Heavy Gaming/potential 2/3D rendering, Cad etc. + general computer use. Please help!

[shakes]

General Questions

1) What is your budget?

Max $1250. Would love to spend around $750, I see myself ending up spending something over $1000.

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

b. Ultraportable; 11" - 12” screen
c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
d. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen

3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.

Canada/Usa

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?

Emphasis on consider, must have a good warranty, not 90 days...

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?

Graphic intensive 3D gaming, photo editing, potential cad/drafting programs, 2 amd 3D rendering, etc.

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?

Everywhere with me.

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?

Wow, guild wars 2, diablo 3, skyrim, BF3, I would like to be able to run anything current on medium settings.

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?

4-5 would be nice for non graphic oriented tasks.

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?

Will buy online.

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.

Win 7

Screen Specifics

12) From the choices below, what screen resolution(s) would you prefer? Keep in mind screen size in conjunction with resolution will play a large role in overall viewing comfort level. Everyone is different. Some like really small text, while others like their text big and easy to read. Click here for Screen resolution information.

Max resolution for the screen size is preferable.

13) Do you want a Glossy/reflective screen or a Matte/non-glossy screen?

Prefer matte, dont mind glossy.

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

Yes in that I would prefer something discrete and functional rather then large and flashy.

15) When are you buying this laptop?

Can order anytime starting now but if its now it will be a pre-order for something keplar based.

16) How long do you want this laptop to last?

3 years

Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive?

250gb+ 7200rpm HDD preferably with a hybrid SSD cache and be able to upgrade it to a SSD a few months down the road when I have more money

18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?

CDRW/DVD-ROM

Hi, I know very little about this generation of laptops and laptop tech, what I do know was learnt from light web browsing. Anything I sound like I know is from well based speculation, I know nothing for certain. Back around 2007ish I felt i knew alot more. Currently this laptops main purpose will be for 3D graphic intense games, there is a very good chance it will also be used for cad/drafting, 2 and 3D rendering etc. as I may be entering an engineering program next year. I am hoping to have something along the lines of a GT 650m with GDDR5, it would be great if I could upgrade this down the road. I am leaning towards the 650m with ddr5 as it sounds like its capabilities lie somewhere in or above the range of a gtx 560, the ddr3 version sounds a little slower and my understanding is that that version of the card cant be upgraded? As for hard drive i dont need much (250+) but would like it to be 7200 rpm and preferably be a hybrid drive that I can change out for a SSD down the road. The processor I was undecided on, I did want an I7 but now im thinking that maybe an i5 would be plenty for what I want to do. Not sure? also know nothing about current AMD processors but am open to hearing about them. As for where it comes from I am open to anything from US or Canada ( I live in Canada) I prefer Asus and Clevo/Sager but I would have no problem getting an HP, Lenovo, etc if there was a good deal. I am not a big HP fan due to there service and build quality but I could see myself getting something like that as it seems like that release a lot of really awesome coupons. So, Suggestions please!

[monsterred]

Check out newegg, they had some great deals lately... a lenovo with a 1gb video card was like $499.

[shakes]

There unfortunately isnt anything over there catching my eye, some great deals on laptops toating stuff like gt540's but anything with any power is way over priced. Xoticpc has much better deals and I am leaning towards things like the np6110 or the 15.6 equivilant but the price, once you take into account customs, is getting higher then I want. I am hoping Lenovo or HP will have something with similar specs out in the next week or two that I could maybe get in Canada and if I was lucky find a coupon for. GT 650m isnt guarenteed to be my minimum but I really dont want to have any less power.

[Mobius 1]

Yep, go to xotic and buy a sager! Although i'd reccomend waiting a few weeks and get the 3rd gen Core i7 and true 28nm GTX gpu's

(Sagers/Clevo (P151EM/150EM/170EM) supports 3rd gen Core i7 (3xxxQM/3xxxXM) but the cpu's have not been released, however they're compatible with 2nd gen cpu's (2xxxQM/XM), this goes for GTX6xx mobile gpu's too (GTX 670M/675M=570M/580M))

[kevmanw4301]

The new Hp's are supposed to have the 650M, so taht and the Clevo's are your best bet.

[shakes]

Anyone know what the new lenovo's price point will be? They have a new 14" media laptop that comes with a gt 650m stock or can be upgraded to a gtx 660m. I love the clevo/sager but once I configure it and put an OS on it its around 1100, which isnt to bad, except that when it crosses the border I end up paying another $150 odd dollars of customs/shipping, not including the tax, so it ends up around 1400, I feel like I could get equivilant components for much less from dell, hp, lenovo, or maybe even acer. Unfortunately sager/clevo is the only company thats released config's for kepler with a price.

[Threshold]

The Y480/Y580 have been rumored to launch at $899 or $999.

I've misplaced my link where HP prices were mentioned, but I'd expect them to be competitive as well.

[shakes]

Cool, that sounds reasonable to me, thanks Threshold. Is it just me or do the current line up of Lenovo Idea pads not feature anything more powerful then a GT 555m? I know the new config's appearing at the end of the month will have significant GPU upgrades over the GT 555 but they wont have the same amazing deals. I think I have perused everything available and that was the most power available. There are a lot of incredible deals on at Lenovo right now and I was hoping to scoop something but nothing is offering the GPU performance I want to see.

[Threshold]

That's correct as far as I know, yes. Nothing higher than the 555, which in the Y570s is basically a 550 or high 540.

Considering 650/660 is better than 560 and can give 570 a run for its money if OCed, I'd definitely wait for it.

What kind of deals are you seeing, anyway?

[shakes]

Not great deals upon further searching but id consider it to be fair, i7 2670, 8gb ddr3, 7200rpm hdd, gt 555m, blue ray, screen sucks though and considering I dont want blue ray...that being said from what ive read idea pads seem to have pretty good rep, good build quality, good service, etc. Also there customization options really suck. They have a bunch of varying configurations but none that have an i7, 7200 rpm hdd, and no blue ray. I can have 7200rpm, no blue ray but an i5, or I can have 7200 rpm i7, but am stuck with blue ray....kind of annoying