Solved! Need help picking gaming laptop for college

[Super_Boss]

Hey Everyone, So I'm heading off to college next year and don't want to drag around my huge beastly desktop i built a couple years ago. So I'm in search of a new laptop that can satisfy all my gaming needs as well as normal school related work or entertainment.

1_What is your budget? About $1400

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? Something portable, 15" probably. 17" might be too big?

3_What screen resolution do you want? not sure, i play 1440x900 on my pc. I just want top notch resolution and quality.

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Portable gaming laptop would be best since i need to carry it to class.

5_How much battery life do you need? at least 2 hours, give or take a couple minutes

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)? Crysis on high, Age of Conan on high, and some other games but i figure if i can play those 2 i can play most of everything. (which is how i build my desktop )

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.) Watch movies, blu ray if possible but not mandatory since i have a ps3 anyways, Microsoft office/PowerPoint, music, video chat and thats pretty much all i can think of.

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need? enough, prob anywhere from 300-500

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links. bestbuy.com maybe

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop? at least 4 years


11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? dvdrom/cdrom/and possibly bluray. Cd burner if possible.

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. I have heard ASUS makes some quality laptops, and Dell. I have no brands i want to stay away from, open to anything.

13_What country do you live in? USA


14_Please tell us any additional information if needed: I have been looking at the ASUS G73JH, and the ASUS G60JX because i have heard great things about them both. Also the G60 is set at a GREAT price.

 

[Maziar]

Hello and welcome to the forums
For playing those games maxed out,i would recommend you to look for a 17" laptop because they mostly have better cooling that 15" laptop and a good cooling is necessary for playing demanding games.
My vote goes for ASUS G73.

 

[$amurai]

Asus G73. No question.
http/www.anandtech.com/show/3662/asus-g73jha2-affordable-xlsized-gaming
If you're really set on a 15, there are nice special Asus g51's (denoted by an A1 or stuff like that) which are quite good.

 

[Super_Boss]

Thanks for the replies, and yea I am kinda set on a 15 just because I don't wanna be walking around campus carrying a huge laptop. I would rather have something a little more portable, but keeping some good specs.

The ASUS G51JX-A1 looks pretty good from the reviews i've read, do you know anything about it?

Also looking into the Alienware M11x or the M15x.

I still need some more help on deciding though, so any more help would be greatly appreciated. I would really love the Asus G73, but the size might be a little too much and not that portable. Any laptops you can recommend that are fairly light or not super bulky but still play games at mostly high with the occasional medium settings?

Thanks, I'll continue to do some research and update this post.

 

[buwish]

I believe Dell just refreshed the M11x with new hardware, i.e. core i series chips, better graphics chips, etc... If you want to spend the money, I believe that it would work just fine for your gaming needs and would be rather easy to lug around with you.

 

[$amurai]

The M11x has the weakest specs of the ones I could recommend, but it's smallest and lightest (plus Alienware looks cool). There is a new version with core i processors, but the M11x has a quite weak GPU. It won't play Crysis on very high, high, and likely not on medium (though I could be wrong, with it's lower resolution).
If you really want a 15 inch laptop to play Crysis, the G51jx-A1 is your best bet. Very good GPU, good CPU, everything is strong on it.
That would be my recommendation.

 

[Maziar]

Thanks for the replies, and yea I am kinda set on a 15 just because I don't wanna be walking around campus carrying a huge laptop. I would rather have something a little more portable, but keeping some good specs.

The ASUS G51JX-A1 looks pretty good from the reviews i've read, do you know anything about it?

Also looking into the Alienware M11x or the M15x.

I still need some more help on deciding though, so any more help would be greatly appreciated. I would really love the Asus G73, but the size might be a little too much and not that portable. Any laptops you can recommend that are fairly light or not super bulky but still play games at mostly high with the occasional medium settings?

Thanks, I'll continue to do some research and update this post.

As for 15",i strongly recommend you to look at Sager NP8690

 

[Super_Boss]

Thanks Maziar that Sager does seem to have excellent reviews. Do you know how portable it is? Will i be able to carry it around campus without a problem? Won't be too big to wip out in class? Can play it on my lap? etc

I'm also deff still considering the G51jx-A1. Anyone care to compare the 2 aforementioned.

Thanks for all the help everyone, really appreciated

 

[$amurai]

The Sager has a far better GPU. The GTS 360m is a good GPU, but the GTX 285m is a lot better. Go for the Sager.
Maziar, you're now making me consider a Sager as well, I didn't know the prices went that low for them

 

[Maziar]

to super_boss
Well its a little heavy(7.38 lbs),but still lighter than a M15x,but i think you can carry it
http/www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5406
And performance-wise,its much better than a G51jx

to $amurai
Well,Sager makes great laptops with a good quality and an excellent price/performance ratio.I have never owned one but that's what reviews say

 

[kiren]

I have a G51 series (forget which, its got the 2.0GHz core2, 260m, and non-1080 screen) And I'd say that they're nice, but they're really not that portable, it does manage (barely) to fit in the laptop section of my backpack, but thats about it.

Generally using laptops actually on your lap isn't recommended, they often have the air intake on the bottom and are best on a solid surface to let air flow through properly. Any laptop with a G92 based GPU (260m, 360m, 285m, 280m, etc) needs the airflow, they run quite warm.

Don't know much about the sager, but a nice feature of the G51 to me is the ability to put a second HDD (though this of course reduces battery life even further)

As far as the GPU's go the difference between any of them is fairly moderate as far as I can tell, they're all G92 based.
The 260m is 112 shaders
iirc 360m is 96 shaders, but higher clock
iirc 285m is 128 shaders and slightly higher clock

 

[Super_Boss]

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

Right now I really like how the Sagers holding up and I'm probably considering buying it the most, but after reading up on some more reviews I also kind of really want the Asus G73. I read that its 8 lbs and the Sager is just under 8 lbs which isnt that much of a difference. Could you guys comment on just how portable each laptop is?

I don't want to lug around a huge laptop and than bust out an embarrassing monster of a laptop in class haha.

Thanks everyone for your help btw

 

[$amurai]

The G73 is great, but it's really really big. Portability-wise, it's not that great. The reason it's good is its incredible specs, but it's a desktop replacement in the truest sense of that phrase.