New Clevo P170EM!?

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Are you sometimes annoyed by screen reflection when using a laptop? If you do I suggest changing the screen to Matte finish

 

I second the matte coating. I just went from glossy to matte myself. Also, the CPU choice... any reason why you're going for the 3820QM? Everything else looks fine.

 

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This is a similar setup to the one i ordered. I will stick to the glossy myself because I use my laptop indoors mainly. Overall looks good.

 

The cost of a 512GB M4 SSD has gone down a lot lately so I would look into that to make sure. Also, you will find you can run VM machines perfectly fine on a slightly slower CPU. The cost to performance ratio of the top end CPU is a complete waste of money and going down one will not even be noticeable. How many VM machines will you be hosting and what OS's?

I would downgrade the CPU and use the extra to upgrade to a 512GB SSD.

 

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I think we need more info on what you intend on using the machine for, and do you want the best bang for your buck or best performance regardless of cost. Many of the options you've chosen aren't really necessary in my opinion.

The 3820 is a waste of money unless you absolutely need the 8mb cache, slight clock increase, and more overclocking options. Most people will say to stick with the 3610 for the best bang for the buck. I went with the 3720 for the slight clock boost, and it also allows for some sort of virtualization that you can't do with the 3610 (I don't use it though). Also, the 3720 allows for some overclocking (not as much as the 3820), while the 3610 doens't allow for any (someone please correct me if I am wrong).

Blue ray writer is also a waste of money, unless you are really into blu rays. I would get the stock dvd player, or if you don't feel the need for a disc reader, get the hard drive caddy so you can put an extra hdd or ssd in later. If you aren't sure, just skip it because you can always get an external blu ray writer in the future.

I have the 90% high gamut glossy screen, which is great. One of the first things friends/coworkers have said when I showed them my new laptop was along the lines of, "Wow the screen is amazing". And it really is. When I compare it to any of my friends laptops (anything from asus g55 to macbooks), it looks much better. And as for glare, I do most of my work indoors and away from windows so it isn't a problem. Of course the glare will be noticeable if you plan on using this thing outdoors, in which case consider the matte. I've heard a lot of good things about the matte screen. If your reseller only offers the stock glossy or a matte, I'd take a matte, but if you can get the higher color gamut glossy upgrade, take it.

That 128gb SSD is too small. I have the Samsung 830 256gb. My first SSD, sooooooo much better/faster than the hdd. Unfortunately I'm already 2/3 full. I would have gotten a 512gb but it was a little out of my price range at the time. Thankfully I also have the 750gb hdd. The crucial m4s can be found at great prices, so I'd get the 256 or 512 of that if I were you. Also, the hybrid hdd is a waste of money. I almost got one as well. But it is kind of pointless since you can install an mSata and use that in conjunction with your standard hdd. You'll be able to use the Intel RST with your mSata for caching with the hdd, which is basically the same as the hybrid drive you want, plus you'll have the left over space on the mSata to use for additional storage. I don't have an mSata myself, but I plan on getting one in the future when prices are more reasonable.

I'd take the 7970m over the 680m because the price difference/performance increase combo isn't worth it to me. I know there's been a lot of talk about the underutilization of the 7970m, but I've been having a great experience with mine. I do hope AMD or clevo fixes this underutilization, but otherwise I'm playing Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, The Secret World, Max Payne 3, and Crysis 2 at max settings with little frame rate issues.

EDIT: Ok I see you want virtualization, so then go with the 3720 at the least, and if you have money to blow get the 3820qm. Although I know many would argue that the performance increase from 37 to 38 isn't worth the price. Money would be better spent on a bigger ssd or the 680m.

 

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