Hey guys,
I've been researching laptops recently. I used the search function to look for advice on building a gaming laptop, but I'm still undecided.
Here's my situation. My current computer is alright:
Athlon 64 3000+ (recently bought)
1 gig ram (various speeds, so relatively slow)
120 gig and 80 gig hd's (lots of storage for... things)
ATI Radeon 9700 (Pro? not sure, got it from Dell a long time ago, needs upgrading)
MSI NEO K8N motherboard... I think, it's good whatever it is.
17 Inch Abit trinitron CRT monitor
Sony DVD+/-RW burner... 4X?
Case is that one quiet award winning one, pretty good, also recently bought.
Still, it's kind of a frankenstein, so it does run slowly randomly etc. Now, the reason I've been looking at laptops is because I hate being chained to my desk. I've got wireless all over my apartment, in my living room, in my roommate's room etc. So I'd like to be able to play a game with my roommate in his room if I'd like, sit on the couch with my gf and use my comp if I want, or even easily take it over to another person's house. And you can really only get this from a laptop.
Now realize I spend about 70% of my time with my comp gaming, so that's important. I'm not as insane about gaming graphics as some, I've dealt with my ATI 9700 for a while, though I do plan on playing stuff like HL2 etc.
So, I figured I could do one of two things in looking at a laptop. I could go for a reasonably priced one, around 1000 bucks, that's a decent workhorse, lighter, and longer battery life, meaning it'd be more portable (though most of my portability plans will be around the house, which will be near power plugs). Of course this one would kinda chug if I wanted to play HL2 in the living room, go to LAN somewhere, and would be "outdated" much faster.
The other option is going for a "desktop replacement", basically a heavy, hot, low battery life monster with a 15.4 or 17 inch screen, and just sell or give away my desktop. This way I would basically just have a portable computer that's as good as the one I have now if not better, that I could even hook up to a monitor, keyboard, mouse combo if I wanted.
I haven't spent much time researching the lighter, cheaper variety, because it's hard to find one that's both light, long battery life, and yet still able to handle gaming. One I've seen is the Dell 8600:
Link
Of course it's only got a Radeon mobility 9000, and isn't a scremer, but it's reasonably light, not too expensive etc.
Now, for desktop replacements I've been doing a lot of research. The two main contenders I've come down to are the Dell Inspirion XPS and the Sager 8790. Alienware, Voodoo etc were just too expensive for not enough power.
The XPS is here. Basically, it's a screamer, P4 3.4 ghz, 1 gig of ram, and the only laptop to get the mobility Radeon 9800, which is basically the same as a desktop X800. Of course they don't have 17 inch screens, only 15.4, and even with dell's price cuts it's pretty expensive. Apparently Dell has a deal with ATI that they're the only ones allowed to sell the 9800 for the first month of their release.
Now, the Sager can be found here. It's basicaly the same comp, with a 17 inch screen, it can get a 256 meg mobility 9700, not 9800. When I priced out the two, exact same features, the Sager was like 300 dollars less, with a 17 inch screen instead of 15.4, and 256 meg mobility 9700, while Dell had a 128 meg one. Plus you can get integrated Tv tuner etc.
So the Sager is cheaper, bigger screen, but doesn't have the 9800. Now, some people are saying to wait a month or two, because Sager is going to release laptops that support PCI express, with new vidcards and everything, and Dell won't have their stranglehold on the 9800 anymore.
Ok, so what do you all think? First of all, with my current setup, is it worth buying a desktop replacement, or should I just get something servicable as a light laptop, or should I just forget the laptop idea and deal with it? And if I should get a laptop, which kind would you recommend?
I've been researching laptops recently. I used the search function to look for advice on building a gaming laptop, but I'm still undecided.
Here's my situation. My current computer is alright:
Athlon 64 3000+ (recently bought)
1 gig ram (various speeds, so relatively slow)
120 gig and 80 gig hd's (lots of storage for... things)
ATI Radeon 9700 (Pro? not sure, got it from Dell a long time ago, needs upgrading)
MSI NEO K8N motherboard... I think, it's good whatever it is.
17 Inch Abit trinitron CRT monitor
Sony DVD+/-RW burner... 4X?
Case is that one quiet award winning one, pretty good, also recently bought.
Still, it's kind of a frankenstein, so it does run slowly randomly etc. Now, the reason I've been looking at laptops is because I hate being chained to my desk. I've got wireless all over my apartment, in my living room, in my roommate's room etc. So I'd like to be able to play a game with my roommate in his room if I'd like, sit on the couch with my gf and use my comp if I want, or even easily take it over to another person's house. And you can really only get this from a laptop.
Now realize I spend about 70% of my time with my comp gaming, so that's important. I'm not as insane about gaming graphics as some, I've dealt with my ATI 9700 for a while, though I do plan on playing stuff like HL2 etc.
So, I figured I could do one of two things in looking at a laptop. I could go for a reasonably priced one, around 1000 bucks, that's a decent workhorse, lighter, and longer battery life, meaning it'd be more portable (though most of my portability plans will be around the house, which will be near power plugs). Of course this one would kinda chug if I wanted to play HL2 in the living room, go to LAN somewhere, and would be "outdated" much faster.
The other option is going for a "desktop replacement", basically a heavy, hot, low battery life monster with a 15.4 or 17 inch screen, and just sell or give away my desktop. This way I would basically just have a portable computer that's as good as the one I have now if not better, that I could even hook up to a monitor, keyboard, mouse combo if I wanted.
I haven't spent much time researching the lighter, cheaper variety, because it's hard to find one that's both light, long battery life, and yet still able to handle gaming. One I've seen is the Dell 8600:
Link
Of course it's only got a Radeon mobility 9000, and isn't a scremer, but it's reasonably light, not too expensive etc.
Now, for desktop replacements I've been doing a lot of research. The two main contenders I've come down to are the Dell Inspirion XPS and the Sager 8790. Alienware, Voodoo etc were just too expensive for not enough power.
The XPS is here. Basically, it's a screamer, P4 3.4 ghz, 1 gig of ram, and the only laptop to get the mobility Radeon 9800, which is basically the same as a desktop X800. Of course they don't have 17 inch screens, only 15.4, and even with dell's price cuts it's pretty expensive. Apparently Dell has a deal with ATI that they're the only ones allowed to sell the 9800 for the first month of their release.
Now, the Sager can be found here. It's basicaly the same comp, with a 17 inch screen, it can get a 256 meg mobility 9700, not 9800. When I priced out the two, exact same features, the Sager was like 300 dollars less, with a 17 inch screen instead of 15.4, and 256 meg mobility 9700, while Dell had a 128 meg one. Plus you can get integrated Tv tuner etc.
So the Sager is cheaper, bigger screen, but doesn't have the 9800. Now, some people are saying to wait a month or two, because Sager is going to release laptops that support PCI express, with new vidcards and everything, and Dell won't have their stranglehold on the 9800 anymore.
Ok, so what do you all think? First of all, with my current setup, is it worth buying a desktop replacement, or should I just get something servicable as a light laptop, or should I just forget the laptop idea and deal with it? And if I should get a laptop, which kind would you recommend?