Need advice for replacing laptop

[zsolt_93]

Being a student i cant really carry my desktop after me each week and to the Uni and back. I am not a person that is into highend stuff, but i don't wanna end up with some utter piece of garbage. Having some fair knowledge about computers usually every decision involves a lot of research, maybe too much, but i have never gone like totally wrong on the final buy. Now there is a situation I cannot really make a clear decision. The battery in my current laptop is on the way out, the machine itself shows signs of age (5 years old) with the lack of proper GPU and SSD and i am looking for a replacement, for my trusty old Inspiron N5110.

Price range would be like 800-1000Euro segment, don't really wanna go over that. I want a machine that still looks professionally and can game well for the price.
The two main contenders are:

DELL 7559 http://www.pcgarage.ro/notebook-lap...-1tb-plus-8gb-ssh-geforce-gtx-960m-4gb-linux/
Acer VN7-592G http://www.pcgarage.ro/notebook-lap...ghz-8gb-1tb-geforce-gtx-960m-4gb-linux-black/

What caught me about the Dell is the amazingly easy maintenance and the look that resembles more a professional grade machine if it were not for the red accents. But i hear the display is a lottery, you can get a subpar screen lot of times (BOE panel vs LG-Philips). The Acer looks to me a bit flimsy and prone to physical damage. Don't know how much of a benefit DDR4 would be in the long run or Thunderbolt, the most annoying thing is the ultrabook battery this has and the tricky disassembly.

There would be other options like the Asus ROG models or the Y700 from Lenovo, at different price points though.

 

[silentbogo]

I'd pass on that ACER laptop. It has a 35W CPU (45W max TDP) and a discrete graphics, yet it does not have proper cooling intake/outlet (both are located pretty much in the same spot).
BTW, just found a review of its older model, and while performance is decent, my cooling suspicions were correct: brand new laptop has a load temperature of 90°C on CPU and similar on GPU, which means that after only a few months, once you get some dust in, your system will definitely start to throttle at modest loads.

 

[zsolt_93]

I think that is pretty much what one could expect at this price point, my old laptop has pretty much the same tdp with a single fan and a single heatpipe for CPU+GPU. The Dell seems marginally better cooling wise from reviews. There would be something like a Clevo barebone notebook, but those are hard to find around here.

 

[Dethroy]

I'm not a big fan of laptops in general (every single one of 'em has its flaws; we're slowly getting there though), but one cannot deny the ample need for them...

The Dell XPS 13 is - imho - the best notebook on the market right now. Unfortunately, it doesn't really meat your criteria.
Having said that, the Dell looks like a decent choice.
I'd never recommend Acer laptops to anyone. Horrible build quality!

 

[Caring1]

Look for a Lenovo with the GPU you want, for gaming, it doesn't need a Terabyte drive or 8Gb of Ram to function well, 4 is enough.
An i5 is adequate If you need more storage use an external drive or USB's.

 

[Yukikaze]

Can you find this model locally? How much does it cost in Romania?
http://store.asus.com/us/item/201511AM230002951

 

[pigulici]

Don't go with Acer, especially in Ro...and the display quality at a laptop must be the first thing you look at it; as specs, that dell look very good, I bought a Asus Rog 1week ago, with IPS display and g-sync, happy with it...

 

[silentbogo]

I think that is pretty much what one could expect at this price point, my old laptop has pretty much the same tdp with a single fan and a single heatpipe for CPU+GPU. The Dell seems marginally better cooling wise from reviews.

All of these laptops have 2 heatpipes and 2 blowers, but Acer has chosen a really bad placement for intake holes: it basically sucks in all the hot air it's blowing out of the laptop housing. Blowers themselves are thin and are pretty much the same as on my entry-level Acer E1-521. A 15°C difference in temperature is a bit more than "marginal" in my opinion, especially if it keeps CPU from throttling and other components from overheating.

Dell has a cooling system very similar to ASUS ROG laptops, but I'd still go with ASUS. They make an absolute crap in low-end laptop market segment, but I rarely had to fix their high-end and gaming laptops (I think I only had a G550 on an operating table once, but that's it).

 

[P4-630]

Asus ROG, I own one, best laptop I ever had!

 

[Dethroy]

Dell has a cooling system very similar to ASUS ROG laptops, but I'd still go with ASUS. They make an absolute crap in low-end laptop market segment, but I rarely had to fix their high-end and gaming laptops (I think I only had a G550 on an operating table once, but that's it).

Probably because Asus high-end laptops aren't as widely used as Dell machines for instance.

 

[P4-630]

Don't go with Acer, especially in Ro...and the display quality at a laptop must be the first thing you look at it; as specs, that dell look very good, I bought a Asus Rog 1week ago, with IPS display and g-sync, happy with it...

Cool! Which one did you buy? What graphics?

 

[zsolt_93]

This is the only Asus one in the budget i think: http://www.pcgarage.ro/notebook-lap...0m-4gb-freedos-black-grey-versiunea-metalica/. Seems ok apart from the excessive rog branding, has Usb 3.1 but no thunderbolt(that is like a port lost for no special gains), and a battery as small in capacity as the one on the Acer. There is also something 17 inch, but that might be too much to carry around. If the Dell had DDR4 I would have already made a deal probably.
The Zenbook someone mentioned above is truly amazing. I would never refuse an offer on that, but it is severely overpriced for it being an ultrabook.

 

[P4-630]

This is the only Asus one in the budget i think: http://www.pcgarage.ro/notebook-lap...0m-4gb-freedos-black-grey-versiunea-metalica/

It won't play the newer games on high resolution and probably at low settings, if you don't mind that I'd say go for it!

 

[zsolt_93]

There is no way I can extend to anything that has over the GTX960, that would be valid for any of the ones i mentioned. And like i said it won't be mainly for gaming, yet it will game better than the GTS450 or the GT525M i currently have and that is plenty for me. The offer on the Asus lasts until Saturday so i hope i can decide by then.

 

[P4-630]

There is no way I can extend to anything that has over the GTX960, that would be valid for any of the ones i mentioned. And like i said it won't be mainly for gaming, yet it will game better than the GTS450 or the GT525M i currently have and that is plenty for me. The offer on the Asus lasts until Saturday so i hope i can decide by then.

Yeah it's a nice upgrade from a GT525M!
My old asus laptop had a GT425M, I bought a new laptop in 2014 with GTX770M, still using it everyday.
I will build a skylake system (PC) soon.

 

[pigulici]

Cool! Which one did you buy? What graphics?

I got G752VY-GC144T, but I replaced the hdd with a ssd(512gb samsung 830, original hdd will stay in a caddy), 980m the vga, cpu i7-6700hq(I think I will buy 16gb ram, need for photoshop), as any laptop have cons and pros, at me it is more a desktop replacement, a desktop easy to take with me...I got it at 1780 EU, a good price if look at the rest of market...

 

[P4-630]

I got G752VY-GC144T, but I replaced the hdd with a ssd(512gb samsung 830, original hdd will stay in a caddy), 980m the vga, cpu i7-6700hq(I think I will buy 16gb ram, need for photoshop), as any laptop have cons and pros, at me it is more a desktop replacement, a desktop easy to take with me...I got it at 1780 EU, a good price if look at the rest of market...

Thats a good price you got it for!!
Mine was 1600 Euros in 2014!
You should be able to play all games at very high/ultra with that GTX980M!


Edit: Just one HDD/SSD slot?

 

[pigulici]

Yes, just one, because it have 2 slots for M.2 for the faster speed...original I was not want to give more than 1500Eu, but I managed to sell the old Lenovo y510p I haved for 500EU, so actually I spend 1300EU(+100EU now if my new ram will come)...

 

[P4-630]

Yes, just one, because it have 2 slots for M.2 for the faster speed...original I was not want to give more than 1500Eu, but I managed to sell the old Lenovo y510p I haved for 500EU, so actually I spend 1300EU(+100EU now if my new ram will come)...

Time to update your system specs!