So. . .comparing these two Laptops.

• Yanm wrote on 2011-09-20 10:55
  Hey everyone. I'd like an opinion on these two laptops. I'll get my Financial Aid money soon, so I plan to get my own laptop for college.
  
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215119
  
  This one is pretty good, 2nd gen i5 processor (Sandry Bridge :D), and a pretty good graphics card. However, it has 500 HDD, which fits the minimum requirement for Vindictus.
  
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215122&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-Notebooks-_-Acer%20America-_-34215122&AID=10440897&PID=2668187&SID=
  
  This one is very nice as well, with a slightly worse graphics card, but better HDD.
  
  Now, my question is: Is 100 extra HDD a lot better than a slightly worse graphics card? Which one would run Vindictus smoother? And...say Dragon Nest and TF2, though I'm sure they can handle both games flawlessly.
• Cucurbita wrote on 2011-09-20 11:12
  Don't worry, the first one will run vindictus just fine. 500 HDD min requirement? Nexon must be planning on trashing the client like they did with Mabinogi and Dungeon Fighter.
  
  And besides, the second one is out of stock.
  
  For the price, you're getting yourself a pretty nice laptop... Its not a very portable laptop so don't treat it like one. I would probably buy a cooling pad and just keep it on it at all times.
  
  You could buy two 4GB ram and get 8GB on it too... and if hard drive is ever an issue you can always pick up a TB portable hard drive for less than a hundred dollars nowadays.
• Yoorah wrote on 2011-09-20 11:15
  Both are Acer. I wouldn't buy either. D8 And one of them is deactivated. Why did you want one of those specifically?
  And hard drive capacity doesn't really affect speed, if that's what you were asking. It's more about how much stuff you expect to be storing on the laptop. You don't even need 500GB unless you plan to keep a lot of anime or something on there.
• Rydian wrote on 2011-09-20 11:31
  I wouldn't go for Acer either. Unlike other companies like Dell that can be hit-or-miss depending on the line/series, Acer is well-known for cutting corners to make their laptops cheaper all-around. Yes you can get a cheaper laptop from Acer than other companies, but no matter thew specs of a laptop, if it dies it's useless to you.
  
  To be honest there's nothing in that price range on newegg I'd feel comfortable suggesting to you that's decent for gaming. Consider saving up a bit more, at that price range $75 or so can make a large difference.
  
  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, after all.
• Cucurbita wrote on 2011-09-20 11:43
  If you're going for gaming just settle for a Asus or Dell.
  
  And a desktop.
  
  The experience is just so much more pleasurable on a large screen with surround speakers and a proper keyboard (which, btw, you can break and easily replace). Though I suppose you could do this with a laptop as well, since thats exactly what I'm doing now with my Asus laptop.
• Rydian wrote on 2011-09-20 12:17
  I wouldn't toss out company names as suggestions, though. Every computer manufacturer makes multiple lines of computers, and generally the "it fell apart" complaints are from people that bought the cheapest one... for example Dell's Inspiron line is the cheap line, whereas the XPS line is built with more care and higher-quality parts.
  
  Acer's gaming laptops, however, all seem to be built cheaply. Their netbooks and tablets and other product lines may be an exception, but here the focus is their gaming laptops, and I honestly do not feel right recommending one.
• Shizukani wrote on 2011-09-20 12:26
  The minimum requirements to run Vindictus is 512 mb of ram, not 500 gb of hard drive space. Vindictus only requires 5 gb free on your hard drive.
  
  You won't really need 500 gb of hard drive space.
  
  So, if you're ONLY asking about those two computers, get the one with the better graphics card. The other one is deactivated anyway.
• Yoorah wrote on 2011-09-20 13:23

  Quote from Rydian;592470:

  Acer's gaming laptops, however, all seem to be built cheaply. Their netbooks and tablets and other product lines may be an exception, but here the focus is their gaming laptops, and I honestly do not feel right recommending one.

  
  OMG no. I thought the netbook exception was true when I bought my Acer 1st gen netbook! People were praising its build quality or whatever. Webcam stopped working 2 months after warranty expired. :| Made me quite annoyed, considering I took really good care of this little fellow. Oh well.
  
  And in general, consumer lines suck. Some suck less than others, some are "okay," but I would not buy a consumer laptop. They are built as throw-away gadgets, where the company hopes that you will mess up the software after 2 years or so anyway, and ask your parents to buy you a new one, etc. :|
  
  Business-grade laptops only, for me! Preferably the ThinkPad T series, although that's a bit out of your price range. :< If you specify a budget, maybe someone here could give you alternatives.
• Yanm wrote on 2011-09-20 13:24
  ....Well then. Okay, I'll take you guys word for it. I was looking at that one because I made a thread some a month or so ago about laptops, and Panda recommended me an Acer. Well, the 7750 one was an upgraded model of the one he recommended. But...the reviews. . .mehh, all right. Okay then, can any of you recommend me a laptop that's maybe....a bit more expensive than that one? I'm getting a laptop because of college. Sure, a desktop COULD potentially work for gaming, but I don't want to have to drag it back with me during the holidays. Also, I'd like it to have a decent webcam. Microphone doesn't matter, as my headset has a mic on it. Any suggestions? Also, I'm getting about 1.2k for Financial Aid money. I don't want to go over 900. That probably can't get a really good one, but as long as it can run Vindi smoothly, I'm fine. Now excuse me while I go spin on the Succubus.
• Rydian wrote on 2011-09-20 14:15

  Quote from Yoorah;592568:

  OMG no. I thought the netbook exception was true when I bought my Acer 1st gen netbook! People were praising its build quality or whatever. Webcam stopped working 2 months after warranty expired. :| Made me quite annoyed, considering I took really good care of this little fellow. Oh well.

  I've never worked with one of their netbooks, only Asus and Dell netbooks, but I have heard their tablets are actually decently-built. Haven't gotten ahold of one myself to play with for more than a few minutes though.
  
  

  Quote from Yoorah;592568:

  And in general, consumer lines suck. Some suck less than others, some are "okay," but I would not buy a consumer laptop. They are built as throw-away gadgets, where the company hopes that you will mess up the software after 2 years or so anyway, and ask your parents to buy you a new one, etc. :|

  That's not something I'll argue against for lines line Dell's Inspirons, but even Dell's higher-end lines aren't as crappy, and when you get to companies like Lenovo-
  
  

  Quote from Yoorah;592568:

  Business-grade laptops only, for me! Preferably the ThinkPad T series, although that's a bit out of your price range. :< If you specify a budget, maybe someone here could give you alternatives.

  Oh, it seems we share the same opinion there. :)
  
  
  
  

  Quote from Yanm;592570:

  ....Well then. Okay, I'll take you guys word for it. I was looking at that one because I made a thread some a month or so ago about laptops, and Panda recommended me an Acer. Well, the 7750 one was an upgraded model of the one he recommended. But...the reviews. . .mehh, all right. Okay then, can any of you recommend me a laptop that's maybe....a bit more expensive than that one? I'm getting a laptop because of college. Sure, a desktop COULD potentially work for gaming, but I don't want to have to drag it back with me during the holidays. Also, I'd like it to have a decent webcam. Microphone doesn't matter, as my headset has a mic on it. Any suggestions? Also, I'm getting about 1.2k for Financial Aid money. I don't want to go over 900. That probably can't get a really good one, but as long as it can run Vindi smoothly, I'm fine. Now excuse me while I go spin on the Succubus.

  When it comes to college I agree that laptops are sometimes a requirement even if they won't be moved often, so I won't try to change your mind there.
  
  $900 will definitely get you a much better laptop than those Acers.
  
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246153
  Not only is this barely more expensive than your selections, it's got a more powerful GPU, and is from a more respectable company. Lenovo's "Ideapad" line is a newer line they've come out with that's aimed more for the average person so it's not built with all the same considerations as the fabled thinkpad line, but it's not cheap ****, to be blunt.
  
  If there's any concerns or reservations about that, there's a couple more options I'm seeing that I wouldn't mind recommending, though they are towards the upper range of your price limit and I recommend reading the reviews first.
  
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246151
  
  The below options are more expensive, but also more powerful for gaming graphics (by about 20%), but they are both recertified, and you may not want that.
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230021
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220821
  
  Generally the added cost comes from a beefed up CPU and RAM (which may not necessarily do you any good, in fact getting an overpowered processor can be detrimental in laptops as it means comparatively higher power drain and heat production).
• Yoorah wrote on 2011-09-20 14:21
  Well, it all depends on how much higher you wanna go. Go ThinkPad T series if you are willing to pay a bit more compared to a consumer laptop, but you will be getting much higher build quality, durability, etc.
  
  I managed to configure a T520 under $1k, has a dedicated GPU, HD webcam, high res display, etc.
  

  [Image: http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/8752/t520.jpg]

  
  Configure from here: http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=7162ACCF009D2872F8BA28660C1EC3B5&action=init
  Basically, you take the top of the line option, downgrade the OS to Home, and use the USPRETHINK coupon.
  Adelynn got one of those at my recommendation, and I think she's been pleased with it... or at least I hope. ;_; Maybe ask her what she thinks of it if you wanna consider it.
  
  There's also more compact 14" model with almost the same specs and price, which is what I'd personally go for. It all depends on whether you need a bigger screen or not.
  
  If you don't want to pay this much AND you want a powerful graphics chip, you'll have to gamble with reliability. The Lenovo IdeaPad line might be decent, I dunno. Also look at Toshibas. I could try to find some options, but you already have my top pick. xd
• Rydian wrote on 2011-09-20 14:47
  I wouldn't really consider the NVS 4200M as something to go for, it seems to be a good chunk weaker than anything else shown in this thread.
  
  And I've also heard that Toshiba makes acceptable stuff, but I wouldn't know which lines/models are within her budget.
• Yoorah wrote on 2011-09-20 15:07
  Well, yeah. It's technically a stability-optimized "workstation" GPU. But it gets you DX11 support, unlike the built-in Intel graphics, and is also a bit more powerful. I would not advise to go for a "high-performance" game-optimized GPU in a laptop. Those things are the first parts to fry. :( Leads to stuff like this.
  
  Oh while we're talking about GPUs: Just so you know, Dragon's Nest is more GPU demanding than Vindictus. You can run Vindictus fine on Sandy Bridge's integrated HD 3000 graphics. :P Same with TF2. Not sure about DN, maybe on min settings or something?
  
  If you're willing to forego DX11 support, you could go for a ThinkPad T series without the dedicated NVS GPU. It'll save you quite a bit and you'll get a highly reliable computer, but it'll only be able to play basic games like Vindictus, TF2, etc. To be honest, you won't be giving up that much performance, although some games/apps are optimized for NV drivers.
• Yanm wrote on 2011-09-20 15:27

  Quote from Rydian;592644:

  I've never worked with one of their netbooks, only Asus and Dell netbooks, but I have heard their tablets are actually decently-built. Haven't gotten ahold of one myself to play with for more than a few minutes though.
  
  That's not something I'll argue against for lines line Dell's Inspirons, but even Dell's higher-end lines aren't as crappy, and when you get to companies like Lenovo-
  
  Oh, it seems we share the same opinion there. :)
  
  
  
  When it comes to college I agree that laptops are sometimes a requirement even if they won't be moved often, so I won't try to change your mind there.
  
  $900 will definitely get you a much better laptop than those Acers.
  
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246153
  Not only is this barely more expensive than your selections, it's got a more powerful GPU, and is from a more respectable company. Lenovo's "Ideapad" line is a newer line they've come out with that's aimed more for the average person so it's not built with all the same considerations as the fabled thinkpad line, but it's not cheap ****, to be blunt.
  
  If there's any concerns or reservations about that, there's a couple more options I'm seeing that I wouldn't mind recommending, though they are towards the upper range of your price limit and I recommend reading the reviews first.
  
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246151
  
  The below options are more expensive, but also more powerful for gaming graphics (by about 20%), but they are both recertified, and you may not want that.
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230021
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220821
  
  Generally the added cost comes from a beefed up CPU and RAM (which may not necessarily do you any good, in fact getting an overpowered processor can be detrimental in laptops as it means comparatively higher power drain and heat production).

  
  
  The very first one you recommended I've looked at actually. However, this review: This laptop is certainly something unique. It sacrifices a lot to be a decent gaming laptop. It has a fairly slow hard drive, not a huge amount of RAM, nothing very fancy on it.. but on the other hand, it's CPU isn't slow, Optimus is a nice touch for saving battery and the video card, despite having terrible driver support, puts up with any game I throw at it at medium/high settings. . . it bugs me a bit with the slow part.
  
  Now that second one...it impressed my mom since it's an i7 and is so cheap. Very very VERY tempting.
• Yoorah wrote on 2011-09-20 15:40
  In terms of specs/price, those laptops are indeed impressive. But like I said, I would not trust a "high powered" mobile GPU to have a long life. Maybe 2-3 years, I dunno. Depends on luck. D8
  And 5400rpm hard drives are indeed quite sluggish, but it's not that bad, I guess. Basically, it will boot a bit slower, update software a bit slower, etc. Ideally, you want a 7200rpm drive, or a SSD.. but that's a luxury. x(