PC Gamers help me out

LostProxy · Jul 2, 2012

So my girlfriend recently convinced me to pre order Guild Wars 2 and play the beta with her. While my current lap top performed admirably in both beta tests I didn't buy it with gaming in mind and since I will be playing at her place mostly I am in desperate need of a gaming laptop. My PC gaming experience has been pretty minimal (TF2,a free month of WoW, and CS:S) so I know next to nothing about picking out a gaming laptop. I've found a few options and I don't want to go much higher than $2100. My current goals are

- Something that will stay relevant hardware wise for a while.
- On the quieter end of the spectrum
- Heat should not hurt the person next to me (experienced this with someone else's laptop)

Bonuses but not priorities
- SSD would be nice.
- Decent battery life though I will almost always be plugged in
- Illuminated keyboard for gaming in the dark.

I've found a few options that I think fulfill a few of these but I could use the opinion of someone more experienced.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230409

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152345

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131270

Any help is appreciated.

evilneko · Jul 2, 2012

Check any laptop's graphics card against this list [http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Laptop-Graphics-Cards.130.0.html].

If it is not in Class 1 or 2, reject it. I don't know the sysreqs of Guild Wars 2, a Class 3 card may be able to handle it, but I'd lean toward the top end of that... many of those lower-ranked ones won't even play HD video without lagging. Seriously.

This is the most important thing. Fail this, and I don't care if your laptop has an AMD Octocore you won't be gaming on it.

oplinger · Jul 2, 2012

Guild Wars 2 has extremely light system requirements. However, as the stated above, the graphics card is sort of the most important part.

You'll actually be really hard pressed to find a laptop that doesn't meet the recommended specs. All three you listed would work. They're all stupidly expensive, but they work. They are all pretty similar.

octafish · Jul 2, 2012

The only "gaming" laptop worth considering is the Alienware M11X. I can't think of anything else that is game worthy and truly portable. If you are considering a $2100 machine buy a desktop and a netbook.

evilneko · Jul 3, 2012

octafish said:
The only "gaming" laptop worth considering is the Alienware M11X. I can't think of anything else that is game worthy and truly portable. If you are considering a $2100 machine buy a desktop and a netbook.

Pretty sure the OP's intended purpose for the machine is to take to his girl's house, which sure, doesn't rule out a desktop entirely, but a laptop's much more portable.

Rtoip · Jul 3, 2012

I'm not really up to date, but currently I'm using MSI GX740 bought a while back at a reasonable price. It might (probably is) a bit too old now if you want it to last long. I don't really play much of the newest most demanding games anyway. If it's any indicator at all Skyrim works on ultra.

octafish · Jul 3, 2012

evilneko said:
octafish said:

The only "gaming" laptop worth considering is the Alienware M11X. I can't think of anything else that is game worthy and truly portable. If you are considering a $2100 machine buy a desktop and a netbook.

Click to expand...

Pretty sure the OP's intended purpose for the machine is to take to his girl's house, which sure, doesn't rule out a desktop entirely, but a laptop's much more portable.

broadbandaddict · Jul 3, 2012

You should order from one of the boutique manufacturers. MALIBAL and XoticPC would be the best.

This is the XoticPC to look at:
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np9170-clevo-p170em-p-4342.html

This is the MALIBAL:
http://www.malibal.com/notebooks/satori-p170em/

Drop an i7 3720QM, 16GB of DDR3 (Install your own if you can), an SSD and a mechanical hard drive (best of both worlds, install the SSD on your own if you can and get a mechanical drive in the system if you want one), then either the 7970M or the 680M and you should be at budget.

I just ordered a 15 inch from MALIBAL and their customer support is the best, haven't dealt with XoticPC but will be soon, otherwise I'd say how good theirs is.

EDIT: I can go into detail about each part if you need me to.

LostProxy · Jul 3, 2012

Thanks for all the quick replies. I really appreciate it.

evilneko said:
Check any laptop's graphics card against this list [http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Laptop-Graphics-Cards.130.0.html].

If it is not in Class 1 or 2, reject it. I don't know the sysreqs of Guild Wars 2, a Class 3 card may be able to handle it, but I'd lean toward the top end of that... many of those lower-ranked ones won't even play HD video without lagging. Seriously.

This is the most important thing. Fail this, and I don't care if your laptop has an AMD Octocore you won't be gaming on it.

So what is an acceptable cost for a laptop with that type of hardware? Will I stay within my price range?

oplinger said:
Guild Wars 2 has extremely light system requirements. However, as the stated above, the graphics card is sort of the most important part.

You'll actually be really hard pressed to find a laptop that doesn't meet the recommended specs. All three you listed would work. They're all stupidly expensive, but they work. They are all pretty similar.

So what would be something that is worth the money?

octafish said:
The only "gaming" laptop worth considering is the Alienware M11X. I can't think of anything else that is game worthy and truly portable. If you are considering a $2100 machine buy a desktop and a netbook.

Evil is indeed right. I need something I carry with me on a weekly basis. Not only that but something that is easily carried on a train (I live in New York.) That tower you showed was quite awesome but wouldn't fit my predicament. We'll be playing on her bed with little room for a tower. Hence my laptop need.

broadbandaddict said:
You should order from one of the boutique manufacturers. MALIBAL and XoticPC would be the best.

This is the XoticPC to look at:
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np9170-clevo-p170em-p-4342.html

This is the MALIBAL:
http://www.malibal.com/notebooks/satori-p170em/

Drop an i7 3720QM, 16GB of DDR3 (Install your own if you can), an SSD and a mechanical hard drive (best of both worlds, install the SSD on your own if you can and get a mechanical drive in the system if you want one), then either the 7970M or the 680M and you should be at budget.

I just ordered a 15 inch from MALIBAL and their customer support is the best, haven't dealt with XoticPC but will be soon, otherwise I'd say how good theirs is.

EDIT: I can go into detail about each part if you need me to.

Go into as much detail as you're willing lol. I want my decision to be as informed as possible.

oplinger · Jul 3, 2012

LostProxy said:
So what would be something that is worth the money?

Wish I could help you, but I don't buy laptops >_> all I know is 2000 dollars is more expensive than it needs to be. So, not to be completely useless, I used newegg, and changed the specs a bit aaaand:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152348

Cheapest of the results, will handle the game and many other games.

Secondary option:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152335

So, yeah. I cut the price by pretty much just downgrading the RAM, but it'll handle it no problems.

You should shop around though, newegg is better for parts, rather than whole computers. Use google shopping if you find a good model number, and you'll probably find a better price too.

I found one of yours for 1.7k rather than 2.1k.

http://www.gadgetneeds.net/asus-g75vw-ns72-17-3-windows-7-home-premium-64-bit-notebook/

Just kinda be aware of scams and stuff. You never know what google can bring you to.

Hope that at least helps a little!

INF1NIT3 D00M · Jul 3, 2012

octafish said:
The only "gaming" laptop worth considering is the Alienware M11X. I can't think of anything else that is game worthy and truly portable. If you are considering a $2100 machine buy a desktop and a netbook.

This. My desktop setup is pretty damn awesome, built to last quite a few years, and it came in at roughly $1700. The other $400 you have could buy you a decent ultra-portable laptop, for mobile gaming. Because believe me, you're not going to be playing Skyrim on the bus. Anywhere besides home, you're going to be playing smaller, less intense games. Flash games, probably. The games that require graphical power to run (the games people buy "gaming" laptops for) are almost always going to be the ones that you end up playing at home, in the dark, with your laptop sitting on your desk. A desktop can do that job just fine, better actually.

If you don't like that advice, you could always just go to www.ibuypower.com or the Alienware web store and customize your own dream laptop. It's not something I'd outright recommend, but if you're dead set on a gaming laptop, you damn well better choose what's going in it.

VladG · Jul 3, 2012

I wouldn't advise you to buy a laptop for gaming. Power/performance ratios are MILES behind desktops, and for the money you're willing to spend I'm not sure you can buy a laptop that will play games at max settings in a year.

But for half the money you want to spend you can get a desktop that can play games on max detail for years.

However, if you are intent on buying a laptop, avoid MSI laptops (and MSI devices in general).

MSI has by far the highest service entry rate of any major producer out there (means their stuff breaks the most), and my experience with an MSI "gaming" laptop was a rig with very powerful hardware... that ran at half clock speeds because the laptop was incapable of dissipating the heat. So what was basically a 2000$+ laptop ran about as well as a 300$ desktop and maybe an 800$ laptop.

Of the devices you've linked, I'd recommend the Asus. I've had my hands on it and it's decent in terms on heat dissipation (it's big, lots of surface area helps, has some well placed cooling ports), and it looks awesome. Much better than the pictures.

Again however, I strongly advise you to buy a desktop.

LostProxy · Jul 3, 2012

I thought I was pretty clear but I guess I need to reiterate this. I need a laptop because a desktop is not an option. I can't lug back and forth between my place and hers and there is no where to set up a desktop in her bedroom in way that's comfortable for both of us. For those of you who offered worth while advice and tips I thank you. But if all you're going to say is "don't get one" then don't post. If I was looking for a desktop I would ask but that just does not fit my situation.

Owyn_Merrilin · Jul 3, 2012

Don't listen to people who tell you that anything short of a $2000 laptop is insufficient for gaming. If you're willing to lower your settings and shop carefully, even a $400 dollar model can do reasonably well. Just don't expect desktop levels of performance, and ideally spend more than that, maybe $700-$800 for something with a halfway decent processor and graphics card. I can't help you with specifics because my computer is a laptop as well, and since you can't upgrade it and I don't have the cash for a new computer, I haven't really been paying attention.

I will say that no matter what, if it's a laptop with gaming quality graphics inside, it's going to get hot. Poor cooling is a side effect of cramming everything into such a small case. It can be mitigated, but never completely avoided.

mindlesspuppet · Jul 3, 2012

LostProxy said:
I thought I was pretty clear but I guess I need to reiterate this. I need a laptop because a desktop is not an option. I can't lug back and forth between my place and hers and there is no where to set up a desktop in her bedroom in way that's comfortable for both of us. For those of you who offered worth while advice and tips I thank you. But if all you're going to say is "don't get one" then don't post. If I was looking for a desktop I would ask but that just does not fit my situation.

Honestly, for 2100 dollars you could throw together two desktops and leave one at your girlfriends and have a better gaming experience than a laptop could offer... but yeah that doesn't help.

Alienware is, unfortunately, the only company I'd consider for a gaming laptop though.

If she has a TV in her room (who doesnt?) you could always just get a small screen laptop (eg. M11x) and use the video out to the TV for a better experience. Back when I had a laptop it pretty much was never open... ever... it was kind of silly. Either way, going small screen would save some money, and they have better battery life.

Another option, since you did say it'd be plugged in all the time, would be something like the X51. Yes, it's a desktop, but it's really not much bigger than a Xbox 360, so it's very portable, as long as there's a display to hook it up to where ever you're going. This would give you a ton of power (not compared to full desktop rigs, but it'd hold up for awhile) for much less money.

I can tell this thread hasn't exactly been helpful because many simply say "don't get a laptop for gaming", but it's a sound piece of advice. Laptops are great for students that want to type their notes, people who travel for work, etc etc but have never been very practical for gaming, many of us found that out the hard way. Moreover so-called gaming laptops are insanely over priced.

That being said, if you're determined to go for it. Alienware is pretty much your only option. There are other companies that make gaming laptops for much cheaper than Alienware, but yeah... heat and all that that... with laptops you really do get what you pay for.

LostProxy · Jul 3, 2012

mindlesspuppet said:
LostProxy said:

I thought I was pretty clear but I guess I need to reiterate this. I need a laptop because a desktop is not an option. I can't lug back and forth between my place and hers and there is no where to set up a desktop in her bedroom in way that's comfortable for both of us. For those of you who offered worth while advice and tips I thank you. But if all you're going to say is "don't get one" then don't post. If I was looking for a desktop I would ask but that just does not fit my situation.

Click to expand...

Honestly, for 2100 dollars you could throw together two desktops and leave one at your girlfriends and have a better gaming experience than a laptop could offer... but yeah that doesn't help.

Alienware is, unfortunately, the only company I'd consider for a gaming laptop though.

If she has a TV in her room (who doesnt?) you could always just get a small screen laptop (eg. M11x) and use the video out to the TV for a better experience. Back when I had a laptop it pretty much was never open... ever... it was kind of silly. Either way, going small screen would save some money, and they have better battery life.

Another option, since you did say it'd be plugged in all the time, would be something like the X51. Yes, it's a desktop, but it's really not much bigger than a Xbox 360, so it's very portable, as long as there's a display to hook it up to where ever you're going. This would give you a ton of power (not compared to full desktop rigs, but it'd hold up for awhile) for much less money.

I can tell this thread hasn't exactly been helpful because many simply say "don't get a laptop for gaming", but it's a sound piece of advice. Laptops are great for students that want to type their notes, people who travel for work, etc etc but have never been very practical for gaming, many of us found that out the hard way. Moreover so-called gaming laptops are insanely over priced.

That being said, if you're determined to go for it. Alienware is pretty much your only option. There are other companies that make gaming laptops for much cheaper than Alienware, but yeah... heat and all that that... with laptops you really do get what you pay for.

I don't really agree with some of this. I play on my GFs laptop all the time and it works just fine for just about everything I play. I guess I should point out I'm not a graphics enthusiast. I don't need the settings at high in everything. I just want something that will play smoothly and with decent appearance. I mainly play TF2, a bit of Champions Online, and soon Guild Wars 2. All 3 of these played beautifully on her Acer which was only about $700. So I am legitimately confused by all the laptop hate. They never let me down. So I don't think I need a luxury laptop either. I mean it would be cool but I want what I buy to be cost effective. She proved it can be to me with her own.

Owyn_Merrilin said:
Don't listen to people who tell you that anything short of a $2000 laptop is insufficient for gaming. If you're willing to lower your settings and shop carefully, even a $400 dollar model can do reasonably well. Just don't expect desktop levels of performance, and ideally spend more than that, maybe $700-$800 for something with a halfway decent processor and graphics card. I can't help you with specifics because my computer is a laptop as well, and since you can't upgrade it and I don't have the cash for a new computer, I haven't really been paying attention.

I will say that no matter what, if it's a laptop with gaming quality graphics inside, it's going to get hot. Poor cooling is a side effect of cramming everything into such a small case. It can be mitigated, but never completely avoided.

That's another thing. Her Acer never gets hot. Even when the setting are high. I bought her a really good cooling pad because her last laptop kept burning her thighs and now I wish I had just bought it for myself. Hers doesn't need it. It's why I'm putting some extra cash into this. If 700 could buy her something that works this well I thought 1000+ would get me something that would last a while.

G32420NL · Jul 3, 2012

i've been lurking on this site for quite some time but i just had to register this time

I'm seeing a lot of negative comments on laptop gaming, it is true that you will pay al lot more for performance, but it is'nt all bad, i disagree that alienware is the only option.

Specs wise, most new laptops above 400 dollars/ euros have a i3/i5/i7 and 4gb to 8gb of ram,
as mentioned before, the gpu is the main focus, gaming gpu's like the nvidia 460m/ 560m or ati 7850 come at a premium but you can find gpu's like the nvidia 630 or amd 7690 in laptops that cost less then 800 bucks. (alot less in some cases

it's also good to look at the type of screen, hd screens are nice but cost a lot of gpu power, while i find 1366x 768 to be too low, anything in between is nice by my book

also check if it's glare or non glare.

whats left is extra features like numpad/mediakeys/ ports.

i get the point that desktops are much cheaper but i also understand that some people dont want an extra monitor/keyboard/table to put a desktop on, also it's nice to grab all your work/stuff/ and be out the door in no-time

edit: looked for a abit:

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E530 3259

i7
nvidia gt630m
4gb ram
15.6" 1600 x 900 no glare
750gb hdd,

fun thing about i5/i7 is they have an build in gpu, so when the laptop is doing light work it can switch to this more power efficient gpu. saves you a lot of battery life.

I'm dutch so pricing can be different but i took a look on an american site, $646.95

edit edit

but whatever laptop you buy, atleast remove all of the shovelware, if you have a separate windows 7, install that and find the laptops' drivers online

broadbandaddict · Jul 3, 2012

LostProxy said:
Thanks for all the quick replies. I really appreciate it.

Go into as much detail as you're willing lol. I want my decision to be as informed as possible.

Alright, here goes. Since your budget is 2K I'm going to assume that you want an i7 and a high end graphics card, and if you can a nice screen. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Ok so i7 wise. You might as well get an Ivy Bridge processor. That leaves you with the 3610QM, 3720QM, 3820QM and the 3920XM. The 3820QM and 3920XM are only worth it if you are willing to spend a ton of money, otherwise go with the 3610QM or 3720QM. If you are doing processor intensive stuff (encoding video or something like that) or you need VT-d (don't know what it is? You don't need it then.

) then you will want to spring for the 3720QM otherwise go with the 3610QM.

For RAM I'd recommend 8GB to start with and a bump to 16GB if you ever really need it. I doubt you will for the life of the laptop though. Don't pay for the upgraded RAM unless it's a good deal, do it yourself if you can.

Storage. Depends on the setup, you should be able to get a pretty nice SSD and a hard drive also if you don't mind giving up the optical drive. Otherwise a 256GB SSD should be enough and if it isn't you could look at a hybrid drive.

GPU. A lot of the 6xxM from Nvidia are rebadges.

675M = 580M (Fermi, 40nm, same clocks)
670M = 570M (Fermi, 40nm, +20Mhz Core clock)
680M, 660M, 650M = Kepler cards, 28nm, 650M can be OCd to 660M speeds, same chip just different bins.

For AMD pretty much your only option is a 7970M. It is a BEAST of a card, about equal to dual 580Ms (yes dual) and can be OCd to 7870 (desktop card) performance. It actually is a 7870 chip with 7850 clocks.

So if you went with a nice laptop (I'll use one like mine I guess? Hope that's alright) you should be under your 2K price tag.

MALIBAL Satori 17".
- Intel i7 3610QM
- 8GB RAM @ 1600Mhz
- AMD 7970M (Upgraded + $200)
- 17.3" 1920 x 1080 FHD LED AUO B173HW01 V.5 72% NTSC Matte Display (Upgraded +$150)
- BigFoot Networks 1103 Killer Wireless (Upgraded +$60)
- 256GB Crucial M4 (Upgraded +$195)
- 500GB 7200 RPM HDD (Upgraded +$95)
- DVD Burner
- Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgraded +$80, they don't come with OSs so you can save money if you already have one)
- IC Diamond Thermal Paste (Upgraded +$35, if you can apply your own you wont need this)

Total Cost: $2183.

So that's my input. Let me know if you need help with anything else, I'll be around.

Oh, last part. I see a lot of people saying "Buy a desktop instead, more power, etc." A desktop is not portable. At all. A laptop can go anywhere and one of these could play games anywhere. I'd love to see someone play games on their desktop at a coffee shop, or on a train, or in the back seat of a car and endless other places. OP wants a laptop, suggest laptops.

the doom cannon · Jul 3, 2012

I wouldn't advocate for hp right now, but I do own and love my 3-4 year old hp dv7. It plays bf3 and gw2 just fine, as well as skyrim and whatever other game i throw at it. It cost me all of 1200 bucks, nothing like these 2000+ machines. It has 2x250GB hard drives, core 2 quad 3.9 GHz, ati hd 4650, 8GB ram. 2000 is a bit much to spend on a laptop imho.

16 GB ram is completely unnecessary, and will just be a waste of money as your computer won't ever utilize it. 8 GB is a good number.
You didn't list any really graphics intensive games, so don't bother with top of the line video, or even processors. Grab a good i5 processor and a gtx 560/70/80/90 mobile equivalent graphics card (or amd equivalent, whatever that is). If you don't plan on play crysis 3 or anything like that on ultra, then there is really no reason to purchase something that can. btw I got my laptop from Fry's electronics prebuilt, so if you're in the USA you may want to just check them out in case they have something interesting. Only buy from them on sale tho.

Also, don't buy from alienware. Please. They're absurdly overpriced.

PC Gamers help me out

LostProxy

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evilneko

Fall in line!

oplinger

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octafish

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evilneko

Fall in line!

Rtoip

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octafish

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broadbandaddict

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LostProxy

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oplinger

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INF1NIT3 D00M

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VladG

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LostProxy

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Owyn_Merrilin

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mindlesspuppet

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LostProxy

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G32420NL

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broadbandaddict

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the doom cannon

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