Looking for a Gaming Notebook -- need it soon!

[Jamtastik]

What is your budget?
$1500-$2000

What country will you be buying this in?
USA

What size notebook do you prefer?
Mainstream (15 - 16-inch screen)
Desktop Replacement (17-inch + screen)

What brands do you like or dislike?
Like: Sager/Clevo, Lenovo
Dislike: Alienware

Would you consider a refurbished laptop?
No

What are the primary tasks you need this notebook for?
Listening to Music, Video Editing, Movie Streaming and Viewing, Graphic Intense 3D Gaming

What games will you be playing?
StarCaft 2, Skyrim, Left4Dead 2, Mass Effect 3, Alan Wake

Where will you be using this laptop?
Will stay on desk

How many hours of battery life do you need?
3

Will you be buying online or in store?
online

Which OS do you prefer?
Windows 7

List the screen resolutions that interest you:
Max Resolution (1920 x 1080)

Do you prefer a glossy or matte screen?
Matte is fine

Is the laptops design important to you?
Yes

Approximately what date will you be buying this laptop?
Around 05/01/2012

How long do you want this laptop to last?
3 years

How much storage capacity do you need?
1 TB+

Are you interested in SSD for storage?
Maybe

Do you want a built-in optical drive, what type?
Blu-Ray

[s2odin]

Sager NP9170 or Force 16F2 (or 17" version).

[Captain Razer]

Sager NP9170 since it's the only provider of the GTX675M

[Jamtastik]

Too many choices--

15" vs 17" weight & bulk vs screen size + 2nd dedicated HDD bay
I will need to spend at least 10 days on the road soon, so 7 lbs vs 9 lbs would make some difference

650m vs 660m vs 670m vs 675m
the 650 is too weak for gaming long-term
the 660m looks like it will not be out soon enough -- especially since all the resellers probably have waiting lists, now thinking of getting 675m

SSD or HDD
first thought of getting Intel 520 SSD + 750GB Momentus XT
now thinking RAID 0 with 2 x 750GB Momentus XT - which gives good performance and lots of storage which I want

[Jamtastik]

Sager NP9170 / Clevo P170EM Sager NP9170 / Clevo P170EM
- FREE!! Continental (U.S. Lower 48 - UPS Ground Only) Ground Shipping on ALL Sager Laptops (Enter Coupon Code: "SAGERFREESHIP" during order process)
- 17.3" FHD 16:9 "Matte Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Anti-Glare Screen w/ 72% NTSC Color Gamut (1920x1080)
(Will add 4-7 business days to build time) (SKU - X1R552)
- NO Professional Monitor Color Calibration
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- Sager - 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM, 2.2-3.1GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache) (Supports 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ Processors) (SKU – S2R174)
- - IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
- nVidia GeForce GTX 670M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 with Optimus™ Technology [User Upgradeable] (SKU – S3R517)
- No Video Adapter
- 8GB - DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (SKU - S4R371)
- Sager Branding
- Standard Finish
- No mSATA SSD
- 750gb (w/ 8GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid (Serial-ATA III 600 - 32MB Cache) (SKU - S5R421)
- 750gb (w/ 8GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid (Serial-ATA III 600 - 32MB Cache) (SKU - S5R423)
- Raid 0 Stripe Enabled (Requires 2 or 3 Hard Drives. Combines Hard Drives for performance)
- 6x Blu-Ray Read/8X DVDRW Super Multi Combo Drive - Special! (SKU - S7P557)
- No Extra Optical Bay Hard Drive Caddy
- No Back Up Hard Drive
- NO External USB Optical Drive
- Internal 9-in-1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD/Mini SD/SDHC/SDXC/MS/MS Pro/MS Duo)
- No Back Up Software
- Bluetooth Included (See “Wireless Network” Section Below)
- Sager - Intel® Advanced-N 6235 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module + Bluetooth (SKU - S8R111)
- No Network Accessory
- Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- No TV Tuner
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- Basic Black Business Case - Included
- Smart Li-ion Battery (8-Cell)
- No Car Adapter
- No Spare AC Adapter
- No Dock/Hub/Adapter
- Integrated Fingerprint Reader
- No Headset
- No External Keyboard
- No External Mouse
- No Notebook Cooler
- No Thanks, Please do not Overclock my system (Overclocking will add 3-6 business days to build time)
- No Operating System Redline Boost
- ~Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's + Microsoft Office Starter 2010 - Included with OS Purchase
- No Office Software
- No Software Bundle
- LIFETIME Ltd Labor* 1 Year Parts Warranty Lifetime -24/7 DOMESTIC Based- Toll Free Telephone Tech Support (Labor Warranty through Xotic PC)
Includes FREE Shipping Both Ways for Warranty Repairs (SKU - X9R009)
- No Outside of US Shipping Coverage
- No Xotic PC Gear

[Jamtastik]

Sager NP9150 / Clevo P150EM
- FREE!! Continental (U.S. Lower 48 - UPS Ground Only) Ground Shipping on ALL Sager Laptops (Enter Coupon Code: "SAGERFREESHIP" during order process)
- 15.6" FHD 16:9 "Matte Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Anti-Glare Screen w/ 95% NTSC Color Gamut (1920x1080) (SKU - S1R303)
- NO Professional Monitor Color Calibration
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- Sager - 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM, 2.2-3.1GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache) (Supports 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ Processors) (SKU – S2R174)
- - IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
- nVidia GeForce GTX 675M 2,048MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 with Optimus™ Technology [User Upgradeable] (SKU – S3R518)
- No Video Adapter
- 8GB - DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (SKU - S4R371)
- Sager Branding
- Standard Finish
- No mSATA SSD
- 750gb (w/ 8GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid (Serial-ATA III 600 - 32MB Cache) (SKU - S5R421)
- 750GB (w/ 8GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid (Serial-ATA III 600 - 32MB Cache) in Optical Bay (SKU - S7R414)
- No Extra Optical Bay Hard Drive Caddy
- No Back Up Hard Drive
- External USB 2.0 Slim Blu-Ray Reader + 8X DVDRW/CDRW Super Multi Combo Drive
- Internal 9-in-1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD/Mini SD/SDHC/SDXC/MS/MS Pro/MS Duo)
- No Back Up Software
- Bluetooth Included (See “Wireless Network” Section Below)
- Sager - Intel® Advanced-N 6235 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module + Bluetooth (SKU - S8R111)
- No Network Accessory
- Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- No TV Tuner
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- Basic Black Business Case - Included
- Smart Li-ion Battery (8-Cell)
- No Car Adapter
- No Spare AC Adapter
- No Dock/Hub/Adapter
- Integrated Fingerprint Reader
- No Headset
- No External Keyboard
- No External Mouse
- No Notebook Cooler
- No Thanks, Please do not Overclock my system (Overclocking will add 3-6 business days to build time)
- No Operating System Redline Boost
- ~Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's + Microsoft Office Starter 2010 - Included with OS Purchase
- No Office Software
- No Software Bundle
- LIFETIME Ltd Labor* 1 Year Parts Warranty Lifetime -24/7 DOMESTIC Based- Toll Free Telephone Tech Support (Labor Warranty through Xotic PC)
Includes FREE Shipping Both Ways for Warranty Repairs (SKU - X9R009)
- No Outside of US Shipping Coverage
- No Xotic PC Gear

[Jamtastik]

Sager NP9170 since it's the only provider of the GTX675M

Yeah, looks like it's a 675m for me

The 15" and 17" are both around $2,000 at Xotic.

If I could buy the HDDs myself that would save $100 -- Amazon has the Momentus XT for $150 right now

I wish that Lenovo, Gigabyte and some of the others had a 670 or 675m available.

[Karamazovmm]

Sincerely the price of the momentus aint that worth it. Its much better to get a SSD + a 1tb HDD, or msata SSD and 2 1tb HDD

I would actually wait a little bit for the 7970m its coming, its powerful and puts the 675m in the dust (63% more performance). its going to be released in the 24th

[Jamtastik]

Sincerely the price of the momentus aint that worth it. Its much better to get a SSD + a 1tb HDD, or msata SSD and 2 1tb HDD

I would actually wait a little bit for the 7970m its coming, its powerful and puts the 675m in the dust (63% more performance). its going to be released in the 24th

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

7970m on the 24th? I hope that's true

I'm also still curious about the 660m, but that's under-powered for high-end games. Maybe I could get a 660m a scale back my gaming.

The 670m configs are also a lot cheaper - around $1500-1600 versus $2000 for the 675m configs

[s2odin]

The 670m configs are also a lot cheaper - around $1500-1600 versus $2000 for the 675m configs

Don't see where you're getting that, seeing as the 675M is a $100 upgrade for the 9150 and 9170.