Gaming Laptop Suggestions

[distorted.freque]

Hallo. :3 So my birthday's in a couple of months and we have this long heated debate on what kind of laptop they're going to buy for my birthday. The problem is, because none of us are that tech-savvy when it comes to choosing laptops, we're all pretty much screwed.

So I was hoping you guys could help me choose one. Rest assured, I'm not looking for a gaming laptop because gaming laptops are more likely to overheat, and that means a shorter lifespan *tear*. If anything, I'm looking for a laptop that has a good battery life and is not too heavy to carry around. I don't like those mini laptops though that are around 10 inches, because I hate small keyboards and small screens. My eyesight is bad enough as it is. I'd also prefer one that has a solid build because I'm a rather clumsy fellow at times.

So far, I'm looking at the Asus N61JQ-X1, which doesn't really have a good battery life, and is fairly heavy (which contradicts what I just said), but has some pretty good specs for its price. Most of the reviews are good, which is probably the only reason why I'm even looking at it. LOL.

The other one is the Asus UL80Vt-A2, which fits most of my requirements, but seems to have a slightly flimsy build. I think I'd prefer a heavier laptop, if it's a lot sturdier, to be honest, but the long battery life itself is very tempting in my eyes...

You can recommend other laptops as well. I'm open to any ideas.

The price range is 1000 to 1500 Canadian dollars. (My sister insists that we just buy a Sony laptop, even if it means putting a little extra more than 1500, but I dunno...)

 

[BlackDave]

They are both pretty much gaming laptop by the way (512mb/1GB dedicated Graphic card + 4gbram+ intel core 2duo/core7= gaming powaaa)

But fear not. Asus has the cooling very good. I own an ASUS that had the same specs (almost) and the only hot part is the vent area. Not Even the bottom after 3 hours of games.

I'd go with the second choice (Core i7)

 

[distorted.freque]

They are both pretty much gaming laptop by the way (512mb/1GB dedicated Graphic card + 4gbram+ intel core 2duo/core7= gaming powaaa)

But fear not. Asus has the cooling very good. I own an ASUS that had the same specs (almost) and the only hot part is the vent area. Not Even the bottom after 3 hours of games.

I'd go with the second choice (Core i7)

You mean the first choice. LOL. The second is a Core 2 Duo.

And I really doubt that the second one can play some of the more recent games, not with the graphics card that it has.

Anyhow, as I've said, I'm not really looking for a gaming laptop. I'm just looking at these ones in particular because I'd like to have a laptop that doesn't become obsolete anytime soon. (Plus, it'd be kind of nice to have one that boots relatively fast. LOL.)

Oh, and thanks for the reply. Insight is always appreciated. @_@

 

[nutella]

what he said. if you're worried about being careless, than get a case to go with it and it'll be much more worth it in the long run. can't really think of any good models off the top of my head, but from these two id defs go with the second one. (i considered getting one, but i didn't have the money)

 

[BlackDave]

Yeah I meant first one

 

[Originality]

Just to throw in a couple more ideas for selection, Acer 5942 and 8942 (the latter has an 18.4" screen). They both come in Core i3/5/7 flavours and all come with a really good GPU (HD5650 or 5850), an awesome media control panel at the side, and generally have very sturdy build quality (as in, it doesn't feel like you can break it without really trying to).

My dad went with an Acer 5740, which has Core i5 and only uses the Core i5 integrated GPU. This means that it's really good at processing (which he needed for processing the countless possible moves in chess) and also has a 4.5 hour battery life. Perfect for him, and also good for playing movies on the TV (via HDMI). It can even play some of my games at low settings (like Left 4 Dead and Borderlands), but I can't seem to tweak the settings to get it to play games at higher settings without it slowing down. If you're not looking for a gaming laptop (for the above reasons), then it's also a good choice.

EDIT: You'll have to look in your own area for prices though - I have no idea what the exchange rate for £ - Canadian $ is.

 

[Deleted User]

Just to throw in a couple more ideas for selection, Acer 5942 and 8942 (the latter has an 18.4" screen). They both come in Core i3/5/7 flavours and all come with a really good GPU (HD5650 or 5850), an awesome media control panel at the side, and generally have very sturdy build quality (as in, it doesn't feel like you can break it without really trying to).

My dad went with an Acer 5740, which has Core i5 and only uses the Core i5 integrated GPU. This means that it's really good at processing (which he needed for processing the countless possible moves in chess) and also has a 4.5 hour battery life. Perfect for him, and also good for playing movies on the TV (via HDMI). It can even play some of my games at low settings (like Left 4 Dead and Borderlands), but I can't seem to tweak the settings to get it to play games at higher settings without it slowing down. If you're not looking for a gaming laptop (for the above reasons), then it's also a good choice.

EDIT: You'll have to look in your own area for prices though - I have no idea what the exchange rate for £ - Canadian $ is.

The 5492 looks like the best for gaming in this thread so far, among the two computers you listed the 1st > 2nd by far. If you're looking at gaming laptops you're pretty much accepting that you're going to be taking the AC adapter pretty much everywhere you go anyway, so getting a stronger, dedicated graphics card is important. As far as my personal recommendations go, I've been looking at one of the laptops on sale at exoticpc / http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8690-built-...?wconfigure=yes / the base configuration has a mobile 5870 graphics card and an i5-750 (2.4-2.93) --1256.7515 would be the CA price according to yahoo finance. Just checked and they do international orders.

Additionally, this laptop is cheaper than the previous laptop and has a 5650 like Originality's. Can $ would be 992.60 (w/o shipping). http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np2180-built-...?wconfigure=yes The screen resolution is 1920 x 1080 / quite light @ about 6-7lbs.

 

[Lodis]

I'm not looking for a gaming laptop because gaming laptops are more likely to overheat, and that means a shorter lifespan *tear*.

Gaming laptops are only more likely overheat if you don't know what you are doing when you make the purchase. If you get one that has a good cooling design and proper application of thermal compound then there is absolutely nothing to worry about and they can last many years. My gaming laptop runs cool, reasonably quiet and never overheats even during / after GTA IV gaming for hours.

Purchase a gaming laptop that has an inferior cooling design and of course it will overheat but get one of the Clevo, Sager and some of the other ranges then it won't.

By the way, many of the lower end GPU's run a lot hotter than the high end ones as well.

 

[supervenice]

ALIENWARE M11X----its portable and every gamer's dream--its so perfect for me.



its really portable and you can play just cause 2 with mid settings and has a long battery.

 

[distorted.freque]

I'm not looking for a gaming laptop because gaming laptops are more likely to overheat, and that means a shorter lifespan *tear*.

Gaming laptops are only more likely overheat if you don't know what you are doing when you make the purchase. If you get one that has a good cooling design and proper application of thermal compound then there is absolutely nothing to worry about and they can last many years. My gaming laptop runs cool, reasonably quiet and never overheats even during / after GTA IV gaming for hours.

Purchase a gaming laptop that has an inferior cooling design and of course it will overheat but get one of the Clevo, Sager and some of the other ranges then it won't.

By the way, many of the lower end GPU's run a lot hotter than the high end ones as well.

Really? ^^;; Our last laptop crapped out because of overheating. LOL.

Anyway, I did say I'd rather have a laptop that has a longer battery life and is good for carrying around. (As well as a solid build) It's strange that so many of you would recommend laptops based on whether or not it's good for gaming or for media. @_@ Maybe it's because the links I shared were a little misleading.

@I2aven's_Sage: Thanks for the site. I don't really know if I'll choose any of your recommendations (they don't really look like something I'd want to carry around all the time) but I still appreciate the link. :3

@supervenice: The Alienware M11x sounds interesting. (In terms of mobility, anyway) I'll definitely look it up some more later.

I appreciate all the comments, you guys. @_@ I'm not very knowledgeable with all this, so it's really nice of all of you to help.

 

[Lodis]

The Alienware M11X is most likely one of the best suggestions since it is very portable although not exactly light weight but it will have a really good battery time because it has switcheable graphics. In other words, you can use its more powerful graphics for gaming or 3D and then switch back to its weaker less powerful and less battery intensive graphics card to get over 6 hours of battery time or more. I don't remember the exact times but they were very good.

If your last laptop crapped out due to overheating it was either down to a poor thermal design, incorrect downclocking with the graphics drivers, poorly applied thermal compound, dust accumulation in the fan or all of the above. Sometimes it is simply down to a simple fault.

If you want a wider variety of expert opinions then I recommend you register and post here http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/

That forum has some of the most knowledgeable people I have ever seen regarding anything to do with laptops. Just don't blame me if you sign up and become addicted.

 

[Deleted User]

It's good to look around a wide-variety of options so you can see where you can hit the sweet-spot in terms of quality and price.
The M11x is definitely the most portable "gaming" laptop, but some of the senior PC guys can correct me if I'm wrong, but gaming
on the M11x would pretty much rely on the dedicated (and switchable) graphics card since it's only a 1.3Ghz dual core.

for around the same price (maybe a little less) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16834220634 you can look at the Asus N81
which has a 2.53 dual core processor and a dedicated 4650 w/ 1gb DDR3, screen resolution is 1377x768. It weight in at about 5.5lbs.
This is about twice as light as my M15x at 5.5 lbs (M15x is 9lbs). Battery life might suffer a bit, but it's an alternative to a switchable.

Then again, you said you weren't looking for a gaming laptop, just something with a decent sized screen and lengthy battery life.

ASUS Eee PC 1001P-MU17-BK Black (texture) Intel Atom N450(1.66GHz) 10.1" WSVGA 1GB Memory 160GB HDD Netbook
New Intel N450 processor + Up to 11 hours battery life

It seems like figuring out the best PC for you will be figuring out the ideal screen size as that's where a lot of battery power (and heat) goes into.

Despite not being at all as gamer-friendly as the M11x, some of the larger 10'11-12' netbooks look like they would meet your purposes and they're considerably less expensive, as well as get much better battery life than something with a dedicated graphics card (which is a choice you'll have to make).

The M11x does look like a good compromise for a casual gamer, but if you're not a gamer, then you should go with a larger net-book in my opinion.

 

[distorted.freque]

@I2aven's_Sage: Thanks for the insight. The M11x sounds like a good deal indeed, but my only problem is that it might be too small. I'm a heavy typer and I'd prefer to have a laptop where I can be comfortable typing. I still haven't looked at the reviews though, so I wouldn't know if it's big enough for typing comfortably. ^^;;

This is prolly why I don't plan on buying an Eee PC. I think I prefer something ranging from 12 to 14 inches. Also, I would like the laptop to have some gaming capability, but it's not an immediate priority for me.

Anyhow, thanks to everyone in general. I appreciate effort you put in, explaining these things to me.

EDIT: Thanks for the input, everyone! After much hair-tearing and growling from one person to the other, we've finally decided on a laptop. It's an Asus U30Jc (something which I've been researching for a while) and a lot like the UL80 except that it has a better build quality (from what I've heard), among other things. Anyhow, it's a real pity that I didn't end up buying the laptops you guys offered (The Alienware, for example, was bordering on small, which made me reluctant to buy it) but rest assured, I've found your advice to be quite helpful and it's really given me an insight for future er...purchases. LOL. x3 Anyhow, I'm really grateful.