[jeezuz]

Hello,

Looking for a new gaming laptop/ultrabook to use for both work and play.

I know, i know, the words gaming and ultrabook don't work out well together but the Asus UV51VZ seems to at least do a decent job (from the research i've done).

My budget: $2000 (prefer to spend about 1000 - 1200 if i can get similar specs). The asus i'm looking at is about 1900 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230692

My needs: Ultrabook style or mac book air style body (or as close to a slim figure as i can get)

Battery: no more than 2-3 hours needed (plane flights etc)

GPU memory : at least 2 GB to handle heavily modded skyrim in full hd close to max

CPU: prefer the i7 but can may be able to handle an i-5 if there's justification

HDD: 250 gigs (don't care either spinning or solid state)

RAM: 6 Gigs or more

Also i'm not too sure yet on windows 8. I guess if it comes with it i'll try it out for a couple months, if I don't like it i plan to install windows 7. Would do linux if it wasn't for the steam limitation.

My main use would be web browsing/spreadsheets about 80-90 percent of the time. I game occasionally, but when i do i want the max i can get out of the system.

I can't seem to find much info on the UV51VZ on this site. If someone has any experience with it and has some concerns/reccomendations please let me know.

Some issues i'm aware of with the UV51VZ are the loudness of the fans and throttling, which i can deal with. If there's any other issues others know it would be appreciated. Also any opinions on if this is a good use of 2000 bucks or not would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[jeezuz]

I take it there's no alternatives

 

[Imglidinhere]

Does it have to look like a Macbook? That's my only real question, because if it doesn't you can save $1,000 EASY just from that.

I get the point about wanting the thinnest laptop available, weight being the issue, but I wouldn't even attempt to game on something like that. The cooling ability of that laptop would be horrid.

 

[jeezuz]

It doesn't have to look like that if it's not a capable machine. If it's gonna get hot and not run real good then no good looks are worth it.

Here's a couple of regular laptops with a somewhat slim factor and better specs.

msi GE60 0ND-257US
msi GE60 0ND-213US

Is MSI a good manufacturer? Is this particular shell pretty sturdy, say something the the Asus G series laptops? How about the cooling ability?

 

[jeezuz]

Also there's a couple of laptops I've seen under 1400 that sport the 3GB GTX 670MX video card.

msi GT70 0NC-494US

ibuypower CZ-17W81

They are definitely fatter than the others, but 3GB seems like such a better deal than a 2GB GTX 660M.

Would you say the jump from the 660 to the 670 is worth an extra couple hundred bucks and a thicker form factor?

 

[technofied]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215401 $699

i5-3317U 1.7GHz
6GB DDR3, 520GB HDD
NVIDIA Geforce GT 640M LE

 

[jeezuz]

Wow that seems like a great value gotta see if they have one in stock.