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Geek Culture / New Gaming Laptop Question

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Oster200
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Posted: 4th Feb 2012 01:38
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I know that there has been a lot of posts going on about computer advice/questions.

I plan on buying this new gaming laptop and i have a question about it. Before i go and ask about it i want to say this. Im not going to change my mind on where im buying a gaming laptop. Ive been watching this company for now 4-5 years but without a job it is kinda hard to get almost $2,000. The othe thing is... i know 12 gb of ram is kinda overkill but i want to make sure it is capable of handling EVERYTHING or MOST.

Specifications:
Chassis Model: Digital Storm x17 Laptop (Model: 8170)
Display: 17.3 Inch (16:9) (Resolution: 1920 x 1080) (Glossy Surface) LED-Backlit Display
Processor: Intel Core i7 2670QM (2.2 GHz Turbo Mode to 3.1Ghz) (Quad Core) (6MB Cache)
Thermal Compound: Premium IC Diamond CPU and GPU Thermal Compound (Reduces Thermal & Laptop Noise) <b></b>
Memory: 12GB DDR3 1333MHz <b></b>
Primary Hard Drive: 750GB 7200RPM (SATA 3Gb/s) <b></b>
Secondary Hard Drive: - No Thanks
Optical Drive: Blu-Ray Player (Blu-Ray 6x) & DVD/CD Writer <b></b>
Wireless Card: 802.11 B/G/N Wireless LAN Module
Video Card(s): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M 1.5GB
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Warranty Plan: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty

Total Price: $1,704.00

Now for the questions.

1. Do i really need the "Premium IC Diamond CPU and GPU Thermal Compound" because i am not going to be overclocking it or anything but ir reduces sound.

2. The other thing is the harddrive. i currently have 750GB 7200RPM (SATA 3Gb/s) on this laptop but why is this 500GB Hybrid 7200RPM with 4GB SSD (SATA 3Gb/s) hard drive more but less GB.

is it because it is hybrid? and what does SSD and SATA mean? These might be noob Questions if so Sorry(first laptop ).

California is a fine place to live - if you happen to be an orange. - Fred Allen
If you die in an elevator, be sure to push the Up button.
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Neuro Fuzzy
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Posted: 4th Feb 2012 09:39
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SSD=solid state drive. Solid state=no moving parts, so you don't have a disk (HDD=hard disk drive).

It's expensive at this point, so I think what the hybrid does is store the most frequently accessed data on the SSD and the rest on the HDD.

I have no idea how a thermal paste can reduce laptop noise. Maybe it prevents rattling? But really you can get good thermal paste for like $12, so if they're charging $100 for it you're getting ripped off.

Also, keep in mind that a self-built desktop that quality would cost about half the price. With that margin, you could probably do something crazy like SLI two 560s or something. Plus, the experience is bound to make you more computer savvy!

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Quel
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Posted: 4th Feb 2012 10:08
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Why do you exactly need a laptop?

It triples the price, and very unreliable overall.

12gigs of ram is for graphics production work, and not gaming...

You're gonna have all kinds of overheating problems with al these in a slim case, even if they tell you otherwise.

-Mental Hybrid: A unique heavy story based shoot'em ~40% (primary project)
-CoreFleet: An underground commander unit based RTS (canned) ~15%
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Rampage
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Posted: 4th Feb 2012 10:37
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If you don't work at home laptops are pretty damn reliable.
I for one have both. My laptop is much better, put I'd be dead if I didn't have it to take to my computer science labs.
Lots of reasons to have a laptop.

Regards,

Max
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Seppuku Arts
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Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 4th Feb 2012 12:12
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You have to be careful with gaming laptops, they can be powerful but they can also be unreliable, generally down to overheating. My old gaming laptop suffered from it and I had to replace it, but going for a 3 year warranty is a sensible choice. I left mine at the crappy 1 year warranty and regretted it. I'd probably say, know your brand. If it's something like an Acer or a Dell then I'd say walk away.

Acer and Dell can be good value for money, but I hear more of people having problems with them and that's when they stop being good value for money. I bought a Lenovo ThinkPad because they're known to be reliable and are built to be durable and they do have some powerful models, but tend to be more expensive (in relation to the spec). Apparently Intel parts run cooler, at least that was what I was told when choosing a model.

The spec you've chosen is great, 12gb RAM might be a 'lil overkill, games don't use that much - if you're gonna do production work (like 3D rendering) then more ram is good, otherwise for gaming they're not really going to take advantage of the extra ram.

However, if possible, I'd say go for a desktop because: they're cheaper, more reliable and are easier to upgrade. If you need a laptop for school or work, you never know you could save enough money from buying a desktop to buy a cheap laptop on the side - plus if you can get a reliable one that doesn't require a lot of power, it'll likely last. At least that's a choice for you.

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PAGAN_old
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Posted: 5th Feb 2012 00:18
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Ah yes gaming laptops. youre just like me when i was younger. Just be careful, Once you used an alienware m17x for a good while, It will really suck switching to an Acer, and the worst part is that you will always want a better faster, more powerful laptop. even if you cant afford one, you will still spend evenings, looking and used SAGER laptops that you can almost afford. And when someone offeres you something even a little inferior to the fastest gaming latop you owned you will proboly instantly reject it like like i rejected a toshiba quosmo wight an 8700m GTS a short while after I completley destroyed the Clevo m570ru that had an 8800m GTX. To me an 8700m GTS.

But gaming laptops are STILL AWESOME and i support your addiction and hope you have an awesome time. I myself owned several high end gaming laptops over the years and havd a good time!


dont hate people who rip you off,cheat and get away with it, learn from them
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Oster200
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Posted: 7th Feb 2012 00:56
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Thanks for answering all the questions that i had everyone two more though.


Well i decided im still going to go and buy this laptop when i get the money. But i decided to get your opinons on two more things.

is 500gb of hard drive room enough im not a extream gamer i am just one that want a computer that can handle any game that i get with our serious lag. and i could get a external hard drive.

is getting a blu ray player worth it? it is a hd screen so it would be nice to have one. it is an extra $79 though.

Quote: "you can get good thermal paste for like $12"

They are charging $37


Quote: "going for a 3 year warranty is a sensible choice. I left mine at the crappy 1 year warranty and regretted it."


They Force you to take that it is free which i am happy about.

California is a fine place to live - if you happen to be an orange. - Fred Allen
If you die in an elevator, be sure to push the Up button.
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Indicium
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Posted: 7th Feb 2012 01:00
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Quote: "want a computer that can handle any game that i get with our serious lag"


Harddrive space generally doesn't affect performance. 500GB should be more than enough.

Quote: "is getting a blu ray player worth it?"

Do you play bluray movies?

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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 7th Feb 2012 01:53 Edited at: 7th Feb 2012 01:54
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I never liked gaming laptops, their graphics power is almost always half that of their cheaper desktop counterparts and their battery life when running gamer class graphics usually runs out in under an hour.

I've always done my work on my laptop/netbook/tablet (it's changed over the years) and build a far cheaper midrange desktop PC for gaming which still typically outperforms laptop hardware. I've always still saved money in the process and ended up with multiple devices and a certain amount of redundancy if something goes wrong.

This expensive gamer laptops always feel like putting some very expensive eggs in one basket.

P.S.

You can't upgrade the graphics cards either, so you're suck with it until you can fork out for another gamer laptop.
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bitJericho
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Posted: 7th Feb 2012 10:46 Edited at: 7th Feb 2012 10:48
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Quote: "you can get good thermal paste for like $12"


Thermal paste is 1.50 on ebay for enough to set about 30 processors

Anyway, I recently priced out a rediculous 12 core 32gb desktop with 4tb drive space for 2k with a top of the line graphics card. Consider that when buying your laptop

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=23028607

darkBIT TGC Torrent Tracker / File Server - AGK Chat: #agk : irc.devhat.net
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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 13th Feb 2012 16:32
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lol @ the dual socket motherboard. I forgot they make those!

Now that machines a beast.
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Phaelax
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Posted: 18th Feb 2012 19:04 Edited at: 18th Feb 2012 19:06
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I was just looking at some Sager/Clevo laptops. Powerful yes, but I really don't want a 3" thick notebook, that's just ridiculous. I've found very few 1" or less laptops that have good performance and even fewer that have a proper screen (1920x1080 matte). This 1366x768 crap that seems to becoming the standard resolution is upsetting. And glossy screens need to just die altogether.

Some people might think I'm wasting a lot of money on the Razer Blade, but aside from missing a dvd drive, it's got everything I want hardware-wise plus nice aesthetics. And I'll pay a little extra for my computer to not look like a giant ugly brick full of shiny fingerprint material.

Quote: "It triples the price, and very unreliable overall."

Why is a laptop unreliable? Some are, some aren't; just like desktops.

To answer your questions about whether you need this or that, I say if you have to ask others if you need it, then you probably don't need it. For me personally, I want as much ram as possible for two reasons; 8gb barely handles my graphics work as it is now, and secondly I plan on setting up a ram drive. For the average user or even gamer, I think 8gb is perfectly fine right now.

"You're not going crazy. You're going sane in a crazy world!" ~Tick
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