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Looking to buy

post #1 of 18
1/6/12 at 8:16am
Thread Starter 
I have it narrowed down to a couple of choices. I am replacing an Acer 7720-6604 (17") that I have had for the last 6 or so years which has ran real well..So, thinking of passing it over to wife who just plays card games, majong etc and she likes the big screen too.
Here are a couple I have been looking at:

Acer Aspire Ethos AS8951G-9641
18"
I7 2670QM 2.2 Ghz
8GB DDR3 RAM
1TB HD
GeForce GT 555M
$1499

ASUS G74Sx-RH71
17.3"
I7 2670QM 2.2GHz
12GB RAM DDR3
750 GB HD
GeForce GTX 560M
$1299

The first has a slightly larger HD less RAM and slightly inferior GPU than choice two..Pretty much same price...Is the slightly better GPU
and 4GBs more RAM worth the extra $200...Also, never had an ASUS before...do they have easy access to fans/processor like the Acers thru a panel in the bottom???
Or, does anyone have a better suggestion for the buck..keeping in mind that I am in Canada and do not have access to Sager unless I ship internationally then I get dinged by customs
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post #2 of 18
1/6/12 at 9:15am
Thread Starter 
Yeah, I didnt mention, I am not a gamer but do watch live streaming hockey/racing etc do some photo editing and some spreadsheets but nothing too weird..Hopefully, this one will last a few years as well....
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post #3 of 18
1/6/12 at 9:38pm
I'd go for the ASUS Gene. Good price/performance ratio there - can't beat that at the moment. And yes, ASUS can be easily taken apart, knowing you you can do it with the eyes close winknudge.gif

cheers ...
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post #4 of 18
1/7/12 at 8:06am
Thread Starter 
"knowing you you can do it with the eyes close "
I would say that is stretching it a bit...nowhere near what you gurus can do...lol
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post #5 of 18
1/7/12 at 8:32am
Gurus? You meant weekend notebook tinkers? laughing.gif

cheers ...
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post #6 of 18
2/1/12 at 12:54pm
I have the Acer AS8950G which is similar to the 8951. I added a 128GB SSD drive and moved the 750 GB drive to the 2nd bay and the thing boots in 20 seconds. The one thing I've read about the 8951 is to add memory the keyboard need to be removed since the slots are under the keyboard and only 2 of the 4 slots have easy access so upgrading to 12 GB would be easy and less then 50.00. The unique thing about the 8951 is the touch pad is removable and can be used as a remote control for media. Although i don't hear good things about the touch pad.
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post #7 of 18
2/1/12 at 4:16pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the input..appreciate it..the new lappy will come on receipt of my tax refund, so I have a couple/few weeks yet..I see from looking around that the 8951G has some pluses and some minuses which I suppose will be for any laptop..I am not beyond looking at "a better mousetrap", so if anyone has a better suggestion for a person living in Canada, has to be a 17.3", not a gamer but do watch alot of live streaming races...keeping the price below $1300 Cdn/US (pretty much the same right now)..Like to buy in Canada (dont want to pay those crazy shipping/cross border fees) so Alienware is out. (didnt know they were associated with Dell)
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post #8 of 18
2/2/12 at 8:02am
Take a look at Sony VAIO EJ2 Series Gene. wink.gif

cheers ...
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post #9 of 18
2/2/12 at 8:49am
Thread Starter 
Looked at the EJ2 and the biggest processor I could find was the i5 and 6 or 8GBs of max RAM...Thats well behind the Acer posted with an i7, 8 GBs of avail and 12 GB max RAM...Unless I am missing something????
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post #10 of 18
2/2/12 at 10:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by saugen48 View Post

Looked at the EJ2 and the biggest processor I could find was the i5 and 6 or 8GBs of max RAM...Thats well behind the Acer posted with an i7, 8 GBs of avail and 12 GB max RAM...Unless I am missing something????

Nope - but with what you want to do, an i5 with plenty of ram and good cpu/gpu combi can do wonder. And the price is right smile.gif

cheers ...
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post #11 of 18
2/2/12 at 11:49am
Thread Starter 
But my way of thinking, its likely going to be around for a while, so if I get the i7 and a lappy that can support up to 12GBs of RAM, it can hang around like this one did for 5-6 yrs
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post #12 of 18
2/2/12 at 12:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by saugen48 View Post

But my way of thinking, its likely going to be around for a while, so if I get the i7 and a lappy that can support up to 12GBs of RAM, it can hang around like this one did for 5-6 yrs

You are going right back to the mentioned ASUS above, or looking into some "gaming" or professional business machines

cheers ...
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post #13 of 18
2/2/12 at 1:33pm
Thread Starter 
As mentioned,I got a bit of time yet, so keeping my eyes open and ears to the ground...if you or some of your compadres on the forum here see something in that area for that price, keep me in mind
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post #14 of 18
2/3/12 at 10:05am
HP Envy 17 winknudge.gif

cheers ...
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post #15 of 18
2/3/12 at 10:55am
Thread Starter 
Looks nice, but when I bring up the specs to the same as the Asus G74Sx-RH71 then it comes to more than $1500..see alot of the reviews complaining about the touchpad and one guy said the Blu-ray doesnt perform either...just noting
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post #16 of 18
2/3/12 at 11:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by saugen48 View Post

Looks nice, but when I bring up the specs to the same as the Asus G74Sx-RH71 then it comes to more than $1500..see alot of the reviews complaining about the touchpad and one guy said the Blu-ray doesnt perform either...just noting

Is this direct from HP Sales? I thought it was like around $1300 for the i7 and 12gigs of ram stock. You can always go low with eventual upgrades the next 3-5 years where parts are coming down. I personally don't believe in Blu-Ray in notebooks, a normal good DVD burner will do fine. BluRay disk = stand alone player, better with firmware updates and disks compatibility in the long run.

cheers ...
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post #17 of 18
2/3/12 at 4:03pm
Thread Starter 
Yes it was..((http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/series/category/notebooks/ENVY17_series/3/computer_store))..Base config is $1249...
Read the reviews on that site...not many are happy with the touchpad...its not that I use a touch pad that much, I actually dont, but worry that down the road, it will turn into one of those hardware nightmares and start affecting the rest of the machine....I do think its a greaat looking rig and with that superlarge access panel on the bottom which accesses all memory slots, HD, and Wifi...that's cool..I wonder if the processor heat sink are also accessed thru that area or does it necessitate a complete dismantle...I understand that the fans are located somewhere around the bottom of the lcd area..
These reviews dont look promising either ((http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/hp-envy-17-3d/4852-3121_7-34205423.html?tag=mncol;subnav))
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post #18 of 18
2/4/12 at 8:19am
We have complaints here all the time with touchpad regardless of brands/models laugh4.gif

And the reivew is on the 3D variant

cheers ...
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