New Gaming Laptop

[sarah_g]

Hi All,

I'm looking to get ahold of a new laptop, only really for gaming. I know a desktop will always be better but I'm kind of moving around a lot right now and don't want to lug it around. I have a long weekend and would rather pick something up at Fry's or BestBuy today rather than order something, unless there's a really big differential.

I'm thinking about an ASUS G73SW which they have in stock locally. Not very cute and kinda military looking for my tastes, but it's just for gaming anyway.

Thanks all,
Sarah


1. What is your budget?

I'm thinking maybe $1200ish. I can go a few hundred higher if there's a compelling reason.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

17" probably

3. What screen resolution do you want?

High res is good. 1080 maybe?

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

Desktop replacement. I have a macbook to carry around.

5. How much battery life do you need?

Doesn't matter much. Would be nice to get at least an hour of gaming unplugged.

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)?

Gaming is the whole point. Civ V, WoW, Dragon Age 2, SC2. I'd like to run them on high if possible, but I'm not a FPS person who needs 60 fps or else.

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

Nada. I'd probably watch videos on it if it ends up looking better than my 15" MacBook Pro, but it's not a priority.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?

Doesn't matter.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

Prefer Fry's & BestBuy in-store items. (I.e., major brands like Asus, HP or Dell.) I'll consider mail-order suggestions, but only if they're substantially better.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?

Doesn't matter. Sturdy would be nice but I'll probably sell it if I get a more stable living situation where I can have a desktop.

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

Doesn't matter. BluRay would be nice.

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.

Prefer brands available at BestBuy or Fry's, just because I prefer to walk into a store TODAY and buy something. I could be talked out of this but I feel like gaming this weekend and my MacBook has been having some issues when I boot into Windows & push the GPU too hard. (I think I may have overheated it, oh well.)

13. What country do you live in?

USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

Another reason I skew toward a good brand is that it will be easier to resell in a few months if I decide to just get a desktop.

 

[Bacterius]

Sorry I don't have the time to make any suggestion right now (gotta go) but I'm just reacting to this:

Another reason I skew toward a good brand is that it will be easier to resell in a few months if I decide to just get a desktop.

This is not really true - bad brands are still in the market for a reason, everyone knows what HP is yet it's a crappy brand, and not quite so many people know about Sager for example which is a good brand specialized in gaming laptops. In fact, bad brands tend to sell stuff cheaper, so more people buy it, and when it fails two months later they just buy from the same brand because it's cheaper, and so it becomes more expensive. Thus bad brands are well-known, so overall a bad branded-laptop is easier to sell than a good-branded one (does that word even exist)? Anyway, I'm just rambling.

Just a request for more information, do you mind Newegg laptops? Might come back later if I get the time.

 

[sarah_g]

Thanks for looking at my post even if no recommendations.

I've seen other threads around here saying what I think you're getting at: the big, well-known brands are not really the best for quality. I am not an expert with hardware, so I'm happy to believe this.

What I was trying (but failing) to say here is I'm leaning toward a well-known brand, like the ASUS I mentioned. To your example, I think I would have an easier time selling an HP than some higher-quality but lesser-known brand. The plan is really to use it for gaming for a bit then dump it. (And I don't need top-of-the-line graphics. I'm more in a semi-casual category, as you can probably glean from my game list.)

My thinking right now is that I'll probably end up getting the ASUS I linked, except the slightly more expensive BluRay variant that has 1080p resolution. (I just discovered that the one I linked is actually only 1600x900, which kinda defeats the point of a 19" display in my mind.)

I would consider ordering something if there's a compelling reason. Just as I'd go with a not-well-known brand if there's a good reason. If I can get mail order some laptop for the same price that's 5–10% better but people won't know the brand, I'd rather just get a popular brand from Best Buy. If it's going to be twice as good, that's a different story.

Thanks again,
Sarah