Portable Gaming Laptop

William_White

Honorable
Jul 2, 2012
30
0
10,580
Max screen size 14"/ Prefered screen size 13" NOT FHD I would rather have higher frames rates then higher resolution as it is already a higher DPI then most desktop monitors.

Must have Quad Core processor, AMD or Intel doesn't matter.
Games: MW Online
Budget: no more then $1300
Must be be able to buy extended batteries.
 
I'm pretty sure 14" and below (usually 13.3" then 15.6" though) laptops are NOT gaming laptops. The small size limits fitting in a high-end GPU.

Small laptops (ultrabooks) are optimized at portability NOT gaming.

You really should be looking at 15.6" and get an HP/Asus/Lenovo system with Windows 7/8 and an Optimus GTX650M or similar GPU.
 
Resolution vs Frame rate:
FYI, this is irrelevent. You can CHANGE the resolution in a game. For example, if your screen is 1920x1080 you can choose 1920x1080, or 1600x900, or 1360x768. I have a 2560x1440 27" monitor but I usually use 1920x1080 because of the huge performance hit at the highest resolution (and the quality looks basically identical).

*I'd be happy to help you out more but I'm not sure a $1300, 13.3" laptop designed for "GAMING" even exists. If it does you would be getting FAR, FAR less performance than a 15.6" because the 13.3" laptops cost a LOT MORE due to the cutting edge research needed to make the smaller parts.
 

William_White

Honorable
Jul 2, 2012
30
0
10,580


I found this-
http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-m14x-r2/pd.aspx

and this-
http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_info&model_name=NP6110

I was wondering if there was any other ones, preferably in between the 2 in size with looks that don't scream steal me.


I know you can change the resolution in the game; I'm not that stupid, and that works for CRT monitors well because of the technology they use, but with LCD and LED monitors it doesn't, when you send a lower resolution to an LCD it gets fuzzy, try sending a 720p tv signal to your 1080p HDtv it gets fuzzy and less defined.


Does anyone know if anybody makes 12 or 16 cell battery packs for the sager (I know 12 cell batery packs exist as I am currently using one on my netbook that is about the same size as the sager), the Mx14 design is prohibitive to upgrading batteries
 



Hi :)

Wow nice attitude... I was about to answer until I saw your attitude problem....

All the best Brett :)
 

William_White

Honorable
Jul 2, 2012
30
0
10,580
razers cost almost 2k and you only get a 555m, a second gen i7, it is also 17.3" and it's only plus is its 256gb ssd and its offset touch pad that might actually be comfortable to use. Worse value for money then the alienware I posted. If project fiona isn't outragously priced, I might pick one up, but I think I'll stick to razer for peripherals only for the time being.
 

KernalPanic

Honorable
Oct 29, 2012
51
0
10,610
Yah skip Razr until they can figure out how to not massively overprice.

The two you list are well-reviewed... the clevo is actually an 11-inch. it works just fine, it just has some heat issues. (that's a LOT of power for an 11-inch laptop!) A reminder that the 650m in this one has DDR3 instead of GDDR5 so its about 10-15% slower than the 650ms with GDDR5.

The alienware is fairly bulky and heavy for a 14" laptop... at 6.45lbs there are 15" laptops that are barely heavier with MUCH more powerful GPUs in them in your price range. The alienware does just fine, it just seems an odd mix. The Alienware has the typical alienware look going for it. This can be either good or bad depending on your viewpoint. It does cool the 650m it has fairly well... then again given its weight and bulk, you'd expect that.

Previous posters are trying to tell you that 14" and lighter laptops are usually horrendously nerfed in terms of gaming. Given you price range, you could afford much MUCH better if you slightly modified your definition of "portable".

A 15" 9150 or 9130 Sager with a 670mx/i7 3630qm/win7 home prem is only 0.38 lbs heavier and comes out at 1308.53 with their holiday special. If you don't need an OS, you might be able to afford a 675mx!
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np9150-clevo-p150em-p-4341.html?wconfigure=yes
 

William_White

Honorable
Jul 2, 2012
30
0
10,580
How do those 670s @ 1080p compare to the 650s @ 768p and how does the power consumption compare. The Np6110 has the battery at the back that means extended batteries could easilly be added. Does anybody know if anyone makes any of them for it.
 

airanp

Honorable
Aug 8, 2012
142
0
10,660
Lenovo Y480, 14", i7 quad, GDDR5 GT 650m and usually running on a deal for around $750 ish. Right now the win 8 model is on sale, and it's looking like the win 7 model will be on sale for black friday. There is also the Y580, but it's $100 more, 15.6" but houses a GTX 660m
 

KernalPanic

Honorable
Oct 29, 2012
51
0
10,610



The 660m and 650m are overclockable... but so are all of them if you want to go down that road.
(Overclocking a laptop requires a lot of reading, tweaking time and attention to heat monitoring if you want to mitigate the dangers it can bring. For the most part it is entirely unrecommended for neophytes.)

Most of the time the 660m and 650m are built into laptops that are less optimal to overclocking.
Note, the more mobile a laptop becomes, the less room it has for cooling.

Furthurmore, the average 660m and 650m will never reach stock 670mx speeds.
The 670mx is actually slightly faster than the 675m in DX11 titles, and thus is roughly 50% faster than a 660m assuming everyone is at stock.
Furthurmore, the 670mx will be built into a laptop MUCH more suited to overclocking.

I know for certain a 675m (the 670mx is actually slightly faster) games at 1080p without much trouble. (There's an MSI GT70 with a 675m on a desk feet from me right now.) Sometimes you have to turn down to "high" instead of "ultra" for higher-end games. Every so often you run into games which require a turn-down to Medium.

The 650m does fairly well at 720p, but also has to turn down settings for certain titles. I easily prefer high at 1080p to ultra at 720p.


Since you seem to have it narrowed down...

The Sager 11" is fairly amazing for its size... it just that an 11" laptop is making sacrifices most people really don't need.
The 11" screen is fairly small... and is not particularly high quality even for most 720p screens. You lose the optical drive, and plugging multiple things in is a bit of a pain due to just how portable the laptop is. That being said, the little thing fits almost anywhere. A former co-worker told me his gets particularly hot while gaming. One really nice aspect is that most places will build it with the options you want.

The Lenovo Y480 looks like a fair balance of speed, price, and portability. At 4.85 lbs it is as light as anyone would really need it. It has reasonable stats, and the only real downside is the 5400rpm drive and the fact that Lenovo offers no options to swap it out. The screen gets mediocre reviews even among 720p screens. That being said, the Y480 comes out at a lower price point and an SSD addition and maybe external USB laptop HDD adapter would probaby easily fit in your budget, and you don't seem worried about the screen as much. I haven't seen on in person, but most of the reviews on the Lenovo units say they are well made overall.

You might also consider the Lenovo Y400... it has a 655m (I'd guess the 650m with SLI capabilities) and the laptop comes with a "ultrabay" which supposedly allows SLI 655s. (that option may or not be available yet as there are no listings of SLI Y400s.) It seems simply a Windows 8 refresh (over the Y480) with slightly newer hardware, but might be worth investigating.
 

KernalPanic

Honorable
Oct 29, 2012
51
0
10,610
The 670mx is Kepler. It is the same chip as the desktop 660, but underclocked and with slower GDDR5.
It's overclocking capabilities are not yet fully known as it is too new.
(Stock 3dmark11 = 3800 or so)

The concept that the 650m and 660m are "much better" overclockers than the Fermi 670m and 675m is also false.

The 660m hits about 2600P 3dmark11 stock and around 3400P 3dmark11 at max overclocks (beyond desktop clocks, and requiring a number of tricks to bypass nvidia artificial limits). 3400/2600 = 31% performance increase. This level of OC is also usually reserved for 15" laptops like the ASUS and Lenovo Y580.

The 670m hits about 3200P 3dmark11 stock and around 4200P 3dmark11 at max overclocks. 4200/3200 = 31% performance increase.

I think it pretty obvious the overclocking advantage is just in your head. Sure, one particular GPU might do better than another, but overall it simply isn't true.

Also, this OP was looking at more portable versions... Overclocking in the most portable laptops is even less recommended than overclocking laptops in general which is already not recommended.
 

William_White

Honorable
Jul 2, 2012
30
0
10,580
I am starting to consider the 15". how do these 2 compare http://www.xoticpc.com/forcemsi-16f3-36025-675m-msi-gt60-barebones-p-4883.html, http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gx60-1ac021us-preorder-p-5009.html . I will not be overclocking any of them. Laptops already run hot and in my mind overclocking them is stupid.

edit: can the 7970m or 675m actually support 3 screens while gaming, even 720p screens (equivalent of 2 1080p screens)