Searching for a laptop with a dedicated graphics card ( Q & A )

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  1. Posts : 31
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
       #11

    I've gotta say from experience (so far), my laptop hasn't had any problems. And it's cooling system isn't the best.
    The CPU hasn't got above 70 degrees celcius and the GPU above 75. So its going fine.

    And the new ASUS G73 laptops have a very good cooling in them (I believe). They have a good flowing system. Sure it's never going to be as good as a PCs one, but they can still get good.

    Anyway, assuming you don't want a high end graphics card (mid range), then heres a list from newegg of laptops between $800 and $1100. They all have: at least a 500GB harddrive, Blu ray drive combo, and a mid range graphics card:
    Newegg.com - ASUS N53JF-XE1 Notebook Intel Core i5 460M(2.53GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 7200rpm BD Combo NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M
    Newegg.com - MSI FX700-024US Notebook Intel Core i5 480M(2.66GHz) 17.3" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD BD Combo NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M
    Newegg.com - HP Pavilion dv7-4180us NoteBook Intel Core i5 460M(2.53GHz) 17.3" 4GB Memory 640GB HDD 5400rpm BD Combo ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650
    Newegg.com - SAMSUNG RF710-S02 NoteBook Intel Core i7 720QM(1.60GHz) 17.3" 4GB Memory 640GB HDD 5400rpm Blu-Ray Drive NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
    Newegg.com - Acer Aspire AS7745G-9823 NoteBook Intel Core i7 740QM(1.73GHz) 17.3" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 5400rpm BD Combo ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650
    Newegg.com - HP Pavilion DV7-4070US NoteBook Intel Core i5 450M(2.40GHz) 17.3" 4GB Memory 640GB HDD 5400rpm BD Combo ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650

    I don't really have a personal recommendation from them (because I haven't used any of them :P), but the first one is the only one with a 15.6" screen if you're wanting portability.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #12

    @EvilOzmess: Don't worry, I got the heating problem under control ( maybe ). I have a USB cooling fan that sits underneath the laptop. A friend of mine has a laptop that overheats in like 30 minutes of heavy cpu load. He solved his problem by buying the same thing. What it does is, the USB cooling fan sits his laptop approximately a half-inch from any surface and uses 2 fans to cool the entire underside of the laptop. I plan on experimenting with this before making any purchase.

    @Fuzz Ball: Thanks for the resolution specs. I've done some research and found that 16:10 isn't really used on the newer brand laptops ( or notebooks, I use them interchangeably ), but do like using a widescreen display. Something about making the gaming experience much better for what little time I have to kick back and relax. lol
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #13

    I have been browsing Newegg as well ( can't believe I haven't heard of it before ) and found some pretty decent stuff there. I may start browsing there more often instead of searching all over google ( don't get me wrong, google provides some pretty interesting results).
      My Computer


  4. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #14

    I just got this one for Christmas. Configured it with the high resolution screen which gives you the 1GB GPU and also took the backlit keyboard which is neat. I also replaced the HDD with an OCZ Vertex2 SSD. Works very well, but I do no games.
    VPCF1390X | VAIO® F1390X Configure-to-Order | Sony | Sony Style USA
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 31
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
       #15

    F4SHAD0 said:
    @Fuzz Ball: Thanks for the resolution specs. I've done some research and found that 16:10 isn't really used on the newer brand laptops ( or notebooks, I use them interchangeably ), but do like using a widescreen display. Something about making the gaming experience much better for what little time I have to kick back and relax. lol
    16:10 is still used in several laptops, but only as a 1680x1050 option. Like my brand new laptop from msi is 1680x1050. All smaller res laptops with only use 1366x768 now though.
    3 most used resolutions:
    1366x768 (16:9)
    1680x1050 (16:10)
    1920x1080 (16:9) (Full HD)
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 301
    7 Ultimate x64 SP1
       #16

    F4SHAD0 said:
    @EvilOzmess: Don't worry, I got the heating problem under control ( maybe ). I have a USB cooling fan that sits underneath the laptop. A friend of mine has a laptop that overheats in like 30 minutes of heavy cpu load. He solved his problem by buying the same thing. What it does is, the USB cooling fan sits his laptop approximately a half-inch from any surface and uses 2 fans to cool the entire underside of the laptop. I plan on experimenting with this before making any purchase.
    I got one for X-mas, and it does a decent job... but doesn't solve the problem in the long-term for intensive gaming.

    I can only manage to squeeze about an hour, maybe two hours out of this thing on High GFX settings before it reaches the TJunction Max on the CPU. It doesn't matter what I try to do to cool it down, I've even put ice packs below the system (not touching it of course) to lower the ambient temps around the intake air and it still can't handle the heat. That was even with a gigantic room fan pointing directly on the front of the system, to force even more air into the front intake vent.

    However, Medium GFX work just fine and for hours and hours (longest game session so far was 12 straight hours without a problem) any longer than that and the system starts lagging and I have to close out and run CCleaner or Restart. But that's to be expected, I think... too many little temp files stack up. Pretty decent.


    Maybe you'll get lucky with a system that can handle the heat, just wanted to warn you... I didn't know about this little problem before I settled on a mobile gaming rig, wish I had. But again, mine's decent... High GFX would have been nice, but Med isn't so bad. Still stunning quality on my HDTV.
      My Computer


 
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