I'm looking for a laptop that is between 13-14'' in size, has a good dedicated GPU and a battery life of 7+ hours... I've seen some new notebooks such as the Dell XPS 12'' and the Sony Vaio Pro 13. Problem is the Sony doesn't have the option of having a dedicated GPU. The Dell, in the other hand comes with an Nvidia Geforce 630M which is good enough for light gaming. However battery life is far worse than the Sony. What other options do I have? I'm planning on playing games such as Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike Source, Hitman Blood Money, Max Payne 2, Team Fortress 2, etc... There is no budget on a laptop. Just want a good old rounder, a good balance in size, gaming and battery life. Minimum requirements needed: i7 Processor 8Gb Ram or more SSD Drive Dedicated Graphics, 6 series Nvidia Geforce preferred Resolution of 1600x900 or 1920x1080 for Blu-Ray movies Battery life of 7+ hours even if buying an extended battery is possible Thanks gurus.
If price is no concern, the refreshed razer blade is probably your best bet. It has everything you're looking for: 14in screen @ 3200x1800 (you can run it at 1600x900 for games if you want) i7 4702HQ 8 GB of RAM GTX 870M SSD in various storage capacity 4.47lbs http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade
ASUS G750JH-T4106H 17.3" Windows 8 Assassins Creed IV (i7 4700HQ/1TB/256GB/ £1,794.61 (inc VAT) http://www.ksn-online.co.uk/asus-g7...s-assassins-creed-4700hq1tb256gb-p-15348.html or MSI GT60 2PC-462UK Dominator 15.6" Windows 8 (i7 4800MQ/1TB/128GB/8GB/9 Cell £1,356.90 (inc VAT) http://www.ksn-online.co.uk/asus-g7...s-assassins-creed-4700hq1tb256gb-p-15348.html or MSI GT60 2OD-092UK 15.6" Windows 8 (i7 4700MQ/1TB/16GB DDR3/9 Cell/GTX 780M £2,173.06 (inc VAT) http://www.ksn-online.co.uk/msi-gt6...4700mq1tb16gb-ddr39-cellgtx-780m-p-15308.html
Both the ASUS and MSI laptops lack portability and battery life. My friend has a MSI GT70 and I have an ASUS G74, and they are heavy. There are some Lenovo 14 and 15in laptops in the Y series that would also probably meet your needs for size and battery. Edit: Personally, I just bought an Aorus X7 (Gigabyte) to replace my aging G74. It doesn't have the refreshed 8 series in it, but it has two GTX 765m in SLI and its thin and alot lighter. Its a 17in though and the battery life isnt that good (I play plugged into the wall at work though, so battery life didn't matter to me)
^ Thanks gurus for your ideas. What caught my eye was the refreshed razer blade suggested by Vxheous. It's portable yet powerful. Good thing it also has Nvidia's Optimus technology, useful when not gaming since it will save battery life. Any idea on battery life, from experience if you've owned one or know someone who has one? Thanks.
I think the original razer blade 14in had a battery life around 5 hours, but for the refreshed one, no one has posted anything yet since I think they're on pre-order at this time.
Hey vxheous, i'm sorry that i have to bother you on this thread but i can't send private messages yet. i saw your post on a thread talking about the new msi stealth pro saying that you had bought an aorus x7, could you please briefly tell me how your experience with it is so far? i'm looking into buying it myself instead of waiting for the stealth pro.
I just got the Aorus X7 delivered this morning, configuring it right now. I haven't played any games on it yet, but there's lots of benchmarks for that. Here's my impressions so far: Pros: 1. Build Quality: It's entirely aluminum, there's no plastic at all, and makes it feel really high end (It feels like a Macbook Pro) 2. Sound so far is pretty good. 3. It really is thin. I put it next to my old ASUS G74 and it's night and day. 4. Keyboard feels nice, it's pretty shallow to type on, but considering how thin it is, it makes sense. Cons: 1. Screen: For the price this thing costs, the screen could be higher quality. When I look at it from 2 feet away plus, it looks good, but if I'm within a feet, I notice the pixels, especially on white. It's the same screen that comes with the ASUS G750 though, it's not bad, just not great. 2. Windows 8.1. I just hate it, wish I was still back on windows 7. I've read that you could potentially get models that come with windows 7, but apparently there are some sound driver issues if you roll back yourself, at least that's what I've heard. Overall, I'm very impressed with it, and would still buy it again this week, even knowing what the new 800 series is like.
Not bad considering the hardware it packs. The upcoming one may last a little longer, time will tell.
The new blade will have the battery saving technology in it, which will make it last longer, but also have a much higher res screen to power, which might end up making it come out even. For what you're looking for, I think the 14in Razer is the way to go (especially when price isn't a factor). I played some 64 player BF4 conquest yesterday, with all settings high, and maintained 60 fps. I'm sure I could push to ultra, but I wanted a consistent framerate. Really liking this Aorus.
@ Vxheous, I checked out some reviews for the Razer Blade 14'' laptop. All were excellent. The screen being an ips panel is highly rated, speaker quality was fine and battery was excellent running around 6.5 hours. Build quality was excellent and for gaming it was highly recommended. I'll wait for the upcoming refreshed Razer and buy one.
