Knuckle Cracker

Misc. => Builder's Corner => Topic started by: J on December 23, 2014, 11:18:20 AM

Title: A new laptop for J
Post by: J on December 23, 2014, 11:18:20 AM
My laptop is ~5 years old now and I want to replace it with a new 64bit windows laptop. I have €900more ready but I'm willing to spend more (but not more than €1500 €1300). It should be able to run games like Theme Park Studio and NoLimits 2 at full speed (once loaded), but not necessarily at the highest quality level. I also want to create games using unity3d (which is too slow on my current machine).
Are there more things I should look at?

Any help is appreciated (I live in NL, in case it matters)

link to current search results

Current soon-to-buy laptop: http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/426496/asus-n751jk-t7129h.html
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: Karsten75 on December 23, 2014, 12:15:31 PM
Congrats, it's always very exciting to get new hardware. :)

Use this to get a start: http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=17615.msg125122#msg125122
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: teknotiss on December 23, 2014, 01:51:35 PM
seconded, that company's link i posted prob ships to the Netherlands. it'll let you customise a deal and give you a price idea at least.
this one is £730 (€929 ish)
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/vortexIV-LE/
vortex IV LE basic
but with a boost to 8GB RAM and a quad i7 chip it's £861 (€1223.22)
seems to tick your boxes, but i don't know those games so i can't tell you how fast it'll be.
but it would be a lot faster than your current one i think! ;)
but for €1500 you could go a lot further.
this one is a little under your max limit and will do what you need, and prob a lot more.
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/defiance-17/
pretty fancy that one, and pricy, but i'm pretty confidant it'll do gaming well. :o

Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: Karsten75 on December 23, 2014, 02:13:51 PM
J that site I recommend has a dutch version here: http://www.notebookcheck.nl/
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: J on December 23, 2014, 06:15:48 PM
Quote from: Karsten75 on December 23, 2014, 02:13:51 PM
J that site I recommend has a dutch version here: http://www.notebookcheck.nl/
Already found that site, but I don't like it. Slow and I can't find what I want. Posted a link to a dutch site in the OP.
Quote from: teknotiss on December 23, 2014, 01:51:35 PM
seconded, that company's link i posted prob ships to the Netherlands. it'll let you customise a deal and give you a price idea at least.
this one is £730 (€929 ish)
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/vortexIV-LE/
vortex IV LE basic
Not 17", so no. Good site though.
Quote
but it would be a lot faster than your current one i think! ;)
Pretty much anything above €500 is :P
Quote
but for €1500 you could go a lot further.
this one is a little under your max limit and will do what you need, and prob a lot more.
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/defiance-17/
pretty fancy that one, and pricy, but i'm pretty confidant it'll do gaming well. :o
I don't have a job, so every euro counts. If you can do it just slightly worse but under €1200, then I would most likely buy that machine.

Another thing, I heard that windows10 is coming soon, worth waiting for?
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: Karsten75 on December 24, 2014, 05:59:12 PM
Read this review today. Sounds really nice. Not sure what the .nl price may be since I couldn't find it overseas.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/19/msi-gt72-dominator-review/

Even if you don't like it, there is a list of other gaming notebooks that may have reviews.
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: teknotiss on December 24, 2014, 07:46:31 PM
Quote from: Karsten75 on December 24, 2014, 05:59:12 PM
Read this review today. Sounds really nice. Not sure what the .nl price may be since I couldn't find it overseas.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/19/msi-gt72-dominator-review/

Even if you don't like it, there is a list of other gaming notebooks that may have reviews.
not a bad rig, but i think this one is a bit better, and i didn't see a price for it?

this one
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/SkyFireIII/
it's €1103.00 in the UK now. i think that fits the bill.
larger drive (2Tb instead of 500Gb) it's €1176.95
closer?
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: J on December 25, 2014, 08:11:29 AM
Quote from: teknotiss on December 24, 2014, 07:46:31 PM
Quote from: Karsten75 on December 24, 2014, 05:59:12 PM
Read this review today. Sounds really nice. Not sure what the .nl price may be since I couldn't find it overseas.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/19/msi-gt72-dominator-review/

Even if you don't like it, there is a list of other gaming notebooks that may have reviews.
not a bad rig, but i think this one is a bit better, and i didn't see a price for it?
~€1900

Quote
this one
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/SkyFireIII/
it's €1103.00 in the UK now. i think that fits the bill.
larger drive (2Tb instead of 500Gb) it's €1176.95
closer?
Upgraded it a bit (i7 quadcore and 8GB RAM) and removed the operating system (I can get it for free), then it's €1288. Adding 128GB SSD makes it €1365, but I can live with a slower boot.
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: teknotiss on December 25, 2014, 01:11:59 PM
Quote from: J on December 25, 2014, 08:11:29 AM
Upgraded it a bit (i7 quadcore and 8GB RAM) and removed the operating system (I can get it for free), then it's €1288. Adding 128GB SSD makes it €1365, but I can live with a slower boot.

cool dude, glad i could help a bit!
i'm not going for ssd's either at the moment, let others have the issues and find the bugs/hardware fails for the first couple of generations for all new tech.
then when it's stable reliable and has larger storage and is much, much cheaper then I'll go ssd. ;)
prob a year or so before i bother i think.
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: Grayzzur on December 25, 2014, 05:24:24 PM
SSDs have already been around for several generations. It's one of the most noticeable speed boosts you can make to a computer. The prices have been steadily dropping. I've got one in my desktop, and I wouldn't go back to not having one now. Laptops do require compromise though. You don't have the room for a 2nd drive, and really large SSDs could stand to be cheaper.
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: Karsten75 on December 25, 2014, 05:55:57 PM
The hybrid drives work really well in laptops
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: J on December 25, 2014, 06:26:32 PM
I know with a SSD windows can boot in one or two seconds (which I don't need), but does it give a good speed boost while playing games (assuming most, if not all, programs/games are installed on the HDD)?
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: Grayzzur on December 25, 2014, 10:24:36 PM
More like 30 seconds to boot.

Yes, it will speed up games. Especially the large ones that take up lots of space. Initial loading time and anytime it has to load another level, that progress bar moves much faster with an SSD. Of course, it doesn't affect frames per second. :)
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: teknotiss on December 26, 2014, 03:04:41 PM
Quote from: Grayzzur on December 25, 2014, 10:24:36 PM
More like 30 seconds to boot.

Yes, it will speed up games. Especially the large ones that take up lots of space. Initial loading time and anytime it has to load another level, that progress bar moves much faster with an SSD. Of course, it doesn't affect frames per second. :)

still stand by my comment, they are still quite new and the prices are too high to consider for a reasonable size at the moment. in a year or so they'll be more or less inline with the hdd's and I'll switch.
since my machine boots in around a min as it is and i don't need high speed game loading (don't play many that it'd help with) i'm not in a dire need.
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: Karsten75 on December 26, 2014, 03:11:45 PM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232132
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: J on December 26, 2014, 03:30:20 PM
Quote from: Karsten75 on December 26, 2014, 03:11:45 PM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232132
The processor and RAM I want for a great price, but not 17" (and out of stock). I don't trust it if someone says it feels cheap (for the same reason I'll probably never buy a french car, you can feel it's cheap, and they're easily broken).
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: teknotiss on December 26, 2014, 07:43:02 PM
Quote from: J on December 26, 2014, 03:30:20 PM
Quote from: Karsten75 on December 26, 2014, 03:11:45 PM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232132
The processor and RAM I want for a great price, but not 17" (and out of stock). I don't trust it if someone says it feels cheap (like most french cars, you can feel it's cheap, and they're easily broken).

we Brits have similar sayings, but i can't type them on this forum ::) ;)
Title: Re: A new laptop for J
Post by: J on December 29, 2014, 05:37:21 PM
Found this one: http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/425189/asus-n751jk-t7130h.html
With 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD for €1251 €1499. Also seems to tick the other boxes. If something very similar pops up on another website (better or lower price), please let me know.
Update: Did a new search on the same site (without looking at this thread first) and ended up with this one: http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/426496/asus-n751jk-t7129h.html
Surprisingly similar to what I found earlier, but only 8GB RAM, costs €1249. I don't think 8GB extra RAM is worth €250, but let me know if you think otherwise.