ibuypower any good? (i7 675m laptop $1548)

[marketpantry]

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Valkyrie_CZ-17_BTS


Case
Valkyrie CZ-17 17.3" Full HD 1920x1080 LED-Backlit Display Laptop w/HDMI Port, E-SATA, USB 3.0, Illuminated Keyboard, Li-Ion Battery, Universal AC Power Adapter - Original Metallic black
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM Mobile Processor (4x 2.3GHz/6MB L3 Cache)
Memory
8GB [4GB x 2] 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM [Laptop Memory] - Corsair or Major Brand
Video Card
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M 4GB GDDR5 Video [CZ-17]
Primary Hard Drive
180 GB OCZ Agility 3 SSD Single Drive
Data Hard Drive
None
Optical Drive
6X Blu-Ray-R/8x Dual Format DVD±R/±RW + 24x CD-R/RW Combo Drive [CZ-17]
Flash Media Reader / Writer
Built-in 4-in-1 Media Card Reader/Writer [Laptop]
Sound Card
HD Audio with THX TrueStudio Pro
Network Card
Killer E2200 Gaming Networking
Internal Wireless Network Adapter
802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi + Bluetooth Combo [CZ-17]
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium + Office Starter 2010 (Includes basic versions of Word and Excel) - 64-Bit
USB Ports
Built-in 2x USB 2.0 Ports + 3x USB 3.0 Port [Laptop]
[FREE] - Logitech G300 Mouse with Nine Programmable Controls
$1548

 

[petteyg359]

If it were a 15", I'd say that's a good price. At 17", portability is much reduced, and I would find it worth less for that. Otherwise, decent specs, especially the GPU.

 

[Knufire]

I've heard that XoticPC has much better customer service.

 

[marketpantry]

I've heard that XoticPC has much better customer service.

while thats true, for the same price of a 675m laptop with the same processor i get an ssd, gaming mouse, and a few other goodies WITH windows already installed.

 

[LZ_Xray]

I can't remark on iBuyPower's laptops as I've never had one, but I bought two of their desktops about four years ago and it was an atrocious experience from both a hardware and customer service standpoint. I will never touch anything from them again. Cables were a rats nest, one CPU cooler not seated enough to keep it from thermal shutdown. Screws rattling around in the bottom of the case. One power supply DOA.

I bought them because I couldn't beat the price even building myself - their prices are good without a doubt - but I sorely wished I hadn't in short order.

After that, and after better research, I bought two from DigitalStorm for the same reasons, and it was a literal 180 from IBuyPower for about 5-10% higher price. Build quality was absolutely pro, and on two occasions had a DigitalStorm rep call me based only on a post I'd made on their messageboard. 15 min from hitting post message to the phone ringing. Amazing.

Although I never buy anymore due to having better parts channels, if it were economical I'd trust any build to DigitalStorm. I'd definitely trust them to support a notebook. iBuyPower I wouldn't trust to tie their shoes.

 

[Knufire]

DigitalStorm is great as well, just not sure if they have notebooks.

 

[LZ_Xray]

They do. Mostly Clevo-based gaming laps. I don't know how they compare pricewise to IBP, but they seem pretty reasonable.

 

[marketpantry]

They do. Mostly Clevo-based gaming laps. I don't know how they compare pricewise to IBP, but they seem pretty reasonable.

i have at least a month to do research.

 

[johnlee666]

I received the almost exact laptop from iBuyPower a week ago, with 675M video card and an SSD + 750GB HDD. I can report that everything works well, and it's fast, but with two problems.

1. Game for Windows won't log in. This is a big problem since the Steam Sale contained many games that required GFW sign in. Turns out the Lan driver is the problem and had to be removed until an updated driver is available.

2. This is still on-going, and I may call AMEX to make a claim. The backlit keyboard refuse to work. Their support is atrocious, as emails weren't returned, and the forum moderator simply suggest I reinstall all the drivers. This is brand new, and the backlighting never worked before I installed a single software.