New member here, laptop hunting

[Ken]

Hello forum members!

I'm new here and am doing research for a new laptop purchase after W7 comes out. Some googling brought me here.

I'm on the lookout for a new laptop that will be able to do a bit of business and some pleasure as well: Windows 7, MS Office, Project, Visio, a few games (Wolfenstein, Team Fortress 2, etc), and able to attach to my TV via HDMI for movies and streaming video. I'm thinking that 2.2 GHz (or higher), 4GB RAM, 320 GB drive (or more), HDMI port, optical burner (Blueray would be nice but not required), 16" (or more) screen, Windows 7 (probably 64 bit), and discrete graphics would do the trick. HP seems to have some very capable machines and decent prices. I've not had great luck with Dell. Thinkpads are not very competitively priced, nor are Toshiba and Sony. And I have no experience with Gateway, MSI, Asus, or Acer. But everyone seems to have deals ready once Windows 7 is out.

Any recommendations, tips, hints, suggestions on hardware or places with good deals on Windows 7 machines is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Ken

 

[Ian]

Hi Ken, welcome to W7 Forums :ciao:

Do you have a budget in mind for this machine? The games you mentioned are a few years old now and won't need a really high end mobile graphics card, but is it likely you'll be playing some newer games on the machine too? I'm not too clued up on the current high end mobile graphics chips, but I'm sure some other members are

 

[Ken]

Thanks, Ian.

I'm probably not going to try and run new high-end games on this laptop. Just a couple of games here and there are nice to be able to play when I'm on the road. It will primarily be used for browsing, email, office apps, and TV & movie viewing.

I'm not really up on the state of the state of laptop GPU's. Maybe the games I'm playing will be fine with a standard graphics chip. I figured that any FPS like Wolfenstein would require discrete graphics to play at a decent frame rate. Any others that have more knowledge on this subject than I are welcome to comment!

Also, I'm torn about resolution. I like high resolution and am used to 1600x1200 on a laptop. But it looks like if you want decent quality through the HDMI port without pixelation and black bars, you need to get to 1920x1080?

 

[Ian]

The closest I can find to your specs (with a Blu-Ray drive) is this Sony model for $949:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834117928

That comes with a dedicated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 which is a very reasonable GPU for a laptop It comes with a 2.1Ghz Intel T6500 which falls just short of your requirements, but it's a decent CPU.

To be honest, it may be worth waiting till after the Windows 7 release date to see which new laptop deals come out, as most are still shipping with Vista at the moment. It's only another week to wait

 

[Ken]

Asus laptop

Well I took the plunge last night. I was going to wait, as you suggested, but there are some amazing deals out there on Vista machines that come up with free W7 upgrades. And since I normally format a new machine to clean out the junk OEM apps that normally come on them, this is fine since it will have W7 on it next week.

So I picked up a new Asus G51VX:

• Intel Core Duo 2.0 GHz P7350
• 4GB DDR2 SDRAM
• 320GB 7200 RPM drive (a second drive bay is available for additional storage)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M (DDR3 SDRAM - 1 GB)
• 16" 1366 x 768 ( WXGA ) screen
• 8X DVD±RW drive
• Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition
• Interfaces: Microphone, Mini-phone 3.5 mm , SPDIF output/headphones , VGA - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15) , 4 x Hi-Speed USB, 1394 (FireWire), Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base, HDMI
• Integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam

It's a lot of machine for $900 and I am very pleased with its performance scores. Menus and windows open quickly, and I was able to stream Hulu content, check e-mail within a browser, and have several tabs open without seeing a performance hit.

It's a great looking machine - the design screams gaming machine, but not obnoxiously so. The bezel surrounding the display and the keyboard are glossy and reflective, making the system an attention-grabber, but susceptible to fingerprints and smudges. A rubberized slip-proof (and smudge-resistant) palm rest inhabits the space below the keyboard, and has a great feel.

The contemporary look extends to the keyboard, where a white backlight gives each key a soft halo that can be raised or lowered through the use of the Fn and F3/F4 keys. Keyboards, of course, are made for typing, and the G51Vx’s doesn’t disappoint; the island style keys are springy, which made for a solid typing experience. As the G51Vx is designed for gamers, there are a number of gaming-specific icons scattered across the keyboard: Arrows highlight the WASD keys (which are typically used for movement), and the 1 and 6 keys are highlighted with white circles, as they help you see where the first and second halves of the number row begins, so you can quickly tap whatever number you need to switch weapons.

Something else that is new to me - Express Gate. Pressing the Express Gate button allows you to boot into the instant-on Linux operating system in 15 seconds, and connect to the Web in another 18 seconds. I am able to chat with friends over AIM and Skype, view photos, and listen to music while within Express Gate.

And I love the "smart logon" feature that uses the webcam and face detection to login - it works great and is even faster than typing a password (which wasn't true for the fingerprint readers I've tried on Dell and Lenovo machines).

So far, I'm very pleased with it. I'm really anxious to get Windows 7 on it ASAP since it will make even snappier and help with battery life. For anyone looking for a mid-priced machine that can do business and entertainment without breaking the bank or looking like an Alien, this is a perfect choice.

Pros:

• Good gaming performance for price
• Attractive design
• Customizable backlighting
• Fast hard drive

Cons:

• Screen resolution a bit low
• Muddy bass
• Average Wi-Fi range

 

[Ian]

Looks like a nice machine - congrats on your new purchase Thanks for the mini-review too, as I'm sure that will come in handy for others considering a similar device.

The Express Gate option sounds pretty neat, although hopefully Windows 7 will boot up almost as quick on that laptop