Obviously.. you ask them to assemble parts and you didn't purchase from them, even me myself also will charge you what..
Just assemble it yourself. If you're a total newbie, which I think you are (sorry no offense ) just pay for it. If not just wait till they restock and purchase it together with the laptop.
As simple as that.
And I do hope you know how to set up the OS and SSD/HDD partition as you purchased a DOS version..

Aiya.. no free lunch ma.. If I purchase a SSD and ask you assemble it for me for free you will do it meh ? maybe you very good you will lar.. other mostly no ma

I just hope you know what you're doing lar.. Cause a lot ppl bought DOS version and think they know what they're doing, in the end facing a lot issue.. then blame the manufacturer or seller.. lol

Photo editing using PS ? You may be able to get a Latitude. Or Acer V Nitro, even though it's a budget gaming laptop, but I believe PS used CUDA core.. so it may be a good choice for you, it's IPS screen also but 15.6''
SSD capacity depend on what software you want to install, if you got a lot of storage hungry software I suggest you to get 256gb, if not 128gb will do..

If you don't like Acer and afraid of it's warranty service, Asus is even worse than Acer.. Asus provides well known bad service.. mostly.

Acer V Nitro is your best bang of buck if you're looking for a decent GPU.. GDDR5 is better than GDDR3 in performance.. If your gtx850m is GDDR5, it won't make much different compared to gtx860m GDDR5.. just roughly 20% lower performance than gtx860m. If it's a gtx850m GDDR3, then the performance is significantly lower.. so get gtx860m if the gtx850m you referred to is a GDDR3, else no need

And 3 cells doesn't mean the battery capacity is low. 3 cells mean the battery will draw lesser power / supply lesser power to the laptop compared to a larger cells battery. But mostly bigger cell comes with bigger capacity.
For your requirement, you're not gaming a lot, and also not doing too much designing work, so why aim for budget gaming laptop ? Your Engineering 3D design is using what software ? you sure it is depending on GTX CUDA core and not Quadro ? GTX series is not good for 3D rendering, it will be quite slow.. (correct me if I'm wrong)

For MatLab, if you're doing heavy stimulation, get AT LEAST 8GB ram. I'm a MatLab user and developer also. Software Programming depend on what you're developing, Android Studio and Visual Studio requires about 1GB ram each.. Mine is 1.5GB as I use a lot of plugin..

IMHO, cpu power is more important that gpu in your case.. since most task you listed out requires lot of cpu power..

You can try out AFTERSHOCK or ILLEGEAR. These 2 brand is using Clevo model which is well known for its built quality, pm Prince J to get a quotation..
Both these brand laptop battery capacity is good.. My ILLEGEAR Z5 is 8 cells. It lasted me about 3-5 hours on normal web surfing, med-low brightness.. But it's out of your budget

No no no.. I didn't mean that.. sorry ar if i offense you
I just want the ppl to confirm it's not a refurbished unit

Sorry lar.. I really no knowledge on this ma.. I just know mostly refurbish unit most of the part is reuse part.. not from a sealed box..
Pai seh lar if I offend dao you

No need.. I didn't keep promote ILLEGEAR pun.. I just don't want ppl kena tipu like my friends.. Get MSI cuz of the marketed Cooler Boost is very good.. in the end....
And Lenovo very solid, in the end my friend's casing got problem.. need go through warranty.. first week sia

Acer V Nitro is your best bang of buck, but since you don't want acer, then... Lenovo Y50.. or ILLEGEAR Z5 or AFTERSHOCK.. but I believe both are out of your budget.
Why I said Acer is good because it got IPS screen, dual fan and 860m
gtx860m > gtx755m SLI
it's consume less power so less heat.. performance wise it's almost the same.. and take note, not all games support SLI
Lenovo Y50 is using gtx860m also.. it has IPS screen variant also if I'm not mistaken

Which 1 ? Got laptop mobo support DDR4 ad ? price sure
is it the m3800 ?

Liao.. my eye got problem liao.. didn't see the word PC
but DDR4 got a lot improvement meh ? The price is not worth for the improvement I think.. lol

For the IPS screen right ? Yea it's damn exp..
Can get my Z5 liao.. So Acer still best bang of buck

You hardly see people recommend MSI is because it's too OP. And most of MSI low or mid level gaming laptop has heat issue.. MSI Ge60 2pe apache pro has serious heat issue, GPU reach 90 degree C under full load.. I believe a laptop having heat issue won't last long. And most of the features advertised is just marketing strategy. Cooler boost got no different with max fan speed, almost all gaming laptop are now using AntiGlare Matte for their screen. Steel series keyboard is just a normal keyboard with customizable backlight.
MSI mid or low end laptop's cooling is very bad, mostly. They are using single fan..
And the price you paid for a MSI, you can get a better spec laptop like Acer V Nitro.

But MSI design indeed is good and cool. Just the spec price ratio is not worth it

So far I haven't heard any Acer user complaint about it yet. So the quality should be fine.

The quality will still maintain at a certain level de lar.. They now baru start to have a good shares in gaming laptop market, they mana dare to screw up.. haha

There are 2 choices for you.
1. If you're traveling frequently, prepare your wallet, as International Warranty doesn't come cheap. I believe Acer do have international warranty, but not globally as some place may not have a service center ( contact Acer to ask for International Warranty stuff )
2. If you're not traveling frequently between countries, get the laptop at the country you're staying

So far if I remember correctly, V15 do comes with 1 years warranty, if extend will becomes 3 years.. but not sure is 1 year International + 2 years Local or 3 years local

Acer V Nitro.. it's gtx860m.. non-m gc is for desktop

Your upgrade as in which part ?
Acer V Nitro comes with m2 slot.. But not sure it's SATA or PCIE slot.. So you can install SSD in the future.
RAM wise I think it's also upgradable, up to 16GB dual channel.
There is no optical drive so you can't swap out the od with caddy bay+HDD/SSD
GPU and CPU is soldered so you can't upgrade it (same goes to Lenovo)

Correct me if I'm wrong


P/S: Make sure your upgrade is acceptable by the manufacturer / service center. Most big brand don't allow self upgrade, mostly they will void your warranty

This post has been edited by miong93: Jan 29 2015, 01:52 PM

Check out other thread.. There is a lot of comparison between mid range gaming laptop..
Please do some researches first before asking. If you're lazy, then you're bound to get cheated or get a unit which is not worth

then how you react ? terus shot back ?? or "am chio" (laugh quietly) LOL

TQ for the info

Wait.. the 970 3.5gb issue is also affected on 970m ? I thought it's only the desktop graphic card and not on mobile graphic card..
Sorry I'm a noob in this area.. can someone enlighten me ?

If comparing these 2 model, I would choose Asus. As you really don't care about Asus bad warranty.
I doubt GE62 will have better cooling than Asus as it is slimmer. But still need to read more actual gaming reviews before I can be sure. Now there is too little reviews regardng GE62 so....
AW 15 or 17 is also good option. Their price spec ratio is not as OP as last time.
Clevo model is also a good choice.

IMHO, if only these 2 model, Asus win.

Well I'm not Asus ROG user so I can't answer you that, you need to find out yourself. Sorry
But comparing based on price and spec, Asus ROG is a good choice.
Also, please go and find today's thread, titled Alienware 15.
The guy is offering a very good price for AW15. RM5.6k something.. SSD + 970m and 3 years Pro warranty from Dell..
You may consider that also

Well it depends. Now most laptop are using aluminum. So it will be lighter. About 2.4kg mostly (include adapter + battery)