Hi.. I'm pondering what laptop to buy. Thought I'd ask here to see if someone had some ideas or experiences with the computers I'm thinking about.
I just bought Civilization V and noticed it was very slow on my computer. Thought I'd upgrade my old computer, such that I'll get an up to date computer for me to use, and let my not so old computer be available for girlfriend and visitors that I may LAN with. My current old computer is below minimum specs for my games now.
Seeing that there now exist nice desktop replacement options, and that I'm getting a bit tired of building myself and handling stuff that was supposed to be compatible, getting such a laptop sounds like a good option.
I've looked at the ASUS G73 Jw which looks great. Running cool with low noise from what I read, and my best bet for getting a high quality, stable computer which is my first priorities. Sadly, norwegian distributors don't seem to give me any configuration options, so I have to choose among only different setups available in norway or so. Meaning, no bluray option, no SSD option, no 8 GB memory option, etc, unless I fix it myself afterwards. Though I like the looks of the G73Jw it is horrible bulky. Most of the times I'll probably be using external monitor/keyboard/mouse anyways, so no need for a huge screen.
Looked into G53Jw as an option, which initially looked like exactly what I want. The same, only smaller. But from the measurements given it looks like the G53Jw is actually almost as big, just with a smaller screen. It's size is more comparable to other 17" laptops than to other 15" laptops.
That lead me to the G51Jx. But from what I read, this one may have noice/heating issues. It looks less bulky, and still have more than enough specs for me, but I'm a bit afraid it won't be as stable as it is running hot. A minor issue is that it doesn't have an extra harddrive bay, so getting an SDD I'd have to throw away the old disk rather than utilize it for extra storage, but that's a small price to pay for portability.
So then I'm thinking back to the G73. Heating issues sounds scary, and if I'm going to have a huge bulky laptop anyways, I can just as well go for the G73 as with a computer with almost same size, just smaller screen.
Any input appreciated
1. What is your budget?
Not so worried about budget. More worried about getting value for money. I can pay a lot if I think I'm getting a perfect fit that will stand the test of time for many years, but if I don't feel like that I'd rather get something with decent price/performance ratio and rather upgrade earlier next time.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
I'd like it to be fairly small, but avoid performance/heating/noise issues. Seems I need at least 15" laptop in order to have enough juice for games. And even they seem to have problems with heat, or are very bulky in order to dissipate heat.
3. What screen resolution do you want?
I'll use a 1920x1200 external monitor mostly, but that shouldn't be a problem no matter what internal resolution is. All resolutions will probably do, but it doesn't look like the full HD resolution laptops add much to the price, so I can't see any downside of going for that. Unless that is, I'd have to set resolution down in order to play games with decent performance, and they look bad when not played in native resolution.
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
It's a bonus if it's a bit portable. So I can weekly take it into living room, and take it on some vacations. At least vacations I'm not taking a plane to get to. Would be great if it was small enough to take on a plane too, to use on the plane, but that doesn't seem doable with decent gaming performance too.
5. How much battery life do you need?
Battery life would be great. But it doesn't look like any of the computers looking like a decent desktop gamer replacement has battery life to speak of. As long as there aren't enough battery for a 3-4 hour session, all I'll need is 5 minutes in order to move the laptop to another outlet.
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)?
Civilization V, Starcraft II, Diablo III. Maybe a MORPG. Dislike first person stuff. Mostly like 2D strategy games, but for some reason they refuse to make them 2D anymore. Even Civilization takes a lot of power now. Grmpf. Don't mind playing on low/medium graphics settings as long as I can play on high resolution, but if I'm to expect to be able to keep the laptop for at least 3 years before getting a new one, it should likely drag my current games around easy for it to be able to play a new game in 2-3 years time.
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
No tasks worth mentioning from a laptop requirement point of view. If roleplaying/strategy games still had an option for using cheap 2D graphics, I'd get one of those light 13.3" laptops with 6+ hours of battery time.
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Not much. Got a NAS at home for storage of data. But for some reason OS, games and application are bloated behind recognition nowadays, so some space is needed for that. A decent size SSD would be great I think, but sadly distributors in Norway seems to refuse to let people customize anything, so I'd have to replace HDD myself and reinstall OS if I wanted one. A hybrid drive as comes in the G73Jw might be good for me though, if it manages to move all the most accessed files into the memory cache part, without blowing the cache too often. Not tested one myself.
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Sadly, I live in Norway, and all ASUS resellers seems to sell 1-2 versions of each model. So choice of what to get is thus sadly limited, but I see no other way than to just use a random net shop like komplett.no or similar to buy one of the few models offered. There are good customer guarantuees and stuff in Norway, so sceptic about buying from abroad.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
The longer the better. A lot of hassle to exchange it. Though if I don't find a good solution, I'd rather go for cheap and not so long than expensive, hopefully long, but not what I wanted, so it's going to be short time anyways.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
None at all I think. Unless there's still copy protection crap requiring optical drive for game to work. I'll still have a desktop if I want to burn DVDs, from my NAS storing my data. A bluray player would be cool, but I don't need it that bad, and it seems noone is selling one with it in Norway.
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.
I prefer ASUS because of personal good experience with their products. My priority is quality, stability, power consumption, noise, heat. I'd thus rather use well tested products than bleeding edge stuff. Not impressed with Dell customer support. Though to be fair I've never talked to customer support of other firms.
13. What country do you live in?
Norway
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
A built in 3G modem to be online anywhere would be cool, but only available on business PCs as far as I can tell.
I just bought Civilization V and noticed it was very slow on my computer. Thought I'd upgrade my old computer, such that I'll get an up to date computer for me to use, and let my not so old computer be available for girlfriend and visitors that I may LAN with. My current old computer is below minimum specs for my games now.
Seeing that there now exist nice desktop replacement options, and that I'm getting a bit tired of building myself and handling stuff that was supposed to be compatible, getting such a laptop sounds like a good option.
I've looked at the ASUS G73 Jw which looks great. Running cool with low noise from what I read, and my best bet for getting a high quality, stable computer which is my first priorities. Sadly, norwegian distributors don't seem to give me any configuration options, so I have to choose among only different setups available in norway or so. Meaning, no bluray option, no SSD option, no 8 GB memory option, etc, unless I fix it myself afterwards. Though I like the looks of the G73Jw it is horrible bulky. Most of the times I'll probably be using external monitor/keyboard/mouse anyways, so no need for a huge screen.
Looked into G53Jw as an option, which initially looked like exactly what I want. The same, only smaller. But from the measurements given it looks like the G53Jw is actually almost as big, just with a smaller screen. It's size is more comparable to other 17" laptops than to other 15" laptops.
That lead me to the G51Jx. But from what I read, this one may have noice/heating issues. It looks less bulky, and still have more than enough specs for me, but I'm a bit afraid it won't be as stable as it is running hot. A minor issue is that it doesn't have an extra harddrive bay, so getting an SDD I'd have to throw away the old disk rather than utilize it for extra storage, but that's a small price to pay for portability.
So then I'm thinking back to the G73. Heating issues sounds scary, and if I'm going to have a huge bulky laptop anyways, I can just as well go for the G73 as with a computer with almost same size, just smaller screen.
Any input appreciated
1. What is your budget?
Not so worried about budget. More worried about getting value for money. I can pay a lot if I think I'm getting a perfect fit that will stand the test of time for many years, but if I don't feel like that I'd rather get something with decent price/performance ratio and rather upgrade earlier next time.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
I'd like it to be fairly small, but avoid performance/heating/noise issues. Seems I need at least 15" laptop in order to have enough juice for games. And even they seem to have problems with heat, or are very bulky in order to dissipate heat.
3. What screen resolution do you want?
I'll use a 1920x1200 external monitor mostly, but that shouldn't be a problem no matter what internal resolution is. All resolutions will probably do, but it doesn't look like the full HD resolution laptops add much to the price, so I can't see any downside of going for that. Unless that is, I'd have to set resolution down in order to play games with decent performance, and they look bad when not played in native resolution.
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
It's a bonus if it's a bit portable. So I can weekly take it into living room, and take it on some vacations. At least vacations I'm not taking a plane to get to. Would be great if it was small enough to take on a plane too, to use on the plane, but that doesn't seem doable with decent gaming performance too.
5. How much battery life do you need?
Battery life would be great. But it doesn't look like any of the computers looking like a decent desktop gamer replacement has battery life to speak of. As long as there aren't enough battery for a 3-4 hour session, all I'll need is 5 minutes in order to move the laptop to another outlet.
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)?
Civilization V, Starcraft II, Diablo III. Maybe a MORPG. Dislike first person stuff. Mostly like 2D strategy games, but for some reason they refuse to make them 2D anymore. Even Civilization takes a lot of power now. Grmpf. Don't mind playing on low/medium graphics settings as long as I can play on high resolution, but if I'm to expect to be able to keep the laptop for at least 3 years before getting a new one, it should likely drag my current games around easy for it to be able to play a new game in 2-3 years time.
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
No tasks worth mentioning from a laptop requirement point of view. If roleplaying/strategy games still had an option for using cheap 2D graphics, I'd get one of those light 13.3" laptops with 6+ hours of battery time.
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Not much. Got a NAS at home for storage of data. But for some reason OS, games and application are bloated behind recognition nowadays, so some space is needed for that. A decent size SSD would be great I think, but sadly distributors in Norway seems to refuse to let people customize anything, so I'd have to replace HDD myself and reinstall OS if I wanted one. A hybrid drive as comes in the G73Jw might be good for me though, if it manages to move all the most accessed files into the memory cache part, without blowing the cache too often. Not tested one myself.
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Sadly, I live in Norway, and all ASUS resellers seems to sell 1-2 versions of each model. So choice of what to get is thus sadly limited, but I see no other way than to just use a random net shop like komplett.no or similar to buy one of the few models offered. There are good customer guarantuees and stuff in Norway, so sceptic about buying from abroad.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
The longer the better. A lot of hassle to exchange it. Though if I don't find a good solution, I'd rather go for cheap and not so long than expensive, hopefully long, but not what I wanted, so it's going to be short time anyways.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
None at all I think. Unless there's still copy protection crap requiring optical drive for game to work. I'll still have a desktop if I want to burn DVDs, from my NAS storing my data. A bluray player would be cool, but I don't need it that bad, and it seems noone is selling one with it in Norway.
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.
I prefer ASUS because of personal good experience with their products. My priority is quality, stability, power consumption, noise, heat. I'd thus rather use well tested products than bleeding edge stuff. Not impressed with Dell customer support. Though to be fair I've never talked to customer support of other firms.
13. What country do you live in?
Norway
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
A built in 3G modem to be online anywhere would be cool, but only available on business PCs as far as I can tell.
/www.notebookcheck.net/Review-MSI-GX660R-Gaming-Notebook.40238.0.html
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