<p>
Figured more than the questioner may benefit from the comparison. One caveat: 17"+ laptops are usually considered as desktop replacements and off zero to extrememly limited mobility and will often never leave the house, but can go in any room in the house and take up less space than a traditional desktop. In answering the core question if this laptop is the best for the money I compared and reviewed same-size screen machines in a similar price range to see what was offered. So here goes . . .</p>
<p>Clevo
The Clevo model may look like a competitive machine indeed, but it’s fair to note that the $1,350 price doesn’t come with an OS installed. So, unless you’re planning on installing your own, you’ll need to fork over another $80 for Win 7 Home Premium 64. So, comparatively speaking, we’re now at $1,430. Some things to note for the machine:
-17.3" 1920x1080 LED glare display - the best resolution by far for it’s price range and class
-i7 2.3GHz CPU
-8GB RAM - More than any typical person will ever need, but for those who must, it does come with 4 mem slots, so can be upgradable to 32GB.
-750GB HDD @ 7200 - plus room for an opt 2nd HD, at a cost of course
-8 cell battery
-NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M w/ 1.5GB mem (675M for $100 more)</p>
<p>I llike that display. It would come in great if you paid an extra $85 for the BluRay drive to watch BluRay in full (but not true) 1080p high definition. I say not “true” HD because to really experience HD you would need to sit a certain distance from the viewing screen depending on the level of HD and the pixel rating, and at 17.3" you can’t get too far back from the screen without not seeing the detail in the picture that HD was intended to provide. The 8 cell battery, I estimate/presume, will provide around 5 hours of regular life use, but again, at 17.3" of a behemoth, you would most likely not be taking it too far from an outlet anyway. It is the heftiest in the comparison at just over 8.5lbs. It also comes with a sweet backlit keyboard, but the audio system (speakers) are paltry in the further comparisons. Yes, the NVIDIA 670 will pump out enough GPU power to play all that and a bag of potato chips leading the way in mobile cards, but are you paying a premium for it? Let’s see.</p>
<p>Toshiba
Since I currently have a 17" Toshiba that I play games on, I figured this would be a god place to start :p</p>
<p>The most comparable model Toshiba offers is the Qosimo X770 (X775-Q7170 model) priced at $1,150, or just shy of $300 less than the Clevo. What does that difference get us?
-Less pixel packaged 17.3" 1600x900 LED
-i5 2.5GHz
-Win 7 HP 64
-6GB RAM
-640 GB HDD @ 7200
-8 cell battery
-NVIDIA GF GTX 560M w/1.5GB mem</p>
<p>Cons in comparison: at -$300 you lose the higher res display, 2GB RAM, 110GB drive storage, and downgrade (slightly) your GPU. Pros: you obtain a faster clocked i5 CPU, and gain the Harmon Kardon sound system (very nice and great quality IMO). For $300 I could upgrade the RAM myself and buy an external drive of more than 110GB. So the relative real difference IMO is the display and GPU. Again though, I haven’t tested it myself, but I don’t see that display living up to the true HD you’re paying for. Therefore, I think this Toshiba is a better buy. Both models have HDMI, 4 USB connections, bluetooth, and webcams. I also think the Qosmio looks a little more hip with it’s color option.</p>
<p>Lenovo
The only 17"+ model Lenovo offers is the G770 under their Essentials lines at $600. Though the specs sheet stated it could be upgraded to a discrete GPU, it would not allow me to in the Customize and Build, so I went no further and it cannot be compared.</p>
<p>Dell
Within the price range I picked out the XPS 17 starting at $900. That price may look like a steal, but may be some serious deficiencies.
-Standard 17.3" LED
-i5 2.5GHz
-Win 7 HP 64
-6GB RAM
-750 GB HDD @ 7200
-6 cell battery
-NVIDIA GF GT 550M</p>
<p>Cons: Again the display quality is sacrificed, 2GB RAM, a smaller 6 cell batt, and the GPU goes dow another comparable (but arguable) notch. Pros: faster clocked i5 and a superior JBL speaker set. Again, I think the RAM and battery differences are minute with the difference in price since 6GB RAM is typically enough to satisfy anyone and the battery will almost never go out of reach from a plug in - despite the fact that both specs are techincally upgradeable. You’ll get the same amount of drive space as the Clevo along with all the typical post bells and whistles (enough USB, HDMI, and all the standards, etc). You can upgrade the GPU to the 555M for $150 more and it’s still hundreds less in price than the Clevo. In fact, you may be able to get a 21"+ 1080p HD display for the price difference of nearly $600 and the only difference then would be the GPU . . . and the fact that it’s a Dell and most complain about their customer support. But then again, I’ve never heard of the Clevo (made from some German company?) so it may not fare too much better.</p>
<p>The cheapest Alienware of 17" display was $1,500 (M17x), but IMO, was atrocious. At that price, in summary, it offered 500GB storage, 6GB RAM, and a slower i7. Even the GPU was the one step down, by specs, from the 670M - NVIDIA GF GTX 660M. But it looked the coolest with all it’s flashing lights. The Acer Aspire Ethos seemed liked a better deal at $50 more with comparable specs, but an 18" display.</p>
<p>At the cheaper prices, comparing all three main models (Clevo, Toshiba, Dell), I would seriously stack up the Qosmio X770 and XPS 17 and decide between the two, while making up the specs difference from the money saved of not buying the Clevo, if I so desired.</p>