Stuck in endless configuration loop

Hey all, new to the forums.

I am sure that this is in no way unique to me, and I assume more the norm for most buyer of Clevo based setups.

I find myself for the past 2 weeks stuck in the never ending cycle of doing configurations on different reseller sites and slowly upping specs or changing mind every time.

Chicklette/nonchicklette, 15"/17", hard drives choices etc. ARG ive delayed my buy for 2 weeks doing so.

Just kind of writing a vent post as I am resisting the urge to write the normal "Hey guys which should I get" post.

Though my big struggle now is 15vs17" as I am a 4 days a week on the road kinda guy was shooting for 15" but now starting to lean larger for a few reasons.

At what point do you all just say Effit and buy?

 

Buy a 15", use the difference to buy a nice large screen for when you're home?

 

I'll make it easy for you. Just get what I got and add an SSD afterwards. There are so many awesome SSD sales nowadays. I'm super happy with my purchase. The stock screen and keyboard really are great!

 

Agree on aftermarket SDD and maybe Im going a bit overboard but I was going for more memory, upgraded screen processor etc. I def want the memory as it is not only a gaming box for me but a mobile test lab that needs to run multiple VMs.

And @sistergodiva, I have a 24" and 19" at the house for when I am home, the problem being I am home 3 days a week, gone 4 days a week and days I am home I tend to go outside. This is a stuck in a hotel room rig. Which is why Im considering the 17" a bit more just because the extra space etc. Shouldnt be too much more of a transport issue though I could be wrong.

Main thing is I havent rebuilt my home box in like 7 years, and using a POS laptop atm so dont have much to base on spec wise, so I tend to opt for go big or go home.

 

I'd go with the 15" then again, I myself came from the most powerful ultraportable in the world (the Vaio Z, 13", 3.1 lbs, up to 4 SSDs in RAID0, Optical drive, discrete gpu, full-voltage cpu, 1080p screen and all in a package 1.2" thick). So for me, the 15" was quite a big change, now of course it depends what you are going to be doing, IMHO, the screen size makes no difference as both are 1080p and I can see fine on a 15" screen at 1080p (try a 13" one).

So, it's up to you, but it's not like you're going to see more (unless you're always zooming in on a 15"), and I'd also recommend buying an external monitor when you're at home. What people should care more about is resolution and less the actual physical screen size

 

I personally like my config. I went with the 17" because 1: I wanted a full 1920/1080 screen and 2: more customization options. I ordered my config (which is in my signature) and I love every bit of it. I can't recommend the mSATA drive enough. It's a HUGE speed boost. (I got 8GB of RAM so I could get the mSATA. and I didn't get the main SSD because I'm going to add that along with another 8GB of RAM later. (Much cheaper)

 

I've got win8 and osx vms installed and both run great.

...tapatalk...

 

Yeah me again. Current strife is not knowing how much of the 7970m complaints are total BS or what.

Basically if it comes down to paying extra for GTX680 for sake of working drivers now vs saving the money and getting the 7970 and getting working drivers some day.

Ive done the early adopter thing and been burnt many times so Kinda thinking the money might be worth it.

Is the forum blowing things outta proportions on the 7970 issues or should I just go 680m?

 

no, the 7970 problems are out there but dont forget the majority of owners with perfectly fine 7970 dont post on forums.

im still going for a 680 myself though

 

If I had the money, I personally would go for the 680M. Optimus is more refined.. 7970M is a powerhouse and is fairly affordable so I'm sure it's a very popular purchase. I imagine there are thousands of people who arent posting about issues with the card. Supposedly drivers are coming this month, so you could wait until they pop and see if you should up to the 680M

 

Yeah thats what I figure and am telling myself. Lots of noise on issues, lots of quiet on successful setups, but still after watching forums the last month trying to decide its hard to ignore.

Yeah that is about where I am at. Dont want to "waste" money, but peace of mind is worth some on a purchase like this, that itll work well. Assuming the 680s are working well. Havent seen too much either way on that front. At the rate I am dragging my , hopefully the new drivers will show up before I purchase, but in the meantime here is where I am stuck.

For the most part have everything else sorted order wise. Still fully overkill but meh, first build in 7 years, I figure I am ahead of the game.

 

Ok so just to close out the loop on this, Think I am going to toss the order over to MythLogic today. Ended up deciding on the 15.6", 680m(just would rather spend the coin than deal with the issues at this point), 95% matte.

Getting just 8gb mem and a HDD as I will upgrade myself later. Just to save me some Arg im getting the pixel warranty. Only thing I am not really aware of is the wifi cards.

Afaik I have a 6303 in my thinkpad and it goes just dandy so figure I will just go with that unless there is any big feedback that I Have missed.

Gonna go for a walk and give them a shout when I get back. Shout at me if you have any concerns with my choices. Though I think I have read enough of the different arguments for each.

 

do you need bluetooth? if so i would go for the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 (with Bluetooth), thats what im getting.
what processor did you decide on.
my config is:
15.6" (39.6 cm) Full-HD 1920x1080 Matte
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M 4096MB GDDR5 | TDP: 100W
Intel Core i7-3720QM Quad Core - 2.60 - 3.60GHz 6MB 45W "Ivy Bridge"
16GB (2x8192) SO-DIMM DDR3 RAM 1600MHz
256GB SATA-III SSD Samsung 830 Series (MZ-7PC0256D/EU)
mSATA Storage 128GB mSATA SSD Samsung 830 (MZMPC128HBFU)
DVD-RW
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 (with Bluetooth)
Backlit Keyboard UK
Premium Warranty : 36 Month Collect & Return (inc parts, labour, support, shipping)
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit

 

Bluetooth would be a nice to have, but honestly I just dont use it that much on things other than my phone so if it comes down to a "better" card, as I am in hotels 4 days a week so on wifi, then Ill do better wifi vs bluetooth.

I am getting the same Proc as you. For the little bump in price ill take a few extra Hz as I will be using to for more than gaming. I plan on throwing an extra 8gb memory and a 256gb ssd in soon, but will add those in on the next paycheck.

 

Yep. 680m is a good choice. Its really not about price over performance. 680m runs really cool. I play d3 on max settings, BF3 on high and temps never go above 70 degrees. In fact my temperatures of D3 is only 56 degrees as compared to 84 degrees on my previous 7970m card.

 

Thats what I am starting to see. Plus the overclock threads starting to pop up look promising. Either way any of them are a hell of a lot more than what I Have right now, Which my tegra 3 tablet has more power than. The steam summer sale is killing me, buying lots of games I wont be able to play till this comes.

Have my heart set on Mythlogic for what ever reason, but I cant get the price down to close to the resellers. Which is understandable but the money saved in going to a reseller would let me overnight it for the same price, which I will have to do due to my travel circumstances. I just like the idea of getting the box from someone who put it together vs resellers. Malibal is cheaper too but from what I can tell, people are pretty unhappy with them lately. I started lurking after all of that stuff happened but Id rather have folks that will work with me.

 

Actually relooking at things, the Killer 1202 may make sense, havent read much about it but saw good things plus it has BT in it. Anyone have anything to throw in on that?

 

Sigh.

Me again. Happened to check Alienware one more time and noticed they are doing a 10% discount for what would be my planned build over there. Puts it in line price wise with Sager resellers, and cheaper than Myth who I was looking to go with. I have not done the research on the Alienware side of things as price always didnt make sense. No clue where I am going to go now. The way I see it, Clevo has the design and size I like, Alienware seems to have the stability (driver wise). Guess more reading.

And yes this is kinda a double post as I threw a post in what notebook should I get to see opinions on it.

Sigh

 

i wouldnt touch AW with a barge pole again even though theve now been taken over by dellianware.

 

Wasn't "all of that stuff" just one rep on the forums acting like a pompous *ss, and then the company pulling out of here to make their own forums? If so, why would that be blown out of proportion to mean people aren't happy with email communication or build quality in general? My next laptop might come from mythlogic anyway because of their Phoenix plan, but I don't regret going with Malibal.

Edit: although having looked at the recent stuff concerning them in the reseller review forum, yeah not very confidence-inducing.

 

I called Malibal for a quote, the guy who answered was rude and I could tell he could give a rat a$$ with his tone. I did not order my laptop from them. Alienware, in my opinion are good laptops. My M11x has been holding strong and has not had any problems. I wanted the best 15" gaming laptop hence I ordered a Sager.

 

It has begun. Just sent in my order. Time to start the waiting game with the rest of people. Was told 10-15 days. It is going to be painful.

Final build

Mobile Chassis: MYTHLOGIC Pollux 1612 Chassis (Clevo P150EM) with backlit keyboard
Mobile Display: 15.6" Full HD (1920x1080) Matte 95% NTSC Color Gamut LED Backlit LCD (Pollux)
Dead Pixel Guarantee: MYTH Pixel Perfect Guarantee
Monitor Calibration: Free MYTH Professional Monitor Color Calibration
CPU: Intel Core i7-3720QM 2.6GHz, 6M L3 Cache, 22nm, DDR3-1600MHz, Quad-Core Mobile Processor
Thermal Compound: Free IC Diamond Thermal Compound
System Memory: 8GB (2 x 4GB) , PC3-12800, 1600MHz SODIMM (Samsung)
Video Adapter: NVIDIA 680M 4096MB GDDR5 DX11 GPU with Optimus Technology
Optical: Notebook Black 8X DVD+RW/CDRW Combo Drive
Hard Drive: 750GB 7200 16MB Cache SATA Notebook Hard Drive
Keyboard: Standard Backlit Keyboard - NON Chiclet
Network Card: Onboard Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbits/sec) LAN subsystem
Wireless Card: KILLER WirelessN 1202 - Designed for the best wireless gaming, HD video and audio experience
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth 4.0 Only With Intel 2230/6235 AND Killer 1202 Wireless
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium FREE Upgrade to Windows 8 Pro when available
Anti-Virus Software: Microsoft Security Essentials
MYTHLOGIC Assurance: MYTH Lifetime Assurance with Lifetime Labor + 2 Years Parts Warranty, 2 Yrs 2-Way Shipping Cont US
Phoenix Upgrade Plan: Lifetime Phoenix Upgrade Plan

Kinda awesome being able to call at 9pm and get a hold of someone. Mythlogic has been super helpful so far.