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"Gaming" Laptops
Hey guys, trying to find a laptop I can play older games, and lower graphics games on without too much lag. Let me just say that I buy a new gaming PC every 2 years and I have no desire to ever swap out my gaming PC with a gaming laptop. But my laptop I own is coming up on its 7th birthday and I would like something I could game on while watching TV. No need to be playing BF3 on my laptop but something that can handle simpler 3d graphics... think more EVE Online or Supreme Commander.
Thoughts?
"They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath
Comments
Any laptop from bestbuy with a Gphix card should be good enough for general gaming, a Gphix card is a MUST though. watch for sales between Bestbuy, TigerDirect and Newegg.
find a laptop, post it here and we will tell you if its worth it or not.
I peruse the slickdeal forums as well, saw this and never thought of Lenovo's for gaming but it looks decent:
Lenovo has a great deal on a IdeaPad Y470 Laptop. After applying coupon code USPY4251006 price drops to $749 + free shipping. Thanks PFX7
Specs:
Intel i7-2630QM 2GHz Quad Core CPU
8GB DDR3
500GB Hard Drive (7200 rpm)
14" LCD (1366x768) w/ Camera
1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M
HDMI + USB 3.0
DVDRW
Intel 1000 WiFi N w/ Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
6-Cell Battery
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
People are complaining about the 1366x768 resolution, might be a deal breaker for me not sure.
"They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath
that actually sounds great for that price. Almost to good, i've never heard anything about Lenovo, so I would read lot's of reviews first. My personal fav is ASUS - fyi
Yea I just saw this.
1.5GB dedicated VRAM, 6GB DDR3 RAM, i7 2GHz, and supports the 1920x1080 resolutions.
"They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath
You mostly need to look at the onboard graphics.
Check out this link and try to make a decision this way.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html
So all you want is good enough gaming performance to run nearly all games smoothly at moderate settings, and some games that are lighter on hardware requirements at high or max settings? If so, then that's not hard to get.
You didn't explicitly say this, but I'm guessing that you'd also like a low price tag, a modern feature set, good battery life, and low power consumption, so that the laptop won't get hot under gaming loads. If so, then try this:
http://www.amazon.com/Gateway-NV55S04u-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Ebony/dp/B0051OLC4S
That features a quad core processor, Radeon HD 6520G integrated graphics that will perform about as well as a low end discrete card (e.g., GeForce GT 520M or Radeon HD 6470M), and has the processor, graphics, northbridge, and memory controller all in a single chip with a hardware-enforced TDP f only 35 W. Apart from other such Llano laptops, you'd be looking at at least 60 W or so for those components in a budget gaming laptop.
It's very much a budget model, with 1066 MHz memory and a 5400 RPM hard drive. But look at the price tag: $425.
Long story short, the ones that cost you an arm and a leg and have low battery life.
The main thing to look for in a (gaming) laptop is the GPU. Aim for a GTX 285 or better if you want the best. I recommend a Radeon 5870 personally though.
The best CPU for gaming is (hands down) the Core i7 QM. I'd go with the Core i7 QM 820. If you have the bank for it, there is the Core i7 XM 920, which is the fastest CPU.
You'd probably want DDR3 RAM for gaming, at least 4GB of that.
An SSD for quick loading, and a traditional HDD for storage, preferably 7200RPM
Something with this type of hardware will generate a lot of heat and use a lot of power. And because it is the latest and greatest, it's expensive too. Heat + power consumption = low battery life.
I'd personally recommend this one:
http://www.ibuypower.com/
Once you get the all the bells and whistles, it should come out to be ~$2,600, then add tax, shipping and recycling fees.
Quizzical ftw
*Corsair Obsidian Series 650D *i5-2500K OC'd ~ 4.5
*Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 mother board
* Radeon HD 7970
*8GB (4GBx2) 1600MHz Kingston HyperX
*240GB Corsair Force GT Series SATA-III SSD
That's after rebate. . . .
Still, $500 is pretty damn good for a machine that can run Dirt 3 on high settings and handle CoD:BO on medium settings. If you're more of an RTS or MMO gamer, this machine will do just fine.
Having very little experience on the topic (I use my laptop and netbook for non-gaming tasks), I can only agree with Robgmur and advice you to listen to Quizzicals advice. He helped me updgrade my desktop and his advices were priceless
"Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted.
Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world."
Hans Margolius
He should make an App. (Quizz's advice) 25 cent download lol ..and post all of this stuff through it
*Corsair Obsidian Series 650D *i5-2500K OC'd ~ 4.5
*Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 mother board
* Radeon HD 7970
*8GB (4GBx2) 1600MHz Kingston HyperX
*240GB Corsair Force GT Series SATA-III SSD
How about a book?
He can use that free Amazon ebook publishing
He could call it "the Computer whisperer" . Hell I would buy it and follow him on twitter
*Corsair Obsidian Series 650D *i5-2500K OC'd ~ 4.5
*Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 mother board
* Radeon HD 7970
*8GB (4GBx2) 1600MHz Kingston HyperX
*240GB Corsair Force GT Series SATA-III SSD
In case anyone is wondering this is what I ended up with for $959 and free shipping:
HP Pavilion dv6t Quad Edition customizable Notebook PC
• dark umber
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• 2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2670QM (2.2 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz
• 2GB Radeon(TM) HD 6770M GDDR5 Graphics [HDMI, VGA]
• FREE Upgrade to 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 750GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• No Additional Office Software
• No additional security software
• One 6 Cell and One 9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• 15.6" Full HD HP Anti-glare LED (1920 x 1080)
• FREE Upgrade to Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
• Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R)
• Standard Keyboard
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope
And before people panic, the OpenGL issues have been resolved by HP back in August.
**edit** I realize my whole "playing older games" thing seems out the window with these specs. But I can't pass up a good deal. Plus my last laptop lasted me 7 years already, so I'm in for the long haul
"They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath
Get the 1 GB version of the Radeon HD 6770M, not the 2 GB version. If a game needs more than 1 GB of video memory at the settings you want to run it at, then the GPU chip will choke and the game would still be unplayable at 2 GB. The only practical differences between 1 GB and 2 GB are power consumption and price tag--and 1 GB is better on both counts.
Other than that, it's a nice enough deal if that's your desired level of performance. The next step up would be a Radeon HD 6870M, or a GeForce GTX 460M or 560M. That's a lot more power consumption and a lot more expensive.