Choosing a new laptop

Hello Afterdawn,

I turn to you for your thoughts on which laptop i should get. Currently i'm traumatised by HP and their DV7 series. I had switchable graphics with drivers that where more outdated then Atari, Overheating issues, Irregular fan speeds, BSOD's. This was my first laptop expierence without an integrated GPU.

So i sat it on fire and let it truly overheat mwahahahah.

Anyway i need a new laptop for school and i got 3 choices.

Option A. : Lenovo G710-00725 € 683
1TB HDD, i7 4702MQ, 8GB (1*8GBDDRIII1600), Intel HD graphics 4400

Option B. : Acer Aspire V3-772G €843
500GB HDD, i7 4702MQ, 8 GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 4GB

Option C. : Asus N750JV €1043
750GB HDD, 4700HQ, 8 GB DDR3L 1600 MHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750 (N14P-GT) DDR3 2 GB VRAM


Here are my questions regarding the laptops.

1. The price differs allot and i'm wondering if its worth it to go above 683 for essentially.. a 3D card. Is it worth it?

2. I like gaming.. that is.. i like emulation (Dolphiin, ppsspp, epsxe and pcsx2) and i love it on highest settings with awesome rendering.

But isnt that asking for trouble? due to heat and heavy load? will i be cutting deep into the lifespan of my laptop?

3. Whats the difference between VRAM 2gb and 4GB (in regards to the asus and acer option)

4. Which brand is more durable? after all the domestic violence i've been thru with HP.. i just want to be loved again.. not beaten to death by BSOD's and outdated drivers.

5. Asus claims (on the site where i'm ordering) that its cool and efficient in its heat management. Its supposed to have alluminiun has better heatpipes etc. Is this a load of crap? or is this actually true?

Much love to all of you trying to advice me.

Thanks!


PS. All laptops are 17 inch

 

Can't look for it now.. but, there are those models that can have a SECOND video adapter inserted to where the DVD goes, just btw.

Oh and IMO it's REALLY not worth paying the price for a laptop; when you can get a PC that has (literally) double the power, for the money, meh. :-$

Edit: The laptops.. Until you see them perform under (heavy) load, you won't be able to tell - what kind of cheap motherboard they'd used.. && then the rest of the components won't really even matter! (I've experienced this with brand new i7s @ it-akademija.com/ where I'm currently going 4 teh M$ 2012 Server cert.)

 

I concur, don't spend a huge amount on something one drop will kill. Get an extended warranty that will replace if you drop it. You want ti to last 3-4 yrs. That is about the life of a laptop so you can get a replacement when yours dies.

 

These are really useful tips to buying laptop ..

 

Hi Afterdawn,

About your suggestion Acer Aspire V3-772G €843
If you don't need the little extra CPU power, take a look at the Acer Aspire v3-573G
It has a perfect IPS screen, good design and up to 11! hours of battery life. Around same price.

 

Gaming on a laptop is possible and can be fun, however I'd only suggest that option to casual gamers (such as myself). While games such as Pillars of Eternity, LoL and Diablo III can run perfectly on my HP ProBook 450 G2, I certainly can't boot Crysis 2 on ultra.

Speaking of which, I really don't think a dvd drive is needed in 2015 when you can boot a game from a sd card. As much as I despise Apple for some of their design choices, I believe them not including a dvd drive in their recent Macbook models is a step forward.

 

As a matter of fact I don't have to as 99% of these drivers can be downloaded from the manufacturer's site

 

Well that's just nitpicking

What happens if you lose your DVDs or even worse, you decide to reinstall some drivers only to find out your kid has been playing around with them and they're all scratched up, unusable?

I keep some of my most important drivers and documents on a backup usb drive and have had no problems reinstalling any missing/corrupted files. Not to mention the fact that if I do ever want to download an important program, I'll do that on a stable internet connection at home (which is quite fast ) Do you carry your DVDs around with you for a quick fix in case something goes wrong?

To me, having a laptop means having a portable working station, and quite frankly the reduced weight helps a lot.

And how did you manage to turn my comment into an Apple vs Windows thread?

 

Well if it's a part of your job then everything makes sense!

I'm talking from a consumer's point of view.

 

USB drives are smaller than a disk and can also be lost. Andy USB drives are only about a little more stable as a std DVD which is not a suitable option for archive. Try archiving to a CD or a hard drive. What may happen is your archived file might be a little corrupt after 2 plus years. If you can buy Verbatim Data Life DVD they are OK and last 10 plus years. They are hard to come by since they cost more than double a std DVD so most stores don't carry them.

BTW scratches can be removed. I you have the right tools. I suggest everyone own a 'grinder'. I use mine less than once a year but are the only way you you can fix a bad scratch. The real problem with optical drives is the dye fades with time. I haven't had problems with a USB but I have read the warnings.

A laptop optical drive doesn't weight much at all. Only a few ozs.

 

The laptop ought to have been bought by now.

 

You dragged up a long dead, thread. Hildebrand has not been here for almost 2 years, so it is doubtful that he/she hasn't already purchased a new laptop.

 

Well, AD emailed me on this pressing issue as if it was new. I just had some teeth pulled 3 hrs ago and I am high on narcotics as well as in serious pain. I am a bit more careless than my usually careless self.