Gaming "Affordable" Gaming Laptop.

[Ferrariman]

I've been searching around for a Decent "Gaming" laptop in the 1400-2000 dollar price range.

So far, I have found this: http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668159.php.

I think it is pretty good, but if you can suggest anything better, please tell me.

I am sorry if this has been done before, but I searched "Gaming Laptop" in the search, but found nothing.

And DrKupo, $5000 is quite a lot for a 13 year old. Just wanted to put that out in advance.

 

[Beware]

For about $500 more you could do better. Take a look at the Alienware Aurora M9750. Alienware is a little overpriced, but the customization will give you a good idea about how much you can get for your money.

 

[Ferrariman]

I guess I could try saving for a little bit more. The processor on this gateway isn't that great and 9800M GTS are appearing.
I honestly don't need good sound, because I play at low volume most of the time. But, getting $500 more dollars will take awhile.

 

[Renegade_R]

$1400 is a lot for a 13 year old too

The Gateway represents the best 'value' but Gaming Laptops are kind of a novelty at best. They are very expensive to upgrade and will give you about 1 year of current gen gaming.

 

[Beware]

$1400 is a lot for a 13 year old too

The Gateway represents the best 'value' but Gaming Laptops are kind of a novelty at best. They are very expensive to upgrade and will give you about 1 year of current gen gaming.

QFT. You would be much better building your own gaming desktop and buying a normal notebook or UMPC for mobile use. It's not very hard to build your own, don't be frightened by the concept. It's like a really big Lego. You can build a real Crysis killer for about $500 if you DIY.

 

[Ferrariman]

$1400 is a lot for a 13 year old too

The Gateway represents the best 'value' but Gaming Laptops are kind of a novelty at best. They are very expensive to upgrade and will give you about 1 year of current gen gaming.

Meh, My dad is pitching in around $700, so It's not AS much. I heard there are some laptops that are easy to upgrade, with easy access to things like CPU, GPU, etc. Are they any good?

At underpressure, I don't have enough room for a full-sized tower on my desk, and the concept of moving lugging a laptop around is appealing.

Now that I think about it, I guess I could build a "box" PC.

 

[fischju]

Alienware used to allow you to upgade the graphics, I don't know if they do any more. They are the only company I know of that did/does.

 

[Renegade_R]

There is a laptop out there which is 'fully customizable' which basically means you can change the processor and graphics card....yeah...fully customizable (sarcastic)

Laptops generally cannot easily upgrade themselves without taking them fully apart. Take a look below, its not THAT easy if you haven't done it before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxSdDyC7vto

Give me a minute...I'lll come back with suggestions.

 

[Renegade_R]

You know what...how much on-the-go gaming will you do?

If you don't do much, I strongly suggest get an ASUS N10 as it has discrete nVidia Geforce 9300M graphics. It can get 15fps in Call of Duty 4 on full resolution with 2xAA

http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=12872

The rest you can pour into a gaming desktop for like $1000 and that will create a lasting investment.
If you think you are going to use this gaming laptop for taking to school, you are not going to enjoy carrying 10 pounds of laptop

 

[Beware]

You can just put the tower under the desk or someplace near your desk where there isn't any traffic. Then the only thing actually "in the way" would be the monitor, but it would be the same situation if you kept a laptop on the desk.

I agree that having a small computer that you can carry around with you is nice, but it simply isn't worth it for a gaming notebook considering they are usually so huge, so heavy and run so hot that you need to be at a desk to use it. Why pay $2000 more than you have to for something to be mobile when it really isn't mobile at all? Pay $500 for a gaming desktop and use that other $900 for something like the Raon Digital Everun Note.

PS: And fischju is right about Alienware being one of the only manufacturers that offered upgradable components in their notebooks. I do not believe they do it anymore. In fact, I think that stopped around the time they were bought by Dell.

You know what...how much on-the-go gaming will you do?

QFT.

And if you're really desperate for on the go gaming, then I suggest building a gaming desktop and buying a Pandora.

 

[Ferrariman]

You know what...how much on-the-go gaming will you do?

I have a lot of extra curricular activities that require me to take an early bus, meaning I would have to wait a bit before and around an hour or two after (A 15.4 inch looks good now) since my dad has meetings at his church. As I stated before, my parents are divorced, forcing me to run back and forth between parents. I though it was pretty appealing to be able to carry a laptop around.

Also, carry it to friends and such is pretty cool.

And this computer I am currently using sucks. Hard.

EDIT: I guess I will do some research on building a small, fast enough desktop. Sorry for wasting your time, but thanks for the help.

 

[Beware]

I'm telling you, check out the Pandora. The single most powerful handheld gaming device ever built (short of portabilized home consoles, of course).

 

[Renegade_R]

If that's your situation then I can't really suggest anything better.

Go either the Alienware or the Gateway. I'd suggest Alienware though cause they have their powerful brand name to back them...Gateway...not so much.

Edit: Anyways you didn't waste anyone's time...we are not wasting time helping you because if it was just a waste of time we would have not even answered.

If you are considering a gaming desktop now...you might want to build youself a Crysis Warhead PC...$600-800

http://chrisremo.com/bloggin/2008/09/05/th...ic-specs-price/

 

[Ferrariman]

I'm telling you, check out the Pandora. The single most powerful handheld gaming device ever built (short of portabilized home consoles, of course).

I was checking out the Pandora, and It looked really appealing, but I want a PSP for AAA games, and I also want [Insert Generic "I WANT ALL THIS CRAZY SHIT" rant]

 

[DrKupo]

Got to say, this is the first time I've saw myself specifically called out before I even posted in a thread.

Wait 2 weeks, and buy the new MacBook Pro.

 

[seedvt]

Any midrange/high end Mobile GPU made by Nvidia should be upgradable (assuming the card meets the thermal specs), as Nvidia uses a MXM module platform, kind of like PCI Express cards on desktops.

However, they're quite hard to find, and I wouldn't suggest going that path.


If you're going to get a gaming laptop, I'd go for something less expensive, such as ASUS M50VM series, they are usually equipped with a 9600M and a Intel C2D P8400 or T9400.

It's nothing great, but it should be able to play *some* newer games on low/med.

 

[laminaatplaat]

Just yesterday I saw the Voodoo ENVY 133 gaming laptop. It must be one of the hottest looking laptops I've ever seen

http://www.voodoopc.com/#/productsenvy

I think it would be to expensive because the cheapest version is $2000, but you should just take a look on their website yourself. And btw Voodoo is part of or works with HP.


EDIT: OMG it only got a x3100 gfx card :S lame!

 

[Ferrariman]

Just yesterday I saw the Voodoo ENVY 133 gaming laptop. It must be one of the hottest looking laptops I've ever seen

http://www.voodoopc.com/#/productsenvy

I think it would be to expensive because the cheapest version is $2000, but you should just take a look on their website yourself. And btw Voodoo is part of or works with HP.


EDIT: OMG it only got a x3100 gfx card :S lame!

Even though the GPU sucks monkey balls, thats the best looking laptop I have ever seen

 

[UltraMagnus]

have a look at the dell vostro 1500 http://www.dell.com/content/products/produ...;l=en&s=bsd (link may not work) its in the small buisiness section of dell, but the top end version (now called the 2510 apparently) has a decent GPU

its not the best, but has a 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS , which should handle most stuff

Its the laptop i am using now, and unlike a lot of gaming laptops actually has a decent battery life!

 

[Dunny]

I'm telling you, check out the Pandora. The single most powerful handheld gaming device ever built (short of portabilized home consoles, of course).

I was checking out the Pandora, and It looked really appealing, but I want a PSP for AAA games, and I also want [Insert Generic "I WANT ALL THIS CRAZY SHIT" rant]

The Pandora would suit you for various mundane things (it has been shown to run Ubuntu, with firefox and openoffice etc) and it's fantastic if you're all about emulation (Jaguar, N64, PS1, DreamCast[1] and below) and homebrew games. For AAA titles, you're better off with a PSP... At least until the planned PSP emulator for the Pandora rears its head. And no, I have no idea if that particular emulator would be possible or not - there are convincing arguments flying around both for and against. Of course, for all these things to be done, you need people willing to do it for free. Fortunately, the Pandora has been a roaring success beyond anything anyone thought possible, and devs are literally oozing out of the woodwork

D.




[1] Possibly - again, there are arguments both for and against this one, but it certainly looks possible.