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I don't know about their gaming laptops, but I have had an MSI netbook for about 4 years now and it's only just starting to show its age. Very durable and highly recommended from me.
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| # ? Apr 20, 2012 16:05 |
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| # ? May 18, 2013 15:25 |
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Hey, does anyone know much about the relative power of the AMD 7970m that's just come out/coming out? notebookcheck says the performance is in the range of the GTX680m, and given that you can currently order an M17x R4 from Dell with one of those babies, to the tune of about $2000, that seems like a serious option to consider and competitively priced even with stuff on xoticpc in terms of performance. I know some people are down on Alienware, but to be honest, I've had really positive experiences with their products, so I'm definitely looking at it. They've got that model up for sale with that GPU right now, but I'm holding till at least next week to see if they upgrade for Ivy Bridge at the same time, too. It seems odd to me that Alienware upgrades their laptops *this* week with new GPUs (GTX 660m, GTX 675m, and the aforementioned AMD 7970m) and yet, they all still have the same Sandy Bridge processors on them. To be perfectly frank, the new GPU is much more what I'm concerned about, but I'm still going to wait at least until the 23rd and see what happens.
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| # ? Apr 21, 2012 09:42 |
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Hello people. Got a quick question. Are the mobile Ivy Bridge CPUs going to be shipping in June? I realise the release date is conjecture at this point, but they're not going to be out with the desktop CPUs in the next two weeks or so, correct?
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| # ? Apr 21, 2012 12:19 |
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WattsvilleBlues posted:Hello people. Got a quick question. Are the mobile Ivy Bridge CPUs going to be shipping in June? I realise the release date is conjecture at this point, but they're not going to be out with the desktop CPUs in the next two weeks or so, correct? Quad desktop and mobile out first, dual-dore mobile out later
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| # ? Apr 21, 2012 13:50 |
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What sort of price range drops are we going to be seeing once Ivy Bridge comes out? My laptop is dying (little fella had a hell of a five year run for being a $350 Acer) and it's time to get a new one. I don't do much with it, but it is my primary internet and video watching machine. The worst I'll ever end up throwing at it game wise is WoW. Will Ivy Bridge push the i3 and i5 based Sandy Bridges down to entry level pricing, or am I looking at about the same prices on the lower end of things? Also, Hadlock posted:Here, someone just quote this once every page. Maybe they will figure it out.
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| # ? Apr 21, 2012 13:54 |
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Disocunts shouldn't be too crazy. Manufacturers probably reduced production and inventories. There will probably be as many sold at full price to people who ddon't know any better.
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| # ? Apr 21, 2012 13:57 |
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kaworu posted:Hey, does anyone know much about the relative power of the AMD 7970m that's just come out/coming out? notebookcheck says the performance is in the range of the GTX680m, and given that you can currently order an M17x R4 from Dell with one of those babies, to the tune of about $2000, that seems like a serious option to consider and competitively priced even with stuff on xoticpc in terms of performance. I know some people are down on Alienware, but to be honest, I've had really positive experiences with their products, so I'm definitely looking at it. They've got that model up for sale with that GPU right now, but I'm holding till at least next week to see if they upgrade for Ivy Bridge at the same time, too. It seems odd to me that Alienware upgrades their laptops *this* week with new GPUs (GTX 660m, GTX 675m, and the aforementioned AMD 7970m) and yet, they all still have the same Sandy Bridge processors on them. To be perfectly frank, the new GPU is much more what I'm concerned about, but I'm still going to wait at least until the 23rd and see what happens. There are no reviews out yet. All performance numbers are the result of speculation and rumors. News of the 7970M literally just broke today, and it's Saturday. Unless you're that hyped that you want to buy blind, wait for Tuesday and reviews.
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| # ? Apr 21, 2012 16:08 |
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At least where I'm around it's rather even for online retailers to display "sandybridge" anywhere, the only give-away for the tech-savy being the CPU number. That coupled with the renaming of the 540 and 55X Nvidia cards to 630 and they'll probably try to peddle the same poo poo here awhile longer for the same price. And the storefronts are like a generation behind with plenty of pre-Sandybridge CPUs around anyhow... I'll probably have to go with something like deviltech to actually get some new tech at a decent price soonish 
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| # ? Apr 21, 2012 16:19 |
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Bob Morales posted:Disocunts shouldn't be too crazy. Manufacturers probably reduced production and inventories. There will probably be as many sold at full price to people who ddon't know any better. Yea, this. Historically there's never been much of a clearance on old parts. Maybe $50 or something, perhaps $100 on a really high-end system, but...not much.
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| # ? Apr 21, 2012 18:50 |
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Mokotow posted:Does anyone have any experience to share about the MSI (http://www.msi.com/product/nb/#/?sk=Gaming%20Series) line of gaming laptops? I'm not a fan of MSI. Their laptops seem cheaply constructed. Customer service is poor if you need it. Now, they'll play games and they're reasonably priced, but the same can be said of ASUS. In my opinion if you're not buying a custom-built system the ASUS G-series is the best choice.
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| # ? Apr 21, 2012 18:53 |
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Faceless Clock posted:I'm not a fan of MSI. Their laptops seem cheaply constructed. Customer service is poor if you need it. Now, they'll play games and they're reasonably priced, but the same can be said of ASUS. In my opinion if you're not buying a custom-built system the ASUS G-series is the best choice. Thanks for this - at first glance, seems like a reasonable alternative, and cost-wise similar models have a common price range. MSI looks better visually I guess, but thanks to your advice I'll need to do a double-take and do some comparing, especially considering that MSI seems to be commonly regarded as "fine, not great".
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| # ? Apr 22, 2012 00:00 |
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Factory Factory posted:There are no reviews out yet. All performance numbers are the result of speculation and rumors. News of the 7970M literally just broke today, and it's Saturday. Unless you're that hyped that you want to buy blind, wait for Tuesday and reviews. I'm definitely waiting for a while longer, it's just exciting, and I wasn't sure if there was some info out there I wasn't quite privy to. I also do find it really odd that Alienware releases the refresh of their systems with SB processors about 5 days before Ivy Bridge is set to launch. Makes me wonder if they're trying to just sell off a bunch of these "new" systems with older CPUs over the course of like a week or a month before they put in the new processors. I can't imagine they're going to stick with SB for an entire year.
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| # ? Apr 22, 2012 00:51 |
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Does anyone have any strong recommendations on a hardened laptop carrying case? I'm deploying to Afghanistan in a couple of weeks, and I'm looking for something that can absorb a few bumps and keep the dust out as much as possible.
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| # ? Apr 22, 2012 19:09 |
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I have decided that the (extremely) low settings capable by my MBP for Diablo 3 are not cutting it, and I want something that can play he game properly... but I refuse to have my computer tied to a desk, so here we are. Is this deal any good? http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/295684 $850 for a 15.6" 1920x1080 LED; Intel Core i7-2670QM 2.2GHz Quad-Core Sandy Bridge; 8GB RAM; 750GB 7200 HDD; 802.11n + gigabit; Windows 7 Home Premium; NVIDIA Geforce GT525M 1GB w/ OPTIMUS; HDMI; webcam; 6-cell battery; 1yr warranty; backlit keyboard If I bump it up to $950, it comes with the GT540M. or should I just  ? zenintrude fucked around with this message at Apr 22, 2012 around 20:50 |
| # ? Apr 22, 2012 20:31 |
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zenintrude posted:Also, a GeForce 525M is not that much more powerful than the on-chip graphics on that thing's processor.
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| # ? Apr 22, 2012 21:17 |
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Factory Factory posted:Also, a GeForce 525M is not that much more powerful than the on-chip graphics on that thing's processor. What mobile processor(s) should i be looking for?
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| # ? Apr 22, 2012 21:19 |
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Derek Dominoe posted:Does anyone have any strong recommendations on a hardened laptop carrying case? I'm deploying to Afghanistan in a couple of weeks, and I'm looking for something that can absorb a few bumps and keep the dust out as much as possible. Pelican (and Hardigg, who they own now) makes some very tough cases. You'll pay a lot for them, and they're kind of annoyingly heavy, but they're the standard in harsh environments for a reason. Get one in an obviously non-military color, or a can of hot pink spray paint, or something, though. Otherwise it will look like every other piece of electronic equipment in the country, and that makes it easier for it to walk away.
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| # ? Apr 22, 2012 21:26 |
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I don't know. We have to zenintrude posted:
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| # ? Apr 22, 2012 21:26 |
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Now I have a question regarding those switchable GPU's I've noticed on some laptops? where they go from the integrated to the dedicated card with a switch? Do you change them during bootup or is it something else?
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| # ? Apr 23, 2012 07:17 |
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TheQuagmire posted:Now I have a question regarding those switchable GPU's I've noticed on some laptops? where they go from the integrated to the dedicated card with a switch? Do you change them during bootup or is it something else? My understanding is it switches when you start programs from a set list.
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| # ? Apr 23, 2012 07:39 |
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TheQuagmire posted:Now I have a question regarding those switchable GPU's I've noticed on some laptops? where they go from the integrated to the dedicated card with a switch? Do you change them during bootup or is it something else? Nvidia and newer AMD cards are driver-based. You set in a control panel which programs trigger the dedicated card and under what conditions (e.g. when plugged in). For a lot of current AMD cards, switching is a nightmare. Either dynamic switching is crazy, or it's manual switching only (requires a reboot), or you get a BIOS option to switch between the two. Looking forward, it should be much better behaved and as good as Optimus. I mean, Nvidia switchable graphics were a nightmare for a while before they figured out Optimus; AMD's just working on the same problems, the way Nvidia got left in the dust on Eyefinity.
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| # ? Apr 23, 2012 07:57 |
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Double posting for Ivy Bridge: those of you looking for fancy quad-core gaming laptops will want to know these numbers: i7-3610QM (2.3 to 3.3 GHz quad core, 45W TDP) i7-3612QM (2.1 to 3.1 GHz quad core, 35W TDP) <-- same TDP as dual-core Sandy Bridge CPUs i7-3615QM (same as 3610, slightly faster graphics turbo) These are the successors to the venerable i7-2630QM
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| # ? Apr 23, 2012 17:53 |
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Benchmarks up for the incoming Ivy Bridge processors. Looking pretty good in terms of performance increase. No clear picture on actual battery performance yet though, I'd say, which is what I'm mainly looking forward to info on. http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review...rs.73624.0.html
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| # ? Apr 23, 2012 18:42 |
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I'm looking into a new laptop to play Diablo 3 when it comes out (May 15th). I'm looking to spend ~$1,000 if possible to play it smoothly. I've been trying to follow the whole Ivy Bridge thing, but I'm kinda retarded with computers. It sounds like the hardcore expensive gaming laptops will come out first(next week?), then the more main steam ones, that are more in my budget, will come out end of May or early June? Is it worth holding out for or should I just go ahead and snag one? I don't care if its not in ultra high definition or anything, but I would like to play it on fairly good graphics and smoothly if possible.
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| # ? Apr 23, 2012 22:41 |
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Factory Factory posted:Nvidia and newer AMD cards are driver-based. You set in a control panel which programs trigger the dedicated card and under what conditions (e.g. when plugged in). Is there a way to figure out whether the switching is actually working other than just a game's performance? I have a game that I suspect is not using my dedicated card but I don't know how to check.
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| # ? Apr 24, 2012 05:14 |
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I dunno, run GPU-Z and watch for load on the dGPU?
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| # ? Apr 24, 2012 05:16 |
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Factory Factory posted:I dunno, run GPU-Z and watch for load on the dGPU? This did the trick, thanks.
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| # ? Apr 24, 2012 05:30 |
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I'm looking for a silent laptop (within reason). According to Linus Torvalds (http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/19/an...linus-torvalds/), the MacBook Air is the only thing that gets this right. Agree/disagree? How do the Lenovo laptops compare? Is Ivy Bridge expected to have significant improvements in this area?
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| # ? Apr 24, 2012 07:17 |
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Cress posted:I'm looking for a silent laptop (within reason). According to Linus Torvalds (http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/19/an...linus-torvalds/), the MacBook Air is the only thing that gets this right. Disagree! The Sony Vaio P is perfectly quiet. It has no fan. The Panasonic Toughbook C1 has an i5-2520M and it meets the "whisper quiet" requirement in my mind, even while spinning a 7200 RPM drive. (I'm listening to it in a quiet room right now.) It would be dead silent with an SSD. Cress posted:How do the Lenovo laptops compare? As far as I can tell, they always have the fan on. The W520 always has the fan on. The X120e always has the fan on, but I'm running Linux, and maybe Windows has better power management. I doubt it wouldn't have the fan on. The fan is not "loud", not even loud, so it of course depends on what you mean by "within reason". I think the fans are quiet enough. But they're there in ways that can't be called whisper quiet, even though they're quieter than actual whispers. The Air's fan is on all the time too, but it's not audible quite the way Lenovos are. Cress posted:Is Ivy Bridge expected to have significant improvements in this area? No. Ivy Bridge has options for slightly lower TDP but that's based around what happens when the CPU is at full speed. Both CPUs have similar power usage when idling. (By default you'd expect Ivy to be worse at idling because leakage gets worse when you die shrink, but thanks to the magic of technology that's apparently not the case.) e: maybe having a TDP of 14W instead of 17W lets you choose a fan more optimal for being quiet than handling the 14-17W situations. Somehow I don't think this is the engineering bottleneck. More Edits e2: Look: a review that mentions and compares the Air's loudness: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review...ok.60011.0.html The minimum loudness of the X130e is slightly higher: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review...ok.72597.0.html The W520 idles at 32.4 dB instead of 28.4 for the Air. The T420 and T520 are 32.3 and 32.5 dB. But the X220 idles at 28.9 dB which is a miniscule fraction higher (something like 1.1 times the power). Under higher loads, it's much less noisy than the Airs. shrughes fucked around with this message at Apr 24, 2012 around 09:13 |
| # ? Apr 24, 2012 08:39 |
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Cress posted:I'm looking for a silent laptop (within reason). According to Linus Torvalds (http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/19/an...linus-torvalds/), the MacBook Air is the only thing that gets this right. I agree with him but I just say Apple laptops in general, especially with SSD. I've used Lenovo and other brands that are very quiet but when you leave them on a desk or in a hot room they quickly start to make fan noise.
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| # ? Apr 24, 2012 09:29 |
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So today is technically Ivy Bridge Day, right? At the very least, the beginning of the Ivy Bridge Era, right? Not that I really expect a whole slew of notebooks to come out in the next 6 hours, but two weeks from today it seems reasonable to expect things to be looking different, yeah? I'm personally just hoping Alienware switches over in fairly short order, a representative from Dell over on notebookreview said it should be sometime this week, possibly today.
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| # ? Apr 24, 2012 10:34 |
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MOAR posted:I agree with him but I just say Apple laptops in general, especially with SSD. I've used Lenovo and other brands that are very quiet but when you leave them on a desk or in a hot room they quickly start to make fan noise. I've had the opposite experience (Although not with an Air). My brother's got a 17" macbook pro, which spins it's fan up to decently loud levels any time we hit a website with flash or silverlight on it. Sitting in a very quiet room with my w520, the spinning disk is easily the loudest part of the noise profile, and with it turned off (ssd boot drive) the machine is right at the noise floor. Noise from the stock fan levels isn't too relevant though- either machine has fan control software that will let you tweak noise levels easily, and rely more heavily on more passive cooling, but I would say an SSD is also important if you're really serious about silence. The larger machines like T/W520s generally scrape by more easily/longer on purely passive no fan at all cooling since they have more space for better heatsinks and venting, while still being able to switch off the discrete GPUs entirely. I use tpfan control to have the fan off entirely until the machine hits 60 degrees on the CPU, which doesn't really happen if I'm just using it for web browsing/IRC/general time wasting. Shrughes point is totally true- using both machines playing SC2 side by side, the more open venting on the thinkpads means less/lower pitched fan noise.
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| # ? Apr 24, 2012 13:37 |
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Cress posted:I'm looking for a silent laptop (within reason). According to Linus Torvalds (http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/19/an...linus-torvalds/), the MacBook Air is the only thing that gets this right. Mine's silent unless I fire up wPrime or something. 97% of the time it doesn't make a sound.
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| # ? Apr 24, 2012 13:59 |
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So, looking at the higher end Asus gaming laptops (which are likely to retain the same basic design once Ivy Bridge hits), I have to say I'm curious about the hot air that probably gets blasted out the back. I mean, the air coming out the side of my T61p is pretty hot and that's just a Core 2 Duo.
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| # ? Apr 24, 2012 15:45 |
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Any thoughts on whether waiting for Windows 8 is a good idea? My D830 is on its last legs, but I suppose I could tough it out until autumn. This coming from someone who was originally expecting to have an Ivy Bridge laptop in March.  I can't imagine I'll be switching to Windows 8 though. I can't stand the tiled interface, and I know there's a normal Windows desktop underneath, but seriously Microsoft, not all of us want tablet interfaces.
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| # ? Apr 24, 2012 15:59 |
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Laptops that make good use of Windows 8 will probably take significantly longer to come to market than "regular ol' laptop that happens to have Windows 8 pre-installed, plus a downgrade license to Win7." There are prototypes out there, but Win 8 is really a touch-centric experience, so it's questionable what value it brings to a standard laptop.
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| # ? Apr 24, 2012 16:44 |
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I always wait for the first service pack before getting a new WIndows anyway and that could be months.
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| # ? Apr 24, 2012 19:46 |
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Mu Zeta posted:I always wait for the first service pack before getting a new Windows anyway and that could be months. Just a curiosity - is there a reason you wait for SP1 for any Windows release?
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| # ? Apr 24, 2012 21:18 |
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WattsvilleBlues posted:Just a curiosity - is there a reason you wait for SP1 for any Windows release? The cynical answer is that the first retail release of a new Windows version is essentially a public beta. Windows 7 was better than some of the previous versions for this, but still got much better with SP1.
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| # ? Apr 24, 2012 22:29 |
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| # ? May 18, 2013 15:25 |
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Powdered Toast Man posted:So, looking at the higher end Asus gaming laptops (which are likely to retain the same basic design once Ivy Bridge hits), I have to say I'm curious about the hot air that probably gets blasted out the back. I mean, the air coming out the side of my T61p is pretty hot and that's just a Core 2 Duo. What are you curious about? Yes, physics means gaming laptops are hot and loud under load, although with modern hardware they can be surprisingly sedate at idle. No, it won't blow papers all over your desk, burn your hands, or set anything on fire.
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| # ? Apr 24, 2012 23:51 |
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