Gaming Laptops

[Arnoxthe1]

DON'T DO IT. DON'T!

Get a console for gaming and a laptop for everything else if necessary, but don't get a gaming laptop. I'm begging you. Not for my sake, but for yours.

My last computer was a gaming laptop, and despite NEVER taking it off a cooler pad, it died in roughly five years. Your motherboard or GPU craps out on you, and you're out $1000+. Same thing happens on a desktop computer, and you're out maybe $200 for a replacement part. Laptops just aren't designed for long-term survivability in their current form, and that goes double if you're adding strain on them by playing games.

Again, I'm not warning you because of some misguided fanboyism, but for the sake of your own wallet.

Actually, 5 years is not half-bad for a laptop to last IMO. With games, you also have the advantage of having the keyboard and mouse thus better control.

EDIT: Darn it!! Sorry again for the double post.

That's just it, five years isn't bad for a gaming laptop. For a desktop PC or a console, that's a terrible life-span. So judging them all on a flat scale, laptops lose out big time.

Well, in response, it's just like searron said. Yeah, the laptop may not last as long or be quite as powerful as a full blown gaming rig but, well, I'll just use his words.

"I don't know about you but trying to take a custom built gaming rig is on an airplane is a pain in the ass. The extra benefit of portability is worth the offset of cost and slightly degraded performance."

 

[Kabutos]

Except it's, you know, portable. So I can play games in my spare time at school. You're paying for an all-in-one package. I'm not going to drag a desktop, monitor, and keyboard to school to play a quick round of SC2 or Black Ops.

Plus, the laptop can actually run Photoshop well, or Gimp, or whatever other program needs taking care of.

I don't see why you're raging so hard over this topic. Either you're extremely antisocial or you're taking this way too seriously. Really, what do you want from us?

I want for the OP to save money. I don't see why someone would want to pay extra for a less powerful machine.

And gaming laptops aren't portable at all. Try playing a game without it being plugged into the wall; I'm betting you'll get around one to two and a half hours.

Sleekgiant is the only one with any sense in this thread.

Dude, you need to chill. I live in Japan, frequently move and have to make trips to the united states. Therefore portability is a must. I don't know about you but trying to take a custom built gaming rig is on an airplane is a pain in the ass. The extra benefit of portability is worth the offset of cost and slightly degraded performance.

In your case it might be warranted, but the OP is going to college. I doubt he'll be taking flights every week.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

Read the OP.

I did, enjoy not having the processing power of a desktop and not be able to upgrade easily.

Honestly get spend about $900 on a desktop then buy a $200 netbook so you have something portable. You will be much happier and spend less money than if you bought one gaming laptop.

Do what you want OP, hell go get a Mac if it floats your boat but you want all the power you can get so a desktop is the best choice.

Well if you did why are still here? It was established from the outset that I'm not looking for a desktop.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

I am currently using my ASUS G60J and I love it but the only thing that disappoints me about it is the 1 hour of life I get if I'm doing some hardcore gaming and the gpu is a bit lacking considering it has the Gforce GTX name and the screen is 1920x1080 but the viewing angles aren't that great but its not that big of a problem considering that I'm always looking at it from the sweet spot.

Plus I can just use msi afterbunner and over clock my gpu.

It's a very good laptop for the price and its even faster than my desktop and I like to plug it into my TV and enjoy some PC gaming on the couch.

For anyone still telling me to get a desktop, SkoopMaster has just summed up a good reason why I want a laptop. Not all the reasons, but some. Kindly leave the thread if you're going to hound me about getting a desktop.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

If I was looking for a gaming laptop worthy of the title, I'd only look at Asus or Sager. They tend to be pricey but if you want something that will play whatever you throw at and won't fall in a heap from actually being used, these are the 2 brands I'd recommend to anyone. Sager tend to be a bit more impressive on the tech-side but Asus laptops are rugged as all fuck so you never have to worry about them getting fucked up from normal travel.

As a recommendation, I'd say the Sager NP5160 [http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_info&model_name=NP5160] might just fit your bill even if it is a touch over budget.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

If I was looking for a gaming laptop worthy of the title, I'd only look at Asus or Sager. They tend to be pricey but if you want something that will play whatever you throw at and won't fall in a heap from actually being used, these are the 2 brands I'd recommend to anyone. Sager tend to be a bit more impressive on the tech-side but Asus laptops are rugged as all fuck so you never have to worry about them getting fucked up from normal travel.

As a recommendation, I'd say the Sager NP5160 [http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_info&model_name=NP5160] might just fit your bill even if it is a touch over budget.

That looks perfect! Only problem is waiting until April for it to be released.

 

[Conza]

^Sager NP5160^ speced one up for $1444USD (1050-1100 Euro), and it had all the bells, blu ray burner, 8gb ram, 2nd cpu - sounds good

Now, I'd consider 3 years a good life for a standard laptop, my current laptop (the era defining M1530, which so many people have), was speced for gaming, in '07/'08 4GB ram, 256MB Geforce card, blah blah, and its survived the 3 years, but its time to put 'er out to pasture. It wasn't 'really' a gaming PC after '09, it would've cost me $2800 if I speced it up at Dell.com, but it was still a good work horse.

I'm undecided about replacing it with another gaming laptop, but then again, since the value for money today is about tripled, I'm still considering, and that one is right on the list now (previous considerations include the ASUS G53JW-A1, MSI GX660R, and NP8690 from Clevo/the other guys).

Good luck! I think you should increase your budget to about 1000 euro if possible.