Ranko Kohime
April 4th, 2011, 05:00 PM
I'm in the market for a new laptop, and I would like some input.
Through my searching around, I've found that there's a great many more brand names than I had previously thought, and quite a bit fewer manufacturers. I'd like to know if I've missed any of either in my search.
So far, I've looked at a great many laptops, but what has caught my eye so far is the System76 Gazelle, and it's siamese-twin the Malibal Lotus, both of which are based on the Clevo P151MH1 platform.
So here is my list of requirements:
1080p display (This is the big one, and can make or break)
8GB or higher ram capacity (16GB preferably)
2.5" drive adapter for the optical bay (I plan to run dual hard drives)
A big battery (The afore-mentioned Clevo has a 78Wh battery, and bigger is better, as weight is not a concern)
A quad-core processor (I'd rather have a relatively slow quad-core than a blazing fast dual-core)
Power conservation when NOT running any intensive apps (writing, spreadsheets, web browsing (basic, non-flash pages) or some other unintensive task) I expect to get no less than 4 hours of such activity on a 78Wh or larger battery
Price: I'd like to stay under $1,400 with all the in-site upgrades
Bonus: if the online configurator supports No OS or Ubuntu, naturally :)
A few of the things I'm going for are going to require post-purchase upgrades, such as I want a 1TB drive in the optical bay, which no one seems to offer yet. As for RAM, everyone seems to charge significantly more than what I could purchase for at NewEgg. Double, in most cases.
I've not kept up with the differences between AMD and Intel lately, so I'm rather ignorant as to the performance comparison: Can a quad-core mobile AMD processor hang with a similar Intel processor, both in performance and power conservation? And does AMD have a comparable technology to Hyperthreading? Does hyperthreading even have an effect in the real world, in multimedia apps specifically?
A few of the brands I've viewed and decided against, either because their price is higher for the same Clevo platform, or their offerings don't jive with my requirements:
Sager
ZaReason
So are there any brands I should check out that might have a model to fit my requirements? I'm leaning towards the Malibal Lotus at the moment, (System76 does not offer a drive caddy in place of the optical drive), but the right deal will sway me.
Moneywise, it will probably be another 2 months before I'm able to justify this purchase, so if anything is soon to come down the pike, I'm all ears.
Through my searching around, I've found that there's a great many more brand names than I had previously thought, and quite a bit fewer manufacturers. I'd like to know if I've missed any of either in my search.
So far, I've looked at a great many laptops, but what has caught my eye so far is the System76 Gazelle, and it's siamese-twin the Malibal Lotus, both of which are based on the Clevo P151MH1 platform.
So here is my list of requirements:
1080p display (This is the big one, and can make or break)
8GB or higher ram capacity (16GB preferably)
2.5" drive adapter for the optical bay (I plan to run dual hard drives)
A big battery (The afore-mentioned Clevo has a 78Wh battery, and bigger is better, as weight is not a concern)
A quad-core processor (I'd rather have a relatively slow quad-core than a blazing fast dual-core)
Power conservation when NOT running any intensive apps (writing, spreadsheets, web browsing (basic, non-flash pages) or some other unintensive task) I expect to get no less than 4 hours of such activity on a 78Wh or larger battery
Price: I'd like to stay under $1,400 with all the in-site upgrades
Bonus: if the online configurator supports No OS or Ubuntu, naturally :)
A few of the things I'm going for are going to require post-purchase upgrades, such as I want a 1TB drive in the optical bay, which no one seems to offer yet. As for RAM, everyone seems to charge significantly more than what I could purchase for at NewEgg. Double, in most cases.
I've not kept up with the differences between AMD and Intel lately, so I'm rather ignorant as to the performance comparison: Can a quad-core mobile AMD processor hang with a similar Intel processor, both in performance and power conservation? And does AMD have a comparable technology to Hyperthreading? Does hyperthreading even have an effect in the real world, in multimedia apps specifically?
A few of the brands I've viewed and decided against, either because their price is higher for the same Clevo platform, or their offerings don't jive with my requirements:
Sager
ZaReason
So are there any brands I should check out that might have a model to fit my requirements? I'm leaning towards the Malibal Lotus at the moment, (System76 does not offer a drive caddy in place of the optical drive), but the right deal will sway me.
Moneywise, it will probably be another 2 months before I'm able to justify this purchase, so if anything is soon to come down the pike, I'm all ears.