just debating on the processors now - specifically between the 2760QM, 2820QM and the 2860QM. I'm not exactly sure what's the difference -but for a college student like me who's going to be playing games and the most intensive things I'll be doing is probably just editing HD Videos with Sony Vegas and working around in Photoshop. Not sure which one to get.

I'm also debating between the 8GB 1600MHz RAM and the 8GB 1866MHz RAM. Will 8GB be enough RAM? Does the clock speed matter?

Does anyone know the difference between the battery performance and noise between the GTX 580M and the 6990M? I couldn't find that either.

I've considered getting a tablet/netbook - but then again it would be nice if I just have it all in one. I don't mind carrying around a laptop, I feel like I would be able to tolerate it after the first week of class.

I'll probably get a SSD and a BR drive and have my external 3TB USB2 drive. That would be decent for my needs.

I really can't wait to get this laptop, I can just feel it already.

 

2760qm 8gb ddr3 1333mhz with 6990m is the best money can buy right now! and its more than enough for you my friend, 1866mhz ram are you serious?? where is the processor which supports that?

 

The difference in performance going from 2760QM up to the 2820/2860 is only a few percent (~5%). The only real benefit is the unlocked multiplier, but that's limited to the HM67 based models (P170HM for example).

The boost in RAM from 1333 to 1600 or 1866 will give you approximately 5% more performance per step. 8GB is more than enough for gaming. Only if you plan to do serious video editing/encoding/virtual machine type work will you want more than that.

The 580m is slightly better on battery usage at idle than the 6990, but under load both will drain it pretty darn quick.

 

The price jump doesn't warrant the upgrade to the 28xx CPUs. The 2760 will do just fine, even the 2670 is more than enough for gaming.

 

2760 is as much you want to go if you are feeling rich! beyond 2.4ghz is what we call rich man's land!