is this F8 a good deal?

Hey guys im new here. I will be purchasing my first laptop here anytime now. I will be using it for university and some gaming (starcraft2, Diablo3, AOE3, and counterstrike source). I live in Canada and i've been looking for a good laptop that will last me a few years. I was wondering if you guys could tell me if this laptop is a good deal for the price. And i don't really know anything about the graphics card that comes with it. It's an ATI HD3650 with 1G of video ram (i think). Is this a good card or is it kind of a lame card with a high amount of video memory? Another question, Since it has 4g of ram, does that automatically make it a 64-bit system?

Thanks in advance!


http://www.pcvonline.com/productDetails.aspx?id=7350

 

It is (a good deal):

But I'd go with Xotic PC over "pcvonline" unless you have purchased from them, or have seen their reseller ratings:

http://www.xoticpc.com/asus-f8vab1-p-2444.html

Xotic PC delivers to Canada, just take ups express delivery to eliminate brokerage fees, you just have to pay pst and gst, plus xotic pc will give you a student discount (50% off shipping)

If your willing to spend more, I'd check out the Sager NP8660 (9800M GT). http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9800M-GT.9906.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-3650.8839.0.html

128bit interface means you probably won't be running anything new maxed out on its native resolution. But medium/high @ 1280*1024

Xotic PC will allow to get any operating system you'd like, but with 4gb ram, you might as well go with Vista because 32bit windows won't recognize all of it.

 

On xotic he's gonna have $100 shipping + ~13% taxes. Bought from pcvonline, he's gonna get $25 shipping + 5% GST (unless he's in ontario).

 

Top lid looks like carbon fibre.

Overall good laptop. Good for all types of games

 

thanks for the replies guys. Another question (almost embarrassing), does the laptop have built in WIFI or do i have to get a wireless card for it?

I'd like to mention that i do not want to purchase from the US no matter what because of all of the duty fees, and provincial sales tax that would be added on. If i get it from pcvonline then i will only have to pay 5% tax (as stated above), and the shipping would be cheaper since it would be domestic.

 

http://www.pcvonline.com/productDetails.aspx?id=7348

I'm also considering this one. Pretty much the same except this one is a 15.4" and it has a 9600gs. I'm torn between getting either the 14.1 or the 15.4. I'm worried that the 15.4 might be slightly too big to carry with me and have open during classes. But then again, I'm worried that the 14.1 will look too tiny.

Which graphics card would any of you guys prefer? The 9600gs 1G, or the 3650 1G.

 

The F8 is actually quite large for a 14", so you should worry about it looking too small. Although the M50VM offers some fun multimedia features, it's also quite large for a 15" notebook.
Regarding the GPU, the 9600M GS will perform better than the ATI HD3650.

 

can you describe these "fun multimedia features" please?

 

What province are you in?

 

All laptops nowadays have WiFi. Newer ones even have draft-N. Not sure if F8 has it, but it surely has WiFi.

 

I live in B.C.

 

Since i live in B.C. will i have to pay PST? Does anyone know? please help, I'm about (aboot... har har...) to order.

 

the way to do it is, if you live in canada and order online from a retailer that has a warehouse in BC, you only pay %5 GST. no pst.

i've been using www.tddirect.ca
they take longer than other places to sku new stuff but only 5% and excellent prices.

the m50 has the multimedia touchpad, you can play/stop vol up/down and ff and rew, as well as launch a couple programs from 2 taps.

and it gives you a full numberpad.
better speakers, and depending on the cpu you choose, better battery life.

HOWEVER. big bonus with the 14" f8, because its an ati graphics card, atitool software can control the fanspeed on the notebook.

whereas with any nvidia based m50/f9 model, no fan adjustments at all.

the video cards are very close, the 9600gs is a pinch faster, but i agree with what Arom said, get the 9800GTif you expect to hold on to this as a gaming notebook for a few years. its definately worth the extra cash if you expect to game often.

 

thanks for the replies. last question, have any of you guys used the F8 for university (ie. carrying it around to classes and such)? I won't be gaming often, i will only have the occasional gaming session.

 

I dont know if this laptop really has the battery life you need.

 

yeah, the f8 has draft-N. It's amazingly fast for wi-fi. I don't even plug my laptop into an ethernet cable when I play games online and I can still get a 25-35 ping on certain servers