Looking for a all rounder type laptop

audi4444player

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Dec 28, 2013
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Looking for a all rounder type laptop


I thought I should fill out this first

1. What is your budget?
$1000, can go a bit higher if it's something really great

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
12-15 inch

3. What screen resolution do you want?
prefer 1080p but if it's smaller lower is fine

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
portable prefer 2kg and under

5. How much battery life do you need?
5h+

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
minecraft, civ v, skyrim, simcity, random indie games, all low settings, 15fps is playable to me

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
watching movies/anime, web browsing (I use a load of tabs so it becomes resource intensive)

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
don't care, if it's too small I have plenty of hdds.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
msy, http://www.logicalblueone.com.au/store/546-horize-w650eh-ultranote.html

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
2-3years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
none makes it lighter, I don't care

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Asus, shit quality, it may just be the one I have so I'm open to suggestion.

13. What country do you live in?
Australia, Adelaide

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
4gb ram is fine as long as it has a spare port thing, I have a 4gb stick from my old laptop

I was looking at the horize mentioned above
the hp probook 4540s from msy, i73632qm hd7650m 2gb $799 2.33kg (it says starting from so it's probably heavier)
i'm concerned about the weight upgrade from my old laptop an asus u31sd and also i have never used ati graphics and dont know about the hardware/software/drivers and how well it works
when I thought I'd have more money i was looking into the vaio probook 13 just because it was so loght and i love the truluminous screen (my phone is awesome) but it seems even for that much it's a little bit worse than mine (although being sony i imagine 100x better workmanship) i also was thinking about forgetting games all together and going for the android tablet (just a bigger version of my phone) but i really would like to play civ and minecraft, plus i cant use my piano learning software or graphics tablet on android.

the specs of my old laptop are nothing particularly special but it's hard to find something better in all fields
i5 2410M
4gb ddr3 1333mhz ram
13.3" 1336x768 screen
GT 520m 1gb
8cell 83whrs battery (advertised 10h but i can get up to 14h if i really push it in super power saving mode about 6h watching hd video/ online and about 3h playing civ/other game)
1.78kg (the 8 cell is a bit heavier so more like 1.9 probably)
$799 2 years ago with 2 year warranty
pros : specs and warranty, on paper its good
cons: it breaks all the time, it's had 6 motherboards and 2 screens now, the software and components are fine, it's just the build quality is crap, the hinge just fell off one day for gods sake, i could probably fix it better myself but it's so hard to open it's not worth it (although the ram and hdd can come out fine)

is there something that "beats" my laptop, the battery and weight are the hardest things i think, basically i'd like this laptop again but stronger, but i cant find anything, could anyone help. sorry i'm a bit picky but i use it so much so i want something i like.

Thanks for any help. Thomas.
 
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Yes, I agree, it's quite difficult...

audi4444player

Honorable
Dec 28, 2013
5
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10,510
Is 'post answer' reply lol, anyway, that laptop looks like great specs for the price, it's a bit heavy but that's not to bad considering, the real problem is it's not available in Australia, can I buy from that site and get an au charger? Seems a bit risky buying things like that
 

vinaykumar5320

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Nov 2, 2012
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GIGABYTE P25K
http://www.gigabyte.com.au/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4635#kf
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834233018

ASUS N56JR-EH71
http://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/N56JR/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231320

MSI GE60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152406

In your budget, you should look for at leasti7 (4th gen) with GT750M. I have listed the ones with GT760M. However, they are above your budget, but offer great VFM.

And, if somehow you can get the Y510P under 1000$, go for it. I don't know about the shipping from US to Australia. But, in general, you shouldn't take risk.
 

audi4444player

Honorable
Dec 28, 2013
5
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10,510
I looked at all the options, they're all a bit too heavy but I can only buy the Asus in Australia for way over budget the upper reaches of my budget is $1000, I can go a bit over for something I love but I can't find anything like that, I've found that basically I'm limited to msy, their prices are the best and they sell nearly every laptop I can buy here, there are a few more on eBay, I found this Sony I really like
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/231124719911
It's only I5 and the graphics card is a little weird, I think i5 is fine (it works now) but I don't know if the graphics card will run the games I've mentioned (at low settings obviously) at 1.7 kg this is much more what I want, does msy sell anything better? http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/notebook.pdf
 

vinaykumar5320

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Nov 2, 2012
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audi4444player

Honorable
Dec 28, 2013
5
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10,510
The gigabyte looks good (still the only suggested one I can actually buy, the Asus is in-store only lol) but I'm a bit concerned about the quality, is gigabyte a good brand? It does have a two year warranty but I would rather it not break all the time like my last laptop. At the moment I think I'm going to go with either the gigabyte or the Sony, the Sony has a better (although older) processor, and better quality (I think, I don't know about gigabyte) and is cheaper (also it seems to cost over $2000 from Sony) but has a worse graphics card, the gigabyte has better warranty and graphics card but costs more and might break a lot, it's a hard decision but it's better than not finding anything
 

vinaykumar5320

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Nov 2, 2012
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Yes, I agree, it's quite difficult decision. But, you have to compromise the portability (weight), if you want gaming performance, especially Graphically intensive games like Skyrim. I won't suggest going down GT740M.

And, comaparing i5 3***M & i5 4***U, I think you should go for the newer one, even if the i5 3***M is slightly better. Battery life will be much better.

GIGABYTE is a nice brand. It makes some great gaming laptops, like P34G (which was selected as the best gaming laptop under $1400 at AnandTech.com). But then, only those who own it can comment about its durability. One thing I can say that, GIGABYTE makes some great Computer Hardware (Mobo, GPU etc.).
 
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