Help would be appreciated!! =D Sager np8690 vs Force 1656 vs MSI GX640 or MSI GX660

[rpgfailure99]

Thank you so much for reading.
Sorry it is pretty long.

1) What is your budget?
1400-1700

2) What size notebook would you prefer?c. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
3) What country are you buying this in?

USA

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

Keeping all my options open.

5) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?

Gaming sometimes and carrying around for class.

6) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?

Taking it to class

7) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?

Games would be slightly intensive SC2, CODMW2, Crysis, and thinking about Metro

8) How many hours of battery life do you need?

Probably around 2-4

9) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?

I prefer new

10) What OS do you prefer? (more details below)
-Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit or 64-Bit
Screen Specifics

11) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer? (more details below)

Anything greater than 1366x768.
I don't want a 1355x768

12) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non glossy screen?

Doesn't really matter

Build Quality and Design

13) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

No.

14) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?

Hopefully about 2-4 years.

Notebook Components

15) How much hard drive space do you want; 80GB, 160GB, 250GB, 320GB, 500GB, 1TB, or 1.5TB?

500gb 7200rpm is fine.

16) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, CD/DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?

Doesn't matter too much to me.

17) What speed CPU/Processor would you like? Dual core or Quad Core CPU?

I would like Intel® Core™ i7-720QM, 1.6-2.8GHz, (45nm, 6MB L3 cache) or higher.


Seeing at all these laptops I liked the Sager for its speed and huge drawback was the 1hr battery life.
Don't know the real difference between Force 1656 and MSI GX640.
I was wondering if waiting for the MSI GX660.
I heard many people saying even though parts are the same the integration would make a huge difference. I also was not sure if the 10-20fps would make a huge difference in gaming as people say that is what you get with the ATI Radeon 5850 and the ATI Radeon 5870.
I am looking for a system that are about these specs:
15 inch
Around this quality screen or better: 1680x1050
Intel® Core™ i7-720QM, 1.6-2.8GHz, (45nm, 6MB L3 cache) or better
IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD5850 1024MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 or better
I am looking for a DX11 graphic card.
4GB (2 SODIMM) DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory
4GB ram is fine. I can go with the 1066MHz if it is necessary.
500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) is just fine.
Battery life of course listed above.
These are the main things I am looking for in a computer.
I was hoping people can give me their expert inputs as I am pretty new to understanding about computers.

Thank you so much for reading this all and giving your inputs if you did.

Really APPRECIATE your assistance as I am really confused on which one.

[Slowboto]

The thing you have to understand is no matter which one you choose, if you get those specs you are not going to get long battery life. That is the trade off for that power. You can get something with switchable graphics or the optimus technology and get some more from your battery but I think then you sacrifice power and those games you mentioned can be intense. Basically you will have to choose one or the other. That or do what we mention to others, buy a netbook in addition to one of the better laptops and use the netbook for class.

[Maverick494]

let's go with your 1700 dollar high end budget in mind as I suggest these things:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152187 - 279.99 + shipping, so let's call it 290 dollars.

That leaves us 1510 dollars (W/shipping) for the other laptop:

Sager NP8690 (Built on Clevo W860CU) Custom Gaming Laptop (http://www.xoticpc.com/product_info.php?products_id=2659{161}2855{76}2672 {94}1074{92}2750{187}2744{88}1852{186}1532{93}2587 {112}656{98}1295{96}1053{168}1453{194}2594{116}696 {117}705{120}703{110}1747{169}1449{119}1898{100}73 4{164}1441{107}689{106}2665{121}694{108}710{109}71 1{170}1591{173}1175{167}1452{103}2707{113}1413{111 }1414{69}714{196}2719)
- Student Promotions! Ask us about our Cash Discounts or FREE Promotional Items & Accessory Bundles for Students - Up to 50% OFF! - Student Verification Required for Promotion
- 15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glare Type Screen
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- Intel® Core™ i5-540M, 2.53-3.06GHz, (3MB L3 cache)
- -Stock OEM Thermal Compound
- ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD5870 1024MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
- No Video Adapter
- ~ 4,096MB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (Requires 64-Bit to utilize Full 4GB)
- Standard Finish
- ~Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
- ~ 500GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache)
- No Back Up Hard Drive
- No Back Up Software
- No Floppy Drive
- Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
- Internal Bluetooth + EDR
- Built-in 802.11 Wireless B/G/N - Stock Wireless Card
- No Network Accessory
- Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- No TV Tuner
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- Basic Black Business Case - Included
- 11.1V Smart Li-Polymer battery pack 3800mAh, 42.18Wh
- No Car Adapter
- None Standard*
- No Dock/Hub/Adapter
- Integrated Fingerprint Reader
- No External Keyboard or Mouse
- No Notebook Cooler
- ~Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's
- No Office Software
- No Software Bundle
- 3 Year Labor* 1 Year Parts Warranty Lifetime -24/7 DOMESTIC Based- Toll Free Telephone Tech Support (Labor Warranty through Xotic PC)
Includes FREE Shipping Both Ways for Warranty Repairs
- No Xotic PC Gear

-1484.00

Now I know you sacrifice the i7 in this laptop so I plan to provide another option, however consider that in most games the i5 is going to perform very much the same (in some cases better due to the speed advantage) as the i7.

Option #2:

FORCE 1656-ID5 (Built on the MSI-1656-ID5) (http://www.xoticpc.com/product_info.php?products_id=2822{161}2855{76}647{ 94}1074{92}2510{187}2744{88}1671{186}1532{93}2817{ 112}656{98}2789{96}2482{115}681{199}751{168}1453{1 94}2594{116}696{117}707{120}703{110}2771{169}1449{ 119}1898{100}734{164}1441{107}1539{106}1691{195}69 8{121}694{108}710{109}711{170}1492{173}1175{167}14 52{103}2684{113}1413{111}1414{69}2536{196}2719)
- Student Promotions! Ask us about our Cash Discounts or FREE Promotional Items & Accessory Bundles for Students - Up to 50% OFF! - Student Verification Required for Promotion
- 15.4" WSXGA+ "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright Glossy Screen (1680x1050)
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- Intel® Core™ i7-720QM, 1.60-2.80GHz, (45nm, 6MB L3 cache) - Special!
- -Stock OEM Thermal Compound
- ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD5850 1024MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
- No Video Adapter
- - 4,096MB (2 SODIMMS) DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory
- Standard Finish
- - Combo Dual Layer SuperMulti 8X DVDRW Drive w/ Software (If choosing a 2nd HDD in the Optical Drive Bay no Optical Disk Drive will be included)
- - 500GB (w/ 4GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid 32MB Cache (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) (Limited QTY's Available)
- No Additional Hard Drive in ODD Bay (When adding Hard Drive, Optical Drive Is Removed)
- NO External USB Optical Drive
- No Back Up Hard Drive
- No Back Up Software
- No Floppy Drive
- Internal 4-in-1 Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO)
- Internal Bluetooth + EDR
- -Intel® Ultimate-N 6300 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module
- No Network Accessory
- Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- No TV Tuner
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- No Carrying Case
- Smart Li-ion Battery (6-Cell)
- NO Spare Battery
- No Car Adapter
- None Standard*
- No Dock/Hub/Adapter
- No Fingerprint Reader
- No External Keyboard or Mouse
- No Notebook Cooler
- Windows 7 Home Premium - 64-Bit
- No Office Software
- No Software Bundle
- 1 Year Complete Care Warranty - 1 Year Parts with 2nd Day Shipping, 24/7 Telephone Tech Support & Lifetime Labor Warranty
- No Xotic PC Gear

-1472.00

This one gets you pretty much everything you want and is still under max budget with the netbook. (the reason you can get an i7 in this one is the big discount on the 720 not available on the sager)

My only thing that I do not know is how the cooling on this compares to the sager. I know my machine is awesome for as small as it is. Even in a 75F room running FURMARK hotter than hell edition it stayed 84C or less. (Furmark is specifically designed to make your GPU heat up)

[Equilibrium1736]

I would buy the GX660 with 9 cell battery. That will give you about 2 hours of battery life and will still provide the necessary horsepower for gaming. Make sure to get the I5-540 because it is a 32nm chip vs the 45nm and uses 10 watts less energy. You won't see a difference in performance between the I7 720 and the I5-540 unless you do video rendering or something to that effect.

MSI GX660-053US - Gaming Laptop - PRE ORDER (http://www.xoticpc.com/product_info.php?products_id=2850%7B161%7D2855%7B7 6%7D1476%7B94%7D1074%7B92%7D2756%7B187%7D2767%7B88 %7D1852%7B186%7D1532%7B93%7D1645%7B112%7D656%7B98% 7D1907%7B96%7D2723%7B115%7D681%7B199%7D751%7B168%7 D1453%7B194%7D2594%7B116%7D696%7B117%7D707%7B120%7 D703%7B110%7D2772%7B169%7D1449%7B119%7D708%7B100%7 D734%7B164%7D1441%7B107%7D1539%7B106%7D1688%7B121% 7D694%7B108%7D710%7B109%7D711%7B170%7D1492%7B173%7 D1175%7B167%7D1452%7B103%7D2637%7B113%7D1413%7B111 %7D1414%7B69%7D2848%7B196%7D2719)
- Student Promotions! Ask us about our Cash Discounts or FREE Promotional Items & Accessory Bundles for Students - Up to 50% OFF! - Student Verification Required for Promotion
- 15.6” HD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1366x768) Super Clear Glare Type Screen
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- -Intel® Core™ i5-540M, 2.53-3.06GHz, (3MB L3 cache)
- IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU FREE w/ CPU Upgrade
- ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD5870 1024MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
- No Video Adapter
- 4GB (2 SODIMM) DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory
- Standard Finish
- - Combo Dual Layer SuperMulti 8X DVDRW Drive w/ Software-
- - 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) - Default
- No Additional Hard Drive in ODD Bay (When adding Hard Drive, Optical Drive Is Removed)
- NO External USB Optical Drive
- No Back Up Hard Drive
- No Back Up Software
- No Floppy Drive
- Internal 4-in-1 Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO)
- Internal Bluetooth + EDR
- -Intel® Advanced-N 6200 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module
- No Network Accessory
- Integrated Digital Video Camera
- No TV Tuner
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- No Carrying Case
- Smart Li-ion Battery (9-Cell)
- No Car Adapter
- None Standard*
- No Dock/Hub/Adapter
- No Fingerprint Reader
- No External Keyboard or Mouse
- No Notebook Cooler
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Pre-Installed + Drivers & Utilities Disk
- No Office Software
- No Software Bundle
- 2 Year MSI US Parts & Labor 1 Year Global Warranty w/ Lifetime Tech Support
- No Xotic PC Gear

$1,703.00

[rpgfailure99]

Wow I see your inputs.
They are very helpful.
I am still deciding atm.
What about the msi gx640 or the msi gx660?
When is the MSI gx660 coming out, since I need the computer around September 10th.

[mrmatt]

Not sure when its out, but its cooling isn't as good.

[Maverick494]

Wow I see your inputs.
They are very helpful.
I am still deciding atm.
What about the msi gx640 or the msi gx660?
When is the MSI gx660 coming out, since I need the computer around September 10th.

The GX660 has a resolution you specifically stated you wanted better than, so why even consider it?

Oooops my bad there are two versions of the GX660 I see now. The other one is more or less a 8690, but doesn't cool as well. I am also trying to fathom how they can run a 90W power brick with that machine given that my 120W with my 8690 with almost identical stats gets hot to the touch under heavy load.

[rpgfailure99]

Yea I see what you mean okay.
Now it is down to Sager 8690 and Force 1656 I think.....
In college do you think I would be able to live with 1 hr battery life in class?

[Maverick494]

Yea I see what you mean okay.
Now it is down to Sager 8690 and Force 1656 I think.....
In college do you think I would be able to live with 1 hr battery life in class?

Probably not, but why not just get the netbook + 8690 like I suggested and in a year pop an i7 into the sager and away you go? Seems like the best plan IMPO.

[mrmatt]

Do your classes have power outlets? Mine do..

[rpgfailure99]

Problem is I do not know which classes I have this year.
Yea Maverick your idea is pretty good.
I mean how much battery life do you guys use in college?

[misel]

I used to have an Asus G2S and my battery life was absurd... It would last pretty much 4hrs in saving mode so I had all my classes covered. Why don't you just do as mav says? is your best choice, because you sure as hell should'nt be playing when in class. Also consider the weight, taking a netbook with you is simpler and keeping the other one for gaming is a great choice.
Ah, BTW, have you seen the 8690 insides? I don't think you can get any better cooling and heat dissipation systems.
DO NOT get Vista, is an awful resource managing system, go with 7 home premium, is way better.

[Slowboto]

When I went to classes a lot of them had power outlets but then again some of them only had a few and if others are doing the same thing then it could be an issue.

Get the netbook, Mav pointed you to one that will work well for your classes, link is at the top of his first post.

1 hour of battery life won't work but the other comps mentioned won't get you much better and if the 660 has bad cooling then that isn't good.

[Slowboto]

Problem is I do not know which classes I have this year.
Yea Maverick your idea is pretty good.
I mean how much battery life do you guys use in college?

That really just depends on your classes. Classes tend to last from 50 minutes to an hour and a half depending on how many days a week you have to go. Then from there it is a matter of how many classes you have in the day. So if you have 2+ classes in a day it is doubtful you are going to make it on battery if you get the 8690 or many of the others for that matter.

[rpgfailure99]

I really appreciate your help guys.
Thanks so much.
I just have one more question how much of a benchmark difference would the Sager np8690 be with the Force 1656 in most games.
Ex: Crysis, Metro, Star Craft 2, WoW, and CODMW2.
These are the games I play and was wondering how much more fps I get on the Sager.
Thanks so much.