Hi All,
Requesting your help choosing between 3 laptop options. I am learning still and not yet that tech savvy but am pressed for time to decide which one best suites my needs as in my experience, though the specs look good, in actual fact they there can be disparities which I want to avoid. Forgive me in advance if there is an existing thread which answers my question. A tech savvy friend recommended this site.
BUSINESS USE: The primary use of this laptop will be for trading financial markets, our firm has programs which, as I understand it, will use the GPU's to calculate data (which will be provided through Bloomberg & Reuters mostly) for our proprietary trading models. The calculations will have to be done split second and are constantly updating as the data feeds in. Aside from this, there are about 7-8 other applications that we run at the same time, anything from email, excel macros to some proprietary programs to track trades P&L etc. The laptop will connect to 6 screens when at work and 2 screens when at home. The laptop will be on almost 24-7 in an AC room and I will travel with it (travel about once every 2 weeks).
PERSONAL USE: Basic surfing, email, youtube, Games (RPG, Shooters and MMO's. I do like playing games in maxed out settings but its not so important to me), some MATLAB and datapaint.
I'm a big guy, weight is not an issue. It doesn't matter to me if the screen is 17 or 18 although i do prefer glossy screens. Most places I travel to have reliable power so battery life is not an issue as well. We do have PC's in the office however we do use both our laptops and pc's at work at the same time (also for clients or the exchange). Price is not an issue as the company will be paying for it, all systems will be running windows 7 ultimate 64 bit.
The choices:
Alienware 18
18.4" FHD WLED (1920x1080) Super Clear Glare-Type Screen
- 4th Generation Intel® Haswell Core™ i7-4930MX (3.0GHz - 3.9GHz, 8MB Intel® Smart Cache) (SKU – X2X918)
- IC Diamond Thermal Compound - GPU & CPU
- SLI (2x) - NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 780M (8.0GB total) GDDR5 PCI-Express DX11 (SKU – GPUAW2)
- 32GB DDR3 1600MHz [SKU-844PX] (Kingston HyperX CL9 Dual Channel Memory (4x8GB SODIMMS))
- 4X 1TB Samsung 840 EVO Series Solid State mSATA
Alienware 17
- 17.3" FHD 16:9 "Matte Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Matte Screen (1920x1080)
- 4th Generation Intel® Haswell Core™ i7-4930MX (3.0GHz - 3.9GHz, 8MB Intel® Smart Cache) (SKU – X2X918)
- IC Diamond Thermal Compound - GPU & CPU
- NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 780M (4.0GB) GDDR5 PCI-Express DX11 w/ Optimus™ Technology
- 32GB DDR3 1600MHz [SKU-844PX] (Kingston HyperX CL9 Dual Channel Memory (4x8GB SODIMMS))
- 4x 1TB Samsung 840 EVO Series Solid State mSATA
- 1TB Samsung 840 Evo SSD
- Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Dual Band Wireless-N 1202 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module + Bluetooth 4.0 | Up to 300Mbps (2x2) (SKU - WIFI07)
SAGER 9390
-17.3" FHD 16:9 "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Glossy Sager Screen w/ 90% NTSC Color Gamut (1920x1080)
-Sager - 4th Generation Intel® Haswell Core™ i7-4930MX (3.0GHz - 3.9GHz, 8MB Intel® Smart Cache)
-SLI (2x) - NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 780M (8.0GB total) GDDR5 PCI-Express DX11
-32GB - DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (4 SODIMMS)
-4x 1TB Samsung 840 EVO Series mSATA SSD
- Sager - Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Wireless-N 1202 + Bluetooth 4.0
Some specific questions I have are:
1. I read sager makes great systems but someone forums say alienware's build quality is better as they have customized their own case instead of getting a standard case and building on it. Is this true? given the 24/7 use, will this make a difference?
2. What is the difference between corsair and kingston with ram? Kingston HyperX CL9 Dual Channel Memory vs Corsair Vengeance CL9 Dual Channel Memory? Both are 32 gb and 1600Mhz. which has more reliable performance/better reliability?
3. I read a about the throttling issue with the 4th Generation Intel® Haswell Core™ i7-4930MX (3.0GHz - 3.9GHz, 8MB Intel® Smart Cache) on the alienware. What exactly is this and when does it affect performance? Does this also apply to the sager system?
4. What is the difference between 1TB Samsung 840 EVO Series Solid State and 960GB Crucial M500 SSD (Read 500MB/s - Write 400MB/s (SATA III)?
5. Is there a downside to using only SSD's?
6. Is AMD or Nvidia a better choice for business applications indicated above?
7. What is the difference between Msata and a standard HD slot on a laptop?
8. The laptop will be running almost 24-7, can systems like these take that kind of load (never tried myself)? Does anyone have experience with that kind of use? what advice can you offer to extend the reliability of the device?
Thank you all in advance for your advice.
Requesting your help choosing between 3 laptop options. I am learning still and not yet that tech savvy but am pressed for time to decide which one best suites my needs as in my experience, though the specs look good, in actual fact they there can be disparities which I want to avoid. Forgive me in advance if there is an existing thread which answers my question. A tech savvy friend recommended this site.
BUSINESS USE: The primary use of this laptop will be for trading financial markets, our firm has programs which, as I understand it, will use the GPU's to calculate data (which will be provided through Bloomberg & Reuters mostly) for our proprietary trading models. The calculations will have to be done split second and are constantly updating as the data feeds in. Aside from this, there are about 7-8 other applications that we run at the same time, anything from email, excel macros to some proprietary programs to track trades P&L etc. The laptop will connect to 6 screens when at work and 2 screens when at home. The laptop will be on almost 24-7 in an AC room and I will travel with it (travel about once every 2 weeks).
PERSONAL USE: Basic surfing, email, youtube, Games (RPG, Shooters and MMO's. I do like playing games in maxed out settings but its not so important to me), some MATLAB and datapaint.
I'm a big guy, weight is not an issue. It doesn't matter to me if the screen is 17 or 18 although i do prefer glossy screens. Most places I travel to have reliable power so battery life is not an issue as well. We do have PC's in the office however we do use both our laptops and pc's at work at the same time (also for clients or the exchange). Price is not an issue as the company will be paying for it, all systems will be running windows 7 ultimate 64 bit.
The choices:
Alienware 18
18.4" FHD WLED (1920x1080) Super Clear Glare-Type Screen
- 4th Generation Intel® Haswell Core™ i7-4930MX (3.0GHz - 3.9GHz, 8MB Intel® Smart Cache) (SKU – X2X918)
- IC Diamond Thermal Compound - GPU & CPU
- SLI (2x) - NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 780M (8.0GB total) GDDR5 PCI-Express DX11 (SKU – GPUAW2)
- 32GB DDR3 1600MHz [SKU-844PX] (Kingston HyperX CL9 Dual Channel Memory (4x8GB SODIMMS))
- 4X 1TB Samsung 840 EVO Series Solid State mSATA
Alienware 17
- 17.3" FHD 16:9 "Matte Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Matte Screen (1920x1080)
- 4th Generation Intel® Haswell Core™ i7-4930MX (3.0GHz - 3.9GHz, 8MB Intel® Smart Cache) (SKU – X2X918)
- IC Diamond Thermal Compound - GPU & CPU
- NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 780M (4.0GB) GDDR5 PCI-Express DX11 w/ Optimus™ Technology
- 32GB DDR3 1600MHz [SKU-844PX] (Kingston HyperX CL9 Dual Channel Memory (4x8GB SODIMMS))
- 4x 1TB Samsung 840 EVO Series Solid State mSATA
- 1TB Samsung 840 Evo SSD
- Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Dual Band Wireless-N 1202 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module + Bluetooth 4.0 | Up to 300Mbps (2x2) (SKU - WIFI07)
SAGER 9390
-17.3" FHD 16:9 "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Glossy Sager Screen w/ 90% NTSC Color Gamut (1920x1080)
-Sager - 4th Generation Intel® Haswell Core™ i7-4930MX (3.0GHz - 3.9GHz, 8MB Intel® Smart Cache)
-SLI (2x) - NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 780M (8.0GB total) GDDR5 PCI-Express DX11
-32GB - DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (4 SODIMMS)
-4x 1TB Samsung 840 EVO Series mSATA SSD
- Sager - Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Wireless-N 1202 + Bluetooth 4.0
Some specific questions I have are:
1. I read sager makes great systems but someone forums say alienware's build quality is better as they have customized their own case instead of getting a standard case and building on it. Is this true? given the 24/7 use, will this make a difference?
2. What is the difference between corsair and kingston with ram? Kingston HyperX CL9 Dual Channel Memory vs Corsair Vengeance CL9 Dual Channel Memory? Both are 32 gb and 1600Mhz. which has more reliable performance/better reliability?
3. I read a about the throttling issue with the 4th Generation Intel® Haswell Core™ i7-4930MX (3.0GHz - 3.9GHz, 8MB Intel® Smart Cache) on the alienware. What exactly is this and when does it affect performance? Does this also apply to the sager system?
4. What is the difference between 1TB Samsung 840 EVO Series Solid State and 960GB Crucial M500 SSD (Read 500MB/s - Write 400MB/s (SATA III)?
5. Is there a downside to using only SSD's?
6. Is AMD or Nvidia a better choice for business applications indicated above?
7. What is the difference between Msata and a standard HD slot on a laptop?
8. The laptop will be running almost 24-7, can systems like these take that kind of load (never tried myself)? Does anyone have experience with that kind of use? what advice can you offer to extend the reliability of the device?
Thank you all in advance for your advice.