Need help picking a laptop!!

[yoonie]

So i've already ordered an alienware m11x (i5, 8 gigs of ram, gt 335m) and made sure that I could return it after opening it, should I decide on something else. I got it for 700.

The something-elses I'm looking at are

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G73JH-RBBX05-Refurbished-Notebook-PC/dp/B00405WVVW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=A3LJ5WMKNRFKQS&s=electronics&qid=1297392033&sr=1-1
at $950

and

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G71GX-RX...-Laptop/dp/tech-data/B002RTL32Q/ref=de_a_smtd

at $700.

Will the performance gap between the m11 and g73 worth $250? And the battery life will probably be barely enough to watch a movie (anyone know for sure?)

The G71 looks nice, but I'm a little worried about the P8700 processor, as it's already dated. Does anyone know how it compares to i5's? Googling it is giving me some mixed information.

Obviously, I like to game a little bit, but I need some degree of mobility, and can't afford something like an m17.

Edit:fixed the links

 

[l_____l]

So i've already ordered an alienware m11x (i5, 8 gigs of ram, gt 335m) and made sure that I could return it after opening it, should I decide on something else. I got it for 700.

The something-elses I'm looking at are

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G73JH-RBB...7392033&sr=1-1
at $950

and

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G71GX-RX0.../ref=de_a_smtd

at $700.

Will the performance gap between the m11 and g73 worth $250? And the battery life will probably be barely enough to watch a movie (anyone know for sure?)

The G71 looks nice, but I'm a little worried about the P8700 processor, as it's already dated. Does anyone know how it compares to i5's? Googling it is giving me some mixed information.

Obviously, I like to game a little bit, but I need some degree of mobility, and can't afford something like an m17.

Sorry....your links are broken to Amazon. Alienware seems to be good stuff, but I'm a "Fully Rugged" type of laptop user.. (Itronix, Panasonic Toughbook, Motorola ML900 etc 8GB of RAM is quite a lot! I guess I'll have to go to alienware's web site to further study. Then again, if I can't clean it off with a garden hose, I'm not interested!

 

[yoonie]

lol, I'm not quite that rough with my electronics. I'm only considering the alienware because of the big sale (320 off i think) and the portability/battery life (up to 6.5 hours), besides the very good specs.

Anyone know anything about the P8700 cpu and how it compares to the i5?

 

[PerfectHorizon]

lol, I'm not quite that rough with my electronics. I'm only considering the alienware because of the big sale (320 off i think) and the portability/battery life (up to 6.5 hours), besides the very good specs.

Anyone know anything about the P8700 cpu and how it compares to the i5?

As an Alienware owner I will tell you that if you get 6.5 hours of battery life on an AW laptop you should go buy lotto tickets immediately. Its much closer to 2 or 3 hours max and that assumes that you don't do anything on it.

 

[Moccolfc]

I think ill be purchasing a Lenovo Thinkpad in september for uni

Jay

 

[350Rocket]

Not that it helps you decide between those laptops, but I have a low end Lenovo G550 that I got in August for school and I'm really happy with it.

It's been getting extremely heavy use since I got it. It's my only computer, it has most of my textbooks on it cause it was cheaper to buy the online version than the actual book, so I use it in almost every single class. It gets carted around in my backpack every day.

I live in a small appt now and didn't bother to bring my tv and dvd player so it doubles as dvd player and stereo as well. The battery life is better than most I've seen as well, it will get around 3 hours with moderate use, and that hasn't decreased at all 6 months I've had it so far.

 

[SamuraiBigEd]

You can't go wrong with Asus. That said, it all depends on what you are planning on using the laptop for, if you plan on gaming even the slightest or doing photo/video editing get an I5 minimum. If on the other hand you are just going to be doing word processing and basic business apps the P8700 will be fine.

Alienware is now a high end Dell, which is not a bad thing, I just think they are overpriced.

Whichever one, get at least 6 gigs of ram, more if you plan on editing.

And a word on battery life and laptops, I have never seen a laptop get anywhere near its rated time, usually half that or less.

 

[ABRMess006]

I picked up an ASUS G51VX-RX05 for 470 on ebay. 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4gb DDR2800, GTX 260M 1gb CUDA graphics, 15.6", backlit keyboard. The thing is flawless, runs games like you wouldn't believe. I got it mainly for gaming and it completely replaced my desktop custom build. Yeh it's that powerful.

Just something to consider, I doubt you will find it for the price I did, I was pretty lucky after watching it for months, typical price is around 700-800 for one.