I’m a few clicks away from ordering this, for $1109:
Sager NP7378 (Clevo W370SS)
4th Generation Intel® Haswell Core™ i7-4810MQ
NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 860M (2.0GB) GDDR5 PCI-Express DX11 w/ Optimus™ Technology
8GB DDR3 1600MHz [2x4GB] Dual Channel RAM
17.3" FHD 16:9 “Matte Type” Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Anti-Glare Screen (1920x1080)
1TB 7200RPM SATA II HDD
Sound Blaster 3D Audio
Thoughts? Criticisms? Alternatives?
At least double the RAM- 8GB will likely not be enough.
I’ve read several articles stating 8GB is more than enough for anything short of intensive video processing and for most applications more than 8GB yields diminishing returns.
But if I ever really need it, RAM is simple to upgrade and can be gotten cheaper than what the builder wants to charge me for it.
Bumping the processor up to the i7-4910MQ at a cost of close to $400 isn’t worth the very slight bump in speed, but bumping the memory fro 8 to 12 for less than 50 dollars sounds like a good idea.
What OS will it have?
The recommended memory spec for Watch Dogs is 8 megs. So there’s something to be said for having a little cushion in there although, as you say, it’s an easy upgrade later if you so choose.
I only use Watch Dogs as a benchmark because it was supposedly the standard bearer for the next generation in games (designed around the next gen console hardware) so I’m guessing it’s reflective of where we’re heading.
I’m having it shipped without an OS, but it will be Windows 8.1 Pro (which is currently on a partition on my Macbook Pro). When I get the new computer I’ll revoke the license, do a clean install, and re-activate on the new machine.
Reported.
You’re way ahead of the curve cost wise since you’re looking at a Clevo, so good job there. Biggest bang for the buck performance improvement you can make will be an SSD. Spend $200 on a Plexus M5M and have the OS and your most used programs installed there, while using the 1TB hard drive for media storage. I honestly wouldn’t even consider installing an OS on a mechanical drive at this point.
When you get it, toss Intel XTU on it to undervolt the CPU. I’m guessing you’re already on notebookreview.com; if not, look to the forums there for instructions on its use. Undervolting will help keep the temps down at zero risk to your CPU and zero cost to you.