![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
Help for a Mac to PC Convert
- Thread starter Natedog13
- Start date
Dangman
Ninja Editor SuperMod
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2005
- Messages
- 46,056
Well here's the deal: With the $50 less deal, should you ever want to upgrade to 16GB of RAM, you would have to replace all of your RAM. IMO, that's a bit of a waste. Without the $50 less deal, all you need to do is add 2 x 4GB of RAM without having to replace the RAM already inside to get 16GB of RAM.
As for whether or not you would need to upgrade, it's largely dependent on how you're going to be using this laptop. If it's solely for gaming and a little web browsing, you'll be fine with 8GB of RAM for awhile. But if you tend to have lot of web browsers open with multiple tabs (i.e 6 windows with 5 to 10 tabs each), one or more virtual machines, doing an extensive amount of photoshop, video, or 3D editing/rendering work, and/or plan on running multiple MMORPG clients, then yeah, you may need to upgrade.
So if Im doing mainly gaming, light web browsing (one or two windows, 5 tabs) and minimal editing? Would that be good? How much would it be later to upgrade to the 12 or 16 gb? Its just harder to do because the $50 less is 1333 MHz Instead of 1600 MHz? You can just go straight from there?
Dangman
Ninja Editor SuperMod
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2005
- Messages
- 46,056
8GB of RAM will be fine for that. As for how much it would cost to upgrade to 12GB or 16GB of RAM later on, it's actually largely dependent on WHEN you're upgrading. RAM prices have gone slightly but steadily up in price over the past few months or so. So the "when" is gonna determine how much you're gonna pay for RAM.
With that said, at current pricing, if you're gonna go with the $50 less deal, to upgrade to the 12GB and 16GB of RAM would cost you about ~$40 to $45 and $80 to $95 respectively. If you don't go for the $50 less deal, to upgrade to the 12GB and 16GB of RAM would cost you about ~$18 to $20 and $40 to $45 respectively. But the pricing may be different if you're planning on upgrading the RAM a year from now.
Hmm, on second thought, that $50 less deal isn't too bad if you plan on upgrading to 12GB of RAM. Though you would still have spare sticks of RAM.
Huh? No RAM speed doesn't make it harder to upgrade if thats what you mean.
Dangman
Ninja Editor SuperMod
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2005
- Messages
- 46,056
If you don't mind leftover sticks of RAM when you upgrade to 12GB of RAM and assuming that a 2 x 4GB set of RAM doesn't exceed $50 whenever you plan on upgrading to 12GB of RAM or if you're just fine with 8GB of RAM, yes that deal will be fine.
Generally when companies list battery life, it's usually based on the laptop being basically idle or very very minimal web browsing. Yes it will go down during gaming. Possibly just an hour on battery while gaming. Maybe even less.
Only way to meaningfully up the battery life while gaming is to get an extended battery. AFAIK however, Sager or even Clevo does not offer an extended battery for the Sager NP8131. There are 3rd party universal laptop batteries out there but I don't know which ones will actually work with the Sager NP8131 and they're a bit pricey.
So for gaming, you're better off just plugging it in unless the "game" you're talking about is Angry Birds.
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2004
- Messages
- 11,934
A good modern macbook costs about $2500. If you buy a $1000 PC and think a mac book is better -- don't wonder why.
If you buy a $2500 PC (if you can even find a PC laptop that expensive) - it'll run circles around the MacBook in every category --- in all likelyhood.
Macbooks are sexy. I have one I use at work, I also have an Alienware m11x as my personal laptop. I really like my alienware M11X and If you want to go one on one - I'd recommend an Alienware M14X or M15X to compete against the macbook. It'll be heavier, and have a worse quality screen - but it'll be faster, and the keyboard lights and ability to change the lighting scheme is a positive aspect you'll wonder how you did without. I don't think any plain jane run of the mill HP or Dell will impress you after you had your hands on a sexy aluminum macbook. About the only PC laptop I get excited about is the Alienware line. Alienware is kind of a last bastion of cosmetics and power. Sony has cosmetics, but lacks on power unless you pay through the nose. Dell and HP are almost all utility and low price focus. Asus is ugly in my opinion. Lots of the other brands are just pretty barebones or cheap.
Don't get me wrong, I love MacBooks, but it would be difficult to run games, (even partitions have problems) and from what I've heard, a $1200 MacBook isn't as good as $1200 PC. I love apple's design, I'm even studying to be an industrial designer, but I really want to give PC's a shot and play some skyrim. Are there any alienwares that are under $1200 and have good specs? So far I've been focusing on the sager np8131, but if alienware is better, let me know.
Abula
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2004
- Messages
- 1,036
Alienware is not a bad choice, they are usually more expensive and more bulky, but their quality is good, and most od the time their components are good. But personally for a budget laptop I wouldn't consider them, u think the 8131 is atm one of the best value oriented gaming laptops, the only thing I would do is wait for keplers GTX660m + ivy Bridge quad core, retailers like xoticpc, gentechpc, powernotebooks, maliball, should ship around april 29, less than a month away to get the latest on both gpu n cpu, on a value oriented gaming laptop.
Dangman
Ninja Editor SuperMod
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2005
- Messages
- 46,056
The mobile Ivy Bridge CPUs are delayed unti June 3rd. So to save development production costs, laptop manufacturers might actually wait until the release of the Ivy Bridge mobile CPUs to pair their laptops with Kepler GPUs.
Not if you're a big gamer.
It's a new GPU line. Suppose to be faster and/or use less power than current Nvidia mobile GPUs. But IMO, it's gonna be awhile before we see them.
Dangman
Ninja Editor SuperMod
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2005
- Messages
- 46,056
AFAIK, they don't exist.
Abula
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2004
- Messages
- 1,036
Nothing is certain as there is no official word from intel, all are rummors including my guess of april 29, but there are indications that Asus will launch their G75/G55 very soon, probably around april 29,
Asus G75 gaming laptop is now up for pre-order
Again nothing is certain, but i do think we will see the quad mobile ivy bridges and keplers GTX660m shipping around ends of april or beginging of may, i think other brands like Sager, MSI will start also taking preorder or releasing their own adds soon.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M thats probably the only kepler gpu we will see for some time, the GTX670m = GTX570, GTX675m = GTX580m. There are rummors that we will see a real kepler with the GTX680m between june and september, but all is atm speculation.
Dangman
Ninja Editor SuperMod
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2005
- Messages
- 46,056
Fair enough.
Abula
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2004
- Messages
- 1,036
Probably not, its best for you to contact directly the resellers like xoticpc, gentechpc, powernotebook, etc. What i do know is that the differ shipping option (-$50 off) expires april 8, so you wont be able to get that unless you place your order before april 8, again its best for you to write to all the resellers they are very friendly and informative, this is the only thing that differentiate them from mass etailers like amazon/newegg.
My guess is that the price will be very similar, i expect the 8131 to be very close to the $1200 with ivy bridge quad core and GTX660m, but i would take the advantage of the $50 off if you are sure that the laptop is what you want.
Abula
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2004
- Messages
- 1,036
The NDA from intel and Nvidia wont allow them to public disclose any information, thats how it goes for them as big etailers like dell and so on. Just send them and email see what they offer and for when, you have nothing to lose.
Abula
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2004
- Messages
- 1,036
No one that knows can disclose any information atm, so there is no real way of answering... there are some rumors that place it 20% faster than GTX560m.... but nothing is certain, just rumors. Weather you need it or even if its worth the extra money, will depend on you, there are people that dont mind running at low res or settings in order to save and adjust to a budget, personally i consider the 8131 the bottom line for a gamin laptop, for a good experience i wouldn't go lower, but there are mid end card like 5165 that used to come with GT540... that should allow to play most new games at low settings and/or low res. Now remember in most hardware in laptops is less capable than desktops... a GTX580m (mobile) give or take is similar to GT550 (desktop), a GTX660m will be at least 20% slower, so at the end its like you are getting mid end desktop hardware, that said, as in desktops if gaming is a priority always invest the most you can into getting the best gpu you can.
Now the Sager 8131 atm is around $1100 - $50 differ shippment, so thats $1050 with free shipping, i would still upgrade the cpu to a quad for $70 its a good investment, so that should be around $1120 shipped, but thats with sandy bridge + GTX560m, until april 29 we wont see prices on their webpages for ivy bridge and GTX660m... but again write to all the resellers, they are very friendly they might even tell you an aprox price for whats coming, or even might tell you if its worth the wait.
Last edited:
Abula
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2004
- Messages
- 1,036
Not familiar with either game, but check Notebookcheck NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M, there you might find similar games benches that will help you guess what to expect. Quoting from that review,
Searching a little more for the your games, check Notebookcheck The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Benchmarks From there,
Email all of them,
XoticPC - email Justin, justin@XoticPC.com, pretty good guy to deal with.
GentechPC - email Ken, ken@gentechpc.com, really good also, my favorite to deal with.
Powernotebooks - email Donald, Donald@PowerNotebooks.com, also good guy.
There are others, you but those are the ones i would buy from. These resellers live by the great customer service they provide, see who treats you better, the laptops will be the same. Also some might charge you TAX depending on where you shipping it, for example GentechPC will charge TAX for calforina, XoticPC will charge for Nebraska, Powernotebooks will charge for Nevada.
Last edited:
I did some research:
"Naturally, the far more powerful GTX 560M has no problems whatsoever running Skyrim at high settings and Full HD (1920×1080) resolution with additional post processing."
This one's a review:
"the GTX 560m lets me play skyrim on max Swtor on max and BF3 with no clipping or sign of lag"
This one too:
"Skyrim plays perfect with a combo of high/ultra settings (and the latest beta drivers from nvidia)"
There are a lot of mixed reveiws out there, though. Some say yes, some say yes on med-high settings and some say dedifinitely not.
"Naturally, the far more powerful GTX 560M has no problems whatsoever running Skyrim at high settings and Full HD (1920×1080) resolution with additional post processing."
This one's a review:
"the GTX 560m lets me play skyrim on max Swtor on max and BF3 with no clipping or sign of lag"
This one too:
"Skyrim plays perfect with a combo of high/ultra settings (and the latest beta drivers from nvidia)"
There are a lot of mixed reveiws out there, though. Some say yes, some say yes on med-high settings and some say dedifinitely not.
Dangman
Ninja Editor SuperMod
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2005
- Messages
- 46,056
Maybe not Skyrim on all high settings at 1920x1080 but probably a mixture of medium and high settings.
Abula
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2004
- Messages
- 1,036
I second danny comment, if the notebook check chart is right, i dont think you can run all at high 1920x1080, but a mix with mid settings might allow a good gaming experience. But its not so bad, for example in WOW even high end GPU (talking 4 or 5 years ago) perform very well until shadows were enable, and it was not worth it, i even played with shadows on low back in the day, and it made a huge diference in FPS, overall i think its a decent choice, but i would still email the rellers to see if they can give you an aprox of the 8131 with ivy and GTX660m.
Last edited:
Dangman
Ninja Editor SuperMod
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2005
- Messages
- 46,056
Honestly can't say since A) I don't have a PS3 and B) I've never seen Skyrim load on laptops or a PS3.'
EDIT: The new laptop are here:
http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_customed&model_name=NP9130
Before you ask, the GTX 670M is not a Kepler GPU. However, the GTX 670 is supposedly slightly faster than the GTX 570. The GTX 570 is faster than the GTX 560M we've been talking about. So you actually might be able to Skyrim on high at 1920x1080 now. Or at least with a lot less settings on medium.
Last edited:
Abula
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2004
- Messages
- 1,036
The NDA from nvidia has been semi lifted or partially, so resellers started listing their GTX670m, which is basically a GTX570m with slightly higher clocks, but its faster than GTX560m, and it should be even faster than GTX660m, the price seem very good atm, here is just one example, Sager NP9130 $1099
I would just upgrade the dual core for a quad for $70.
I would just upgrade the dual core for a quad for $70.
If you want faster loading times, then consider in the future an SSD, Crucial m4 128gb or Samsung 830 128gb are really good choices to upgrade your laptop in the future.
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Abula
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2004
- Messages
- 1,036
Sager/Clevo us one of the few laptop companies that do allow users to upgrade mos of the components like cpu n gpu, as well as clean, etc. Now the upgrade of gpus is not that easy, most of the time you can upgrade to the next gen gpus, but most of the times two or three gens above you can't, really depends on each case. Upgrading also depends on the brick you have... I don't think you would be able to upgrade to the gtx580, as it takes more power, or you will also need to get another brick. I wouldn't make a big deal out of itN the gtx 570 is a very capable gpu, one below the mighty gtx580.
Just as final comment this were the 8131 that you saw last week, sort of speak, what I mean is that they could show them cause of the nvidia nda, but if you would have ordered before the 8th, you would have gotten 9130 with a $50 discount, this was one of the resons I told you to write to them.
Abula
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2004
- Messages
- 1,036
The only imac styled laptops i seen aside from the mbp, etc, are the HP ENVY 15-3040NR 15.6 Inch Laptop (Black/Silver) and similar but not a complete clone the Samsung Series 7 NP700Z5A-S0AUS 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver) , but you wont get the gaming performance that you get with the 9130.
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.