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0utf0xZer0 · 2009-11-04, 17:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

If the UL30 had the switchable G 210M/4500MHD that the UL80 has, this would be a no-brainer. But since the UL80Vt is barely thinner and lighter than the Vaio CW... Sony looks like a winner.

Now the trick is affording it. =|

I'm curious as to what option you need that push it to $1400, since Best Buy's $800 baseline config looks nice and you mentioned the 9 cell being $249...

synaesthetic · 2009-11-04, 18:02

It was only $1400 when I CTO'd it for the Core 2 Duo T9600 processor (this adds $300 more than selecting the T6600). The end price was like $1270, with tax it came out to be $1400.

Being more parsimonious, choosing the Core 2 Duo T6600, nvidia GT 230M, 4GB RAM, 320GB hdd, and extended battery comes out to right around $900, and it looks like right now Sony's offering a free upgrade to Blu-Ray/DVD drive (not burner).

The Best Buy config of the CW doesn't have the GT 230M (which is basically this computer's selling point to me over the UL80Vt).

Wirbelwind8 · 2009-11-04, 18:27

I have the G51vt-RX05, and its amazing. Its one of the best purchases I've ever made. It plays any game, and plays them well. I dont know you say its huge... its pretty small and its lightweight, well lighter without the battery :P. Of course I would say to buy it since I have one and had no problems with it, but I also havent tried the others you mentioned so I cant say which one is for the "better". Also the battery life, when it comes to playing games, I get about 2 hours, which isnt surprising and is normal for any gaming laptop, but on normal I get about 3 to 4 hours depending on the mode. Also, I enjoy vista just as much as windows 7, they both are pretty much the same, when it comes to gaming IMO.

it does make other people jealous with the lights and the fact that it handles games better than their desktops.

If you have any questions about it, hit me up

0utf0xZer0 · 2009-11-04, 18:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

It was only $1400 when I CTO'd it for the Core 2 Duo T9600 processor (this adds $300 more than selecting the T6600). The end price was like $1270, with tax it came out to be $1400.

Being more parsimonious, choosing the Core 2 Duo T6600, nvidia GT 230M, 4GB RAM, 320GB hdd, and extended battery comes out to right around $900, and it looks like right now Sony's offering a free upgrade to Blu-Ray/DVD drive (not burner).

The Best Buy config of the CW doesn't have the GT 230M (which is basically this computer's selling point to me over the UL80Vt).

If you get one, let me know how it works out... I generally haven't recommended gaming laptops to people in the past but this generation seems better than prior ones...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wirbelwind8

I have the G51vt-RX05, and its amazing. Its one of the best purchases I've ever made. It plays any game, and plays them well. I dont know you say its huge... its pretty small and its lightweight, well lighter without the battery :P. Of course I would say to buy it since I have one and had no problems with it, but I also havent tried the others you mentioned so I cant say which one is for the "better". Also the battery life, when it comes to playing games, I get about 2 hours, which isnt surprising and is normal for any gaming laptop, but on normal I get about 3 to 4 hours depending on the mode. Also, I enjoy vista just as much as windows 7, they both are pretty much the same, when it comes to gaming IMO.

it does make other people jealous with the lights and the fact that it handles games better than their desktops.

If you have any questions about it, hit me up

What's the difference between the vt and vx varients? Both of the reviews on Newegg Canada for the vx mention terrible battery life, so there's probably some difference

I'm also curious as to the pricing..

synaesthetic · 2009-11-04, 18:39

According to Asus, there's no Vt variant of the G51. It's just a typo probably.

There's several variants of the G51... the RX05 variant is the Best Buy variant, which has a P7350 processor and a white lid.

There's also the G51Vx variant that has a black lid and a Q9000. And then there's a new variant of the G51 with the Core i7 720QM. Pretty sure all of them share the same GTX 260M graphics card.

Wirbelwind8 · 2009-11-04, 18:41

As far as I know, its only the G50 series that has the Vx. The Vt is a higher end series than the Vx. The Vx has worse performance and because of that, its cheaper. Or perhaps the Vt has a 9 cell battery, which I have, compared to 6.

Pricing, I bought it the first week it came out and it was 999 at best buy. That was in July. I dont know the pricing for the G51 is now. I was also looking at the G71 which was $200 more. It was very tempting, it had a bigger screen, better processor, and more ram. but I decided it was just too big and bulky for my taste so.. got the G51.

Also the G50 series is the same, just older and comes with a 9800 GS instead of a 260M.

Lastly, as mentioned before, you can easily upgrade the CPU to a Quad for $200. It does void the warranty, but it does make the biggest improvement you can do to a laptop.

0utf0xZer0 · 2009-11-04, 18:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

According to Asus, there's no Vt variant of the G51. It's just a typo probably.

There's several variants of the G51... the RX05 variant is the Best Buy variant, which has a P7350 processor and a white lid.

There's also the G51Vx variant that has a black lid and a Q9000. And then there's a new variant of the G51 with the Core i7 720QM. Pretty sure all of them share the same GTX 260M graphics card.

According to wikipedia (yes, I know) there's both 40nm and 55nm versions of the GTX 260M, one with 38w TDP and one with 65w. Might help explain it. THe Newegg Canada variant uses a P8700, I don't think that alone would make the difference...

synaesthetic · 2009-11-04, 18:58

I can't find any official listings for "G51Vt-RX05" but I can find them for "G51Vx-RX05."

Asus' naming conventions are terrible.

Wirbelwind8 · 2009-11-04, 19:09

If thats the case, I would just stick to whats inside the laptop over the name of the laptop :P

More information...

Vista Score system
CPU 5.3
RAM 5.9
Graphics 5.9
Gaming 5.9
HDD 5.9

Windows 7
CPU 5.7
Ram 5.7
Graphics 5.9
Gaming 5.9
HDD 5.9

synaesthetic · 2009-11-04, 19:27

If the computer you have has a Core 2 Duo P7350 @ 2.0GHz (stock) and nvidia GTX 260M, then it's the same one I'm looking at.

NvIon · 2009-11-04, 19:29

There is no 40nm version of GTX 260M(G92 GPU). The 40nm Geforce GTS 260M is the same GT215 GPU as the GTS 250M, just clocked higher and slightly higher performance.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product...s_260m_us.html

Please don't confuse them, the 55nm G92 GPU(Geforce GTX 260M) and 40nm GT215 GPU(Geforce GTS 260M) are very different things. GTX 260M only has the older generation VP2 decoder and only supports DirectX 10.0, GTS 260M has the newer generation VP4 decoder and DirectX 10.1 support like the other Nvidia 40nm GPUs.

Wirbelwind8 · 2009-11-04, 19:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

If the computer you have has a Core 2 Duo P7350 @ 2.0GHz (stock) and nvidia GTX 260M, then it's the same one I'm looking at.

Yes, these are for the P7350 and the GTX 260M.

I forgot to mention something with the G50 and G51 series. You can upgrade the HDD. It has 2 HDD slots and currently only comes with 1 320GB when purchased.

The problem with that is you need to buy a bracket or something from Asus so it stays snuggled in place for like $20. But it is a nice feature.

synaesthetic · 2009-11-04, 19:40

Two hard drive slots, you say?

That sounds ripe for installing an Intel X-25 Gen 2 80GB SATA-II SSD to boot off of...

0utf0xZer0 · 2009-11-05, 02:14

Okay, I found some reviews of that G51vx-rx05.

Laptop magazine's review got 2 hours, 27 minutes of battery life out of the 6 cell, so 3.5 hours out of a 9 cell should be doable. However, they seemed to be under the impression that the 6 cell was the only option, so you might need to look into how you get the 9 cell for it. And remember, you want a bit of a margin for battery life too because batteries degrade over time. I've generally found most of my notebook batteries have been shot within about 18 months, although I actually use my notebook on battery fairly frequently.

In terms of gaming prowness... yeah, that's going to be a potent machine. According to wikipedia, should be about 3X the shader power and twice the memory bandwidth of the Sony.

Wirbelwind8 · 2009-11-05, 11:27

You can find a 9 cell battery at the Asus website or even from websites like buy.com or amazon. They are probably going to be around $100 though.

As far as battery care, you should google on how to keep the battery last. The big one is to keep the battery out of the laptop during constant use at home. Only keep the battery in the laptop when it is being charged or you are just using the battery alone. But be sure to charge the battery 1 time a month or so because the battery trickles on its own and when it depletes completely, its not generally a good thing.

synaesthetic · 2009-11-05, 16:55

Keeping the battery out to extend the life is something of a myth, unless you intend to store it for long periods of time because Li-Ion degrades faster when it's at 0 or 100% charge. Storage level should be around 40% (it's most stable at this point).

Heat buildup can cause it to run down faster but the kind of heat they're talking about goes well beyond what a laptop can generate (more a concern for electric cars, actually).

The 4400mAh battery in my netbook got around 3:10ish when it was new, it's only gone down by 20 minutes or so after a year of heavy use and almost never being out of the computer.

Wirbelwind8 · 2009-11-05, 17:09

Thats kinda what Im saying, if your basically replacing the laptop for a desktop, where its always going to be on and plugged in, the battery is quickly being wasted. I dont think it's a myth either.. I think its just common sense. A battery lasts longer, the less you use it... of course to the point where you leave it 0% for months, thats not good either lol. Also temperature is key, colder temps more of a problem than heat.

Li-Ion batteries have a range of 400-500 charges before effieciency starts to decline. When a battery is left in the laptop with the plug in, it'll reach 100% then trickle down to 95% and the laptop then charges the battery once again back to 100%. At least for me laptop, it doesnt charge the battery higher than 95%.

synaesthetic · 2009-11-05, 17:29

Yeah, it's not going to always be on, but when I'm home I'll probably pull the battery anyway since there's no point in it being in there if I'm not out and about. I know some people who are obsessive about it and always yank the battery when it's on AC power unless the battery is charging, which I think is just too much trouble. I'd probably forget I had it out and take the computer with me without the battery and then be stuck if I had to use it away from an outlet. =/

chikorita157 · 2009-11-05, 20:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wirbelwind8

Thats kinda what Im saying, if your basically replacing the laptop for a desktop, where its always going to be on and plugged in, the battery is quickly being wasted. I dont think it's a myth either.. I think its just common sense. A battery lasts longer, the less you use it... of course to the point where you leave it 0% for months, thats not good either lol. Also temperature is key, colder temps more of a problem than heat.

Li-Ion batteries have a range of 400-500 charges before effieciency starts to decline. When a battery is left in the laptop with the plug in, it'll reach 100% then trickle down to 95% and the laptop then charges the battery once again back to 100%. At least for me laptop, it doesnt charge the battery higher than 95%.

I thought most batteries last 300 charge cycles before they have 80% capacity level. You need to do one charge cycle per month.

With some laptops, taking the battery out can cause the CPU to lose 50% of it's performance due to wattage issues, but to be sure, run the game with and without the battery and plug in and use FRAPs to figure out the frames per second to be sure... May not be a issue... Also, if you discharge under 20%, you are actually hurting the battery since Li-Ion and Li-Poly batteries do not have the memory effect like the older Li-Cad batteries.

Like with any desktop computer, If you accidentally pull the plug on the Laptop without a battery, you will lose your data. This can be serious if someone trips on your power cord.

synaesthetic · 2009-11-06, 16:39

I'm not that worried about it. If I have to replace the battery eventually, it's just life. Entropy at work.

Most (good) Li-Ion cells can go for about 300 charges before wearing to 80% of their original capacity. Asus typically uses good cells--even on their cheap computers: my eeePC battery has only 90% wear level after about a year of heavy use both on battery and off AC with the battery connected. I've probably ran this thing through at least 200 discharges, but the number of times the battery has been discharged below 20% I can count on one hand. Totally draining lithium chemistry batteries is never good.

2009-11-04, 18:02	Link #22
synaesthetic blinded by blood Author Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Oakland, CA Age: 40	It was only $1400 when I CTO'd it for the Core 2 Duo T9600 processor (this adds $300 more than selecting the T6600). The end price was like $1270, with tax it came out to be $1400. Being more parsimonious, choosing the Core 2 Duo T6600, nvidia GT 230M, 4GB RAM, 320GB hdd, and extended battery comes out to right around $900, and it looks like right now Sony's offering a free upgrade to Blu-Ray/DVD drive (not burner). The Best Buy config of the CW doesn't have the GT 230M (which is basically this computer's selling point to me over the UL80Vt). __________________ Indie science fiction author and all-around weirdo: Check out my original fiction here! Read an excerpt from my sci-fi novel Binary System!

2009-11-04, 18:27	Link #23
Wirbelwind8 d-_-b Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Colorado	I have the G51vt-RX05, and its amazing. Its one of the best purchases I've ever made. It plays any game, and plays them well. I dont know you say its huge... its pretty small and its lightweight, well lighter without the battery :P. Of course I would say to buy it since I have one and had no problems with it, but I also havent tried the others you mentioned so I cant say which one is for the "better". Also the battery life, when it comes to playing games, I get about 2 hours, which isnt surprising and is normal for any gaming laptop, but on normal I get about 3 to 4 hours depending on the mode. Also, I enjoy vista just as much as windows 7, they both are pretty much the same, when it comes to gaming IMO. it does make other people jealous with the lights and the fact that it handles games better than their desktops. If you have any questions about it, hit me up __________________ My Anime List

2009-11-04, 18:39	Link #25
synaesthetic blinded by blood Author Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Oakland, CA Age: 40	According to Asus, there's no Vt variant of the G51. It's just a typo probably. There's several variants of the G51... the RX05 variant is the Best Buy variant, which has a P7350 processor and a white lid. There's also the G51Vx variant that has a black lid and a Q9000. And then there's a new variant of the G51 with the Core i7 720QM. Pretty sure all of them share the same GTX 260M graphics card. __________________ Indie science fiction author and all-around weirdo: Check out my original fiction here! Read an excerpt from my sci-fi novel Binary System!

2009-11-04, 18:41	Link #26
Wirbelwind8 d-_-b Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Colorado	As far as I know, its only the G50 series that has the Vx. The Vt is a higher end series than the Vx. The Vx has worse performance and because of that, its cheaper. Or perhaps the Vt has a 9 cell battery, which I have, compared to 6. Pricing, I bought it the first week it came out and it was 999 at best buy. That was in July. I dont know the pricing for the G51 is now. I was also looking at the G71 which was $200 more. It was very tempting, it had a bigger screen, better processor, and more ram. but I decided it was just too big and bulky for my taste so.. got the G51. Also the G50 series is the same, just older and comes with a 9800 GS instead of a 260M. Lastly, as mentioned before, you can easily upgrade the CPU to a Quad for $200. It does void the warranty, but it does make the biggest improvement you can do to a laptop. __________________ My Anime List

2009-11-04, 18:58	Link #28
synaesthetic blinded by blood Author Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Oakland, CA Age: 40	I can't find any official listings for "G51Vt-RX05" but I can find them for "G51Vx-RX05." Asus' naming conventions are terrible. __________________ Indie science fiction author and all-around weirdo: Check out my original fiction here! Read an excerpt from my sci-fi novel Binary System!

2009-11-04, 19:09	Link #29
Wirbelwind8 d-_-b Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Colorado	If thats the case, I would just stick to whats inside the laptop over the name of the laptop :P More information... Vista Score system CPU 5.3 RAM 5.9 Graphics 5.9 Gaming 5.9 HDD 5.9 Windows 7 CPU 5.7 Ram 5.7 Graphics 5.9 Gaming 5.9 HDD 5.9 __________________ My Anime List

2009-11-04, 19:27	Link #30
synaesthetic blinded by blood Author Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Oakland, CA Age: 40	If the computer you have has a Core 2 Duo P7350 @ 2.0GHz (stock) and nvidia GTX 260M, then it's the same one I'm looking at. __________________ Indie science fiction author and all-around weirdo: Check out my original fiction here! Read an excerpt from my sci-fi novel Binary System!

2009-11-04, 19:29	Link #31
NvIon Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2009	There is no 40nm version of GTX 260M(G92 GPU). The 40nm Geforce GTS 260M is the same GT215 GPU as the GTS 250M, just clocked higher and slightly higher performance. http://www.nvidia.com/object/product...s_260m_us.html Please don't confuse them, the 55nm G92 GPU(Geforce GTX 260M) and 40nm GT215 GPU(Geforce GTS 260M) are very different things. GTX 260M only has the older generation VP2 decoder and only supports DirectX 10.0, GTS 260M has the newer generation VP4 decoder and DirectX 10.1 support like the other Nvidia 40nm GPUs.

2009-11-04, 19:40	Link #33
synaesthetic blinded by blood Author Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Oakland, CA Age: 40	Two hard drive slots, you say? That sounds ripe for installing an Intel X-25 Gen 2 80GB SATA-II SSD to boot off of... __________________ Indie science fiction author and all-around weirdo: Check out my original fiction here! Read an excerpt from my sci-fi novel Binary System!

2009-11-05, 02:14	Link #34
0utf0xZer0 Pretentious moe scholar Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Vancouver, Canada Age: 37	Okay, I found some reviews of that G51vx-rx05. Laptop magazine's review got 2 hours, 27 minutes of battery life out of the 6 cell, so 3.5 hours out of a 9 cell should be doable. However, they seemed to be under the impression that the 6 cell was the only option, so you might need to look into how you get the 9 cell for it. And remember, you want a bit of a margin for battery life too because batteries degrade over time. I've generally found most of my notebook batteries have been shot within about 18 months, although I actually use my notebook on battery fairly frequently. In terms of gaming prowness... yeah, that's going to be a potent machine. According to wikipedia, should be about 3X the shader power and twice the memory bandwidth of the Sony. __________________ Signature courtesy of Ganbaru.

2009-11-05, 11:27	Link #35
Wirbelwind8 d-_-b Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Colorado	You can find a 9 cell battery at the Asus website or even from websites like buy.com or amazon. They are probably going to be around $100 though. As far as battery care, you should google on how to keep the battery last. The big one is to keep the battery out of the laptop during constant use at home. Only keep the battery in the laptop when it is being charged or you are just using the battery alone. But be sure to charge the battery 1 time a month or so because the battery trickles on its own and when it depletes completely, its not generally a good thing. __________________ My Anime List

2009-11-05, 16:55	Link #36
synaesthetic blinded by blood Author Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Oakland, CA Age: 40	Keeping the battery out to extend the life is something of a myth, unless you intend to store it for long periods of time because Li-Ion degrades faster when it's at 0 or 100% charge. Storage level should be around 40% (it's most stable at this point). Heat buildup can cause it to run down faster but the kind of heat they're talking about goes well beyond what a laptop can generate (more a concern for electric cars, actually). The 4400mAh battery in my netbook got around 3:10ish when it was new, it's only gone down by 20 minutes or so after a year of heavy use and almost never being out of the computer. __________________ Indie science fiction author and all-around weirdo: Check out my original fiction here! Read an excerpt from my sci-fi novel Binary System!

2009-11-05, 17:09	Link #37
Wirbelwind8 d-_-b Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Colorado	Thats kinda what Im saying, if your basically replacing the laptop for a desktop, where its always going to be on and plugged in, the battery is quickly being wasted. I dont think it's a myth either.. I think its just common sense. A battery lasts longer, the less you use it... of course to the point where you leave it 0% for months, thats not good either lol. Also temperature is key, colder temps more of a problem than heat. Li-Ion batteries have a range of 400-500 charges before effieciency starts to decline. When a battery is left in the laptop with the plug in, it'll reach 100% then trickle down to 95% and the laptop then charges the battery once again back to 100%. At least for me laptop, it doesnt charge the battery higher than 95%. __________________ My Anime List

2009-11-05, 17:29	Link #38
synaesthetic blinded by blood Author Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Oakland, CA Age: 40	Yeah, it's not going to always be on, but when I'm home I'll probably pull the battery anyway since there's no point in it being in there if I'm not out and about. I know some people who are obsessive about it and always yank the battery when it's on AC power unless the battery is charging, which I think is just too much trouble. I'd probably forget I had it out and take the computer with me without the battery and then be stuck if I had to use it away from an outlet. =/ __________________ Indie science fiction author and all-around weirdo: Check out my original fiction here! Read an excerpt from my sci-fi novel Binary System!

2009-11-06, 16:39	Link #40
synaesthetic blinded by blood Author Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Oakland, CA Age: 40	I'm not that worried about it. If I have to replace the battery eventually, it's just life. Entropy at work. Most (good) Li-Ion cells can go for about 300 charges before wearing to 80% of their original capacity. Asus typically uses good cells--even on their cheap computers: my eeePC battery has only 90% wear level after about a year of heavy use both on battery and off AC with the battery connected. I've probably ran this thing through at least 200 discharges, but the number of times the battery has been discharged below 20% I can count on one hand. Totally draining lithium chemistry batteries is never good. __________________ Indie science fiction author and all-around weirdo: Check out my original fiction here! Read an excerpt from my sci-fi novel Binary System!