Laptop Opinions

[Kaladran]

Just checked and Staples is out of stock

I'm still stuck waiting a week or two before I can place the final order, waiting on my expense report to clear at work so that I get a nice check...

[Clay Pigeon]

Well I got my k53TA today. So far so good (I made sure it works).

[Kaladran]

So Clay, you've had the k53TA for a bit now, any new thoughts? I found it for sale at http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=62262 and it looks like work is finally refunding for my work trip last June (better late than never I guess...), so should I bite the bullet?

[Clay Pigeon]

I like it. I haven't really used it for anything but browsing yet, but it has the horsepower to run tf2 and harder games if I want it. Supposedly you can overclock the cpu portion as well with k10stat, and people are reporting getting it to run normally at 2.4GHz and turbo up to 3.0GHz, or in the alternate, dropping the voltages a tad and running it at stock speeds to increase battery life. I haven't bothered yet, as I haven't really done much besides browsing and installing steam, and I don't use laptops unplugged so I don't care much about battery life.

I did buy and install this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231341 to double the ram and unlock dual channel mode. By default the laptop only has 1 so-dimm of CL9 samsung ddr3-1333. Note that the a6-3400m only supports up to ddr3-1333.

No problems to report at this time other than I wasn't able to burn the backup ISOs. I'm not sure if the burner is bad or the isos were corrupt or what. I burned the first ISO fine, but the burner refused to burn the second. I was able to back them up to my external drive, so I can burn them from another machine if it becomes an issue. Worst case scenario I just reinstall w7 home premium from a disk and avoid the small amount of bloatware that came preinstalled (I had to uninstall a trial version of trend microsystems internet security and install MSE).

Also, the on-system update tool automatically updated the bios, which fixed a potential banding issue with the lcd (I never saw any banding, but others did on their k53ta's).

[Clay Pigeon]

Strangely, what you linked to mentions 6550m instead of 6650m. You might want to look into that. My k53ta-bbr6 came with a 6650m as the discrete graphics to pair with the on-apu 6520g.

edit: I think that may be a typo on NCIX's part. The specs page lists the graphics as 6720g2, which is what you get when you combine the 6520g and 6650m.

So, I like the laptop. I was surprised that there isn't some sort of clasp to keep it closed. I haven't really tried gaming with it yet though.

[Kaladran]

So... the below laptop will be on sale tonight for 399, the video card is different but if comes with more RAM and a bigger HD. Is it worth it?

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/ ... cdc169en02

[Clay Pigeon]

6gigs seems wierd. I've never seen at 6gig stick, so I'm going to guess it has a 2gig sodimm an a 4 gig sodimm, which will preclude dual channel mode. A-series APUs are very bandwidth sensitive when it comes to their graphics (that you linked uses integrated graphics). You're going to have worse graphics performance that way. You'd be better off just getting something with a single 4-gig sodimm and then adding a second one from NCIX for 20-25 bucks.

I really like my k53ta, but the choice is yours.

I've never heard good things about HP laptop build quality. My stepdad's overheated, and I'm told on the interwebs that they tend to overheat after a few years because they don't have robust enough cooling.

But for 400 bucks, I dunno.

[One_Medic_Army]

6gigs seems wierd. I've never seen at 6gig stick, so I'm going to guess it has a 2gig sodimm an a 4 gig sodimm, which will preclude dual channel mode. A-series APUs are very bandwidth sensitive when it comes to their graphics (that you linked uses integrated graphics). You're going to have worse graphics performance that way. You'd be better off just getting something with a single 4-gig sodimm and then adding a second one from NCIX for 20-25 bucks.

I really like my k53ta, but the choice is yours.

I've never heard good things about HP laptop build quality. My stepdad's overheated, and I'm told on the interwebs that they tend to overheat after a few years because they don't have robust enough cooling.

But for 400 bucks, I dunno.

Just saying, my ASUS G51-vx has 6gigs of Ram, not sure what the configuration is on it.
As to HP laptops, I'd suggest another manufacturer as well, HP consumer products aren't very good as far as I've encountered.

[Kaladran]

6gigs seems wierd. I've never seen at 6gig stick, so I'm going to guess it has a 2gig sodimm an a 4 gig sodimm, which will preclude dual channel mode. A-series APUs are very bandwidth sensitive when it comes to their graphics (that you linked uses integrated graphics). You're going to have worse graphics performance that way. You'd be better off just getting something with a single 4-gig sodimm and then adding a second one from NCIX for 20-25 bucks.

I really like my k53ta, but the choice is yours.

I've never heard good things about HP laptop build quality. My stepdad's overheated, and I'm told on the interwebs that they tend to overheat after a few years because they don't have robust enough cooling.

But for 400 bucks, I dunno.

For saving 300$, is it worth buying it and swapping out the 2 gig ram stick?

[Clay Pigeon]

I don't see why that wouldn't work.

[Kaladran]

Ok bought the HP I wanted the Asus more, but the difference in price was too much (that and I knew it was just overpriced for Canada when the US price was 150$ less), if I get 3 good years out of it before it overheats then I'm happy. I'll probably try to swap out the RAM, and may also try to swap out the keyboard for an English one.

I mentioned to work that I may use it for travel, and asked if they would pay some of the cost. If they do, I may return the HP and go for the Asus anyways.

[Clay Pigeon]

So I got tf2 running on my llano laptop. It is my understanding that asymetrical crossfire doesn't kick in for directx 9 games like tf2 (my model has a 6650m in conjunction with its 6520g). Just using the integrated video I'm able to get >60fps at native resolution with everything set to medium (high when there isn't a medium option) and HDR turned off. Not bad at all.


How's it working for you, kaladran?