Powerful Laptop for Uni

[TommyLie]

I know that in terms of just the PC's themselves, getting and desktop & laptop will be better in terms on their performance, but its not just that which is important to me, like I said its also very much about the practicality of having a small machine which can do everything I want well enough (and from what I can see more than well enough), than have a cheap laptop for basic everyday stuff and a cheap desktop which is impractical for uni imo and probably more powerful than what I actually need it for.

Also, if you know of any better deals/brands/models of laptops by all means post me a link to them so I can check them out, but having done a lot of research on this I feel this MSI system for $2000 is by far the best system I can find.

With the desktop situation as well, if I spend $800 on one then, obviously, I'm going to have to get someone it built right? I have no idea how to do this myself which means I would need someone else to do it, plus I don't know anything about computers other than CPU, GPU, HD and RAM components, so I would have to not only pay some to build it but also to research what other parts to put in it?

[Mao]

I know that in terms of just the PC's themselves, getting and desktop & laptop will be better in terms on their performance, but its not just that which is important to me, like I said its also very much about the practicality of having a small machine which can do everything I want well enough (and from what I can see more than well enough), than have a cheap laptop for basic everyday stuff and a cheap desktop which is impractical for uni imo and probably more powerful than what I actually need it for.

We buy laptops because they are portable.

Ultrabooks are portable in the sense that you can use them anywhere, carry them around.

High performance laptops are portable in the sense that they are easier to move between houses. You are always bound to a desk with these laptops (if you try using one of these on your lap, you'll know how hot they get), they always need to be plugged in. They are too heavy to take with you. These machines are not small nor light, and they are definitely impractical for uni.

Don't pretend "it's for uni". A $500 netbook will suffice for uni, because there are no heavy processing required, the most you'll need to do is open a few PDFs. The form factor decision appears to be based on you wanting to play Flight Simulator at uni during the week and at home during the weekend.

[Mr Keshy]

I'd hate to play flight simulator without a joystick at the very least.

Building a PC is really not that hard. The hardest part for me would be installing the CPU, because it's very tight and it feels like it could break. Maybe scary is the right word.

There are an abundance of tutorials around the web on how to build computers! Take a look, go on youtube!

[Russ]

Wiring the motherboard is way harder than installing the CPU for a first build. Anyway you can just pay an extra $70 when you order the parts to get it done for you.

[Mr Keshy]

Wiring the motherboard is way harder than installing the CPU for a first build. Anyway you can just pay an extra $70 when you order the parts to get it done for you.

Yeah, I said it was scary, I thought I was going to break the thing. It's front panel connectors that are annoying... I don't know why those plugs haven't gone mainstream yet.

[TommyLie]

By "for uni" I'm just meaning something to take to uni which I can easily move around, not literally use for uni stuff (Otherwise I wouldn't need an MSI system, but I will also be using it for uni stuff). Like I said though, I'm 4 hours out of Monash so I'm not going to be home very often. I realize that I'm not going to be playing with it on my lap, I don't intend to, it's just the fact that I can move it around a lot more efficiently than a desktop (especially when I go home I can just pack it in a bag), no wires and cables or big box ect. I can simply take the train home and not require anyone to drive up and get me.

You are right Mao, this decision is entirely due to me wanting the ability to be able to play FSX. Otherwise I would not need to get an MSI system, this is the whole point, I'm trying to get an 'all in one' sort of a deal and I want to know if there are any better or other deals I have missed I don't think I want to go down the desktop + laptop path as it seems the only time I will be actually moving around with my laptop is when I'm going home, and therefore a desktop will only be a burden since the MSI laptop is powerful enough for what I need anyway..

[Mr Keshy]

I can't find any other laptop within that price that has a GTX675!

But nevertheless, check this out.

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_trksid=p3872.m570.l1313&_nkw=asus+g75&_sacat=0&_from=R40

[TommyLie]

Well what about based on the CPU? I can't find any laptop sold in AU, except the overpriced alienware, that has a faster CPU than the i7-3630QM processor. The graphics card is important, but if you know of any with a faster CPU I would love to have a look at them as well Those ones you posted all have the 3610QM

[kenhung123]

We buy laptops because they are portable.

Ultrabooks are portable in the sense that you can use them anywhere, carry them around.

High performance laptops are portable in the sense that they are easier to move between houses. You are always bound to a desk with these laptops (if you try using one of these on your lap, you'll know how hot they get), they always need to be plugged in. They are too heavy to take with you. These machines are not small nor light, and they are definitely impractical for uni.

Don't pretend "it's for uni". A $500 netbook will suffice for uni, because there are no heavy processing required, the most you'll need to do is open a few PDFs. The form factor decision appears to be based on you wanting to play Flight Simulator at uni during the week and at home during the weekend.

Let the kid live and learn

[Mr Keshy]

Well what about based on the CPU? I can't find any laptop sold in AU, except the overpriced alienware, that has a faster CPU than the i7-3630QM processor. The graphics card is important, but if you know of any with a faster CPU I would love to have a look at them as well Those ones you posted all have the 3610QM

Gaming seems to be an integral part of your decision so CPU isn't so much of a problem in my opinion. Most modern day i3 and i5 should be able to do gaming fairly well, actually the latter should be plenty for a notebook configuration. So really, you needs to look at GPU power, Weight, Battery as well as cooling and general features. CPU's do help but as you go higher and higher in specs, the improvements start to diminish. One of the times a CPU upgrade may be necessary is when you are playing games at a higher resolution, it tends to use more CPU power.

Just what I think I think the CPU shouldn't be up your list Any i7 mobile should be plenty!

[pi]

Most i3's aren't great for gaming Especially not the newer and more demanding games.

[Mr Keshy]

Most i3's aren't great for gaming Especially not the newer and more demanding games.

Yeah for demanding games they do fall apart, but CPU bottlenecking happens most when you go very high end in parts if you get what I mean?

For example, an i3 system with a gtx640 wouldn't benefit much from an upgrade to an i5 or something, but you'd be better off with a gtx650 upgrade or something.

But if you were running two 680s on an i3, you're hitting a huge brick wall haha

You might have seen my rant, I was running a Core i7 930 (essentially) and a GTX465, and it was great! But it imploded or something and now I'm stuck with a xeon that's got half the L3 cache and no HT, my frames per second fell to the ground. NFS Most wanted 2012 will barely hit 30 FPS average.

OP, save some money and buy this.. *drool

[QuantumJG]

Buy a $1000 desktop for games and a $1000 ultrabook for uni and you'll be way happier than with a laptop that's suboptimal for both.

The number 1 and 2 criteria for a laptop to take to uni are weight and battery life, neither of which that laptop will do well in.

This! Also, with a desktop you can have several monitors to give you a bigger screen size.

[Mr Keshy]

This! Also, with a desktop you can have several monitors running in parallel.

I don't think I want to go down the desktop + laptop path as it seems the only time I will be actually moving around with my laptop is when I'm going home, and therefore a desktop will only be a burden since the MSI laptop is powerful enough for what I need anyway..

I think he's set on a notebook, multidisplay is seriously awesome on FSX, even better, is the multisound card thing. If you have two soundcards, one can be used for speakers for the airplanes sound and the other can be used for radio coms on your headphones.. OHmahgawd I have to reinstall FSX now.

[Russ]

^^
Look, I can guarantee you that a heavy MSI laptop is going to be the worst thing ever for taking notes in lectures but whatever.

@OP: i7s are generally useless for gaming since most games won't take advantage of hyperthreading. Given FSX is an old game I doubt it does, so you should probably find that out before you pay extra for one.