$600 (roughly) Gaming Laptop (July 2013)

[makarov]

Hey all - you guys always do great work on this forum and your help is greatly appreciated. Every few years I purchase a new gaming laptop to replace my older laptop to make sure I stay in the laptop power curve.

My current laptop is an Acer Aspire with 4GB ram, AMD Phenom2 N660 (@ 3.0Ghz) and a 1GB Radeon 6650M GPU.

I am looking for a $600 gaming laptop that will have a noticeable bump in performance. Would be great to have an on-the-go power option. Here are some criteria:

Physical Size: I would prefer to keep it at or below a 15.6" screen. Anything smaller would be better, but ok with that size.

Games: I usually play more recent FPS titles, so I am counting on needing a beefy dedicated GPU. I would love to play any title at the native screen size, on high detail

Other Criteria: I sometimes do video editing, but not often. I also watch a lot of movies, so anything that has an HDMI out is an absolute plus. Weight and battery life are not really an issue for me.

That should cut it. Let me know if you think there is anything out there that I can upgrade too, or if I should hold on to my current laptop and money. Thanks again everyone!

 

[Maxime506]

U choose rather this: i5 + 740M: http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215974

or this: i7+730M: http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314017

It's too hard to find a laptop which satisfy "noticeable bump of performance" and under $600.

I think this Acer A10+7670M is strong but may not satisfy your need:http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314017
'cause HD 7670M makes no much difference than HD 6650M (Probably Dual Graphics will help but not good enough for ya)

 

[SilverWolf9000]

For $600, you are not going to find anything that will DRAMATICALLY bump up your gaming power. Maybe $800-$1200 would be better, but a $600 will not help much. I know from experience, because my laptop is roughly $650, and it cannot play games to save its life.

Also, to Maxime, a 740M or 730M cannot play the way he wants. He wants noticeable bump and playing on high-ultra settings on his games at native resolution. This is IMPOSSIBLE to find for under $600 unless you are REALLY lucky on Ebay... I would suggest a desktop or save up for a better laptop. $600 will not cut it.

 

[Maxime506]

I think that is what I could do, unless he increases his budget.

Besides, i5/i7 should do much better than athlon x2 and GT 740/730M has improvement compared with HD 6650M

 

[Znoxz]

For 650 you can get this refurbished laptop come with i5 and 660m
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231239

 

[nforce4max]

Avoid anything that is cheap plastic and there is plenty out there that is better cpu wise but gpu is another story. The Asus laptop is great performance wise but is easily broken with normal use and it runs hot when gaming.