[Spiderjericho]

I've seen the Alienware a few times at Best Buy. It's a decent little machine for the price.

I'm disappointed that Acer never released the Acer Aspire 3820TG in the US. It's a real beast with the I3-I7 processor and 5650 GPU. If anyone is out of the US, it can be purchased in Europe, Asia and Canada for a real decent price.

I agree with the 14" choices. It's either the Lenovo Y460, Acer Aspire 4820TG or Envy 14.

The Aspire 4820TG can be had for $799 on Amazon in the U.S.:

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-TimelineX...5970248&sr=8-4

Great price, but if you read the reviews, there have been complaints of a crappy keyboard, poor build quality, flex, heat, poor viewing angles and no bluetooth but no one can't deny the performance that comes in this cheap package. It's packing more power than the Alienware for, several dollars less. Also, the battery life is supposed to be pretty decent. Obviously running on the 5650 is not going to get you the 8-11 hours of life.

Then we have the HP Envy 14 Beats edition. This one is $1,150 at HP Direct (you can get a decent config on Amazon through Microsoft or other third parties, be careful of taxes and shipping):

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...NVY14be_series

I have to say this looks to be my favorite, since it features Beats technology, an aluminum frame, a 14.5" screen. The cons are it's more expensive, heavier, the 5650 is underclocked when compared to the Lenovo and Acer, the touchpad has gotten complaints (unless you install customized drivers) and HP is no longer offering the Radiance screens (the high-def, LED screens that came with the first wave of Envy 14s).

And lastly, we have the Lenovo Y460 for $999 (plus tax and shipping, depending on where you're at):

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/config.workflow:ConfigureMtmAsItem?mtm-item=:000000F3:00002BE9:&cid=us|cse|df|amazon|063346U&

This is the in between the Acer and HP. It has the 5650, I5 processor, etc. The only cons are, without a deal, it costs more than $1,000, the battery life is worse than the Acer, no aluminum frame, alright LCD, Beats and okay wireless radio.

I wanted a replacement for my several-year old HP 13" and ended up getting the Lenovo for below $1,000 (It cost $850 but the Cali taxes got me).

I wanted a cheaper replacement, decent build quality and good performance. But there's nothing wrong in going for the tax-less, cheap shipping and cheaper Acer. A lot of positive reviews on notebookreview.

But if you want greater power (a 5650 has okay performance when married with the 1366 resolution but 1920...no), get one of the Clevo/alienware/MSIs:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152207

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152205

A coworker of mine just got one of the 15" Clevos with I7 and mobility 5870 and is happy with the performance for FFXIV.

[scottnak]

THanks for all the help Spiderjericho and keeblerdrow!

I believe I will be going for the MSI GX640-260... unless you have any new suggestions now that I may be leaning towards this, heh.

To Spiderjericho, Is there any reason why you provided a newegg link over an amazon link (which I believe is the same product: http://www.amazon.com/MSI-GX640-260-...&n=541966&s=pc )

^ Yeah, I'm clueless, It's probably stupid question. Hah.

Thanks again.

[GillianSeed79]

Edit: accidentally posted too soon.

[GillianSeed79]

Sorry, anyway I just picked up an Asus Laptop (the one with the bamboo finish). Anyway, below is copy and pasted from Best Buy. My question is this decent enough to run current day games? I didn't buy it for gaming. I really needed to upgrade from my nine-year-old desktop, but I it would be nice to be able to try some PC gaming for once.



What's Included

* Asus Laptop / Intel Core i5 Processor / 14" Display / 4GB Memory / 640GB Hard Drive
* 8-cell lithium-ion battery
* 65W AC power adapter
* Software: Adobe Reader 9
* Owner's manual

Product Features

* Intel® Core™ i5-450M mobile processor
Features a 1066MHz frontside bus, 3MB L2 cache and 2.4GHz processor speed with Turbo Boost up to 2.66GHz.
* Intel® Core™ i5 processor
Features smart 4-way processing performance with a speed boost.
* Intel® Turbo Boost Technology
Delivers extra performance when you need it and increased energy efficiency when you don't.
* 4GB DDR3 memory
For multitasking power.
* Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with double-layer support
Records up to 8.5GB of data or 4 hours of video using compatible DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media.
* 14" LED-backlit high-definition widescreen display
Delivers vivid detail and clarity.
* Intel® Wireless Display
Wirelessly transmits streamed or downloaded movies, TV shows, music, photos and more from your laptop, network or the Internet to your TV (NETGEAR Push2TV adapter required, not included).
* 640GB Serial ATA hard drive (5400 rpm)
Offers spacious storage and fast read/write times.
* Intel® UMA graphics
For intense detail. Built-in Altec Lansing stereo speakers for lush audio. HDMI output for flexible connectivity options.
* Built-in 0.3MP webcam
Makes it easy to video chat with family and friends.
* Facial recognition technology
Protects sensitive information.
* 5-in-1 media reader
Supports Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, MultiMediaCard Plus, Memory Stick and xD-Picture Card formats.
* 1 USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0 ports
For fast digital video, audio and data transfer.
* Built-in wireless LAN (802.11b/g/n)
Connect to the Internet without wires.
* Built-in 10/100/1000 Fast Ethernet LAN
With RJ-45 connector for a wired Web connection.
* Weighs 5 lbs. and measures just 1.3" thin
For portable power. Chiclet-style keyboard allows for comfortable typing.
* Extended battery life
Of up to 7 hours and 10 minutes to give you more time away from an outlet.
* Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit operating system preinstalled
Provides a stable platform for word processing, Web navigation, gaming, media storage and more.

[keeblerdrow]

No.



edit: Sorry, you may want something more specific.

* Intel® UMA graphics

This is what's holding you back. You may be able to barely run some modern games, but that integrated graphics card is severely lacking. Try Torchlight, though. That'll run on anything. Modern Warfare/FFXIV/Starcraft II/WoW/Bad Company II? I wouldn't waste your money.

[peakish]

I've had a serious problem with my Lenovo Thinkpad Edge laptop (for anyone interested in the model, it's a static noise in the headphone jack on the 13" 1.6GHz AMD model, apparently many more than me have noticed it). Lenovo haven't been able to fix it after four tries and so I'll probably have to get a refund for it and look for a new laptop.

- 13" is what I'm mainly after, I want something really portable. Not netbook-portable though. 12" could be fine as well.
- $500-800 price range.
- Usage: Surfing, typing and compiling LaTeX, watching some videos. Gaming capabilites are not needed really, I'll maybe play some GOG game like Master of Orion or something. It's a work/studying computer.
- I want a good keyboard. The Edge that I have has a lovely keyboard, it's great to type on so I'm pissed that I may not want to buy another of these models, or pay the price jump to a real Thinkpad. I'll try to check any suggestions out in stores.
- Trackpoint / Clit mouse is a big plus, but not necessary (is it HP that uses those as well as Lenovo?)

Thanks for any suggestions (even if it's not a gaming laptop which the thread is for)!

[Rubenov]

I'm going on deployment for a few months and don't want to miss some Black Ops / Crysis 2 goodness... so I'm on the market for a powerful gaming laptop. I have my eye on the Asus Republic of Gamers below:

http://www.powernotebooks.com/configure.php?special=857

Thoughts?

[keeblerdrow]

It's heavy and a tank. It also looks pretty terrible in person, too. There's better laptops you can get on that site that will perform equally or better, look much nice, be lighter and perhaps have similar build quality. On that same site, look at Clevo/Sager notebooks.

http://www.powernotebooks.com/configure.php?special=683

Same site, I like that computer a lot more. I also think that, for now, the Radeon 5870 is a better card than the 460M, even despite having 1GB DDR5.

[Rubenov]

Hmm seems solid, but I'm mostly concerned about some games being better optimized for NVIDIA cards than for ATI's. Crysis was an example of this and, seeing as how Nvidia has invested a lot on Crysis 2 advertising, it could be an issue with Crysis 2 as well. Other than that I have no other concerns (aside from the ability to include a SSD, which the one you showed me has).

[Griffin]

I'm going on deployment for a few months and don't want to miss some Black Ops / Crysis 2 goodness... so I'm on the market for a powerful gaming laptop. I have my eye on the Asus Republic of Gamers below: http://www.powernotebooks.com/configure.php?special=857 Thoughts?

Look for the MSI GT663, quite a good laptop from what i've heard.

[Sora]

Gateway P7908u

Core 2 Duo P8700, GTX260M

Got it a couple months ago, a very nice laptop, well built, excelent GPU.

[keeblerdrow]

Look for the MSI GT663, quite a good laptop from what i've heard.

MSI have build quality issues with the GT66X line. Flex in the keyboard and general chassis. The heat management for the series seems to be quite good, but I've read instances of people getting unusually high GPU temps when under load. I think the entire MSI high end line is dandy for a user that won't have to jostle the thing around, but the impression I get is that these machines are the best for rugged use. I'm not assuming Rubenov will be slamming the thing around, but it's always something to consider.

[K.Jack]

It's heavy and a tank. It also looks pretty terrible in person, too. There's better laptops you can get on that site that will perform equally or better, look much nice, be lighter and perhaps have similar build quality. On that same site, look at Clevo/Sager notebooks. http://www.powernotebooks.com/configure.php?special=683 Same site, I like that computer a lot more. I also think that, for now, the Radeon 5870 is a better card than the 460M, even despite having 1GB DDR5.

This is the best built 17" gaming machine, hands down. I'd take it over the G73 any day.

It's only con is that the battery lasts an hour, but that's negated if you're keeping it near a plug.

The GTX 460M is 5-10% slower than the Mobility 5870, for those wondering.

Check this out, ya'll:



The Mobility 6870 will be based from the 6750, while the Mobility 5870 is based from the 5770.

We're about to see the power of the desktop 5850, in mobile form. This truly may be the turning point.

[CreativeWriter]

Dear All-knowing GAF,

I'm shopping for two laptops--one for the wife and one for me. I'm fairly tech-savvy, but I bow before the collective GAF wisdom. I'd love some help.

She wants:
-light
-14/15 in screen
-good, internal webcam/mic
-sturdy and reliable (her Dell XPS broke at the hinge/screen, so the hinges should probably not be on the outside. She puts the thing in her backpack and slings it around)
-multitasking (probably 4GB RAM min)
-sub $800, I imagine
-to be able to buy one at Best Buy/Sam's... today/tomorrow (sigh).

She'll be using hers for school (Excel), internet, and itunes. No games other than communications programs like Rosetta Stone. No multimedia other than Skype.

I want:
-heavy :). The farthest the laptop will move will be from our footrest to my lap.
-a PC replacement
-don't care about battery life
-don't care about HDD size.
-16/17/18 in. screen, size not a priority
-i7 + dedicated GPU
-some kind of internal cooling would be wonderful, but I have no idea if that's feasible in my price range
-6GB RAM min (DDR3 a plus)
-great keyboard, touchpad. I'll be writing novels on this thing, so it better be comfortable.
-to play Civ 5, Starcraft 2, and other recent, non-FPS games.
-HDMI-out would be nice
-$1,200

I'll be using mine for Word, gaming, net, and maybe recording music.

Thanks for the help/suggestions guys! Now I'll go read back through the thread a bit...

[K.Jack]

I want: -heavy :). The farthest the laptop will move will be from our footrest to my lap. -a PC replacement -don't care about battery life -don't care about HDD size. -16/17/18 in. screen, size not a priority -i7 + dedicated GPU -some kind of internal cooling would be wonderful, but I have no idea if that's feasible in my price range -6GB RAM min (DDR3 a plus) -great keyboard, touchpad. I'll be writing novels on this thing, so it better be comfortable. -to play Civ 5, Starcraft 2, and other recent, non-FPS games. -HDMI-out would be nice -$1,200 I'll be using mine for Word, gaming, net, and maybe recording music. Thanks for the help/suggestions guys! Now I'll go read back through the thread a bit...

Any old thing will do for your wife. A Sony VAIO looks solid.

The main hang up for your request is finding an i7 + 6GB + decent GPU, all for $1.2k; this Best Buy Asus G73 is $1.4k, but it fits all of your requisites. It's really the best fit, given your list.

[CreativeWriter]

Any old thing will do for your wife. A Sony VAIO looks solid. The main hang up for your request is finding an i7 + 6GB + decent GPU, all for $1.2k; this Best Buy Asus G73 is $1.4k, but it fits all of your requisites. It's really the best fit, given your list.

Hey, thanks for the recommendation! $1,400 isn't too bad. Just have to prepare my wife for the sticker shock. Her crappy Dell XPS cost $1,200 and broke within a year, so I might be able to convince her by comparing specs.

Am I better off going for an i5 + nicer GPU? Is there much gaming benefit for the i7?

[mug]

I want: -heavy :). The farthest the laptop will move will be from our footrest to my lap. -a PC replacement -don't care about battery life -don't care about HDD size. -16/17/18 in. screen, size not a priority -i7 + dedicated GPU -some kind of internal cooling would be wonderful, but I have no idea if that's feasible in my price range -6GB RAM min (DDR3 a plus) -great keyboard, touchpad. I'll be writing novels on this thing, so it better be comfortable. -to play Civ 5, Starcraft 2, and other recent, non-FPS games. -HDMI-out would be nice -$1,200

Spend a little more and go hardcore with the ASUS G Series - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220695

[CreativeWriter]

Spend a little more and go hardcore with the ASUS G Series - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220695

Nice. I'll start looking around for G Series deals, since that's two suggestions in a row for that brand/model...

[K.Jack]

Am I better off going for an i5 + nicer GPU? Is there much gaming benefit for the i7?

There's really no good reason to go with a dual core CPU anymore, especially ones clocked that low.

i7 or bust.

[B-Genius]

I recently upgraded my Dell XPS laptop to... a Dell Studio XPS. It's ok, go ahead and hate me :lol

The thing is, the old lappy had not steered me wrong in 4 years. I am not too tech-savvy, and not hell-bent on the ultimate gaming rig. It was simply about time for an upgrade.

I'm a sucker for all the custom design/lightweight stuff as well, so I obviously spent more money than I needed to.
But performance-wise, I couldn't be happier. It runs everything I play regularly (mostly Source engine based: L4D2, Hl2 stuff, etc.) on high settings at consistent speeds. Plus it gave me a couple of nice surprises by making SC2 look great on the reasonably sized screen, and runs much better than my old system.

Basically, this model is recommended for anyone who enjoys gaming on the go, but fancies something a little more 'down to earth'.

[K.Jack]

Just hope you don't have a machine which experiences the throttling issues, which are plaguing many XPS16 users.

[domlolz]

anyone able to recommend be a decent-ish machine for £500 to £650 (r around that) that could handle some gaming, like Team Fortress 2 at a decent rate and other source based games and whatever else. Any recommendations? Thanks. I can't really think of any other specific games I play regularly. Oh and Portal 2!

[Jugendstil]

So I go back and forth between wanting a desktop and laptop. I was leaning towards building a desktop just because I'd never done it before and felt it would be an enjoyable project, but I haven't had a desktop in years and I am not that into how much space a desktop potentially requires.

Anyway, I just saw this on newegg.com and was sort of tempted:

http://shar.es/0yUWX

The size is insane, but I wouldn't be moving it much (but like the option of it being semi-portable as needed.) What you guys think of Toshiba laptops? I've never owned one but feel like I've heard they are decent enough. My boyfriend has one and really likes and has never had issues with his.

[Donos]

anyone able to recommend be a decent-ish machine for £500 to £650 (r around that) that could handle some gaming, like Team Fortress 2 at a decent rate and other source based games and whatever else. Any recommendations? Thanks. I can't really think of any other specific games I play regularly. Oh and Portal 2!

Bought a Toshiba Satellite L650 M13 for 660€ (580 £)

Intel Core i5-430M
4GB Ram
ATI Radeon HD 5650 with 1024 MB

and it plays Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Team Fortress 2 fine. Source Engine games work also well with "older" maschines (had an core2duo t7700 and a ATI HD2600 and played TF2 without problems) Of course not on highest settings with everything to max but with medium-high settings.

If you want budget power then the different L650 / L670 Versions are maybe somehting to consider http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/to...view-49306030/

[Kolgar]

Bought a Toshiba Satellite L650 M13 for 660€ (580 £) Intel Core i5-430M 4GB Ram ATI Radeon HD 5650 with 1024 MB and it plays Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Team Fortress 2 fine. Source Engine games work also well with "older" maschines (had an core2duo t7700 and a ATI HD2600 and played TF2 without problems) Of course not on highest settings with everything to max but with medium-high settings. If you want budget power then the different L650 / L670 Versions are maybe somehting to consider http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/to...view-49306030/

Yeah, I like my Toshiba a lot. The keyboard really sold me, as I write for a living and I find it super-comfortable. But it's just an all-around great little laptop. Maybe not so little at 16.7", but I do like the screen size and frankly it doesn't travel a lot.

So far, it's run everything I've cared to play on it, and that's all I can ask of it.

[K.Jack]

So I go back and forth between wanting a desktop and laptop. I was leaning towards building a desktop just because I'd never done it before and felt it would be an enjoyable project, but I haven't had a desktop in years and I am not that into how much space a desktop potentially requires. Anyway, I just saw this on newegg.com and was sort of tempted: http://shar.es/0yUWX The size is insane, but I wouldn't be moving it much (but like the option of it being semi-portable as needed.) What you guys think of Toshiba laptops? I've never owned one but feel like I've heard they are decent enough. My boyfriend has one and really likes and has never had issues with his.

Your link is broken, but I'll assume you're talking about the 18.4" Qosmio, with GTX 460M or GTS 360M?

My opinion depends on which model you're looking at. The ~$1200 version is pretty decent, as long as the size doesn't matter.

If you're looking at the more expensive models, you might as well go with the Asus G73W.

[domlolz]

Bought a Toshiba Satellite L650 M13 for 660€ (580 £) Intel Core i5-430M 4GB Ram ATI Radeon HD 5650 with 1024 MB and it plays Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Team Fortress 2 fine. Source Engine games work also well with "older" maschines (had an core2duo t7700 and a ATI HD2600 and played TF2 without problems) Of course not on highest settings with everything to max but with medium-high settings. If you want budget power then the different L650 / L670 Versions are maybe somehting to consider http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/to...view-49306030/

Thanks for this. I think I mentioned source based games as a sort of minimum requirements thing, anything more than that is a bonus and I can't really think of any other games I play as regularly. I haven't even bothered to try Bad Company 2 on my pc as I don't have a quad core so I assumed it wasn't worth it but if you can play that on the machine that's great.

So thanks for that, it looks like the ideal sorta machine I'm after.

[domlolz]

I've just been looking around and I can't seem to be able to find your exact machine. But I have found similar ones but they exceed my budget by about ~100 unfortunately. I found one with an i3 clocked at 2.2ghz, 2gb ram and slightly smaller hard drive though. Am I right in thinking the main difference between the dual core i3s and i5s is clock speed and that turbo boost thing?

Adding ram should be relatively easy yeah? (dont have much experience with laptops)

Unless I find anything better that is...

[B-Genius]

Just hope you don't have a machine which experiences the throttling issues, which are plaguing many XPS16 users.

Throttling issues? Is my lappy gonna strangle me?

[Donos]

I've just been looking around and I can't seem to be able to find your exact machine. But I have found similar ones but they exceed my budget by about ~100 unfortunately. I found one with an i3 clocked at 2.2ghz, 2gb ram and slightly smaller hard drive though. Am I right in thinking the main difference between the dual core i3s and i5s is clock speed and that turbo boost thing? Adding ram should be relatively easy yeah? (dont have much experience with laptops) Unless I find anything better that is...

Hmm, you get my L650 even for 640 - 650€ now in germany

http://www.preis.de/produkte/Toshiba...3M/718880.html

yeah it looks like it is a special model for germany

http://skinflint.co.uk/eu/a535397.html

Attention: This product may be intended for the German or Austrian market. Please inform yourself about possible differences (plug, connection value, keyboard layout, etc.)

Holy , i looked around a bit at online UK retailers and the L650 is way to expansive in UK and often has only Integrated graphics. It should have at least a ATI HD 5145. The notebooks with i5 and a ATI HD5650 are all expansive as hell oO. Even i3 with a decent graphic card are expansive.What's happening over there.



adding ram is easy. 5 minutes and you are done. upgraded my old acer from 2 >4 GB. Plug old out and new in. Windows detects it alone.
If you have a external USB Harddrive you don't need more than 320GB. Saves you some bucks.

[domlolz]

Holy , i looked around a bit at online UK retailers and the L650 is way to expansive in UK and often has only Integrated graphics. It should have at least a ATI HD 5145. The notebooks with i5 and a ATI HD5650 are all expansive as hell oO. Even i3 with a decent graphic card are expansive.What's happening over there.

Crappy exchange rates, I guess?
How is the screen on yours? I read one review and whoever it is isn't pleased by the viewing angles of the laptop which is a similar model to yours. What have your experiences been with it?

adding ram is easy. 5 minutes and you are done. upgraded my old acer from 2 >4 GB. Plug old out and new in. Windows detects it alone.

cool, it doesn't really matter with mixing and matching manufacturers then? As long as it's the right speed and type yeah?

and another question, the same person moaning about the screen also mentioned that toshiba doesn't allow you to use the video card drivers direct from ATi, is that true?

[K.Jack]

The Sager 5135 is now the best budget gaming machine, for US buyers.

Available in the UK, at ~770.

Throttling issues? Is my lappy gonna strangle me?

Read.

[Cryptozoologist]

What's the consensus on the 15 inch macbook pro with the 512MB Nvidia 330M? Workable on low settings for games like civ5 or fallout new vegas? gaming isn't my priority for this machine but it'd be nice to have at least a few options.

[K.Jack]

What's the consensus on the 15 inch macbook pro with the 512MB Nvidia 330M? Workable on low settings for games like civ5 or fallout new vegas? gaming isn't my priority for this machine but it'd be nice to have at least a few options.

It will game, yes.

Medium settings at 1280x800. Forget about gaming at 1200p, and you'll be fine.

[blitz64]

Bought a Toshiba Satellite L650 M13 for 660€ (580 £) Intel Core i5-430M 4GB Ram ATI Radeon HD 5650 with 1024 MB and it plays Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Team Fortress 2 fine. Source Engine games work also well with "older" maschines (had an core2duo t7700 and a ATI HD2600 and played TF2 without problems) Of course not on highest settings with everything to max but with medium-high settings. If you want budget power then the different L650 / L670 Versions are maybe somehting to consider http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/to...view-49306030/

I'm looking at a similar laptop from newegg

TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5114 Intel Core i5 460M(2.53GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 NoteBook
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834214044
US $799

I kinda like toshiba alot since i've been using a toshiba gaming laptop for the last 2 years with no issues but it's time to upgrade.

[Donos]

only thing i dislike at the L650 models is that only two usb ports are at the right lower side. My old Acer had three (two at the back and one left).

and yeah Toshiba is kind of uptight with ATI drivers. You have to take their "special" ATI driver from their homepage or you have to take/make a driver mod (dh mobility modder etc.) from a desktop ati driver. (my actual driver for the HD5650 is 8.712.2.1000 from 15.03.2010)

display is glossy, yeah not great but i didn't care.apart from that i have no complains. just wanted the most power for the least money. i was suprised how flat and light it was compared to my 2 year old Acer Travelmate 5720G.

Ram: 667 MHZ PC2 5300 is suitable for most "old" Notebooks.
Like K.Jack said you need DDR3 1066 MHz bars for the L650 and other new Notebooks.

You can upgrade the Toshiba L650s up to 8GB RAm (2x4GB). That's great but 4GB bars are still a little bit pricey.

[K.Jack]

Modern notebooks require DDR3 1066MHz RAM.

[Donos]

Modern notebooks require DDR3 1066MHz RAM.

I just wanted to edit that after i checked my Toshiba and browsed Amazon for two 4GB bars.

[domlolz]

ah, it's an ATi laptop thing then? Even installing a fresh version of windows are you still stuck with using manufacturers drivers?

[Green Biker Dude]

The Sager 5135 is now the best budget gaming machine, for US buyers. Available in the UK, at ~770. Read.

Does that site ship worldwide or is it US only?

Nvm that I don't know how to read.

[onken]

Anything decent in the 13" range these days? All the ones I look at seem to have shitty integrated graphics.

Anyway, weren't Intel supposed to be making some revolution in mobile graphics right about now? When's that happening?

[MiloFoxburr]

Anything decent in the 13" range these days? All the ones I look at seem to have shitty integrated graphics. Anyway, weren't Intel supposed to be making some revolution in mobile graphics right about now? When's that happening?

The Acer Aspire 3820tg. Comes with an i5 + Ati 5650m for about €850.

[onken]

The Acer Aspire 3820tg. Comes with an i5 + Ati 5650m for about €850.

That is pretty nice but I can see myself becoming unstuck with no optical drive, burning data, driver discs, watching movies etc.

[MiloFoxburr]

That is pretty nice but I can see myself becoming unstuck with no optical drive, burning data, driver discs, watching movies etc.

The 4820tg is the 14" model with an Optical Drive. I went for the 3820tg though because it has two fans for cooling. I don't really use discs anymore either.

[Donos]

ah, it's an ATi laptop thing then? Even installing a fresh version of windows are you still stuck with using manufacturers drivers?

My Acer took the driver just from Windows 7 and the Card was ready to go (ATI HD2600)
With the Toshiba , Windows 7 could not detect the card or give a "standard" driver.(made a fresh Windows 7 installation to change from Home to Professional and wipe the tons of Toshiba Software from the hdd)
I was stuck at 640x480 or something similar pixilated till i used the driver from Toshiba. The latest ATI Mobility Driver from the AMD site gave me an error and then i read that Toshiba is a little bit bitchy with open driver support.

[theRizzle]

The 4820tg is the 14" model with an Optical Drive. I went for the 3820tg though because it has two fans for cooling. I don't really use discs anymore either.

What happens if I want to re-install Windows? Does it come with the laptop on a USB stick or something? I was looking at the 3820tg, but that's my biggest concern.

[blitz64]

ah, it's an ATi laptop thing then? Even installing a fresh version of windows are you still stuck with using manufacturers drivers?

Yup, I install a fresh Windows 7 on this toshiba laptop which came with vista.

I'm using the ati drivers 8.632.1.2000 8/17/2009

I have no issues playing any game so I didn't bother hacking my way to get the latest drivers.

[Donos]

What happens if I want to re-install Windows? Does it come with the laptop on a USB stick or something? I was looking at the 3820tg, but that's my biggest concern.

that's very easy to make. MS has a tool "Windows 7 USB/DVD tool" http://store.microsoft.com/help/iso-tool" Just take an empty USB stick (at least with 4GB) and a Windows 7 ISO (easy to make with Ultra Iso from a Windows 7 dvd) and make a bootable Windows 7 stick. takes 10 minutes to make.

[sestrugen]

I'm looking to buy a laptop, ideally I would like this laptop to play world of warcraft and cod black ops, my budget is around $1000. I was checking this one ASUS Republic of Gamers G51JX-X3, which fits exactly on my price range.

Core i5 2.26GHz
Nvidia GTS360m
4GB DDR3
1920x1080

Anybody has any experience with this particular model? Are there any other machines I can check out?

edit: I found this other 2 computers which seem good enough, not sure about MSI but the specs can't be beaten and the other Asus looks good too

MSI GX640-260 15.4-Inch Gaming Laptop - Black/Red

Core i5 2.4GHz
ATI 5850
4GB DDR3
1680x1050

ASUS N61JQ-XV1 16-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop

Core i7 1.73GHz
ATI 5730
4GB DDR3
1366x768 res

All of them seem ok but I do not know which one would be better

[Donos]

I'm looking to buy a laptop, ideally I would like this laptop to play world of warcraft and cod black ops, my budget is around $1000. I was checking this one ASUS Republic of Gamers G51JX-X3, which fits exactly on my price range. Core i5 2.26GHz Nvidia GTS360m 4GB DDR3 1920x1080 Anybody has any experience with this particular model? Are there any other machines I can check out? edit: I found this other 2 computers which seem good enough, not sure about MSI but the specs can't be beaten and the other Asus looks good too MSI GX640-260 15.4-Inch Gaming Laptop - Black/Red Core i5 2.4GHz ATI 5850 4GB DDR3 1680x1050 ASUS N61JQ-XV1 16-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop Core i7 1.73GHz ATI 5730 4GB DDR3 1366x768 res All of them seem ok but I do not know which one would be better

check http://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-G51Jx-X1.30400.0.html (for general laptop info, the specs often vary)

also check their comparisons of GPU and CPU
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Compari...rds.130.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Noteboo...ors.129.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-...st.2436.0.html

The first one you posted has the "worst" GPU of all three (GTS360m - end of class 2). ATI 5850 is a good card. (see list)

i would take the i7 with the 5730.