Looking for advice on buying a laptop with a price range of (2000-4000)

[Alkanine]

I have up to $4000 I am (willing) to spend on a high end gaming laptop (Note:This is just a price maximum I dont actually have to spend this much =P) . I am looking for any suggestions on where it would be good to buy one or what I should look to get from one. I know some basics on computers but I really do not want to screw up buying a high end laptop that I could of gotten cheaper or with some accessories I might have not needed on it.

Thanks for any help you can give.
-Alk-

 

[Gepost]

Did you look at the Dell XPS. It is "specially" designed for gaming. However, it is one of the heaviest notebooks around.

XPS

 

[Alkanine]

Ya I am trying to take a look at various models from diffrent companies and configuring for prices EXT. Whats really bugging me is so far Dell is the only one with the Mobile 9800 im wondering when the rest of them will start getting it in.....

 

[Dark54555]

Alienware, I believe, actually has upgradable graphics. So if you don't want the dell, you could get the Alienware with a 9700 and then upgrade to the 9800 later.

 

[Alkanine]

Any idea on how that works. Would I buy the 9800 from ATI or Alienware? Is there any trade ins?

Also 1gig of ram seems fine to me is 2gigs going overboard? (It would probally be cheaper to leave it at 1 1024 and then buy one and install it myself)

(sorry for all the questions)

 

[imported_Woody]

If your laptop budget is that large you don't have many problems man!!

Dell XPS or Alienware would be my choices. You can never have too much RAM but keep in mind it's one of the easiest components to upgrade yourself later. Another consideration is DVD/RW onboard. Unless you plan to burn DVDs on the road you are better off with an external 4/8x drive than an onboard 1/2x drive and they are much cheaper.

 

[Gepost]

Okay, if you have up to 4000, how about this?

Nice, real nice.

 

[GnomeCop]

for that budget, I would recommend VoodooPC or HypersonicPC.

if you are set on getting a MR9800, just get a dell.
I would not count on any alienware notebook, the "upgradeable" graphics they provide is still proprietary and will be done away with if/when MXM and axiom come out anyways.

This is all assuming you are going to be buying a notebook soon and cant afford to wait till the end of the year/next year.

 

[Alkanine]

I am looking foward to the RM 9800 and I would really like to buy a laptop with it due to the fact I am looking for high gaming performance and the RM 9800 blows the 9700 out of the water. However I am willing to wait for other companies to get their hands on it.

 

[Alkanine]

Just took a look at a site with some Sagers. They are pretty cheap compared to other sites I have been to. I am wondering about their reliability. Anyone here ever bought one of these have info on how they perform?

http://www.powernotebooks.com/

 

[imported_Woody]

Don't forget that the biggest limitation when playing games on a laptop, especially FPS games where the graphics card is more critical, is not the graphics card itself but the speed of the monitor. Laptop LCD displays are not all too fast and while you may be able to pull down 100FPS in Unreal Tournament 2004 you won't benefit from that speed when your display can't keep up.

Slower games such as role playing or even Doom3 will simply look nicer because you can turn on more eye candy and run higher resolutions. For the most part a 9600 mobile graphics chip is more than adequate to play most current games on a laptop. But, the key word is current right? You want to keep this thing for a couple years.

On the other hand, if you have that kind of budget, depending on if you need to spend it now or can keep the change....you may consider buying a less expensive laptop that will suit your current needs with enough budget left over to upgrade in less than a year to something that will make today's Dell XPS look like a snail and will possibly cost less.

So many choices...it's much easier just to not have that kind of money!!! ;-)

 

[beyoku]

gaming go AMD64 3700 + ATI 9800 Moblie

 

[GnomeCop]

seeing as though ati's biggest reason for even creating the MR9800 is because they promised dell an upgrade path for their notebooks, I wouldnt be surprised if very few if any at all other manufacturers decided on adopting that part for their notebooks after Dells 30 day exclusive.

The GPU runs pretty hot, its big, and can only fit into large DTR notebooks, so that further limits your selection. Sager may do it though, they make lots of notebooks based on ODMs' DTR designs,.

 

[Alkanine]

I am going to try and wait it out a bit see which companies adopt the 9800 if none of them do ill probally try configuring a XPS.

 

[Bateluer]

www.voodoopc.com

Best notebooks on the planet.