Gaming laptop advice $500 to $700

[death_relic0]

hey guys,
i made a similar thread a while ago, but buying a laptop got kinda delayed then, but now its time IA, and ive found a couple of new deals id like suggestion on

ok my requirements are simple.. the best laptop i can get to do gaming... i know the budgets low, and im not expecting miracles.

the games i intent to play are mainly strategy (real time/turnbased) and online games..

realtime/turn based games include Star Craft 2, civilization 5, hearts of iron 3, the new command and conquer series, and such..

online games shouldnt be a problem, and am just mentioning them for the heck of it, since even a good integrated gpu can handle them.. games like league of legends and runes of magic (and not world of warcraft )

any ways, ive heard that starcraft 2 is quite cpu heavy, so a good cpu is essential

any ways id rather spend less than $600, but will to go upto a maximum of $700 if there is a significant performance gain

the last time i made the thread, people suggested i get this:
http/www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&series_name=dv6zqe_series

with the 7690, and A6 MX processor, and 25 dollar coupon it comes to $620...


on the other hand theres the ACER, that is $600 (before $50 rebate), with an i5, but a 7670m
http/www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2008030

for the price, even if u ignore the rebate for a bit, it seems that the acer is a good option. the only thing that worries me is that ive heard that acer notebooks are low quality, also, although i would love watching movies and stuff on the 17inch screen, im worried that because of the greater resolution(1600x900 compared to the 1366x768), it wont be able to play games at good quality

finally, if someone could tell me of a deal/coupon i seemed to have missed, or a better laptop, please to dell.. also, i have a lil less than a month to finalize my decision IA, so are there likely to be some better deals coming up for which i should wait?

also, a month ago i remember there was a deal of hp with a 7690 graphics card with an i7 for $700 .. thats a kind of deal for which im willing to go upto $700

 

[WR2]

it seems that the acer is a good option.

It seems that way to me too.


Right now the best price on a HP dv6 with Core i5 and HD 7690M is about $725
Now and then you do see some better discounts - just not right now.
You might keep an eye out on that LogicBuy site to see if a better deal turns up.

 

[WR2]

The 1600x900 vs 1366x768 resolution and gaming question. You could always choose another resolution for gaming, depending on how well a certain game will run at 1600x900 compared to 1440×900, 1366x768, 1280×800 or 1280x720. What ever looks good and runs well.

Quality / reliability wise - HP and Acer aren't too far apart. You should be OK with either one.

 

[death_relic0]

thanks man, but supposing a deal comes of hp with an i5 for $675 (as it was a couple of days ago), in that case

dv6 i5 with a 7690 $675
acer i5 with a 7670 for $600 (before $50rebate)

will the 7690 be worth the price difference?

also, how would an A8mx cpu of amd compare with the i5? and an i3? in terms of gaming?

 

[WR2]

In my mind the 6790 option is not worth the extra $100 a/r.
But the laptop is smaller, light and easier to tote around if you're going to be very mobile.
The 1600x900 resolution is a nice bonus to the Acer. More of your games on screen. (even if you might need to change resolutions on some of the more demanding games)

A8 3510MX APU is a player. But you'd also need a dedicated graphics card to match the Acer or HP in FPS games. The 3510MX trails the Core i5-2450M a bit in just CPU performance. Not really a factor in FPS games but in RPG/MMORPG & SIM type games the gap might be more noticeable.

 

[death_relic0]

thanks man, and although i wont be moving around A LOT, portability is definately an issue which is why im considering the hp..

so final questino before i chose one of ur answer as best answer

a8 3510mx vs i5 (2430m), how much of a processing power difference am i looking at?assuming ofcourse that the a8 is weaker

 

[dalauder]

HP had the A6-3400M (or something similar) with the Radeon 7690M for $550 after coupon a couple weeks back. At least I'm pretty sure that's what they were selling the dv6z Quads for. If you're willing to learn about safely overclocking an A6-3400M, they can get performance pretty similar to mobile i5's.

Anyhow, I think you should sign up for HP's email list and wait for a deal.

But if you can stand to wait until Intel launches Ivy Bridge at the end of the month or AMD launches Trinity this summer, you will see much more bang for your buck--even if it's just in the form of old product clearances.

 

[death_relic0]

thanks for the advice..
any ways i was had almost decided when i came across this laptop
acer: 6850m , intel i5 2430m for $600
http/www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/829664-REG/Acer_LX_RNA02_008_Aspire_7750_AS7750_6458_17_3.html

ive almost decided to go with this one, but my concern is with the GDDR3 instead of GDDR5..

will the 6850 with DDR3 be better or worse than the 7690 with GDDR5 (as in with hp) if worse, how much of a differnece am i looking it?

if the 6850 is better, or equal to the 7690, i will probably go for the acer,
if not, well then i will probably go for the hp...
either way , will chose a best answer and be done with this thread

 

[WR2]

Very nice find. I need to bookmark that for future use.
It's better than the 7690M/6770M, the next step up. About a 10% improvement in 3DMark 11 GPU score

AMD Radeon HD 6850M
http/www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6850M.43079.0.html

 

[death_relic0]

ya, but unigine heaven and cinebench are lower for for 6850m .. i know im obsessing over it, but thing is gonna make my final decision off of this, and have like 2 more days till i make my final decision.

 

[WR2]

Just about enough time for the special price to go away.
Or for them to sell out.

 

[tomskent]

Dell Home has their Dell XPS 17 Laptop for $554.99 when you apply coupon code 7WR1C2?HTTQQ11 at checkout.

Intel Core i5-2450M Processor (2.5GHz)
17.3" HD+ 900p LED Display
6GB DDR3 Memory
750GB (7200RPM) Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M 1GB Graphics
Bluetooth
DVDRW
Webcam
6-Cell Battery
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

 

[WR2]

@ tomskent;

Does that coupon work for you?

 

[tomskent]

looks like the deal is Dead - Sold out

Usually happens quick with Super good deals.

 

[WR2]

That happens a lot.
death_relic0 missed an earlier good deal in about the same way.

 

[nbelote]

The one you listed, Acer Aspire AS7750G-6645 for $599, $549 after rebate: http/www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2008030&CatId=4938
I'd go with this one.

Acer Aspire AS5560G-7809 for $529: http/www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2008029&CatId=4938
AMD A6-3420m, 7670m, 4GB RAM and a 15.6" display. Not quite there.

 

[dalauder]

If you don't have time to get our feedback because a deal is too good, refer to notebookcheck.net for reference.

GPU: http/www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
CPU: http/www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

 

[dalauder]

The one you listed, Acer Aspire AS7750G-6645 for $599, $549 after rebate: http/www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2008030&CatId=4938
I'd go with this one.

Acer Aspire AS5560G-7809 for $529: http/www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2008029&CatId=4938
AMD A6-3420m, 7670m, 4GB RAM and a 15.6" display. Not quite there.

Make note of the fact that that graphics board uses DDR3: http/us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.RURAA.001
As far as the 6850M--it looks like the name is VERY misleading as it appears to be weaker than the 6770M. You definitely want GDDR5. It makes a difference.

Most of the cards shown on the benchmark list that come in GDDR5 and DDR3 are shown as the DDR3 version. That means that the 6850M and 7670M would be weaker than shown.

Anyhow, most of the cards we've mentioned (6770M, 7690M, 7670M, 6850M, GT 550M) are all around the same level. What differentiates them is:
1) Memory type (DDR3, [G]DDR4, GDDR5)
2) Architecture age for power usage (7690M should use quite a bit less power than the 6850M)

I think Dell typically uses DDR3 for its graphics cards and HP typically uses GDDR5. So for gaming performance, I'd go for an HP A6-3400M (or similiar) w/ 7690M GDDR5 the next time they have a sale. That or wait for Ivy Bridge to drop.

 

[death_relic0]

i know, that xps deal was bloody amazing .. i checked deal sites (deals of america and logicbuy.com) like every 4 hours (unless im sleeping obv. ), guess i missed that one... ... any ways, since ivy bridge is coming up, i think im gonna wait for a while, hopefully more deals like this will pop up and ill get something awesome IA.. also, im keeping an eye on deals via deals of america and logicbuy, is there another good coupon site i should be keeping an eye on?

 

[Pyree]

It is good waiting for a bit. The new Nvidia 6xx and AMD 7xxx non rebadge card are about out as well. Pricing and performance will probably be available late April.