Need a laptop with these specs, any ideas?

biggest_kid · 22nd July 2012, 5:51 AM

Hey guys looking for a laptop for 3d modeling and some occasional gaming and uni work. I have a budget of about 1700$ incl. delivery and would like to try and actually stick to it haha. Anyway some minimum specs im after:

- core i7 3610qm(or better if under budget)
- 12gb 1600mhz RAM(would prefer 16gb though if it can happen under budget) am willing to go down to 8gb to stay under budget though
- minimum 120gb ssd (intel 520 series looks nice because of good speeds)
- Dont care too much about screen size, anything from 13" to 18" is fine for me
- Graphics cards im a bit iffy on. Id like one with Optimus technology so that the battery life of the laptop is still decent, but i still want one that can play the latest games(such as Diablo 3, CS:GO, Skyrim, Borderlands 2 etc). Not sure if its possible to have both those requirements though so im open to suggestions here.
- As said above a decent battery life is a plus for me, especially at uni.

So you guys got any ideas/recommendations? Im leaning towards a metabox/clevo/horize at the moment, but im very open to suggestions as ive never owned a laptop before.

Any and all help is much appreciated,
biggest_kid

Hood · 22nd July 2012, 9:29 AM

What sort of programs you need for uni work?

BBITS · 22nd July 2012, 9:38 AM

^

Facebook

But yeah how critical is portability and what is your battery expectation?

biggest_kid · 22nd July 2012, 10:11 AM

Yeah pretty much haha. 3ds max, photoshop and maybe mudbox/zbrush/video editing and compositing software.

As for battery life, well above 4.5hours would be nice if possible. Portability isnt too important, i dont mind if the thing weighs 8kg haha.

Chemware · 22nd July 2012, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by biggest_kid

* 3d modeling ...
* some occasional gaming
* uni work ...
* budget of about 1700$ incl. delivery ...
* a decent battery life is a plus for me, especially at uni.

Check out the 15" Clevos, which are highly configurable:
* W25AES: this has a mid-level GT630M, and claims a 6 hour battery life
* P151EM1B, using the faster GT660M. Not sure about battery life.

There is a review of the similar W150HR on Anandtech.

ps: I see you have a lot of graphics work - then get the 95% gamut matte screen.

biggest_kid · 22nd July 2012, 12:18 PM

The second laptop you linked uses the gtx660m, not the gt660m. It barely scrapes in within my budget, which is acceptable, but id like to know the battery life on it? Id also like to know how the gtx600m handles the latest games?

The first one you linked is a nice fit within my budget with a 3 year warranty, a 180gb ssd and 16gb ram. Im a little concerned with the gt630m though, will it handle the latest games? 6 hours of battery life is great too.

Thanks,
big

BluBoy · 22nd July 2012, 12:22 PM

I have the P150EM with AMD 7970m... Handles your requirements and everything I throw at it (and more)

~~What's your budget?~~ Disregard

biggest_kid · 22nd July 2012, 2:46 PM

Whats the battery life like on that model? Both idle and under load?

Looking at that model with those specs on both logicalblueone and affordable laptops shows its well out of my budget anyway unfortunately.

KeEnA · 22nd July 2012, 3:49 PM

I've got something which would do what you're after: here.

With the added battery you'd get around 10 hours.
Has the 16GB, SSD and Quadro card. I do photoshop/video editing and gaming (Skyrim/BF3/MW3) etc. - no problems.
It's around $4000 if you buy it from Dell at the moment.

biggest_kid · 22nd July 2012, 4:51 PM

No thanks not interested in second hand laptops sorry.

Still looking by the way guys, keep the suggestions and advice coming.

kombiman · 22nd July 2012, 5:07 PM

check out the xps or alienware at the dell outlet, keep looking stock changes fast

Chemware · 22nd July 2012, 6:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by biggest_kid

No thanks not interested in second hand laptops sorry

You might want to reconsider. That is a fabulous price for a top-end business/professional laptop. Superb build quality, with 2 year's warranty left, and plenty of parts available on eBay.

biggest_kid · 22nd July 2012, 7:00 PM

Well i cant actually see the price as i dont have access to the forum, and id like to know all the specs too, maybe someone could post em up here please? Or just copy paste the entire post here?

And how are the quadro range cards for gaming?

Im starting to think crossing a gaming laptop with a modeling/uni laptop is just increasing the cost unessescarily, especially with my relatively low budget. Would i perhaps be better off buying something with the i7 3610qm and an alright graphics card and then just upgrading the RAM and installing an ssd myself? Would that be cheaper?

Chemware · 22nd July 2012, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by biggest_kid

Well i cant actually see the price ...

Dell Precision M4600
Service Tag: not posted

700 Days Dell PRO Support warranty remaining. This was just extended and cost $440. This is PRO Support - don't compare this with some crap American import ebay Dell and tell me it's the same.
The entire graphics card setup + all heatsinks were just replaced because I told them the graphics card fan was squeaky when starting up.

Specs

Window Version Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
Manufacture Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2720QM CPU
Memory 16GB DDR3 (upgraded from 4GB)
15.6'' FHD (1920x1080) Anti-glare LED
NVIDIA(R) Quadro(R) 2000M with 2GB GDDR3
[comment: great for CAD - not so great for games]
Palm Rest with Swipe Fingerprint Reader & Contactless Smartcard Reader
Intel(R) Centrino(R) Ultimate-N 6300 (802.11 a/b/g/n) Half Mini Card
Dell Wireless(TM) 5550 WWAN Card (3G capable)
Integrated FHD (2MP) Webcam with Digital Microphone
3 Year Warranty, 9-cell (87Wh) Primary Battery
Additional 9-cell (combined over 10 hours at full LCD etc)
2xUSB 2.0 + 2xUSB 3.0

Disk Drives

SAMSUNG SSD PM810 2.5" 7 128Gb
Western Digital Black WD5000BEKT-75KA9T0 500Gb
8X DVD+/-RW Drive Slot Load (currently not in use - drive caddy used for WD HDD)

Also comes with:

E-Port Kit (port replicator)
Dock w/ LCD bracket arm
Dell Keyboard + Mouse
Original Box + Dell Carry Case

There are a couple of minor scratches on the top lid which happened when taking the damn photos. I've circled these below.

Reserve (no less) - $1200
Instant: $1400

Chemware · 23rd July 2012, 9:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by biggest_kid

... and then just upgrading the RAM and installing an ssd myself? Would that be cheaper?

That is almost always cheaper - sometimes by $hundreds. Make sure you study the laptop dis-assembly manual before you decide on this course though - some are easy, some are hard.

22nd July 2012, 5:51 AM	#1
biggest_kid New Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 7	Need a laptop with these specs, any ideas? Hey guys looking for a laptop for 3d modeling and some occasional gaming and uni work. I have a budget of about 1700$ incl. delivery and would like to try and actually stick to it haha. Anyway some minimum specs im after: - core i7 3610qm(or better if under budget) - 12gb 1600mhz RAM(would prefer 16gb though if it can happen under budget) am willing to go down to 8gb to stay under budget though - minimum 120gb ssd (intel 520 series looks nice because of good speeds) - Dont care too much about screen size, anything from 13" to 18" is fine for me - Graphics cards im a bit iffy on. Id like one with Optimus technology so that the battery life of the laptop is still decent, but i still want one that can play the latest games(such as Diablo 3, CS:GO, Skyrim, Borderlands 2 etc). Not sure if its possible to have both those requirements though so im open to suggestions here. - As said above a decent battery life is a plus for me, especially at uni. So you guys got any ideas/recommendations? Im leaning towards a metabox/clevo/horize at the moment, but im very open to suggestions as ive never owned a laptop before. Any and all help is much appreciated, biggest_kid

22nd July 2012, 9:29 AM	#2
Hood Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Hoth Posts: 569	What sort of programs you need for uni work? __________________ Caselabs STH10 build Paracord Tool

22nd July 2012, 12:22 PM	#7
BluBoy Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Geelong Posts: 1,443	I have the P150EM with AMD 7970m... Handles your requirements and everything I throw at it (and more) ~~What's your budget?~~ Disregard __________________ I want to buy your AMD/ATI RADEON 5850/5870/6930/6950/6970/7850/7870/7950 Graphics Card! Work: Sony Xperia Z Rest: Clevo P150EM @ i7-3610QM, 16Gb DDR3, 256Gb M4 SSD + 500GB, ATI HD7970 1080P@95% Colour Gamut, Win8 Play: HP N40L @ FreeBSD9 : ZFS : 5x3Tb Hitachi : Sab/Sick/CP/HP : VirtualBox : CrashPlan+ Blog: My adventures with FreeBSD on low end VPS

22nd July 2012, 2:46 PM	#8
biggest_kid New Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 7	Whats the battery life like on that model? Both idle and under load? Looking at that model with those specs on both logicalblueone and affordable laptops shows its well out of my budget anyway unfortunately. Last edited by biggest_kid; 22nd July 2012 at 2:50 PM.

22nd July 2012, 3:49 PM	#9
KeEnA Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: VIC 3198 Posts: 96	I've got something which would do what you're after: here. With the added battery you'd get around 10 hours. Has the 16GB, SSD and Quadro card. I do photoshop/video editing and gaming (Skyrim/BF3/MW3) etc. - no problems. It's around $4000 if you buy it from Dell at the moment. __________________ Dell Precision M6700 \| i7-3820 \| 32GB 1600MHz \| 4GB NVIDIA Quadro K5000M HP N36L \| 4GB RAM \| DTV Tuner \| HD5450 \| 160GB + 8TB Storage

22nd July 2012, 10:11 AM	#4
biggest_kid New Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 7	Yeah pretty much haha. 3ds max, photoshop and maybe mudbox/zbrush/video editing and compositing software. As for battery life, well above 4.5hours would be nice if possible. Portability isnt too important, i dont mind if the thing weighs 8kg haha.

22nd July 2012, 12:18 PM	#6
biggest_kid New Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 7	The second laptop you linked uses the gtx660m, not the gt660m. It barely scrapes in within my budget, which is acceptable, but id like to know the battery life on it? Id also like to know how the gtx600m handles the latest games? The first one you linked is a nice fit within my budget with a 3 year warranty, a 180gb ssd and 16gb ram. Im a little concerned with the gt630m though, will it handle the latest games? 6 hours of battery life is great too. Thanks, big

22nd July 2012, 4:51 PM	#10
biggest_kid New Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 7	No thanks not interested in second hand laptops sorry. Still looking by the way guys, keep the suggestions and advice coming.

22nd July 2012, 7:00 PM	#13
biggest_kid New Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 7	Well i cant actually see the price as i dont have access to the forum, and id like to know all the specs too, maybe someone could post em up here please? Or just copy paste the entire post here? And how are the quadro range cards for gaming? Im starting to think crossing a gaming laptop with a modeling/uni laptop is just increasing the cost unessescarily, especially with my relatively low budget. Would i perhaps be better off buying something with the i7 3610qm and an alright graphics card and then just upgrading the RAM and installing an ssd myself? Would that be cheaper?