Gaming Laptop Help?

[Niliscro]

So I was browsing around looking for an affordable yet powerful gaming laptop (don't desktop bullstuff me, I need a laptop), and came across this:  http://rog.asus.com/Product.aspx?PId=32#product_tab

A few things I'm uneasy on/want to know:
1)  The brand - I haven't really heard of ASUS, nor do I know how reliable their gear is or how long it typically lasts.  Some reviews on newegg for this laptop are great, and still others are dissuading, so I'm not sure.
2)  Processor - the intel i series claims to have smarter computing capabilities, especially with the i7.  So is that why the i7 ranges as low as 1.6GHz, or should I go with an i5 for more consistency?
3)  Is there really any difference between W7 Ultimate and W7 Home Premium?  From what I've seen there really isn't.

Opinions?  After looking around the most I've seen this laptop listed at was around $1,800, which I find to be comparably cheap, considering what it can do.  I've never purchased a gaming computer, so any kind of constructive feedback is good for me to build a general knowledge on.

[Ad Bot]

[Cyanian]

www.hardware-revolution.com

Really helped me choosing gaming computers.

There's a "Best gaming latop for set amount of money" section.

[Katamari007]

I would go with ASUS, my friend has one and it's very good, I would consider getting one

[No Karma Loss]

Asus is great, I have a G60vx and it was solid performance at a decent price. No major problems with it nearly a year later, even after I accidentally spilled a bit of water on the keyboard.

One thing you'll have to watch for with gaming laptops though is heating issues. With mine temperatures can get extremely high during high-performance games and after awhile the framerate will chug every couple seconds. Buy a notebook cooler. Also try and find one with a decent battery because they don't last long. Mine will only get 2 hours max, even with minimal brightness and CPU usage.

[Niliscro]

So far from what I've read in reviews:
Delivers high performance and stays cool as well as quiet, however the keyboard is a bit awkward to type on.  Also, 1 1/2 - 2 hour battery life and it's heavy.

I'd say about 15% of the time I've read a review where someone had to exchange their new one for another new one because of some awful fatal error that varied from case to case but mainly dealt with random crashes linked to the BIOS, which isn't too much to worry about if it's updated.

I don't mind the battery life, the weight could get annoying though.  I'm used to annoying keyboards, also, that that doesn't phase me.

Considering that this is their latest model, I might wait for the next one to come out so this drops a bit in price, especially since I don't need the laptop asap.  I'd still like opinions though.

Oh, also, they load it with bloatware and don't give you the OS disk, so unless you burn the disk to reinstall the OS, removing said bloatware could be a little tedious.

[General Nick]

A few things I'm uneasy on/want to know:
1)  The brand - I haven't really heard of ASUS, nor do I know how reliable their gear is or how long it typically lasts.  Some reviews on newegg for this laptop are great, and still others are dissuading, so I'm not sure.
ASUS is a pretty reliable brand and are pretty renowned for gaming laptops that aren't overpriced.
2)  Processor - the intel i series claims to have smarter computing capabilities, especially with the i7.  So is that why the i7 ranges as low as 1.6GHz, or should I go with an i5 for more consistency?
Most laptop Core i7s are low around 1.6 GHz because a Core i7 is a quad core with hyperthreading, therefore you have 4 physical cores and 4 logical cores combined together to make 8 threads being processed by the CPU. Even at 1.6 GHz they are pretty powerful.
3)  Is there really any difference between W7 Ultimate and W7 Home Premium?  From what I've seen there really isn't.
For more info, visit this link. It is Microsoft's comparison of all the versions.

P.S. My friend has that laptop and is very satisfied with its performance in gaming.

[Niliscro]

P.S. My friend has that laptop and is very satisfied with its performance in gaming.

1)  I've found some pretty solid credentials on ASUS, so I'm not as worried there now.

2)  So all i7s are quad cores with two threads per core?  Intel doesn't really make that clear, but it definitely seemed that way.


And yeah, I'm a bit hyped about it now, but I'm definitely waiting for their next model to come out for a possible price drop.  I could grab one around 1.5k, but I'd rather spend around 1k or 1.2k if I could just wait.

[JamestheLeet]

ASUS is good.
They have weird screen sizes though.

[Niliscro]

ASUS is good.
They have weird screen sizes though.

Yeah, this particular line comes in 17.3"
One other thing.  Being a W7 virgin, how long would it take me to remove the bloatware while finding my way around (in other words, is W7 much different than vista).