Deciding between these few laptops?

[seanrenhui]

Hi all,

Hoping to get one laptop for school + mid gaming (i.e. football manager 2013, dota 2) (don't think i will be attempting to run those top tier games on max settings, but willing to try on low settings)

Looking to maximize battery life and laptop lifetime usage

1) Aftershock XG15/XG17 ~ 2k

incl intel i7 4700MQ + geforce gtx 765m
- 8 gb ram
- intel wireless
- windows 8 os
- leaving the hdd as default hitachi to be added on later (good option?) as I have a wd portable disk drive about 750 gb, not sure to add on to ssd or not

2) Acer aspire x3-571G ~ 1.2k from pcmart.com.sg

i7-3630qm + geforce gt 730m
-8gb ram
-750gb hdd

3) Dell Inspiron 15R SE 7520 ~ 1.5k from courts

i7-3632QM + AMD 7730 (2GB)
-8gb ram
- 1tb hdd

4) Dell Vostro / 15R / 14R ~ range 1.1k - 1.3k from dell website to order

----

Would really appreciate if you all can provide opinions and suggestions!

Addn question: is it worth waiting for the 4th gen intel cores to be made on upcoming laptops? or will 3rd gen do just fine

 

[straweffigy]

If you want longevity (no need to upgrade to handle work/games in the short future) and better gfx performance, get GT 650m or 750m at least (not sure about AMD for laptop GPUs). Anything lower is not recommended.

The newer laptops also come with DDR5 VRAM for GPU. DDR5 is significantly faster than DDR3 of the same GPU model.

4th gen i7 CPUs are already available on certain laptop models. Another option for you: Lenovo Y510P

i7 4700MQ
GT750M DDR5 2GB
8GB RAM
1TB HDD + 24GB HDD
15.6" Full HD

This model can allow its DVD drive bay to act as a secondary GPU (if you purchase the card), allowing for SLI. 2x GT 750M is equal to a GT 765M

 

[seanrenhui]

If you want longevity (no need to upgrade to handle work/games in the short future) and better gfx performance, get GT 650m or 750m at least (not sure about AMD for laptop GPUs). Anything lower is not recommended.

The newer laptops also come with DDR5 VRAM for GPU. DDR5 is significantly faster than DDR3 of the same GPU model.

4th gen i7 CPUs are already available on certain laptop models. Another option for you: Lenovo Y510P

i7 4700MQ
GT750M DDR5 2GB
8GB RAM
1TB HDD + 24GB HDD
15.6" Full HD

This model can allow its DVD drive bay to act as a secondary GPU (if you purchase the card), allowing for SLI. 2x GT 750M is equal to a GT 765M

was thinking about the y410p / y510p series too, but can't seem to find any stock on the internet. do you know when approx it will be available?

saw some great deals on the pc show brochures also, but missed the actual event. i approximate about 2-3 weeks for the shipments to come in?

 

[straweffigy]

I bought my Y410P last week from Challenger. Give them a call, they can transfer the stock to the nearest Challenger within the day if you call in the morning. Not sure about Y510P, it was too big for me so I didn't ask.

Y410P listed at $1499. Ask for discount. I got it at $1349 + bag + 16GB thumbdrive.

Y410P has everything the Y510P has, only 14" screen with non full-HD resolution. Both have red backlit keyboard. Audio is very good for a laptop too.

 

[dataworld111]

Hi all,

Hoping to get one laptop for school + mid gaming (i.e. football manager 2013, dota 2) (don't think i will be attempting to run those top tier games on max settings, but willing to try on low settings)

Looking to maximize battery life and laptop lifetime usage

1) Aftershock XG15/XG17 ~ 2k

incl intel i7 4700MQ + geforce gtx 765m
- 8 gb ram
- intel wireless
- windows 8 os
- leaving the hdd as default hitachi to be added on later (good option?) as I have a wd portable disk drive about 750 gb, not sure to add on to ssd or not

2) Acer aspire x3-571G ~ 1.2k from pcmart.com.sg

i7-3630qm + geforce gt 730m
-8gb ram
-750gb hdd

3) Dell Inspiron 15R SE 7520 ~ 1.5k from courts

i7-3632QM + AMD 7730 (2GB)
-8gb ram
- 1tb hdd

4) Dell Vostro / 15R / 14R ~ range 1.1k - 1.3k from dell website to order

----

Would really appreciate if you all can provide opinions and suggestions!

Addn question: is it worth waiting for the 4th gen intel cores to be made on upcoming laptops? or will 3rd gen do just fine

IMO, if your getting a laptop, place emphasis on performance as laptop specs gets outclassed incredibly fast thus getting a powerful laptop now, although upfront you pay more, will ensure that you have a futureproof-ed(compared to other laptops) laptop.

Thus i would recommend taking a look at aftershock XG17(Top end CPU with mid end GPU) or MSI GX60(Mid end cpu with top end gpu)

If battery life is a concern, just off your DGPU when your not gaming and switch over to intel HD through optimus(nvidia card) or enduro(amd cards)

To further extend battery life, you can always try downclocking CPU speed.

 

[watzup_ken]

To be honest, gaming laptops are not good when it comes to power efficiency. The best I've seen comes from Samsung's Chrono 7 series. It has probably the best battery life, relative to specs I've used. At 80% charge, I could get up to 5 to 6 hours surfing net on it with Wifi. Its got powerful specs given its thin form factor.

If u are into getting a good gaming laptop, Aftetshock is still highly recommended. XG15 is recommended for better battery life if I not wrong since the battery is the same while the bigger screen draws more power.

 

[seanrenhui]

Thinking about the longevity of the Lenovo Y410P and the Aftershock XG15 and how both of them might compare with a Macbook pro / macbook air? Wondering if the PC laptops might outlast the mac?

 

[straweffigy]

Thinking about the longevity of the Lenovo Y410P and the Aftershock XG15 and how both of them might compare with a Macbook pro / macbook air? Wondering if the PC laptops might outlast the mac?

Longevity as in reliability? For this, every brand has its own fair share of issues.

If you mean longevity as in no need to upgrade again in the near future.. In terms of specs, Macbook Pro specs just not good enough. Models lesser than this, they're all integrated gfx.. No point. And Macbook Pro with GT 650M (only 512mb vram) is $2388. Can buy latest Alienware 14 and still have change.

 

[watzup_ken]

Thinking about the longevity of the Lenovo Y410P and the Aftershock XG15 and how both of them might compare with a Macbook pro / macbook air? Wondering if the PC laptops might outlast the mac?

I think this is a matter of luck. Even the best names in this industry cannot guarantee a fail safe product.

Most importantly, I can say that the after sales service from Aftershock is excellent.

 

[harky]

2nd graphic card? If one die can use external one?

If you want longevity (no need to upgrade to handle work/games in the short future) and better gfx performance, get GT 650m or 750m at least (not sure about AMD for laptop GPUs). Anything lower is not recommended.

The newer laptops also come with DDR5 VRAM for GPU. DDR5 is significantly faster than DDR3 of the same GPU model.

4th gen i7 CPUs are already available on certain laptop models. Another option for you: Lenovo Y510P

i7 4700MQ
GT750M DDR5 2GB
8GB RAM
1TB HDD + 24GB HDD
15.6" Full HD

This model can allow its DVD drive bay to act as a secondary GPU (if you purchase the card), allowing for SLI. 2x GT 750M is equal to a GT 765M

 

[straweffigy]

Don't think it works that way.

Within the laptop itself, there is the integrated Intel GPU chip (Intel HD 4600 comes with i7-4700MQ IIRC). Dedicated GPU is GT750M 2GB DDR5.

On idle or normal usage, integrated GPU is used. On gaming or editing work, dedicated GPU is used instead.

When ultrabay with GT750M comes out for Lenovo Y410P and Y510P, you can achieve GT750M in SLI (close or on par with GT 756M).

 

[watzup_ken]

2nd graphic card? If one die can use external one?

I suppose that might be possible since the system will detect the external one as the second second Nvidia card in the laptop.