ASUS Laptop

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

Just posting this up for anyone interested. Price is dropped a bit more for the time being, currently at $970. Seems like decent bang for the buck, though you should plan on adding more RAM.

 

I am sure Andrew could give the rundown on the true value or non-value of this since he stays on top of these thing.

 

http://www.amazon.com/N53SV-XV1-15-6-Inch-Versatile-Entertainment-Aluminum/dp/B004L9M4QY/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1312773708&sr=8-7

 

- Intel Core i7-2630QM Quad-Core Processor 2.0 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz

- 4GB of DDR3 1333 MHz SDRAM, 4 slots, 16GB Max;

- Nvidia GT540M Graphics with 1GB DDR3 VRAM

- 1 USB 3.0 port; 2 USB 2.0 Port

- 15.6-INCH FULL HD (1920x1080) LED Display

- 500GB Hard Drive (7200 RPM)

Edited August 21, 2011 by Crazy Homeless Guy

[AJLynn]

Yeah, I like those specs - Sandy Bridge CPU, real video card, high res screen. Bit on the thick side for my tastes, but it's hard to find a worthwhile system at that price point. They're always missing something I'd want. E.g., this would be a good one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0051OK1AO/?tag=andylynnnet-20 but the screen res is only 1366x768. Sony also makes one that looks good but the GPU is only a Geforce 520M.

 

Usually $1400-1500 is where they put the gamer-spec ones, like this for example: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052LHR5I/?tag=andylynnnet-20 (12GB and a RAID in a 15" notebook - what will they come up with next) or http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052LHQOA/?tag=andylynnnet-20 (you can animate the color of the keyboard backlight - completely pointless, sure, but think of the nerd cred).

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

Yeah, the Asus may be slightly larger than the already to large Dell I am looking to replace, but it is about 3 pounds lighter than the Dell, which will be a plus.

 

Screen resolution, and a i7 processor were the to main factors I was searching for when I found this laptop. I don't want to go larger than 15", ideally I didn't want to go larger than 14", but I think only Sony makes a 1920x1080 w/ i7 in the 14" size range. The Sony also looks nicer, but is more than double the price.

 

Will Windows based laptops be thinner once Microsoft fully adopts ARM chips? Isn't one of the benefits of ARM is that it runs cooler, and therefore could be fit into a tighter space with no fan?

 

RAID in a notebook is pretty crazy.

[AJLynn]

The Intel "ultrabook" concept should result in thinner laptops - but it's being constrained by some problems, like the low power requirements and difficulty getting the aluminum cases manufactured. The ARM thing isn't quite as good as it sounds because it's not going to include the ability to run Windows software compiled for Intel - so I think it's really going to be Microsoft's iPad-clone OS.

 

Smaller laptops with higher res screens... actually I think we'll see this in the next couple years, mostly because of Apple. Rumor mill has it that they're having iPad screens made with 4x the pixels. The obvious next step is increasing the pixel count on the Mac laptops. Whatever Apple does, Samsung copies it, so looking at Apple product cycles I'd figure the iPad is early next year, the Macs in summer '12, the Samsung copies come one of whatever their product cycle is after that, and more PC makers follow one cycle after that... so maybe 14" 1080P laptops for Christmas 2012?