Buying a laptop for uni...and gaming

[xxTJxx]

Hi

I will be moving to the UK in September to attend uni and I've been trying to find a good laptop that would fit my needs. I've been looking for a laptop that actually doesn't look like something out of Las Vegas(Alienware, I'm looking at you) and still has power. After a little looking I have ALMOST decided to get the 15.6" Vortex III. What I would like is some comments on these specs:

15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen(1920x1080) - Or glossy???
Intel Core i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6mb
8GB Samsung 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 Memory(2x4GB)
NVidia GeForce GTX 680M, NVidia GeForce GTX670M or NVidia GeForce GTX675M?
1TB HDD - Partitioned with 100GB for OS and 900GB for whatever else
mSATA 20GB SSD - Worth it?

Also, how is the battery on these things? I'll be bringing it to lectures etc, so I need it to be somewhat decent if I can't access an outlet, sadly it doesn't seem like I can go for a better battery

I'd prefer to stay under 1350 pounds and I should be able to do that unless the 20GB SSD is really worth those extra 74 pounds...

Any help, experiences etc regarding this laptop would be absolutely fantastic!

Thanks in advance!

-TJ

 

[tom6561]

I'd probably go for a build like this:

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 15.6" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
AMD® Radeon® HD 7970M - 2GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
mSATA SSD Cache / Storage Drives
80GB INTEL® 310 mSATA MLC SSD - (mini PCIe SSD for extra storage)
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)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 180W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,320.00 including VAT and delivery.


You don't need 1600MHz RAM as it doesn't provide a noticeable performance boost, I put the 7970M in there because it seems to fit your budget well. Also I would recommend the 7200rpm drive over a slower 1tb 5400rpm, but if you definitely need that much space feel free to change it back. I'm not entirely sure how big the mSATA drives should be, but you could get any of them for under £1350 with this build I think.

 

[basher77]

Hi, I'm getting a laptop for uni and gaming as well. Ordered a Vortex 3 17" with a 680m.
Not arrived so can't comment on it yet.
From what you posted I don't think you need to partition the hard drive for os and other files unless you like it like that. (ready to be told i'm wrong)
If you can afford the GTX 680m it will last you longest and from the stats on the web it looks like a significant increase in performance over the 670m and 675m.
Should have my laptop in the next week so will let you know what the 680m is like with games.

Lewis

 

[xxTJxx]

@tom6561: I was considering the AMD card but I've always had AMD cards in my desktops so I thought I should try something new, but maybe going for an AMD card as usual will be a good idea...the only problem is I've heard a few bad things about it, I don't really know what these bad things are but I've just heard some people having problems with it?

You're right about the HDD space, I just went for the 1TB since I "downgraded" another component, a 750GB is probably more than enough seeing as I have a 1TB external as well.

@basher77: I've decided to go for the 15.6" due to it being more portable(and cheaper) than a 17" and it will take up less space in lectures etc, I'll probably end up just buying an external monitor to use if I want to play games at home. There are a lot of things about partitioning going around, but apparently it can give a performance boost + I like it tidy...I'm very OCD about having a tidy computer haha. I'd really appreciate it if you could tell me how the 680M handles games!

Edit: Also, I noticed that the AMD card currently can't be ordered with a matte screen...so I'm a but torn as to what screen(and card) I should get. I'm pretty set on the AMD card now, but I'm not sure about a glossy screen...I don't want any annoying reflections...any experiences?

 

[Agito]

If drive D is a partition of the same drive as drive C, it will not speed up the read/write times. Its not the same as 2 hard drives. Its gonna be the same as having a single hard drive regarding speed. The only thing that would save you time on would be defraging the hard drive and also making your root directory easily to wipe and rewrite, so you dont need an external drive every time to back stuff up that you need before a format.

 

[xxTJxx]

I have pretty much decided on the specs tom6561 posted, but I have heard a lot of bad things about the HD7970M. I had time to actually find out what the problem is, but does anyone know if it's been fixed or do you see it being fixed soon? And is it a really big problem?

 

[basher77]

Got my vortex 3 with 680m on friday and it is amazing. Runs crysis 2 on ultra with no lag and no problems with it t all that weren't solved by installing the drivers from the cd supplied. I did spend £1800 o mine so getting the 7970m mightbe an easy way to get the price down but i didn't like the driver issues i'd seen so spent a bit more.
Also mine took a month to arrive because of out of stock parts so if you are going to uni soon either check your spec is in stock first or order soon.