Like a laptop that is an i7 but also 14.1’. I don’t want a 15.6 laptop. Also someone tells me make sure i get a quad core i7 one as the u series thats i7 isn’t that good compared to the quad core processor.
From what i research online, theres like 1 maybe 2 laptops that is lenovo or sager?
The OP is better suited to IMHO. Moved from General Questions.
samclem, moderator
Unfortunately, 14.0” laptops aren’t as plentiful as they used to be. Smaller 13.3” and 12.1” displays are more common sizes for those not wanting a full-size 15.6”.
I still find 14.0” to be the ideal size for me. That’s especially true now that most 14.0” models offer a high-res display upgrade (either 1600x900 or 1920x1080 vs. basic 1366x768). BTW, I highly recommend getting one with a high-res display if available.
I’m a Dell fan, so I’ve had a few business-rugged Dell Latitude 14.0-14.1”’ laptops over the last 10 years. I currently have a Latitude 6430u (late 2012), which was replaced by the Latitude 14 7000 last year. The Latitude E6440 and Dell Inspiron 14 7000-series are also 14.0”. A nice bonus on the Latitude series is that they come with a standard 3-year warranty. They are also still available with Windows 7!
Another great 14-incher is the Lenovo Y40. It comes with a 14.0” FHD (1920x1080) display, JBL premium speakers, AMD graphics card and even a 256 SSD for $809. I never buy extended warranties and usually advise my friends and family to avoid them also. As a rule, they’re very overpriced and the vast majority of people who buy them won’t need to use them. But Lenovo is the one exception- upgrading to 2-years is only $49 and 3-years is just $99. Money well spent, IMO.
One other option that I really like is the Sager NP2740. It’s not cheap (starts at $1099) but it’s pretty much loaded at that price. Sager is an upscale/premium laptop brand and their products are designed to look and perform accordingly. It has a gorgeous 14.1” Full HD (1920x1080) LED display, high-end Intel Iris Pro 5200 Graphics and a sharp looking, thin design. It’s worth a look if your budget can handle it!
I know you said that you prefer an i7 quad-core or maybe an i7 dual-core M-series processor. One of the biggest issues with a smaller (14”) and thinner laptop chassis is heat dissipation (aka- cooling). A quad-core or even dual-core M-series i7 processor generates a lot more heat than the ULV (Ultra-low Voltage) U-series i5/i7 processors. At best, the fans will run all/most of the time and you may even notice that the keyboard and underside are very hot to the touch. The U-series processors run much cooler and also have longer battery life.
Until I bought my current Latitude 6430u in August 2012, I insisted on having the most powerful processor available regardless of the cost. I had a Latitude E6400 (c. 2008) with an Intel Core 2 Duo T9900 (3.06GHz) that cost me an extra $350 over the 2.26GHz C2D P8400. I also had to cope with constant whirring fans (sometimes very annoying when they ran at high speed) and a blast of super-heated air blowing from the vents! My 6430u has a 1.8GHz Core i5-3427U and I was very skeptical that it would be powerful enough for me. With the exception of video encoding (which is as much a graphics issue as CPU), I have NEVER wished for more speed! I also love that my battery will last on a flight from ATL to LAX with time to spare. =)
What do you want to use this laptop for? That’s a genuine question, because unless you’re planning to do a lot of high-end gaming, 3D modelling, video encoding, or other demanding CPU-based activities, an i7 is overkill and will be more expensive, hotter, and reduce your battery life.
My work laptop is a 14" Dell Latitude E6230 with an i5 processor, and it’s plenty for everything I do, including some fairly serious number crunching using OLAP tools, hosting a couple of virtual servers for demos, and everything everyday. The battery lasts 5 hours, and that’s far more useful than a beast that blows hot air all over the place.
Yes the laptop i found out that fit my criteria is the lenoyo y40 and also the sager one you are talking about. Someone told me however the lenovo one eventhough its an i7 its not good b/c its not a quadcore. Do you agree/disagree on this? Currently have an i3 laptop and that person said that y40 one won’t be that much of an imprvoment over my i3 one. Do you agree/disagree?
Yes he mentioned to get the sager one and its a true quad core and thats what i want. I see the y40 cost like 800 dollars whereas the sager cost at least 1000. $200-$300 isn’t a big difference to me as i want a laptop where i dont have to upgrade again soon. Thus if i get the y40 and well its similar to my current i3 laptop … then theres no pt in me getting it… that make sense right?
Would you recommend me upgrade anything in laptop whether its the y40 or the sager on? I currently have a 250gb samsung ssd that i use for my asus i3 laptop. So i would just replace whatever hard drive y40 or sager has with this one as its an ssd and the one they provide would be a regular hard drive?
I also like to mention i play online poker and it would use lot of resources which is why i want another laptop as this one lags quite a bit.
Yea same person told me the quad core one would use more energy/fan. But does that really make it a negative? I assume only thing that mean is electricity is a bit more? They told me u series i7 would use less but then again wouldn’t it be much slower than the quad core? Last thing i want is a new laptop that isn’t any better than the asus u45jc-a1 i have thats an i3-370m processor.
Hey im looking at the sager one right now on xoticpc.
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np2740-clevo-w740su-p-6201.html?wconfigure=yes
If i get this one, do i need to do any upgrades to it? First off, would upgrading 8gb ram to 16gb ram be worth it? Xotic pc charges another 90 dollars for this. I believe i could get one on amazon an 8gb for 80 dollars or so and have a friend install it but woudl it be better to have it done by xotic pc as both 8gb sticks would be same brand or thats not an issue?
I currently have a 250gb ssd samsung one on my asus u45jc-a1 laptop. So i would then replace that hard drive with this one currently? The thing is wouldn’t the sager still be a bit slow since i would be transferring my current ssd into the sager laptop? Currently 95gb available out of 232gb showing on my ssd laptop. Should i get a new 250gb ssd all together or would that be a waste of money? Note, i wouldn’t do anything at all with this ssd in my asus and would just leave it there. Also would it be best to wipe out everything in my current ssd hard drive right now before i transfer it to the sager if i choose this?
I see an option for an external video adapter. Do i need this or not? The thing is my laptop will be connected to a monitor almost all the time when im playing. I will be connecting it to a 24’ laptop with 1600x1200 resolution. I mean there might a chance i use a 27’ laptop with bigger resolution but the chance of that happening is close to zero.
If im only planning to connect the sager to one external monitor with 1600x1200 resolution… would i need the external display video adapter or not? Im not sure so i dont want to buy the sager then i find out i can’t connect to the external monitor thats 1600x1200 resolution. Im guessing unless you are connecting to at least 2 monitors then you need it? I always thought any computer whether laptop or deskto could connect to a monitor without any issues.
1 x USB 2.0 FHD Video Adapter [HDMI / DVI / VGA] (Laptop Display + External Display from Laptop + USB FHD Adapter = 4 Total Displays) (up to 2048x1152 Resolution)
( + 99 )
2 x USB 2.0 FHD Video Adapter [HDMI / DVI / VGA] (Laptop Display + External Display from Laptop + USB FHD Adapter = 6 Total Displays) (up to 2048x1152 Resolution)
( + 195 )
Wireless HDMI Adapter (Transmitter & Receiver System for HD 1080p & 3D Support)
( + 209 )
anyone else?
Sorry for the delay in my response. I’ve been recovering from hand surgery from the last week or so and haven’t been able to type….not fun!
I think your best bet is to go with the Sager instead of the Lenovo. The Sager has the quad-core i7, as you mentioned, and it is also slightly lighter (4.2 vs. 4.9lbs). The Sager also offers the choice of Windows 7 or 8 while the Lenovo is only offered with Windows 8.1.
The Y40’s display quality and performance also seems to be inconsistent from one review to the next. The display on the Sager outperforms the Y40 in all areas and, as a bonus, it is anti-glare, which I consider a huge plus!
I also think Sager will be much easier to deal with in the unlikely event that you have any warranty claims or technical issues. Sager has a reputation for good customer service and they actually care about customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. In my experience, XOTICPC also delivers top-notch service and I’ve never heard of anyone having a bad experience buying from them.
Regarding your question about using an external monitor, the Sager has an HDMI-out and mini-DisplayPort connectors. If you connect to your monitor via either of those, then you don’t need anything else.
As for upgrades, I’d go for the upgrade from 8GB to 16GB of RAM for $90. It would cost you at least $80 to do it yourself and it could cost more than $100 to match the exact brand/model of the 8GB already installed. It’s a no-brainer.
I would also upgrade the standard hard drive to one of the SSD options. The SSD in your current ASUS is probably at least one or two models old, so a new one will offer better performance. IT will also spare you from having to perform a reinstall of Windows if you installed it in the new one.
I also recommend upgrading the Wireless Card. It has a standard (generic) BGN wireless adapter, but for $35 you can upgrade to the Intel 7260 AC Dual-Band adapter. AC wireless is the future and you’ll be prepared if you already have the WiFi card to utilize it.
Its a solid machine but fun side note
Its a whitebox laptop, Sager does not make them, they are a rebranded Clevo W740SU They are available from a variety of sources.
less than stellar ars technica review: Initial Thoughts: Clevo W740SU (Iris Pro 5200) | Ars OpenForum
Thanks for that information. I posted this on poker forum and someone suggested that i don’t even need to upgrade the ram as almost anything i do will never go over 8gb. Would u agree on this though? He says unless you are doing some intensive video editing or stuff like that which i would never do, he said 8gb is more than enough.
He also recommended me to upgrade to the ssd just like u mention and said do 256gb because thats even less than buying your own one and putting my old ssd into that one probably isn’t a good idea.
He said the external monitor thing dont worry. He said just get the ssd and thats all. He said the graphics card is very good. He didnt mention upgrade the wifi though but isn’t it good enough for that?
8GB if RAM will be plenty. I have 8GB installed in my system and even under the heaviest loads; I have never seen memory usage exceed 65%. It rarely exceeds 8GB if RAM will be plenty. I have 8GB installed in my system and even under the heaviest loads; I have never seen memory usage exceed 65%. It rarely exceeds 30% in my daily multi-tasking routine. The 8GB will come installed as a single module, so you’ll have an empty slot to add another 8GB in the future if you need/want to at some point.
I was just looking at the configuration choices on the XOTICPC website and realized something interesting. You have the option of adding a mSATA SSD in addition to your Primary Hard Drive (which can be an HDD or SDD). The standard Primary Drive is either a 1TB 5400rpm or 750GB 7200rpm HDD. You have the option of adding the additional SSD and having it Preconfigured as the OS (operating system) drive. So you could select a 120GB (+115) or 250GB (+175) SSD and have the OS installed on it. Then you would also have the 750GB/1000GB Hard Drive for storage! I would probably choose the 1000GB 5400rpm HDD because it has more space and spinning at 5400rpm it will genrerate less heat. Just an idea.
Regardless of whether you go with my idea above or just upgrade the Primary Drive to an SSD, I highly recommend going with the Samsung 840 EVO rather than the Crucial or Intel SSD options. Samsung consistently outperforms most rivals in tests and they also have a reputation for long term reliability. They are also the only SSD manufacturer that uses their own memory controller which has benefits that are too complicated to explain to here. But they’re the best, IMO.
For $35, I would definitely get the Intel 7260 AC wireless card. In my experience, Intel wireless cards perform offer the most consistent performance and the least number of issues. Intel also issues driver updates very frequently to address issues or improve performance. It’s a “can’t go wrong” situation, IMO.
Have you decided which Operating System you’re going to get?
I also noticed how reasonable the Extended Warranty coverage is from Sager. Upgrading to 2-years is $79 or 3-years is $149. Regardless of which warranty you choose, Sager provides Lifetime Tech Support. If you order thru XOTICPC, they (XOTICPC) also provides Lifetime Limited Labor Coverage regardless of warranty.
Let me know if you have any other questions. Also, let me know when you place your order and the exact specs you decide on. I’m excited for you….it makes me want to order one! =) Unfortunately, I just got a new toy in the form of a 2015.5 Volvo S60 T6, so that uses up my ‘toy’ budget for the next five years, at least! =)
Hey i have question about this. So you suggest me use the 250gb ssd samsung as the primary drive and get another 1tb regular hard drive as the secondary drive or vice versa? I would want most of my poker playing to be using the ssd as it would be faster than the 7200 rpm hard drive. So if i get 2 of them, i could have both installed in the laptop at same time or only one? I thought you could only have one hard drive in it? Or you mean use the ssd as the primary one but for the secondary one, use it for any other stuff u want to keep extra as the other hard drive and thus never put it in when playing poker? The current ssd i have in my asus u45jc-a1 thats i3 370m processor is a samsung 840 pro thats 250gb.
I never considered upgrading the wifi card. The thing is with the laptop, majority of the time i will be connect to it wired b/c wired connections are faster than online and i would want wired for online poker. Of course i will be on wifi many times as well but is upgrading the wifi card really necessary? I figure whatever is the default one should be fine. My current asus laptop with its wifi is very good and has good range and everything and i didn’t upgrade it a while back. I also ordered this same asus on xoticpc many years ago. If i do upgrade, why not upgrade to the $50 one since thats probably the best one? Because if i were to upgrade for $35, then upgrading to the best one for $50 total, i would probably do that instead.
Also doesn’t it depend on your router? Thus i read if your router is an N router but max speed isn’t very fast, then it doesn’t matter which wifi card you have? I also read that if you are sharing wifi with multiple users, then it won’t matter what wifi card you have?
Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter is my wifi card for my asus laptop.
So upgrading the wifi card later on would be very very hard then right? I recalled many years ago i had a dell inspiron 6000 that was very old laptop and wifi didn’t work. I then bought a gigabyte wifi card and a friend installed it for me but it was very hard, he had to open my laptop up and it was extremely complicated. So if i were to upgrade the wifi card, it would just be as tough? My friend back then is pretty good with these things but this was one of those things that were pretty tough for him b/c he had to put it in some weird spot.
I get to choose windows 7 or windows 8 right? Would i need to pay extra to upgrade that as well? Im using windows 7 now and i’m fine with it. I honestly loved windows xp back then before i got a new computer both desktop and laptop and thus used windows 7.
I have bought few desktop and laptops throughout the years and have never bought a warranty ever. Would you say its bad idea to not buy one yet again? I always felt i didn’t need one and its a waste of money for things like this. However i do want to keep this laptop for a long time. Another question but in general how long should one keep a laptop for before they upgrade? Example back in late 2010, when i got the i3 laptop, i would figure i wouldnt need to upgrade after quite a bit of time. Also back then i bought an i3 laptop b/c most of my online poker playing was on a desktop that was i5-750 processor which is a quad core so i didnt use laptop much at all.
So with this quad core i7-4750HQ laptop, does that mean i probably wouldn’t need to get a laptop in the future for online poker anymore? Could in 5 years, the laptop would be too slow or so?
hey beel are you there?
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np2740-clevo-w740su-p-6201.html?wconfigure=yes
This is the laptop im going to buy. I’m going to upgrade the wireless card for 35 more dollars to
Sager - Intel® Dual Band AC 7260 802.11 A/AC/B/G/N 2.4/5.0GHz + Bluetooth™ 4.0 (SKU - WIFI98) ( + 35 )
Also, i will be buying a samsung ssd drive 250gb and not have the 5400 rpm hard drive and that will cost me 110 more.
I use windows 7 64 bit home premium on my current laptop and im fine with it.
I did not know until recently sager laptops do not have windows installed and i need to buy it myself. I bought many desktop/laptops from dell and asus and always windows is installed. So i see here are the options
No Operating System [Drivers & Utility Software Only (Windows 7 & 8.1)]
~Windows 8.1 - 64-Bit (64-Bit CD Included) + MS Office 2013 Trial ( + 80 )
~Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit (64&32-Bit CD Included (Supports up to 16GB of RAM)) + MS Office 2013 Trial ( + 95 )
~Windows 8.1 Professional - 64-Bit (64-Bit CD Included) + MS Office 2013 Trial ( + 135 )
~Windows 7 Professional Premium 64-Bit (64&32-Bit CD Included) + MS Office 2013 Trial ( + 145 )
~Windows 7 Ultimate Premium 64-Bit (64&32-Bit CD Included) + MS Office 2013 Trial ( + 195 )
I was told if i didn’t buy any of these, then i can’t use the computer because theres no windows. So i figure i just buy windows 7 home premium for 95 more dollars. However, is it true if i buy it from them, that means it will be bloated with bloatware etc? I do know buying from them will be good b/c they will install windows 7 so i don’t have to bother with it. However, i was told if i buy windows 7 myself on ebay, it will not only cost less… but i wouldn’t have any bloatware… is this true? Because every computer i ever bought had bloatware and i dont really know how to get rid of all of it.
I assume its the first link that i want? Thus buying on ebay cost around 30 dollars less as oppose to me having xoticpc doing it and most importantly i wont have bloatware?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/Microsoft-Windows-7-Home-Premium-64-Bit-SP1-Full-Prem-DVD-COA-Keycode-New-/161426188701?pt=US_Operating_Systems_Software&hash=item2595c0299d&afsrc=1
The other thing is someone pointed out to me that the sager np2740 doesn’t have a dvd drive so that means i would either need an external hard drive which i don’t have, or download the windows 7 iso file online, then put it on a usb drive and then install it that way. Can someone tell me if they done this before and is it very easy? I’m extremely bad with computers and stuff like this so if its very hard, then i wouldn’t want to do this. Im a bit confused so one goes to that windows website and download it… but u have to supply the activation code from the windows 7 that i buy from ebay in order to download it? Or its free but you get to use it for 30 days and after that, then you have to activate the code from windows cd to it?
The thing is if thats the case, then isn’t the windows cd/dvd useless then if you dont have hard drive? Thus if someone were to sell me the code such as here is the 16 or 32 digit windows 7 64 bit home premium code, then thats all i need?
Also how long is this entire process of downloading the iso file and then putting it on the usb drive then installing windows? Well i want to know about the downloading the isofile and the transferring to usb as installing windows should take just as long as how i normally reinstall windows with my previous laptops?
Also how big is the windows 7 iso file? Reason is b/c i only have a 4gb flash drive. Someone said its 3.1gb so that should be fine? They said what i do is download windows 7 iso file, then put usb into sager laptop then install windows. After i do that, then i go and download the sager drivers etc and then install it into sager laptop. Is that correct? The thing is they said i need to delete the windows 7 iso file b/c i would need space on the usb flash drive as i already would have used 3.1gb. Is that correct?
Also one other question. I have 2 other computers. One’s a desktop and one’s a laptop. Desktop is a dell one and laptop is asus. Would i be able to use the dell or asus windows 7 installation cd on the sager if i don’t buy the windows 7 from either xoticpc or ebay? I don’t believe i have the reinstallation cd anymore from dell, not sure if they gave me one or not but i would have to look for it. But i still have the asus windows 7 reinstallaton cd as they gave me that when i bought it and i done many reinstalls previously.
I assume that wouldn’t work b/c its basically one cd per computer? Or is it one cd per ACTIVE COMPUTER? Wouldn’t it be bad idea if i use the asus installation cd on the sager though if i could because its an asus and thats a sager? Also wouldn’t it also be bad b/c when i reinstall my asus laptop, the cd comes with bloatware and thus its pretty slow and thus it would make the sager slow?