Looking for a new gaming laptop
Solarity
Join Date: 2012-11-13 Member: 170515Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2012-11-13 Member: 170515Members, Reinforced - Shadow
My 3 year old system is okay on the lowest settings so long as there is not much action:
Intel Core Duo 2.53ghz
6GB Ram
Nvidia GTX 260M - 1GB
Any suggestions on a good laptop, not really interested in going back to a desktop. Prefer sub $1k, though the lower the better. Just for gaming nothing else.
Intel Core Duo 2.53ghz
6GB Ram
Nvidia GTX 260M - 1GB
Any suggestions on a good laptop, not really interested in going back to a desktop. Prefer sub $1k, though the lower the better. Just for gaming nothing else.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
A sub-$1000 budget for a gaming laptop is tough. Make sure it's a third-gen Core processor. Full-voltage dual core is probably better for NS2 than quad core, because the limited thermal envelope of laptops means dual core parts tend to have higher clockspeeds, and NS2 isn't very well multithreaded (the server isn't, anyhow). That said, you would be hard pressed to find any dual-core laptops with high-end graphics.
Alienware will sell you a machine with a GT 650M in it for $999, which is a bit on the slow end, but will probably play the game passably. Ideally you'll want faster, and smaller brands may enable you to get something a bit better in the same budget. One trick might be to head over to newegg.com and filter on laptops with certain GPUs and see which are the cheapest. I'm seeing a Lenovo for $900 USD with a quad-core i7 and a GTX 660M, I don't think you'll find anything better than a GTX 660M for $1000 or less.
<!--quoteo(post=2026406:date=Nov 17 2012, 04:05 AM:name=Guspaz)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Guspaz @ Nov 17 2012, 04:05 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2026406"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->If you don't have something constructive to say, don't say anything. "lol buy a desktop" isn't a valid response to the question.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yes, I bet my posts equals your quote.
Ignorant ######.
It's was pretty straight forward with simple information, that unless someone travels or so it's just totally not worth it getting laptop over desktop.
But oh well, if you really want to throw money away I have nothing against that, just some people live in other countries than US, where money doesn't grow on trees, thus I wanted to say, that desktop is way more economic money wise than laptop.
So, please, refrain from being an immature ass.
Making computers that small has a major cost, either in money or performance.
ASUS has the best gaming laptops imho, definitely the most reliable and worth the money you spend just for that I guess. Dell and Acer I have had multiple problems with, suggest staying away from those.
wow. thanks for contributing to the thread. you are totally awesome and cool.
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OP: finding a gaming laptop for $1k or less is going to be tricky.
I think clevo is the largest manufacturer when it comes to high spec notebooks. they get rebranded by sager, alienware and whatnot.
you might find something suitable to your likings on their <a href="http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/index.asp" target="_blank">web site</a>
builders and resellers are listed on their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clevo" target="_blank">wikipedia page</a>
To those still stuck in the "laptops aren't good for gaming" mindset, I suggest you read up, especially if your concern is performance. The shortest coming my current laptop has is it's a 17 inch screen. Truthfully, that is completely fine with me. I have a 24 inch monitor that I have wall mounted, with a laptop stand should I feel the need to use it, though I rarely do and am debating selling it. As far as gaming goes, I just use my kitchen counter and a comfortable chair or I just lay on my couch and use the mouse on the large surface area adjacent to the track pad. If you've played with me in any gathers, I play all of those sitting on my couch. Anyways, my rig runs Crysis 2 at max settings, 1980* resolution, with a stable 60 FPS. I can do this while sitting on my couch with the laptop cool to the touch. It's heavy because it's truly a "desktop replacement" laptop and obviously has the hardware to run intense games. Being a grown adult, the extra poundage doesn't bother me as I carry it in a case when I need to take it places. Always felt "weight" was a ridiculous criticism on modern laptops.
Considering I can take it anywhere, store it easily and removes the need for a desk (I don't like the clutter of a desk area I use just for gaming) I consider it absolutely worth it. That being said, it was in my personal budget and I can definitely understand where it's not in others.
Summary:
Money and bang-for-buck-cost, a desktop wins hands down. It's not even close if you can build your own rigs. Gaming laptops do exist, for a price, and are fantastic options if money isn't your #1 concern. If your concern is performance, again, you'll pay more for the laptop but you'll definitely get what you want if you want to spend it.
Very curious about what exactly you have since you didn't mention it. I have the most expensive ASUS ROG laptop and I'll tell you what, while it may be running crysis 2 on the highest settings it's sure as hell not doing it while staying "cool to the touch". Also don't refer to your laptop as a "rig", it's not. That's just going to annoy people who actually took the time to BUILD a machine vice buying something in a store that you really can't upgrade.
While it will be very difficult to get a decent gaming laptop >1000$, a desktop will not cost >1000$ even for a i7 + HD7970 or GTX670/GTX680.
A friend of mine used to buy high end gaming laptop in the range of 1500$-2000$ and really don't cares about money too much. After his latest laptop died a painful heat related death he tried a desktop for the first time in 10 years and he was just amazed on both the performance and the monetary saving.
I would always suggest buying a kick ass desktop for around 1000$ and get an additional small lenovo laptop which will not die the heat death. And you WILL feel the difference between even a mediocre desktop system and a high end gaming laptop...
If you really think about it, almost nobody really needs a gaming laptop. If your traveling in most cases you need mobile internet, office, watch a movie.... for which a small 500$ laptop is perfectly fine.
For the few times you go somewehere for longer and really want to play normally you can just put your desktop in the trunk of your car and take it with you... no big deal.
I understand the suggestion on the desktop, though I haven't completely ruled that out yet. I didn't take offense to what that person said about getting a desktop.
Example : Gaming Laptop's general hardware is non-upgradeable... you can pop in a few more ram sticks or flip a harddrive or two, but overall, your stuck with what you purchased. HEAT: Gaming laptops generally run really hot, fans work at a constant and the fight between weardown and cooling begins early. You will generally get less life out of your parts then a desktop. Part failure: loose a graphics card? Motherboard going bad? Fan making a racket from running crazy speed all day?
Generally, They are crap. Not worth the time or money your going to drop on the product and over all a ill advised purchase unless you are never home.
Laptops serve one consumer type and one consumer type alone; mobile workers. If your not a traveling salesman or a college student, avoid them.
I do all of my development and playing on a MacBook Pro which has a 2.6 GHz i7 and GeForce GT 650M. It works fine for NS2 and other games. You're not going to get a MacBook for less than $1k, but it sounds like you should be able to get a comparable (or more powerful) PC notebook.
I understand the suggestion on the desktop, though I haven't completely ruled that out yet. I didn't take offense to what that person said about getting a desktop.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I have a G73 (it does stay pretty cool, the newer asus laptops are really good for that), and thought it was really great at the time when I bought it. It still is pretty good, but even high end laptops just fall behind so fast and after a year it really became a pain to play games on. I do travel a lot but if I have time to play games in hotels and other temp places it's always still a pain anyway, and if it's for extended periods then bringing a desktop along isn't always that unrealistic. The screen size is a big deal for me too, if you're used to a 21" screen or so then trying to game on 17" is really annoying
If you think you can make a desktop work then you should definitely try for that, and with a bit of extra work/research you should even be able to build a smaller form factor desktop that would be easier to move and still play a lot better than a laptop.
I have an Asus G75VW-DS72, the ROG infact.
<a href="http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/476386/Asus-G75VW-DS72-173-Notebook-Intel/;jsessionid=00006vjAetLsYT8Mv6469OhBmRt:13ddq0tng?cm_mmc=Mercent-_-Googlepla-_-Technology%20Computers_Servers-_-476386" target="_blank">http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/4763...ervers-_-476386</a>
(for those who care, I did not spend as much as that link indicates. Their pricing is either outdated, absurd, or I just found a great deal.
The back cooling on the laptop is spectacular. I've never had a single issue with cooling (in terms of performance and "lap" comfort) no matter what I've thrown at it. I'm not being a braggart, if you have the same model I do you should perhaps have it checked out. It hasn't gotten more than a "warm" on the heaviest graphics sessions. I had the G75V base model before a warranty-covered issue with the HD, so when I returned it I went ahead and upgraded to the DS72 with the better hard drive packages. The original base model, another in which I had no cooling issues at max settings.
As far as the "rig" comment... I'm sorry, I don't particularly care what verbiage bothers petulant dorks. I've build plenty of my own computers, this laptop is my first deviation away from that. So call it old reflex, call it incorrect usage, or annoying, it doesn't matter to me.
Don't get Alienware, they're flash and name with little substance to backup their pricing.
<a href="http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/476386/Asus-G75VW-DS72-173-Notebook-Intel/;jsessionid=00006vjAetLsYT8Mv6469OhBmRt:13ddq0tng?cm_mmc=Mercent-_-Googlepla-_-Technology%20Computers_Servers-_-476386" target="_blank">http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/4763...ervers-_-476386</a>
(for those who care, I did not spend as much as that link indicates. Their pricing is either outdated, absurd, or I just found a great deal.
The back cooling on the laptop is spectacular. I've never had a single issue with cooling (in terms of performance and "lap" comfort) no matter what I've thrown at it. I'm not being a braggart, if you have the same model I do you should perhaps have it checked out. It hasn't gotten more than a "warm" on the heaviest graphics sessions. I had the G75V base model before a warranty-covered issue with the HD, so when I returned it I went ahead and upgraded to the DS72 with the better hard drive packages. The original base model, another in which I had no cooling issues at max settings.
As far as the "rig" comment... I'm sorry, I don't particularly care what verbiage bothers petulant dorks. I've build plenty of my own computers, this laptop is my first deviation away from that. So call it old reflex, call it incorrect usage, or annoying, it doesn't matter to me.
Don't get Alienware, they're flash and name with little substance to backup their pricing.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Another G75 owner here. And yes, it stays really really cool whatever the situation. Even after moderate overclocking the machine doesn't get that warm, as far as various forum posts are to be believed.
<a href="http://www.xoticpc.com/force-qal51hd-compal-qal51-p-4808.html" target="_blank">Force QAL51-HD</a>: 15.6" + i7 3610QM + GT 650M = $813.83
<a href="http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np6165-clevo-w150er-p-4344.html" target="_blank">Sager NP6165</a>: 15.6" + i5 3210M + GT 650M = $823.53
<a href="http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np6175-clevo-w170er-p-4345.html" target="_blank">Sager NP6175</a>: 17.3" + i5 3210M + GT 650M = $852.63
<a href="http://www.xoticpc.com/force-16ga005-msi-16ga-msi-ge60-barebones-limited-availability-p-4707.html" target="_blank">Force 16GA-005</a>: 15.6" + i7 3610QM + GT 650M = $862.33
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215672" target="_blank">Acer Aspire V3-771G-9809</a>: 17.3" + i7 3632QM + GT 650M = $879.99
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834310660" target="_blank">Lenovo IdeaPad Y580</a>: 15.6" + i7 3630QM + GTX 660M = $899.99
<a href="http://www.xoticpc.com/force-1756002-msi-1756-msi-ge70-barebones-p-4708.html" target="_blank">Force 1756-002</a>: 17.3" + i7 3610QM + GT 650M = $872.03
<a href="http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np6350-clevo-w350etq-p-4897.html" target="_blank">Sager NP6350</a>: 15.6" + i5 3210M + GTX 660M = $920.53
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152339" target="_blank">MS2 GE60-0NC-006US</a>: 15.6" + i7 3610QM + GT 650M = $939.99
<a href="http://www.xoticpc.com/force-16ga009-msi-16ga-msi-ge60-barebones-p-5035.html" target="_blank">Force 16GA-009</a>: 15.6" + i7 3610QM + GTX 660M = $949.63
<a href="http://www.xoticpc.com/force-1756006-msi-1756-msi-ge70-barebones-p-5036.html" target="_blank">Force 1756-006</a>: 17.3" + i7 3610QM + GTX 660M = $959.33
<a href="http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np6370-clevo-w370et-p-4796.html" target="_blank">Sager NP6370</a>: 17.3" + i5 3210M + GTX 660M = $969.03
<a href="http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-ge60-0nc262us-preorder-p-4981.html" target="_blank">MSI GE60 0NC-262</a>: 15.6" + i7 3630QM + GT 650M = $999.99
Personally, I think the Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 (for 15.6") or the Force 1756-006 (for 17.3") are probably the best deals atm.
Because when you can develop as a Windows Dev under Bootcamp without really any drawback compared to windows, that would be neat, and I'd be a happy MacBook buyer pretty soon (primarily doing C# and Js work with VS2012 and 2012).
ASUS has the best gaming laptops imho, definitely the most reliable and worth the money you spend just for that I guess. Dell and Acer I have had multiple problems with, suggest staying away from those.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I got a MSI GT780DXR and it work better than any Asus I ever known. I've made my homework when I had to choose between the two, and my friend had an Asus. Supposedly both laptop are pretty much the same.
Thing is, his laptop started breaking apart not long ago, while mine is still in top shape. Also the MSI got better speakers and if you like fancy things; You can choose your color for the keyboard light while Asus stays white.
Problems with the MSI:
-the fan noise (Not a problem for me since I have my headset for gaming)
-Heat (Gets very hot and the graphic card can even heat up to 100Degrees when playing Planetside 2.
As far as the "rig" comment... I'm sorry, I don't particularly care what verbiage bothers petulant dorks. I've build plenty of my own computers, this laptop is my first deviation away from that. So call it old reflex, call it incorrect usage, or annoying, it doesn't matter to me.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think you misunderstand, the laptop internals themselves are I believe made mostly of aluminum which doesn't conduct heat very well. So no the laptop itself won't feel hot, however the fans on the back must be blowing out some hot air, there's no way they aren't. There are 2 fans on the back which blow air from the cpu and gpu (supposedly separately) and mine has hot air coming out if I'm playing a game. Now if you're using VSync I can see why you might not notice anything, but if you're like me and you want higher than 60fps your video card will be putting out a lot more heat.
And no need to get personal about it, simply stating a rig is something you build and put your heart into. A laptop is just something you bought from a store that is what it is and nothing more. I simply can't believe anyone who has actually built a good system would say that laptop is better in anyway. There is no way your 2.3ghz i7 mobile version is competing with my 4.5ghz desktop version.
<!--quoteo(post=2027706:date=Nov 18 2012, 02:09 AM:name=Davil)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Davil @ Nov 18 2012, 02:09 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2027706"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->And no need to get personal about it, simply stating a rig is something you build and put your heart into. A laptop is just something you bought from a store that is what it is and nothing more. I simply can't believe anyone who has actually built a good system would say that laptop is better in anyway. There is no way your 2.3ghz i7 mobile version is competing with my 4.5ghz desktop version.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'll keep it simple:
1. I was talking about lap discomfort and overall to-the-touch temperature, which was obvious. Especially considering that is exactly what I said. Oh, it's also exactly what you quoted in your response.
2. Don't be passive aggressive, reread your post and try to justify how you weren't being condescending or snide. You still are actually. I never even compared my laptop to your desktop, I simply stated my rig more than gets the job done on a performance level. In fact, I never stated mine was better than a desktop, except specifically within in the confines of my needs. Which very easily could be the same needs as someone else.
1. I was talking about lap discomfort and overall to-the-touch temperature, which was obvious. Especially considering that is exactly what I said. Oh, it's also exactly what you quoted in your response.
2. Don't be passive aggressive, reread your post and try to justify how you weren't being condescending or snide. You still are actually. I never even compared my laptop to your desktop, I simply stated my rig more than gets the job done on a performance level. In fact, I never stated mine was better than a desktop, except specifically within in the confines of my needs. Which very easily could be the same needs as someone else.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It looks like one has to know their place on these forums... :/
<img src="http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/760/paesant.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
I also broke down and got the desktop. After looking at the details and see how little I LAN I let that swade my decsision.
I spent about $800 after mail in rebates:
23" LCD w/ 2ms
GTX 660 TI graphics card
8GB RAM
Intel i5-3750K
$30 case
630w PSU
Gigabyte Z77X mobo
I will reuse my Windows license and HDD from my laptop, until I figure out what HDD to buy. As it is 20mins to midnight I needed to order stuff before I loose all the sales. 4 things got sold out from my shopping cart before I could buy it.
So in conclusion if you enjoy gaming with a friend at his house then a Laptop is better IMHO than a desktop. Though if your friend moved away and your fiance is in a masters program and not contributing to the household income, then it might make more sense to build your own machine for 1/3 less and get about 1/3 move of a system.
Thank for your input!
-Solarity
<!--coloro:#FFC0CB--><span style="color:#FFC0CB"><!--/coloro-->^ This.
Glad you made the right choice. :P<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
The current performance issues aren't guaranteed to go away and even when they're fixed, NS2 requires a 4ghtz 4 or 8 core processor. (yes that means i've tested it, NS2 will use up to 8 cores.)
You are never going to get that clock speed out of a laptop. Even if you find one that will overclock to 4ghtz, it will fry exorbitantly quickly.
edit; good to see i'm late to the party and you were more sensible with your purchase.
Those parts should do you good. With the remaining $200 you could even get a 2tb hard drive if you wanted to.
just dn't get western digital, their Green range have a horrendous fail rate. I've lost 2 in as many years, a 500gb and a 1tb.