New laptop for photo editing, print/web design and light gaming

[Drakknar]

Hey guys,
I was thinking about changing my old laptop with a new one I can use for print/web design (Adobe CS), Android programming w Eclipse, photo editing and some light gaming (mostly Diablo III or PC exclusives like Civilization and Championship Manager - for most other graphics intensive games I use the Xbox 360).
I will need some degree of portability to bring it every day with me at my workplace and at cloents offices, and possibly a few hours of battery time.

I was tempted to go for the following spec:

Chassis & Display
Optimus 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
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M - 1.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
+ a secondary Hybrid hdd I already have
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW) - possibly switching this with an optical drive hdd bay
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® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Upgrade to 62.16WH 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (£39)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W Adaptor (GT 540M) / 120W Adaptor (GT 555M)
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£12)

I thought about going for the Vortex III/LE 15'' or 17'' but in the first case I'm concerned about the great increase of weight and the super sized power brick (do I really need max 16GB RAM and a more powerful graphics card?), and in the latter about the lack of portability and battery life...

Do you think the spec I selected is going to be good enough and future proof for my needs, especially in terms of RAM, battery life and GPU or would you suggest something else?

 

[PCS]

Welcome to our forums

The specification you have selected is well balanced and more than capable of the uses you have specified. As you are a causal gamer the GT 650M is more than suitable and you do not need to upgrade to the Vortex III/LE. 8GB is RAM is more than enough for your needs and the upgraded battery will give you the maximum battery life from your laptop.

 

[Drakknar]

Thanks for your kind reply

I have a couple of last minute questions I would like to ask you before placing the order: is there any chance to have an optical hdd drive caddy instead of the dvd writer? I never used an optical media with my old laptop so maybe in the future it could be handy to have another slot for some extra storage space (I know, I'm a storage fanatic lol)

As I also use quite a lot virtualisation apps like VMWare, do you know if I can enable the Intel VT-X instructions via the bios settings?

 

[PCS]

The Optimus III 15.6" supports two HDDs by default. Adding a caddy will not save any money but allow for a 3rd HDD - are you sure you'd install 3 hard drives in a notebook? We can add one to your quote no problem, just call us on 0844 499 4000 with the quote reference number after you've saved a quote.


As for the Intel VT-X instructions I'm not sure about this - I'll have to come back to you tomorrow to confirm.

 

[Drakknar]

Hmm you are absolutely right, a third hdd is not gonna be any good for such a system. If needed I can rely on external USB media.
Thanks again for your help, I'll wait for the last bit of info about VT-X so that I can place the order

 

[Meds]

I'll wait for the last bit of info about VT-X so that I can place the order

Just checked this for you on the Optimus III. There is nowhere in the BIOS where you can alter the Intel VT-X settings. Hope this helps?

 

[Drakknar]

Hey Meds,
thanks for checking that out for me; previously I had the chance to call the telephone support to have the confirmation that the VT-X technologies were enabled by default in the BIOS

I fast tracked my order and I'm already typing from a brand new Optimus III