New Computer Build

Okay, I went to the site and configured it. If you're buying this, I am assuming you have tons of money to throw around and don't really care about shopping around or price. You've configured an extremely fast machine priced at just over $3,000.

But, in case you are, I'll at least give you some tips on the configuration. If you're truly interested in maximizing bang for buck, we can discuss other brands. But let's go with this for now.

Save $370 by going with the i7-4700MQ. No-brainer. This is a gaming laptop, and you will not notice one ioda of a difference in performance with the 2 extra MB of L3 cache and a 400MHz bump.

Next, and this is simply what I'd do because I don't like to pay for operating systems, pirate Windows 7 ultimate. They are charging $125 extra just for you to move from Win 8 to Win 7 ultimate. I'd never pay that. But if you'd rather go the honorable route (lame), you can get it on eBay and elsewhere for under $100. Of course, ask yourself exactly what you want out of Windows 7 Ultimate that Windows 8 won't give you. (I'm not saying you don't have an answer. Just want you to be sure it's worth it if you don't want to pirate it).

Finally, nix the other SSD and stick with default 750GB hard drive and save $160. SSD performance shines as a boot drive. Unless you're doing daily massive (I mean massive) file transfers between drives, you're wasting your money on less storage.

So, with those three tweaks, you knock off $655 and lose no significant gaming performance.


Will it be able to handle most games? Of course, and at very high/ultra settings in a lot of games.

Also, I assume mobility is important (I know some of the gaming folks here work offshore or travel a lot for work and whatnot, so a gaming laptop makes a lot of sense). Otherwise, that $3k could get you an orgasmic 1440p gaming desktop setup that would rival the top builds among the GB posters (Except Coyote's).

IMO, I would go with Samsung SSD.

You can get the 250 gb samsung 840 ssd for about $170. I'm tempted to pick one up for my laptop.

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Do think its worth the money to get a laptop with the 120hz refresh rate?

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Man, I don't know. I know games at 60FPS feel smoother but at some point above that you have to think about diminishing returns when you throw in that the human eye can't see more than 30fps.

I'm trying to find the article but I read a while back about how the human eye can only pick up so much is a myth. I'll edit when I find it.

eta: Having trouble finding it but the basic concept I am getting from searching is that it just isn't that simple. The eye doesn't see in frames per second in the real world so it just doesn't work that way. Also the way you perceive a static picture flashing like your desktop vs movement is different. I can tell for sure when playing games at 30 vs 60 and what people always say about 120 is the feel is just different, whatever that means.

tv refresh rates are in their own world too because sports aren't even shot in frames that high. You would think it would all be the same but they all do different things and different tv's use different technologies to make the in between frames so to speak

Yea there is a lot of bs out there. I read up on that too one time but I don't remember the details.

It's interpolation but different tv manufacturers do it differently.

Yeah they have different names for it "Clear Frame" or "Smooth Frame" etc. I have a 120Hz tv and I turn that shite off. Doesn't look natural to me. Gaming at 120Hz is a whole different experience, though. However, between 1440p and 120Hz, I choose 1440p if I can't have both.