柳东墙: 2010.05

comparison of gaming laptops

	ASUS G73	Sager NP8690	Sager NP8760	Sager NP9280
Processor	i7-720QM (1.60GHz Quad-Core)	Core™ i5-520M 2.4 GHz	Core™ i5-520M 2.4 GHz	Core™ i7-930 2.8 GHz
Video Card	ATI 5870 1G GDDR5 1024MB	ATI 5870 1G GDDR5 1024MB	ATI 5870 1G GDDR5 1024MB	nVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 280M 1GB DDR3
Screen	17.3"/FHD (1920x1080)	15.6" (16:9) Full HD	17.3" (16:9) Full HD	17" (16:10) WUXGA (1920x1200)
Memory	8G DDR3	4GB DDR3, Expandable up to 8GB	4GB DDR3, Expandable up to 8GB	6GB DDR3
Storage	1TB (500G 7200RPM x2)	---	---	---
OS	Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)	---	---	---
Price	S$2,551.89 (including 7 % tax) (from mucro)	S$2,214.51 (including 7 % tax) (from mucro)	S$2,447.15 (including 7 % tax) (from mucro)	S$3,490.75 (including 7 % tax) (from mucro)

	MSI GT628	MSI GT729	Alienware M15x	Alienware M17x
Processor	Intel Q9000 2.0Ghz	Intel Q9000 2.0G	Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-720QM 1.6GHz	Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo P8700 2.53GHz
Video Card	Geforce GTS 160M 1GB DDR3	ATI 4850 1GB DDR3	nVIDIA® GeForce™ GT 240M 512MB GDDR3	nVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 260M 1GB GDDR3
Screen	15.4" WSXGA, (1680*1050)	17" WSXGA+Glare	15.6 " Full HD (1080p) WLED (1920 x 1080)	17.0" Beyond HD 900p WXGA + (1440x900)
Memory	4GB DDR3	4GB DDR2 800	3GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM	4GB Dual-channel 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
Storage	500GB SATA	500GB SATA	320GB 7200RPM SATA	500GB 7200RPM SATA
OS	Windows Vista® Home Premium	Vista Home Premium	Windows(R) 7 Home Premium 64bit	Windows(R) 7 Home Premium 64bit
Price	S$2,561.58 (including 7 % tax) (from mucro)	S$2,879.00 (including 7 % tax) (from mucro)	S$2,650.00 (including 7 % tax) (from mucro)	S$3,235.00 (including 7 % tax) (from mucro)

considerations on choosing the suitable model

The above 8 models are the ones I chose according to reviews from forums and magazines.

In order for the SYOG game to run smoothly, I think we need to choose a fairly decent gaming notebook.

As we use the notebook to demonstrate our game, I think first we need to consider about the notebook's screen size. If the notebook is connected to projector to show the game, then the screen size will not be a problem. But If people will the game directly through the notebook's screen, the screen size should not be too small. I think 17" will be enough. But If you prefer a bigger size, I will do some more search.

For the video card, as stated in Appendix 1, though the nVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M has the best gaming performance (as in this January), the ATI 5870 has more pros. So I think the latter should be our choice.

The above 8 notebook models' processors and memory should not cause problem to our game. The Intel Core i7 is said to fit better for video or photo editing, while Q9000 better for gaming. As for SYOG, I think both processors will do a good job.

As our game will be running from web browser, the hard disk storage should not be a problem.

To summarize the above, I think ASUS G73 should be the first choice.

-----

According to comments from Hardware Zone, Alienware notebooks are expensive because they are selling the brand.

And people recommend Sager, which is publicly recognized for its high end gaming laptops. Sager assembles the laptop with parts chosen by the final customers. So the above three Sager models can be customized, i.e., the processor can be changed to i7, memory can be expanded. The storage and OS sections are marked as "---" because the price listed above don't contain these two parts. They should be manually chosen by the customer. Of course, the final prices will rise accordingly.

Sager NP8760 or MSI GT729 can be the second choice.

Appendix 1. comparison of video cards

Pros of nVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 280M:

Best gaming performance

Pros of ATI 5870:

Similar gaming performance
Uses MUCH less power so more battery life.
Has DirectX 11, and since you cannot upgrade the GPU in a laptop the GPU will have to last you awhile so DX11 is important.
Runs far cooler. This can ensure that no damage comes to your laptop with improper maintenance.
No SLI drivers, which were pretty bad on the laptops not too long ago. Research this one yourself as it might have changed.

(from this link)

(Notes: SLI stands for Scalable Link Interface (SLI), is a brand name for a multi-GPU solution developed by Nvidia for linking two or more video cards together to produce a single output. SLI is an application of parallel processing for computer graphics, meant to increase the processing power available for graphics.)