Looking for a powerful gaming laptop

[kofeur]

1_What is your budget?
Up to $3000

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
17" or more

3_What screen resolution do you want?
1080p

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Mainly for home use

5_How much battery life do you need?
Battery is not important

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)?
All the latest RPGs and shooters

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
Video Encoding, photos

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
I want an SSD drive and if possible a secondary data drive

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them.
Any source is fine

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?
About 2 years

11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
BDROM/DVD writer combo

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.
Asus or Toshiba if it's a mainstream brand.
Interested in assemblers like Alienware, Ibuypower, Cyberpower or the like.
Never used them, but would be interested if they indeed live up to the hype.

13_What country do you live in?
Italy, but a friend of mine is going to Canada. That's from where I'll get my PC as it's generally cheaper

14_Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I want a laptop wit core i7 as I heard it's the best cpus to get, but am open to all sorts of suggestions. Definitely want an SSD drive, and ideally an extra data drive.
Not sure whether to get a top end gaming toshiba/asus or to splurge extra and go for higher end laptops.
Your help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Maziar]

You can go for a SAGER NP8760 with i7 and 1 GTX 280M:
http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8760-built-clevo-w870cu-custom-gaming-laptop-p-2660.html
But SAGER NP9850 would be better for gaming,it has QX9300 with 2 GTX 280Ms in SLI:
http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np9850-built-clevo-m980nu-gaming-laptop-p-2586.html

 

[kofeur]

Thanks Maziar!

I checked them, and found out it's so easy to go beyond $3000 😱
Are they better than Alienware, ibuypower and the others?
Is a custom PC so much better than say a top end Toshiba or Asus?
I definitely want a core i7 computer as it's more future proof.
What's your take on that?

Thanks!

 

[Maziar]

Custom PCs are cheaper but lets not compare them with laptops because they have pros and cons,in terms of raw performance custom PC is better but laptops run quieter and are portable.
I don't know how you customized but for SAGER NP9850,i didn't mean go for a QX9300 😀 i mean it has a QX9300
18.4" FHD WUXGA Super Clear Ultra Bright Glossy Dual Lamp Screen (1920x1080)
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- ~Intel® Q9000 45nm "Montevina" Core™2 Quad 2.0GHz w/6MB L2 On-die cache - 1066MHz FSB
- Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
- SLi ENABLED DUAL (2) 1024MB PCI-Express nVIDIA GTX 280M's (2048MB Total) w/GDDR3 DX10 Video Cards (User Upgradeable)
- No External Graphics Card
- No Video Adapter
- ~ 4,096MB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (Requires Vista 64-Bit to utilize Full 4GB)
- Standard Finish
- ~Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
- ~ 500GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache)
$2700

Or the NP8760 which has i7 with 1 GTX 280M:
17.3" FHD LED Backlit 16:9 "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright Glossy Screen (1920x1080)
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- Intel® Core™ i7-720QM, 1.60-2.80GHz, (45nm, 6MB L3 cache)
- Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
- nVidia GeForce GTX 280M 1,024MB PCI-Express GDDR3 DX10 (User Upgradeable)
- No External Graphics Card
- No Video Adapter
- ~ 4,096MB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (Requires Vista 64-Bit to utilize Full 4GB)
- Standard Finish
- ~Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
- ~ 500GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache
$2134

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Thanks Maziar!

I checked them, and found out it's so easy to go beyond $3000 😱
Are they better than Alienware, ibuypower and the others?
Is a custom PC so much better than say a top end Toshiba or Asus?
I definitely want a core i7 computer as it's more future proof.
What's your take on that?

Thanks!

There are a lot of boutique shops and if you look around ant Voodoo PC, WidowPC, and other vendors with a "magazine presence" you realize they all look alike......that's cause they all based upon one or more Original Design Manufacturer's (ODM's). Clevo is probably the most popular ODM for gaming laptops but lately I ahve noticed some vendors who only sold Clevo are expanding with a Compal or 2 thrown in there.

* Quanta sells to (among others) HP/Compaq, Dell, Toshiba, Sony, Fujitsu, Acer, NEC, Gateway and Lenovo/IBM - note that Quanta is currently (as of August, 2007) the largest manufacturer of notebook computers in the world.
* Compal sells to Toshiba, HP/Compaq, Acer, and Dell.
* Wistron (former manufacturing & design division of Acer) sells to HP/Compaq, Dell, IBM, NEC, Acer, and Lenovo/IBM.
* Flextronics (former Arima Computer Corporation notebook division) sells to HP/Compaq, NEC, and Dell.
* ECS sells to IBM, Fujitsu, and Dell.
* Asus sells to Apple (iBook), Sony, and Samsung.
* Inventec sells to HP/Compaq, Toshiba, and BenQ.
* Uniwill sells to Lenovo/IBM and Fujitsu.

http/forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=91510

I like the customization, personal service provided by the boutique shops but that comes at a price.....have been buying my stuff last 3 -4 years from a US Clevo distributor out in California.....no complaints ....just garbbed my 6th one and had one repaired (no charge) even tho was 2 months past end of 3 year warrant period.....Thanks Wesley !

Here's what I would buy today....with a few upgrades via the configurator

http/www.pro-star.com/index.cfm?mainpage=productdetail&model=W870CU

 

[maldinilovegame]

With your budget you can get a very top gaming laptop like Alienware M17X, AUSU G71, HP Envy 15... Check this: <a href="http/www.laptopforgames.com">Laptop for Games</a>

 

[kofeur]

Thanks a lot for all the advice!
The SSD drive is still very expensive.
Is the Intel one reaaly good?

 

[Maziar]

Yes they are good