Gaming laptop help

[Karamazovmm]

the difference will be felt when running heavy programs like video encoding, VMs, and other heavy things, for games it wont matter or the benefit to get a 670m instead of a 650m will compensate it, since most games are gpu bound, like almost all of them.

The screen upgrade is a good thing, it will get you more ooomph in terms of what you see. the problem is the budget limit, if not the np9150 with a 7970m + screen upgrade + intel 6300 would be great

[kimterran]

Ok now I'm really confused lol. I want to be able to at least maybe run D3 on max settings on a very good laptop screen. The 670m is very tempting, and I've read that you can upgrade the GPU later on, which could mean that getting the base i5 may not be a very good idea right? And upgrading the screen is very expensive compared to the Sager one.

[kimterran]

I saw the NP 9130 which has the 670m video card which I could still get the upgraded screen and i7 for $1300. Is this better than the 16f3 cause its gonna cost me $1429 for the same configuration. I'll also get a faster HD and RAM I think, I don't really know these things that much. Also, if the NP9130 is the beter choice, I think I'm planning on getting the glossy screen, it looks much better than matte right? I just based it off the pros and cons on their site Xotic PC Article & Info Section - Articles - Displays - Choosing the Right Laptop Display for Your Needs

Here are the configurations to compare:

Sager NP9130 / Clevo P151EM1 Sager NP9130 / Clevo P151EM1
- 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 "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Glossy Screen w/ 95% NTSC Color Gamut (1920x1080) (SKU - S1R301)
- NO Professional Monitor Color Calibration
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- Sager - 3rd Generation Intel® Ivy Bridge Core™ i7-3610QM (2.3GHz - 3.3GHz, 6MB Intel® Smart Cache, 45W Max TDP) (SKU - S2N224)
- - IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
- nVidia GeForce GTX 670M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 with Optimus™ Technology (SKU - S3N501)
- No Video Adapter
- 8GB - DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (SKU - S4R371)
- Remove All Branding
- Standard Finish
- No mSATA SSD
- 500gb 7200rpm (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache) - Default (SKU - S5R207)
- Combo Dual Layer SuperMulti DVDRW/CDRW Drive w/ Software (When selecting a Hard Drive in the Optical Bay, No Optical Drive is Included) (SKU - S7R455)
- 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)
- Bluetooth Included (See “Wireless Network” Section Below)
- Sager - Built-in 802.11 Wireless B/G/N - Stock Wireless Card + Bluetooth (SKU - S8R110)
- Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera



FORCE 16F3 / MSI 16F3 - Limited Availability FORCE 16F3 / MSI 16F3 - Limited Availability
- 15.6" FHD 16:9 "Matte Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Anti-Glare Screen w/ 95% NTSC Color Gamut (1920x1080) (SKU - X1R306)
- NO Professional Monitor Color Calibration
- Contact us about our Significant Savings on our 30-Day No Dead Pixel Warranty. Heavily Discounted!
- 3rd Generation Intel® Ivy Bridge Core™ i7-3610QM (2.3GHz - 3.3GHz, 6MB Intel® Smart Cache, 45W Max TDP) (SKU – X2N307)
- IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU (Cools better than all Compounds)
- nVidia GeForce GTX 670M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 (SKU – X3R518)
- No Video Adapter
- 8GB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2x4GB SODIMMS) - Default (SKU - X4N370)
- Standard Finish
- 640GB 5400RPM 8MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) - Default (SKU - X5R252)
- No Second Hard Drive (Primary Hard Drive Required When Adding a Secondary Hard Drive) (SKU - X6R953)
- No Caching Solid State Drives
- HDD Raid Settings - OFF
- Combo Dual Layer SuperMulti DVDRW/CDRW Drive w/ Software (SKU - X7R451)
- No Extra Optical Bay Hard Drive Caddy
- No Back Up Hard Drive
- NO External USB Optical Drive
- Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
- Internal Bluetooth + EDR
- Built-in 802.11 Wireless B/G/N - Stock Wireless Card (SKU - X8R001)
- Integrated Digital Video Camera



Is it worth the $200 upgrade from 650m to 670m?

[Karamazovmm]

it is, and yes both the sager and the msi laptops are going to allow you to upgrade the gpu, wifi, screen, HDD, cpu, ram, the only thing that you probably wont be able to upgrade is the motherboard.

since you van upgrade the cpu at a latter date, you can go for whatver fits your budget now

you can do the trick to get 50 by choosing the 8gb 1333mhz ram, and as a nbr member you can get another discount, talk to the resellers, you can pm them, they are very active here

[kimterran]

So the better choice is the NP9130 right now? And downgrading the RAM is not really a big difference? I don't know what motherboards they use, sorry. I don't really see myself planning on upgrading the laptop that much later on though, since I still need to learn about that stuff, maybe put an SSD drive, start with the basics.

Honestly I don't even know why the Sager is cheaper with almost the same configuration. Is it because of the brand name?

[Karamazovmm]

sager and msi usually go for the bang for the buck approach, aw goes for the bling (not that msi and asus dont), asus goes for the people that buy that, dunno why.

Sincerely the best advice for you now is to go talk to the resellers about some discounts, some price match (yes most of them do that)

the speed of the ram wont matter to you at all. save yourself 50 bucks

[kimterran]

Thank you so much. You've been a great help man. Yeah I am currently asking around right now. I'm also guessing I don't really need to upgrade the wireless network right? And what is your take matte and glossy screen based on personal preference? What about warranties?

[Karamazovmm]

I have a policy to keep my laptops for 2-3 years, so I get the warranty upgrades, but thats me

[kimterran]

Okay I think I got my eyes on the NP9150, just have a couple questions about the minor upgrades. Is getting the Seagate hybrid drive worth it? What about upgrading the thermal compound?

[Defengar]

The alienware M14x R2 with the upgraded screen might be worth a look...