Gaming Laptop

[Zahri]

I'm looking into a laptop to make life more convenient travel-wise and school wise, so I'm wondering what to get.

I found a decent candidate ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152073 )

but I'd like to see what people here recommend, something cheaper preferably as I'm $300 short.

 

[SimuLord]

Just what sorts of games do you propose to play on it? I've got a $600 prebuilt laptop that I use primarily for school (it's got just about nothing for graphics power) but it'll play old games like Tropico and Patrician 3 like a champ and I can even play Rome: Total War on high settings provided I keep the unit size at 40/60 ("Normal") and don't try to make it animate the 10,000-man battles. My wife can play World of Warcraft on it (and often does when she's sick and I won't let her get out of bed) on decent settings as well.

I wouldn't call it a "gaming laptop" because it'd choke to death on anything 2005 or later (I wouldn't even ask it to do Age of Empires 3, never mind Oblivion, Fallout 3, or Empire: Total War.) But for old games? Works great.

 

[Zahri]

TF2 mainly =3 anything else i have on steam, mainly valve stuff.

 

[SimuLord]

TF2 mainly =3 anything else i have on steam, mainly valve stuff.

To that I say "well, check system requirements and make sure the laptop meets them." Everything else is gravy from there.

 

[Zahri]

my choice exceeds it very well, it's just that it's the only one so far that meets my personal requirements other than cost. If i could find something cheaper it'd help, or something better for the same cost, something that's just well made. iunnu xD

 

[Paulrus_Keaton]

I have a Macbook Pro that runs Windows XP through Boot Camp. It runs TF2 fine but I don't suggest making my folly of dropping $2500 for something you need to buy a Windows disk for. Unless you already own one or know someone in a CIT class.

My brother has a Sager laptop that runs Saints Row 2 well, but I have no idea how much that cost him; nor do I know the specs.

 

[Crabid]

Laptops will always be expensive for gaming. But then valve stuff is generally pretty easy on the requirements.

As far as my experience with laptops goes, I would get a spec a little higher than recommended but the laptop you have there would cope easily with any valve game. Probably would have gone for an intel, but that's really because I don't know AMD too well.

At a first glance I like the look of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115539 more.

 

[twistedshadows]

I'm currently in the same situation. Believe me, you aren't going to find anything for $300 less. I've been researching and plotting for a week now and still haven't found something that exactly suits my needs. It's either too expensive or doesn't have the right specs. Honestly, the one you're looking at probably has the best price/specs from a trusted company. It really depends on what kind of setup is most important to you.

Edit: Just found this, it might be what you're looking for even though it's $100 more. Still an awesome deal for a gaming laptop, though. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9173262&type=product&id=1218044029168

 

[PrimeSynergy]

Get the Asus G50-Vt from Best Buy. You honestly can't beat that deal. It does come in at $900, but there's no laptop with that much horsepower that's that cheap.

 

[SimuLord]

I got a Toshiba Satellite somethingorother for $1000 or so, and it runs anything up to (not including) Crysis with varying levels of irritation.

Mine's a Toshiba. They make damn good laptops.

 

[F17]

I got an ASUS M50VC laptop about 6 months ago, its a beast. Pretty high-ish all round standards, but the graphics card is a nvidia GeForce 9300M. Pretty much plays anything, or at least anything I've tried. Got it for $1800 NZD, which probably amounts to $1000 USD.

 

[Christemo]

my own: Acer Extensa 7620 from october last year. i has 320gb harddisk, 4gb ram, crystal eye webcam, and a 17 inch screen. its pretty awesome.

 

[Magical Hans]

From my experience Laptops + Games dont mix

Get a pc and be happy

 

[Emeli]

I'm on my VAIO right now, and it's never let me down. I do need to upgrade the RAM though. I've always found Toshibas to be very reliable, too.

 

[Zahri]

I remain convinced that there isn't such a creature as an efficient gaming laptop. The graphics cards in even the most expensive laptops are poor and inefficient versus those in desktops.

You mention that you need this computer for school. Frankly, I can't see why so many people try to justify the extra expenditure on a laptop because it's ostensibly for school purposes. The software which you would require for school (if, in fact, you required a laptop for school at all, which is actually very doubtful) doesn't require a quick computer at all.

Don't waste your money. You can buy a cheap netbook and sink the rest into a gaming desktop - which are delightfully inexpensive if you build them yourself.

-pokes my pc- are you a gaming pc?

pc: yes

yay

 

[Scarecrow38]

Well I consider the phrase "gaming laptop" to be an oxymoron (like American Intelligence or hilarious sit-com) so I'm not much help.

 

[Zahri]

if it meets the reccomended stuff for tf2 at a decent price, it'll be good enough for me. I've made it a note to stay away from Asus laptops o.o

 

[Neonbob]

I'm using a Dell XPS M1530. I got it for around $1200...but I had to get the lowest processor so I could afford the better graphics card and another gig of RAM. I was actually able to run Crysis on high! Yaaay!

 

[prettynothings]

Well, make sure that you absolutely -need- a laptop for gaming, you can make a desktop for half the price, that's a lot better.

 

[fedpayne]

OK, I'm in a similar situation. I literally do NEED a laptop since I'm going to University in the States (from the UK) and my desktop is a massive beast which I don't want to bring over.

I am honestly so thrown out by cross brand standards in terms of processors and graphics, and would appreciate some help.

I'm using a Dell XPS M1530. I got it for around $1200...but I had to get the lowest processor so I could afford the better graphics card and another gig of RAM. I was actually able to run Crysis on high! Yaaay!

So you'd recommend the XPS M1530? Looking at it on the Dell website, there are options to upgrade various processors etc., and it doesn't look hugely expensive (by UK standards). Would anyone mind taking a look and saying which processors/graphics cards I should be considering?

Obviously you don't have to if you don't want to, but I'll send you cookie. Here [http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&kc=N4XM1532&l=en&oc=N05X5302&rbc=N05X5302&s=bsd]. About 900 dollars. I'm willing and able to pay that, unless someone is going to slap me and tell me why I shouldn't?