<p>I want to surprise my daughter with an Asus K53SV-XR1 (i7-2630QM, 6GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 540).</p>
<p>She wants to game (mainly Steam games). I also want her to be able to get her work done (XD) and take notes in class.</p>
<p>It comes with a 6-cell lithium battery, but I have no idea what that means for battery life with this type of machine.</p>
<p>Do you think this is a wise choice for her?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>It’s a 6 pounder and pretty big overall for taking to class in my view. The base specs are awesome, upgrade to a 7200rpm drive if available, also the display to 1600x900 if available.</p>
<p>The Sony Vaio SA might be worth considering. it is more expensive, however, yet still has similar gaming performance.</p>
<p>Heres some +/-:
+very similar gaming performance (at equivalent resolutions)
+Higher Resolution display (1600x900 vs 1366x768)
+better battery life
+smaller form factor,lighter
-dual-core gpu (as opposed to quad core, however many games do not utilize the CPU enough for it to be a limiting factor)
-4gb of RAM by default (though with an open SDram slot)
-more expensive
-warranty isn’t the same level as Asus (providing buying the asus from a place that allows you to get the accidental damage warranty)</p>
<p>Thanks rhythm and turbo,</p>
<p>I’ll look for something with better resolution and battery.</p>
<p>Honestly the resolution and battery are fine on the ASUS machine, and ASUS is known for making a high-quality product.</p>
<p>Asus is a good choice along with Toshiba (Sony comes in a close 3rd on reliability).
The problem with gaming computers with discrete video cards
is that the video card is battery hungry all the time, even when it’s not needed.
Not great for running on battery, but necessary for gaming performance.</p>
<p>Nvidia has a fairly new technology called Optimus that shuts off the video card
when its not needed, so you can have the best of both worlds.
The laptop models that have Optimus are all listed here:
[Optimus</a> Technology](<a href=“Page Not Found | NVIDIA”>NVIDIA Optimus Programming Guide | NVIDIA Developer)</p>
<p>@gojack</p>
<p>Optimus works pretty well, but not all cards with the potential to use it, have it activated by the manufacturer. </p>
<p>@Mom2CalcuGrrl</p>
<p>Can you name any of the specific games on Steam she’ll be playing? They have quite a catalog. If you’re talking about some classic Valve games (CounterStrike, etc) the GT 540m should be decent, some other games offered on Steam are quite graphically intense however, and may require something more powerful.</p>
<p>The 6 cell battery means about 4 hours of normal use. You can get 5 hours if you turn the screen brightness down and use power saver mode.</p>
<p>@Ortsac She wants to play Team Fortress 2 and Amnesia: The Dark Descent.</p>
<p>I believe this model has Optimus or some sort of proprietary battery saver technology in it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>Sent from my SPH-M920 using CC App</p>
<p>For those games she’ll be fine with the integrated. The 540m should tear them up.</p>
<p>^The problem with integrated graphics only though is that you don’t know what games they may be buying down the line.</p>
<p>I got her the Asus. TF2 plays and looks great on it, and she is VERY happy.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help.</p>