Gaming Laptop for $1000-$1400

[traumaiv]

My friend insisted on buying a mac this summer for traveling and things such as programming, photoshop, but insisted on mainly gaming. i told him he could get a lot better laptop for that price range. I tried to direct him towards an Asus G53SX but he said it was "too bulky" for him. So im here to attempt to get a response for a "slim" gaming laptop that is significantly better then a macbook pro.

 

[palladin9479]

Easy, HP DV6zqe

$1069.99 USD
-$75.00 Promo code
----------
994.99 Cost.

AMD 3530MX 2.0 ~ 2.7 GHZ CPU
8GB DDR3-1333 dual channel
AMD 7690M 1GB (die shrunk 6750M), This will do CF with the APU's own 6620G for a performance boost
750GB 7200RPM HDD
1920x1080 LED Screen, 15 Inch.
BluRay Drive
9-cell Li battery

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/load_configuration.do?destination=review&config_id=7011597#

Color dark umber edit
Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit edit
Processor AMD Quad-Core A8-3550MX Accelerated Processor (2.7GHz/2.0GHz, 4MB L2 Cache) edit
Graphics card 1GB AMD Radeon(TM) HD 7690M GDDR5 Discrete Graphics(TM) [HDMI, VGA] edit
Memory 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm) edit
Hard drive 750GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection edit
Office software Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word/Excel(R) only, No PowerPoint(R)/Outlook(R) edit
Security software No additional security software edit
Primary battery 9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery edit
Display 15.6" Full HD HP Anti-glare LED (1920 x 1080) edit
Primary optical drive Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner edit
Personalization HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader edit
Networking 802.11b/g/n WLAN edit
Keyboard Standard Keyboard with numeric keypad edit

Changes from default were going to the 3550MX CPU, 8GB memory, discrete GPU add-on, faster HDD, 9 cell battery and 1920x1080 screen. Removing some of these will net you a cheaper system, the screen upgrade alone is $150. They also offer a 160GB SSD for +$130 USD. I recommend the battery option but if you feel it's too much you can go with the 30$ cheaper default 6-cell battery. The model scales from $600 to $1000 depending on options and accessories.

 

[palladin9479]

Now they also have the DV7 series with is the 17inch and offers improved components. I'm assuming this is for a light weight device with high battery life that can do just about everything a mobile platform should do.

-=Edit=-

Just looked over the Mac Book Pro ... OMG it's a crazy rip off. They try to sell the whole thing without mentioning a single technical specification and throwing lots of adjectives around.

Same GPU that the DV6 provides except the DV6's 7690M will OC better due to being a die shrink (its a 6750M). Only 4GB of DDR3-1333 memory and only offering a 5400RPM HDD. The 13 inch model only has HD3000 and is complete crap for games, so we're talking the $1799.00 15inch. Only the 2199.00 15 inch would be technically better then the DV6 at double the cost. And even then it's only 4GB of memory and 5400RPM HDD. And eww at the 1440x900 resolution at that price, the DV6 has 1920x1080. To get a faster HDD / more memory you'd have to spend even more money then the already inflated two grand price tag.

If your friend gets that Mac Book Pro he's an idiot. Mac's aren't even that good for gaming to begin with due to library limits.

 

[traumaiv]

yeah i tried to explain to him that they really arent that great. but i showed him these and he changed his mind thanks!

 

[traumaiv]

Best answer selected by traumaiv.

 

[palladin9479]

Show him this

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-pavilion-notebooks/639355-definitive-dv6z-llano-overclock-optimization-guide.html

The APU is ridiculously easy to overclock and undervolt. That link has the guide and programs used to setup the APU so that it runs by default in an undervolted state but can quickly scale to full speed OC for games use. Also goes into how to OC the discrete GPU and little mods you can do that notebook. Also has benchmarks for various GPU / CPU / memory configurations. To give you an idea of what to expect on it.