Solved! Buying a Laptop, in Los Angeles

mahvet

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Oct 18, 2011
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Hello,
I'm going to USA on a conference next week, this giving me the perfect opportunity to buy a laptop while I'm there. However I'm not at all familiar with where I'm going, so figuring out where to buy the right laptop for the money has left me guessing.

1. My budget is from $1000 - 1500

2. I'm considering everything from 15.6 to 17.3 "

3. Screen Resolution 1920x1080

4. This is a replacement for a desktop.

5. Battery life really isn't an issue.

6. I'm really going for a PC that will let me play the games I want. I play games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and hopefully Skyrim upon its release, in most of these cases, with my current laptop, I've had to compromise a great deal with the settings, in order for me to play. Bottom line, I want to play games on the highest settings possible, but not compromising the flow.

7. The laptop is also going to be a workstation, I do most of my work in Word and Power point, so its really not anything that require a lot from the cpu.

8. Anything from 500 gb and up. I always keep external backup drives for my work.

9. I'm not aware of any specific sites.

10. I'm going to keep my laptop for about 2-3 years

11. nothing in particular, whatever is in the computer is fine.

12. I'm mainly going for MSI and ASUS, because I feel I get more for my money, and in terms of warranty I've had nothing but good experiences from both.

13. I'm from Denmark, but the conference is being held in Los Angeles, CA.

14. Since I'm staying at a hotel, I'm hoping I could be directed to a store where I can pick up the computer. I called the hotel about the possibility of a company sending me the laptop to their address, but their wouldn't guarantee anything and pretty much cut that idea off.
 
Solution
You could purchase a laptop from the NewEgg website and use the Will Call pick up option at the LA area (City of Industry) warehouse.

Map: 18045 Rowland St.
City Of Industry, CA 91748
Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (local time)

Will Call: Orders must be placed by 3:30 p.m. (local time) Monday through Friday to be eligible for same day pick up. Orders placed after 3:30 p.m. will be available for pick up after 12 p.m. the following business day.
A photo I.D., physical copy of your "Will Call Order Pick Up Slip" and signature are required for package pick up.
Orders not picked up within seven calendar days from receiving your "Ready to Pick Up" email will be restocked and refunded.
Please see...

RetiredChief

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Feb 22, 2007
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(1) Stores:
.. there are two Fry's electronics stores in the LA area. LA is a large area with several sub-localities, ie Costa Mesa and Torrence.
http://www.frys.com/ac/storelocator/index.jsp
.. Check for a microcenter. There is One in orange county: http://www.microcenter.com/at_the_stores/tustin.html
.. BestBuy
Note the Hotel will probably be able to give directs.

Laptop:
.. CPU. Go with a Sandybridge i5-xxxx, or better yet a i7-xxxx
.. Brand: Asus, Tosihiba, samsung (Samsung RF711-S0x, but only if on sale). On the NO list: Dell/HP/Acer
.. In addition to the dedicated GPU, one of my requirements was for daul HDD bays. Reason was that I wanted to replace the HDD with an SSD. SSDs are expensive per GB ie around $200 for a 120/128 gig drive. Two bays allow upgrading to an SSD, for performance, and moving the HDD to the 2nd bay, for storage.
.. GPU: Not a gamer. So on your own to research which card meets your needs. My Samsung RF711 (17") came with the Nvidia 540M. For Desktops I always go AMD/ATI, but for Laptop and a SB CPU the Nvidia GPU is a better choice. Nvidia allows switching between internal IGP for 2D and for 3D (Gaming) MUCH better than AMD.
To Compare GPUs; http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

To compare laptops, use Newegg.com (US)
Ex. compare a Tosihiba, a Samsung, and a Asus.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006740%204023%20600004346&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=32%7C34-230-028%5E34-230-028-TS%2C34-214-393%5E34-214-393-TS%2C34-131-143%5E34-131-143-TS
 

RetiredChief

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Feb 22, 2007
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^ Sounds good, one question I would have is on warrentee issues in denmark.

The other thing is for laptops, I like to be able to view the laptop screen and to try out the key board prior to buying. Nornally I find a brick and mortor store to view and then look for best price - brick and mortor vs on-line purchase. In the OPs position he may be better off buying at the brick and mortor store as if a problem develops (ie in the short time here) he can exchange it readly easily.
 
You could purchase a laptop from the NewEgg website and use the Will Call pick up option at the LA area (City of Industry) warehouse.

Map: 18045 Rowland St.
City Of Industry, CA 91748
Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (local time)

Will Call: Orders must be placed by 3:30 p.m. (local time) Monday through Friday to be eligible for same day pick up. Orders placed after 3:30 p.m. will be available for pick up after 12 p.m. the following business day.
A photo I.D., physical copy of your "Will Call Order Pick Up Slip" and signature are required for package pick up.
Orders not picked up within seven calendar days from receiving your "Ready to Pick Up" email will be restocked and refunded.
Please see our FAQs for a list of pick-up locations and hours.


@ $1300 ASUS G74SX-XN1 17" Notebook
Intel Core i7 2630QM(2.00GHz) 12GB RAM 500GB HDD 7200rpm 17.3" 1920x1080 LCD w/ NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M


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Solution

mahvet

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Oct 18, 2011
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18,510
I want to thank you all for the help. Not knowing a great deal about the city or where to buy, the postings really made a great help.
I ended up ordering from Newegg and can pick up my laptop later today. I also spoke to ASUS in Denmark, and they said I could easely get the missing keys for my keyboard so it will be just as an european computer.
As for later today, I will be the proud owner of the ASUS G74 Series G74SX-A1.