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Gaming Lap Top Advice

KrIsP!

Smash Champion
Joined
Oct 8, 2007
Messages
2,599
Location
Toronto, Ontario
money is tight as I start university next year but I've got quite a bit saved and and definitely need a laptop for school purposes. At the same time, my pc is broken so I figured getting a gaming laptop would kill two birds with one stone and a lot less money.

I've got about two grand to spend, I'd prefer to not throw it all away on this laptop but basically...what's a good gaming laptop at a reasonable price? I'm looking for effciency here, I want to be able to play most games perfectly on average or above average graphics, not looking to play Crysis on the highest settings while future proofing for crysis 3 or whatever.

any suggestions?
 

Dastrn

BRoomer
BRoomer
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
9,472
Location
Indiana
Asus G74 or G54, depending on if you want a 17" or 15" screen.

I've got the G74sx, and it's fantastic. I paid around $1300 for it, I think.
 

KrIsP!

Smash Champion
Joined
Oct 8, 2007
Messages
2,599
Location
Toronto, Ontario

M@v

Subarashii!
Joined
Oct 13, 2007
Messages
10,678
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
If you can avoid buying an expensive gaming laptop, and instead get a tower and cheaper laptop, do it. Laptops love to overheat.

If you still wanna go for one expensive laptop, One of the following: ASUS as aforementioned, ibuypower, Alienware(the laptops are decent; towers are ripoffs), and on the low end, Dell XPS. I had a Dell XPS that did pretty well for 2 1/2 years. Then it barely ran anything because of overheating.
 

KrIsP!

Smash Champion
Joined
Oct 8, 2007
Messages
2,599
Location
Toronto, Ontario
1,300 for the Asus doesn't seem too bad, as I said I have money to spend specifically for luxury and under $1500 seems alright to me but I'll continue looking before I decide. Overheating though, that might be a problem just because I don't plan on playing a game for half an hour and games can be intensive. I'll probably have it at a desk when I'm playing though and i'll get some higher legs to stick on or whatever they're called for more air.
 

Wavebuster

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Sep 16, 2002
Messages
261
HP has a 33% off coupon code right now valid until the 23rd.

33% Off Select HP Laptops Code: NBP8784

Expiry: 05/23/12
Valid on HP dv6t Quad, dv7t Quad, Envy 15, ENVY 17, and ENVY 173D laptop at the HP Home & Home Office Store. Offer limited to the first 900 coupons redeemed. 1 redemption per person or address. Not valid with other promotions, HP Academy, or HP Friends & Family. Restrictions apply. Not combinable with instant rebates.

This is one such pricing example on the 15" quad core model after the coupon is applied, after customization with quite a few bells and whistles. You can certainly configure to a lower price than this to suit your needs and budget. Despite what it says on HP's spec sheet, this 15" model has USB 3.0 ports now which is important to me since I'm a data packrat.


If this does interest you, do yourself a favor and ask for a 120W power supply. It's very doubtful the included 90W PSU will be able to charge the battery while the machine is under load.
 

Chronodiver Lokii

Chaotic Stupid
BRoomer
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Messages
5,846
Location
NEOH
ASUS are fanfreakingtastic. Almost traded my first laptop in for one. (see why below =__=)
I have an Alienware m14x right now. Second one actually >__> First one was a nightmare (broken in factory. had the motherboard replaced once, screen replaced, accelerometer was going insane, and motherboard breaking means that I dealt with having a mix of either no USBs or no disc drive....and since it was being slow and dying, I couldnt play games since Steam decided to glitch out), but the replacement they sent is fantastic (and because of warranty, free replacement). It's been running flawlessly since they sent me my new laptop. And yeah, I can play games now.
$1450 iirc, but i maxed out some specs because this is my workstation for the next few years of game design. Games run beautifully though c:

Graphics card is a nvidia GeForce GT 555M. I forget exactly what specs I chose, but I know I maxed out the graphics.

And as an added bonus....the keyboard. holy crap.

So yeah, I'd honestly recommend looking at ASUS first because from what i have heard and seen, they are solid systems built for gaming and pure awesomeness.
Alienwares are alright, but im still a tad jaded after the first one. Replacing it did give them brownie points though.
HP is...
um...
yeah no.
 

fkacyan

Smash Hero
Joined
Mar 15, 2008
Messages
6,226
Is there literally no room in your dorm for a desktop / tower of some kind? If there is, I would strongly recommend building your own PC for gaming use and then using the savings from that to buy a netbook for general school use.

If it has to be a laptop, ASUS away. Just be really careful to always have most of the bottom of the laptop exposed when the GPU is active to prevent overheating.
 

John2k4

The End of an Era
Joined
Aug 28, 2011
Messages
8,989
Get a cooling stand/platform for it. I picked up two with fans under them for free (after rebate) at Frys Electronics. They're great at keeping things cool.
 

KrIsP!

Smash Champion
Joined
Oct 8, 2007
Messages
2,599
Location
Toronto, Ontario
I have thought about desktop and netbook. That's definitely an option but I didn't know much about gaming lap tops and the idea seemed convenient so I thought I'd get some opinions to get me looking in the right direction before I make a decision.

I'm definitely aware of overheating though(thanks to this thread) and Ill keep it in mind and look to avoid it.
 

fkacyan

Smash Hero
Joined
Mar 15, 2008
Messages
6,226
I have thought about desktop and netbook. That's definitely an option but I didn't know much about gaming lap tops and the idea seemed convenient so I thought I'd get some opinions to get me looking in the right direction before I make a decision.

I'm definitely aware of overheating though(thanks to this thread) and Ill keep it in mind and look to avoid it.
Just keep in mind that a gaming laptop will cost much more than a gaming desktop with the same specs in most cases.
 

Wavebuster

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Sep 16, 2002
Messages
261
You really don't have to worry about overheating to the point of danger unless you consistently run the CPU under heavy load in bad environmental conditions or do something to inhibit the onboard cooling. If you're gaming in the comfort of your own room, it's not an inconvenience to set it on top of a cooling pad anyway. When using it elsewhere, you're certainly not gaming on battery and it shouldn't be reaching dangerously high temps.

An important thing to consider before price hunting would be the size and weight of the laptop that you'd want to lug around on a daily basis. I wouldn't suggest larger than 15", but it's your call.

- It's generally understood that laptops cost a good deal more than desktop equivalents. People pay for portability and convenience. I move around a lot and have to stretch physical living spaces so I have little interest in desktops for those reasons.
 

Dastrn

BRoomer
BRoomer
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
9,472
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Indiana
Don't fall for the HP 33% deal. They are making their money back by denying you your warranty, stealing hardware from you if you send it in, and putting some of the worst motherboards and heat sinks I've ever seen into their computers. They have 0 integrity and that's what their goal is. Their business model is based on making their computers shinier on the outside so they will sell to suckers who think a "cool looking shiny laptop" is what makes a computer work well.
For years, Toshiba stayed out of the whole "shiny case" world and made some of the best laptops in the world. They couldn't keep up with HP and Dell, despite better hardware, simply because of the shiny factor. It didn't matter that the specs were better, and the RoF (rate of failure) was much better on the Toshiba. They simply couldn't beat the SHINY ones in sales.

They recently flipped that and started making stuff like this:



...just to keep up. Suddenly, sales are up. It's the shininess.


Be a better consumer. You need to realize that a company's integrity is a selling point. Don't focus on a good deal today. Focus on a good purchase for the duration of the device's life. Paying $1300 for an HP that will last 13 months (designed to fail at 13 months!) is more expensive than paying $1450 for an ASUS that will last 4 years+.

You can outsmart HP buy simply not buying their products. They'll eventually have to change tactics or go out of business.
 

John2k4

The End of an Era
Joined
Aug 28, 2011
Messages
8,989
I've got what would be considered to be two "ugly" laptops - A Dell Precision M6300 and a HP/Compaq nx9600. The Compaq is just flat black all around, with a very large keyboard & screen. For 5+ years it's done what I need, with the only issue being a fried gpu. The Dell is a business-class one with a two-tone shell, and a large metal plate on the top of the lid. Very nice laptop to have.
 

Wavebuster

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Sep 16, 2002
Messages
261
If I were to get a new laptop right now, it would be this tiny thing: http://www.lpc-digital.com/sager-np6110-features.html


It's the spiritual successor to the Alienware's M11x line, which have been phased out of production. It's tiny, but the gaming specs are surprisingly impressive and small machines like these are known for long battery life.
 

ThunderBird2678

Smash Apprentice
Joined
May 26, 2012
Messages
91
Location
Right around the corner
Reminding you that now, AMD's apus can crossfire with the dedicated cards and is decent on a budget. Still, I reccomend building your own deskop (like I did) so you can customize it just the way you want

:phone:
 

Cinbad

Smash Cadet
Joined
Apr 6, 2012
Messages
58
Location
Lawrenceville, New Jersey
I'm sure somebody has already mentioned this in the thread, but you should go for a desktop + a cheap notebook. You could easily build a high end PC that can run all modern games at max settings with 60 fps for ~$1200.

You can use the other 800 to buy a decent laptop that can run most modern games on high/medium settings with 30 fps.

Here's a handy guide that you can use to find the right price for you computer
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af150/The_FalconO6/CurrentLogicalPCBuyingGuide/Guide.png
 

Chaco

Never Logs In
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May 21, 2008
Messages
12,136
Location
NC
Get the Asus G74, I have the previous model a G73JH and I love it.
 

John2k4

The End of an Era
Joined
Aug 28, 2011
Messages
8,989
Thought you were recommending it out of personal experience.
 

Vinylic.

Woke?
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Messages
15,866
Location
New York, New York
Switch FC
SW-5214-5959-4787
Well, I don't really have a lot of money to buy anything.
But, I generally read reviews a lot. Not just one though.
 
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