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Notebooks High Spec Laptop

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by NaNeil, 25 Jun 2010.

  1. NaNeil

    NaNeil What's a Dremel?

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    Hi Chaps,
    So, the time has come to leave uni and start a job, and I really want to get a laptop as I may be living in a pretty small flat.

    I have considered a macbook pro, but the compatibility issues are a problem for me (don't want this to become a flame war).

    - I'm willing to save for this and spend a good amount (~£1200-1500)
    - It needs to be very high spec, hopefully able to play Bad Company 2 on medium/high settings, to give an example
    - 15" screen or thereabouts would be preferential
    - Lots of storage would be nice, though ultimately I might slot an SSD in to boost performance, and keep stuff like movies on an eSATA drive.

    I've looked at the HP Envy, which looks nice but has some reliability concerns, also bad battery life.

    Does anyone have any recommendations? Would be very much appreciated!

    Edit: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/10/hp-envy-15-review/ HP Envy review, one of the more positive ones.

    Edit Edit: Also, very impressed with the Dell Studio XPS 16, with a few bits added from standard, eg the RGBLED screen.
     
    Last edited: 25 Jun 2010
  2. NaNeil

    NaNeil What's a Dremel?

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    I've specced up a couple of Studio XPS 16s:

    Code:
    
    Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 620M(2.66GHz,4MB cache)
    White Leather back cover : 16" (inch) Truelife 1080p Full HD RGBLED Edge to Edge Display (Enhanced c
    4096MB 1067MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
    500GB (7,200rpm) Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive
    Internal Blu-Ray ROM (Blu-Ray read, DVD and CD read & Write) Optical Drive
    
    Also Includes
    9-cell 85Whr Lithium Ion battery
    1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 565v graphics
    
    N07X6702
    Studio XPS 1647 Order - UK
    £1,349
    
    ====
    
    Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 720QM (1.60Ghz, 6MB cache) (ADD £400 (?!?!) to upgrade to 1.73Ghz)
    White Leather back cover : 16" (inch) Truelife 1080p Full HD RGBLED Edge to Edge Display (Enhanced c
    4096MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
    500GB (7,200rpm) Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive
    Internal Blu-Ray ROM (Blu-Ray read, DVD and CD read & Write) Optical Drive
    
    Also Includes
    9-cell 85Whr Lithium Ion battery
    1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 565v graphics
    
    N07X6501
    Studio XPS 1645 Order - UK
    £1,279
    It seems the only difference between these is that one is dual core but far higher clocks, the other is quad core but only 1.6 Ghz, and is an astonishing FOUR HUNDRED QUID to upgrade it to 1.73 Ghz!

    I'll be using this for gaming, but also software development... Is either clearly better?:thumb:
     
  3. sleepygamer

    sleepygamer More Metal Than Thou

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    The recent Custom PC review of the Asus ROG G73.

    The 620M has the 2 physical and 2 logical cores, and can turbo up to an impressive 3.33ghz, and has 4MB of L3 cache.

    The 720QM has 4 physical and 4 logical, and can turbo up to 2.8ghz, and has 6MB of L3 cache.

    For gaming, the 620M -might- be a better option. It clocks higher, runs cooler (apparently) and games do like clocks more than threads, most of the time.

    What it comes down to is whether or not you will be using the extra 4 threads given to you by the 720QM. Do you utilise any software that will scale across all of them?
     
  4. NaNeil

    NaNeil What's a Dremel?

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    I'm thinking that I'll probably benefit more from the raw clock speed for my uses, so perhaps the 620M is the better choice.

    Struggling to find a review for the Dell Studio XPS 16 laptops with the i7 processor in though.... Everyone seems to have reviewed older C2D models!
     
  5. adam_bagpuss

    adam_bagpuss Have you tried turning it off/on ?

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    ive lived in a small 1 bedroomed flat and had plenty of space to put my PC in (antec 1200 with 20" monitor)

    if your intent is gaming go desktop as laptops even gaming ones arent brilliant and you pay at 3x as much as desktop counterpart.

    with gaming im presuming your using a mouse not the trackpad so your gunna be sat at a desk ?
     

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