Would I be able to game using the HP Pavilion Dv7?(see link)

[fincobb]

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157726
The top of my price range is around $600 and I just want to be able to do some light gaming, on top of school work. If you know of a better laptop within my price range, tell me!

 

[jaguarskx]

I would much rather get the following new 15.6" Acer Aspire V3-551G-8454 laptop ($490) which has a dedicated Radeon HD 7670M for better gaming performance. The downside is the resolution is only 1366x768. The 1.9GHz AMD Trinity APU should be fine to keep up with the graphics card. It's also a lot lighter than the 8lbs+ 17.3" HP laptop you linked to; so it is easier to carry around.

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215663


If you really want a 17.3" laptop, then consider the HP Pavilion G7-2220US for $510 after rebate. It's less than 7lbs. The integrated Radeon HD 7520G is not nearly as powerful as the above dedicated Radeon HD 7670M graphics card, but it is more powerful than the old Radeon HD 5470 in the HP laptop you linked to. It has a 1600x900 resolution screen, but I recommend playing games at 1366x768 resolution.

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834256348

 

[rtlarson3]

With that price range, build a tower. Seriously. You will never get a laptop to play games worth a damn at that price. I actually have the DV7-6B75NR that has a i7-2670QM 8GB RAM and a RADEON 6770M 2GB DDR5 and it can actually play every game I’ve thrown at it @1080 on high (but not ultra), but this machine is about $1,300. I had the one you referenced first and it is a TOTAL POS, don’t buy it. I'm sorry but it is a LOT slower than this one.

I say you take that $600 and build a tower, which also will be upgradeable.

Also the DV7's run hotter than the sun.. Mine runs at 95C while on a cooler on a table when playing games. The max is 102C. The turbo boost runs at 2.5GHz at that temp instead of the 3.1GHz max.

And i've also had a fair amount of issues with mine (BSOD's often, Wouldn't boot in to windows, had to restore, happened twice) I wouldn't recommend them. They're impressive and powerful but they put too much power in these laptops without addressing cooling i think that is the root of the problems.

 

[fincobb]

Decided to go with the Acer Aspire, Thanks for the help

 

[fincobb]

Best answer selected by fincobb.