Looking for a Gaming Notebook -- need it soon!

[Karamazovmm]

there were always problems with the controller in the momentus xt in raid 0

the msata option leaves you with a pm800 or a crucial msata m4 SSDs which can be had in 120gb forms leaving space for 2x 1tb HDDs in there for your storage pleasure. You get the best of both worlds.

[npaladin2000]

Here's the benchmarks for RAID 0 on the Momentus XT:
Windows 7 Boot Time:
OCZ Vertex 3 -- 16s
Momentus XT RAID 0 -- 16s
WD Caviar Black -- 23s

Compressed File Transfer
OCZ Vertex 3 -- 6s
Momentus XT RAID 0 -- 7s
WD Caviar Black -- 15s
Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid ST750LX003 | Seagate,Momentus XT,ST750LX003,750GB,Solid State Hybrid Drive,Benchmarks,Performance,SSHD,RAID-0,Tests,Olin Coles,Seagate Momentus XT 750GB Solid State Hybrid Drive ST750LX003 Benchmark Performance SSHD Tests b

Friends don't let friends use RAID 0. Sorry but I have a horrible aversion to it. I understand the need for it in the past, but if one is going to use 2 drives, making one of them an SSD is both faster and more reliable than having a pair of drives in a non-redundant striping configuration that will hose the entire volume when one of the two drives dies.

You can get a decent 120/128 GB SSD for under $150, including the Kingston HyperX 3K. That's the price of a Momentus XT 750. Buy the Momentus as a second drive for large file storage. If you have an open mSATA capable slot, that opens your options up more.

[Jamtastik]

Sorry, I went back to looking at the 15" with 670m
-- done so many configurations that I got lost
it was probably a custom MSI, not a Sager 15" for $1500

I guess it's more like $1700+ for a 15" with 670m and 2 x Momentus XT

[Karamazovmm]

Im just going to add more wood in the fire, essentially raid 0 is a death call on your data.

1) Its software raid, not a dedicated raid controller to help on the data splitting
2) It splits data, if there is a problem writing a file on a single drive you lost it
3) It is prone to failure more often
4) Its not even real raid.
5) Raid is only valid in limited scenarios with various HDDs, at least 5

[Jamtastik]

I heard that as far as SSD reliability it's Intel, Crucial & Samsung.. and avoid the rest. Those 3 charge well over $1/GB and the rest have the cheap prices.

I was originally thinking of Intel 520 + Momentus

Or maybe get a Intel 520 + 1TB 5400rpm, like Mr MM said.

[Jamtastik]

Ok, no RAID 0, bad idea.

[s2odin]

I heard that as far as SSD reliability it's Intel, Crucial & Samsung.. and avoid the rest.

That is correct. Corsair has put some good products out now, but those 3 are the best. Samsung has an excellent RMA process for the 830.

[Karamazovmm]

I would also recommend to avoid intel drives that dont use either the intel controller or the marvell, basically safe models are the 510 and the 320, the rest is using the dreaded sandforce controller, and yes just check the web there is still the BSOD problem with the intel sandforce based SSDs and the others sandforce based drives

Another thing why dont you get the samsung PM800 or the Crucial msata m4, those are 120gb and are accepted in the np9150 that you are thinking of buying.

Have you checked other resellers like mythlogic? This one has usually the most options available for you to chose.

Here is a config I made:

CPU: i7 2670qm
GPU: 675m
HDD: 128gb Samsung PM800 + 2x 1tb HDD
Wireless: Intel 6300
Windows 7 home premium
Matte 95% screen
RAM: 8gb 1600mhz

it came at 2200, myth is a bit more expensive usually since there are some included benefits, they are clevo builders, not sager resellers there is a difference. They build the notebooks, they dont get from the sager factory, thus some things like monitor calibration, better paste job are already there.

They also should offer the 7970m at 24th as well, they were the ones that hinted at the release/nda date

20k score in vantage, 5600 in 3dmark11 the 7970m is a beast, be sure to grab one. the 580m/675m score around 3k in 3dmark11

[Jamtastik]

I'm back in the hunt -- this time for real... my old laptop is painfully slow. Instead of building a new desktop, I want some serious portable power.

I'll get the Crucial 256GB mSATA myself & save at least $100, don't know if I want a second 1TB HDD

Any comments on the build?

(Still not sure whether to go 15" or 17"-- I really don't know how much travelling I'll be doing with it. I'd obviously prefer the larger screen and extra HDD slot of the 17" for home use)

MYTHLOGIC Nyx 1712 Chassis (Clevo P170EM) with backlit keyboard
Mobile Display 17.3" Full HD (1920x1080) Matte 72% NTSC Color Gamut LED Backlit LCD
CPU Intel Core i7-3720QM 2.6GHz, 6M L3 Cache, 22nm, DDR3-1600MHz, Quad-Core Mobile Processor
Thermal Compound Free IC Diamond Thermal Compound
System Memory 16GB (4 x 4GB) , PC3-12800, 1600MHz SODIMM (Samsung) Quad-core+ processors ONLY!
Video Adapter AMD 7970M 2048MB GDDR5 DX11 GPU with Enduro Technology / Embedded Intel HD Graphics
Optical Notebook Black 6X BD-ROM/5X DVD-RAM Blu-Ray Combo Drive
Hard Drive 1 1TB 5400 8MB Cache SATA Notebook Hard Drive
Network Card Onboard Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbits/sec) LAN subsystem
Wireless Card KILLER WirelessN 1202 - Designed for the best wireless gaming, HD video and audio experience
Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium FREE Upgrade to Windows 8 Pro when available

Total Price:$2,262.16

OR

MYTHLOGIC Pollux 1612 Chassis (Clevo P150EM) with backlit keyboard
Mobile Display 15.6" Full HD (1920x1080) Matte 95% NTSC Color Gamut LED Backlit LCD (Pollux)
CPU Intel Core i7-3720QM 2.6GHz, 6M L3 Cache, 22nm, DDR3-1600MHz, Quad-Core Mobile Processor
Thermal Compound Free IC Diamond Thermal Compound
System Memory 16GB (4 x 4GB) , PC3-12800, 1600MHz SODIMM (Samsung) Quad-core+ processors ONLY!
Video Adapter AMD 7970M 2048MB GDDR5 DX11 GPU with Enduro Technology / Embedded Intel HD Graphics
Optical Notebook Black 6X BD-ROM/5X DVD-RAM Blu-Ray Combo Drive
Hard Drive 1 1TB 5400 8MB Cache SATA Notebook Hard Drive
Network Card Onboard Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbits/sec) LAN subsystem
Wireless Card Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230 2*2 802.11 b/g/n + Bluetooth V4.0 300MB Total Bandwidth
Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium FREE Upgrade to Windows 8 Pro when available

Total Price:$2,070.21


same system from Mailbal:

Lotus P150EM SE (P150EM-SE)
Display: 15.6" 1920 x 1080 FHD LED AUO B156HW01 V.4 95% NTSC Matte Display$65.00
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-3720QM, 6MB L3 Cache, 2.6-3.6GHz $160.00
Memory: (16GB) 16384MB, PC3-12800/1600MHz DDR3 - 4 SO-DIM $80.00
Graphics Card: AMD® Radeon HD 7970M 2GB GDDR5 $200.00
Hard Drive: 1TB 5400rpm 2.5" SATA 300 $135.00
Optical Drive Bay: 6X Blu-ray Reader 8X DVD+/-R DL Super-Multi Drive $80.00
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium; 64-bit $80.00
Wireless: Killer™ Wireless-N 1202 802.11A/B/G/N LAN and Bluetooth Card $70.00
Cooling: IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound, CPU & GPU $35.00

Product Subtotal: $2,254.00