What to look for in a laptop?

[mirror's edgy]

I've never been taught the fine arts of PC usage, and now I don't know what to look for in a new laptop. I don't have any advanced needs, just out of the box Windows features like word processing, but gaming is another issue. The laptop I have now is a 2007 machine running Vista with a video card I estimate to be made of cardboard and glue which runs Fallout: New Vegas at something like 4 FPS most of the time. It feels like the right time for an upgrade.

If anyone knows what kind of laptop would come with a respectable video card, processing speed, and other assorted... things to play an average big budget current gen PC game, (Mass Effect series, Left 4 Dead series, etc.) I would appreciate it.

 

[OverweightWhale]

Well it depends on your budget. Most of the time you won't find a good laptop for gaming unless you spend an excessive amount of money. The first thing I look for if I'm shopping for a laptop though is how good the CPU is and how much RAM it has. I dont worry to much about the hard drive since I can back up a lot of things on an external hard drive. Again, it depends on your budget.

 

[TakeyB0y2]

I'm currently saving up for a laptop made from Sager [http://www.sagernotebook.com/]. Their prices are pretty fair and their laptops are customizable. Also, even their cheap laptops are very good. Give them a look.

 

[Togs]

1.Ram
2.Processor Speed
3.Hard Drive Size
4.Battery Life

Also weight is another big concern, lugging a fat laptop around can be a pain in the arse.

 

[mirror's edgy]

Well it depends on your budget. Most of the time you won't find a good laptop for gaming unless you spend an excessive amount of money. The first thing I look for if I'm shopping for a laptop though is how good the CPU is and how much RAM it has. I dont worry to much about the hard drive since I can back up a lot of things on an external hard drive. Again, it depends on your budget.

Whoops, completely slipped my mind. Probably 700 to 900 USD, but I could probably be a bit flexible there. I won't likely be customizing anything later, hence why I take a laptop over a desktop. And why I worry a bit about the installed video card.

 

[MysticToast]

With a price range of 700 to 900 bucks, and as long as you pick a good brand (like Asus), you should be pretty much set as far as specs, weight, and battery life. At least, that's been my experience. In that price range, manufacturers really put the effort into making a nice machine.

 

[Da Orky Man]

Clegane]The colour, I bought a red one

EDIT: Red ones go faster

Correction - Red wunz go fasta!

Anyway, I'd look out for POWER!!! Meaning a good processor and a GPU that itimidates people.

 

[OverweightWhale]

Well it depends on your budget. Most of the time you won't find a good laptop for gaming unless you spend an excessive amount of money. The first thing I look for if I'm shopping for a laptop though is how good the CPU is and how much RAM it has. I dont worry to much about the hard drive since I can back up a lot of things on an external hard drive. Again, it depends on your budget.

Whoops, completely slipped my mind. Probably 700 to 900 USD, but I could probably be a bit flexible there. I won't likely be customizing anything later, hence why I take a laptop over a desktop. And why I worry a bit about the installed video card.

This might fit your needs. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230107
It has pretty good specs and has a good battery life considering it can play games on a relativity high settings and you can't go wrong with ASUS.

 

[OverweightWhale]

Clegane]The colour, I bought a red one

EDIT: Red ones go faster

Correction - Red wunz go fasta!

Anyway, I'd look out for POWER!!! Meaning a good processor and a GPU that itimidates people.

Or you can get blue leds and keep your computer icy cold!

 

[mikecoulter]

A nice screen, as you're pretty much stuck with that and its how you interact with the computer. Other than that, dedicated graphics and a good quad Intel would be nice.

But, oddly the Macbook Air still tempts me so... It's just so thin!

 

[Erana]

A nice screen, as you're pretty much stuck with that and its how you interact with the computer. Other than that, dedicated graphics and a good quad Intel would be nice.

But, oddly the Macbook Air still tempts me so... It's just so thin!

I don't quite get the deal with people and laptop screens.

A bigger screen is expensive, and increasing the footprint of a laptop just makes it easier to break.
If you want a big screen, just get a desktop monitor and hook it up to your laptop when you're at home. You don't really need a 14" screen when trying to write a paper on a campus library.

 

[mikecoulter]

A nice screen, as you're pretty much stuck with that and its how you interact with the computer. Other than that, dedicated graphics and a good quad Intel would be nice.

But, oddly the Macbook Air still tempts me so... It's just so thin!

I don't quite get the deal with people and laptop screens.

A bigger screen is expensive, and increasing the footprint of a laptop just makes it easier to break.
If you want a big screen, just get a desktop monitor and hook it up to your laptop when you're at home. You don't really need a 14" screen when trying to write a paper on a campus library.

I didn't mean bigger, I meant resolution.

 

[mirror's edgy]

I thank you all for the pointers, but I've landed a nice one. Sony VAIO with around 3ghz processing speed, upgraded to 8 gigs of RAM with a serviceable video card and good reviews all around. Only ~950 USD for being technically out of the box with the RAM upgrade thrown in.

I predict that my next character build in New Vegas will be gun oriented just because my combat FPS will be watchable .

 

[Stall]

When will people learn that laptops are not for gaming? It's much smarter to buy an affordable laptop and sink the savings into a new gaming tower than to buy a pointlessly expensive laptop. You'll get a more powerful desktop and a laptop that will do everything you need it to do.

 

[iFail69]

If gaming: GPU! GPU! GPU! (Seriously, GPU is what lets down most laptops these days)

If not gaming: RAM.

My personal opinions anyway...