Laptop - Looking for Best Value

[Bman.]

Good afternoon all-

  I am looking to buy a laptop today to run my 3rd party apps (via simconnect) such as FSmap, PlanG, FSInn etc.  I have found there are simply just too many options without second guessing one's self along the way. 

  I don't need a blazing fast machine but I don't want a slouch either since I will be using this machine for other general day to day business - but at night, it will be running the applications noted above which are pretty light weight.

  With that being said, what can you guys recommend for a "good value" machine?  See the link below. 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006740%20600004346&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&CompareItemList=32|34-115-763^34-115-763-TS%2C34-220-695^34-220-695-TS%2C34-220-734^34-220-734-TS%2C34-115-820^34-115-820-TS%2C34-220-697^34-220-697-TS

  I have pieced a laptop together over at Dell and with coupon codes more or less ended up as the same price as the Acer machines with exception of the video card.  Through in the independent memory and Dell is a little more expensive.  I just set up my folks new Studio 17 and it seems solid enough so I am not a Dell hater by any means but I am still leery in general of the Dell. 

  From the list above (or other suggestions) what can you guys recommend for "best value"?  In the end I don't know which is better - I3, I5, I7...as the core goes up the buss speed comes down.

  Looking for suggestions-

Thanks

Benjamin

[Bell417]

In my experience, Asus makes great laptops. The only "downside" is that instead of customizing your laptop's specs, you must choose from one of their configurations. Still, their quality is outstanding (lowest failure rates of any laptop manufacturer), and their value is amazing.

[Ryan Mason]

Definately stay away from an Acer, I have a dell xps as my FS rig but use an acer laptop for work and its horrendous, the biggest issue being their proproetary BIOS, its extremely hard to customize it in any way.  Also the onboard graphics is horrible for anything more than watching movies.

[Bman.]

Noted on the ACER.... that's sort of the impression I have had as well.  Funny how people over time form opinions about overall quality etc.  I feel the same about Gateway as well...  I don't know, maybe the opinions are malformed overall but they are based on personal experiences.

So, how about ASUS versus Dell in terms of quality of components?

[Ryan Mason]

Well I have the M1730 XPS so it's a little outdated, but I have continued to keep up on the Asus range, the higer end ones for gaming , its pretty much a toss up between their top 2, with one you get an i7 920 and an ATi card (5870 I think) or a T9900 Dual core with a GTX 260, I don't know why they just don't make an Asus with an i7 and a nvidia card, but who knows on that score.  I have to however disagree on Gateway, just from the gaming perspective.  I had the 6831 gaming laptop before the dell and it ran really well.  I however did have one of the old desktop gateways and know what you mean, as that was bogged down with so much bloatware it was unbelieveable.  I think they hit a winner with the 6831 for a while until it became outdated.

[Bman.]

I am leaning.... leeeeaning....

ASUS K72 Series K72JK-X1 for $899. i5 (420M) with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5145...

Hmm... 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220734

[Guest alexstan]

I use a Dell Studio 1555. The specs are in my sig.

[tennyson]

If it were me, I'd definately go with the Asus.

They are hard to beat.

I know that Dell have had problems in the past few years, I personally wouldn't buy a Dell, but many swear by them.

On another note, I sold and serviced Acer laptops for over ten years (as well as many other brand name lappy's) and I never had a broken or damaged Acer, ever!

Not sure how a BIOS has anything to do with the manufacturer, but their technology is good and they have very good support (hardware & software) in Australia.

Just my 2 cents,

Frank

[Holy Cheese]

+1 for Asus here. my girlfriend and I both have Asus MV70 laptops, great machines.

Cheers

Jack

[Bman.]

Thanks guys-

Then I think I will just dive in with this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220734

or

http://www.amazon.com/K72JK-A1-17-3-Inch-Versatile-Entertainment-Laptop/dp/B003HLVJL8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1278509011&sr=8-4

Do you happen to know the difference between the X1 model versus the A1 model?  I would prefer to purchase through Amazon (payment plans...and free 2 day shipping).

[VH-JLC]

Ive been watching and keeping a close eye on this thread,

Here's a graph on some comparisons between a few

http://hothardware.com/Reviews/Asus-G51j-Gaming-Notebook-Review/?page=8

Ive been doing my research on laptops for a week and until I spoke with a mate that works in a IT sales dep for a big chain I thought I was destined to get this little beast

http://www.asusnotebook.com.au/2108_ASUS-N61JQ-N61JQ-JX021X-Notebook-Intel-Core-i7-720QM-with-Win-7-Pro.php

It generally retails for AUS $1500

My mate told me Toshiba and a few others are set to release the next generation of Notebooks at the end of this month/early next month.. Making my purchasing decision have to wait a little bit longer..

My only question would be is;

Can FSX be run on an external hard drive??

Seeing as though the HD's in these packages come at 5200 RPM.. I would be looking at buying something a lot better to run FSX on but wasn't too sure if it were possible..