Need Reccomendation: Max $1300 1080p Gaming Laptop thats as lightweight as possible!

[coras]

Hi guys,

I currently have two gaming desktops, but I realized having these two monsters were actually wasteful. My twin and I only needed one for 3D modeling/animation/gaming and should have bought two sufficiently capable laptops instead for the cost of the other one.

The desktop we plan to keep has all of the following but the graphics card is on Sli, and has about 6 TB HDD total. The desktop I plan to sell off has the following specs:

Chassis: CM 690 II Advanced.
Processor: Intel Core i7 3930K 3.2GHz, 12 MB Cache. Hexa-core.
Cooler: CORSAIR H100 (liquid cooler).
RAM: 4 x Corsair Vengeance 4GB DDR3 1600MHz. (16 GB)
Motherboard: ASUS P9X79 DELUXE
Graphics Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 680
Speakers: Logitech Z623. 2.1 Systems
HDD: 1 x 120GB Corsair SSD, and 1 x 1TB SATA II Seagate.
Power Supply: Corsair AX850
UPS: APC Back-UPS Pro 1500
Keyboard and Mouse: Logitech K800 and Logitech Preformance MX Darkfield.


The ideal laptop should fall in to these guidelines:

Weight: As light as a gaming laptop can be.
Processor: Quad Core that has similar performance to our desktop.
RAM: DDR3 4-8 GB.
Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 660 to 770.
HDD: 500 GB min.
Screen: 1080p to match our Full 22" HD Dell monitor and 64" F8500 PDP.
Battery Life: As powerful as possible, but it will be plugged in most of the time.


What we use the laptops for:

- Will have it on for about 12-18 hours everyday. Mostly plugged in.
- Work on stories, just word processor.
- Work on web development projects, photoshop + dreamweaver.
- Draw graphic artwork using photoshop, SAI, etc.
- Basic 3D modeling and animation for game development.
- Basic video editing using camtasia, adobe etc... I make a lot of youtube videos now and then.
- Play several hours of MMORPGs on MAX settings (within reason) : Dargon Nest, Guild Wars 2, TERA Online, and Aion.
- Play PC Games on max settings (within reason).
- Watch lots of animes and movies.
- Remote Desktop connection to main Desktop (whenever its on constantly making backups)
- Not sure if we want a 15" or a 17" when we are on the go. Is the increase in weight too much?
- Blu-ray is not necessary DVD RW is fine.
- Curious about touch screen but depends on price.

The stationary setup will be:

- Laptop plugged into AC most of the time.
- DVI-D or HDMI to Dell Full HD 1080p LED ST2220L 22" Monitor
- Logitech K800 and Logitech Preformance MX Darkfield connected via unifying receiver to Laptop.
- Logitech Z623. 2.1 Systems hooked up.

The on the move setup will be:

- Laptop battery kept charged whenever possible throughout the day.
- Logitech K800 and Logitech Preformance MX Darkfield connected via unifying receiver to Laptop if carrying them is possible. But mostly will use the laptops track-pad and keyboard.
- Built in speakers.


Over all it does not need to be as powerful as the desktop, we just need a little mobility because it would improve our productivity. We also have to move abroad for a couple of months on and off for some surgeries so having a loptop will be useful than two heavy monsters that will stay at home leaving us bored.

Also recommend a good cooling pad too! I'm not sure if its necessary, but will have the lid/screen closed when running off Dell monitor. Would that cause airflow problems I wonder?

 

[C12Friedman]

To answer your last questions first, very little heat is dissipated through the keyboard so running with the screen closed should not cause issues - I often wonder about the health of the screen in the long run but virtually all of the heat is dispelled through the vents.
For a cooling pad I've come to like the CoolerMaster Notepal U2 and U3 offerings which has removable fans that can be located directly under your intake vents (handy IMO) and it also tucks away easier than most for mobility (seen here: http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf5XvOWRHWU at 1:40)
As far as a laptop recommendation, you seem to know your hardware so I'm simply going to direct you here http/www.xoticpc.com/custom-gaming-laptops-notebooks-gaming-laptops-ct-118_96_98.html

 

[Prostar Computer]

Regards to the weight, the lightest gaming notebooks I'm familiar with are the Razer Blade/Blade Pro and the Clevo W230ST, weighing in around 4 lbs. Both very capable for their size. If you go through a reseller for a system, be sure to opt for upgrades to the cooling. The smaller form factor yields less room for heat dissipation, although the laptops are still stable.

 

[teknobug]

I use a Coolermaster Notepal cooling pad, knocks off ~5C with my laptop but can go as far as 10C on certain laptops.

As for what you're looking for, most gaming laptops are i7's or high end A10, not many are i5 (getting phased out) though they're more than suitable for the purpose, and some include SLI dedicated graphics. Most of them are around ~7lbs, is that light enough? Can't decide which model for you though.

I didn't like that Razer Blade Pro laptop when I played with it, the ergo layout just felt funny.

 

[Prostar Computer]

I don't recommend the A10 APUs for said requirements. Stick with Intel.

 

[coras]

Hi guys,

Great suggestions for cooling pads!

I've read your responses and have been doing some serious research however a lot of the options are unavailable to me as I'm in south asia. So I've been looking into local availability of potential laptops that would work for me. I narrowed it into the following three:

Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 (slightly around my $1300 x 2 budget, but is GT 750M a worthy compromise?)

Laptop: Alienware 14 (slightly beyond budget, but GTX 765M seems okay for the mobility gained)

Laptop: Alienware 17 (beyond budget since I need to buy two)

Also I'm worried 1080p 15" would make it difficult to type and read emails. Pretty much all my emails are no less than 1000 words. What do you think? Will a 1080p 15" work out fine for me? given the choice which of the above will you go for with the budget in sight.

 

[coras]

The IdeaPad Y510 in "South Asia" has the following specs:

Cost: $1286 avg.

CPU: Core i7 4700MQ

RAM: 8 GB

Screen Type: Full HD (but still lists resolution as: 1366 x 768p oddly)

Graphics Card: 1 x nVidia GT 750 (not SLi unfortunately)

... and I did say what types of games I'll play on the laptop

What we use the laptops for:

- Work on stories, just word processor.
- Work on web development projects, photoshop + dreamweaver.
- Draw graphic artwork using photoshop, SAI, etc.
- Basic 3D modeling and animation for game development.
- Basic video editing using camtasia, adobe etc... I make a lot of youtube videos now and then.
- Play several hours of MMORPGs on MAX settings (within reason) : Dargon Nest, Guild Wars 2, TERA Online, and Aion.
- Play PC Games on max settings (within reason).
- Watch lots of animes and movies.
- Remote Desktop connection to main Desktop (whenever its on constantly making backups)


Crysis, Bioshock, and other games like that will be played on my GTX 680 SLi Desktop through 64" TV.

I'd mostly just be playing the MMORPGS mentioned above and other multiplayer games @ max settings on the Laptop through my 22" dell monitor.

Also i've head several horror stories about Y500 series trackpad and wifi. Is there something i should be worried about? because this will be the very first time i ever use a trackpad. Whenever I used any friends/family laptops in the past I've always used my own mouse. However, I may just have to rely on the trackpad while I'm traveling.

 

[coras]

Its India, I just have a habit of saying south asia sorry o.o

This seems to be only option available here, other being alienware. There seemed to have been a really good alternative (i forgot the model) from acer with GTX 775M or 780M but its exact south asian version had GTX 480. I would why they change the specs of a model on various region.

 

[coras]

(duplicate post)

 

[coras]

See why south asia is better than saying india? the responses stopped completely.

 

[Prostar Computer]

Lol. It probably has more to do with the vast majority of posters contributing being from North America. Manufacturers have region specific differences in their systems, pricing is different, model names are different, etc.

That makes it more difficult for those of us in other regions to advise.