Which laptop should I get? [Are they any decent gaming laptop?]

[velocityx3]

1. What is your budget?
$400-$750

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15-17"

3. What screen resolution do you want?
I guess I'm fine with any... I just need it to be HD quality!

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Well, er, I'm fine with either as long as the other requirements are near met.

5. How much battery life do you need?
I'm fine with at least 3-4 hours.

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, high... Sims 3 & expansion packs. You don't know how demanding it can get! I might also desire to create high quality machinimas.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Yes, photo/video editing. Photoshop CS5, Sony Vegas 9, etc. Also the typical everyday stuff.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
At least 500GB.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
http/www.newegg.com/
http/www.amazon.com/
http/www.bestbuy.com/ (please last resort...)

I'm fine with any website as long as there's proof that it's reliable with ratings and customer feedback.

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

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
The typical DVD ROM/Writer drive without any Blueray option.

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 - Asus, Acer, Toshiba, Lenovo, er anything besides HP really. Why not HP? Well their customer service is crap. I choose to never to deal with them again on the face of earth.

13. What country do you live in?
USA.

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
My main focus is on the graphics card. I'm willing to sacrifice any other areas for a well high-end graphics card or at least a fast middle-class one. I have already selected two laptops that I'm sort of interested in, I'd appreciate some input into which one to get since I'm not that tech savvy. And I'd also appreciate links to any other laptops out there that offer much better for the price!
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246327
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246328

 

[WR2]

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, high... Sims 3 & expansion packs. You don't know how demanding it can get! I might also desire to create high quality machinimas.

We're OK with you telling us exactly how demanding it is.
What do you need in the way of CPU/GPU?

 

[WR2]

One option for you to consider:
Acer Aspire AS7750G 17" notebook ~$550 after rebateCore i5-2450M 2.5GHz (turbo 3.1Ghz) CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, 17.3" 1600x900 LCD w/AMD Radeon HD 7670M graphics.


I couldn't find an actual Sims3 benchmark result for HD 7670. But I did find one for StarCraft II that shows relative performance of the HD 7670M and HD 6650.

I'm my understanding that Sim3 gets CPU limited before it gets GPU limited?
That often true of the RPG/MMORG and SIM type games.

Any word on how many CPU cores SIMS3 makes use of?

 

[WR2]

Lenovo is having a sale just now:
Lenovo IdeaPad Y570 15.6" notebook $700
Core i5-2450M 2.50GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB 7200rpm HDD, 15.6" 1366x768 LCD w/ GT 555M graphics.
This model of GT 555M is the 96 core version performs more like a slightly overclocked GT 550M. It's the best performing GPU of any mentioned so far.

 

[velocityx3]

Lenovo is having a sale just now:
Lenovo IdeaPad Y570 15.6" notebook $700
Core i5-2450M 2.50GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB 7200rpm HDD, 15.6" 1366x768 LCD w/ GT 555M graphics.
This model of GT 555M is the 96 core version performs more like a slightly overclocked GT 550M. It's the best performing GPU of any mentioned so far.

http://i.imgur.com/y3uZx.jpg

First of all I want to thank you for taking the time to post on my thread. I really like the specs on this laptop with the price, I'd just need to upgrade the memory. The sad part is I won't be buying a laptop anytime this week so I'll be missing the incredible sale for it... I was mostly looking for a laptop that I can count on the price not to increase for a while until I get my old laptop sold. I'll still keep my out for this though.
As for your question about which CPU/GPU, at least a Core i5. And if you want to know how demanding the game is, I think this link might help you a bit. The graphics cards are all for the desktop so if you're good at comparing their power with laptop ones then that's great. As you can tell some of the expansion packs are more demanding than others which is why I need a pretty top notch graphics card. I'd be more satisfied with the GT 555M than the AMD Radeon HD 7670M.

 

[WR2]

GT 555M laptop graphics card is roughly equal to the desktop Radeon HD 5670.
So any GT 555M / GT 635M or better is a good target GPU.

It's the nature of deals that they're limited somehow. After all, those companies want to take as much of your money as possible. The sales and deals aren't just for your benefit. The good news is that deals show up on a pretty regular basis.

 

[US_Ranger]

In all honesty, is it even worth it to buy a laptop right now with the new batches coming out within a month or so? I'm also in the same boat as OP here with price range but I'm wondering if it's better to hold off or not.

 

[WR2]

If you don't have a burning need to get one now -
it's worth waiting two weeks and change for more info on the Intel Ivy Bridge models. And about 3 weeks extra for the AMD Trinity models

 

[WR2]

You can get glimpses of some of the new models here and there: Lenovo Z480 and Z580

 

[WR2]

Also the Lenovo Y480 (spec sheet)

With GeForce GT 650M graphics

 

[US_Ranger]

Thanks for the links. 99% of me says to wait for the new laptops to come out but I'm also leaving for the middle east very soon and need something over there. Maybe I'll find a 300-400 dollar place holder that I can pass on once the new ones come out.

 

[WR2]

How soon is 'very soon'?

 

[US_Ranger]

In the next week. =/

 

[WR2]

You need something like a quick ship model or shop on a website like NewEgg that can get it out the door right away. I'll look around.

 

[WR2]

A couple options that fall in that price range
The Acer 'Netbooks are very low performance AMD C-60 APU models. They're OK for very limited stuff like Email, 'Net surfing, Skype, etc.
lenovo G575 and it's AMD E-450 APU is a step up in performance but still about halfway between 'Netbook performance and standard notebook performance.
The Samsung notebook is a refurb but it's performance is more what you'd expect from a standard laptop.

 

[WR2]

I think you probably want to start your own topic and see what other opinions / options you can get.

 

[US_Ranger]

I might not need to now. That refurb one looks pretty solid, assuming it's in good shape. I'll add it to my cart and think about it tomorrow while browsing some more in here. It's Sunday so I'll have a day before they ship it anyway.

Judging by your post history, hopefully Toms Hardware is paying you for the help you provide here. Thanks.

 

[WR2]

From TigerDirect @ $60 more than the refurb Samsung:
Samsung NP305E5A-A03US $430
AMD Quad-Core A6-3420M 1.5GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, 15.6" 1366x768 LCD w/ Radeon HD 6520G graphics.
$60 for a full year warranty and no concerns about why the refurb unit was returned in the first place.

 

[velocityx3]

I keep hearing about this Intel Ivy Bridge thing a lot, does someone mind giving me a brief summary of what's going to be so amazing about it?

 

[WR2]

Just a week left before the full details and reviews start showing up: Intel Accelerates Launch of Ivy Bridge by Almost 1 Week

Ivy Bridge Mobile Lineup Overview