Multimedia Laptop Core i7 - Need guidance

akuamunki

Hi All,

I'm wondering if you'd be able to point me in the right direction. I am in the market for a high performance multimedia laptop. Reason for choosing the specs I did is I need to do photograph and HD video editing, some gaming on latest games but not the priority really as the xbox scratches that itch. Also I just want to future proof as much as possible.

In essence the specs im looking for are:

-Intel Core i7 (~2.5GHz or more)
-8GB Ram DDR3
-2GB Graphics card eg NVIDIA GeForce whatever
-Around 15 inch display with high res (eg 1920X1080) 17inch not an option as I travel a lot
-Strongly prefer Matte finish screen but seems they are as common as unicorns eyelashes at this point
-If possible SSD 256GB if not then min 750GB HDD (7200rpm)
-No Macs (sorry, just a personal preferance (read intolerance:)))
-Price preferably around €1000, willing to go a higher for something special, max is perhaps €1500 but Id rather pay less obviously:p


The options I had boiled it down to from reading tons of reviews were roughly Dell XPS 15z, HP Envy Series or Samsung 7 Series or equivalent (I know little about ASUS, MSI or Lenova ranges so open to suggestions)

I did much trawling of the usual suspect sites: pixmania, komplett, laptopsdirect.ie, ebay, amazon, harveynorman, pcworld, dabs, hyperlaptops, dell, hpshop.ie..... Any others you'd suggest who deliver to Ireland (Dublin)?

I couldn't find one laptop that met every requirement, I didn't think the specs were that unrealisitc or even high end. Many laptops were close, but had no option to customize.

Now I know Dell gets a lot of flak, but I have an Inspiron I have been using hard for 5 years thats still chugging along, so I decided to see what they have to offer today. Seemed the XPS 15z was pretty sweet (though slimline is not a priority, if the specs were right its a plus)


I thought I had found the holy grail on the Dell Outlet UK store (get it delivered up north), the only laptop that ticked every single box except matte screen even SSD and it was only ~€1000

• XPS 15z
• Processor: Intel Core i7-2640M (2.80 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.50 GHz)(2GB Graphics)
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
• 8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
• 256 GB Dell Mobility Solid State Hard Drive, 1.7MM
• Optical Drive : 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
• Display: 15 inches FHD WLED True-Life (1920X1080) with 1.3 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
• English Genuine Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium (64Bit OS)
• Wireless: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 (2x2 b/g/+ Bluetooth Combo Card)

I was ready to order, however some searching on the Dell forums threw a spanner with literally hundreds of bad reviews from users saying the build quality is shocking, it overheats (just like my old dell) the wireless card simply doesnt work (loads of driver issues, disabling of this and that and still many people not fixed) and the audio goes haywire from the wireless also.

Now I feel Im back at square one and not really sure how to start all over again. Wondering if anyone can recommend a possible laptop that is available to order to Ireland, or any website that lets you build a laptor to spec (like dell or pcspecialist without being one of those )

Thanks in advance, apologies for the novel of a post, felt it best to get exactly what im looking for clear from first principles, to try and avoid the basic follow up questions. Cheers


Steve

TL;DR Want a multimedia laptop Core i7, 8GB Ram, 2GB Graphics, 15 inch matte display, SSD 256GB or 750GB HDD(7200rpm), No Macs, preferably around €1000. Ideas?

Torqay

Slightly outside you budget, but you'll get 12 GB RAM instead of 8.

15.6 ASUS w a Core i7 2670QM, NVIDIA GeForce GT630M (2GB) and a 750GB - 7200rpm HDD for 1,099 yoyos at komplett.

There's also a HP laptop that fits the bill, except, the HDD is only 5400 RPM... for €979 (and the HD 6770M is a good bit faster than the GT 630M).

Jarren

http://www.computeruniverse.net/products/90434981/asus-n55sf-s1124v-w7hp64.asp

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Samsung_CHRONOS_700z_1156400.html

AND

still within the budget

http://www.novatech.co.uk/laptop/range/eliteultimate2760v2.html

Overheal

You don't want a HDD. Stop kidding around

akuamunki

Wow, thanks a million for the great responses.

The first Asus suggested has great specs (only 12GB Ram machine I saw!!) but the reviews for it are middle of the road, so I wrote it off earlier.

That novtech machine made me drool, but €1500 is way the upper end, and as much as id love to, staying around the grand mark is more realistic, especially since there are some great machines out there at that price.

Right now its down to a 2 horse race, the Samsung Series 7 or the Asus N55SF...


ASUS N55SF S1124V 15.6"
Intel Core i7 2630QM Quad Core 2 GHz (2.9 GHz) 6 MB Cache
1920 x 1080 / Full HD Matte LED Backlight
8 GB RAM
750 GB HDD (7200)
DVD-Writer/Blu-ray
NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M - 2 GB
2.7 kg
37.9 x 26.1 x 3.7 ~3.75 cm (WxDxH)
2 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0 VGA/HDMI


Pro/Con
Better Screen Res
Better Graphics Card
BluRay
Great Audio
Less Storage
No SSD
Bigger/Heavier
Plasticy Look/Feel
Bloatware
Crappy Keyboard


Samsung NP700Z5A-S05UK 15.6"
Intel® Core i7-2675QM Quad Core 2.20GHz, 6 MB L3 Cache
1600 x 900 matte display
8GB DDR3 RAM
1000GB HDD with SSD 8GB ExpressCache
DVD Rewriter Slot load
Dedicated AMD Radeon 6750 1GB
Bluetooth 3, USB 3, HDMI,
2.29kg
36.21 x 23.85 x 2.39cm
2 USB 3.0, 1 USB 2.0 HDMI/VGA

Pro/Con
Great battery life
Has SSD
Slightly Faster Processor
Smaller/Lighter
Matte Screen
Dodgy Touchpad
Weaker Graphics Card
Taxback

Im strongly leaning towards the Samsung because of the battery, SSD and general build/styling, but the lesser screen and weaker graphics card is really making me question it. However with the taxback its cheaper too!

How major is the difference between the graphics cards? With HD video processiong would there be a noticable difference in performance? What about games?

So my question is, which one to pick? Any opinions/reasons welcome?


Secondary questions:
Has anyone had any dealings with the Samsung taxback offer, whats the deal?

Whats the situation with ordering from http://www.computeruniverse.net, is the support and warranty valid in Ireland, or will I have to send back to Samsung in Germany if theres any issues?

Torqay

This ain't no SSD, it's a hybrid drive. The SSD bit is used as extended cache memory for the HDD and faster hibernation, but not much else.

If you want a solid state disk, you'll want the real deal.

akuamunki

I realise that its not solid state drive in the conventional sense ie for storage. But having it there as a cache and to store the OS will make a big difference to performance I would think. I listed it as SSD for abbreviations sake. I still see the hybrid setup as a good comprimise (big storage AND fast access) and a big plus over the purely HDD Asus....

The GPU question remains however, anyone with some graphics card knowledge, how much of a hit is this really gonna be?

Torqay

No, the OS like pretty much everything else, will be on the platters. In a hybrid drives the SSD only serves as an extended cache for the platter hard disk, not for storage.

Overheal

Hybrids are a nice go between but only if you really need much more space - theyre the poor man's SSD, it stores everything on platter for the most part then uses the SSD to keep the 8GB of your most frequently accessed data on it. Mostly OS stuff.

Torqay

Overheal wrote: »

Hybrids are a nice go between

OCZs RevoDrives rock, but they're using PCIe and not stupid SATA.

JiffyJ

These guys will put an SSD in the ASUS N55 for you...

http://www.asuslaptop.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=N55SL-S2019V-8GB

Jarren

Hi Op

Regarding secondary questions .

1 - http://www.samsung.com/uk/vatback/
2- Standard contract terms http://www.computeruniverse.net/info/AGBs21_english.pdf

akuamunki

Cheers for all the info...

Due to the vatback and the great reviews I have gone for the Samsung Series 7 Chronos from laptopsdirect.ie, worked out the same price as saveonloptops and added bonus of cheap delivery in Ireland.

Overheal

The Chronos is a good chassis. Like the keyboard on it myself and its about as sturdy as a mac. Great call.

Torqay wrote: »

OCZs RevoDrives rock, but they're using PCIe and not stupid SATA.

far too expensive. Even if the speeds on some of the PCIe drives is ridiculous compared to SATA III's max theo speed. I just don't see myself spending $640 on 240GB.

Torqay

I said, they rock, but so do quite a few things that ain't cheap.

Serephucus

If only I'd seen this sooner... ASUS is releasing their new line soon. They're just waiting on the Ivy Bridge NDA, as far as I know. The N56 is something to seriously consider, if you can cancel/return the Samsung.

fasttalkerchat

http://www.medion.com/gb/electronics/cat/Laptops/notebook_12?selectFacet=31&page=1&hitsPerPage=10

Torqay

Serephucus wrote: »

ASUS is releasing their new line soon. They're just waiting on the Ivy Bridge NDA

The Ivy Bridge Core i7 desktop and mobile CPUs have arrived, the i3 and i5 range will be another couple of months.

The Schenker XMG P502 PRO (Clevo P150EM) is one of the first Ivy Bridge laptops.



Not too shabby...

Serephucus

No they won't. The lower desktop models will be, the bulk of the mobile line is launching around April 29th.

Torqay

Serephucus wrote: »

No they won't. The lower desktop models will be, the bulk of the mobile line is launching around April 29th.

According to this review at chip.de (in German), the Ivy Bridge Core i3 and i5 mobile processors will be released only later this summer.

Serephucus

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/640963-new-m17x-r4-m14x-r2-m18x-r2-coming-speculation-thread-43.html

Have a look for Dell-Bill_B's posts in that thread. He all-but-outright states more than once that notebooks will ship with Ivy Bridge parts on or directly after the NDA lifts on the 29th.

Torqay

Only the Quads... we won't see the mobile dual core Ivy Bridge CPUs for a while.

Serephucus

The 3610QM is the replacement for the 2670QM, and that was in virtually all gaming laptops.

Overheal

Serephucus wrote: »

If only I'd seen this sooner... ASUS is releasing their new line soon. They're just waiting on the Ivy Bridge NDA, as far as I know. The N56 is something to seriously consider, if you can cancel/return the Samsung.

You can play that game and never ever buy a laptop in your life: there is always something around the corner. It's actually at this time of year that the price of a lot of this stuff has come down to reasonable, retailers are pricing them to phase off the shelf for the new hardware to come in - which in PC terms is best denoted by the next gen processors and graphics cards. A lot of ultrabooks have already had their prices lowered by 20% over the last 3 months. When the new stuff comes in, it will Not by any means be cheap.

and jesus do people ever play that game: I'll see the same customers in for a year at a rate of every other month, they come to browse but they over-research to the point where they are always waiting for the next thing, get sticker shock, and wait for the next thing. Worst though has to be new iPad rumors, people have been holding off buying one since June of last year expecting the next one to be right around the corner. It's a tad ridiculous.

Torqay

Waiting for the next best thing is a loser's game, eh?

Serephucus

I'm well aware of that, I'm talking less than a week though, for a generational jump. Worth waiting.

Torqay

Serephucus wrote: »

I'm well aware of that, I'm talking less than a week though, for a generational jump. Worth waiting.

Really? The i7-3610QM scores 10% better than the i7-2760QM in Passmark, which is OK but for gaming the GPU is for more important then the CPU and both have power in abundance, who really cares about Intel HD4000, no matter what improvements it will hold, it's still cr*p and hardly a match for even an entry level discrete GPU. Expext 2 gen Core i7 to drop quite significantly in price now, some great bargains ahead.

Serephucus

Again, no. Particularly with Ivy Bridge's mixed-bag launch, Sandy Bridge chips aren't going to drop in price, especially considering that a lot of SB chips run cooler, and overclock higher than their Ivy Bridge counterparts. As for HD4000? It's very important. Not for desktops, but if you can get away with playing game X on the IGP vs. the dedicated GPU - and save a lot of power in the process - that's definitely a plus.

Torqay

There are still plenty 2nd gen Core i7 gaming laptops on the shelves. And the problem with gaming laptops is, as you know, people who spend big money usually want the latest and greatest, thus retailers will be having a hard time to get rid of the older models fast, unless they drop the price greatly.

Overheal

Torqay wrote: »

There are still plenty 2nd gen Core i7 gaming laptops on the shelves. And the problem with gaming laptops is, as you know, people who spend big money usually want the latest and greatest, thus retailers will be having a hard time to get rid of the older models fast, unless they drop the price greatly.

Which sadly happens. Those big ASUS spaceship-sized laptops kept coming back, usually because people hated the size (told you!) but sometimes they claimed defects (I never verified). Comes on my shelf at $1200, leaves 6 months later at $899. Thats the biggest problem though with those laptops, they are massive.

Tenger

Torqay wrote: »

There are still plenty 2nd gen Core i7 gaming laptops on the shelves. ...............thus retailers will be having a hard time to get rid of the older models fast, unless they drop the price greatly.

Might well be a good move for me to go for a SandyBridge CPU, my decision will be made based on GPU anyway, so that extra 10% processing power isn't essential, but a price drop of ~10% on 2nd Gen i5/i7 would be most welcome.