Laptop Advice Please

pous

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Hi there, as you can see in my sig, I've got a zv6000, and it's 2 years old right now. It was great (and still is) for the time, but with games like Oblivion and such running around, I think it's time to upgrade.

I've been posting all over lately asking about different desktop set-ups and pricing them out and trying to learn as much as I can, but it occurs to me that it might be better (in the long run) to get a nice laptop. (Especially since I'm looking at re-enlisting in the Navy this fall).

At any rate, these are the things I'll be (hopefully) doing on the laptop:

Oblivion
WoW
City of Heroes
LotR: Online
(Maybe a few other MMO's here or there... not sure yet)
Battle for Middle-earth II
Titan Quest (With IT expansion)
AoE 3
C&C (the newest one)
HL2
Halo
Photoshop (CS2)
Watching movies (DVD's or AVI's)
Listening to music (usually while in-game, sometimes while not)
Bit of C++/VB programming and some web design.

That's all I can really think of off the top of my head, but as you can see, I like to do a little bit of everything. Resolution doesn't matter to me so much, I'm perfectly happy with 1280x800 and wouldn't mind if I had to bump it down for some games... I just want overall good performance and the ability to play some new fun games.

Let me know what you think, I don't have a ton of money, but I've been thinking of financing it (which is what I did with my HP), so cost might not be a HUGE problem... Ideally I'd like to keep it under $2,000.

Let's see what you guys come up with and we can go from there.

Thanks in advance for any helpful comments/thoughts/advice.

EDIT:
Just wanted to ask a quick question as well...

I've seen various laptop cooling devices over the two years I've had this one but I've always been skeptical of how well they work. Many of them plug into the USB port and are supposed to work wonders for cooling... I was just wondering if anybody here knows from experience of any that work for sure (or don't work at all). Thanks :D
 
Dell E1705/1720 (1720 comes out this summer)
Gateway NX680
HP DV9500t
Asus G1 or G2 ( with the 8 series not the 7 card)

Any of those would do what you want and stay under 2 grand. Ideally you shouldn't need a cooling pad for your laptop. If you do, there may be something wrong.
 

pous

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Dell E1705/1720 (1720 comes out this summer)
Gateway NX680
HP DV9500t
Asus G1 or G2 ( with the 8 series not the 7 card)

Any of those would do what you want and stay under 2 grand. Ideally you shouldn't need a cooling pad for your laptop. If you do, there may be something wrong.

Excellent thanks :D I'll be looking into all of those.

As for the cooling pad, I don't need one, I just thought it'd be neat if they actually worked.
 

HardWareBoss

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Since you are running with the Navy in the Fall. I would use some of that money. And buy a 17" Laptop from KillerNotebooks.. He makes in my opinion. The best gaming laptops.
 

chikit

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Lostandwandering, I think a few of those laptop suggestions are absolute crap. For the DELL 1720 and the HP, how can you expect the 8600GT to power a 17" LCD?? Especially to play the games the OP mentioned. If you are going for 8600GT go for a 15.4 inch with a lower res! He even said he is happy with 1280x800 and wouldn't mind bumping it down more.

Do you recommend the sager you got with the 7950gtx? which model was that.
 


Well, the 8600GT is supposed to perform like the 7900GS which is used in the E1705 right now. Nothing says that he has to play his games at native res either. Games, unlike desktops, don't look all that bad at other resolutions. I do agree that it isn't the best solution, but if he wants "DX10 support" it's the best he can get currently. I've ordered the Sager NP 5760, but I haven't gotten it yet. I DO NOT recommend ordering from sagernotebooks.com. If you want the story PM me. If and when I get it, I'll try and post my own review of it.
 

chikit

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Yes please do a review on the Sager! and i've pmed you.

Okay thats something I didn't know, as never experienced gaming on laptops, I didn't know bumping down res wasn't that bad. I just thought because there are 15.4" with 8600m GT laptop solutions out there, why not go for one?

I might have to try gaming on less than native res on a laptop to see for myself.