Trying to decide on a new laptop

[Blazkowicz]

I think Toshibas have a good enough keyboard in general.
I agree with you (UT) : people forget it's a PC, and on a PC you do wtf you want regarding storage. Maybe people have been buying too many high end smartphones and Apple products and suffer Stockholm syndrome.

But, best would be to know if there's an M-SATA slot and I can't find that piece of information.

 

[Malo]

Would probably need to know the US or UK model number to figure that out, too little information based on that german model.

 

[Grall]

But, best would be to know if there's an M-SATA slot and I can't find that piece of information.

If you can't find any info about it there probably isn't one.

 

[homerdog]

I've been eyeing Mythlogic for a long time.
https://www.mythlogic.com/mobile.php

You can get a 13.3 or 15.6" model with i7-4810MQ (free upgrade from 4700MQ) and GTX860 (Maxwell), 8GB RAM, excellent Intel WiFi, no HDD or OS for ~$1,100. These things have 2 mSATA slots and room for a 2.5" drive.

Add your own SSD and OS (which you may already have), for ~$1,300 you have a very nice, very portable, well made gaming system.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

I've been eyeing Mythlogic for a long time.
https://www.mythlogic.com/mobile.php

You can get a 13.3 or 15.6" model with i7-4810MQ (free upgrade from 4700MQ) and GTX860 (Maxwell), 8GB RAM, excellent Intel WiFi, no HDD or OS for ~$1,100. These things have 2 mSATA slots and room for a 2.5" drive.

Add your own SSD and OS (which you may already have), for ~$1,300 you have a very nice, very portable, well made gaming system.

I'm pretty sure those are rebranded Clevos.
There are lots of Clevo resellers in Europe, but UniversalTruth claims that he's "sensitive to beauty and eye-candies" so he won't enjoy those laptops.

Apparently that MSI with flashy red lights was okay to him, but the sober and discreet designs of the Clevos won't do.

 

[homerdog]

Yeah I think they are indeed Clevo. Well built and decent looking once you take the stickers off.

Aesthetics are a consideration, but certainly I wouldn't pass up a great laptop just because it doesn't look like a macbook. Then again, those Mythlogic models may be to pricey in this case.

 

[Grall]

Those laptops look pretty decent for being PCs. I generally prefer the aluminium unibody Apple aesthetic myself though, but they don't look terrible for sure. Certainly well equipped as far as hardware goes, the 17" unit having room both for SLI/CF graphics as well as three 2.5" bays... That's pretty nuts!

 

[Albuquerque]

Holy snap, that 1313-A model is bitchin' for the pricetag. I have no use for a gaming laptop, but if I did, that would be immediately at the top of my list.

 

[UniversalTruth]

I configured one 17" with an Intel quad + R9 M90X, with 120 GB SSD + 750 GB HDD, 2 x 4 GB DDR3L 1866 and the resulting price tag is $1700.

Which, of course, is too damn expensive.

The MSI, for that matter, is with a joke as APU but at least it is €900.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

What's the thing about the AMD GPU anyways?

 

[UniversalTruth]

What's the thing about the AMD GPU anyways?

AMD has a nicer global policy and attitude towards clients. The opposite is true for JHH who charges as much as he wishes for piece of crap hardware.

I think it is just you who severely unfairly underrate AMD and overrate Nvidia.

I don't care about their paper advantages, in real usage I won't even notice that better performance/watt damn stupid thingie.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

I think it is just you who severely unfairly underrate AMD and overrate Nvidia.

Oh the irony...

I don't care about their paper advantages, in real usage I won't even notice that better performance/watt damn stupid thingie.

You weren't capable of understanding that we're not talking about "paper advantages" but a very real and very perceptible 2x performance advantage over the same budget and power envelope. Not even after we went to the trouble of putting links with benchmarks here out of pure good will.
Therefore, I don't find you capable or worthy of proceeding with the discussion.

Best wishes for your purchase.

 

[UniversalTruth]

a very real and very perceptible 2x performance advantage over the same budget and power envelope

Over R9 M290X? Please, show me those benchmarks.

As far as I know, such a GPU doesn't exist!

I told you multiple times that I throw Nvidia out of the window to the trash because I don't like them but you keep insisting why don't you go with them anyways. I will not!

 

[homerdog]

It is telling that they only offer the 860M in their most compelling models. It is the best mobile GPU right now.

Has AMD offered up a mobile version of Bonaire yet? I can't seem to find any laptops with Bonaire GPUs. Would not be as good as GM107, but better than their current stuff.

 

[UniversalTruth]

That A10 CPU is spectacularly bad. You can tell from a kilometer away that the Bulldozer/Piledriver architecture was not made with mobile devices in mind.
The CPU cores' IPC is very bad and they're constantly throttling down to minimum speeds because of their inefficiency.

Steamroller mobile APUs coming out sometime this year might be a tad better and at least their iGPUs can eventually be used for computing tasks since they're GCN parts.

Because their current CPUs/APUs are ~2 year-old models based on the inefficient Bulldozer architecture and made on the now-aging 32nm process.
The Kaveri-based parts should be quite a bit better and more efficient and they should appear within the next months.

"Kaveri" Q1 2014, 28 nm

Expected Q1 2014.[20]
Based on the Steamroller microarchitecture.

• Up to 4 "Steamroller" x86 CPU cores with 4 MB of L2 cache.[21]
• Uses new power-optimized GCN GPU architecture
• Up to 20% faster CPU and up to 30% faster iGPU than mobile Richland
• Dual Graphics with Crystal Series mobile dGPUs
• Integrated Audio Co-Processor
• Unified Address Space for CPU and GPU through HSA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...microprocessors#.22Kaveri.22_Q1_2014.2C_28_nm

They are delayed and I still can't find proper information in which quarter they will ship mobile Kaveris.

Furthermore, all their mobile GPUs are now over 2 years-old and the 20nm Pirate Islands shouldn't take too long to appear, carrying significantly better performance/watt and performance/price.

So as I said, an all-AMD laptop right now is a huge mistake IMO.

20 nm PI are year 2015. It will be quite a long wait, I suppose.

Intel's Broadwells are also delayed till Q4 2014...

Oh, GOD, damn it!