another laptop thread... can you help?

[techead]

right, so a while back I posted a laptop thread about my bro needing a 15" with 1920x1080 res.

Aside from being out of his budget, they are few and far between. So he decided against it. His old (current) laptop is a 15" and has 1366x768 res. So he is used to that, and has decided to stick with it.

With that in mind, we are now looking at all the options. He's on the move a lot, so nice and light and thin is good. As well as battery life.

Needs to have minimum i5 3rd gen.
Needs to have 2 slots so can upgrade memory (most come with 4GB and thats not enough)
Needs to have hybrid SSD+Spinner drive if possible.
Needs to have full keypad

Would appreciate all the advice and guidance. We have access to Mustek, Frontosa, Pinnacle, all the major resellers basically.

Im trolling google like a mofo, but I really appreciate peoples guidance here.

So far we are set on this Asus.

http://asus.laptopdirect.co.za/Asus-S550CA-CJ146P-lp-82184.php

edit : I am noting some lackluster perfomance comments on this machine, which doesnt make sense to me. Perhaps the extra 4GB ram would help

 

[PostmanPot]

You won't really find SSHD drives in laptops in SA. It'll have to be an upgrade.

http://gigabyte.laptopdirect.co.za/Gigabyte-Q1542N-3210-750-W8-lp-73762.php

GT 640 graphics card, as well as a 2 year warranty.

 

[techead]

thanks for the input PP, appreciate it.

it would appear that the software which his company uses, is not Windows 8 ready. Im waiting to get final confirmation on this but it would appear it IS the case. This complicates things further, as a lot of laptops dont have the Windows 7 drivers available. And a very few SMB laptops come with the Windows 7 option

very frustrating lol

 

[henry1103]

Have you looked at the MSI-GE60?
Not sure about pricing here, but I bought mine overseas about a year ago for R8k (they upped my RAM to 8GB for free). Should be around the same price now. Doesn't have SSD though.

 

[techead]

Have you looked at the MSI-GE60?
Not sure about pricing here, but I bought mine overseas about a year ago for R8k (they upped my RAM to 8GB for free). Should be around the same price now. Doesn't have SSD though.

Hmmm... that's a gaming laptop!

Im gonna have to try source a pinnacle price list. Im not currently on their distribution list

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

Find a laptop with the best Warranty and then reverse engineer it towards specs and budget.

Still sounds like your bro wants his cake and eat it too, re. budget and specs. You are right that a lot of laptops are now only issued with W8, but we downgrade them all the time. Dell ships you an image for free, which includes all the drivers of course.
Vendors are well and truly aware that a lot of 3rd party apps are not W8 ready.

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

Hmmm... that's a gaming laptop!

Im gonna have to try source a pinnacle price list. Im not currently on their distribution list

Probably 'cos you are not a registered dealer with them. Good luck with that.

 

[techead]

Probably 'cos you are not a registered dealer with them. Good luck with that.

actually we are

 

[techead]

Find a laptop with the best Warranty and then reverse engineer it towards specs and budget.

Still sounds like your bro wants his cake and eat it too, re. budget and specs. You are right that a lot of laptops are now only issued with W8, but we downgrade them all the time. Dell ships you an image for free, which includes all the drivers of course.
Vendors are well and truly aware that a lot of 3rd party apps are not W8 ready.

hmmm thanks for the info. Waiting on the Dell price to arrive in my inbox now. Lets see what Dell have to offer

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

actually we are

Then why wil you "have to try and source a pinnacle price lsit"? Just call your account manager at Pinnacle and they will gladly send you a list. Same with Tarsus. With Tarsus you can log onto their website with your username and password and download the latest pricelists.

Any account manager will also gladly give you ideas of laptops that fullfill the specs you require.

 

[ponder]

With that in mind, we are now looking at all the options. He's on the move a lot, so nice and light and thin is good. As well as battery life.

Needs to have minimum i5 3rd gen.
Needs to have 2 slots so can upgrade memory (most come with 4GB and thats not enough)
Needs to have hybrid SSD+Spinner drive if possible.
Needs to have full keypad

As far as I know you are only gonna get a 'full size keyboard' with a 17" laptop. 17" means bigger screen (also higher res) which is gonna eat more of your battery. You are asking for things here that are mutually exclusive and you should revisit your requirements.

Most laptops have 2 memory slots.

I would not worry about a hybrid drive. Just buy your own hybrid drive and replace the one in the laptop.

What's your budget again, R8k?

 

[techead]

As far as I know you are only gonna get a full size keyboard with a 17" laptop. 17" means bigger screen (also higher res) which is gonna eat more of your battery. You are asking for things here that are mutually exclusive and you should revisit your requirements.

Most laptops have 2 memory slots.

I would not worry about a hybrid drive. Just buy your own hybrid drive and replace the one in the laptop.

What's your budget again, R8k?

thanks for the reply, appreciate it. Im finding a LOT of laptops in the 15" range with full keypad hey?

re the hybrid, yes I told him that as well. He can just make do with a normal spinner for now.

Around R8k, perhaps R9k but I think its pushing it!

 

[ponder]

Im finding a LOT of laptops in the 15" range with full keypad hey?

I've never seen those in real life but how are the key sizes and spacing? I can't see how one could fit a proper full size kb in the 15.6 form factor. Hopefully I'm wrong.

 

[kayvee]

Yoga 2 Pro? It's gonna screw your budget however

 

[kayvee]

... but then the screen makes up for it

 

[techead]

I've never seen those in real life but how are the key sizes and spacing? I can't see how one could fit a proper full size kb in the 15.6 form factor. Hopefully I'm wrong.

here is the one hes considering. well spaced, full sized keypad

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

I've never seen those in real life but how are the key sizes and spacing? I can't see how one could fit a proper full size kb in the 15.6 form factor. Hopefully I'm wrong.

No offense, Ponder, but that issue has been resolved for quite a few years now. That's why most "standard" laptops are 15.6" This allowed for a bigger chassis and provides space for a numbers pad. Key sizes and spacing is universal.

 

[ponder]

No offense, Ponder,

None taken, just have not seen one.

 

[techead]

hi again

right so he went with the Asus P550CA, it was a good choice. Typing on it now. Very nice slender machine with lots of appeal.

he decided to swap out the 500GB spinner with a 128GB SSD. Good choice. It comes with 4GB RAM on-board and 1 slot open. He opted to put a 8GB in there, so thats 12GB total. Runs well.

Now we have a problem though. The laptop is advertised as a Windows 8 machine, with the option to downgrade to Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. He went with that option due to software that he has to use for work, which has Windows 8 issues. The supplier did the Windows 7 install on the SSD, and supplied the old drive in a box.

The latop came with Windows 8 recovery disks, so in that respect he is covered.

But with this Windows 7 install Ive noticed that there is a LOT of wasted space on this SSD though. As you see in the below.



He would like to totally nuke the SSD, and do a fresh install of Windows 7. I have a Windows 7 Pro 64-bit disk that he can use. I have checked the Asus website and all the drivers are available.

http://www.asus.com/supportonly/P550CA/#support_Download

So we have the drivers, we have a install disk but we dont have a cd-key... :erm:

Guys, how are we supposed to do this?? I need some kind of cd-key to use for this new install? There is no cd-key in the books, on the box, or on the windows 8 sticker on the back of the machine.

any help would be greatly appreciated