Hardware Need help choosing a laptop

[Berthenk]

Has been mentioned before, depends on the hardware inside the machine, so we're not replacing anything here.

Huh?

First off, no one in this thread (aside from me) mentioned Acer.
Second off, we're talking in general so specifics aren't an issue.
Advi was giving a list of cheap brands... Sony typically ISN'T cheap and Acer is, hence why I said "replace Sony with Acer".

I was talking about playing games at higher settings.

A brand name on a laptop does not guarantee good specifications.
What I meant with "Has been mentioned before" was about both the specifications and the amount of faulty laptops and or /breakdowns of laptops/computers, albeit not in this thread, but in another. It was mentioned by Guild, I think, and it goes along the lines of this:
pay for crappy shit, get crappy shit. Pay for premium shit, get premium shit. Goes for both hardware and the case.
This is the same for about any laptop manufacturer besides Apple, because with Apple the case is always top notch quality, but the hardware sucks for what you pay.

Anyway, besides that, I need to learn to read the whole topic next time before posting as I didn't know anybody had posted a list of cheap brands...

 

[tehnoobshow]

Wanna to play games like fallout 3, Mass effect 1 and 2, Portal and Crysis.

Want to try correcting the grammar?

I've heard Intel HD 3000 can play FO3 on medium settings, and I know it can play Portal flawlessly (Intel GMA 4500HD could, and that's 3 gens old). ME is a weird case though, since even though Intel GMA HD (last gen) is supposed to be good enough to run it, it won't launch. Don't know about HD 3000. As for Crysis... those who want to play it can use their gaming PCs using real graphics cards.

Corrected my grammar.

Oh and i will check out the Intel HD 3000 thanks for the information.

 

[shadowkillerdrag]

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/48723/hp-h...fi-n-win-7-prem

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/48659/dell...in-7-prem-64bit

errr I can link right ? im not sure if i can lol

well anyways these are some good deals for laptops nice big screen with new andy bridge i7s

both for a lil under 900 USD

 

[Originality]

Linking is fine, but $900 is a lil bit over the £600 budget. Also I can't seem to find out if that site delivers to the UK (it says free shipping, but it doesn't say international shipping).

 

[tehnoobshow]

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/48723/hp-h...fi-n-win-7-prem

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/48659/dell...in-7-prem-64bit

errr I can link right ? im not sure if i can lol

well anyways these are some good deals for laptops nice big screen with new andy bridge i7s

both for a lil under 900 USD

WOAH...............900 way over the amount my dad is willing to pay.

 

[Huguini]

Well alienware is something expensive but they just put the M11X laptop from 800$ to 600 $

Check this site: http://www.alienware.com/Landings/laptops.aspx (At the bottom part click: Build yours.) ^^
There you can customize your laptop with the things that you want

Oh and 1 thing... i think that 500-600 GB is a lot ._. with 200 im not only satisfyed, I would be freakin crazy.

 

[Deleted User]

I know I'm hitting this thread late again, but oh well. For gaming your budget for a laptop isn't really going to do high-resolution graphics all that well, lower resolutions like 800x600 and 1024x768 will make more intense games more "playable", but this all depends on your perspective on what actually "playable" is of itself.

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5160-clevo-...?wconfigure=yes

Here's a $750.00 base configuration for a Sager laptop. (XoticPC does accept international orders), check their FAQ. Anyhow...

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForc...0M.41715.0.html
1366x768 resolution (upgradeable to 1920x1080 w/ $65)
2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-2520M, 2.5-3.2GHz, (32nm, 3MB L3 cache)
(This is a nice dual-core if I'm not mistaken).
nVidia GT 540M 1024MB PCI-Express GDDR3 DX11 with Optimus™ Technology
(Decent Optimus GPU). Will find benchmarks for you in a little bit.
4GB of DDR3 1333 Frequency RAM

doesn't come with an OS, but I'm sure everyone here has no qualms about telling you to pirate an OS or run Linux (even though it doesn't support nVidia Optimus) and never will.

 

[Originality]

I have "qualms" about telling people to pirate an OS, but I can't stop anyone if they do. EDIT:

I wasn't trying to endorse piracy, so forgive me if sounded somewhat impertinent.

You weren't trying to endorse it, but you could've worded it better. You made it sound like everybody on gbatemp pirates where possible, which earned a laugh from myself. Besides, genuine OSs are more secure than pirated ones.

Anyway, Raven's pick is probably the best so far. I've heard Optimus does have some problems, but I imagine that will be ironed out with future graphics driver revisions (they've already had plenty of time to work on it).

 

[EJames2100]

Build your own(well they build it, you just pick the specs): http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/laptop-computers/2/

The top one isn't full HD, has Sandy Bridge and HD 3000, 14.1 inch screen - Cheapest option

The middle one is full HD but not Sandy Bridge and has 1GB Dedicated HD Radeon 5650 Graphics, 15.6 inch screen - Middle priced option.

The bottom one is full HD with Sandy bridge and has a 1GB Dedicated nVidia 540m Graphics card, 17.3 inch screen - Expensive option but also has 2 USB 3.0 slots

And if you have your own copy of windows to install it would free up more money to spend on components.
Also is a British site, so same time zone which makes it easier to contact and has own forum which they reply to Monday - Friday.

 

[Deleted User]

I have "qualms" about telling people to pirate an OS, but I can't stop anyone if they do.

Anyway, Raven's pick is probably the best so far. I've heard Optimus does have some problems, but I imagine that will be ironed out with future graphics driver revisions (they've already had plenty of time to work on it).

Yeah, I've heard of some Optimus driver problems as well, it's probably why higher graphics option cards such as the GTX 460M support optimus, but no hardware vendors actually maintain it. Originally, when Optimus came out I was really excited, but that died down when I realized they were more so using the lower graphics cards to test the water with drivers and such. I think the dell-alienware M11x had a hot-bed of issues with the optimus support for a while, but that's a while ago, so I may be wrong.

I wasn't trying to endorse piracy, so forgive me if sounded somewhat impertinent. gbatemp, and any community that discusses flash carts and custom firmware has, at some level, knowledge that the discussion and maintaining of such methods leads to illegal activity. On a more personal note, I really like Ubuntu these days; so if anyone needs a free, highly capable OS, it's a great place to start.

 

[Fishaman P]

600 pounds is stretching it, but you can find a laptop that can play games at good settings for that price, just be sure to google components and check benchmarks for a general idea of how it will perform.

asus, toshiba and sony generally make good laptops for the money.

ultimately though, you would probably be better off making a desktop to play games.

Spoiler

I would help further, but the only major online retailer I know of is Newegg, being an american and all.

I'd replace Sony with Acer.
I think my friend got an Acer Aspire and he plays just about everything he owns on high or medium-high settings at 50~60FPS.

Has been mentioned before, depends on the hardware inside the machine, so we're not replacing anything here.

QUOTE(Advi @ Mar 20 2011, 02:40 PM)

computing power =! quality, acer has pretty bad failure rates.

Can you back this up with anything more than anecdotal evidence?
Personally, I've not seen them fail any more than another big-name brand.

http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/laptop-reliability-1109/

Am I the only one who sees that that graph shows that Asus is the best?