1. What is your budget?
preferably between 1200-1500, but if I realize it's necessary I may be able to go up to MacBook Pro budget of $2600
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Preferably about 15" +/-, but 17 if it's needed.
3. What screen resolution do you want?
at least full HD, potentially more
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
I don't mind heavy, but if there's a lighter option, I'd be game.
5. How much battery life do you need?
I just got a 12-cell for my 2009 dv-6 and LOVE it. I don't mind extra weight if it means a bigger battery. I'd prefer a minimum of 4 hours, though.
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Maybe... I'm more interested in Video Editing, CAD, & future-proofing. I am quite positive I want a dedicated Graphics Card.
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Photo/video editting, Running Lightworks (requiring CUDA), CAD,
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
I need space for at least 1 HDD & 1 SSD, and would consider a hybrid if anyone has good info on this being a good idea. It would be nice to have 2 HDD bays & 2 SSD bays, but I think that requires me to go with a 17" screen. Is this true?
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
TD, NE, Amazon, etc.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
Future proofing for 4 or 5 years would be awesome... is this unrealistic?
I'm writing this from a 5 year old HP that could certainly suck less than it does. (8 GB DDR3 RAM, Core2 Duo, 6 hour (with a 12 cell) battery life, (& crappy integrated graphics). & I don't even love HP, i think I got lucky.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Bluray, unless there's an argument for not having one.
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
I'm looking for brands/builds that are reliable with good build quality & don't have known shortcomings like under-ventilation, bottlenecking hardware, etc.
I think that means:
ASUS (Though the ROG sounds like it's speakers are kinda Crappy)
Sager
Lenovo
& potentially MSI? I know very little about them.
I may be able to be talked into another HP. If I were drunk. & it was really hot. (or at least well built, fast, and smart. (I know, I know... that's as unlikely as Mother Theresa rushing
Suggestions?
13. What country do you live in?
USA
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I'm pretty sure I want to buy something in the U.S.
Other preferences:
-ability to max at 32 GB DDR3
-user friendly upgradeability preffered for RAM, CPU, GPU, etc. (realistic in a laptop?)
-Ports: (likely standard anyway) multiple USB 3.0 ports , eSATA, HDMI output, SD Card Reader
-matte screen (unless glossy will mean a significantly brighter and clearer display? I have glossy now)
-maybe a touch screen (yeah, and the kitchen sink, did I mention that? I realize this may be unrealistic...)
-Did I not mention any components that you feel are crucial to your own system choices?
Processor
I definitely want a processor that's as good as an i7-4700MQ or better.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html#
GPU & Laptop (MUCH preferred) vs. Desktop Debate
I think I want a graphics card that's in the vicinity of a GTX 660
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
Unless that GPU benchmarking doesn't make sense for what I'm trying to do (video editing/color correcting, CAD & maybe gaming). I'm really shooting in the dark here.
Would a Quadro really be better for video rendering? I've been reading all sorts of posts about NVidia crippling it's Gaming line to empower it's Workstation line (the difference between which I'm not entirely sure of), and crippling it's workstation line to power it's "Tesla" line which just looks ridiculously expensive.
And at my price point, none of that may matter...
But since I'm not sure about whether it does or not, I'm debating whether I should give up on the portability idea (which I REALLY don't want to do) in favor of a machine that will give me far superior performance. What I mean is will a Sager NP8268 be outperformed astronomically by an HP Z620 when it comes to color correcting and editing 1080p @ 60fps video? How about when gaming?
HP:
http://www.antonline.com/p_Hewlett-Packard--F1K28UT-ABA...
Sager:
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8268-clevo-p150sma-eta-m...