Best gaming laptop between $1000-1500

GeoffM604

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Mar 26, 2013
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I'm having a hard time deciding what my next computer should be. It's either going to be a gaming laptop (1000-1500 including tax) or a low range laptop and a mid level desktop. I havent used a desktop in years (maybe 7 years) I've grown to love the move ability of a laptop too much to give it up. Ive already done my home work if I go the other route but if I decided to go pure gaming laptop what would you guys suggest me buying the 1000-1500 price range I really cant go above 1500 including taxes. please give me some suggestion, thanks.

Games I'll be playing

Minecraft
Steam Games
Skyrim
Older titles such as GTA III, Vice City, SA GTA 4
NHL 2004

From what little home work ive done this is what ive come up and if any of these are worth avoiding completely please let me know.

Please point out any good ones i've missed.

Lenovo IdeaPad Y580
MSI GE70
ASUS G75

Alienware m17 is just out of my price range.
 

asalikus

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Apr 29, 2012
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Get this ( http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Fang_III_-_Taipan_Gaming_Notebook/) from Cyberpower and costumize it to how I did it, you'll even run the lastest games on the market with the highest settings! ;)

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM Mobile Processor 2.40 GHz 6M Smart Cache, Max Turbo Freq. 3.40 GHz
HDD: 750GB 7200RPM SATA300 Hard Drive [-5]
MEMORY: 8GB (8GBx1) DDR3-1333 SODIMM Memory [-59] (Corsair or Major Brand)
MOTHERBOARD: Mobile Intel HM77 Chipset Mainboard
SOUND: Built-in 3D Premium Surround Sound
VIDEO: AMD Radeon HD 7970M 2GB GDDR5 Video (NB-379-105)

Good luck! :)
 

theChad

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Sep 17, 2010
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Although the idea of having a "gaming" laptop sounds incredibly sweet and alluring, I would have to advise not to go that route. To put things simply, first ask yourself what kind of longevity are you expecting from the machine. If your ideal longevity is more than 2 years, then I would strongly advise you not to buy the gaming laptop. While laptops manufactured today definitely have a lot more longevity than ones made in the past it still doesn't rival that of a desktop PC. The longest I have owned a laptop (mind you, wasn't for gaming nor entertainment) was for 3 years. It was a rugged schoolwork companion. After about a year with the laptop, it had become prone to dead-screening. Meaning out of the blue, the screen would not work. A loose connection fix was all it took to give it another year and a half of solid, hardware issue free life. On the contrary, I have built computers since the early 2000's, and the only components I have seen personally fail are hard drives and power supplies. I guess it's my awesome luck that I've never had faulty motherboard issues (unlike all the dreaded RMA stories from 5/5 tech level reviewers on newegg come to mind when looking at nearly EVERY popular motherboard) in that time.

tl;dr

If you want a system that will play games at higher quality, higher resolutions, has longevity beyond 2+ years, and has the ability to customize and replace nearly every component should one fail or to improve performance get a desktop gaming rig. If these aren't important to you, get the laptop.
 

GeoffM604

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Mar 26, 2013
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I was think about the dual graphics version..... wouldnt the dual graphics be better them 750m?
 

JD88

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Feb 25, 2013
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I would say buy it. I personally own the Y400 myself which is the 14" version of the Y500 and it has been outstanding.

There just isn't anything close to that level of performance in the price range. The GT 750m performs on par or better than the 660m. 2 of those in SLI offer performance you couldn't touch for under $1700-1800. Especially not in a laptop that compact and lightweight.
 

MANOFKRYPTONAK

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Feb 1, 2012
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Okay so the Lenovos are pretty good for the price. But you can get SLI with a clevo or a sager too. Here is the big + the cpu and GPU and of course ram, hdd are all upgradable . So In two years upgrade the GPUs you could game pretty darn well on a laptop with upgrades for 4 years if you took care of it.

P.S. A buddy has gamed on an old thinkpad for 3-4 years playing old games. But Ideapads are no were near the quality of a high end thinkpad. Thinkpads last forever, think like 6 years. But an ideapad no way.

Just some stuff to consider... Hope it helps
 

GeoffM604

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Mar 26, 2013
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So basically Clevo and Sager are a little more future proof say by 2 or so years for future gaming. while the Lenovo at about 700 dollars less isnt. From what I was able to gather on the Sager website the SLI is available only on the 17" laptops ranging from 1699 and up. thats not a bad price for what your getting but my budget just doesnt allow for it. I could be wrong and SLI might come with lower models but i couldnt find it. I've got it down to a few laptops it's just getting really tough now to make my mind up.

I guess you you look long enough you find stuff to further confuse the situation i found this as well http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=710_577_371&item_id=050564
 

RabidVolcano

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May 24, 2013
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I am RabidVolcano and I approve this message.:)