Gaming Laptops

[Paragon Fury]

My Dell XPS M1530 laptop can handle Fallout 3, Oblivion at full (as well as several other games), and surprisingly Farcry 2. It has:

Intel Duo Core CPU
4GB RAM
VISTA
NIVIDIA GeFORCE 8600 GTS

Fallout 3, keep at medium, or just below. Turn off anti-aliasing too. (Actually, this is true of every game you know you can't max. Hell, even the ones you can. Anti-aliasing doesn't realy improve the graphics that much, and it can decimate an otherwise perfectly fine framerate.)

Oblivion you can max, or set just below max if you want slightly better framerate.

My laptop would run you about $1600 right now, all told.


Honestly the iggest problem wth gaming laptops isn't the power - its the cooling. A lot of the power of destop computers has been shrunken down into a laptop form, just as good as its full-sized brethern. Hell, if I wanted to, I could probably play Crysis on my laptop.....but thats not something I want to put my laptop through. See, the size of the laptop means you have to sacrifice the cooling systems of larger computers, meaning that your laptop will get really, really hot, possibly damaging your compenents. If you're getting a gaming laptop, make sure to invest in a good cooling pad - it'll be worth it.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

Alienware M-15x With 2GB of RAM, an 8600GTS, and a 2.1 GHz Intel CPU. If you get the 1440x900 screen it will work, but why a laptop? A desktop is much better for gaming. If you were playing LAN party games, I could understand, but these are single player RPG's. So why?

Alienware is cool but quite overpriced. I've always found that you can find something comparable on newegg for less than half the price. It wont look as cool as an alienware but it'll do the job.

But that's the point, it won't look as cool. You ARE paying for the ability to have your keyboard switch between 10 different colors. And it's awesome, but I will admit they are overpriced.

 

[Aethren]

Would this make a good gaming laptop?

Memory Size: 4GB
Memory Speed: DDR2 800
Hard Drives Included: 1x 320GB
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Processor Brand: Intel
Processor Class: Core 2 Duo Processor
Processor Type: Dual-Core
Processor Speed: 2.26GHz
Processor FSB: 1066MHz
Processor Cache: 3MB
GPU/VPU: NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800M GS
Video Memory: 512MB GDDR3 VRAM
USB Ports: 4

$729.99

 

[Aethren]

Edited to show specs.

And yes.

 

[Iori Branford]

Here is the root of the problem.

newer games such as Fallout 3, Dawn of War 2, Left 4 Dead and Episode 3

Can a go-kart win the Indy 500? Can a 9mm pistol put down a Strider? No, with those you'll more likely be content with garage racing and headcrab plinking:

Good Old Games
http://www.gog.com/

ABA Games
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/index_e.html

Abandonia Reloaded
http://www.reloaded.org/

Battle for Wesnoth
http://wesnoth.org/

Urban Terror
http://urbanterror.net/

The list goes on; just Google "freeware games". And never, ever forget about emulators and ROMs.

 

[Allstar309]

I have a Dell XPS M1530 laptop and it can play crysis on the gamer level (2nd Best) graphics with rarely any lag.
Dell seems to be pretty good when it comes to games, much better then toshiba laptops.

And also Dell laptops look COOL.

 

[mALX]

This is mine, playing Fallout 3, all ultra settings, 4X AA and 4X Anisotropic. Running Windows 7 RC 1 Ultimate 64bit, on a Toshiba X200 Laptop with 8700m video card 512 MB dedicated VRAM, 4 gigs PC 800 DDR2 RAM and an 8 gig SD Card running Readyboost (only available in Vista or Windows 7). Can get to the mid to high 20's when things get really busy, but mostly stays as seen in the slide show posted below. Get higher FPS indoors, and during the day outside.

http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z245/The_Darkness62/Fallout%203/?action=view&current=34ed4af0.pbw

Awesome!

 

[Aethren]

Go for the MacBook Pro and install Vista via Boot Camp That's what I did and everything works great d(^^ I got recent games like Pure, Wolverine, Mirror's Edge and so on, and nothing has even glitched so far

Macbook Pro? Seriously? Neither the 9600 or the 9400 is any good for games. Mac = over priced with sub par specs.

Edited to show specs.

And yes.

Yeah that is pretty good rig, especially for that price. Also depends on the games you will be running as well.

Oblivion (modded), Civ 4, TF2, Warcraft 3 (really), The Old Republic (maybe), Sims 3 (maybe)

Preferably on med. to high settings.

 

[balimuzz]

Look for an HP. You can find a good one at around $800-$1500. If you shop around a bit, and pay attention to the specs while your buying, you can probably find a decent laptop that isn't such a big strain on the wallet. Still, for gaming, you'd be better off finding a good desktop, as they're higher quality for less cash.

 

[mALX]

Look for an HP. You can find a good one at around $800-$1500. If you shop around a bit, and pay attention to the specs while your buying, you can probably find a decent laptop that isn't such a big strain on the wallet. Still, for gaming, you'd be better off finding a good desktop, as they're higher quality for less cash.

I've got an HP laptop that THEY said was a gaming laptop. The problem with HP is that they have all kinds of glitches that are exclusive to HP. For instance, you can't upgrade your graphics drivers except off their site or it doesn't work right. For instance, their tilde key does not work with Oblivion games on Vista, etc. I have both an HP laptop and desktop, and will never get another one.

 

[balimuzz]

Look for an HP. You can find a good one at around $800-$1500. If you shop around a bit, and pay attention to the specs while your buying, you can probably find a decent laptop that isn't such a big strain on the wallet. Still, for gaming, you'd be better off finding a good desktop, as they're higher quality for less cash.

I've got an HP laptop that THEY said was a gaming laptop. The problem with HP is that they have all kinds of glitches that are exclusive to HP. For instance, you can't upgrade your graphics drivers except off their site or it doesn't work right. For instance, their tilde key does not work with Oblivion games on Vista, etc. I have both an HP laptop and desktop, and will never get another one.

Exactly. In my opinion, HP has the best cost-to-quality ratio in terms of gaming laptops, but they're not perfect, and your much better off just getting a desktop. Still, if you're really invested in the idea of getting a laptop, you can't go wrong with an Alienware, except that you're going to be shelling out a lot of cash for it. You're going to have to figure out your priorities before making a purchase, because once you put the money down, that's it.

 

[balimuzz]

Still, if you're really invested in the idea of getting a laptop, you can't go wrong with an Alienware, except that you're going to be shelling out a lot of cash for it. You're going to have to figure out your priorities before making a purchase, because once you put the money down, that's it.

Yes, you bloody can go wrong with Alienware. When you're spending extra money on the name and the aesthetics, you're being a blithering idiot.

Never buy Alienware!

Have you ever owned an Alienware, or are you just going off the fact that they cost a shit-ton? They cost too much, but good gaming laptops aren't the most common thing out there, and Alienware makes solid gaming PCs at ludicrous prices. Yeah, the money's an issue, which is why I suggested getting a desktop instead, and first suggested an HP as a cheaper alternative. Alienwares are reliable, but you have to figure out if you want to spend that much on a laptop. For a desktop, Alienware can fuck off, as you can just build one on your own.

 

[mALX]

Look for an HP. You can find a good one at around $800-$1500. If you shop around a bit, and pay attention to the specs while your buying, you can probably find a decent laptop that isn't such a big strain on the wallet. Still, for gaming, you'd be better off finding a good desktop, as they're higher quality for less cash.

I've got an HP laptop that THEY said was a gaming laptop. The problem with HP is that they have all kinds of glitches that are exclusive to HP. For instance, you can't upgrade your graphics drivers except off their site or it doesn't work right. For instance, their tilde key does not work with Oblivion games on Vista, etc. I have both an HP laptop and desktop, and will never get another one.

Exactly. In my opinion, HP has the best cost-to-quality ratio in terms of gaming laptops, but they're not perfect, and your much better off just getting a desktop. Still, if you're really invested in the idea of getting a laptop, you can't go wrong with an Alienware, except that you're going to be shelling out a lot of cash for it. You're going to have to figure out your priorities before making a purchase, because once you put the money down, that's it.

I used to love Alienware, but since Dell bought them out I have seen some downhill turn on their products and business practices. Things they said would never happen in the merge have happened. I have some reservations on them now. It would be nice to find some small company that has the same vision as Alienware did originally.