Need Laptop recommendations

[warren123]

OK, I have been playing on a pretty bad comp for a while now and i think its time for a new one. I have been looking around for a good priced comp that is good for gaming. I have looked at a few and i would like help on figuring which would be the best. The folowing are links to some of the comps i was considering. If you would like to help plz take a look and post which you think is the best for its price. or can you give some other good links.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Alienware-Area-...yZ140068QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://www.dealstudio.com/searchdeals.php?deal_id=67809

http://www.amazon.com/Microtel-SYSAM6006-Gaming-2-13GHz-Microsoft/dp/B00025BZM0

 

[jdrakeh]

If you want a gaming computer I would seriously advise against a laptop. They're out there, yes, though the standard layout of a laptop (including those marketed as "gaming" models) is pretty ill-suited to actual gaming, lest you use external keyboards and mice/gamepads -- in which case, you might as well own a desktop.

I looked into this lately myself and have ended up building a LAN box (small footprint case with a mATX system board). Despite hitting a snag with the mobo in the barebones case that I bought (mobo was DOA), I've managed to grab everything that I need (including a replacement mobo) through New Egg for pennies on the dollar. Here's what it looks like right now:

Athlon 64 x2 4000+ (2.4 GHz) processor
512 MB Sapphire ATI PCI-E video card
2 GB Mushkin high performance RAM
100 GB Western Digital Caviar HDD
Blue Storm mATX power supply
ASUS A8V-VM SE 939 mobo*
Pype XFX Extreme LAN case

*This is the replacement mobo.

Overall, including the extra mobo, I've spend about $400 (including shipping). I'll post benchmarks (etc) when the new mobo arrive and I have a chance to get it installed.

 

[Thanee]

The links show desktop computers not laptops (=notebooks).

So I suppose what you want is a desktop.


Most important question: How much are you willing to spend?


Here's some (partially very) general recommendations for parts (or to compare with complete systems):

- CPU

Get a DualCore CPU from either Intel (C2D) or AMD (Athlon 64 X2 5200~6000).

- CPU Cooler

Get a good one here.

- GFX

The GeForce 8800GT 512MB (pretty new and might still be hard to get) blows away anything in the middle to high class right now and is probably the best overall choice currently.

- RAM

2GB of 800MHz RAM.

- Mainboard

Get a brand name (ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, ASRock, etc), most of them are pretty good these days.

- PSU

Get a good one here with more than enough power.

- HDD

300-500GB SATA (or SATA-II), no reason to go lower than that.

Bye
Thanee

 

[jdrakeh]

You're right on HDDs. I cheated and used one from a pile that I had in reserve. That said, I've been pretty hard-pressed to fill up 100 GB, even with all of the PDFs and movies that I buy in digital format.

 

[drothgery]

OK, I have been playing on a pretty bad comp for a while now and i think its time for a new one. I have been looking around for a good priced comp that is good for gaming.

Reasonable pricing and good for gaming are fundamentally incompatible goals. Keeping a PC as a reasonable gaming machine means getting on the video card upgrade train.

 

[Vascant]

Once upon a time I would have spoken against a laptop but I got one not to long ago and have to admit, it could be one of the greatest tools for gaming (The desktop was the greatest tool before that).

If you can manage it, get a Tablet..I have all of my software and pdfs on it and work everything from a simple pen. It is fast and much easier then managing through papers and books.

 

[jdrakeh]

Reasonable pricing and good for gaming are fundamentally incompatible goals.

Not so much with the advent of online clearing houses such as New Egg and Directron. You can buy a serviceable gaming rig for much less than you can buy one off the shelf. The computer that I mention above will run, based on pre-assembly benchmarks, Quake at the highest possible graphics settings without any noticeable frame delay.

 

[Thanee]

Reasonable pricing and good for gaming are fundamentally incompatible goals. Keeping a PC as a reasonable gaming machine means getting on the video card upgrade train.

When you do not need to play the latest titles with every little option turned on, a decent computer ($600~$800) can be quite sufficient, IMHO. There are plenty great games you can play with no problems on such a machine and only a few that you might have to pass on.

Bye
Thanee

 

[drothgery]

When you do not need to play the latest titles with every little option turned on, a decent computer ($600~$800) can be quite sufficient, IMHO. There are plenty great games you can play with no problems on such a machine and only a few that you might have to pass on.

Sure. But even avoiding the extreme cutting edge games, you're still looking at another $150-$250 video card in 1.5-2 years, a $100-$200 RAM upgrade at about the same time, and another all-new system in 3-4 years.

 

[jdrakeh]

When you do not need to play the latest titles with every little option turned on, a decent computer ($600~$800) can be quite sufficient, IMHO. There are plenty great games you can play with no problems on such a machine and only a few that you might have to pass on.

Bye
Thanee

A true 512 MB video card will cover pretty much everything on the market currently, as 256k seems to be the required amount for most games to run well. 512 MB is recommend for some games, though I can't think of any that list it as a requirement. I can't see a 512 MB card becoming the standard requirement for at least three to four more years.

Same deal with processors. I think that 1.8 GHz is the highest required processor speed that I've seen on a game box, and we're well into 4.0 GHz processors already -- far enough ahead of the curve that, short of some tremendous technology leaps, I can't see game graphics catching up for another four years or so.

RAM is a little bit more iffy, though 1 GB seems to meet the recommended amount for most popular games. 2 GB is in excess of the recommended dosage for most popular games currently. The only thing I can think of that really requires a hoary amount of RAM currently is Windows Vista -- if you run XP, you'll be fine.