Is it possible to get a good gaming laptop for less than $1000?

[Pickel Surprise]

I'd say I'm a pretty hardcore gamer, but I'm still very much a n00b when it comes to the hardware. My computer now is okay, but it's three years old and it's not that great for most new games. I was wondering if it's possible to get a good gaming laptop for a reasonable price.

I've been looking at the Cyberpower X5-5500. It goes for $799, and the specs look good, but being a hardware n00b, I can't say for certain if it's actually a good deal. Specs in question:

# Notebook: MSI MS-1682 Notebook 16" WXGA 16:9 1366x768 Pixels w/ ATi® Radeon HD 4330 512MB DDR2 VRAM, 1.3 Megapixels Webcam, Built-in Bluetooth, HDMI Port, Support Intel Penryn Socket P Mobile Processors, & Supports PCI-Express mini card
# NOTEBOOK COLOR: MSI MS-1682 Notebook Cover
# DISPLAY LCD: 16" WXGA TFT LCD Display 1366 x 768 Pixels
# CPU: Intel® Core? 2 Duo Mobile T6500 Dual-Core Processor @ 2.10GHz 800FSB 2MB L2 Cache
# MOTHERBOARD: SiS® 672DX + 968 Chipset Mainboard
# MEMORY: 4GB (2x2GB) PC6400 DDR2-800 SODIMM Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
# VIDEO CARD: ATi Radeon Mobility HD 4330 512MB DDR2 VRAM Video
# HARD DRIVE: 320GB 5400RPM SATA300 Hard Drive
# USB PORTABLE DRIVE: NONE
# OPTICAL DRIVE: 8X DVD Rewritable Drive
# SOUND: BUILT-IN AC 97 SOUND
# SPEAKERS: Built-in Stereo Speakers System
# NETWORK: Built-in 10/100/1000 Mbps Network Card
# KEYBOARD: BUILT-IN KEYBOARD
# MOUSE: BUILT-IN TOUCHPAD
# Internal Wireless Network Card: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG 802.11a/b/g 54Mbps MiniPCI Card
# Bluetooth: Built-in MS-6837D Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
# Flash Media Reader: Built-In 4in1 Media Reader
# BATTERY: 6-cells Li-Ion Battery Pack (MS1682)
# CARRYING BAG: Free Deluxe Carrying Bag for 16 Inch Notebook
# NOTEBOOK TRAVELKIT: NONE
# AC ADAPTER: Universal AC-DC Adapter (MS-1682)
# CAR ADAPTER: NONE
# VIDEO CAMERA: Built-in 1.3 Mega Pixel Webcam
# HDMI PORT: Built-in HDMI Port
# PRINTER: None
# PRINTER CABLE: None
# IEEE CARD: BUILT-IN 1394 IEEE FIREWIRE PORT
# USB PORT: 2 x USB2.0 Port Connectors
# OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista? Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 (64-bit Edition)

Can anyone help me out with this?

 

[Fauxity]

Looks fine to me for gaming. The harddrive is a bit small, but you can always buy an external one. Got more RAM than the computer I'm on right now, actually.

Should be okay.

Although if I were you I wouldn't trust me. I don't know as much as I think I do.

 

[Pickel Surprise]

Looks fine to me for gaming. The harddrive is a bit small, but you can always buy an external one.

Oh yeah, I should probably mention that I already have an external harddrive. That's not really a concern. I've been living of of a 111GB internal for a long time, so 320 will be more than enough for me.

 

[Fauxity]

Looks fine to me for gaming. The harddrive is a bit small, but you can always buy an external one.

Oh yeah, I should probably mention that I already have an external harddrive. That's not really a concern. I've been living of of a 111GB internal for a long time, so 320 will be more than enough for me.

Oh, cool. Than you should be all set, as far as I know.

I'm judging off my own specs, and everything's about the same minus the RAM. This computer plays just about everything with a little tweaking.

 

[Fauxity]

I hope you're not trying to play anything modern. It ought to be enough for Oblivion, but Crysis will melt your lap off and kill your sperm.

Crysis isn't modern. Crysis is a monster.

 

[sms_117b]

I hope you're not trying to play anything modern. It ought to be enough for Oblivion, but Crysis will melt your lap off and kill your sperm.

This guy is right I'm afraid.

You can get a better desk top for similar price and unless you will use it for gaming on the go, which given the short battery life of laptops (compared to MY average gaming stints, yours maybe shorter), is unlikely unless you have a back-up battery, but, they're expensive by themselves. My advise is get a good gaming PC. Then a laptop if you're going to use it to work out and around.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

The Gaming PC I've got at the moment costs me £400, comes with warranty and return to base repairs. A grand will get you a ninja if you shop around.

 

[scrambledeggs]

It's ok.. Mine was about 200$ more, has a 2 gig processor, 2 gigs ram, but a 9600GM gfx card and can play crysis on medium at about 30 fps under really heavy fire.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Yes, you steal it.


Oh wait, you've got a spec. It looks reasonable, you'll get things like the source games, RTS's and Battlefield fine. Don't go trying to run Crysis or Far Cry 2 though...

 

[Megacherv]

Try and get one custom built one. My bitchin' laptop cost £856 (for refernce, a Dell Alienware of the same/similar spec would be about £1699)

 

[Pickel Surprise]

The computer I have now can run Crysis semi-okay (yeah, yeah, lowest settings, but even at the lowest settings, Crysis looks amazing). It slows down on occasion, but for the most part it's decent. It does get pretty hot sometimes, but it's old and it has crappy ventilation.