My wife is deciding between these 2 laptops

[Surf314]

Laptop 1

Laptop 2

I told her to go with 1. If anyone has any better advice or maybe a better laptop please post it.  She is looking in the $1,300 to $1,500 price range and we like Asus based on the recommendations by some people here and the linux embedded in the mobo is super cool.

[CaffeinePowered]

Get the first one, it has a twice the video memory and an actual core2duo instead of a centrino

The second is capable of a higher resolution for whatever reason, and that's about the only plus I could find for it.

[Surf314]

Get the first one, it has a twice the video memory and an actual core2duo instead of a centrino

The second is capable of a higher resolution for whatever reason, and that's about the only plus I could find for it.

Wait the first one has a centrino.  The first one has a better graphics card, less VRAM, better resolution, faster harddrive, less cache, and no wired ethernet.  Those are the main differences.

[Greatbacon]

From what I saw of the specs, Laptop 1 looks better.  Honestly though they are so similar is so many ways it will most likely not be a bad purchase either way.

[CaffeinePowered]

[quote author=Caffeine link=topic=2550.msg72724#msg72724 date=1237905819]
Get the first one, it has a twice the video memory and an actual core2duo instead of a centrino

The second is capable of a higher resolution for whatever reason, and that's about the only plus I could find for it.

Wait the first one has a centrino.  The first one has a better graphics card, less VRAM, better resolution, faster harddrive, less cache, and no wired ethernet.  Those are the main differences.
[/quote]

Sorry, got confused swapping back and forth between the two, I think I would switch my decision then to #2 base on wired ethernet, a larger cache, and a larger amount of video memory.

Its a tough choice to be sure, but I dont think you would be overly disappointed in either

[Surf314]

NM This one wins:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6834220464

[Surf314]

Thinking about switching the HDD out with this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...0GB%207200

Thoughts?

[at0m]

Thinking about switching the HDD out with this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...0GB%207200

Thoughts?

you want to pull a 500GB and replace it with a 320? why? access speed? i seriously doubt the performance difference is worth dropping that much space and an extra $100 for.

[Surf314]

[quote author=Surf314 link=topic=2550.msg72740#msg72740 date=1237912363]
Thinking about switching the HDD out with this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...0GB%207200

Thoughts?

you want to pull a 500GB and replace it with a 320? why? access speed? i seriously doubt the performance difference is worth dropping that much space and an extra $100 for.
[/quote]

Yea you're right.  She was just hung up on the hdd speed thing for a bit but when she found out my laptop was also 5400 she was cool with it.

[Blues]

Is she trying to game with this laptop? If not, 1,300-1,500 is a horrible price range, it's like double what you need for anything else.

If she's interested in gaming, then do not buy a laptop with a lesser card than the 9800M. The price differences are generally minimal, and laptop cards are stunted, so that's putting you at 9600 in terms of a real PC already.

[Surf314]

Is she trying to game with this laptop? If not, 1,300-1,500 is a horrible price range, it's like double what you need for anything else.

If she's interested in gaming, then do not buy a laptop with a lesser card than the 9800M. The price differences are generally minimal, and laptop cards are stunted, so that's putting you at 9600 in terms of a real PC already.

The only 9800M's the Asus have are GS which I think is inferior to the 9650 GT the one she got has.  She's not really a PC gamer but wants the option which I think this one will give her.  Plus we really can't afford more, she's only getting this because she's getting a big cash out from all her saved up vacation hours.

[Blues]

[quote author=Blues link=topic=2550.msg72753#msg72753 date=1237915635]
Is she trying to game with this laptop? If not, 1,300-1,500 is a horrible price range, it's like double what you need for anything else.

If she's interested in gaming, then do not buy a laptop with a lesser card than the 9800M. The price differences are generally minimal, and laptop cards are stunted, so that's putting you at 9600 in terms of a real PC already.

The only 9800M's the Asus have are GS which I think is inferior to the 9650 GT the one she got has.  She's not really a PC gamer but wants the option which I think this one will give her.  Plus we really can't afford more, she's only getting this because she's getting a big cash out from all her saved up vacation hours.
[/quote]
Laptops aren't like desktops, while it's something to consider, don't look at brand as your final buying point, and definitely don't focus on only Asus. As to money, I ran across a 9800M, 4GB RAM, 320GB, 8400C2D laptop a few months ago for 1,100, on sale from 1,400 on Bestbuy.com of all places. You can easily find something within your price range that isn't going to be a waste of money if you do a little searching. As to a 9800GS mobile, it is still better than a 9650 mobile (yes, the 9650 has 1GB, but video RAM is not a measurement of how well it will play games), but you should be able to find a 9800GT mobile pretty easily if you look around. Whatever you do, don't overestimate laptop cards, they are not in any way equivilent to the PC version. Benches for mobile cards are also a very bad way to look at the card, because they are rarely if ever accurate. A 9650 mobile will quite probably just barely run TF2 and related, and you won't be playing on the highest settings.

[Surf314]

I see your points Blue, she already got the one with the 9650 GT.  I might have convinced her to get the other if I had read your comment in time but thinking about it I think she got the best one.  I really don't see her becoming a PC gamer anytime soon, she just wanted to know she could if she wanted to.  Hopefully she can run what she'd want with this.  I was reading through some of the reviews and someone was saying they were playing TF2 with decent framerates with the model just slightly down from the one she got (9600 GS) so at the very least she could play TF2.

[Blues]

I see your points Blue, she already got the one with the 9650 GT.  I might have convinced her to get the other if I had read your comment in time but thinking about it I think she got the best one.  I really don't see her becoming a PC gamer anytime soon, she just wanted to know she could if she wanted to.  Hopefully she can run what she'd want with this.  I was reading through some of the reviews and someone was saying they were playing TF2 with decent framerates with the model just slightly down from the one she got (9600 GS) so at the very least she could play TF2.

It should be okay for current games, but I personally feel that paying more than 1k, you should be getting something that will have a decent chance of running things that hit within the next year, as opposed to just what's out now.

[copulatingduck]

Gaming laptops are overrated, they get fucking HOT, not comfortable or good for future generations.

[Dave]

Step one:

get two cats

step two:

label each cats with sticky notes

step three:

cover both cats in marmalade

step four:

let cats loose

step five:

the cat which eats all the marmalade off the other cat first wins

and you buy that laptop

[Blues]

Step one:

get two cats

step two:

label each cats with sticky notes

step three:

cover both cats in marmalade

step four:

let cats loose

step five:

the cat which eats all the marmalade off the other cat first wins

and you buy that laptop

But, what if the cats....









EAT THE STICKY NOTES?