Carry-able gaming laptop

[vatom]

Hey I looking for a decent laptop that can play some games and is portable.

1. What is your budget? Around 1200 dollars.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? I would like a 15 inch one but I am not sure what is better for gaming, 15 or 17 inch.

3. What screen resolution do you want? Doesn't really matter.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Portable

5. How much battery life do you need? 4 hours is fine.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)? Dota 2, Diablo 3, GW 2 and some other fps all on medium.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.) Nothing other then school work and gaming.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? 500 gigabytes - 1 terabyte.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? 2-3 years.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? Any would be fine.

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.

13. What country do you live in? United States.

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed. I was looking at theGE60 0ND-042US and was pretty happy with it, but I am not sure if there is anything else out there.
http/www.msimobile.com/level3_productpage.aspx?cid=6&id=362

 

[jimmy_dog]

www.xoticpc.com/sager-np9130-clevo-p151em1-p-4340.html Best for games, lowest batter life
www.xoticpc.com/msi-ge60-0n006us-preorder-p-4334.html
best for general computering, mid battery life
www.xoticpc.com/sager-np6165-clevo-w150er-p-4344.html
Less performance than the others, but cheapest and longest battery life.

www.xoticpc.com/sager-np6175-clevo-w170er-p-4345.html
The third link with a 17 inch screen
www.xoticpc.com/msi-ge70-0n003us-preorder-p-4333.html
The second link but aa 17 inch screen.
www.xoticpc.com/force-1762-msi-1762-p-4347.html
The first link but 17 inch screen. Only around 2 hours of batter as it is, worse if you get an i7.

The sager's battery is only 2-3 hours because of a i5 and 670m If you got an i7 quad core it would be even less. However this graphics card is pretty powerful and you can play games like bf3 on high and mw3 on max. The second link has a quad core processor but only a 650m so the battery is 3+ hours. A 650m can do all the games you listed and is still a quite good card. Note: this battery is for things like watching movies. If you are gaming, the battery life will be lower. If you are typing a word document, the battery life will be longer. The third link has a i5 dual core processor and the 650m, meaning you can get that 4 hour battery life. An 17 inch screen could be better for gaming, but is pretty big and hard to bring around (they weigh around the same, just that a 17 inch is bigger). A 17 inch screen doesn't make a lot of difference in battery, but a 17 inch screen usually have a numpad where a 15 inch may not.

 

[dalauder]

Look through the choices at XoticPC then buy one. It's pretty much the best place.

Go to notebookcheck to compare the graphics cards: http/www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
And for CPUs: http/www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

You want a true Quad Core to make sure it doesn't bottleneck your gaming--that means the CPU suffix should include a "QM", not merely an "M". That limits you to higher end i7's.

Performance wise, Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge (i7-2XXXQM and i7-3XXXQM series, respectively) are nearly identical if at the same clock speeds, however Ivy Bridge will get better battery life. You'll have to pay attention to the CPU model for clock speed. I would not pay a price premium for Ivy Bridge as you'd do better to focus on your graphics card.


Jimmy_dog presented a lot of interesting options. He gave you $1172 GTX 650M builds, then showed you that you could get a GTX 650M for $872. He also showed that for $1066, you can get a GTX 670M. If you look at my above links, you'll see the performance difference is phenomenal (40%)! Now the more expensive ones with weaker GPUs do have Quad Core i7's--but this is a gaming laptop. Start with the GPU and work down from there. It is nice to see your options in the $870 range though.

Of the links jimmy_dog provided, I'd go with a sub $1100 GTX 670M build with the $70 i7-3610QM upgrade.

Now I would greatly prefer a 1600x900 screen. If you do the math that's 30% fewer pixes, translating to 44% better frame rates. Considering 1600x900 is a high enough resolution for most uses, that would be my preference for a better gaming experience. But it looks like XoticPC stopped offering those.

 

[dalauder]

I'm closing this thread in my browser. PM me if you come back.

 

[vatom]

Best answer selected by vatom.