Questions Optimus II; battery life, specs for progs, portability

[laude]

Hi guys.
First of all I'm from belgium so sorry for my bad grammar.

I'm completely new here so I'll introduce myself first.
My name is Laurent and in a couple of days I'm starting my second year Architecture at high school in Antwerp.
For the moment I'm typing on an Acer (yeah, I know). So I am really in need of a decent refresh!
I have been searching for ages after a good laptop that will fit my needs.

I've already made a setup for the Optimus II but I am full of questions;
- For programs like AutoCAD and Revit, will the gt555m suffice instead of a quadro card?
- I LOVE gaming, so in my spare time I'll be gaming! Thats why I prefer the gt555m over a quadro card..
- Battery life; I'm planning of taking the laptop to class to take notes etc BUT can the battery handle minimum 3 hours of low-intensive tasks?
- Portability; that's why I preffer a 15 inch.. I'd like to put the laptop in my backpack so I wont be carrieing an external bag with me all the time. People with experience?
- And one last thing; is the Optimus II loud under heavy load? And what about the temperatures?

As I already said, I have been searching for a very veery long time for a notebook.
But I just LOVE the specs of this I just configured.
Oh, and no comments on the audio card, I AM an audiophile! (can't live without music)
The other options I had in mind were:
- samsung 7 series (chronos) wich will be released really soon (macbook pro competitor)
- 15" 2.2ghz macbook pro (for the battery life and build quality, but revit wont work without a dual boot so that sucks)
- lenovo w520 because it has a quadro card and also a very good battery life


I'd love to get some answers and possitive feedback!
So shoot..

Greatings from the not so sunny Belgium (altough it's pretty dark right now)

Chassis & Display
Optimus II: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080) (£69)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2860QM (2.50GHz) 8MB (chose this one for AutoCAD, Revit and rendering)
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB) (Same as the CPU + photoshop)
Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 3 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 510 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 450MB/sR | 210MB/sW) (For OS and most important progs)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ HD - Audiophile-Grade Notebook Sound (£79) (Music ADDICT)
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1102 WIRELESS 802.11N - IDEAL FOR ONLINE GAMING (gotta love fast internet, right?)
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Upgrade to 62.16WH 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (£29)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W Adaptor (GT 540M) / 120W Adaptor (GT 555M)


Price: £1,435.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[PCS]

Welcome to our forums Laude

1. GT 555M will run AutoCAD, but Quadro is better designed for 2D applications and will therefore run better.

2. GT 555M is great for gaming without costing too much.

3. The battery life is typically 4 hours under Optimus mode (integrated graphics) so you can be confident that the battery will last at least three hours.Unfortunately we have sold out of the 62.12WH batteries at present, but more will be in stock in the next few weeks.

3. The laptop should not be louder than any typical laptop, and the temperatures are reasonable for a laptop of this performance.

 

[jao144]

Battery?

Welcome to our forums Laude

1. GT 555M will run AutoCAD, but Quadro is better designed for 2D applications and will therefore run better.

2. GT 555M is great for gaming without costing too much.

3. The battery life is typically 4 hours under Optimus mode (integrated graphics) so you can be confident that the battery will last at least three hours.Unfortunately we have sold out of the 62.12WH batteries at present, but more will be in stock in the next few weeks.

3. The laptop should not be louder than any typical laptop, and the temperatures are reasonable for a laptop of this performance.

Does the extended battery petrude from the chassis?

Like does it stick out?? - ive got an Optimus but im use to my long lasting MBP battery. - Its no problem really, just wondering if the high capacity battery will stop it fitting in the case...

 

[PCS]

The batery does not protrude from tne back of the chassis - it's exactly the same size of the 48.84WH version.