Buying a New Laptop-Need Advice!

[GeneralApathy]

Hey guys,

I'm looking for a new laptop. I'd really appreciate any advice for potential buys I could get there out on the market.

Some requirements:

1. In the $500-$800 price range
2. Greater than or equal to 2.4 GHz processing power
3. Made of reliable materials (Important!)
4. Hard drive 250GB minimum
5. Screen 15in or greater
6. 2-3 USB Ports
7. Decent Battery ~2-3hours
8. No greater than 12GB of Ram, No less than 6GB
9. Windows 7 OS
10. Built in Webcam and Microphone

Things I'd Like:

1. A decent video card that can run some recent games (not integrated!)
2. HDMI output
3. DVI output
4. SSD if possible, but by no means necessary
5. At least 4 hours of battery, but yet again, not necessary
6. If possible to not exceed $700

Things I Plan on Doing:

1. Some gaming, but nothing too crazy
2. Video Rendering
3. Multiple programs at once (>4)

I'll be updating this as necessary with things I think of as time goes on.

Thank you very much for your help and advice!

[Adam]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6834215390
Acer Aspire AS7560G-7622 Notebook AMD A-Series A6-3420M(1.5GHz) 17.3" 6GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi AMD Radeon HD 7670M
For $529
This laptop has the option to do AMD CrossFireX with the two video cards in the laptop
One from the A6 APU Chip (AMD Radeon HD 6520G 512MB) intergated and one from the dedicated gpu itself AMD Radeon HD 7670M 1GB.
The APU itself is overclockable with K10Stats.
I recommend also if you know how to upgrade the ram. That would benefit and make the laptop even faster like DDR3 1600 or 1866.
This is the laptop I recommended Snifflles and he is gaming on his laptop fine.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820104259

Or Pay around $829 and get a Ivy Bridge Intel Laptop running NVIDIA Kepler GT 650M
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6834215410

FYI if your looking for Intel Ultrabooks. They are super fast and last like 9 hours in battery life. The price is ranged around $800-2000

[GeneralApathy]

This is the laptop I recommended Snifflles and he is gaming on his laptop fine.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820104259

Or Pay around $829 and get a Ivy Bridge Intel Laptop running NVIDIA Kepler GT 650M
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6834215410

Alright, Alright, that Ivy Bridge is looking really cool.

A couple of questions though.

I already have the G.SKILL 8GB Ram you suggested to me; could I replace it using them?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231295

Additionally, I was looking at this laptop: http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-V3-571...288&sr=1-3

What would your recommendation of it be?

Additionally, would the G.SKILL Ram work with it?

Thanks again!

[Adam]

The ram will work as the laptop is running DDR3 memory.
The different between the Acer Ivy Bridge Laptop on newegg and amazon is.
Personally I would go for the newegg one since it only $20-30 more.
Amazon:
15'6 Inch Screen (1366 x 768) Resolution
GT 640M 2GB DDR3
500GB Harddrive

Newegg:
17'3 Inch Screen (1600 x 900) Resolution
GT 650M 2GB GDDR5
750GB Harddrive

The GT 650M (735-825MHz) is a higher clocked version of the GT 640M (625MHz) running GDDR5 memory instead of the slower DDR3 found in the GT 640M

[GeneralApathy]

The ram will work as the laptop is running DDR3 memory.

Newegg:
17'3 Inch Screen (1600 x 900) Resolution
GT 650M 2GB GDDR5
750GB Harddrive

The GT 650M (735-825MHz) is a higher clocked version of the GT 640M (625MHz) running GDDR5 memory instead of the slower DDR3 found in the GT 640M

So, would the DDR3 RAM would work with this one?

Additionally, would anything USB 2.0 work with USB 3.0, or are they mutually exclusive of each other?

[bmanrules]

USB 2.0 devices should work perfectly with USB 3.0, Not sure about the ram question

[Adam]

Ivy Bridge laptops run DDR3 so the will ram will work.. Unless your running a old laptop from 2007 or before.

USB 3.0 has a build-in backwards compatible to USB 2.0. So anything you run that is USB 2.0 like a flash drive will work in USB 3.0 ports.

[GeneralApathy]

Ivy Bridge laptops run DDR3 so the will ram will work.. Unless your running a old laptop from 2007 or before.

USB 3.0 has a build-in backwards compatible to USB 2.0. So anything you run that is USB 2.0 like a flash drive will work in USB 3.0 ports.

Alright, alright, last questions that I can see as of now! XD

So, basically, I could transplant my G.SKILL 8GB RAM to the Ivy Bridge, and then take the 6GB from there to my old laptop, seeing that they should both (hopefully) be compatible based upon the fact that they can both run the G.SKILL 8GB RAM, right?

Also, I'm reading that this laptop has 2 HDD slots. Would this mean I could insert a SSD in as well? Is there anything that I would need to do this, or is it just a simple stick-and-slide installation?

[Adam]

Yes you can swap the ram from your old & new laptop.
Since this is not a desktop running a 2.5 inch SSD you just plug it in and that is all.

[FutileResistance]

Listen to Adam, I had no clue what I was doing until he showed up :P