[Laptop] Super High End Laptop to last 3-5y.

[angaddev]

Hey guys, I need advice on a high end gaming/photo editing laptop. I will be selling my desktop at the end of the summer because I will need something more portable for the coming years. It should run demanding games on High smoothly and I want it to last at least three years before becoming obsolete. SLI/CF could be an option but I am worried about heat. I usually use custom sites for laptops and I don't think there are any prebuilts for this price range. I would like it to be reasonably light and 15' or 17' screens are both acceptable.

Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: June

Budget Range: £2500

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, photo editing, internetting, excel, etc.

Are you buying a monitor: No

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Anything that ships to the uk (ie. Scan, Aria, AmazonUK)

Location: London UK

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: 1080p, definitely.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Need something portable to last a long time.

 

[X79]

Shame you're spending so much on a laptop. You could get a baller desktop for that amount. Easily.

Try out pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[angaddev]

Shame you're spending so much on a laptop. You could get a baller desktop for that amount. Easily.

Try out pcspecialist.co.uk

Already have a baller desktop : check sig

"Why Are You Upgrading: Need something portable to last a long time. "

 

[Marcopolo123]

every gaming laptop is going to run hot.

http/mysn.co.uk/shop/checkout/cart/
or
http/mysn.co.uk/shop/checkout/cart/

http/community.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu/NVIDIA+GeForce+GTX+680M/benchmarks
hd 7970m and gtx 680m are about the same performance , but hd 7970m is far cheaper

 

[X79]

http/www.squidoo.com/top-6-most-powerful-gaming-laptop-november-2011-edition

 

[guanyu210379]

I would not game on laptop since any gaming desktop with the same price will blow easily any gaming laptop with the same price.
Why not spend 1800 pound on a gaming PC and spend 700 pound for a laptop...still 2500 pound in total ^o^

But if you really want a gaming laptop, I would recommend the ones Alienware or from ROG line from ASUS.

 

[angaddev]

I would not game on laptop since any gaming desktop with the same price will blow easily any gaming laptop with the same price.
Why not spend 1800 pound on a gaming PC and spend 700 pound for a laptop...still 2500 pound in total ^o^

But if you really want a gaming laptop, I would recommend the ones Alienware or from ROG line from ASUS.

Sorry I didn't make this clear, I already have a desktop running a 7970 and have plans for a 4x 7970 bitcoin rig. This is just a portable games machine that I can take anywhere, anytime, and play games smoothly

 

[angaddev]

every gaming laptop is going to run hot.

http/mysn.co.uk/shop/checkout/cart/
or
http/mysn.co.uk/shop/checkout/cart/

http/community.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu/NVIDIA+GeForce+GTX+680M/benchmarks
hd 7970m and gtx 680m are about the same performance , but hd 7970m is far cheaper

Thanks 4 the links, but the carts show up blank. Could you tell me which laptop spec you were linking to?

 

[Marcopolo123]

Xmg p722
Configured:

2x hd 7970m
2x 4gb crucial 1600mhz
1000gb 7200rpm travelstar
Samsung 840 pro 128gb
Optical drive
Windows 7 home 64bit

~ 1820£


Hd 7970m crossfire is about 10% better then a gtx 680
http/www.notebookcheck.com/AMD-Radeon-HD-7970M-Crossfire.74144.0.html

Origin pc also a good website. They ship internationaly...

 

[manofchalk]

Don't know much about laptops unfortunately, so cant help much here.

But I will say you need to lower your expectations a bit. Laptops are nowhere near the performance of current desktops given their power and size constraints, so maxing out every game I doubt you will be able to do, much less three years in the future. If anything, your laptop will go obsolete faster than your desktop, mobile technologies are developing at a much faster rate than desktops are, your laptop will comparatively be worse off.

I suggest you wait a few weeks for Haswell to drop and see what your options are then, from all indications Haswell will have a big impact in the mobile space.

 

[angaddev]

Xmg p722
Configured:

2x hd 7970m
2x 4gb crucial 1600mhz
1000gb 7200rpm travelstar
Samsung 840 pro 128gb
Optical drive
Windows 7 home 64bit

~ 1820£


Hd 7970m crossfire is about 10% better then a gtx 680
http/www.notebookcheck.com/AMD-Radeon-HD-7970M-Crossfire.74144.0.html

Origin pc also a good website. They ship internationaly...

Manofchalk, according to this link, the 7970M CFX can max out BF3 at 67FPS. Anyway I play with 4xAA and high only...

 

[Marcopolo123]

well then a singel hd 7970m would be enough
http/www.notebookcheck.com/AMD-Radeon-HD-7970M.70809.0.html

it would be 5% slower then a hd 7870 which is already pretty impressive...

i own a hd 7870 and i can play every game high-> max. settings 40 -70+ fps.


that would be fine ..

 

[GIJoeMyGoodness]

Not sure if you have a preference on screen size but..

I can vouch for Alienware. Sure you're paying for the name a bit. The M17x and M18x are monsters with quite remarkable performance. I have the M14x because I wanted something more compact but the quality is amazing. Another big plus is that the computers are designed to be upgraded. If you want to RAID two SSDs, it's no problem. Switching out the DVD drive with a HDD? That works too. Everything is easy to take apart and work on.

My machine works flawlessly without any bugs or problems. People usually talk smack about Alienware at my work but they complain about their machines all the time. My laptop performs well but there are other things not on paper that make the machine a nicer experience. Also, the M18x has an HDMI input for the screen, so if you ever need to mirror your phone or connect a gaming console to your laptop while on the go, you can do that too.

Alienware.com may ship to UK but I know Amazon carries the Alienware line as well. If you can, use Alienware.com to buy because you can fully customize it and put your own gamertag on an etched plate under neath.

 

[Marcopolo123]

Glossy screens sucks

 

[manofchalk]

I would look for a better benchmark than that, that could be peak or average FPS for all they tell you.

But anyway, just saying that I wouldn't expect it to last a few years of having great (relative) performance, especially if you buy right now.

 

[angaddev]

Not sure if you have a preference on screen size but..

I can vouch for Alienware. Sure you're paying for the name a bit. The M17x and M18x are monsters with quite remarkable performance. I have the M14x because I wanted something more compact but the quality is amazing. Another big plus is that the computers are designed to be upgraded. If you want to RAID two SSDs, it's no problem. Switching out the DVD drive with a HDD? That works too. Everything is easy to take apart and work on.

My machine works flawlessly without any bugs or problems. People usually talk smack about Alienware at my work but they complain about their machines all the time. My laptop performs well but there are other things not on paper that make the machine a nicer experience. Also, the M18x has an HDMI input for the screen, so if you ever need to mirror your phone or connect a gaming console to your laptop while on the go, you can do that too.

Alienware.com may ship to UK but I know Amazon carries the Alienware line as well. If you can, use Alienware.com to buy because you can fully customize it and put your own gamertag on an etched plate under neath.

Quite expensive tho.. A single 7970m 17x rig with a mid range i7 and 8GB ram, plus 2TB RAID is 2 grand. I can get a cfx rig for that price. I think a MYSN configured to 2250 pound is pretty nice : i7-3740, 2x7970m, 500GB Samsung SSD, 1TB HDD

 

[GIJoeMyGoodness]

Crossfire can yield worse performance in a lot of games. The Alienwares are much easier to service as well. The backlighting and sound quality is great too. On paper the Alienware is beat for the money by almost every competitor. It has a large owners community and there are a ton of different configs you can go with it. I'm super happy with the way mine runs and my friend's Alienware runs great as well. My friend's game studio all use Alienware for their rigs at the office because they're solid, always run well, and perform.\

Macs are slower on paper than most PCs but hey offer a much higher build quality. It's the same principle.

 

[angaddev]

Crossfire can yield worse performance in a lot of games. The Alienwares are much easier to service as well. The backlighting and sound quality is great too. On paper the Alienware is beat for the money by almost every competitor. It has a large owners community and there are a ton of different configs you can go with it. I'm super happy with the way mine runs and my friend's Alienware runs great as well. My friend's game studio all use Alienware for their rigs at the office because they're solid, always run well, and perform.\

Macs are slower on paper than most PCs but hey offer a much higher build quality. It's the same principle.

If i go for a single card setup, then the alienware will be 400 pounds more, just for better sound and a bigger user base?

 

[GIJoeMyGoodness]

If you want to look at it that way it's fine. It's definitely not the best bang for your buck. They keyboard feels nicer, the hinges are more sturdy, etc. I work at a place where we sell MSI gaming laptops, ASUS ROG series, and the Alienware. I wouldn't trade my Alienware in for anything else. They never come back for service.

 

[X79]

Check out Razers new Blade laptop.

Good GPU, RAM and light.