[ProgSoc] Laptop options

Peter Dolkens peter.dolkens at ddrit.com
Sun Dec 11 13:56:29 EST 2011


Yes, G series are fairly heavy, and battery life if you're asking for real
numbers, not the pretty numbers that the manufacturers tell you, is around
2 hours.

The specs you listed however are very much desktop replacement grade, and
if you can find any manufacturer who can PROVIDE, not just CLAIM to do
better than 2 hours, then I'd be interested, but it's really not machines
of your desired spec are designed to do.

As for the Asus product lifecycle, they have just released the zenbook line
( http://www.asus.com/News/MNoK2VFBE4WdbJC3/ ) and based on their history,
I'd expect a new line out around Feb ( http://www.asus.com/News/Notebooks/ )
though I can't guess right now which series they'll be improving next.

All that being said, what are you actually after in a laptop? Your desired
spec was quite high from the get-go, though you seem to expect portability
and battery life. If you NEED a top-of-the line i7, then your battery life
is going to be shit no matter who you go with. If you were just picking
that because you wanted to future-proof yourself, my suggestion is to save
half the money that a bleeding-edge machine with no portability of battery
life is going to demand, and buy yourself an upgraded medium-level laptop
every 1.5 years (going on your quoted timeframe of 3 years, these laptops
should last considerably longer than 1.5 years)

*Ultra Portability + Battery Life*

I'd suggest you got a U36SD (
http://penta.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=65159 )
and then bought an 8gb RAM upgrade (approx $80 from Capital square last
time I did this)

Weight: 1.6KG
Battery Life: 7+ Hours (Manufacturer claims 10 hours, I regularly get 7+
with normal usage out of the sister model, U31SD)
Display: 13" 1366x768 (Without going to the high-end, heavy, gaming rigs,
this is the best density you'll find with a regular sized keyboard)
Processor: Core i7-2620QM
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 160GB SSD
GPU: GT520M
Chipset: USB 3 + SATA 3

Or even the U31SD (
http://penta.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65_2572_67_84&products_id=64334
)
if you don't need USB / Sata 3, this will save you about $200 and let you
pick the brand of SSD you want to upgrade it to.

Weight: 1.6KG
Battery Life: 7+ Hours (Manufacturer claims 10 hours, I regularly get 7+
with normal usage)
Display: 13" 1366x768
Processor: Core i5-2410M
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 500GB 5400RPM
GPU: GT520M
Chipset: USB 2 + SATA 2

The U31 can play Skyrim on medium quite happily, you can even push to High
if you don't mind a lower framerate. Deduce what you want for the U36,
given it's a better spec than the U31.

*Portability + Performance*

K53SC (
http://www.iibuy.com.au/asusk53scnotebookcorei72670qm220ghz310ghzturbo156hdled4gbram750gbhdddvddlgt520mwifin-p-192833.html
 )
Weight: 2.6KG
Battery Life: 4+ Hours (According to benchmarking sites)
Display: 15"  1366x768
Processor: Core i7-2670QM
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 750GB 5400RPM
GPU: GT520MX
Chipset: USB 3 + SATA 3

The K53 can play Rage on maximum settings without any difficulty.

- Pete

On Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 12:43 PM, Thomas Given-Wilson <
sanguinev at niflheim.progsoc.uts.edu.au> wrote:

> Addendum regarding Asus G series systems. Seems they are fairly heavy and
> don't
> have so good battery life... Can people who oen them confirm/deny?
>
> - SanguineV
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Progsoc mailing list
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