Computer Decision Help Please

[JohnTheCop]

Alright so bassically I am going to school next year, so i am looking for a laptop that can withstand just about anything (speedwise) that i need. I am looking for computers that are under $1300 and are fast, and good for casual gaming. Here are the ones I am currently looking at, which one would you choose, or if there is a different one in the price range or close too what would you get?

 

ALIENWARE M14X: $1246.00

 

 

PROCESSOR 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz w/ Turbo Boost

OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 8, 64-bit, English

MEMORY 8GB (2 X 4GB) Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz

HARD DRIVE 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA + 32GB mSATA Caching SSD

VIDEO CARD 2 GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M with Optimus™

LCD PANEL 14.0" High Def (720p/1366x768) with WLED backlight

WIRELESS CARDS Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 With Bluetooth 4.0

INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

COLOR Stealth Black with Soft Touch Finish

ALIENFX COLOR Quasar Blue

WALLPAPER Alienhead Chrome Blue

PRE-INSTALLED SOFTWARE Steam Factory Installed and Steam Extra Content

PRE-INSTALLED SOFTWARE Skype VOIP Software Application

Alienware M14X R2 Alienware M14X R2

63WHr 8-Cell Primary Battery

SOUND OPTIONS Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di with THX TruStudio Pro Software

WIRELESS HD None

AUTOMATIC UPDATES Alienware M14X 150W A/C Adapter

Adobe Reader Acrobat SW No Adobe Reader Selected

NAMEPLATE Standard Nameplate

 

 

 

 

Toshiba Satellite P870-ST3GX; $1299

 

 

 

 

Laptop Specifications

 

 

 

Performance

 

 

 

Processor* Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM Processor

Operating System* Windows 8

Graphics Engine* NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630M with NVIDIA® Optimus™ Technology

Graphics Memory* 2GB GDDR3 discrete graphics memory

 

Memory and Storage

 

Memory* 12GB DDR3 1600MHz memory

Hard Drive* 1.0TB (5400 RPM, Serial ATA)

Optical Drive* DVD-SuperMulti drive (+/-R double layer)

Audio and Video

 

Display Size 17.3" widescreen

Display Type* HD+ TruBrite® LED Backlit display with Intel® Wireless Display Technology

Display Resolution 1600x900, 16:9 aspect ratio, Supports 720p content

Audio Headphone jack (stereo), Microphone jack (mono), SRS Premium Sound 3D®, harman/kardon® stereo speakers

Communication

 

Webcam 2.0MP Webcam and microphone

Wireless LAN* Intel® Wi-Fi® Wireless networking (802.11b/g/n + WiDi Capable)

Bluetooth Bluetooth® V4.0

Modem No Modem port

LAN 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN

 

Power

 

AC Adapter 120W (19V 6.3A) Auto-sensing, 100-240V / 50-60Hz input

Battery Li-Ion (48Wh, 6-Cell)

 

Expansion

 

PC Express Slot No PC Express Slot

SmartCard Reader No SmartCard Reader slot

Media Memory Card Reader

USB Ports 2-USB (3.0) ports, 2-USB (3.0) ports with Sleep and Charge

HDMI HDMI® output port

RGB RGB port

 

Software, Support and Security

 

Security and Protection HDD Recovery, Security Cable Lock Slot

Software* Hard disc (HDD) recovery, Internet Explorer® 10, Microsoft® Windows™ Essentials 2012 including Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, and Skydrive desktop, Microsoft® Office (60-day Trial), Norton Anti-Theft™ (60-day Trial), Norton Internet Security™ 2013 (30-day trial subscription), Norton™ Laptop Checkup, TOSHIBA Disc Creator, TOSHIBA HDD Protection, TOSHIBA Hard Drive Impact Sensor (3D sensor)*, TOSHIBA Media Controller, TOSHIBA Media Player by sMedio Truelink+, TOSHIBA PC Health Monitor, TOSHIBA Recovery Disk Creator, TOSHIBA Resolution+® Upconvert Plug-in for Media Player, TOSHIBA Service Station, TOSHIBA Sleep Utility, TOSHIBA eco Utility™

Standards RoHS Compatible, Energy Star Qualified, EPEAT™ Gold

Standard Limited Warranty* 1-Yr Parts and Labor, 1-Year Battery

 

Physical Description

 

Inputs and Controls Click pad pointing device with multi-touch control, One Touch Function Keys, Premium Raised Tile LED backlit Keyboard with 10-Keypad (black)

Weight* Starting at 6.6 lbs.

Color Prestige Silver Color in Etched Aluminum

 

 

 

 

 

Lenovo IdeaPad 580; $1099

 

 

• Model Highlights
  
• Part number: 59359510
  
• Processor 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3630QM Processor( 2.40GHz 6MB)
  
• Operating system Windows 8 64
  
• Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX660M 2GB
  
• Memory 8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz
  
• display 15.6" FHD LED Glare Wedge 1920x1080
  
• Pointing device Industry Standard Multi-touch 2 button touchpad
  
• hard drive 1TB 5400RPM+16G SSD
  
• optical device Blu-ray/DVD-RW
  
• Battery 6 Cell Li-Polymer
  
• Network Card Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2200BGN
  
• Bluetooth Bluetooth Version 4.0
  
• Warranty One year
  
• Form Factor Notebook
  
• Camera Integrated HD Camera
  
• HDMI HDMI (Out)
  

 

 

 

I am open to other suggestions aswell if anyone has any!

 

If there is anything else that you need to know I can get it aswell. Thanks in advance :)

[JohnTheCop]

sorry about the poor layout it was alot of quick copy/pasting, ill clean it up until i get loose patience

[All_Bogs]

Toshiba's offering doesn't really have anything going for it. The only thing that makes it stand out is the fact that it has 12 GB of memory, which probably won't make the slightest difference for your everyday usage. Coming in at 17 inch it's rather huge, and its GeForce 630M graphics are adequate for the casual gamer, but still only about half as fast as the graphics solutions offered by the two other laptops you listed.

 

The M14X has more graphics power and isn't nearly as big, but unfortunately it does come with a rather poor 1366x768 screen. Of course, you're also paying for the Alienware brand name.

 

Lenovo's Y580 simply has an amazing price/performance ratio. It boasts the most graphics power out of the three, comes with a neat 1080p screen that also has surprisingly good secondary characteristics (e.g. contrast and colour accuracy), has a blue-ray drive and offers double the HDD storage of the Alienware model.

 

 

Personally, I find glare (reflective) screens to be a little distracting, and all of the above models no doubt come with such a display (only Lenovo explicitly lists it, but it seems to be the standard ... ). ASUS's N56VZ line of laptops offer decent graphics (just a little slower than the Alienware / Lenovo models), a blue-ray drive, pretty solid build quality, and most importantly, a 1080p matte screen. They currently seem to be transitioning from Win7 to Win8 releases, though, so you probably won't be able to get your hands on a new model right away, unless you get lucky and a boutique happens to have one in store. They should be around $1100, I think.

[JohnTheCop]

is there a big difference between the 16gb ss and the 32 gb ssd between the lonovo and the alienware. And with paying for the alienware name, its not the biggest deal to me, because along with the name comes alot of customizeable options.

 

p.s. Im not arguing that the lenovo seems like the best deal at the moment.

[All_Bogs]

I'm not really familiar with caching SSDs, so I don't know if there's a big difference between the two. Maybe somebody else knows?

[JohnTheCop]

i know having a chaching ssd will imporve my overall speed and convinience, i still have a few weeks until i will have the money to buy the computer anyway so i have time to do some reserch.

[Bonez899]

The ssd, sorry I missed caching in my computer terms dictionary, is used as a boot drive which houses the os and all daily use and essential programs for the computer. It makes booting the computer, and using those essential programs easier with the way faster speeds offered by the ssd, while also having a standard hdd to house any games, or programs that aren't essential, or needed and used everyday.

Basically its the little bookshelf with all your favorite books so you can find them, with the hdd being the giant bookshelf where you keep all those ones you bought to read once or whatever.

 

http://www.extremete...orsair-face-off - Nice little article for it aswell. (Only need to read first page)

[JohnTheCop]

So what is more important in these computers, the turbo boost from the alienware, or the upgraded graphix card from the lenovo, i guess what im asking is what is going to help me most, i mostly play rs along with some other games

[Sbrideau]

I'd go with the Lenovo. Their build are usually sturdy and the laptop will last you a long time. Alienware's boost wont help you that much, and you'll be paying more for the brand than anything else. Also they tend to break pretty fast.

[JohnTheCop]

a full ghz jump is alot though yes? from 2.4 to 3.4?

[Sbrideau]

These days it's not the processor that bottlenecks the performance but the hard drive and graphics cards for games.

[JohnTheCop]

interesting, thanks. also I could save about $200 if I didnt have an ssd caching card in the laptop, I wouldnt add an aftermarket one as I refuse to mess anything up on the computer. Is the caching going help all that much?

[All_Bogs]

Just to clarify, the Alienware and the Lenovo have the exact same processor. Both of them normally run at 2.4 GHz, and both of them can turbo-boost up to 3.4 GHz for a short period of time. Lenovo is listing the base speed, and Alienware is listing the turbo speed, but there's really no difference between the two.

 

For my laptop, the graphics card is definitely the thing that limits performance the most.

 

Again, no idea about the caching SSD. For what it's worth, my laptop is currently using a hard disk without any fancy caching stuff, and personally, I feel that it's plenty fast for daily usage.

[JohnTheCop]

thanks i didnt know that i thought the turbo boost was an added thing :)

[u71]

If you're gaming save up for a cheap desktop build. Honestly with laptops you cant just upgrade them as easily as desktops which makes the self life 2-3 years for games. That being said you also dont have that much you can do with cooling so things really should be ran at stock so you dont damage the hardwear. I'd go for the Lenovo IdeaPad 580 and go and get a nice moniter for home use with the rest of the cash that you save.

[JohnTheCop]

I am getting the lenovo ideapad 580 just trying to decide if i am or am not going to get the 32gb ssd with it. Also i am getting it for college aswell, so i need a laptop as i cannot carry a computer tower with me to class.