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I don't understand why any pc laptop with a resemblance of quality and performance has to look like a spaceship with led lights and generally appalling design.
Here are some examples:
![[image loading]](http://pcper.com/images/reviews/389/creative_angle_big.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sppL-dCf4Hk/Tf9gPgxR8zI/AAAAAAAAA3s/NkhCO7Ly18M/s1600/gaming+pc+laptop+Asus+G74SX-A1+G74SX-3DE.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.laptopsarena.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/best-asus-gaming-laptop-3-470x396.jpg)
Now there are some high performance laptops that seems to have a good design.
![[image loading]](http://laptoping.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Asus-K93SV-front-left-e1312664353669.jpg)
But then when you see it from the side:
![[image loading]](http://www.notebookcheck.net/uploads/tx_nbc2/asusK93_5.jpg)
I mean how hard can it be.
Even when they steal designs:
![[image loading]](http://dennemariell.bloggr.no/files/2011/08/macbook-pro.jpg)
The manufacturers manage to fuck it up with weird flower patterns and a very plastic feel.
I've been searching for a gaming laptop for some time, and I've realized that I probably can't expect it to look like a unibody Macbook Pro. But there has to be a pc laptop out there that at least does not look like shit?
I beg you, show me pictures of some beautiful laptops.
/Firstworldproblem
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because aliens are cool and everyone knows ancient aliens shaped our society, therefore we must honour them by making laptops in the form of a flying saucer/spaceship.
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+ Show Spoiler +On September 26 2011 17:53 Dudemeister wrote:Now there are some high performance laptops that seems to have a good design. But then when you see it from the side: I mean how hard can it be.
That's hardly a spaceship o.0
Remember that since its a relatively high end powerful laptop, its going to be using alot of power and giving off alot of heat, the above laptop is really the most normal they can make them while still having room for the sizable fan which they need to stop the thing burning a whole through the table. if you're looking for very normal looking thin laptop with a very good gpu/cpu then its going to be insanely expensive as it becomes very difficult to cool.
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The few laptops that ive seen people dedicate to gaming seem to live short lives.
They become slow and beat up over the course of a year or 2.
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I actually laughed when i saw this thread title, haha I do agree the more popular brands always do that stupid design nonsense. The bigger concern for me is the price point though, its like adding "gaming" to anything ups the value 1000 dollars :3
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Also, if you do get a high end gaming laptop, make sure you get a warranty which will replace parts if they break/overheat. I have an alienware and the 3 year accidental damage warranty cost about a tenth of the cost of the laptop aind they have already replaced 2 gtx 260m graphics cards, the screen, two i7 720qm processors and the ram. To be fair they just replace everything every time something breaks, but leave you laptop on your bed for 10 minutes and with the fans blocked it can overheat almost instantly leading to you needing to replace really hard to fid and expensive components.
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I'll be honest I read this post 5 times over trying to figure out what you are after. But then I realised I can't give any meaningful advice since it's all subjective for example I think the Mac looks like shit.
I am struggling to see the difference between the Asus keyboard and the Mac one, as for the side view, how are ports supposed to look?
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What's wrong with the second asus one?
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The second Asus and the HP one look "normal"?
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Check out the Dell XPS 15z. They are under 1" thick and have up to i7, 1080p screens and pretty good Nvidia cards
http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-15z/pd.aspx?~ck=mn
From $999 and the best ones at $1399
I got mine from the dell outlet for AUD $1099, but the base version sells for $1399 here so i was happy as it is better than the base version anyway
Edit: I can play SC2 pretty comfortably on high settings. haven't tried any higher. Also, with the second laptops, he's talking about the thickness on them
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Nothing wrong with either Asus laptops or the HP.
Having owned the first laptop (Assuming it is the G73JW and not the Jh or G53 or G74) I can tell you it needed to be designed like that as this thing is very powerful and needs the cooling..
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Maybe Schenker XMGs, they had them at Homestory Cup 3, look pretty ok i guess.
![[image loading]](http://www.betabuzz.de/img/schenker-xmg-a510-1-500.jpg)
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T.O.P.
Hong Kong4685 Posts
Dell XPS 15 l502x or Dell XPS 17. Good looks, good performance.
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The less it's specs are held back by earth, the better they can be, obviously.
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Dell notebooks are really good, unfortunately you pay a nice extra just for the name.
You might also want to look into schenker notebooks (advertised in homestory cup) - they admittedly also look a bit "clumsy", but are of good quality without childish design-features.
EDIT: ninjazzzzz
![[image loading]](http://pics.computerbase.de/3/3/0/3/3/3.jpg)
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5930 Posts
Those Schenker notebooks look extremely nice, much better than Sagers imo. Do they operate outside of Europe/Germany? All the sites I find are in German.
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United States22883 Posts
There's nothing wrong with that one Asus. It's packing a major video card (which the MBP isn't) and it's loaded with ports (which the MBP isn't.) It's probably a heavy beast, but it's simply a matter of engineering and real estate. The feet on the bottom are to increase airflow to help with cooling.
There's plenty of laptops that have what you're looking for, so you've probably just missed a lot of stuff in your research. Lenovo Y560, HP dv6tqe, Samsung RF511, a ton of different Acer Aspire's, Dell XPS 15z. Or if you really want something similar to a MBP, wait for the new Samsung 7 Series. First the Galaxy II, then Tab 10.1 and now the 7 Series. Samsung has been out-Apple-ing Apple.
Thinner, lighter, equal power, and should be in the same class for screen and battery life. Not unibody, but still full aluminum case. $1000 cheaper.
![[image loading]](http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/samsung_series_7_chronos_hands-on_sg_0-580x459.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.laptopspec.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Samsung-Series-7-Chronos-laptop-02.jpg)
Or if you're more serious, the Gamer version 17".
![[image loading]](http://www.techdigest.tv/samsung-series-7-gamer.JPG)
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tbh i find gaming laptops suck so bad. :/ heavy, always overheating n shiz, hard to modify. that being said i never feel the need to play games when i am out and about
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I fully understand your dilemma as I had the same problem a month ago. However after a lot of searching I found what I consider to be the best looking notebook ever:
![[image loading]](http://i.dell.com/das/xa.ashx/global-site-design%20WEB/339a0100-3ea7-b075-0070-88f2652da65f/1/OriginalPng?id=Dell/Product_Images/Dell_Client_Products/Workstations/Mobile_Workstations/Precision/precision_m6600/hero/laptop-precision-m6600-front-hero-504x350.psd)
Dell Precision M6600
Ok, some of you might think .."wait, this isn't a gaming notebook". Well, yes and no. Yes, it is a mobile workstation featuring professional graphic cards. However, these professional graphic cards can be used for gaming too ...especially the AMD FirePro M8900, which is actually a pimped out 6970M (or, the equivalent of a 6850 desktop graphic card). I even managed to install the normal desktop drivers for the graphic card, so all applications now think I have a 6970M.
Prices start at $1600.
![[image loading]](http://i.dell.com/das/xa.ashx/global-site-design%20WEB/b769f50d-263b-b85b-1cc6-41cadbd08410/1/OriginalPng?id=Dell/Product_Images/Dell_Client_Products/Workstations/Mobile_Workstations/Precision/precision_m6600/overview/precision-m6600-design3.jpg)
However, the most important thing is that the notebook is gorgeous. Slick professional design, white keyboard backlight, no fancy grills and pictures on the case.... hell, it only has 2 (TWO) small stickers below the keyboard ("intel core i7" and "n-series"). I love it.
Here are the specs of the one I bought:
i7 2720QM
4GB ram
750 GB HDD
AMD FirePro M8900 (~ AMD Radeon 6850)
Price (Germany): ~ €1600
And, yes, it can run pretty much any game. So far I played SC2, Crysis 2 and Portal 2 on it.
+ Show Spoiler +
You can find more info here: dell homepage, owners thread on notebookreview.com
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5930 Posts
loaded with ports (which the MBP isn't.)
Don't need ports when you have the Thunderbolt 
Anyway I hope Samsung puts a little more effort on the build quality with that Series 7 because it looks like a winner from the looks of it. The Samsung Series 9 is surprisingly badly built with insane keyboard flex...for a high end business class notebook, there isn't any way I would go for a Samsung laptop unless they start solving these problems.
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Thank you for all your help. The Samsung 7 looks amazing. As do the Dells.
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United States22883 Posts
On September 26 2011 18:46 Womwomwom wrote:Don't need ports when you have the Thunderbolt
Yeah, because there's so many Lightpeak devices out there. Who needs USB 3.0 or eSATA for the 99% of the market.
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On September 26 2011 17:53 Dudemeister wrote:
and I've realized that I probably can't expect it to look like a unibody Macbook Pro
Sounds like you're looking for one of these.
http://www.razerzone.com/blade
As expensive as a Mac too!
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5930 Posts
On September 26 2011 19:12 Jibba wrote:Show nested quote +On September 26 2011 18:46 Womwomwom wrote:loaded with ports (which the MBP isn't.) Don't need ports when you have the Thunderbolt Yeah, because there's so many Lightpeak devices out there. Who needs USB 3.0 or eSATA for the 99% of the market.
New connections don't suddenly gain support you know. It took at least 2 years to get USB off the ground and look at us today. Even then, cables and peripherals were not cheap.
Although the adoption has been mostly been in the professional market, like with that Pegasus NAS and those Matrox video I/O decks, it'll trickle down to consumer devices soon enough since Apple has finally seized a large enough of the affluent market share. Acer and ASUS have also pledged support for the connector and should have laptops with it in 2012.
The speed benefit is certainly one huge benefit but Thunderbolt's strength has always been the ability to daisy chain devices together and this is something many users will find interesting. A single port on the Macbook Air can drive a 2560x1440 monitor, a Gigabit Ethernet port. 3x USB ports, 1x Firewire 800 port, audio, and webcam all simultaneously. Although this is through the $1,000 Apple Cinema Display, Belkin pretty much has a port replicator dock ready to be released for the mass market.
Not just that, its potentially a huge boon for those who want to game on a laptop. Theoretically you can connect up discrete desktop video cards through the Thunderbolt port to your laptop.
Thunderbolt is certainly fast but unlike USB 3.0 and eSATA, it works with just about every single thing imaginable in the market right now - its a DisplayPort, port replicator, and express card crammed into a tiny mini DisplayPort.
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Yeah thunderbolt will probably we the thing of the future.
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why don't you just get a macbook then?
I have the asus g73 (second picture in the thread)
it's big and those vents are huge (because they need to be... derp). But it doesn't have any flashy things to it really, it's just big, that's all. But yeah, if you're really into aesthetics, then you're going to have to sacrifice performance simply because no one has found a way to keep things cool in those smaller designs.
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edit: didn't read OP properly
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United States22883 Posts
On September 26 2011 20:22 Womwomwom wrote:Show nested quote +On September 26 2011 19:12 Jibba wrote:On September 26 2011 18:46 Womwomwom wrote:loaded with ports (which the MBP isn't.) Don't need ports when you have the Thunderbolt Yeah, because there's so many Lightpeak devices out there. Who needs USB 3.0 or eSATA for the 99% of the market. New connections don't suddenly gain support you know. It took at least 2 years to get USB off the ground and look at us today. Even then, cables and peripherals were not cheap. Although the adoption has been mostly been in the professional market, like with that Pegasus NAS and those Matrox video I/O decks, it'll trickle down to consumer devices soon enough since Apple has finally seized a large enough of the affluent market share. Acer and ASUS have also pledged support for the connector and should have laptops with it in 2012. The speed benefit is certainly one huge benefit but Thunderbolt's strength has always been the ability to daisy chain devices together and this is something many users will find interesting. A single port on the Macbook Air can drive a 2560x1440 monitor, a Gigabit Ethernet port. 3x USB ports, 1x Firewire 800 port, audio, and webcam all simultaneously. Although this is through the $1,000 Apple Cinema Display, Belkin pretty much has a port replicator dock ready to be released for the mass market. Not just that, its potentially a huge boon for those who want to game on a laptop. Theoretically you can connect up discrete desktop video cards through the Thunderbolt port to your laptop. Thunderbolt is certainly fast but unlike USB 3.0 and eSATA, it works with just about every single thing imaginable in the market right now - its a DisplayPort, port replicator, and express card crammed into a tiny mini DisplayPort. The question isn't the technological advancement of the port, the question is how well it's adapted. It'll be some time even after Ivy Bridge comes out before you see many products for it, unless you're getting an Apple monitor. It shouldn't be a priority for any current computer, much less a gaming laptop, unless you're getting the aforementioned monitor.
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5930 Posts
IDF 2011 already showcased a decent range of the most desired hardware for the professional and casual user including a multiple display docks, external PCIe stations, and port replicator docks (Belkin in particular has one with the same inputs as the Apple Cinema Display) so its not long before the most important peripherals start tricking out to the mass public.
I've never said it was priority to get a laptop with Thunderbolt (it isn't), my point was that Thunderbolt isn't just a really fast connector - perhaps I am wrong but you mentioned USB 3.0 and eSATA and seemed to ignore its main advantage over those two ports - and can accept multiple inputs from basically any form of input, therefore having less ports than a similar sized laptop is a complete non-issue. Yes, there isn't a cheap $100 consumer dock out right now but with Macbook Airs all over the place and Intel really pushing the Ultrabook design, you're probably going to see an appreciable amount of hardware that is Thunderbolt ready before Ivy Bridge even launches (Belkin's dock in particular is apparently launching early spring in North America).
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not exactly "gamer" but good screen and mutimedia:
The Envy 14
![[image loading]](http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/hp-envy-13-15-hands-on-12-r3media-540x304.jpg)
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On September 26 2011 18:12 killerdog wrote:
Also, if you do get a high end gaming laptop, make sure you get a warranty which will replace parts if they break/overheat. I have an alienware and the 3 year accidental damage warranty cost about a tenth of the cost of the laptop aind they have already replaced 2 gtx 260m graphics cards, the screen, two i7 720qm processors and the ram. To be fair they just replace everything every time something breaks, but leave you laptop on your bed for 10 minutes and with the fans blocked it can overheat almost instantly leading to you needing to replace really hard to fid and expensive components.
um yea dont cover your vents, you dont block off your desktop's vents
i have the m11x and had no issues at all with mine beyond the hinge [fixed free out of warranty] and me screwing up my graphics drivers [but beta = fun!]
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On September 26 2011 20:58 Palmar wrote:
why don't you just get a macbook then?
I have the asus g73 (second picture in the thread)
it's big and those vents are huge (because they need to be... derp). But it doesn't have any flashy things to it really, it's just big, that's all. But yeah, if you're really into aesthetics, then you're going to have to sacrifice performance simply because no one has found a way to keep things cool in those smaller designs.
Yeah, I've got the A1 version of that model and it runs awesomeeee. Plus if you had down-blowing vents like a lot of laptops, you'd burn your nutsack off, seriously. It actually manages to remain a laptop with the back-blowing vents.
Plus, imo, it looks really slick, I get compliments on it constantly. More on looks than performance, too.
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why is my G73 on the pic D:
it looks like another normal laptop D:
Go for G64 if you want a very normal looking laptop, it is pretty good too.
The problem with normal laptop design is the poor cooling system, which MSI and Asus G73/4 has
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On September 26 2011 23:10 ETisME wrote:
why is my G73 on the pic D:
it looks like another normal laptop D:
Go for G64 if you want a very normal looking laptop, it is pretty good too.
The problem with normal laptop design is the poor cooling system, which MSI and Asus G73/4 has
I think the 2 immense jet engines behind the laptop are enough to make it quite "distinguished" 
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5930 Posts
Bumping this. I checked out the Samsung 15" Series 7 at JB Hi fi (Australia's Best Buy I guess?) today. Can someone confirm whether there are two types of Samsung Series 7 laptops (i.e low end consumer model and high end business model)? For a supposedly all aluminium laptop, it was absolute rubbish:
- I have no idea what grade aluminium it uses but either the metal is extremely thin or its actually plastic. The top of the lid is definitely brushed aluminium but the rest has the same texture as the Dell 15z...
- ...the reason I suspect its not completely aluminium is because the whole thing flexes like nothing else out there. Press on the touchpad and the whole thing bows inwards. The build quality feels worse than HP and Dell's low end hardware and far worse than Asus in general.
- The screen is decent but still worse than the Macbook Pro. High resolution but rather poor brightness, viewing angles and contrast. No surprises there, its only like $1,500 AUD.
It definitely didn't help that the Samsung Series 7 was right next to the Sony Vaio SB, which actually felt pretty good besides the awful ALPS trackpad and low contrast screen.
Edit: The reason I am asking is because the consensus seems to be extremely polarized. Most reports about the build quality are either "this is really horrible, what the fuck" or "this is better than the Macbook Pro", which leads me to suspect there are actually two series of Series 7 laptops - one extremely shit one and one very good one.
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a look on the samsung site shows a whole range of different samsung laptops, with different price points / usage styles in mind. But i cant confirm whether any have better build quality, not sure of a place in aus that would have a demonstartion model of an entire laptop line, maybe dick smith on a good day?
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Bagging on ASUS G73 design is like having no taste in a hot ass woman wearing booty shorts. Those 2 vents on the back make it look SICK, and the design may be a little over-the-top, but it has its uses with the vents being that large to blow the heat out of the laptop. If a design helps in performance I'm all for it. However, when I think of Alienware laptops they are overpriced bloat-tops.
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I use the Asus design that you posted and I'd like to say it's beautiful!
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If u want a beautiful and extremely well built Notebook, go for the Macbook Pro. You might install Win7, too. Its moderately powerful. If you want more power than the MBP offers you will have to compromise on design. However the MBP runs SC" just fine on a 1900*1200 external Display with medium settings.
In terms of build quality nothing comes close to a MBP. Samsung etc all make heavy use of plastics. I own one and I see all those business laptops of my managers....its all a crap. HP, Samsung Vaio...Toshiba...you name it: Plastic all over the place, cheap keyboards and a plastic cover in front of the screen. A tin foil of aluminum at best with a MBP copy cat design.
Most laptops with dedicated GPU are designed for 15 year old nerds.
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Toshiba A665
I love the damn thing.
4GB RAM (up to 8)
i7, 2GB NVida 3D graphics
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On November 08 2011 19:23 Apoth wrote:
Toshiba A665
I love the damn thing.
4GB RAM (up to 8)
i7, 2GB NVida 3D graphics
I think he said gaming laptop.
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United States22883 Posts
On November 08 2011 14:33 Womwomwom wrote:
Edit: The reason I am asking is because the consensus seems to be extremely polarized. Most reports about the build quality are either "this is really horrible, what the fuck" or "this is better than the Macbook Pro", which leads me to suspect there are actually two series of Series 7 laptops - one extremely shit one and one very good one.
I haven't seen anyone complimenting its build quality. The general consensus I've seen is that Samsung royally fucked up the 7.
There's a weak hinge and the bottom is plastic, so there's some flex. And the screen is very bad, worse than all of its competitors. There are multiple versions of it and the Best Buy version is probably the worst, but the upper level versions that have been reviewed don't seem to have any better build quality. Just a better video card, the motherboard cache and a backlit keyboard.
People make too big a deal out of using plastic. Plastic is not bad, cheap plastic is. Quite frankly I'd rather have a well built plastic notebook than a well built aluminum notebook that'll have heat problems.
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The Asus N55 series is very good for gaming (I run SC2 with all maxed on mine, i7 version) and looks very good.
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5930 Posts
I don't really make a big deal out of plastic; I've only got good things to say about Thinkpads and they're plastic all round. A lot of the time manufacturer, however, use fake chrome that peels over time as well as faux metal finishes which look terrible and often feel just as bad.
The palmrest area of the Series 7 was similar in appearance to the Dell XPS, which has that horrible feeling glossy metallic finish that will literally peel off over time, which kind of confused me whether or not it was aluminium or plastic. If its aluminium, I'm not surprised Samsung had to use such thin aluminium because of milling and machinery costs; if its plastic, I don't know what Samsung puts into their plastics but its been universally bad for a long time...even their high end business monitors exhibit enough flex to induce backlight bleeding in their PLS panels.
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Look up Sager/Clevos. Pretty much what you want.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://tftscdn.nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads2/2009/09/hp-envy-13-notebook.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/RCbSb.jpg)
