crappy laptop graphics...

[nachowarrior]

why can't anyone just make a laptop with decent graphics and no extra frills for a decent price? i mean, wtf! seriously. gimme an okay cpu, 1 gig of ram, a 120 gig hd or small ssd drive, 1440x900 or so lcd, and a DECENT F-ING GRAPHICS CARD! wtf? seriously. a good 3800 series gpu doesn't cost that flipping much, and with gpu scaling IT DOESN'T CONSUME THAT MUCH POWER ON IDLE. seriously? why the hell can no company make a laptop that has a decent graphics card without jacking it up over 3k dollars... it ticks me off. I don't want the fastest cpu, i don't want 4 gigs of memory, i don't want windows shista... i just want simple, with graphics power for under 1k... NOT THAT HARD! but nobody makes one... anyway, done with my rant... if you can find me one that is acceptable for under 900 bucks... i'll thank you and you can assume that's honest. thanks. 😛

 

[cjl]

Actually, you have that poll backwards. While I prefer a nice video card, the truth is, most tasks people do with their laptops are not even remotely video intensive, and as a result, a fast CPU benefits them more than even the most basic of graphics cards. The people who use graphics power are in a small minority.

Oh, and you might want to check out the Sager NP2096.

 

[lostandwandering]

why can't anyone just make a laptop with decent graphics and no extra frills for a decent price? i mean, wtf! seriously. gimme an okay cpu, 1 gig of ram, a 120 gig hd or small ssd drive, 1440x900 or so lcd, and a DECENT F-ING GRAPHICS CARD! wtf? seriously. a good 3800 series gpu doesn't cost that flipping much, and with gpu scaling IT DOESN'T CONSUME THAT MUCH POWER ON IDLE. seriously? why the hell can no company make a laptop that has a decent graphics card without jacking it up over 3k dollars... it ticks me off. I don't want the fastest cpu, i don't want 4 gigs of memory, i don't want windows shista... i just want simple, with graphics power for under 1k... NOT THAT HARD! but nobody makes one... anyway, done with my rant... if you can find me one that is acceptable for under 900 bucks... i'll thank you and you can assume that's honest. thanks. 😛

One of Gateway's FX series laptops comes with a basic Core2 CPU and an 8800m GTS card for under 1500. It's been posted here a bunch of times. And yes, mobile cards are actually rather expensive, though prices seem to be dropping. I could have bought an upgrade kit for my laptop and the 8800 GTX was going to cost me around $600. Add onto that the added cooling needed in these laptops to make them actually run and you are getting quite expensive.

Now as far as companies, avoid companies like Alienware and Voodoo and Falcon-NW. While they make good products, they are ofter WAY overpriced considering what you can get from a company like Sager.

I do agree though, it would be nice to see more "budget" oriented systems with GPUs more capable than the 8600's and 9500's.

 

[nachowarrior]

yes more budget oriented laptops that people can use for gaming...

the problem is that they crank up ALL the specs when they really only need one...

anyway, i did my research and found ONE laptop that is under 1k and is essentially a mid range gaming laptop.

msi gx series.... msi gx610 is the best one thus far...

www.msicomputers.com

www.ibuypower.com

www.buyxg.com

those are the only places i've found it thus far. it's hard to find because each retailer renames it. If you have a vendors lisence, you could order it straight up prolly from ma*labs or one of the other distribs for msi. But it's nice...

2.0-2.3 x2 proc
hd 2600 vid card
starting at like 800 bucks retail... big pimpin!

 

[theworminator]

Yeah, it's kind of annoying I agree, but remember just adding the word "gaming" to any product and you have an instant increase in price, just because they know that people will pay so much more for a "gaming" product.

Like both you and L&W have pointed out, there are some midrange laptops out there, but they're not that common, it seems it's either budget/productivity or all out gaming sometimes...