My first gaming laptop - please help!

[MCJD4ever]

Lol I just pulled the trigger on the MSI 17" GT 783-658 US. I got it with:

90% gamut glossy
NVIDIA GTX 580M
Intel 2760 processor
1.5 TB raid 0 HD (2 x 750 Sata II)
16 GB RAM
BluRay Read/Write
IC Diamond 24 Carat Thermal Paste

Paid $2550 grand total (after some haggling), including the warranty. I'm very excited I like MSI's line of gaming laptops, and figured I should get the best graphics card possible.

Thank you all for your help! This forum is awesome!

[wtferrell]

Congrats man, you won't regret it. I love my GT783. Best laptop I've owned by far.

[s2odin]

Lol I just pulled the trigger on the MSI 17" GT 783-658 US. I got it with:

90% gamut glossy
NVIDIA GTX 580M
Intel 2760 processor
1.5 TB raid 0 HD (2 x 750 Sata II)
16 GB RAM
BluRay Read/Write
IC Diamond 24 Carat Thermal Paste

Paid $2550 grand total (after some haggling), including the warranty. I'm very excited I like MSI's line of gaming laptops, and figured I should get the best graphics card possible.

Thank you all for your help! This forum is awesome!

That seems like a lot. 16GB of RAM? Probably too much as well as 1.5tb of HD space.. In your initial post you said 1tb would be fine. I would have gone with one 750gb drive for data and a SSD for boot, or even a 500gb for data.

And what kind of warranty?

If I were you, I would have gone with the 8150 from Mr. MM's post. The 6990 and 580 are almost identical and the 580 is not worth the $300 premium over the 6990. 8GB of RAM is more than enough for 90% of users. You could have saved yourself probably ~$500

[MCJD4ever]

Thanks errell!

S2odin, the 16 GB RAM was a free upgrade from 12 GB, and the RAM of 1.5 TB was standard, no extra cost.

This is probably a newbish question, but I can just upgrade my HDD in the future, right? Do I really need a SSD? Think I can still change it, pretty sure they haven't started building it yet.

[s2odin]

S2odin, the 16 GB RAM was a free upgrade from 12 GB, and the RAM of 1.5 TB was standard, no extra cost.

This is probably a newbish question, but I can just upgrade my HDD in the future, right? Do I really need a SSD? Think I can still change it, pretty sure they haven't started building it yet.

Yes, you can. I honestly would cancel that order, those specs are not worth what you paid. SSD's just lead to faster boot times and programs open faster.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M - Notebookcheck.net Tech
vs.
AMD Radeon HD 6990M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

I would look into an 8150 with the 95% gamut screen, stock processor, IC thermal paste, 6990m, BD drive, stock HD and buy a SSD aftermarket. That will run you ~1800 and give you almost the exact same performance.
Edit:
Sager NP8150 / Clevo P150HM
- FREE!! Continental (U.S. Lower 48 - UPS Ground Only) Ground Shipping on ALL Sager Laptops (Enter Coupon Code: "SAGERFREESHIP" during order process)
- SAGER Sale!!! - $100 OFF When you spend $1500* or more! (*excludes non-sager parts, accessories, shipping, & taxes)
Confirmation of discount will be provided after Order Processing.
- FREE Digital Copy of Battlefield 3 w/ Any Intel 120GB SSD or Higher Hard Drive Upgrade
- 15.6" FHD 16:9 "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Glossy Screen w/ 95% NTSC Color Gamut (1920x1080) (ETA: 2/22/2012) (SKU - S1R323)
- NO Professional Monitor Color Calibration
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM, 2.2-3.1GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache) (SKU - S2N224)
- - IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
- ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 6990M 2048MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 $100 OFF (SKU - S3R151)
- No Video Adapter
- 8GB - DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (SKU - S4R365)
- Sager Branding
- Standard Finish
- 500GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache) - Default (SKU - S5R207)
- 6X Blu-Ray Read/8X DVDRW Super Multi Combo Drive - Special! (SKU - S7P557)
With a 3 year warranty: $1700.
Upgrade an SSD aftermarket = $200 for 128gb, $350 for 256gb

[wtferrell]

Yep, you can. I upgraded to a Crucial M4. Extremely simple.

And although some would go for the 8150, it's a personal preference. I'd gladly pay the additional for the nVidia card, because I've had poor experience w/ AMD in the past w/ my gaming PC's. Everyone has a personal preference, and seems like you're perfectly happy w your choice, and you should be.

I have the 16GB Ram, and a SSD w/ a 750GB storage drive as well.

SSD is great, but if you're at your limit, stick w/ it. It's an easy upgrade later.

Also, the standard warranty on MSI is better than the Sager/Clevo counterparts. You said a backlit keyboard is big to you, and that's something you can't get on the Sager/Clevo. You also get 2 HD bays and an optical... several big pluses.

Make your own decision, but I think you have a great PC configured.

[MCJD4ever]

Thank you both. I'm going to do some research on SSDs to use to upgrade on my own.

s2odin, I considered the 8150, but I had a change of heart on the screen size, and also wanted a backlit keyboard. I also wanted the GTX 580, just because I want this computer to be relevant for games several years out. I played around with Sager builds, and after adding everything I wanted, it wasn't much cheaper than the MSI I bought. I looked into getting a smaller HDD, but the 1.5 TB was standard, so...

[s2odin]

Thank you both. I'm going to do some research on SSDs to use to upgrade on my own.

s2odin, I considered the 8150, but I had a change of heart on the screen size, and also wanted a backlit keyboard. I also wanted the GTX 580, just because I want this computer to be relevant for games several years out. I played around with Sager builds, and after adding everything I wanted, it wasn't much cheaper than the MSI I bought. I looked into getting a smaller HDD, but the 1.5 TB was starboard, so...

If you ordered it from a reseller you could have had them remove one probably and take ~$100 off lol but I digress.

You're happy so that's all that matters. As far as SSD's go, look at Crucial M4 (128gb has been gone from $180 to $140 in about 3 weeks) Samsung 830 (not the fastest but definitely reliable. Great RMA support as well, next day there and back) and Intel 520 (more expensive but probably the most reliable). Stay away from OCZ for SSD's as of right now, and stay away from Sandforce controller.

[MCJD4ever]

Yeah I'm pretty excited! I'm still getting my arms around the technicalities of everything, so bear with me. In the future, if I get an SSD, I just remove one of the 750 gb SATA II drives right? Do I somehow configure that as the primary drive?

Thanks again!

[s2odin]

I would remove one of the 750gb drives, plug SSD in then go into bios and set the SSD above the other HD. Like in boot priority make the SSD 2 and make sure your Windows disc is in. Then just save changes and exit, then it will boot from the disc and you can install Windows from there. If you have an OS on the other HD still in the machine, simply delete the Windows folder and you're good to go