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What laptop? (yes another one, sorry!) ~$650 Multimedia Desktop Replacement

B

bmwme

Senior member
So I just got the nod from the wife, she says should quit being cheap and get a new laptop. So help me spend my money wisely.

For years I spent hundreds a month on the latest and greatest desktop parts. Then I got a half-dozen other hobbies and started to upgrade far less and I bought a used Dell laptop for the living room. Now I have a house and two race cars and no additional time. I just want a decent laptop to replace an old P4 lappy and an Intel core 2 desk top. My requirements shouldn't be too costly but let me know what I should look out for since I'm out of the game.

I want it to do:
70% interwebbing
20% blu-ray watching (HDMI out a must)
10% Go-Pro editing and playing (~ .5GB each race videos)
I don't game much anymore but I would like it to be capable of a 1 or 2 year old FPS like COD.

I'd like:
17-inch HD screen (I was fine with a 15-inch screen until they went widescreen)
Decent graphics card (you tell me)
blu-ray combo drive
Win 7 Home Pro
750GB + hdd
USB 2.0 is fine
Any features that make getting blu-ray movies to my reciever and eventually my 720p projector easier would be great (wireless hdmi?? maybe..)

Don't need:
Latest and greatest, last gen is probably fine.

I'd LOVE to stay around $500-$600 but if I need to spend a little more ($650-700) to get a great feature I will. I'd like to keep this laptop for 3 years at least.

I came across this Asus this morning, what do you think?

ASUS K73SV-DH51
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...964&CatId=4937
 
I think it's a big, clunky laptop, that will definitely do the job if you're mostly doing stuff deskbound/luggable.

This one is worth the $200 extra, if you have it to spend. (Quad core vs. Dual, 8GB RAM vs. 4.)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...22451&csid=_23

If I'm buying something I want to last a while, I'll usually put any extra money I have into buying way more CPU than I need. Quad cores are a price/performance sweet spot. (Usually about double the theoretical performance for way less than double the price.)

But at 17.3", I'd really expect a 1080p display. Not that 1600x900 isn't enough for most people, most of the time. Just saying.
 
I have an Asus and a Lenovo. (15-16in)
Asus is the better gaming machine and the Lenovo is much more "portable".
Yes they are good machines.
 
Okay well this doesn't appear to be as complicated as I thought, haha.

So aside from the suggestion about going with a quad core does the ASUS K73 appear to be what I need to play blu-rays and edit MP4s?

Does it seem like a good price for new? Seems like it is a great deal ($200 off), yes?
 
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Ill put a vote in for the first one you linked, seems fair for the price. Decent middle of the road CPU GPU and RAM and nothing wrong with that. The other reccomendation trades a slightly better CPU for a worse GPU and bumps up the price 33% at the same time. Worth considering for the same price maybe...but otherwise no.

The only niggle I see with the K73 is the slow 5400RPM HDD. That will be a bottleneck and slow everything down...but that can be fixed. Actually, for a laptop of such size there should be a second HDD bay which would make it easy. A faster 7200RPM drive for $60 or...

Most people seem to be reccomending an SSD nowadays (for good reason), and $100 can get you a good 128GB drive like a Crucial M4. Doing a clean install of Win7 on the SSD gets rid of the bloat and puts all the programs on a much faster drive, leave the big one for storage.
 
Well you guys helped me pull the trigger. Ordered the Asus K73 this morning. I'll let you know how it is. I'll also maybe take the Retard's suggestion and look into a faster HDD or SSD. I have a first gen Crucial 32gb SSD but I have had trouble with crashing running WINXP on my Intel core duo desktop so I don't know how it will do on a Win7 laptop. I'll give it a whirl though. Anything special I should know about reinstalling Win7?
 
If you can, make sure AHCI is turned on in the BIOS before installing Win7 with an SSD.

Another option is the hybrid drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148837

You can probably find it for $20 less if you look around...it acts like a regular HDD but has a built in SSD to help accelerate the most used programs. The size of the SSD cache is rather small though, so the performance is closer to a regular HDD than an SSD. Basically you can call it the fastest large HDD for laptops (youd have 1.5TB using 2 bays).

Whatever you choose though, I would recommend something faster than 5400RPM as the main drive, that'll make the thing feel like a Pentium4.
 
EliteRetard said:
Whatever you choose though, I would recommend something faster than 5400RPM as the main drive, that'll make the thing feel like a Pentium4.
Click to expand...

Why does it seem that most laptops, even the higher end systems use a 5400 rpm drive? You'd think the 5400rpm drives would have been extinct years ago.
 
bmwme said:
Why does it seem that most laptops, even the higher end systems use a 5400 rpm drive? You'd think the 5400rpm drives would have been extinct years ago.
Click to expand...

Lower spin speeds usually go hand in hand with higher data density.

Not sure about the specifics, I guess it's just easier to read a specific microscopic dot on a platter if it's a slower-moving target.
 
My G53 is a dual bay so im guessing the "73" would be too.
I put a Intel 320 (160gb) in the second bay as a boot drive. Went with this model SSD because of the size.
 
dave_the_nerd said:
Lower spin speeds usually go hand in hand with higher data density.

Not sure about the specifics, I guess it's just easier to read a specific microscopic dot on a platter if it's a slower-moving target.
Click to expand...

I thinks its more to do with penny pinching, with a small boost to battery life as bonus. Lower cost and better battery sounds good on a spec sheet, they figure most consumers are to stupid to know whats really up.
 
bmwme said:
So I'm having troubling finding if this is sata II or III. Any idea?
Click to expand...

There are 2 SATAIII on the HM65 chipset which this should have.

But I dont think it really matters to much. An SSD would take advantage of higher speed SATA...but even on SATA II it should be faster than a HDD since the fastest HDDs can't saturate SATA I (well maybe).
 
SOB! I just got an email from tigerdirect saying if I buy a laptop with win7 I can get win8 for 15 bucks. Of course. Wtf. Anyone know if they would extend it two days?
 
OP....Just pick up a ssd-128 and put it in the second bay. They can be found for close to $100-120. Don't bother with another spinner.

Clean install of Win 7 on the SSD and use the spinner for storage.
 
So I found out I can "Refuse Delivery" from UPS and reorder my laptop so I can get Win8 for 15 bucks...is it worth it? I will lose my $9 shipping charge to refuse. I need to decide because the laptop is coming today! I won't get to use my laptop until the end of the week if I refuse but that's not a dealbreaker.

What says you?
 
bmwme said:
So I found out I can "Refuse Delivery" from UPS and reorder my laptop so I can get Win8 for 15 bucks...is it worth it? I will lose my $9 shipping charge to refuse. I need to decide because the laptop is coming today! I won't get to use my laptop until the end of the week if I refuse but that's not a dealbreaker.

What says you?
Click to expand...

First of all, you're abusing the delivery refusal policy. Don't ruin it for the rest of us.

Secondly, what I've heard from the people using the various Win8 previews is not really all that positive. They're mostly on the stick-with-7 bandwagon.

Thirdly, you probably already are eligible for a steep discount on Windows 8, when it/you are ready to upgrade. Just gotta keep an eye out.

(No, seriously. I took a 1 credit class at a local community college, somehow became eligible for MSDN access. Free... well, everything. Of course, without that, I would have had to pay a whole $10 for a Win7 .iso through work. Talk about wallet-busting... heh.)
 
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dave_the_nerd said:
First of all, you're abusing the delivery refusal policy. Don't ruin it for the rest of us.
Click to expand...

Well first, I learned about from an online rep from the company I purchased the system from, and second I don't think I'm going to ruin it for you. What is a GOOD reason to refuse a package you ordered (presuming you didn't have a gun to your head at the time of ordering). I ordered a product and a day later was sent an email from the company I purchased it from telling me if I order that same product I will now received a ~$135 discount towards a future OS purchase. Wouldn't you be a little pi$$ed?
 
I have heard nothing good about Win 8 either.
Guy's in other forums with the trial version are saying stick with 7.
 
Well you are probably correct, but it is now too late. I left a note on my door this afternoon to refuse delivery and online tracking shows it was refused. I will order the laptop again, now with a reciept that shows I can get Win8 for 15 bucks. From the sounds of it I can use win8 on my old Intel Core Duo that I will likely use for a HTPC, and I will keep Win7 on the laptop.

Thanks for your help. I will let you know how the laptop is once I EVENTUALLY get a chance to use it.
 
I hope you realize that these OEM's simply don't make roads to upgrades with their laptops. They update them for 3-6 months at best, and then drop them, leaving you with old drivers and any remaining bugs. HP and Dell were really bad about this, selling Vista laptops 3 months before Windows 7's release and then not giving them an upgrade path. If asus decides not to put out your model specific drivers for windows 8, then you'll be flying the upgrade alone.

Also I'm not absolutely sure, but from what I understand this deal is tied to the hardware you buy with it. Not that MS would ever know or do anything about it..but just saying.
 
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