Entry level gaming laptops

[evilavatar]

So I have been doing some research on a cheaper entry level gaming/multimedia laptop. Below I have links to several of them that have decent duo core processors, memory, and dedicated video cards and range from 500-800 dollars US. I was hoping this would spur some discussion and save people from having 100 new threads on what you can get for the money in a cheap laptop (and help me decide which one i am going to get). Below I've posted links to the computers, the site I found them at, the cost of the computer, and an extracted score from http/www.notebookcheck.net as to how the video cards rated on the 3dmark 05 scoring. (Check the available GPU processor score for their website for more information.) Hope it is a help to others looking for a similar computer.

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115763&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID= 12936 $800

http/www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/alienware-m11x/pd.aspx?refid=alienware-m11x&cs=19&s= 11581(basic model with no upgrades.) $800


http/www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6241357&CatId=3998 14869
$800

http/www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5250511&SRCCODE=GOOGLEBASE&cm_mmc_o=VRqCjC7BBTkwCjCECjCE 14773
$700

http/www.ecost.com/Detail.aspx?edp=55778282&navid=155441519 12609

$504.99


http/www.ecost.com/Detail.aspx?edp=54048780&navid=155441519 12609 $750.00

 

[dark_lord69]

The Acer at Newegg is a good choice.
(This computer would have the best processing power but not nessisarily the best frame rates.)

I would pass on the alienware laptop.
(The base model is a core 2 duo runing at only 1.3GHz and has only 2GB of Ram)

The Gateway from Tiger Direct is decent.
(It's got a big screen and the 9800M GTS did better than I figured it would.)

The Asus laptop is decent.
(The downside is that it is refurbished, on the upside the GTX 260M is better than the others {based on 3DMark06 and real framerate benchmarks})

I would pass on both the HP laptops.
(Neither the CPUs or graphics cards will win in performance tests against the other laptops you've chosen. Also, HP laptops have the highest failure rate in the first 3 years.)

The last one just doesn't have very good graphical performance at all.

My personal picks:
Gaming Performance:
The Asus laptop at Tiger Direct
The Gateway laptop at TigerDirect (Big screen but GPU isn't as good as the Asus)

Processing Power and a big screen:
The Acer laptop at Newegg (Big screen good CPU but not as good GPU [using the PCMark06 benchmarks])

 

[evilavatar]

thanks for the reply, I was hoping for answers like yours not just for myself. This seems to be a fairly typical price range for people looking for an entry level laptop and I think most of them would meet almost all non-hardcore gamers needs without breaking the bank.