Author Topic: Gaming Laptop (Read 10934 times)

Ironica · « **on:** February 11, 2012, 06:57:17 PM »

My bonus is coming up so I have been looking at different laptops again. I do not know much about hardware and am realizing that every time I search :p. So I need some help in getting the best one I can afford. The catch is, I can only afford 1G (might go up a couple of hundred depending on the size of my bonus). I know the first instinct might be to tell me to just get a desktop but unfortunately, we don't have much room in our house for a desk. Also not that even though I would like a gaming laptop, I do realize that I will not be playing the newest games with it and that's fine. I usually play games that are a few years old (games like LOTR:BFME 1 & 2, NWN, City Of Heroes, Portal (would love to get Portal 2 after I get my laptop), etc.) I don't mind if the games aren't on the top uber settings but would like it to run at least a little under it. All help is welcomed (with what to look for or the actual laptops).

God Bless

lp670sv · « **Reply #1 on:** February 11, 2012, 08:45:34 PM »

Slightly above the price you said.
Little below your price range. slightly smaller screen. upradable memory
Costs more than the last one, better video card but less RAM. still upgradeable to the same amount though.

start there and let me know if you need more help.

Ironica · « **Reply #2 on:** February 12, 2012, 07:54:57 PM »

The only thing that I know what to look at is the ghz. I'm noticing that nwn2 is out but o well. So besides that, what other components should I look at (and how do I know the difference between video cards and their quality)? I do like the middle price of the three ( price wise and better processing speed).

lp670sv · « **Reply #3 on:** February 12, 2012, 08:00:14 PM »

The processor for the most part isn't going to be a problem any system you buy new is going to have a processor in it good enough to handle modern games, but if 2 laptops are of similar price and have the same specs otherwise obviously go with the better processor. For gaming your limiting factors are mostly going to be your ram and your video card. Anything less thant 4 GB of ram isn't going to do you much good, 6-8 recommended but if it only has 4 check to see if it's upgradeable since you can get Ram relatively cheap if thats the only issue. The most important part of any gaming system is going to be your video card, and it's on card ram. It HAS to have a dedicated card, no on board or integrated. 1 GB of ram minimum. the Radeon 6800 series or better or the Nvidia 900 series (i think) are your best bets, if you find a model you like just post it here and we'll let you know what we can.

Prof Underwood · « **Reply #4 on:** February 13, 2012, 12:27:51 AM »

I recently bought a laptop, and I found these sites to be REALLY helpful for comparing processors and graphics cards.

For instance, of the laptops suggested above, I found the following info:
Price Graphics Card Rank Processor Rank
Laptop 1 $1200 #23 (Class 1) #28 (Great)
Laptop 2 $ 780 #49 (Class 2) #24 (Great)
Laptop 3 $ 830 #49 (Class 2) #24 (Great)

That is a BIG difference in graphics cards, and so I don't think options 2 or 3 are probably what you're looking for. And option 1 is too expensive. So I'd keep looking.

For example I found:
Price Graphics Card Rank Processor Rank Note
Laptop 4 $ 965 #23 (Class 1) #28 (Great) This is refurbished
Laptop 5 $1070 #23 (Class 1) #52 (Good) This is sold out online
Laptop 6 $1080 #23 (Class 1) #48 (Good) This is my favorite option

That last one really looks like a great deal for a gaming laptop. It has 6Gb of RAM, and even has a 17in screen (which is AWESOME).

Ironica · « **Reply #5 on:** February 13, 2012, 01:21:23 AM »

Laptop 6 does look great but after taxes, is about 200 over budget. If I get a nice bonus, I probably could get it.

My question, though, is why is laptop 6 only a good rating while laptop 3 is a great rating yet?

lp670sv · « **Reply #6 on:** February 13, 2012, 01:27:53 AM »

Yeah I'm unsure on that as well. Laptop 3 has a 2.2 ghz i7 6 is a 2.5 ghz i5. the i5 is a little faster but i7 > i5

goldencomet · « **Reply #7 on:** February 13, 2012, 02:17:08 AM »

My biggest note of advice is to find some sort of sale. There's this place called microcenter (I don't know if it's a chain or not) that luckily had a 1-day $600 off sale for one laptop, which was the one i bought that was originally prices at $1400 i think, so I got it for $800

Except for a hard drive issue within the past month, it's treated me wonderfully well. Maybe you should look into Vaios, mine is a vpc something model.

The only piece of advice I can offer other than that is to not get anything Toshiba Satellite a665 related. within 2 days it crashed repeatedly after 5 seconds of turning it on, do not recommend that one.

Most laptops nowadays are capable of performing well enough for most games, which ones do you have in mind?

Prof Underwood · « **Reply #8 on:** February 13, 2012, 10:36:23 AM »

Quote from: Ironica on February 13, 2012, 01:21:23 AM

My question, though, is why is laptop 6 only a good rating while laptop 3 is a great rating yet?

Laptop 3 had a "great" processor rating because it is the #24 best mobile processor available right now. Laptop 6's processor is currently ranked #48, which is still "good", but still a significant difference.

Quote from: lp670sv on February 13, 2012, 01:27:53 AM

Laptop 3 has a 2.2 ghz i7 6 is a 2.5 ghz i5. the i5 is a little faster but i7 > i5

I used to think that all you had to do with processors was look at the gHz, and pick the biggest number. I also used to think that i7>i5>i3 was always true. I also used to think that quad-core>dual-core>single-core was always true. However, after researching for a while, I've discovered that it is actually a lot more complicated than that.

That is why I use the comparison websites that I recommended above. They have experts look at all the benchmarks and rank the processors. Thus I can quickly see a list of how the processors stack up.

To pick an extreme example of the surprises that I have found:
An i3-2370M (#64) is actually a much better processor than an i7-620UM (#222) or even an i7-2617M (#98)
Similarly, a duel-core Core 2 Duo T9900 (#59) is a much better processor than a VIA nano quad-core L4700 (#303) or even a Core 2 Quad Q9000 (#97)

Here's a couple more good options that are a less expensive (refurbished).
Price Graphics Card Rank Processor Rank
Laptop 7 $870 #26 (Class 1) #28 (Great)
Laptop 8 $965 #21 (Class 1) #28 (Great)

lp670sv · « **Reply #9 on:** February 13, 2012, 10:39:58 AM »

Quote from: Prof Underwood on February 13, 2012, 10:36:23 AM

An i3-2370M (#64) is actually a much better processor than an i7-620UM (#222) or even an i7-2617M (#98)

Well yeah but in that case it's because the i3 processor is second gen (sandy bridge technology) were as the i7s are first generation i cores. But the i5 and i7 listed about are both 2nd generation and there really isn't a big enough difference in GHz to me to overcome that comparable i7s are better than comparable i5s. I'm not saying I disagree with you, I disagree with their rankings.

Prof Underwood · « **Reply #10 on:** February 13, 2012, 10:51:40 AM »

Quote from: lp670sv on February 13, 2012, 10:39:58 AM

Well yeah but in that case it's because the i3 processor is second gen (sandy bridge technology) were as the i7s are first generation i cores. But the i5 and i7 listed about are both 2nd generation

Yes, that is exactly the kind of complication that I'm talking about.

Quote from: lp670sv on February 13, 2012, 10:39:58 AM

comparable i7s are better than comparable i5s.

I agree with you. The problem though is that people who don't look at anything besides the "i7" or the "i5" can't really tell whether they are "comparable" versions or not.

Ironica · « **Reply #11 on:** February 13, 2012, 04:03:20 PM »

Quote from: goldencomet on February 13, 2012, 02:17:08 AM

Most laptops nowadays are capable of performing well enough for most games, which ones do you have in mind?

For the most part, the games I will be playing are:

City Of Heroes
Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle Earth (mostly 1 but sometimes 2)
Heroes Of Might And Magic 5 (might get six if my laptop can handle it).
NWN 2 (won't miss it that much if I can't play it)
The Star Wars first person shooter (can't remember the name)
Minesweeper

I will probably never play Elder Scroll (or the latest top graphics game out there) so I don't have to worry about having teh uber computer to play it (and as mentioned before, don't mind toning down the graphics some as long as I don't have to tone them down too much).

Hope that helps.

The Warrior · « **Reply #12 on:** February 14, 2012, 05:36:47 PM »

Quote from: lp670sv on February 13, 2012, 01:27:53 AM

Yeah I'm unsure on that as well. Laptop 3 has a 2.2 ghz i7 6 is a 2.5 ghz i5. the i5 is a little faster but i7 > i5

I Love how this Makes no sense to me....

Red Dragon Thorn · « **Reply #13 on:** February 14, 2012, 07:24:30 PM »

I just bought an Asus G74SX-BBK9.

It has yet to ship, but when it does, I'll let you all know how it runs. It's a beast of a machine though, I'm sure I'll be happy with it.

lp670sv · « **Reply #14 on:** February 14, 2012, 07:30:14 PM »

Quote from: Red Dragon Thorn on February 14, 2012, 07:24:30 PM

I just bought an Asus G74SX-BBK9.

It has yet to ship, but when it does, I'll let you all know how it runs. It's a beast of a machine though, I'm sure I'll be happy with it.

I have a G60JX. The only thing you have to worry about is the only problem I've had with my Asus gaming laptop, for some reason Asus laptops seem to have a relatively high rate of USB port failure. 3 of my 4 ports dont work at all, and the 4th has power but no data. Hold on to your receipt, it is something they fix under warranty IF you can get then to honor it. I'm currently fighting with them over the warranty, online it says its a 2 year warranty but they claim its expire 1 year 7 months after i bought the laptop.

Red Dragon Thorn · « **Reply #15 on:** February 14, 2012, 07:33:40 PM »

Interesting, I'll be sure to keep an eye on that - I don't actually use all that many USB devices even when gaming so I'm not super worried about it.

I have a USB mouse, USB headphones, and depending on how the keyboard feels I might have to break out a USB keyboard as well. But that's about it.

goldencomet · « **Reply #16 on:** February 14, 2012, 07:34:30 PM »

Quote from: lp670sv on February 14, 2012, 07:30:14 PM

Quote from: Red Dragon Thorn on February 14, 2012, 07:24:30 PM
I just bought an Asus G74SX-BBK9.

It has yet to ship, but when it does, I'll let you all know how it runs. It's a beast of a machine though, I'm sure I'll be happy with it.

I have a G60JX. The only thing you have to worry about is the only problem I've had with my Asus gaming laptop, for some reason Asus laptops seem to have a relatively high rate of USB port failure. 3 of my 4 ports dont work at all, and the 4th has power but no data. Hold on to your receipt, it is something they fix under warranty IF you can get then to honor it. I'm currently fighting with them over the warranty, online it says its a 2 year warranty but they claim its expire 1 year 7 months after i bought the laptop.

that's terrible did you try re-installing the drivers?!
or is it a mechanical issue

lp670sv · « **Reply #17 on:** February 14, 2012, 07:39:23 PM »

I believe the newer models come with built in bluetooth so if they do break you can just get a bluetooth mouse/keyboard

It's a mechanical issue. the computer doesn't even recognize the ports are there anymore. I've reinstalled the drivers dozens of times and it doesn't change a thing.

Ironica · « **Reply #18 on:** February 29, 2012, 03:54:24 PM »

Received my bonus today (whoohoo

). I was looking at #6 on the professor's list but they don't have it anymore. Now I'm interested in number five. Before I place my order in a couple of days, anyone else has a suggestion that might be a better buy?

My possible future laptop

Ironica · « **Reply #19 on:** February 29, 2012, 06:18:38 PM »

Double Posting!!!

Anyways, I'm trying to knock down the price while still being able to play the games I want. Here's a couple that I saw during my break.

Option 2
(I didn't see anywhere about a dedicated video card).

Option 3
(It does have a dedicated video card but slower processor)

lp670sv · « **Reply #20 on:** February 29, 2012, 06:25:54 PM »

Quote from: Ironica on February 29, 2012, 06:18:38 PM

Option 3
(It does have a dedicated video card but slower processor)

This one. .2 GHZ is not worth an extra hundred dollars especially when it has a bigger hard drive, better video card, and it's not even really faster when you get down to it. The base speed of this ones processor is .2 less that the other, but it's turbo boost speed is .1 higher. All of this to me means definitely this one.

Prof Underwood · « **Reply #21 on:** February 29, 2012, 08:22:40 PM »

Your new "option #2" seems to have the HD3000 graphics chip in it which is NOT dedicated and is WAY worse than what we've been looking at so far.

Your new "option #3" has a graphics chip ranked #34 (which is not quite as good as the Laptop 6 that I suggested, but is still in Class 1, and should be good for you). It also has a processor ranked #24 (which is actually a good bit better than the one in Laptop 6).

Your new "option #3" is an Acer, which I ready some scary stories about terrible customer service, vs Laptop 6 being a Toshiba. However, it is also almost $200 cheaper, and really I think you gotta go with price and just hope you never need their tech support

Given the choice, I think your "option #3" is the way to go. You'll save a lot of money, you'll get an awesome processor, you'll still get a great graphics chip, you'll still get the 17in monitor. I think you'll be really happy with it.

Ironica · « **Reply #22 on:** February 29, 2012, 11:32:56 PM »

I'm not set on anything as of yet (I'm trying my best to find one under 926). What do you think is the best manufactor to look at?

Prof Underwood · « **Reply #23 on:** March 01, 2012, 02:18:47 AM »

I basically have 3 tiers that I put laptop brands into. Lenovo, Sony, and Toshiba are in the top tier. Asus, HP, and Dell are in the middle tier. Acer, Gateway, and Others are in the bottom tier. However, unlike processors and graphics cards which are pretty easy to quantify, brand quality is something that is very subjective. I wouldn't worry much about it really, and I think the comparison below makes the choice pretty clear.

Price Graphics Card Rank Processor Rank Brand Screen
Laptop 6 $1080 #23 (Class 1) #48 (Good) Toshiba 17 in
Option 3 $ 900 #34 (Class 1) #24 (Great) Acer 17 in

Ironica · « **Reply #24 on:** March 01, 2012, 02:44:58 AM »

Quote from: Prof Underwood on March 01, 2012, 02:18:47 AM

I basically have 3 tiers that I put laptop brands into. Lenovo, Sony, and Toshiba are in the top tier. Asus, HP, and Dell are in the middle tier. Acer, Gateway, and Others are in the bottom tier. However, unlike processors and graphics cards which are pretty easy to quantify, brand quality is something that is very subjective. I wouldn't worry much about it really, and I think the comparison below makes the choice pretty clear.

Price Graphics Card Rank Processor Rank Brand Screen
Laptop 6 $1080 #23 (Class 1) #48 (Good) Toshiba 17 in
Option 3 $ 900 #34 (Class 1) #24 (Great) Acer 17 in

So besides the brand name, the Acer laptop seems like a better choice for me than the Toshiba one (especially since the Toshiba one is not available anymore through that link

). Since I'm not planning on playing any games that requires uber graphics, the 200 I would save seems worth it. Do they have that bad of a history of breaking?

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Author Topic: Gaming Laptop (Read 10934 times)

Ironica

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