Looking for a gaming laptop (recommendation)

[TechnoBowl]

1. What is your budget? Unsure at the moment. Say less than 800 U.S.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? eh...15 or 17 would be good.

3. What screen resolution do you want? 720p would probably be standard by now.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Portable replacement

5. How much battery life do you need? The more the merrier. 3 plus would be great.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)? Mass Effect Trilogy, Command and Conquer 3, Red Alert 3, The Sims 3, World in Conflict.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.) Gaming and classwork.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? I'd love to have 1TB; but I can work 500GB easily. 5400RPM is nice.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links. www.newegg.com/www.bestbuy.com

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? For the long haul. 4 years plus

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? DVD-RW

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons. Anything but Dell...although if I end up getting something through Best Buy, couldn't I just use Geek Squad instead of Dell's horrible customer service?

13. What country do you live in? USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed. I'm just looking for something moderately cheap but beefy.

 

[edit1754]

One of the few options within your budget that allows you to get a decent GPU and a decent display at the same time is the HP DV6z.

HP DV6z-7000 (A6-4400M, AMD Radeon 7730M, 15.6" 1920x1080 matte display) - $754 after coupon code 20DEALIGG
- http/www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/load_configuration.do?destination=review&config_id=7273816
- Don't downgrade to the 1366x768 display unless you require its larger text for eyesight-related reasons. 1366x768 resolution in a 15.6" display makes things onscreen large, and 15.6" displays that have 1366x768 resolution tend to have very poor image quality due to low contrast. It is advisable to avoid this type of display when it is reasonable to do so.
- The A8 or A10 CPU upgrades might be worth the cost, depending on the CPU-intensivity of the games you play. Games are primarily GPU-bottlenecked though, so not all games will benefit from upgrades to this.

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Since you said your budget wasn't set in stone, some alternative options are the Sager NP6165 with a faster GPU, or the Sager NP9130 with a much faster GPU.

Sager NP6165 (i5-3210M, NVIDIA GT 650M, 15.6" 1920x1080 glossy display) - $949 no tax
- http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np6165-clevo-w150er-p-4344.html?wconfigure=yes
- You will need to scroll down to Operating System and select Windows 7, unless you already have your own valid activation code and disk image or can acquire one for cheaper (e.g. through a student discount) -- and are willing to perform the installation yourself.

Sager NP9130 (i5-3210M, NVIDIA GTX 670M, 15.6" 1920x1080 matte display) - $1095 no tax
- http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np9130-clevo-p151em1-p-4340.html?wconfigure=yes
- You will need to scroll down to Operating System and select Windows 7, unless you already have your own valid activation code and disk image or can acquire one for cheaper (e.g. through a student discount) -- and are willing to perform the installation yourself.

Note: The GTX 670M is simply a rebranded GTX 570M with higher clocks. It does not use the new 28nm technology, so it is not as power efficient as a (~16% slower) GTX 660M. But due to Optimus (switchable graphics), this shouldn't be an issue when not gaming.

 

[TechnoBowl]

Now I saw an Acer with a 520M on...bestbuy.com.

Should I just stay away from that?

 

[edit1754]

The GT 520M is considerably slower than the GPUs included in the laptops I listed. It might provide disappointing game performance.

 

[roadkill922]

Get the laptop that edit suggested. That is a pretty good deal right there, and fits your budget. The games you listed aren't very graphics intensive, so this laptop will be perfect for running at 1080p. Stay away from best buy; they will over charge the crap out of you. The only reason to buy a computer from best buy, is if you work there and get a nice discount. You would be really lucky to find a deal better than the suggested laptop for the price.

 

[TechnoBowl]

Cool. I like the second Sager you listed.

I'm not really sure how much I'm getting. I may have more than 800. I'm just using that as a starting point.

Thanks for the help.

 

[TechnoBowl]

Best answer selected by TechnoBowl.

 

[TechnoBowl]

One more stupid question and I'm done.

I'm noticing some 610M cards. Stay away or take a look?

 

[edit1754]

More or less the same as the GT 520M.

http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-610M.63759.0.html

 

[ram1009]

gaming laptop=oxymoron. You're wasting your time and money especially on your budget.

 

[TechnoBowl]

Tell me about it. I just have those few games that I'd really love to run.