Asus G51JX A1 / MSI GX640

[Romalus]

I'm in the market for a new laptop for college, I'm looking for something powerful enough to do some gaming, but I also need it to last long enough for me to take notes on and not have to worry about it dying during something important.

I'll consider other machines, but these are the two that I've been looking the hardest at. I was wondering what the battery life of the Asus G51JX was with a 9 cell, and if the battery economy software on the machines would be able to extend the time when I'm running nothing but word.

[Slowboto]

I'm in the market for a new laptop for college, I'm looking for something powerful enough to do some gaming, but I also need it to last long enough for me to take notes on and not have to worry about it dying during something important.

I'll consider other machines, but these are the two that I've been looking the hardest at. I was wondering what the battery life of the Asus G51JX was with a 9 cell, and if the battery economy software on the machines would be able to extend the time when I'm running nothing but word.

Maybe a bit over 2 hours if just running Word.

You could always pick up a cheap netbook if that is in the budget. That is actually what I plan on doing. Getting the G73 as my main comp but for smaller on the go type stuff I'll be getting a netbook or low end laptop.

[powerpack]

I think Slow has a very good point. I just do not see either of these as in class note taking friendly.

[Slowboto]

It can be done, you just have to be very careful when using it on battery power. Classes tend to last around an hour and if you have more than two in a day you are probably SOL unless you can plug it in somewhere. This really depends on your class schedule and what you can do to not run it off battery power. When I was in college there were normally sockets that people could plug into during class and teachers didn't seem to care but not sure if that applies where you go.

I hate to say this but if you need this for notes in class and you have multiple classes in the day or you want to use it between classes, all on battery power, then you may have to look elsewhere and settle for something that won't be able to play games on really high settings. Gaming laptops are just not battery efficient and that is fine because most people understand that sacrifice when they buy them.

Good luck with this situation. Like I said you could always get something on here that you like and a cheap netbook if you can afford that. Maybe even getting an extra battery will work but sounds like a lot of charging to make sure you are always good to go.

[jbermi]

the ASUS u30jc-a1 (http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/13/asus-u30jc-1a-review/) would be an ideal computer other than that the 310 video card in it is very much an entry level card and won't handle intensive gaming. but it would last up to 10 hours due to switchable graphics.

there are suppose to be some higher end nvidia optimus laptops coming that have better graphic cards and new low voltage i7 processors (http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/28/intel-said-to-be-prepping-1-46ghz-core-i7-ulv-processor-for-this/).

[Slowboto]

Romalus what type of gaming are you looking to do and are you wanting to run those games at high settings?

I mean if graphic settings don't matter then there are plenty of options out there for you that will let you game and get good battery life, jbermi mentioned one in particular and yeah there are others on the way.

I guess in my initial responses I went more along the lines of you are looking for something with a very good graphics card and all that which would let you run newer games on max settings. In that case what I said will apply.

[jbermi]

there is the MSI GE600 with ATI 5730 and switachable graphics for about 1k.

the 5730 is a good card (I have it.) and it is switchable with the embedded intel graphics on the HM 55 chipset. battery life is undetermined, I can't find anything on it. but performance wise it is equivalent to the n61 from ASUS. there is supposedly a N61 model coming soon with nvidia optimus tech, but it is a 16 inch laptop, so it may be on the big side.

with newer low voltage i5/i7 chips coming this summer and fall, I am sure there will be a decent laptop that will have decent battery life and a good GPU with switchable graphics. seems ASUS and MSI are the first ones to the market with the newer GPUs and CPUs.

but knowing your budget and what type of games you will be playing will help a lot.