New Gaming Laptop
I need help.
I've become tired of having to go to the office to play PC games when Betsey is watching TV. I want to be next to her, even if we're in completely different worlds. To that end, I'm getting a gaming laptop. So far I've decided on this model:
Talk me out of it, or confirm that it's awesome. I haven't been in the new PC market in a long time.
Peace.
Heavy
Yeah, it's heavy, but it's basically a desktop replacement. I'm not looking for much portability except from room to room, so I'm okay with that.
I really appreciate you doing the research and letting me know you came to the same conclusion.
Now I just have to convince myself that it's a good investment.
ha
I doubt you will find a metric that will tell you the laptop is a good financial investment. Laptop hardware gets outdated too quickly, so all that really matters after a year or two is portability. That is why I generally try to buy small/light laptops, because they will always be helpful to have around even five years down the road when you have a road trip. But this of course is not what you need in a laptop, so we have to look at other metrics to measure the value of the investment.
For you, I would look at the laptop as an investment in your relationship. It will allow you to spend more time with her, as well as Junior. And you can't put a price tag on all the memories you will have with your family, so that practically makes the laptop priceless. When looking at it like that, $1500 is a steal! How can you pass up this incredible opportunity?
Hehe
I think it's really funny that you think you'll have time for gaming once the wee one arrives. Hilarious. ;)
(I'm only half-joking. Kids are a huge time-sink, but babies do mostly just sleep all the time for the first several months. So you won't have to cut back too much on your gaming at first. Then again, it's really hard not to sit and stare at them while they're sleeping, since they're so freakin cute.)
New Tack
The Shuttle thing turns out to be only for high volume orders, which is sad.
However, after looking into graphics chips, it turns out the 360M doesn't support DX11, so I'm now looking for a laptop with a HD 5870 graphics card. This makes me happy because I've always been a root for the underdog AMD kind of a guy.
Companies aren't horses
Rooting for horses in a two-horse race isn't a good analogy, because the position of the horses during the race doesn't affect the price of your ticket, which you already bought, and doesn't affect it's value until the end.
However, even in a two-horse race, betting on the underdog has better potential value, because the odds are better, and you stand to win more money.
Price fixing in a monopoly > Price fixing in a oligopoly.
By always supporting the underdog in graphics and CPU chips, I'm helping to keep price fixing to a minimum, theoretically, I hope, please.
ok
I did some research for you, and it seems like a solid purchase. I think the graphics card you picked is a good one.
My only concern with the laptop is how heavy it is (starts at 9.5 pounds). That's quite a brick. For comparison, my backup laptop is about 6.5-7 pounds, and I think that is too heavy and is annoying to have on my lap for an extended period of time. Alienware has a lighter gaming laptop (7 pounds or so) for a comparable price, but you do sacrifice some GPU power to do that. Alienware also has a crazy heavy gaming laptop that is like 13 pounds, but it is also about $500 more expensive if you spec it out to something reasonable.
All in all, I think you've made a good choice. I love Toshiba laptops, and I now want to get that laptop too!
Let us know what you decide and if you are happy with your decision...