1) i7 & nVidia 435M or i5 & nVidia 420M?

An extra RM 500 can get you:

i5-460M to i7-740QM,
nVidia 420M to 435M,
500GB to 640GB storage

Is it worth it? And also, will it consume more battery power? I personally feel that it's a bit of an overkill.

2) 720p screen or 1080p screen?

I've calculated. The 720p screen would give the laptop of about 100 DPI. the 1080p screen would be 140+ DPI. Is the 1080p screen worth the RM 411? And how will the screen affect gaming, and videos?

3) 6 cell battery or 9 cell battery?

More battery power is certainly welcomed, the extra RM 103 shouldn't be stopping it. But the 9 cell gives the laptop an elevation. Good or bad?

4) 4GB, 6GB or 8GB RAM?

I'll be using the laptop for college. I play casual games like FIFA, and maybe some FPS and Warcraft. Am certainly not a hardcore gamer. Please advise.

1. It is up to what are you going to do with your laptop. If you are going to use ur laptop to photoshop or rendering then of course it worth for the price + it allow you to configurate with better GPU as well, crucial if you are crazy about gaming in detail although GT435M is not as good as other gaming laptop but it still pretty impressive.
2. 1080p gives u larger working space. I personally do not mind to scale down the resolution if the GPU is not powerful enough to drive the game since I cannot notice the difference (this is very subjective). Some may think that 1080p in 15" screen is not suitable but I find it okay.
3. Elevation is good to help your laptop in cooling. However, the elevation may make your laptop look ugly if you mind.
4. Unless you are using engineering software or photo and video editing software, 4GB should be sufficient for you.

1) i7 & nVidia 435M or i5 & nVidia 420M?

An extra RM 500 can get you:

i5-460M to i7-740QM,
nVidia 420M to 435M,
500GB to 640GB storage

Is it worth it? And also, will it consume more battery power? I personally feel that it's a bit of an overkill.

2) 720p screen or 1080p screen?

I've calculated. The 720p screen would give the laptop of about 100 DPI. the 1080p screen would be 140+ DPI. Is the 1080p screen worth the RM 411? And how will the screen affect gaming, and videos?

3) 6 cell battery or 9 cell battery?

More battery power is certainly welcomed, the extra RM 103 shouldn't be stopping it. But the 9 cell gives the laptop an elevation. Good or bad?

4) 4GB, 6GB or 8GB RAM?

I'll be using the laptop for college. I play casual games like FIFA, and maybe some FPS and Warcraft. Am certainly not a hardcore gamer. Please advise.

1) i7 & nVidia 435M or i5 & nVidia 420M?

An extra RM 500 can get you:

i5-460M to i7-740QM,
nVidia 420M to 435M,
500GB to 640GB storage

Is it worth it? And also, will it consume more battery power? I personally feel that it's a bit of an overkill.

2) 720p screen or 1080p screen?

I've calculated. The 720p screen would give the laptop of about 100 DPI. the 1080p screen would be 140+ DPI. Is the 1080p screen worth the RM 411? And how will the screen affect gaming, and videos?

3) 6 cell battery or 9 cell battery?

More battery power is certainly welcomed, the extra RM 103 shouldn't be stopping it. But the 9 cell gives the laptop an elevation. Good or bad?

4) 4GB, 6GB or 8GB RAM?

I'll be using the laptop for college. I play casual games like FIFA, and maybe some FPS and Warcraft. Am certainly not a hardcore gamer. Please advise.

1. Battery power = gone. i7 does not have an integrated GPU so there's no Optimus with the i7.

2. It is definitely worth the RM411. General opinion would be 'go for it, it's damn well worth it', but my opinion, too many people are getting these B+RGLEDs not knowing the true potential behind them. The screen will lower your gaming FPS (more pixels for GPU to process), and videos, I don't think it'll be VERY big of an effect, but yeah. You get the point. More pixels = more processing = more load.

3. The elevation is good so that you get an angled keyboard (good for typing) and also improved airflow for the vents underneath. If you use a cooler though the 9 cell might get in the way.

4. Same thing with 1, but more is better, so it's up to you. I personally went for the 8GB, don't want to waste time upgrading it later on if I need it, so just went along with it.

Feel free to shoot any more questions you have. 

1. I think I'll stick to the modest i5 then.

2. I still don't see the need for 1080p. The greater PPI would be really nice, but that's it really.

3. This article that I found while googling really convinced me to get a 9 cell. And so I think I would.

4. 6GB is a weird figure, but I think 4 isn't enough and 8 is overkill.

i5 is definitely the best choice. Not many applications fully utilize quad cores yet, anyway. But if you want something more future-proof at the expense of atrocious battery life, then go for it. Weigh your options carefully (:

Don't forget, it is a B+RGLED. I'll get a little technical here: WLEDs can only show 60+-% of the total color gamut (color range) of Adobe RGB, while B+RGLED can show almost 100% of the total color gamut. Layman's terms, colors are more realistic and vibrant on the B+RGLED compared to the WLED. There's a lot of differences between the two but it might even go unnoticed apart from the sharper, pop-pier pictures displayed by the B+RGLED.

Also, 6GB is not recommended. No dual channel as it is on 1x4 and 1x2 so it's a waste of the 2GB stick. Want more, go straight for the 8GB. Don't forget, you can always upgrade an extra 4GB stick yourself, it's as simple as ABC. 5 minutes to Digital Mall or even search the forums for a RAM seller, get a stick, plug it in. Problem solved.

In what situation would I need more than 4GB RAM? And I thought laptop RAM's cannot be changed?

In what situation would I need more than 4GB RAM? And I thought laptop RAM's cannot be changed?

Don't forget, it is a B+RGLED. I'll get a little technical here: WLEDs can only show 60+-% of the total color gamut (color range) of Adobe RGB, while B+RGLED can show almost 100% of the total color gamut. Layman's terms, colors are more realistic and vibrant on the B+RGLED compared to the WLED. There's a lot of differences between the two but it might even go unnoticed apart from the sharper, pop-pier pictures displayed by the B+RGLED.

Yes, they are changeable. Borrowed from a fellow member wolfkodi's blog (warning, big image):



This is the little panel which you can open up and the memory module slots are right underneath it. And just a tip, RAM gets hot, that's why there are vents for airflow there.

i5 is definitely the best choice. Not many applications fully utilize quad cores yet, anyway. But if you want something more future-proof at the expense of atrocious battery life, then go for it. Weigh your options carefully (:

Don't forget, it is a B+RGLED. I'll get a little technical here: WLEDs can only show 60+-% of the total color gamut (color range) of Adobe RGB, while B+RGLED can show almost 100% of the total color gamut. Layman's terms, colors are more realistic and vibrant on the B+RGLED compared to the WLED. There's a lot of differences between the two but it might even go unnoticed apart from the sharper, pop-pier pictures displayed by the B+RGLED.

Also, 6GB is not recommended. No dual channel as it is on 1x4 and 1x2 so it's a waste of the 2GB stick. Want more, go straight for the 8GB. Don't forget, you can always upgrade an extra 4GB stick yourself, it's as simple as ABC. 5 minutes to Digital Mall or even search the forums for a RAM seller, get a stick, plug it in. Problem solved.

Rules to Enable Dual Channel Mode
To achieve Dual Channel mode, the following conditions must be met:

Matched DIMM configuration in each channel
Same Density (128MB, 256MB, 512MB, etc.)
Matched in both Channel A and Channel B memory channels
Populate symmetrical memory slots (Slot 0 or Slot 1)
Configurations that do not match the above conditions will revert to Single Channel mode.

The following conditions do not need to be met:
Same brand
Same timing specifications
Same DDR speed
Memory channel speed is determined by the slowest DIMM module populated in the system.

Flex mode
This mode provides the most flexible performance characteristics. The bottommost DRAM memory (the memory that is lowest within the system memory map) is mapped to dual channel operation; the topmost DRAM memory (the memory that is nearest to the 8 GB address space limit), if any, is mapped to single channel operation. Flex mode results in multiple zones of dual and single channel operation across the whole of DRAM memory. To use flex mode, it is necessary to populate both channels.

Memory Configuration for Flex Mode
The use of flex mode requires DIMMs to be installed in both channels.

The figure below shows a flex mode configuration using two DIMMs. The operation is as follows:

The 512 MB DIMM in the Channel A, DIMM 0 socket and the lower 512 MB of the DIMM in the Channel B, DIMM 0 socket operate together in dual channel mode.
The remaining (upper) 512 MB of the DIMM in Channel B operates in single channel mode.


Single, dual, triple and flex memory modes, click here
Unified RAM Field Theory, click here

yeahh....js bought a new cooler master u3 frm pc expo thr....^^

From my experience it made a significant difference as all my relatives and friends I've shown my laptop to commented upon the vibrant/beautiful the pictures viewed on the screen are. You will notice the difference if you view images or watch movies often, especially pictures which have a wide colour spectrum.

I've read about those RGBLED screens with way over 100% Adobe color gamut representation making windows and other non-imaging applications appear oversaturated. If this is still the case then, B+RGLED screens are a great compromise because they do not present this issue.

Does 1080p comes with any drawbacks? What would my desktop resolution become? That B+RGLED thing seems very nice.

planning to get 1 ... how much for your u3?

currently on 9cell batt+elevation. duno if i put the U3 , how the laptop will look like.. should be very weird since the elevation is kinda high.

From my experience it made a significant difference as all my relatives and friends I've shown my laptop to commented upon the vibrant/beautiful the pictures viewed on the screen are. You will notice the difference if you view images or watch movies often, especially pictures which have a wide colour spectrum.

I've read about those RGBLED screens with way over 100% Adobe color gamut representation making windows and other non-imaging applications appear oversaturated. If this is still the case then, B+RGLED screens are a great compromise because they do not present this issue.

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Added on December 20, 2010, 7:32 am

Oh, I didn't know memory modules are underneath that. Did you actually unscrew that to have a look at it? I only know know that the hard drive is only accessible after removing the keypad which can be troublesome. 

Having 6GB upgrade doesn't lose all dual channel capability.
Flex mode can be enabled if the mobo supports it which allows partial dual channel support.

Does 1080p comes with any drawbacks? What would my desktop resolution become? That B+RGLED thing seems very nice.

i get it for RM85.... ya....it would be quite weird if u're puttin 9 cell battery...

weee, my lappy arrives tmr!