My Best and Worst in Tech: The Laptop Conundrum

As a consumer my relationship with the PC in this case the laptop, has been a mixed bag of sorts. I've always viewed the whole ownership of a laptop in the same light as having a dog. Some of us get a really great machine, it loves us and we in turn love it. Of course the unlucky ones get a computer that ignores you, humps your leg, and in the end you curse the day you ever let it step foot into your home. Fortunately (or not) I was able to experience both spectrums of laptop ownership in the better part of a week. This is my story.

Full disclosure I'm a picky individual downright pedantic when it comes to a purchase. When dropping over grand for a laptop, you better believe I'm going to look over everything with a fine tooth comb. Truth be told my criteria for purchasing a laptop was quite reasonable to be honest. It had to have that 'umph' in the GPU and CPU. It had to be well built inside and out, (at this point potential models start to get a bit dicey), and lastly it could look like one of those cliché neon gamer laptops.

Lets just get this out of the way, yes I realize for the budget I was about to spend (northwards of 1000 USD) I could have built an awe inspiring rig. Never again would I have to look at recommended settings for games, I would be living that 1080p 60 FPS life, in short, the good life. Then reality began to set in, as a student and someone who usually finds themselves away from home, a laptop was really a necessity. Therefore, the challenge arose, how close could I achieve those PC benchmarks in the laptop universe?

Like most of you out there when you begin that search for a new PC, you try your hardest not to compromise. In my case I had my heart set on a laptop that came bundled with either a 980m or a 970m. The benchmarks I wanted for my ill fated rig would be met with ease, except well, for some problems.

While the state of gaming laptops has never been more exciting (we are getting that much close to laptop / desktop GPU parity) there are a few caveats. First and foremost is the price. These high end cards will not only put a hole in your wallet, they'll obliterate it. Not only that, good luck lugging these things around in the real world. You get to the point where these 970 / 980 machines aren't portable in the slightest. Yes 8 pounds is not going to break your back, but the second a laptop falls into the realm of questionable portability, you might as well just get a PC.

Then of course there is fan noise and noise is being polite as many of these laptops are akin to gaming on an airport runway. I know this comes with the territory, fitting so much power into such a small space, its almost expected. There comes a point though, do you want your living space to constantly sound like the Millennium Falcon is taking off or do you value some peace and quiet? Not to mention the off chance you'll be in class, at work, or in the library, I'm sure no one will mind your laptop as its fans usher in the coming of the apocalypse.

So yeah due to price (mostly price) and the size and noise of these higher end models, I set my sights for the 960m. I would still be able to game at HD and messing around with some settings (perhaps at the expense of anti aliasing and shadows), I could hit that 60fps mark...maybe.

Low and behold there are a plethora of 960m models available and in the process of my purchase I was turned off by almost all of them. This is an honest question but what is the industries fascination with neon and racing stripes when it comes to laptops? Why should my computer look like it belongs on the set of 'The Fast and the Furious'? Has it ever occurred to any of these manufactures that at some point Joe Consumer would want to take his laptop out in public and not be shamed by its awkward 90's EXTRME design? Say what you want about Apple products, but their emphasis or lack thereof when it comes to a minimalist streamlined approach is desperately missing in the gaming laptop world.

Once I was able to eliminate all the electric boogaloo laptops, including a disappointing HP model that had its ram soldered onto the motherboard (give me a break HP). I wound up with what I thought would be the ideal machine, enter the Acer Aspire V Nitro. On paper this model hit all the right notes for me, 960m, i7 4720 processor, 16gb of RAM and even a blu ray drive. In reality this was one of the worst laptops I've ever had the privilege of owning.

For starters I'd like to wag my finger at Amazon for not insisting that an item worth over a grand did not require a signature upon delivery. By all means delivery man just leave that expensive laptop on my stoop for any passer by to take. While we are on the subject of delivery, Acer needs to step up its shipping game because the measly box the laptop shipped in did nothing to stop the unit from coming to me with two dents and a crack on the back hinge. On the other hand though, one would expect a computer with the price mark of a thousand dollars to be enclosed in something else that wasn't cheap plastic.

At this point I knew I was returning this model but I figured I might as well get some sort of a feel for this machine should I want a direct replacement. Just as this laptop had its problems on the outside the inside did not disappoint either. Hooray for dead pixels! My laptop had two, one in the far right corner and the obligatory dead pixel in the center. Now I'm almost certain this laptop was the victim of some faulty shipping, perhaps I was being too hard on it? Well the straw that broke the camel's back was how this laptop handled WiFi. Unless I had the laptop within five feet of my router the signal was nonexistent. At this point it was au revoir to the Acer, please give me my money back.

With the horrible experience of the V Nitro behind me, I turned to the Asus ZenBook Pro. In short, what a computer this turned out to be. The ZenBook has been a revelation for me, the simplistic design I wanted, great specs with the 960m and i7 4720, and a superior build all wrapped in a beautiful aluminum case. With certitude I can absolutely say that this is the best laptop I have ever owned. Running my OS on an SSD makes me wonder how I ever suffered the horrors of a mechanical drive. Watching movies and playing games on an IPS display is a thing of beauty. While I have my own speakers to use for this laptop, the default audio system on this is quite impressive. All around I have no complaints about my purchase.

In the end I'm trying to figure out if there's some sort of moral to take away from all of this. Be wary of Acer laptops? While I haven't written the brand off entirely lets just say they are low on my list for future purchases. The real thing to take away from all of this is that in my opinion finding that balance between gaming and productivity in a laptop is fickle. Many manufactures claim that they can satisfy both needs but in my experience most come up lacking.