A bit of Help moving on?

After a couple of years in the m11x series it seems that it is time for me to move on.

I've owned a R1 and R2 during this time and I'm a lot more stationary that I was (I still move around a ton, just not quite as much) and I am looking to upgrade into the more powerful level of desktop replacements.

I plan on passing this little beast to my Girlfriend as she has always wanted it (She loves the colors )

Anyway, Since I have been technically off the market for awhile, what is top of the line for laptops now?

I get that the GTX 580 and the 6990M seem to be the most powerful options available and that the 560 was a bit of a bust (I think it was throttled to a 460 in some cases?) I am just wondering what the market looks like for around $1000 or so before I start looking

I'm not particular to brand and I don't care particularly about looks or weight. I'm more worried about raw performance and reliability for the price.

Of course I would love to have something with the 6990m in it, is there anyone out there that has any suggestions on where to start?

Thanks for your time!

 

You arent gonna find a laptop with a top end GPU for about 1000 bucks, the best I could see was a Samsung with a 6750m. Newegg.com - PCs & Laptops, Laptops / Notebooks, $1000 - $1250 If you want a 580m or 6990m in your laptop you need to shell out more cash. Heres the only laptop I saw on Newegg with a 580m: Newegg.com - MSI GT783R-658US Notebook Intel Core i7 2670QM(2.20GHz) 17.3" 12GB Memory DDR3 1.5TB HDD 7200rpm Blu-Ray Burner NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M It's over 2 grand. Honestly? I would still stick with Alienware, the GPU's are never "cut down" versions and the build quality is pretty solid. Maybe the m17x? With the 580m it's just under 2000 bucks.

 

Sorry I should have cleared that up. I know I can't get something in the area of the 580 or the 6990m with a grand, I was just tossing that number out there to find out what I should look for in that range.

I want something that can punch a hole through games, but mainly I want something with a larger screen than the M11x offers.

I have considered staying with Alienware, however I can get a Sager with the 580 for around 1800 or so (I believe its 15.4", but don't quote me)

Mainly I am looking to get a grasp on what cards are worth a damn today in the Laptop world. I hate they way they rename and rebrand cards so you never know what is actually faster and wanted to know if there were any ones I should lean towards while I go after a laptop.

I know all about the cpus, its just the GPUS that I never mess with, so their numbers are always out of my reach.

 

ah well in that case have a look at this: Comparison of Laptop Graphics Cards - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

I would highly recommend Clevo/Sager in this case. They have their own forum here and for ~1300/1400 you can get a 6990m and a few other things.

6990m is the FOTM at the moment, and it is discounted because the 28nm cards (Nvidia kepler (600m series) and AMD Mobility 7000m series) are coming out by Q2. 580m is slightly more powerful, but whether you want to pay the large amount extra is your choice.

 

I'm not a firm believer in paying $200+ for a small increase in performance. I'm not brand loyal either (thought I've always preferred Nvidia's drivers more, its not a sticking issue)

I assumed that the 6990m was the flavor of the month by how it has been advertised and I can grab a Sager for around 1400 with it in it.

How does the i7-2670QM perform with the 6990m?

 

i once had pentium 4 lappy with ATI card. Did not work well... ATI card's drivers would not work at all... would only use window's ones. Though it was long time ago.

I'd imagine they work fine now, unless they are still in a sort of war over the industry... Though i keep reading a lot of crap about ATI drivers all the time... (is it ATI now? used to be ATI, Radeon, AMD, something starting with S, i am confused about it)

 

They were ati now they are AMD, same company though. I really wish alienware would offer AMD chips for the two lower end alienware laptops (m11x and m14x) in general, AMD is cheaper than nvidia.

 

Sempron was the S one you are thinking about I am assuming.

AMD was the motherboard and processor one for awhile. Semprons were a series of processors they made. ATI made video cards, most of which bear the Radeon name (Radeon 9250, HD Radeon 5700)

They are both part of AMD now.