Need advice Core i7 Notebook

lRaphl

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 3, 2003
Messages
101
Hi all, I'm looking to buy my first notebook ever and don't really know which brand/model I can trust. It's not really as easy as picking pieces from different manufacturer and put them all together.

What I want is a Core i7 CPU, a GPU that can handle games (ATI or NVIDIA), at least 4GB of RAM, around 320GB of disk space and a 17+ inch screen.

What I've found so far is:
Dell Studio 17 (1199$ CAN)
MSI GT740 (1839.99$ CAN)
ASUS M60 (1709.99$ CAN)
Acer AS8940G (1399.99$)
Toshiba Quosmio X500 (2199.99 CAN)


If I was only aiming for the cheapest one I would go for the Dell Studio 17 but I don't know if I can trust Dell notebook?!?! I'm really not sure about Acer quality and I've always had lots of problems with ASUS products.

Anyway, someone can help me with that? Some bad experiences with those products?

Thank you! :)
 
The Dell build quality is pretty damn good these days , they handle alienware now and i have the M15x with the I7 and it's a very fast and well made laptop.
 
I just recently bought an ASUS G51J-A1 and I'm loving it. I know you said you prefer a 17" screen, but if you're considering a 16" then by all means check out the G51's from ASUS. I went from a 17" ASUS G2S-2B to my G51J-A1 and I don't miss the 1.4" of physical screen size at all. With a 1920 x 1080 resolution you get just as much screen real estate as any 17" out there with a resolution of 1920 x 1200. And actually I think images and text are actually cleaner and sharper looking than the 17" I had as well.

Plus one other thing to think about is with a 17-18.4" notebook...if you have to lug it around much at all you'll wish you had a smaller laptop. Weights listed on product pages are for just the laptop itself....they don't take into account any extras like bag, power brick, etc. While my backpack with everything and the G51J is quite heavy....but it's still noticably lighter than when I had my G2S in it.

I would suggest reading this thread about the G51J http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=430541 to see if you might be affected by these bugs. I'm quite confident the problems will get sorted out in due time by a BIOS fix or something along those lines....but it would't be fair to suggest this laptop unless I knew this issue is made aware to you. I personally haven't had any problems like this, but then again the only game I really play anymore is WoW, which this laptop does very well.
 
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i have the g51j-a1 , and its a top quality laptop. you should really consider it
 
Sager is another choice. They are not the cheapest but not the most expensive. ASUS is probably their closest competitor when it comes to gaming notebooks. Sager gaming notebooks have a better cooling system than the ASUS gaming notebooks. If money wasn't a problem I'd buy a Sager over a ASUS just because of the better cooling.
 
www.pctorque.com
www.sagernotebook.com

If you are looking for the best, that's it. I've actually ordered from PCTorque and they are very fast.

Sager notebooks are desktop replacements and look good. They are not tacky as hell Alienware systems. (no offense)
 
Lenovo Ideapad Y550/Y550P for $999 USD. Meets all of your requirements except the 17" screen, and Lenovo quality is better than just about all the brands that you listed.
 
Lenovo Ideapad Y550/Y550P for $999 USD. Meets all of your requirements except the 17" screen, and Lenovo quality is better than just about all the brands that you listed.

Core 2 CPU, Intel graphic card and 15.6" screen.

Do not meet what I'm looking for.

Next! :D
 
Core 2 CPU, Intel graphic card and 15.6" screen.

Do not meet what I'm looking for.

Next! :D

The Y550 on Newegg has an i7 and nVidia GT 240M. Link.

No way around the 15.6" screen, but an incredibly powerful machine for the price.
 
The OP is going to want at least a 260m GPU in whatever he chooses I'm thinking. Otherwise the gaming is going to be at low or medium settings at best.
 
Price is also a factor for me. I don't want to pay 2000$ for a notebook when an other manufacturer sell the same thing for half the price.
 
Price is also a factor for me. I don't want to pay 2000$ for a notebook when an other manufacturer sell the same thing for half the price.

Don't forget though... If you buy cheap you'll get cheap. Just be aware that if you get too cheap the product may not be long lasting. You can't fix a laptop as easily or cheaply like you can a desktop. Not trying to rain on your choices but I feel it needs to be said. :)
 
Don't forget though... If you buy cheap you'll get cheap. Just be aware that if you get too cheap the product may not be long lasting. You can't fix a laptop as easily or cheaply like you can a desktop. Not trying to rain on your choices but I feel it needs to be said. :)

Yup...if you're going to keep the laptop more than a couple of years I would suggest investing in an extended warranty from the manufacturer. Dell and Lenovo among others offer up to 4 years of warranty with optional accident protection. If you use these warranties even one time for a motherboard or screen replacement, they basically pay for themselves.

I just purchased an Asus; their standard warranty is very good IMO. 2 year warranty including 1 year of accident protection. Plus I paid with my AmEx so I get an additional year of warranty.

Some business line laptops from Dell and HP come with 3 years of warranty standard, but they are of course more expensive then many notebooks in the consumer divisions and it tends to be harder to get them configured with real gaming graphics cards.
 
I just got the Alienware m15x with a 720m, gtx260 m and 4 gigs of ram for less than $2000. Go through EDP discount program for best price. This machine rocks. I am currently playing Dragon Age and Call of Duty 2 with no problems at all.LED Display at 1920x1080 is awseome.
 
I just got the Alienware m15x with a 720m, gtx260 m and 4 gigs of ram for less than $2000. Go through EDP discount program for best price. This machine rocks. I am currently playing Dragon Age and Call of Duty 2 with no problems at all.LED Display at 1920x1080 is awseome.

Call of duty 2 is an old game... do you mean modern warfare 2?
 
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I just got a lenovo ideapad y550p for my boss. 999 from newegg. 15" widescreen, 2.6ghz i7 920, 4gb ddr3, 500gb hdd, bluetooth, 1gb 2XX GT video, camera, led backlit display, ect ect.

It was the only 15" i7 lappy I could find, and we did not want a giant desktop replacement 17-18 incher. It was also the cheapest by several hundred dollars. Its very nice, lenovo makes em sturdy.

Its the nicest lappy I ever used, more than enough cpu power, gpu power, memory, and hdd space for anything a laptop is needed for. If you want a bigger screen, there are lots of options, but 17-18 inchers are not very portable, and batt life suffers.
 
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