P150EM vs P170EM for college

Hi,

I'm buying a new laptop for college and I've been looking at the p150em so far and I'm pretty much sure about the configuration I'm going to get. But I just tried configuring a p170em to the same specs and it turns out it would only cost $16 more.

Can anyone give me their opinion on which one I should get?

Advantages of p170em: bigger screen, aluminum finish, extra hdd (keep internal odd)

Advantages of p150em: lighter/smaller chassis

Would the p170em be too heavy to carry around? If anyone has had experience with both laptops can you give your opinion on the size and weight difference?

Thanks

 

They are pretty much the same besides what you listed. If you're going to be taking it around alot then the NP9150 would be better because of its lighter weight. I do like the NP9170 better mostly because of the two hard drive bays. The best configuration you can do is a SSD as the primary and a HDD as a secondary for storage. Since the NP9150 only has one hard drive bay you cant do that without removing the optical drive or getting an external.

 

I got my NP9170 for college, also. It is everything I could have asked for. It's amazing I've already put use to the secondary HDD bay. Go with the 170.

 

I ordered the 17" from Xotic for college, but I haven't gotten it yet. My reasoning was that I'm unlikely to take anything over 13 inches to class for notes, so I might as well go big for the extra cooling and expandability. This was heavily influenced by the fact that I already have a 12" notebook for note-taking. I'm sure everyone's situation is different, though.

 

It's more of a footprint thing than the weight.

A 15" will fit a regular desk, but a 17" won't.

Take into account the dimensions in college, it becomes a bit annoying when a person next to you is wielding a 17"..

 

I just like the fact that you said "wielding" a 17" lappy. So I'll have to add you some rep for that, good sir.

Also tomorrow I will be doing some battery testing for the NP9150, which I assume will have better battery life than the NP9170. Since they have the same battery, the smaller screen could affect battery life.

 

Is the p170em significantly less portable than the p150em? Looking at the dimensions, it doesn't look like it's that much bigger and heavier.

Also, are there any significant differences in cooling and battery life?

 

The P150EM is supposed to run longer. Smaller screen and tends to NOT have another HDD in.

 

I prefer 15" to 17" since I do travel with my laptop frequently.

As for only one HDD, it's called mSATA. You still get an SSD and a 750GB mechanical drive for storage. Works out great.

 

you might wanna take into account that most bags cant fit a p170, and its 1kg heavier than the p150. 1kg might not be alot but with all the books that you are bringing around, you might wanna consider going lighter.

 

I would suggest the 15".

When you carry around a laptop for long periods of time, you also have to worry about carrying the power brick and the backpack. Both of those will be heavier with a 17". Plus, I just don't like carrying around all that bulk.

If you just HAVE to have the 17", I would highly suggest getting an additional 14" or smaller machine specifically for class/note taking. I use a 14" for going to meetings and it's awesome and less than 5 pounds.

If you check your local classifieds, you can probably find someone selling a used netbook for about $100 or so.

 

I'd personally go with the 15".

I'm in the same situation as you, and I've decided to go with the MSI GT60 (15") over the GT70(17")

17" is just too heavy.

 

They are about 1KG weight difference. If you include the weight difference on the power adapter (AC adapter), they are about 1.20 KG difference.

It is quiet heavy for me to carry a 17.3" gaming laptop in school. However, you will have the benefit of bigger screen and more hard drive bay.

 

I've decided to go for the p170em, I think the pros outweigh the cons.

Thanks to everyone for your help