What to buy.

As I want to buy a clevo I think it is the right place. If I posted in the wrong section, I'm sorry can a mod move it?

1) What is your budget?
1500-2200€

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen

3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.
Germany, if possible somewhere else I do not care. A bit overpriced over here.

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
As I posted in the clevo section, clevo.

5) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
Gaming.

6) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?
both.

7) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games or types of games?
First-person shooter mostly. Crysis, Army of Two, Gears of War etc.. maybe Prototype and some other new games as well.

8) How many hours of battery life do you need?
If I play I will plug it into the AC. When I am not playing... mh, not sure 2 hours?

9) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?
Online is fine.

10) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
Was going for Vista, heard Windows 7 is better so I guess I will wait for it.

Screen Specifics

11) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?
WUXGA - 1920x1200; Very small text and icons, that can be hard to read. Lots of stuff fits on the screen, which means less scrolling. Good for applications that require a high level of detail like CAD or Photo Editing.

12) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
Matte/non-glossy I guess. Not sure.

Build Quality and Design

13) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
Not really.

14) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?
Next month, would be nice. Waiting for around 4 months now. Can wait some more months to be honest.

Notebook Components

15) How much hard drive space do you want; 80GB to 500GB? Do you want a SSD drive?
320GB 7200 U/Min?

16) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?
Does not matter.

17) So far shops checked?
Notebookguru: 3,5ghz + 9800gtx for 1800€ their current special offer any good? Not offering the 280m yet.
mysn: Best price for 280m in germany so far.
Deviltech: A bit overpriced.
one: Offering the 280m with lower specs than the others and less stuff to chose from, therefore cheaper.

All 3 of them are German Companies.

If there is anything left out, tell me.
Thanks for your time, hope you can help me with choosing the right laptop.

 

just to mention that you will never get 5hrs of battery life out of a gaming notebook. Max you will get atm is ~3hrs from the m860tu when highly optimised.

 

The m15x can get 5 hours with an additional battery in the smart bay slot.

If there was one thing good about that laptop. It was that.

 

What happened to the new battery technology that people were talking about a decade ago?

 

OK, if you have a smartbay/2nd battery, then yes, but with single battery, no.

 

Still in the works.

Wouldn't it be nice if they released it within the Capalla chipset.

 

changed to 2 hours.

 

The M570TU with a P processor and the 280M will get you 2 hours.

http://www.mysn.de/ will have it well within your budget.

 

Actually battery life is not an important criterion for me.

Price & Performance should be alright. I do not want to pay 300€/$ whatever more if it is just slightly better...
I am also willing to buy from an US seller, I hope that is even possible, haha.

edit1:
Good deal? Or should I rather go for a GTX 280m?
http://www.notebookguru.de/product_info.php?pName=guru-m570tu-x9100-2x35-ghz-nvidia-geforce-9800m-gtx-p-119

edit2:
Chassis Color
Silver Trim
Display
17" WUXGA Non-Glare (1900 x 1200)
Proccessor
Not sure what to take.. quad?
Video and Graphics Card
Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M Graphics with 1GB DDR3 Video Memory
or
9800M GTX 1GB DDR3 ???
Operating System
Genuine MS Windows® VISTA Home Premium 32/64-Bit Edition
Memory
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 2 X 2048MB
Hard Drive
320GB 7200rpm SATA
Optical Drive
8X DVD±R/RW/4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software
Intel Robson Technology
No.

 

Hi Dynamite.

I think you want to get the Clevo M570ETU. The GTX 280m is going to provide much more performance than the 9800M GTX, and at a far cheaper price too. Almost half the price, from what I understand. The performance of the GTX 280m ranges from 20% (notebookcheck.com) to 50% (nvidia.com) better than the 9800M GTX. So my recommendation on the GPU is to wait until you can get one from a German company, or pay a little extra by going with a company that already has it.

I run the X9100 in my system, clocked at 3.5GHz. Its a very powerful CPU, but I think I would have been happier with a QX9300, since 90% of the programs I run are optimized for a quad core. Its a little more pricey, but worth the expense.

I cannot recommend a German company to buy from, and I have no experience with money conversions, but your price point in USD will give you the following from XoticPC.com for less than 2000 euros:

Clevo M570ETU (Sager NP5797)
~Intel® QX9300 45nm "Montevina" Core™2 Quad 2.53GHz w/12MB L2 On-die cache - 1066MHz FSB
(Overclockable up to approx. 3.0GHz!) ( + 915 )
nVidia GeForce GTX 280M 1,024MB PCI-Express DDR3 DX10 (User Upgradeable)
~ 4,096MB DDR3 1066MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (Requires Vista 64-Bit to utilize Full 4GB)
~ 320GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache

And all the other stuff too, of course.

Now if you don't NEED the system now, I might recommend waiting for either the D900F (17" core i7 with GTX 280m) or the M980NU (18.4" mobile platform with sli GTX 280m and tri-raid HDD, and most importantly, the nVidia 9400m chipset). Up to you on that though.

My official recommendation: Clevo M570ETU with QX9300, 280M GTX, 4GB DDR3, 320GB 7200RPM Drive. You can expect about 2 hours max battery.

 

First of, thanks for your really fast reply!

Secondly, do you think their prices will be the same as the one you recommanded? A bit higher is fine too, I guess.
Also is the i7 that much better than the QX9300?
Last question how long do you think it will take for those two, which are quoted, to be released?

 

I only have rumors and speculations of launch times (from resellers) and I believe the launch of hte D900F should be about a month from now. No idea on the M980NU, but my personal guess would be within a few months.

Even the cheapest Core i7 is going to be more powerful than the QX9300. Its complete CPU redesign allows it to be far more powerful, clock for clock, in comparison to its predecessors. A Core i7 920 2.66ghz can be had for around $280 and will be better than the QX9300 ($900)

If you use any CPU intensive power apps, the i7 is a no brainer.

I personally am looking forward to the M980NU simply because it will sport a beefier cooling system, the incredibly flexible and overclockable 9400m chipset, the sweet look that screams "I'm better than you", the option for up to three hard drives (for RAID 5), sli video, and the huge 18.4" screen.

But things will always get better and better. If you need your system soon, stick with the M570ETU. You'll not regret it.

 

Which CPU are you going for?

 

I'm hoping the QX9400 2.8GHz CPU will be available by then. But if not, the QX9300 is a powerful contender.

 

"he performance of the GTX 280m ranges from 20% (notebookcheck.com) to 50% (nvidia.com) better than the 9800M GTX."

That's a bit of a stretch. From what I've heard from others, and determined by looking at the difference in specs. The difference between the gtx 280 and the 9800 gtx will only be about 5-10%

 

bump...

M980NU(2385€ or 5797(1650€ ?
Worth the ~700€ more??