Poll: Gaming Laptops
- Thread starter Colonel Alzheimer's
- Start date
If you're buying a laptop the only ones I can recommend are Asus. Alienware is trash. Aside from it being overpriced it's generally under-quality. I haven't actually seen an Alienware product last as long as it should, period. If it's any guess, they're owned by Dell so it's not exactly the dynamic duo of consumer confidence.
Honestly though? Don't buy a laptop for gaming. Buy one for portability. Incidentally I've found in my experience that there's almost no point to bringing a laptop to college. Most of my notes for important classes I either write by hand, or are online anyways. Beyond that there's the whole thing where I don't have the luxury of a readily accessible power outlet in every class. "gaming" laptops chug power like none other, even when put in low-power settings.
A lot of it will come down to your major honestly. Most science based majors don't demand powerful computers, and when they do the university will typically provide. Liberal arts tend to file into the same area. Unless you're in something like engineering or architecture you really won't need a powerful laptop.
TL;DR: Buy a laptop for portability, not to game. You can buy incredibly cheap laptops for just that (even net books if you're insistent) that'll provide all the utility you'd possible want from a laptop without the whole melting itself from the inside thing. If you happen to be in a specific major that dictates the need for a strong laptop then get a strong laptop. Don't buy alienware.
EDIT:
Dell has a strong tendency to do roughly that same thing, and cut really bad corners like putting in bum power supplies.
At any rate my own XPS had to have the graphics card replaced within 6 months because it couldn't manage the heat load. And my older Dell computer had to have the graphics card replaced twice in 5 years. Oops.
Honestly though? Don't buy a laptop for gaming. Buy one for portability. Incidentally I've found in my experience that there's almost no point to bringing a laptop to college. Most of my notes for important classes I either write by hand, or are online anyways. Beyond that there's the whole thing where I don't have the luxury of a readily accessible power outlet in every class. "gaming" laptops chug power like none other, even when put in low-power settings.
A lot of it will come down to your major honestly. Most science based majors don't demand powerful computers, and when they do the university will typically provide. Liberal arts tend to file into the same area. Unless you're in something like engineering or architecture you really won't need a powerful laptop.
TL;DR: Buy a laptop for portability, not to game. You can buy incredibly cheap laptops for just that (even net books if you're insistent) that'll provide all the utility you'd possible want from a laptop without the whole melting itself from the inside thing. If you happen to be in a specific major that dictates the need for a strong laptop then get a strong laptop. Don't buy alienware.
EDIT:
The power of the hardware means little in terms of actual quality. You can put the best parts in a computer but it means diddly when the heat load melts the thing from the inside out in a matter of months.TOGSolid said:
Dell has a strong tendency to do roughly that same thing, and cut really bad corners like putting in bum power supplies.
At any rate my own XPS had to have the graphics card replaced within 6 months because it couldn't manage the heat load. And my older Dell computer had to have the graphics card replaced twice in 5 years. Oops.
Gateways are notorious for being trashy.versoth said:
Depends on the major mostly. I know engineering / architecture majors don't have a lot of time for that kind of stuff- the guy who lived across the hall from me freshmen year in the dorms was almost always at the library studying. My brother who's in law school has ABOUT 1 free day and a half over the course of a week. Me personally? I have hours a day as an anthropology major, except for a handful of weeks in the term that are demanding (having 3 classes all wanted 5+ page papers due the same week, and then having finals the week after @.@)mikespoff said:
Bought my wife an Asus 72GX laptop earlier in the year and she loves it and its played everything we've thrown at it.
My 900 dollar laptop is a beast and will run anything I've thrown at it on high. Could I have bought a better desktop for less money? Yes, of course. Mobility is key factor for me though and worth the extra money.
I got my HP Pavilion DV6-3016AX for $800 Australian. It has the AMD Phenom II x4 N930, 2.0ghz in a quad core, 4gb DDR3 RAM, 500gb Hard Drive, and an ATI Radeon 5650 1gb graphics card. It's got a 1080i screen, and it performs like a fucking champ.
Don't tell me you can't get a powerful laptop for cheap.
Don't tell me you can't get a powerful laptop for cheap.
true. you don't need a desktop to run games. but once you do you'll never buy a gaming laptop.
I like my setup. $1500 Desktop and $500 old arse macbook.
If you get a gaming laptop, its normally far too heavy, far too cumbersome and with a pretty shit battery life.
Have you looked into netbooks?
I like my setup. $1500 Desktop and $500 old arse macbook.
If you get a gaming laptop, its normally far too heavy, far too cumbersome and with a pretty shit battery life.
Have you looked into netbooks?
Nowadays there is no reason to buy a desktop. The prices for just the hardware is pretty close counting a monitor.
I have http://h71036.www7.hp.com/hho/us/en/pclc/articles/series-hdx-notebook-pc.html the hdx 18 with the 18.4 inch monitor. The thing is huge but the performance is awesome.
Not sure it is crisis capable but it played everything else at full 1080 without flinching.
I have http://h71036.www7.hp.com/hho/us/en/pclc/articles/series-hdx-notebook-pc.html the hdx 18 with the 18.4 inch monitor. The thing is huge but the performance is awesome.
Not sure it is crisis capable but it played everything else at full 1080 without flinching.
First off, thanks for answering the question about gaming in college, glad to know I'm not wasting my time by looking.mikespoff said:
Secondly, your views reflect what a decent number of people of saying, and I agree with you that I won't need some kind of crazy NASA computer to game, I will be in college after all. For that reason I'm kind of leaning towards a laptop, as I've heard some great recommendations for laptops that fit my budget and make sense to me. Buying a desktop and a netbook is an interesting proposition, but I'm not sure I couldn't just get a laptop for that price anyhow.
Anyway, some great advice from everyone so far, keep it coming please!
For all you folks recommending this person get a desktop... I agree in theory, but keep in mind that he said he's only played console games up until now... sure, you need a top-of-the-line desktop to play the newest stuff, but there's plenty of older games that will run great on a laptop. Hell, if you've never played the original Xcom, start with that and work your way to the present 
According to Can You Run It, my laptop can run Crysis. Either it's inaccurate, or New Egg is awesome.Continuity said:"gaming Laptop" is an oxymoron, don't do it.
DESKTOP!!
That's completely true. I've got a lot of catching up to do. A friend of mine really wants me to get in to WoW, I really want to play Civ 5 when it comes out, and I'd love to play Dragon Age on the PC, but other than that I'll probably play a bunch of older games, like Fallout 1 and 2 or X-Com or whatever people here have said in the kajillion threads about what old games are good.Apocralyptic said:For all you folks recommending this person get a desktop... I agree in theory, but keep in mind that he said he's only played console games up until now... sure, you need a top-of-the-line desktop to play the newest stuff, but there's plenty of older games that will run great on a laptop. Hell, if you've never played the original Xcom, start with that and work your way to the present
From what I've seen, gaming laptops aren't too overpriced anymore, so if you really must have one keep two things in mind; Do your research (read reviews, compare the specs VS prices of laptops within your price range), and you will pay hundreds of dollars more for a laptop VS an equivalent desktop.
Alternativly, if you're worried about the space it takes up rather than mobility, you could always configure your own Fragbox PC. It's still going to cost you more part-for-part than a desktop, but you'll certainly get more for your money compared to a laptop.
P.S. Newegg seems to have a good selection of laptops, so you might want to start there.
Alternativly, if you're worried about the space it takes up rather than mobility, you could always configure your own Fragbox PC. It's still going to cost you more part-for-part than a desktop, but you'll certainly get more for your money compared to a laptop.
P.S. Newegg seems to have a good selection of laptops, so you might want to start there.
versoth said:Incorrect.Continuity said:"gaming Laptop" is an oxymoron, don't do it.
DESKTOP!!
http://www.gateway.com/gaming/pseries.php
Yes yes, you can game on gaming laptops and some of them even have reasonable specs, however that is entirely not the point. A laptop will always be inferior in performance and in the gaming experience it provides to a similarly priced desktop, and what's more the desktop will be fully upgradable and will likely last longer.Ironic Pirate said:According to Can You Run It, my laptop can run Crysis. Either it's inaccurate, or New Egg is awesome.Continuity said:"gaming Laptop" is an oxymoron, don't do it.
DESKTOP!!
In summary only get a gaming laptop if a desktop is out of the question for some reason, the only time a gaming laptop is likely to be preferable is in the following scenarios:
1) You are a casual gamer.
2) you live in a box and have no space for a desktop.
3) you are a twat who cares more about form than function.
4) you "need" to be able to game in multiple locations.
I have been shoping around for a "gaming' laptop for a while and have to agree Asus or Acer is the way to go.Sturmdolch said:
This one uses an i5 CPU and NVIDIA GeForce 310M GPU. Not
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220751 (Not bad for $800 USD)
Depending on what you think you need you could probably go down as far as $700 USD
