for high specs laptop u can try local laptop seller called Aftershock (although i have never used it b4, many claim its not bad)
they sell gaming laptop with relatively highend specs. For 15" haswell quadcores laptop price is just in your budget range. On the surface, both literally and metaphorically, their laptops are supposedly geared towards the "gamer" ie those who play those bengster games like WoW, Crysis, Dota, etc but since u want a high-specification laptop, Aftershock also fits the bill.
the only thing u need to worry about is heat emission
since u mentioned Vmware, i assume its cpu intensive software.
for laptops up to 17" size, when cpu is running at close to 100% load, the cpu temperature will shoot up to at least 80+degC. that is something u cannot escape from. i am not sure if Vmware will run at cpu close to 100% load? if it does, u will have a real big heat issue when running it regularly on a laptop.
the only 17" laptop that does not have heat issue when running at near 100% cpu load, is that very particular model sold by xoticpc, which is sold only in USA. there is one model where its a 5kg huge 17" literally desktop replacement, with 4 big fans at the bottom and the rear is full of warm air exhaust vents, and it houses a desktop cpu.
the latest incarnation is this:
XOTIC PC | Sager NP9570 / Clevo P570WM - 17.3" Custom Gaming Laptop
HTWingNut's Sager NP9570 (Clevo P570WM) Review!
apart from this monster, which of cos costs a bomb (lol), when people talk about gaming laptop, their focus is usually on the graphics card, then their heat issue is how hot the graphic card (gpu) goes during near 100% load. this thread, (post #20) some helpful guy updated his gpu load temperature, near 70+ degC
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/g...293/gaming-laptop-computer-idiot-4552313.html
hope this info is useful
Hi Dawnknight ,
Thank you for explaining briefly about the laptop CPU temparature concept and telling about Aftershock .
i have found below configuration and the price from their website .. i will also visit their office and check whether the price can be reduce by modify with low end Graphic card since the GTx 860M is higher .
i am also considering Asus N550JV which is also about the same spec and cost..
Pls see the below configuration and share your thoughts if possible..
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Product Name: AFTERSHOCK XG15-V3
SGD 1932.28 (for Credit Card Payment)
. Central Processing Unit : 4th Generation Intel® Haswell Core™ i7-4700MQ Processor (Quad Core)
• Graphics Card : NVIDIA GEFORCE 860M GTX 2GB GDDR5
• Thermal Compound : IC Diamond Thermal Compound CPU + GPU (Free Lifetime Thermal Compound Re-pasting) *Promotion*
• Display : 15.6 Inch Full HD Premium Matte LED display With Wide Viewing Angle (1920 x1080)
• Custom Paint and Wrap Options : Fine Silver Backcover (Classic)
• Memory (RAM) : 16GB DDR3L 1600MHZ (8X2)
• Dead Pixel Policy : 30 Day 0 Dead Pixel Policy
• Keyboard Backlight : White (Default)
• Hard Drive : 500GB Hitachi 5400 RPM HDD
• Second Hard Drive : None
• Optical Disk Drive : 8 x DVD ± R/RW/4X +DL Super Multi Drive & Software
• WI-FI Bluetooth : Standard 802.11 B/G/N + Bluetooth combo card
• Professional Color Calibration : Default Monitor Calibration
• Operating System : Windows 8.1 64 bit
• Warranty : Aftershock 2 year parts, 3 year service (Carry In)
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ASUS N550JV-CM041H
Price S$1,898 ( harvey Norman) upgrade to 16GB (additional $90)
Processor Intel® Core™ i7-4700HQ Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.40 GHz)
Operating System Windows 8 64 bit
Installed RAM 8 GB
Hard Drive 1TB (5400rpm)
Screen Size 15.6''
Optical Drive Blu-ray Combo
Graphics Performance NVIDIA® GeForce GT750M 4GB DDR3
• Windows 8 Pro or other editions available
• SonicMaster Premium co-developed with Bang & Olufsen ICEpower® delivers the first-ever quad-speaker array on notebook, providing cinematic surround realism
• Ultra-crisp 17.3-inch up to Full HD display with wide viewing angles and anti-glare technology
• Powerful 4th generation Intel® Core™ processors and NVIDIA® GeForce®graphics
• Durable and stylish metallic finish projects an elegant look and feel
ASUS designed the N550JV with dual fans, twin heatpipes and vents to redirect heat and keep the machine cool.
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