Questions about the P170HM and resellers

Hi guys, I am pretty new to all this. This will be my first gaming PC purchase so bear with me please.

So after looking all over the internet I have pretty much narrowed down my choice to the P170HM. I am now trying to figure out what the specs I want are and from who I want to buy it from.

This topic should give you an idea of what I am looking for:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/wha...king-gaming-laptop-already-have-one-mind.html

1. I noticed that Malibal has a promotion for the 120hz Matte screen, but you would need an nvidia card. The thing is, I was going to go for the 6990m as it is 200 dollars cheaper than the 580m with comparable performance and better than the 485m.
My question is, is there a big difference in the default glossy 60hz screen and the 120hz Matte screen? Having 3D capability is not a major concern for me. I really have no idea as to what this "gamut" stuff means and what the color difference between glossy and matte is. Is it really noticeable? Would it be worth it to downgrade to a 485m to get the matte screen? Currently using a Lenovo T61 with a 1650x1050 resolution screen.

2. How overclockable is the P170M with either the 6990m or the 485m and the base processor? From what I have seen, I'll probably be hitting the 70s and 80s in terms of temp while gaming. Would it be worthwhile to invest in a separate cooling device?

3. Is it worth it to get the IC diamond 7 thermal paste option? How long does this thermal paste last? Would I be better off just getting some myself and just applying it myself?

4. As I understand it, if I get an ati card with my laptop, I can only swap it out for another ati card and same with nvidia. My question is where exactly do you guys find these cards and how difficult is it to swap? I did a quick newegg search for the 580m and got "regal queen adult costume," but no gfx card. I cant seem to find a location to buy mobile gfx cards.

5. I noticed both xoticpc and malibal have specials on RAM. Since the 8 gigs are 4 SODIMM, so i get 4x2GB RAM which takes up all the RAM slots right? Also, 8GB of RAM should be more than enough to play any modern game right?

6. It seems that the xoticpc version carries a 5 dead pixel warranty while the malibal and lpc do not, how big of a deal is this warranty? Is getting dead pixels a major problem? Currently Im leaning towards a Malibal machine as its cheaper and I might want to opt for the matte screen.

7. How well does RAID 0 work with 2x 500GB hdds? How much of a performance boost does it give? As I understand it, it splits your file between the 2 HDDs. Is there a high risk of failure?


Thanks guys, thats all for now. Hoping to be purchasing a laptop within the next day or two.

 

Its scales the sequential read/write speed linearly and I've had 2 WD Scorpio Blue 500gb hdd's in raid 0 for the past 2.5 years with zero failures or issues.

From my old benchmarks:
1 x 500 gb -> 55mb/s read and 50 mb/s write
2 x 500 gb in raid 0 -> ~100 mb/s read and ~90 mb/s write

People have hit as high as 20% oc's on 6990's with ICD7+Laptop coolers.

You can only OC the 2920xm processor.

 

I just ordered my first laptop ever from MALIBAL not too long ago so I think I can answer some of your questions, I got the P150 which is very similar hardware wise.

1. Don't know sorry.

2. You can only overclock the 2920, which is like $800. The GPU's overclock quite well, a lot of members have been able to hit 16k-17k+ easily in Vantage with the 6990M in the alienware forum. MALIBAL posted earlier today about the P170 and it's temperature with the 6990M. They got it down to 60-70C which is great.

3. If you don't know how to apply it yourself then I think its a excellent choice to get. it's suppose to lower temps about 3-5C which is decent. I don't know how long it last's but I would assume years.

4. You need to buy them from people or resellers I think, they are quite expensive though like $500-$900. So people usually don't bother and just buy a new system. I have seen people post pictures of them upgrading though.

5. The 4 x 2GB does take up all the slots but 8GB is more then enough for gaming anyway.

6. I wouldn't worry to much about dead pixels, and I don't think Malibal ships out screens with dead pixels so the only way you would get them is if it was damaged in shipping. Also I heard the matte screen is gorgeous.

7. I don't know sorry.

Hope I could help, I'm sure Malibal and XoticPC will respond also.

 

ok, thanks guys, most of my questions have been answered. I asked a malibal rep about the screens seems the glossy screen is 60% gamut. Am I correct in assuming the 120hz matte screen is surperior to the standard glossy screen in every way?

How glossy is the glossy screen, in HTWingNut's review, i could not see any reflections on his screen, whereas here: Screen: matte vs. glossy - Dan Dascalescu's Wiki
I can see the guy reflected on the screen. Any know how bad the reflections actually are as it seems maybe its HTWingNut's lighting that is making a difference, though he does say its not as bad as he thought.


One other question, anyone know how durable the keyboard is? specifically the wasd keys? My wasd and space key on my current T61 are mostly dead and typing on it is incredibly difficult. Though I have been using it for 4 years now.

Another edit, the IC7 thermal paste is a 40 dollar option, also damn u xoticpc , 100 dollar off labor day sale, now I have more options to consider.