Is it worth taking 970m over 960m if im gonna be using the lappy for 2-3 years. Planning to buy Z5 next month.

Damn I missed my Z5 already LOL....

Vram doesnt give you gain .. The 6gb n 8gb variant of 970m n 980m doesnt make sense as ure still limited by gpu grunt power.

970m oced=770>960
980m oced<970=780ti
980m needs a 30-40% oc to be close to a stock 980.
The prob with 980m .. You can game ultra setting on 1080p but it just cant do very high settings@1440p.

This is based as a former titan black sli & 780ti sli user..

But ...Then again this was a first time i ever bought a gaming laptop. I was literally shocked how far mobile gpus has come. I dont trust reviewers in general but pascal mobile gpus will be atleast 20-30% improvement on this.

990m>980m sli >980.. Bless the dude who gets this gpu. i am guessing this will be the first pascal gpu.
BlizzardCraft
My setup a bit pricey but advise ya just get a asus ac 5ghz router.
So far on unifi routers i find them the best. For wifi aps.. apple airport extreme/express.
But end of the day ure gonna have ping issues with streamyx.. So theres just so much you can expect.

Still very much situational, perchance.
4k screens aren't exactly mainstream, and i'm talking about pure solid 60Hz / 120Hz ones on laptop devices. I don't see how today's current laptop GPUs (sans the 990M, since at this point its not yet mass produced yet) can even achieve a stable 60fps on all-out-ultra settings (like GTA 5) on 1440p, let alone 1080p (there are some really monster benchmarks using Clevo 980M sli systems on a desktop processor, but then again its not based on latest hardware revisions, and IIRC they're all based on 17" screens).

But back to the topic, 970M > 960M in the sense that the price you pay for the upgrade is worth the leap in the performance.

We're the same bro.. 1tb hdd as main storage.. just got a little budget more so I opt to buy msata ssd.. thinking buying 120 or 250gb for the os,antivirus,office etc.. just want to choose something good with price/performance ratio..

for ur case..better to get m sata although is it slightly expensive than ram..but ur speed will increase tremendously over the 1tb hdd..

8gb ram is enough at the moment for the apps and softwares at this time and in near future

startup, app loading, file transfer speed, no defragment etc etc

http://asia.pcmag.com/storage-devices-revi...-the-difference

ya bro..if want to run many apps at the same time then ram better..but it also depends, because i used to open many apps at the same time too and 8gb enough for me

for start up time, file transfer speeds  increase u can get msata (64gb enough)..then put your os in the msata and use the 1tb hdd as your storage for your files..with this your os speed will increase alot

u dont even need 128gb msata ssd is quite similar to msata(the features and advantages) thats why i put that link in my earlier posts.

btw your hdd is the normal hdd or the sshd? blizzardcraft

Yes, if you run a lot of programs at one time RAM is the better upgrade if u have limited budget; I went for RAM upgrade for this reason. I usually will have 2 browsers with dozen of tabs each open, photoshop/Lightroom open, torrent or any downloader, and bunch of other stuff running at the same time.

YUP..i forgot that z5 comes with sshd instead of the hdd..hence i recommended the msata with hdd configuration.

since come with sshd, no need dy..ram upgrade is enough

This is my short review on Z5 v3. My laptop was ready within 2 working days after I ordered it (No OS). I bought this laptop mainly for coding (I'm a programmer) and I don't really game a lot nowadays.

I have 2 mSata 256GB and installed Windows 10 Pro on the first drive, and Linux Mint 17.2 on the 2nd drive. So, for you folks thinking about running Linux, this laptop works well. Just install Nvidia proprietary drivers (if you want maximum performance) and you're good to go.

Keyboard. This is the number 1 priority for me when choosing a laptop. I type a lot (especially when I'm coding) and I own few mechanical keyboards (this shows how important the keyboard is to me). It does NOT flex at all, and feels really solid (perhaps the aluminum helps). I do feel Macbook Pro keyboards are better. I'm totally disappointed with Alienware laptop keyboards though!

Screen. I'm used to IPS screen at home (I have 2 Dell UltraSharp), so having IPS on a laptop screen is a definite welcome. However, the backlight bleed is quite obvious. But then again, you don't really notice it on everyday usage. The hinge is quite strong/solid. It's quite stiff to open and close the laptop lid. However, it's wobbly compared to Dell Latitude E6540. I suspect it's due to the hinge being placed closed to each other, where as the Dell's hinge is quite far apart in between. With that being said, it doesn't feel like it's going to break anytime soon. The black bezel is made of thick glossy plastic. It could scratch easily if you're not careful.

Storage. A laptop that allows 3 storage device? Awesome! The only downside is that m2 is replacing mSata (or so I heard), and I only realize this after I bought it. That's why I just get 2 mSata drive straight. No more worries. I can add a 2.5" 1TB drive for data storage.

This laptop runs really quiet. I can hardly hear the fan noise (compared to a Dell Latitude E6540).

I seriously dislike the trackpad. The buttons are stiff, and cursor movements are not smooth. But then again, not many laptop have really good trackpads anyway (Macbooks are the best!). It's worse if you run Linux. So I just use my Logitech bluetooth mouse. Given that gamers will be using their own gaming mouse anyway, this might not be a problem at all.

Battery is built-in, but can be removed. However, there's just so many screws to remove! I think there's at least 12 screws? The problem is if you're on the go, you can't easily swap battery. Now why is this an issue? Because the power supply (150W) is quite heavy. The 8-cell battery can last 4.5 hours on normal use.

Overall, I love this Z5. For the price, you're getting a lot compared to well-known brands such as Asus, Acer, MSI or Alienware.

Pros:

• Solid keyboard. No flex.
  
• Can install up to 3 HDD. (1 x 2.5", 2 x mSata)
  
• Beautiful IPS screen. (There's backlight bleeding though, which is common.)
  
• Feels solid overall.
  
• LED lights on top cover and trackpad.
  
• The anodized aluminum cover is really nice!
  
• Charging USB port (I haven't test the output current though.)
  
• Spdif digital output. (This is great as I have an external DAC/Amp.)
  
• Ethernet, HDMI and VGA ports at the back. (Good for cable management.)
  
• Runs cool and quiet!
  

Cons

• Though the hinges are solid, the screen panel wobbles more compared to other laptops such as Dell Latitude E6540.
  
• Thick black glossy plastic bezel could scratch easily.
  
• Trackpad buttons are stiff, and cursor movements are not smooth. (But then again, good trackpad are rare. Macbook still dominates in this area.)
  

The bios most probably contains updated IMEI . Advice you to update ure buos as win10 will update on auto the latest as well. This will improve performance of the cpu on many levels.

Dude the process takes like seconds. Dont be scared

Its not easy to brick bioses. Illegear has a bat file that just runs the commandline etc.

Advice you to upgrade with fresh uefi install. I have been running win 10 for awhile. Its really good on battery life and retains win 8.1 performance or outdoes it. I get about 5-6hours surfing/word stuff. Win 8 i need to disable wifi to get that kind of batter life. Generally on win 8.1 its about 4-5.
Win 8.1 is bad on startup n loads a lot of rubbish overtime n causes lag because its doing something with ure hdd/ssd. Win 10 doesnt. Win 8.1.. When u use system stuff or win apps. U close them but they are still running in the background. Win 10 closes them for good. Background processes on win 10 is less.
I noticed the switch between igpu to gpu with win 10 is smoother.

Win 10 is truly a must for notebooks.

It does.

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/wir...-bluetooth.html

It does. Max 866mbps. You need a ac 5ghz channel width 80 for ac aslonh ure router supports.

As for streamyx n unifi thats internet connection. Nothing to do with ISP

wifi network is a internal network connection at ure home
Hence ac wifi nothing to do with isp
Ac wifi requirements for notebook is ure router wifi support.

Nothing to do with ISP connection. Are you asking whether ure streamyx/unifi router supports AC??

Default unifi doesnt. Only dual band.

no it between ure router and ure devices.

Dual band is 2.4ghz and 5ghz.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11

Dude you should ask in the networking section of the forum.

make it simple for you

whats the speed ure z5 is connected to ure wifi. Try going closest to ure router

also are you using default router.

if yes to second ure max is 300mbps and ure not on AC.. most probably N.

Ok dual band
2.4ghz and 5ghz. There are at different wave length
So both has different channels. 5ghz is at a higher range.
Because we have a lot of things nowadays running in the air around us at 2.4.. Its not stable when you occupy the same channel.
5ghz is shorter range n its higher. Hence y ppl ask you to. Chances of interferance is less

A/b/g/n/ac etc are speeds and channel widths which affects connection speed.

Not sure about that router but unifi default is dual band N router. So max is 300mbps. And you can get that speed at 2.4ghz & 5ghz because it supports channel width 40 at 2.4 also.

AC requires channel width 80.