Semi-gaming laptop advice

[enimatek]

1. What is your budget?

Up to 800 pounds / 1000euros


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

17inch screen


3. What screen resolution do you want?

Doesnt matter


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

Desktop replacement. I travel a little but dont move my laptop often.


5. How much battery life do you need?

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)?

Yes I would, a graphic card of medium range would be ideal.


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

Nothing else fancy.


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

The bare minimum will do fine because I have 2 external hard disks.


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

I have browsed a lot of sites lately and this one is the cheapest. Its from Cyprus and they ship from the US. To my surprise, its even cheaper than England.
http/www.ipelagos.com/cat-notebooks.cfm


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

For about 3 years. I tend to be careful with maintaining things


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

Not important.


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 dont have much experience, just recommendations from some friends which I am not even sure if true. I was told to try and pick Asus or MSI. Personally I dont mind as long as it performs. I only ever had an HP pavillion 6700 and the main problem with that was overheating so I would really prefer a laptop that runs at cooler temperatures.


13. What country do you live in?

Cyprus, BUT, I am in England for studies at the moment and I will be finished in one month so if I can get a better deal from England then I will surely order it before I go back to Cyprus.


14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

I think this is pretty much it. About the warranty, I am willing to risk buying something from abroad and having less support. I will update if I can think of any information I forgot to give. Thanks a lot for your time.

 

[enimatek]

Ops I just realised the meaning of graphic card question. I am after one that will easily run games like latest Call of Duty on high graphics.

 

[enimatek]

What do you think of this one? See anything dodgy?: http/www.ipelagos.com/pd-gatewayacer-retail-aspire-173-8g-750gb-i72630qm.cfm

This seems better but it will charge me +200euros to deliver it from the US: http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5170-clevo-w170hn-p-3000.html

Thanks.

 

[dabspalalabs]

try to take a look at this.

http/www.bestgaminglaptop.net/articles-guides/top-10-gaming-laptops/

 

[AntiZig]

The acer you linked looks very nice, I'd say a solid choice for you.
The xoticpc version has a better graphics card, but smaller HDD and as you said will cost you more to ship it.

I'd consider if you can find an acer with similar specs as the one you posted but a slightly better graphics card.

 

[enimatek]

I am considering one of these two, could anyone give me some quick feedback on Toshiba vs Asus? Toshiba has a better graphic card from these two but asus seems more of a powerhouse. Thanks

http/www.ipelagos.com/pd-toshiba-qosmio-x505-q8100-184-notebook---core-i5-i5-2410m-230-ghz---black-1920-x-1080-hd-1080-display---4-gb-ram---500-gb-hdd--nvidia-geforce-gtx-460m.cfm

http/www.ipelagos.com/pd-asus-notebooks-n73sva1-173-notebook.cfm

 

[cbrunnem]

the toshiba has a stronger gpu by a large margin but has a weaker cpu. it wont hurt gaming performance i wouldnt think but if you do more than gaming then you might consider a quad core.

 

[enimatek]

I just noticed that both of these laptops contain the defective intel Sandy Bridge Chipset that was announced a few weeks ago. Is this something to worry about or it will be ok to order? (http/www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-s-defective-Sandy-Bridge-Chipsets-Status-Report.45596.0.html)

I also consider ram important, this website gives me no options to upgrade, the first has 4gb and the second 6gb ram, would it be easy to increase their ram after i buy it without any chance of complications? I am asking because I have never customized laptops before.

Thanks again.

 

[korvitz]

The Sandy Bridge recall goes in fact back to the beginning of the year. I think, and you have to double check on that, the ones with M or QM at the end are the new ones. Both these laptops seem to be the new releases. I went over their inventory and their inventory seems to be updated. But you can ask them directly http/www.ipelagos.com/contact_us.cfm

Also I noticed that they have another Asus same price but bigger and faster drive (7200RPM). Same price:

http/www.ipelagos.com/pd-asus-notebooks-n53sva2-156-notebook-silve.cfm

Why same price?? Probably the first one is being phased out?

 

[enimatek]

OK will do.

The one you linked has 15inch screen.

 

[korvitz]

Got ya. Wasn't looking at the screen size.

I would personally go with the Qosmio. Way better GPU, faster HD and it definitely looks better. More gamish. I would not be concerned about the processor power you are giving up. But that's me. Plus Toshiba's warranty, from personal experience, is way better. GLOBAL and hassle free.

 

[enimatek]

Great, I'll probably order it tomorrow, thanks everyone

 

[Shpati]

ASUS or Toshiba. Get a Quad Core. Make sure the graphics card is a good one, as most laptops come with graphics cards that are soldered onto the motherboard, which means you will never be able to upgrade that graphics card. Same can go for the CPU. You can probably upgrade the RAM to more RAM, and replace the HDD with a SSD later on.

Take the CPU and graphics card into consideration the most in my opinion. You can probably find a good laptop with your money you want to spend and considering you do not care about battery life, it does not matter if you have a power hungry cpu or graphics card which is good.