Gaming Laptop

[zasgard]

I'm thinking of getting a GOOD gaming laptop. Ive been a desktop gamer all my life. Can anyone tell me what things I should look for when trying to purchase a good gaming laptop.

Thanks!

 

[Jakeisbest]

Warranty, and good support. A lot of gaming graphics cards have drivers that are notoriously hard to find (as in not even available on Nvidia's web site). My friend purchased an Alien Ware gaming laptop before he was sent to Iraq. As you can imagine the laptop took a lot of abuse, the Alien ware customer support was very nice about mailing him drivers, helping replace ram when he wanted, and other issues he had with it.

 

[Maximilian]

You can get laptop drivers from here if the available ones are playing up or you simply want the lastest drivers. Think its only nvidia drivers they do though.

Basically just get the laptop with the best card that you can afford. A warrenty would defo be a good idea since this will be a big investment. This forum is a great resource for finding out if the model you want is any good, googles good for that too i suppose

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Watch out for the videocard names. Sometimes you may see what seems like a great card in a notebook, but often they are nothing like the desktop version. For example, a 9800m gt is actually weaker than a desktop 8800gs. Or the 9600m gts, which apparently performs more like higher end Geforce 7 desktop cards and nothing like a desktop 9600gt.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Originally posted by: PieIsAwesome
Watch out for the videocard names. Sometimes you may see what seems like a great card in a notebook, but often they are nothing like the desktop version. For example, a 9800m gt is actually weaker than a desktop 8800gs. Or the 9600m gts, which apparently performs more like higher end Geforce 7 desktop cards and nothing like a desktop 9600gt.

Yep. My 9650M GT is about equivilent to a desktop 9500 GT. As you can imagine, it's not that great for games.

It'll play most of what I want at the low native resolution (1280x800), but don't expect to be maxing out Crysis. Definitely don't expect to be playing all of the games to come for the net 2 years.

Get a laptop with the best graphics card you can afford. Chances are it'll be a 17" unit, maybe 15.4-16" if you're lucky (depending on your priorities). Battery life will also suck; make sure to get a 9 cell.

 

[ZzZGuy]

-Warranty, a lot can go wrong.
-Cooling/Noise. For high end there will be a lot of heat in a very confined space. Some laptops are also horribly noisy, others very quiet.
-Keyboard. Is it firm or does it have unwanted flex. Keep in mind no laptop keyboard is very good.
-Monitor size. I recommend 15'' to 17''.
-CPU, RAM and GPU. Keep in mind it is very likely the laptop will have a underpowered version vs desktop to reduce heat and space issues. Google reviews and bench marks to see just what you are getting.
-Weight. Will you be carrying this around a lot?
-Price value. Some brands or laptop models may be easy to bet in price and performance.
-Extras. Anything from a built in webcam to a sound card, some extra you may like.
-Do you R.E.A.L.L.Y. need a gaming laptop? If you go high end enough you will cry thinking what desktop pc you could have built for that money.

Also keep in mind you can most likely look up reviews for whatever laptop to see if it has any issues such as heat problems.

Also recommend visiting notebookreview.com forums under "what notebook should i buy", the FAQ you read before posting alone should help a great deal. http://forum.notebookreview.co...9e6a82b863e551&t=29271

 

[Madaz]

you get what you pay for and in laptops it goes double. anything you buy that can handle current games effectively is going to be expensive and not going to fit in your lap, or be very much fun when your not near a power point for that matter.

As a rough guide i bought a toshiba sattelite p200 in feb of 2008 its running vista ultimate has 3gb of ram and a 512mb ATI video card. its not the greatest gaming laptop ever but i can play a game like saints row 2, strangle hold, the club, kane and lynch and assasins creed and have an enjoyable experience.

i spent somewhere in the mid two's (in australia) which is more expensive than your bog standard business kit but no where near top of the line.

hope this helped.

 

[venkman]

Gateway FX series are very good and you can usually find a hot deal on them. I've got the original (P-6831FX) a year and a half ago and it still performs like a champ.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Better to get a slimline case with a low profile card and put the monitor on top if you want a pc that takes up little room.

Gaming laptops are poos.

 

[brblx]

the battery on gaming laptops is so short that i don't really 'get' them. they seem to suit the specialized purpose of a super compact lan party rig, 'cause you're not going to use it on the go.

that said, it's all about the GPU. fast processors and gobs of memory are pretty standard (assuming you're not looking for a quad core), the graphics card is the big differentiation. and as others have said, the number schemes are confusing as hell and don't match their desktop counterparts, so do your research.

 

[Scouzer]

I'd get an Asus. 2 year warranty + 1 year accidental damage warranty included in purchase. The upcoming G51 is a total beast.

I have an older G50V with the 9700M GT and I'm very happy with it.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: venkman
Gateway FX series are very good and you can usually find a hot deal on them. I've got the original (P-6831FX) a year and a half ago and it still performs like a champ.

Got one here as well, didn't have any problems with Crysis (medium settings), Bioshock, Assassin's Creed, etc.

 

[pontifex]

check out ASUS laptops. I got one from Best Buy a few months ago for $900 i think and its pretty good. it's like a G50VTX or something like that, exclusive to BB

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: brblx
the battery on gaming laptops is so short that i don't really 'get' them. they seem to suit the specialized purpose of a super compact lan party rig, 'cause you're not going to use it on the go.

that said, it's all about the GPU. fast processors and gobs of memory are pretty standard (assuming you're not looking for a quad core), the graphics card is the big differentiation. and as others have said, the number schemes are confusing as hell and don't match their desktop counterparts, so do your research.

they're generally desktop replacements and made to be plugged in most of the time.

 

[Auryg]

And most of them never leave the place where they were put. They're good if you're going to move them around a lot (LANs..*possibly* to bring it back and forth from college), but that's it.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Originally posted by: pontifex
check out ASUS laptops. I got one from Best Buy a few months ago for $900 i think and its pretty good. it's like a G50VTX or something like that, exclusive to BB

Like this thing? Refurbished but still not a bad price when the 20% Bing cashback arrives.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: PieIsAwesome

Originally posted by: pontifex
check out ASUS laptops. I got one from Best Buy a few months ago for $900 i think and its pretty good. it's like a G50VTX or something like that, exclusive to BB

Like this thing? Refurbished but still not a bad price when the 20% Bing cashback arrives.

that looks like the one i have but mine was brand new from BB. appears that BB doesn't sel it any more though.

 

[BladeVenom]

Gaming laptops are expensive, and they don't make good laptops; they are hot, heavy, and have short battery life. I got one once, it was nice, but not really worth the price. I prefer having a gaming desktop, and a cheaper more portable laptop with good battery life.

Why do you want/need a gaming laptop?

 

[EvilComputer92]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom
Gaming laptops are expensive, and they don't make good laptops; they are hot, heavy, and have short battery life. I got one once, it was nice, but not really worth the price. I prefer having a gaming desktop, and a cheaper more portable laptop with good battery life.

Why do you want/need a gaming laptop?

Crysis while your waiting at a restaurant.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom
Gaming laptops are expensive, and they don't make good laptops; they are hot, heavy, and have short battery life. I got one once, it was nice, but not really worth the price. I prefer having a gaming desktop, and a cheaper more portable laptop with good battery life.

Why do you want/need a gaming laptop?

I like having my one PC for everything, and it can go where ever I need it to. I was actually looking at building a system similar to the one I got, and I only paid a $300 premium to make it mobile. No regrets.

 

[clipperfixer]

I have a Gateway 6831fx that has an upgraded cpu and 4 gigs of ram, and I run 64bit Vista on drivers from the site that Maximillian set you up with. I play Cod5 all maxed out. Dont bother playing games not plugged in. If you kill the speedstep your battery won't last long, if you don't kill the speedstep you will lag badly. I game on a laptop because I can do it from New York to California traveling for work, otherwise a desktop is your best bet.

 

[Kromis]

You should buy from powernotebooks.com if you ever get the chance.

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: ZzZGuy
-Do you R.E.A.L.L.Y. need a gaming laptop? If you go high end enough you will cry thinking what desktop pc you could have built for that money.

This is the most important question. Every time I look at a gaming laptop, I stop short because of this. Also, keep in mind that there's no upgradeability. I built my current rig in January 2008 for about $800. Early next year I plan to buy a $~200 video card for it and 4GB more RAM. If I had spent $2k on a laptop in January 2008, I'd need to spend another $2k on a new laptop to get it up to snuff.

 

[TheVrolok]

As many people have already asked, "Why do you want a gaming laptop?" You're going to end up spending at least double on a laptop vs its desktop counterpart, and then it will be a fairly "bad" laptop.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: kalrith

Originally posted by: ZzZGuy
-Do you R.E.A.L.L.Y. need a gaming laptop? If you go high end enough you will cry thinking what desktop pc you could have built for that money.

This is the most important question. Every time I look at a gaming laptop, I stop short because of this. Also, keep in mind that there's no upgradeability. I built my current rig in January 2008 for about $800. Early next year I plan to buy a $~200 video card for it and 4GB more RAM. If I had spent $2k on a laptop in January 2008, I'd need to spend another $2k on a new laptop to get it up to snuff.

This is not factually accurate. If you do your research, you can find a laptop with an upgradeable CPU, RAM, and GPU.

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
As many people have already asked, "Why do you want a gaming laptop?" You're going to end up spending at least double on a laptop vs its desktop counterpart, and then it will be a fairly "bad" laptop.

No, you won't spend double unless you're doing it wrong (IE, buying an Alienware or the like).