Desktop Replacement laptop suggestions

F

FerraraZ

Gawd
Joined
Feb 4, 2010
Messages
578
So I'm currently laptop shopping and its becoming alittle daunting. I'm trying to weigh options and see what I like, read reviews etc.

So far I've checked out the following laptops:

Dell Studio XPS 16
Macbook Pro 13
HP Envy 15

I welcome other suggestions. I really just do movies,music,some gaming (steam games) and more recently possible video and photo editing.

Another benefit is I can still get student discounts so thats why I want to take advantage of that while I can.

I welcome any suggestions or any reviews of desktop replacement laptops!

My budget is between 1000-1200
 
All the laptops I've had have been middle sized because of portability reasons of course. Turned out it wasn't often that I took them places and in the end I decided if I were to someday ever need a desktop replacement laptop again I would opt for one with the biggest screen. Just myself personally.

Sony, Dell, & HP all make some nice big daddy's.
 
I love the MacBook Pro, and it'd do a lot of what you ask; but it's not really what I'd call a desktop replacement. The Envy 15 I'd be wary about because of those recent display issues.
 
Asus G73JH...the Best Buy version has less RAM, and a lower res screen, but sells for $1200.
 
Well, when I wanted a gaming laptop in that dollar range, what I got was the MSI GX640. Core i5. 5850 Mobility and 4GB of RAM. It'll run anything out there today quite well. I also liked that it has a 16:10 screen rather than the 16:9 most laptops do these days.

Works quite well for me, though I still have and use a desktop.
 
I wouldn't get any of those. For your tasks I would get a ThinkPad W510 or W701. Those are some of the best mobile workstations out there.
 
Sycraft said:
Well, when I wanted a gaming laptop in that dollar range, what I got was the MSI GX640. Core i5. 5850 Mobility and 4GB of RAM. It'll run anything out there today quite well. I also liked that it has a 16:10 screen rather than the 16:9 most laptops do these days.

Works quite well for me, though I still have and use a desktop.
Click to expand...

I've been strongly considering the gx640...how is the keyboard? I've heard it gets rather hot...does this happen when you aren't gaming?
 
The keyboard is acceptable. It does have a bit of give in the lower right area, but nothing major. I'm given to understand you can put a bit of padding in there to fix it but I'm not going to bother. The feel of the keys is good though, and the numpad is nice.

It doesn't get all that hot when playing games. Might be a problem if you tried to sit it right on your lap, but mainly because you'd block the air intake on the bottom. It heats up, but not problematically. The bottom right area below the keyboard can get warm to the touch if you have a game that hits the CPU heavy (that's where the CPU sits). However its cooling system keeps everything in check.

I've had no overheating problems or anything, even after 90-120 minutes of play. Nothing on the laptop gets uncomfortable to touch or anything. The cooling system isn't quiet, but isn't bad either.

During web surfing it doesn't heat up at all. While it isn't efficient like an integrated graphics card, the 5850 still throttles down when inactive, just like the 5800s in desktops. You can also drop the power usage more if you flip on one of its Eco modes which limit performance in favor of battery life (which implies less power consumption).

All in all, I like it a lot. Not the best build quality I've ever seen, but not bad and certainly not when you consider the price. The cooling solution seems competent (it's easy to remove the panel to look at all the components), they manage to fit everything in a fairly compact case, it isn't thick like some and so on.

You can for sure get a laptop that's better built with more features. A Sager laptop would fit the bill. However it'll cost a good bit more and be larger and heavier.
 
Sycraft said:
The keyboard is acceptable. It does have a bit of give in the lower right area, but nothing major. I'm given to understand you can put a bit of padding in there to fix it but I'm not going to bother. The feel of the keys is good though, and the numpad is nice.

It doesn't get all that hot when playing games. Might be a problem if you tried to sit it right on your lap, but mainly because you'd block the air intake on the bottom. It heats up, but not problematically. The bottom right area below the keyboard can get warm to the touch if you have a game that hits the CPU heavy (that's where the CPU sits). However its cooling system keeps everything in check.

I've had no overheating problems or anything, even after 90-120 minutes of play. Nothing on the laptop gets uncomfortable to touch or anything. The cooling system isn't quiet, but isn't bad either.

During web surfing it doesn't heat up at all. While it isn't efficient like an integrated graphics card, the 5850 still throttles down when inactive, just like the 5800s in desktops. You can also drop the power usage more if you flip on one of its Eco modes which limit performance in favor of battery life (which implies less power consumption).

All in all, I like it a lot. Not the best build quality I've ever seen, but not bad and certainly not when you consider the price. The cooling solution seems competent (it's easy to remove the panel to look at all the components), they manage to fit everything in a fairly compact case, it isn't thick like some and so on.

You can for sure get a laptop that's better built with more features. A Sager laptop would fit the bill. However it'll cost a good bit more and be larger and heavier.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply,

How is the weight, portability, and battery life? I would consider a Sager or Asus or another laptop, but I've heard they weigh far more than the gx640, are bulkier, and otherwise have horrible battery life.

I'm coming from a first generation macbook, which was rather sleek, portable, and almost gave me 1st degree burns on my leg multiple times while surfing the internet.
 
Weight is good. Call it 6 pounds or so. Not a featherweight, but not heavy for what you get in it. Not bad to carry around in a good bag.

Battery life is highly variable. If you fire up a game or something, especially in normal mode, it is going to be short, an hour maybe. However turn on turbo battery eco mode, turn off WiFi, and just use it for office type stuff, well you see 2.5, maybe even 3 hours.

It isn't going to get great battery life no matter what because of the discreet graphics. It can't switch to integrated graphics like some laptops can. Also the screen is not LED backlit which isn't huge, but does have a negative impact.

So it is better than something like a Sager for sure, but probably not as good as many of the Sonys or Dells.

Also you just run in to the problem of the higher performance, the worse the battery life. Step down to something like a 5450 and you'll see a nice boost in battery due to the lower draw... But you'll see far less gaming performance. Also a 5400rpm drive or SSD would help. However a 5400rpm is going to lower your performance, and an SSD is pricey.

Unfortunately there's just no way around that.

Over all I'm happy with the GX640. There are things I'd like, and probably could get from other laptops, but it would cost a good deal more.
 
Personally, I wouldn't call the GX640's keyboard "acceptable." Not when the Fn key is in the wrong damn place....

But YMMV.
 
Oh one other thing I like that is worth looking at whatever you get is that it allows you to use the reference ATi drivers, rather than the ones from MSI. It is up to the laptop manufacturer if that is allowed. For games, I consider it important. So it is worth checking if a given brand allows that. Sony laptops don't, for example. Coworker got a Sony Vaio and it won't let him install the reference nVidia drivers.
 
Sycraft said:
Oh one other thing I like that is worth looking at whatever you get is that it allows you to use the reference ATi drivers, rather than the ones from MSI. It is up to the laptop manufacturer if that is allowed. For games, I consider it important. So it is worth checking if a given brand allows that. Sony laptops don't, for example. Coworker got a Sony Vaio and it won't let him install the reference nVidia drivers.
Click to expand...

Good point. The Vaio is a good laptop overall but I had to go with a modified ini file and dll to get the nVidia update to take. It worked, but it sucks having to resort to that. Otherwise the i7, 1920x1080 in a 16.4" screen, 330m 1gb discreet grfx for about $1400 was a reasonable solution for me.
 
The Sager NP8690/Clevo W860CU is what you're looking for. Macbook Pro sucks, I don't know why would anybody recommend it, except for those Fanboys of course.
 
kevindd992002 said:
The Sager NP8690/Clevo W860CU is what you're looking for. Macbook Pro sucks, I don't know why would anybody recommend it, except for those Fanboys of course.
Click to expand...

The Asus G73JH is a better deal than the Sager/Clevo is. I know, because I was definitely considering the Sager and Clevo laptops when I bought my Asus. It would've cost several hundred more to spec out the Sager/Clevo laptop to match.
 
That's simply because the Sager/Clevo has overall better cooling system than the Asus G73JH has. Additionally, Clevo laptops are more customizeable than Asus laptops.
 
kevindd992002 said:
That's simply because the Sager/Clevo has overall better cooling system than the Asus G73JH has. Additionally, Clevo laptops are more customizeable than Asus laptops.
Click to expand...

And this is worth a several hundred dollar premium...how, exactly? The Asus's cooling system is fine. It's quiet, it doesn't run hot, the laptop doesn't get hot to the touch...
 
Sager makes some niiiiice machines, and the ones I've seen in this thread are definitely DTRs.

I used to have a Dell Inspiron E1705, which I considered to be a DTR at 9+ pounds with top end hardware in its day.

To call any Macbook a DTR is insane. The graphics power isn't there.
 
Of course, it's worth it. Specifically, the W860CU and W870CU of Clevo employs independent heatsinks for both the CPU and GPU.

For the record, ask different people regarding build quality of Asus vs. Clevo/Sager and see for yourself who comes out top. I'm not a fanboy of any side here, don't get me wrong. I don't have anything against Asus, they are 2nd in my priority list and Clevo/Sager being the first one.

And as I've said, you cannot easily customize Asus laptops compared to how you can extensively customize Sagers/Clevos. This is a fact.

On the side note, MacBooks and Alienwares suck big time. They have the "cool" factor without the performance.
 
kevindd992002 said:
On the side note, MacBooks and Alienwares suck big time. They have the "cool" factor without the performance.
Click to expand...

I disagree on the MacBook. The 13-inch models aren't extremely quick, but the GeForce 320M is a lot better than what usually gets stuffed in systems that size.

You don't get into desktop replacement territory until the 15-inch MacBook Pro, but the big thing about the entire line is simply the battery life: 10 hours max on the 13-inch models is great, and 8 hours on the 15-inch models with the dedicated GPU turned on is impressive too. The GPU won't give you high-end gaming, but I also like a desktop replacement that won't strain my shoulder if I carry it for 3 hours at a trade show.

As for Alienware... well, outside of the M11x, calling the brand cool is a misnomer. That logo and the deliberately flashy designs scream "gamer with no subtlety" more than they do "hipster."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top