Laptop comparison

jaycee2006

Posting for a friend, who would like to know whether he should buy an alienware m15 x, specifications:

512MB NVIDIA^®  GeForce^®  GT 240M

3072MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM

Intel® Core™ i3 Processor 370M (2.4Ghz, 3MB, 2C)

 

Or a Samsung NP-R780-JS05UK, specifications:

Intel® Core™ i5-430M Processor

- 2.26 GHz

- 2.5 GT/s DMI

- 3 MB Smart Cache

4 GB DDR3 RAM

 

Graphics card	NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M - 1 GB dedicated video memory

The Samsung laptop also has a 17 inch screen as opposed to a 15 inch, yet costs nearly 350 pounds less?

Thanks in advance.

 

Quizzical

The correct answer is neither.  Wait for Sandy Bridge to launch in about two weeks and get a Sandy Bridge processor (e.g., Core i7 2720QM).  Also get a Mobility Radeon HD 5650 or better video card if he wants to play games.  Or possibly a Mobility Radeon HD 6000 series card if they're out by then.

And if $1000 or so is too expensive, then he can't afford a gaming laptop.  Tell him to get a desktop if he wants to play games.  Actually, tell him to get a desktop if he wants to play games whether he can afford a gaming laptop or not, unless he already has a gaming desktop and wants to also have a gaming laptop.  And if he wants a cheap non-gaming laptop, then wait for AMD's Bobcat chip to launch in January and get a $400 laptop based on that.

If he wants a gaming laptop on a budget, then he'll have to wait for AMD's Llano chip to launch, probably this coming Spring.

jaycee2006

I take it there arent any laptops that have been announced as being built with these processors?

Quizzical

Intel hasn't even announced that the particular processors actually exist.  They've officially said that the architecture exists, and possibly that it will launch in Q1 2011, but I doubt Intel has said more than that.

But they have to ship zillions of processors all over the place in order for motherboard manufacturers to make sure their motherboards work right and have millions available to sell on the launch day.  One tech site go a hold of one and benchmarked it months ago.  They're already shipping processors and motherboards all over the world, and some retailers have decided to ignore the embargo date and start selling them early.  So yes, they're coming.  But partners aren't allowed to officially announce it yet.

jaycee2006

Apparently Alienware are upgrading to them shortly after they are released, so that seems promising.

Quizzical

Once Sandy Bridge and Bobcat are released in about two weeks, there will be no point in buying a laptop with anything else for the overwhelming majority of people.  Sandy Bridge will dominate the high end, and Bobcat the low end, and both will be far and away superior in their market segments to anything on the market today.  Laptop companies that don't offer either at release basically don't want to sell laptops at all for a while.  So I'd expect to see plenty of laptops based on both brought to market and quickly.

thamighty213

Neither

 

Alienware are overpriced crap with shit customer service since Dell took them over (they where always overpriced but the CS made up some of that shortfall)

 

The R780 was terrible had that same model in February of this year and it ended up returned to store due to overheating in wait for it Star Wars Galaxies,  Yes a 7 year old game was causing it to overheat.

 

Samsung have just flung  the parts in with look over performance in mind the cooling is simply not made for gaming.

jaycee2006

Do you have any suggestions? ^^

 

or opinions on a Asus N61JV, 16" HD Notebook?

Quizzical

Wait two weeks for Sandy Bridge and Bobcat to launch, then come back and ask again.  If you don't do that, then whatever laptop you get will be horrible.