Questions about gaming laptop configurating

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   Hey everyone (Mr. Mundy),

I am throwing a bit of a curveball and looking into gaming laptops.  With my current living situation, I don't have the room to fit the dream rig I had spent weeks and perhaps even months piecing together.  I do, however, still trust AVADirect and decided to come here first to see how their gaming laptops fair.

Which processor should I go for?  Clevo, Asus, or MSI?  I would seem to trust Asus, since they were who I researched most when I was thinking of a desktop motherboard.

For gaming, as well as watching DVDs, would I be better off with an nvidia video card, or Radeon?

EDIT:  Does AVA supply their own cases?  If we get an unbranded case, are all logos/stickers also removed/gone?  I think I would prefer to start from scratch and customize my own, as oppose to starting with an Asus or MSI and expanding upon that, but again, I'm not sure if the way I want to do it is the better path.

And whatever other important things I should take into consideration, please feel free to inform me!  I know very little about laptop building.

Edited by BW85 - 31 May 2012 at 2:24pm

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BW85 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AVADirect Guru Joined: 28 Apr 2012 Posts: 84	Quote Reply Topic: Questions about gaming laptop configurating Posted: 31 May 2012 at 1:58pm
	Hey everyone (Mr. Mundy), I am throwing a bit of a curveball and looking into gaming laptops. With my current living situation, I don't have the room to fit the dream rig I had spent weeks and perhaps even months piecing together. I do, however, still trust AVADirect and decided to come here first to see how their gaming laptops fair. Which processor should I go for? Clevo, Asus, or MSI? I would seem to trust Asus, since they were who I researched most when I was thinking of a desktop motherboard. For gaming, as well as watching DVDs, would I be better off with an nvidia video card, or Radeon? EDIT: Does AVA supply their own cases? If we get an unbranded case, are all logos/stickers also removed/gone? I think I would prefer to start from scratch and customize my own, as oppose to starting with an Asus or MSI and expanding upon that, but again, I'm not sure if the way I want to do it is the better path. And whatever other important things I should take into consideration, please feel free to inform me! I know very little about laptop building. Edited by BW85 - 31 May 2012 at 2:24pm

Jmundy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List AVADirect Staff AVADirect Sales Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Location: AVADirect HQ Posts: 1333	Quote Reply Posted: 31 May 2012 at 5:22pm
	Hello BW85, Gaming laptop, you say? Hmm...well, that point, you really have to decide what's more important to you; the portability of a gaming laptop, with lesser performance, or making room for a desktop that will easily out-perform a gaming laptop for the same price. Honestly, I'm the type of guy that will use a clunky gaming computer in a small amount of space, just for the performance benefit, but it's also important to be comfortable while gaming. If you need a gaming laptop to do that, then so be it! Thank you for the continued trust in our company! I definitely recommend Clevo. They're a little more on the expensive side, but they're fully customizable and will ultimately provide superior performance over any gaming laptop on the market. They tend to focus more on the performance-oriented aspects of a mobile solution, rather than flashy colors and designs like ASUS or MSI laptops do. Aesthetics don't affect gaming performance anyway, so why pay more money based on design? Although mobile Radeon cards are currently ahead of the graphics race, based on the benchmarks from the 7970m, NVIDIA is still the best in terms of reliability, heat, and external integration via an HDMI 1.4a port on recent notebooks. NVIDIA control panel, as well as the features an NVIDIA chipset provides, will make connecting your gaming laptop to an HDTV extremely simple. I had an MSI gaming laptop that had an HDMI 1.4a port, with an NVIDIA GeForce 9600GTM, and the process of hooking it up to an HDTV was very easy, end enjoyable to say the least. We use name-brand chassis to assemble our notebooks (Clevo, MSI, ASUS, Compal, etc...) and re-brand them with out AVA logos. If you prefer to receive a notebook without our logo, we can remove them all for a small fee. It's one of the main ways we advertise our company, through our products, so removing that costs us a little so we must absorb some of the loss; I hope that makes sense. Laptops are very delicate, compared to a desktop, especially when it comes to carrying it everywhere you please. You basically have to treat them as if they're your newborn child, otherwise they can easily become damaged from drops, weight placed on it from traveling, or heat. Make sure you run it on a hard, flat surface so it has enough room to cooling itself. Setting it on soft surfaces, like your lap or carpet, will block the heat vents causing the notebook to overheat. Adding a high-quality thermal paste to your order will also make sure the heatsinks do their best cooling the processor and graphics card. If you can take good care of your gaming laptop then none of these issues will ever be a problem for you.
	Joseph Mundy Assistant Sales Manager 1-216-503-6361 joseph.mundy@avadirect.com

BW85 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AVADirect Guru Joined: 28 Apr 2012 Posts: 84	Quote Reply Posted: 31 May 2012 at 5:40pm
	EDIT: Deleted the post, it looks like I may be getting a desk, afterall. A hand-me-down, 35 year old desk, but hey, its flat and sturdy! Edited by BW85 - 01 Jun 2012 at 10:07am

Jmundy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List AVADirect Staff AVADirect Sales Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Location: AVADirect HQ Posts: 1333	Quote Reply Posted: 01 Jun 2012 at 4:26pm
	Hello BW85, Hey, that's pretty cool! I've always had to pay for desks, and they're not cheap, which is no fun...It's never a good time when you have to pay just to put your belongings on something safe. I myself actually use my living as my "desk". I hook my computer up to my LED TV, set the computer next to it, and conceal cables. If I'm just watching Netflix or Hulu, I sit back on the couch and relax. If I'm gaming, I have a comfortable chair, and a drum throne that I use to place a desk-board (originally from a computer desk, that slides out to hold your keyboard and mouse) that sits on top of it. I just place it in front of me, and It's like my make-shift living room desk...area...I'm sure you get the idea! Either way, I'm happy you were able ot make it work; I guess that means you will be getting a desktop now?
	Joseph Mundy Assistant Sales Manager 1-216-503-6361 joseph.mundy@avadirect.com

BW85 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AVADirect Guru Joined: 28 Apr 2012 Posts: 84	Quote Reply Posted: 01 Jun 2012 at 4:30pm
	Oh, absolutely! I have some wedding rings I have to get paid off, but am hoping to finalize my purchase by the end of July, beginning of August!

Jmundy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List AVADirect Staff AVADirect Sales Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Location: AVADirect HQ Posts: 1333	Quote Reply Posted: 03 Jun 2012 at 12:56pm
	Hello BW85, Good Deal! I have some weddings rings I must purchase myself, so I'm sure to be in the same boat soon. That's quite a bit of time to consider your option. If I were you, I would absorb as much information as humanly possible. Consider every manufacturer (ASUS, EVGA, MSI, Gigabyte, ASRock) for your motherboard, every manufacturer for your graphics card (ASUS, EVGA, MSI, Gigabyte, Zotac) and deeply consider a solid state disk by Crucial M4 or Intel series, and save the mullah if need be. A computer will always be the type of purchase that contains a "sweet spot" that you definitely don't want to ignore. Hitting below that sweet spot may present unsatisfactory results and feelings toward the purchase. The same goes for overshooting that sweet spot, no one wants to pay tons of money forminusculee upgrades and performance difference. As always, you're welcome to post your thoughts on here and we'll help you iron out those considerations.
	Joseph Mundy Assistant Sales Manager 1-216-503-6361 joseph.mundy@avadirect.com

BW85 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AVADirect Guru Joined: 28 Apr 2012 Posts: 84	Quote Reply Posted: 03 Jun 2012 at 2:11pm
	Well congratulations in advance! It has definitely been an experience. And I have done tons of research, but learning on my own can be overwhelming, and in always worried I'll misunderstand something. The things I am about 80% sure on are: Upgrading to and intel i5 3570k Upgrading to Asus Sabertooth Corsair h70 cooling Crucial 1600mhz 8gb ram Evga gtx 670, non superclocked Crucial 128gb SSD Western Digital 500gb HDD 7200 rpm (what is the difference between caviar blue or green, etc.?) Cooler master HAF X Red case lighting Arctic m4 compound 850w cooler master power supply Is there anything you can see that will not be compatible? Unless things change quite a bit between now and the time im ready to order, this is what I'm aiming towards. Also, I live in an old house, and I think the duct system may be dirty so the house gets dusty quite a bit. Are there any sorts of covers or tarps I can use to cover the rig when it is shut down, that won't build static electricity or anything? Edited by BW85 - 03 Jun 2012 at 3:29pm

Jmundy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List AVADirect Staff AVADirect Sales Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Location: AVADirect HQ Posts: 1333	Quote Reply Posted: 04 Jun 2012 at 1:25pm
	Hello BW85, Thank you very much! It's definitely a lot of work, and certainly quote the experience. Within your quest to absorb knowledge, you can always refer to use and help you explain anything you may be misunderstanding or not certain of. I don't for see any incompatibilities, although it's always much different when you have the configuration specified in front of you. Before we process orders, they pass through our Technical Order Verification process where we search for any issues with your build. Should we find any, we will contact you and provide you with solutions. Then, after all the bugs of been ironed out, we will process your order. This should provide you with some peace-of-mind, knowing that no matter what happens we will make sure everything works for you! Your rig should be just fine, when turned off, with no worries of ESD. I would, however, look into a case that has dust filters for the fans. Also keep in mind, the more intake fans on a case, the more dust you can expect. Look into cases that have a single, front intake fan to reduce the amount of dust build up in your computer. A single fan intake is just fine, there's really no reason to need more.
	Joseph Mundy Assistant Sales Manager 1-216-503-6361 joseph.mundy@avadirect.com