Buying new laptop, need advice

[TheLaughingMan]

Hey guys, just looking for some advice on a new laptop, looking to spend between 30k and maybe 55k. For high end gaming and video editing. Also, I've fallen in love with touchscreen but can forego it if a good laptop without it is better. Right now im looking at 2 models one with touchscreen and 4k screen and one without but hoping for better options. These are what I'm looking at:

N7559 dell touchscreen/4k 53,000 baht

I7 6700hq cpu

16 gig ddr3 ram

128ssd, 1 Tb 7200

Radeon 960m gtx

Asus gl552vw 39,000 baht

I7 6700 hq cpu

8 gig ddr4 (would upgrade to 16)

128ssd, 1Tb 7200

Radeon 960m gtx

[Forkinhades]

What's the upgrade cost on the Asus?

[TheLaughingMan]

I believe.... Like 2500 for another 8 gigs

[manarak]

check the RAM on the radeon graphics cards

I guess both laptops have full HD displays?

EDIT:

I just saw the 4k display on the first one

My take on 4k display is that it still is pretty useless because there are only very few video sources in that resolution, the sheer size in GB of source files / streams is a problem as well, the benefits of 4k will be difficult to see on a small 16" display and most games will have low framerates on 4k, especially using laptop graphics.

check if you can get the asus with a single 8 GB RAM module

(if both module bays are occupied, you need to buy 16 GB, not just 8 GB to upgrade)

(except of course if you can order it with 16 GB from Asus)

one thing I find very useful is an additional HDD bay, so another HDD can be added for disk mirroring (RAID 1).

SSDs are known to be very reliable, so I would mirror the non-ssd storage disk.

I would go with the ASUS and add 8 GB RAM and a second 1 TB storage configured in RAID 1.

I currently have a very similar setup on my Origin laptop ( https://www.originpc.com )

Edited December 20, 2015 by manarak

[TheLaughingMan]

The graphics cards are 4 gigs of ddr 5

[manarak]

The graphics cards are 4 gigs of ddr 5

I have amended my above post with more info and advice.

I got a 8GB 980 GTX M and a Intel Core i7 6700K Quad-Core 4.0GHz on my origin laptop. It's a blast.

Edited December 20, 2015 by manarak

[TheLaughingMan]

How much was your laptop? I'm not worried about the 4k screen, if there are issues I'll just lower the resolution, I just wanted that model for the touchscreen while still having gaming specs

Edited December 20, 2015 by TheLaughingMan

[manarak]

How much was your laptop? I'm not worried about the 4k screen, if there are issues I'll just lower the resolution, I just wanted that model for the touchscreen while still having gaming specs

2,733 USD without shipping... I went a bit overboard on specs, but it was my birthday... 555

do you have a particular use for the touchscreen? because with these specs, the laptop will easily weigh more than 3 Kg and have lousy battery life, so walking around and using it as a tablet is not an ideal use case.

Edited December 20, 2015 by manarak

[TheLaughingMan]

Hehe Ya my dream laptop, but I gotta stick to my budget, so you know of any good touchscreen laptops with gaming specs? Available in bangkok

[manarak]

Hehe Ya my dream laptop, but I gotta stick to my budget, so you know of any good touchscreen laptops with gaming specs? Available in bangkok

nope, no idea.

[TheLaughingMan]

Ya not easy to find

[gandalf12]

Go for the Asus they use better motherboards than Dell and are in general a superior machine

[crabdog]

Honestly I don't know why you have the fixation with touchscreen but each to his own. A couple of things to consider:

i7 for video editing (for just gaming an i5 is the better choice)

16GB of RAM would be preferable again for video editing (8 is plenty for games)

For gaming you really want at least a GTX 970M as the 960 is a basic entry level item and won't give you high detail in demanding games

Both the 960 and 970 gpus are not capable of pushing playable frame rates in 4K games. If gaming is more of a priority you should go for an i5 and spend the savings on a higher tier graphics card. If video editing is the priority then the i7 and a lower tier graphics card is the way to go.

[Brit_Doggie]

Acer/Asus you don't need to spend that much for touch or gaming machine, buy now and throw away in 2 years when something better appears, mine not touch same same as the wife or anybody elses wife but gaming and 15gb memory or was that that price, seriously it the dogs bolls and yes 15k.

[manarak]

Honestly I don't know why you have the fixation with touchscreen but each to his own. A couple of things to consider:

i7 for video editing (for just gaming an i5 is the better choice)

16GB of RAM would be preferable again for video editing (8 is plenty for games)

For gaming you really want at least a GTX 970M as the 960 is a basic entry level item and won't give you high detail in demanding games

Both the 960 and 970 gpus are not capable of pushing playable frame rates in 4K games. If gaming is more of a priority you should go for an i5 and spend the savings on a higher tier graphics card. If video editing is the priority then the i7 and a lower tier graphics card is the way to go.

yes, I overall agree.

The Core i5-4690K is a good choice for gaming because games are often single-threaded, so the higher the clock frequency, the better for game performance, and 8 GB are enough RAM for games, so the savings could indeed be better used in a higher spec GPU.

gaming on 4K resolution is very resource hungry and there are almost no visible benefits on small laptop screens anyway, better have higher full HD framerates.

Edited December 20, 2015 by manarak

[TheLaughingMan]

Honestly I don't know why you have the fixation with touchscreen but each to his own. A couple of things to consider:

i7 for video editing (for just gaming an i5 is the better choice)

16GB of RAM would be preferable again for video editing (8 is plenty for games)

For gaming you really want at least a GTX 970M as the 960 is a basic entry level item and won't give you high detail in demanding games

Both the 960 and 970 gpus are not capable of pushing playable frame rates in 4K games. If gaming is more of a priority you should go for an i5 and spend the savings on a higher tier graphics card. If video editing is the priority then the i7 and a lower tier graphics card is the way to go.

Need to do both so guess get the i7 and try to find one with a better gpu , got any recommendations? Or do you guys all build your own laptops? Edited December 20, 2015 by TheLaughingMan

[2fishin2]

No mention of battery life? That's a very important feature. Forget the 4k, no software and probably wont be anytime soon if ever. Its turning out to be only a selling point.

[sirineou]

No need for a touch screen,

I rarely use mine, Firstly you constantly need to clean your screen,

Second you need to reach across your laptop to accomplish something you can easily acomplish on your touchpad

i cant remember the last time I used my touchscreen and I am running win10

[NeverSure]

My Asus shipped with 6G of ram - a 2 and a 4 stick. I simply removed the 2 and replaced it with an 8 and got 12. I haven't ever seen all of that ram used no matter what is open.

As for RAID, I prefer an external with backups. Macrium Reflect makes an image of my SSD every night while I sleep with its scheduler, and Cobian Backup makes a backup of all of my files and folders right after that. Both proggies are free, have schedulers and work very well. Both use the Windows Shadow Copy Service which eliminates errors. Both can override the Windows File Protection System that says "can't copy/move/delete/etc, because file is in use by another program".

Don't forget to burn a bootable rescue disk onto a DVD as soon as you install Macrium.

I can't suggest which laptop to buy. That's a highly personal thing considering all of the variables.

Cheers.

[manarak]

No mention of battery life? That's a very important feature. Forget the 4k, no software and probably wont be anytime soon if ever. Its turning out to be only a selling point.

The machines we are discussing here aren't compatible with battery life, LOL. if I get 90 minutes out of mine I throw a party.

Seriously, those beasts are desktop replacements.

[manarak]

My Asus shipped with 6G of ram - a 2 and a 4 stick. I simply removed the 2 and replaced it with an 8 and got 12. I haven't ever seen all of that ram used no matter what is open.

As for RAID, I prefer an external with backups. Macrium Reflect makes an image of my SSD every night while I sleep with its scheduler, and Cobian Backup makes a backup of all of my files and folders right after that. Both proggies are free, have schedulers and work very well. Both use the Windows Shadow Copy Service which eliminates errors. Both can override the Windows File Protection System that says "can't copy/move/delete/etc, because file is in use by another program".

Don't forget to burn a bootable rescue disk onto a DVD as soon as you install Macrium.

I can't suggest which laptop to buy. That's a highly personal thing considering all of the variables.

Cheers.

RAID 1 is better when on the move, traveling frequently. it is failure resistant, so if a drive fails you still can use your laptop normally and swap in a new drive later when you get home with no interruption.

Edited December 20, 2015 by manarak

[TheLaughingMan]

Where's the best selection? I've been to fortune and it was good but the shops all had the same models, what I'm looking for was not really there. Anyone know about digital gateway at Siam?

[manarak]

Where's the best selection? I've been to fortune and it was good but the shops all had the same models, what I'm looking for was not really there. Anyone know about digital gateway at Siam?

Buying high spec IT equipment is a challenge in Thailand.

The best one can find is "medium high end" but top-of-the-line models often remain absent from Thai shops and have to be ordered abroad.

[dddave]

I'm curious. if this units not going anywhere, why not have a custom build desktop set-up? It's been discussed many times here and if size is not a consideration, is the most configurable and bang for the buck...even a touch screen option if it is important to the OP.

[manarak]

I'm curious. if this units not going anywhere, why not have a custom build desktop set-up? It's been discussed many times here and if size is not a consideration, is the most configurable and bang for the buck...even a touch screen option if it is important to the OP.

I don't know about the OP, but my reason for having a desktop replacement is semi-portability, i.e. the ability to quickly and easily change locations/rooms, as opposed to being able to work anywhere, which is not my requirement, because for this I have a highly portable netbook with 8 hours battery life.

Typically I take my desktop replacement with me when I am traveling for more than just a couple of days and expect to stay a significant amount of time in hotel rooms, when I am staying with family, to a customer's office, etc.

[TheLaughingMan]

I am totally going somewhere lol, I have to fly to other countries for several days to weeks for my work but need a powerful computer at the same time.

[TheLaughingMan]

wrote a review on buying laptops in Bangkok in a new post, long story short, Fortune Tower is the only good option.