Specs + Question about screen sizes

[zoodinger]

Hey all,

I have a question regarding screen sizes. I know that the naive rule of thumb is that larger laptops are generally more powerful, but that's only because they usually come with better specs. However, when it comes to identical specs, does size make a difference?

My guess is that bigger laptops conserve more battery because of the screen size, which also contributes to heating. However, smaller laptops probably have less room for ventilation and might therefore heat more. But which one of the two has the bigger advantage/disadvantage? Is there some other factor I'm not taking into account?

Finally, here are the specs that I'm contemplating. This laptop will be used for non-intensive gaming, 2d/3d design and game development. I'm thinking the i7 might be too much and I should get an i5 2.60 Ghz instead. That drops the price significantly.

I'm just not sure if I should get the 15.6" or 17.3" one.

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Dual Core Mobile Processor i7-4610M (3.0GHz) 4MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 860M - 2.0GB DDR5, 640 CUDA Cores - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (€12)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
BACKLIT OPTIMUS USA KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
2 - 3 DAY DELIVERY TO REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (€24)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days

Price: €1,130.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[mantadog]

My guess is that bigger laptops conserve more battery because of the screen size, which also contributes to heating. However, smaller laptops probably have less room for ventilation and might therefore heat more. But which one of the two has the bigger advantage/disadvantage? Is there some other factor I'm not taking into account?

That isn't really how it works, you can (largely) discount screen size as a factor in anything but the actual weight of the laptop you need to drag around with you , the space it takes up and the fact larger laptops will have better cooling because they have more room to fit it in. So theoretically 2 laptops with identical components would, from a cooling point of view, be better in the larger chassis.


Your spec need some tweaking, I'd grab a quad core i7, base model will do fine, as it is cheaper than the dual core yet much faster. You will be glad of the i7 for 3d work. I would also grab the Samsung 840 evo over the v300, the v300 was recently slowed down in spec making it pretty useless. Also consider a scorpio black for the mechanical hdd.

Rest looks ok.

 

[zoodinger]

Thank you very much for your suggestions!

My reasoning on size affecting battery life is that a larger surface would consume more power for the back light, but I don't suppose it makes much of a difference. And it looks like you agree on the whole bigger chassis having better ventilation, but I guess I'll probably risk it and get a nice cooling pad for home.

I agree on the i7, I had decided that I was going to go for dual-core i5 because the dual core i7 was not worth it. I thought that the base quad-core would be more expensive, but I hadn't tested it lol. Thank you for pointing that out . Your other suggestions also make sense, I'll even get the 750gb 7.200 rpm hdd, as it's only 6 euro more expensive.

I still have about a week before I get to order it, so I might make a couple more changes.