Ok it's time for a new laptop, and I figured I'd just about decided on my vendor, namely these people:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/hardwarestore2000?_trksid=p2047675.l2559 based in Germany - it's about the cheapest MSI's I've located this side of the Atlantic. With a budget of around £800 I was looking at the likes of this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MSI-GE70-Core-i5-4200-Windows-7-16GB-120GB-SSD-1000GB-GeForce-GTX-850-/261574276931?pt=DE_Technik_Computer_Peripherieger%C3%A4te_Notebooks&hash=item3ce70ab743
However I've only just realised how affordable some Asus G75's have become and particularly this one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IKF2H12?tag=notebookche0f-20
Looks a cracker. Worth noting is that I already have a nearly-new SSD to fit into whatever I get. Apart from that I'm just after a 17" with big graphics and processing with a bit of style (right now I've got a thing for backlit keyboards). So what's the catch with this Asus? The only obvious bonuses to MSI is it's slightly slimmer/lighter, sleeker looking and has a more awesome keyboard backlight... Everything that matters inside the Asus dominates right?
Am I missing anything? Any insight is greatly appreciated!
If you live outside the USA, you can't buy the Asus from Amazon.
57 new from $1,269.00
5 used from $800.00
1 refurbished from $999.99
| Special Shipping Information: Due to federal and international regulations, this product can only be shipped within the 50 states. |
The MSI looks nice. Probably not as durable as the Asus. You don't need an i7 processor, the i5 is fine.
Oh... never noticed that. Am I likely to find a vendor offering it at a similar price here? I don't understand what the deal is with shipping it over, and all the best companies are based in the states... :/
'Why a laptop?'
A few reasons, I'm at uni and will be doing a lot of finite element analysis and other engineering applications on it. That, and I'm always on the go - ie I just came back from a year living in Europe, a desktop wouldn't be quite as easy to take with me.
The sites shipping information says they ship worldwide.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1033713-REG/asus_republic_of_gamers_g750jm_ds71.html .
I shopped there once a couple of years ago. Prompt delivery and in excellent condition.
Ah excellent thanks! Just another couple things about the delivery though, I imagine living in the UK I'm gonna have VAT added to that? And also, will the power brick it comes with be suitable or am I likely to need to buy a new charger immediately?
I think I might have found a winner:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ASUS-G750JM-T4109H-Intel-Core-i5-4200H-8-Go-1-To-17-3-GTX-860M-/281501757852?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_23&hash=item418acff19c
Now my french is only at a guessing-level but it seems the only downgrades on this laptop is 8GB instead of 12GB and i5 instead of i7, not very big issues amirite? And I could easily double my ram with how much cheaper this one is than all other options I've found?
Edit: It's only a dual-core i5 actually, is that a game-changer or we still on a good deal here?
depends on what you'd be using the laptop for... then again it's a laptop and to expect it to run anything powwrful is rather un-reasonable, in terms of RAM 8GB is the most you'd ever need and even for graphics/video rendering you should only have 8GB MAX as it would just ruin your laptop in about 1 year times with heat produced. As for CPU... it's a laptop, even if you're running an i7 (i'm to guess it'd be a 3rd GEN ivy at worst) it's still the m- version for mobile portability meaning it's extremely less powerful than an actual i7 4770k CPU
either way, if you're looking for a laptop don't get something super expensive it will just end up being a waste, we don't live in a world in which you can buy "powerful" computers which can be taking from A to B in small compact forms yet, buy something around £500-600 odd DELL laptop.
"power" is more of an importance to desktops, mainly as it's able to use that power.