15" Laptop with Desktop OR 17" Desktop Replacement Laptop?

[dugant]

Hi

I currently have a great Desktop PC setup:

• Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz (Clocked at 4.00GHz)
• ATI Radeon HD 5870
• 6 GB DDR3 Memory
• 120 Gb Intel Solid State HDD
• 3 x BenQ G2420HDBL 24" Widescreen LED Monitors for massive desktop space and Eyefinity gaming

Basically it can handle everything I need, video/photo editing, latest games etc etc

However I will now be travelling a lot and therefore I won’t have as much access to my desktop. Therefore I now need to get a laptop.

I have a budget of around £1500 for a new laptop. I also have a friend who has offered to buy my desktop for £1200 if I do decide to sell it, which means I could push the budget to £2700.

This means I have 2 options:

• Option 1 : Sell my desktop and get a top of the line laptop 17” Desktop Replacement laptop for £2700
• Option 2 : Keep my desktop but get a “decent” 15” laptop for £1500 and then keep using my Desktop as and when I can

At the moment I am thinking of keeping my desktop and getting a 15" laptop, but I figured I may as well get other people's opinions before making up my mind!

• If you were me, which option would you go for?!
• I’m guessing a 17” desktop replacement laptop is not ideal for use as a “laptop”, ie duer to it's size and how hot it could get it needs to be on a desk most the time and I will not really be able to use it on my lap?
• I’m guessing a 17” desktop replacement laptop will not be as powerful as my current desktop, roughly how much more powerful would the desktop be compared to the 17” desktop replacement laptop?
• If I went for a 15” laptop, I would want it to be a “laptop”, ie fairly portable and will be used on my lap mostly. I wouldn’t worry about it being able to run the latest and greatest games, but I would like it to be able to run Starcraft 2 and some FPS games. Which laptop would you recommend for this?

Thanks!

 

[paddyc]

Hi dugant
I think your desktop is in pretty good shape so I wouldn't get rid of it just yet. It has always been my opinion that desktops will always out perform laptops. If it was me i would keep the desktop and buy a decent 15" laptop.
If you where going for a laptop either go for the vortex II or enigma III unless you want to 3D graphics in which case I would go for the vortex 3D,
I have a budget of around £1200 and Im going for a decent vortex II 15.6" so with an extra £300 you could probably get something quite special

 

[Meds]

Hello & Welcome.

With a budget of £1500 you'll be able to get a great laptop - there is honestly no need to sell you're desktop to fund a laptop purchase any further, keep it for those rainy days.

I've come up with this;

Chassis & Display
Vortex II-15: 15.6" Full HD LED Backlit 16:9 Widescreen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glossy
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2630QM (2.00GHz) 6MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
2.0GB nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 485M - DirectX® 11 (15.6" Vortex II)
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BEKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & INTEL® CENTRINO® ADVANCED-N 6230 inc BLUETOOTH
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (3,800 mAh)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 180W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,511.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/vortexII-15/

You could get the same spec with a 17" screen and the option for a 2nd HDD for around £100 extra (I know, a little over budget). Anyhow, with this spec I concentrated on gaming performance hence the GTX485M <- it's more or less as good as you can get at the moment in the laptop world! Another route would be to drop to a GTX460M, then use the spare cash on an SSD but I'd personally have the graphics power - you could always replace the HDD with an SSD in the future, where as the graphics card would be a different story.

It's difficult to compare PCs & Laptops as the components in laptops are scaled down, have to run cooler due to less air circulation and have to be able to run off a battery. Just don't expect it to get the same performance as a £1500 PC otherwise you will be disappointed.

 

[dugant]

Hi guys

Thanks for your feedback. Yeay I think it might be overkill to sell my desktop seeing as it is only a year old therefore 15" it is!

Comparing the Enigma III to the Vortex II, the main differences seem to be:
1) Graphics Card: nVidea GeForce GT 540M VS nVidea GeForce GTX 485M
2) Screen: 15.6" Full HD LEF Widescreen (1920 x 1080) VS 15.6" HD LEF Backlit 16:9 Widescreen - What exactly is the difference between these 2?
3) Memory : 2 slots vs 4 (don't need more than 8GB so that's fine)
4) Size : Seem to be about the same size, is this right?
5) Weight: 2.5kg VS 3.1 Kg so not much of a difference
6) Battery life : Seems a lot better on the Enigma III, nice bonus but not a big deal to me as will be near mains most the time
7) Price: £807 vs £1500 - Means I could get an SSD harddrive on the Enigma III, which would be a bonus

I'm guessing the Vortex II might get a lot hotter, heavier and will have less battery life etc and won't be as "lap" friendly as the Enigma III, is this true?

Seeing as I will still have access to my desktop to play the latest and greatest games at high res, I'm thinking that it might be a waste to have a top end laptop graphics card as well, therfore I'm thinking the Enigma III might be the one to get. Would the GT 540M on the Enigma III be able to play Starcraft II at full settings without too much of an issue? Also how would it handle with COD Black Ops?

Thanks!

 

[dugant]

One more thing, looking through the forums, it seems as if the build quality/looks of the Vortex II are a lot better than the Enigma III, is this the case?

 

[paddyc]

Well I dont actually have the vortex but I am planning to buy one very soon so all I know is from what I have been reading in reviews and if you knew me you would know just how many hours I spent looking at them.
1/ For the graphics the nVidea GeForce GTX 485M is one of the best laptop graphics cards out there( you can compare them here and here )
2/ don't know what the difference is just presumed they where the same (looks like more research for me)
3/ if you only need 2 slots thats fine, but have the ability to increase the ram make the system more future proof.
4/ size I think the vortex is a bit larger.
5/ weight = it is what it is
6/ battery = I have read that the battery on the vortex is pretty bad but as mine is probably going to be plugged in most of the time that doesn't bother me but it would depend on your usage.
7/ Price = you get what you pay for

heating wise the vortex has two fans one for the gpu and one for cpu where as the enigma only has one.

Build quality I dont know about the enigma but in most reviews they say the vortex is quite sturdy and as far as looks go I prefer the vortex
Heres a nice little review of the vortex here
note: its called the Sager NP8150 in this video but they exactly the same e.g. design and spec

 

[pez]

Assuming you had the £2700 budget, I would get this, and walk around for a year with a big ass smile on my face and a bent back from the weight

--- Budget: £2685 ---

Chassis & Display
Vortex II-17: 17.3" Full HD LED Backlit 16:9 Widescreen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glossy

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor Extreme i7-2920XM (2.50GHz) 8MB Cache

Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (4 x 4GB)

Graphics Card
2.0GB nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 485M - DirectX® 11 (17.3" Vortex II)

Memory - Hard Disk
160GB INTEL® 320 SERIES SSD, SATA 3 Gb/s (upto 270MB/sR | 165MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
SONY BC-5500H 4x BLURAY ROM/DVD WRITER & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE (£84)

Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1102 WIRELESS 802.11N - IDEAL FOR ONLINE GAMING

USB Options
4 PORT USB 2.0 EXTERNAL HUB + STANDARD USB PORTS

Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (3,800 mAh)

Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)

Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL

Carry Case
TARGUS XL CITY GEAR 16" - 17.3" LAPTOP CASE TCG417 (£44)

Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE

Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM

Headsets (VOIP)
Logitech® PC Headset 960 USB Digital stereo with in-line volume control (£17)

Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft

Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity 1