The "Quick Questions that does not Deserve a Thread"...Thread. V4
7,787 replies, posted
Is there anything There that i should upgrade?
Windows 7 64bit, msi radeon 6670, amd fx 4100 quad core 3.60 GHz, 8gb ram and 1tb memory.
So I'm going to college for Computer Science this fall and I need to start looking for a computing solution. I'm currently looking at Sager laptops and a nexus 7 with a bluetooth keyboard, but are there other decent options out there? Having at least one device capable of PC Gaming is a requirement, and my budget is basically around/under $1500. I can pay more or less if needed.
I'm leaning more towards a single powerful laptop because I'll likely be doing a lot of coding projects and moving the files around between PCs would be a massive pain. Plus, I'd want the flexibility of a portable gaming machine. The N7 would be for those small classes that don't require something with Windows/power
However, I'd also love to have decent/tolerable non-gaming battery life because I'll likely be moving around a lot and trying to go through classes without having to bring the power brick every time.
I was even legitimately looking at the Razer blade until I saw the lower res screen
Absolute requirements:
15.6" or lower
1600x900 screen res minimum
~$1500 US
Tolerable battery life (Optimus + Haswell [I]should[/I] be enough for this, but I'm not sure)
Gaming ability, I won't be getting some ultrabook unless it has a 670 slipped in there or something.
I'll be using a mouse for any actual gaming, so trackpad is meaningless unless it's literally hitler.
Having an SSD for the primary drive doesn't matter as long as the primary/secondary drive is removable, because I have a Samsung 840 Drive that I plan on sticking into the laptop, or selling to my dad if I can't.
Can I please get any input at all? I'm ordering within a week and I don't want to be disappointed with a $1400 purchase.
I'm currently looking at this: [url]http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=category_browse&selected_cat=special&mid=NP8250[/url]
or this: [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152404&IsVirtualParent=1[/url]
But I am concerned about the size of both, they look pretty thick. Does anybody with a big laptop have any input on this?
I actually have a Sager notebook myself that I bought last year. I believe it's similar in size to the Sager you're looking at.
[img]http://www.sagernotebook.com/images/products/7370.jpg[/img]
Personally I have no issues with the size. I carry a decent sized laptop cooler that can hold the entire laptop and raises it up from my lap so the laptop itself isn't sitting on me. I have a book bag to carry it around in so weight isn't an issue as well.
[QUOTE=surfur;41012423]I actually have a Sager notebook myself that I bought last year. I believe it's similar in size to the Sager you're looking at.
[img]http://www.sagernotebook.com/images/products/7370.jpg[/img]
Personally I have no issues with the size. I carry a decent sized laptop cooler that can hold the entire laptop and raises it up from my lap so the laptop itself isn't sitting on me. I have a book bag to carry it around in so weight isn't an issue as well.[/QUOTE]
How's the battery life on it and what are the specs?
[QUOTE=ManningQB18;41012526]How's the battery life on it and what are the specs?[/QUOTE]
Be it that it's around 6-8 months old, the specs and price will vary on the one you can get currently with the current hardware.
Battery lasts around 4 hours if i'm doing regular tasks like browsing the internet. But once I start messing around with 3ds max, photoshop, any kind of games it will tank within the hour. My battery settings are on high performance so you could see a difference if you were to lower the screen brightness and other such things.
It has a Nvida 660m 2gb, 8gb DDR3 (I upgraded to 16gb myself) i7 3610QM @ 2.36ghz with a 17" display.
I got it for 1050. Been really happy with it. Never got a Sager before nor really heard of them prior to this but i'm really happy with my purchase.
My only bug bear is the position of the track pad, it's also a little eh. But I almost always have a mouse plugged in so that's hardly an issue. It also came with something called "Nvidia Optimus" It's an annoying piece of software that for the most part i've completely disabled. It's suppose to smartly turn on the GPU when ever it is needed and use the onboard graphics to supplement during that time. It sounds like a good idea when it comes to saving battery life, but the frustration is not really worth it.
Also in terms of heat it's not that bad. the case will get a little toasty if you don't prop the fan up on something but i've never had any issue with it over heating. I think in a game the CPU will get to around 67c and gpu around the same. It's also SUPER easy to clean out the fan. I hated that about an old HP I had, it was a pain in the ass to clean the fan with that, but Sager has made it really easy.
[QUOTE=surfur;41012786]Be it that it's around 6-8 months old, the specs and price will vary on the one you can get currently with the current hardware.
Battery lasts around 4 hours if i'm doing regular tasks like browsing the internet. But once I start messing around with 3ds max, photoshop, any kind of games it will tank within the hour. My battery settings are on high performance so you could see a difference if you were to lower the screen brightness and other such things.
It has a Nvida 660m 2gb, 8gb DDR3 (I upgraded to 16gb myself) i7 3610QM @ 2.36ghz with a 17" display.
I got it for 1050. Been really happy with it. Never got a Sager before nor really heard of them prior to this but i'm really happy with my purchase.
My only bug bear is the position of the track pad, it's also a little eh. But I almost always have a mouse plugged in so that's hardly an issue. It also came with something called "Nvidia Optimus" It's an annoying piece of software that for the most part i've completely disabled. It's suppose to smartly turn on the GPU when ever it is needed and use the onboard graphics to supplement during that time. It sounds like a good idea when it comes to saving battery life, but the frustration is not really worth it.
Also in terms of heat it's not that bad. the case will get a little toasty if you don't prop the fan up on something but i've never had any issue with it over heating. I think in a game the CPU will get to around 67c and gpu around the same. It's also SUPER easy to clean out the fan. I hated that about an old HP I had, it was a pain in the ass to clean the fan with that, but Sager has made it really easy.[/QUOTE]
Alright, that pretty much removes all fear I had about it. What's the Optimus do badly though? It's ubiquitous on decent laptops these days and supposedly helps a ton on battery life
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161406[/url]
Good card? Haven't heard much of anything about HIS, but it's 2GB for the same price as the 1GB I was looking at. The only thing that concerns me is the fan looks a bit meh, but whatever.
Check out this one: [URL]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121651[/URL]
$154 after discount and mail-in rebate.
EDIT: That link doesn't have the coupon code listed for some reason
Try this one: [URL]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121651&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=[/URL]
[editline]12th June 2013[/editline]
+ 13% off w/ promo code EMCXPWW42, ends 6/17
Any hardware monitoring software says my CPU fan is running at 0 rpm even though I see it spinning.
I used speedfan to lower the speed more than what the motherboard's utility (Asrock Extreme Tuner) allows, because even at level 1 my fan is still kinda loud. Is this why, and are there any consequences for this?
Even with the fan this low I still get similar temps compared to 100% speeds.
[QUOTE=ManningQB18;41012924]Alright, that pretty much removes all fear I had about it. What's the Optimus do badly though? It's ubiquitous on decent laptops these days and supposedly helps a ton on battery life[/QUOTE]
I might have just gotten a bad version if it with my card or something but it acts strange and I've blamed it on optimus. It's also had a bad job and deciding which programs needed the GPU or not, you can go add them manually to the list so it's not that big of a deal. What does get annoying are programs that have other programs built into them that require the GPU but are sent to the CPU. With those smaller programs built within larger ones, you can't manually tell the GPU to work with it. It's happened RARELY but when it happens it's really annoying.
[QUOTE=surfur;41013412]I might have just gotten a bad version if it with my card or something but it acts strange and I've blamed it on optimus. It's also had a bad job and deciding which programs needed the GPU or not, you can go add them manually to the list so it's not that big of a deal. What does get annoying are programs that have other programs built into them that require the GPU but are sent to the CPU. With those smaller programs built within larger ones, you can't manually tell the GPU to work with it. It's happened RARELY but when it happens it's really annoying.[/QUOTE]
alright, thanks for your help
As long your temps are good you're safe.
In the off-chance I do decide on selling this computer, what's the max price I can get out of this computer?
[img]http://i.imgur.com/6hm3Eqw.png[/img]
Monitors not included, E5400 is overclocked to 3.7Ghz, and the W7 ill give in the OEM box it came with too
[QUOTE=gaboer;41015080]In the off-chance I do decide on selling this computer, what's the max price I can get out of this computer?
[img]http://i.imgur.com/6hm3Eqw.png[/img]
Monitors not included, E5400 is overclocked to 3.7Ghz, and the W7 ill give in the OEM box it came with too[/QUOTE]
I'd toss it up on Craigslist for $350 OBO. There is also the option of putting some LED fans in there and calling it a "XxExTREME CUSTOM GAMING RIGxX" and catch some illiterate.
[editline]June 12th 2013[/editline]
I'd personally just trade it to a friend who doesn't have a "nicer" computer for some beer, share the love and beer.
It isn't much of a gaming case though
[img]http://i.imgur.com/lzn9kkq.png[/img]
Stick some flame decals on the side.
Tell them you have a really big hard drive, they will think it super pimped out.
[QUOTE=gaboer;41015184]It isn't much of a gaming case though
[img]http://i.imgur.com/lzn9kkq.png[/img][/QUOTE]
Oh my god I have that exact same case. Elite bros
EDIT: the power button broke off on mine, apparently a common problem (so I have to finger the hole to turn it on)
[t]http://shaunofthelive.com/pics/CMElite.jpg[/t]
[QUOTE=ShaunOfTheLive;41019731](so I have to finger the hole to turn it on)[/QUOTE]
ohhh myyy
[QUOTE=ShaunOfTheLive;41019731]Oh my god I have that exact same case. Elite bros
EDIT: the power button broke off on mine, apparently a common problem (so I have to finger the hole to turn it on)
[t]http://shaunofthelive.com/pics/CMElite.jpg[/t][/QUOTE]
for me all the front USB ports broke, and the sound is terrible from the front. My power button still works though :v:
[QUOTE=gaboer;41020678]for me all the front USB ports broke, and the sound is terrible from the front. My power button still works though :v:[/QUOTE]
Oh, my front USB works fine but the front audio isn't even compatible with my motherboard (the case is AC97 and my motherboard is HD/Azalia). I was gonna try to find a new 3.5" USB/audio thing, but most of the units I found just had a card reader and USB. I got a USB headset so luckily that works in the front.
How do I convert my 32-bit OS to a 64-bit OS? My processor is x64 but running a 32-bit OS. I would love to use more than 4 gigabytes of RAM.
[QUOTE=wilson23;41028930]How do I convert my 32-bit OS to a 64-bit OS? My processor is x64 but running a 32-bit OS. I would love to use more than 4 gigabytes of RAM.[/QUOTE]
AFAIK, you can't "convert" per se, but if you purchase a 64bit key and have a 64bit install disc you can reinstall Windows to be 64bit.
[sub]That's among methods[/sub]
You will need to do a full reinstall of the os, there isn't any other way. So backup your important files.
So I'm having wifi problems, for some reason my phone gets .4mbps download when my desktop is on and full speed when my desktop is off, but when I check there isn't any network activity. What gives?
Is there a way to put my Windows 8 on DVDs? I bought it online so I didn't get a physical copy. I don't want to rebuy Windows 8.
[QUOTE=wilson23;41029648]Is there a way to put my Windows 8 on DVDs? I bought it online so I didn't get a physical copy. I don't want to rebuy Windows 8.[/QUOTE] Try this [url]http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2227-create-bootable-usb-dvd-windows-8-iso.htmlI'v[/url] used that program to make bootable USB drives, but a friend used it for DVDs and said it worked fine
Ok this is really pissing me off:
I'm on a 1.5 megabit plan. Such a speed really isn't that bad, I would be ok with 200kbps downloads because I don't do too much downloading anyways. However I am never getting those speeds. Yes, I'm intending on changing to a new ISP that actually delivers but at the moment I'm just really curious about this one thing. While letting web pages load I go into task manager and check the network performance. For "Network Utilization" of Wireless Network Connection I have very rarely seen this figure go above 1% and it typically hangs around 0.5% when I'm trying to load web pages. What is this? Is my computer only making use of not even 1% of my networks capabilities? Why can't I use more?
Yes I am on wireless but surely it can't be that bad. There are only two other devices connected to the network in this house, and that is my iPad (which I'm pretty sure doesn't do that much downloading in the background at all) and my brother's MacBook but I am pretty sure that its off right now so it can't use the network.
[QUOTE=Antdawg;41031452]Ok this is really pissing me off:
I'm on a 1.5 megabit plan. Such a speed really isn't that bad, I would be ok with 200kbps downloads because I don't do too much downloading anyways. However I am never getting those speeds. Yes, I'm intending on changing to a new ISP that actually delivers but at the moment I'm just really curious about this one thing. While letting web pages load I go into task manager and check the network performance. For "Network Utilization" of Wireless Network Connection I have very rarely seen this figure go above 1% and it typically hangs around 0.5% when I'm trying to load web pages. What is this? Is my computer only making use of not even 1% of my networks capabilities? Why can't I use more?
Yes I am on wireless but surely it can't be that bad.[/QUOTE]
The percentage is out of how much your NIC can handle. You can utilize the whole thing by doing local transfers if you want.
[QUOTE=Killervalon;41031473]The percentage is out of how much your NIC can handle. You can utilize the whole thing by doing local transfers if you want.[/QUOTE]
Ah ok that's a good thing to know.
Gonna call up my ISP on Monday and tell them to get fucked, found a 20 megabit plan with 200GB of downloads (rather than my current 30GB) and is $10 cheaper a month ($80 down from $90) with a different ISP. I don't care if with this other ISP I will have to talk to an Indian if I need tech support, it's not like my current ISP would have much better customer service anyways.
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