MSI GT627-218US vs toshiba QOSMIO x305 vs ASUS g50vt -x1/x5

[the epic ninja]

Hi, i'm new to the forum and i can't decide on a gaming laptop. i'm going away for college in about a year and i want to start prospecting on a suitable laptop for gaming and possibly engineering programs. i play left 4 dead and team fortress 2 and will play new releases such as modern warfare 2 in the near future.



-my budget limits me to about $1700

-the screen resolution is not a problem because i'm planning to bring along my 22" monitor along with me

-portability shouldn't be too much of a problem for college, 10 lbs isn't TOO much for classes, but i prefer lighter weights

-Battery left w/o the cord should be at least decent (a couple hours not gaming i guess?)

-i'd like to be able to use it for a good 4 years

-the keyboard durability should be at least acceptable; i'm bringing a keyboard along with me too

-speaker quality doesn't matter; i'll bring speakers and i wouldn't mind buying an external sound card



i don't want dell, alienware, or HP....dell and alienware have gone down in my eyes, and HP's laptops are too shiny and it's ugly



here are the choices i looked up

http://explore.toshiba.com/laptops/qosmio



http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat150700050002&type=category



http://www.msimobile.com/level3_productpage.aspx?cid=6&id=54



the toshiba computer is a beauty, but it's extremely bulky and heavy, and i've read that the battery life is very short when it is unplugged (compared to all the other gaming laptops' battery times, of course, which are all short anyway)



the asus g50vt x1/x5's on the bestbuy page seems like an awesome bang for my buck, and i've heard that the DDR2 is upgradable to ddr3. it's also lighter than most gaming laptops, which is a very high plus. But, i'm afraid of cooling problems and such that gaming laptops sometimes have, and i have read reviews that these two computers have flaws (crashing, a lot of "lemons" out there, etc)



the MSI seems like the most solid choice, but offers less ram (and is only ddr2). it's also the lightest among the group. i've also heard that the keyboard isn't very good, which isn't too much of a problem for me.



are there any other laptops that you would recommend?


thanks in advance!

 

[lostandwandering]

here are the choices i looked up

http://explore.toshiba.com/laptops/qosmio



http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat150700050002&type=category



http://www.msimobile.com/level3_productpage.aspx?cid=6&id=54



the toshiba computer is a beauty, but it's extremely bulky and heavy, and i've read that the battery life is very short when it is unplugged (compared to all the other gaming laptops' battery times, of course, which are all short anyway)

1st off, if you thought HP's laptops were too shiny then you will not like the Toshiba. It is quite possibly the most gaudy laptop on the market. If you don't believe me go to a local Best Buy and take a look. I like sleeker designs and thus would not touch that laptop with a ten foot pole. :lol:

Being a fan of Clevo/Sager laptops I would recommend this: http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=129131&action=customize

or if you want something a little smaller and lighter: http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=160092&action=customize

This Gateway is a pretty good deal as well: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9172511&type=product&id=1218043606827

 

[the epic ninja]

ohh, i'll surely check those laptops out! thanks a bunch

what i meant about the HP laptops is that they.......have an INCREDIBLY shiny, silver palm rest, which doesn't fit my style. it's just like one gigantic, glaring mirror.

i like the toshiba because it has a beautifully designed, red case....not just a gigantic shiny mirror xD.

 

[the epic ninja]

oh God. you got me hooked on sager's now, hahaha. i didn't look at them before because i was afraid of xotic pc or sager because i thought they might be unreliable, just like iBuyPower and CyberPowerPC (i've read very scary reviews, mostly dealing with shipping or broken parts upon receiving the laptop/desktop, blegh).

do you, by any chance, know the cons of the sagers or the gateway? have there been any quirks? are there heating problems?

 

[lostandwandering]

Sager's are incredibly well built machines. I've had mine for almost 2 years now and have not had a single issue with it. Sager is pretty good with cooling, the 17'' NP5797 has two large cooling fans which keep the CPU and GPU pretty cool. On my older model 5763, I have 1 large and 1 smaller fan. I have never seen my CPU temps over 60 C and the GPU has never gone over 80 C.

The smaller NP8662 doesn't have as good of a solution, but it has one large fan for the CPU and GPU as well as multiple vents. I have not heard of any issues with either of these systems regarding heat.

Here's a review of the Gateway: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5035&review=gateway+p7805u+fx

Here is a user written review of the 5797: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=372342

And one of the 8662: http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptop/sager-np8662-gaming-notebook.aspx

 

[the epic ninja]

Hm....

Genuine MS Windows® VISTA Home Premium 32/64-Bit Edition

I've heard that some laptops run both of the operating systems, but do you know exactly what this option for the OS means? Is it what they call a "dual boot"?

 

[lostandwandering]

I'm not entirely sure what they mean. I ordered mine when XP was still the king so I can't be of much help. I imagine though that they would install one, but give you both the 32 bit and 64 bit disks so you could choose.

 

[the epic ninja]

Thanks a ton for your help

 

[lostandwandering]

No problem. Let us know how you make out.

 

[jcantu]

I have the Sager 5797..i got the intel centrino montevina p8600..the 280m gtx 1gb..blu-ray and the works...it came with vista home premium..now to answer your question about dual boot..yes it is possible...i downloaded some software from cnet to partition my hard drive which is 320 gb...and i split it in half..now when my computer boots up..u have to go into the bios and there's an option u have to choose whether to go into xp/vista/or other..other being windows 7 when it comes out..i was able to put xp pro and i just recently put windows vista home premium 64 bit..no problems whatsoever..i can now tell between two and its a big difference..especially with the direct x..but i just wanted to answer your question about dual boot..when i got my computer..it only had vista home premum..so i had to manually partition the hard drive and install vista myself..just trying to be clear on that...sager won't install dual boot..let me know if this helps