best budget laptop to play today's games?

[purplekaycee]

preferably dell or hp brand?
need your brains guys

 

[RCoon]

Gaming laptops are inherently bad at everything they try to accomplish save for "portability", and even on some that takes a dive.

Budget?
What Games?

 

[purplekaycee]

I should stick to a PC for gaming then?

for all recent games .

 

[P4-630]

for all recent games .

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OBQ5950/?tag=tec06d-20

 

[blibba]

"Budget", "Laptop" and "Today's Games" are a bit of an impossible trinity.

Add in Dell or HP and you're ruined - neither let you spec they're reasonably priced offerings with even SSDs, let alone GPUs. If you're spending less than $1k, avoid HP and Dell laptops at all costs.

 

[silentbogo]

Only if you are OK with low-res gaming. I am not that picky when it comes to videogames graphics quality, so I was getting by for a couple of years playing modern titles on my ASUS R500VM at 1366x786 with medium-to-high settings, but there are some newer low-cost options out there with NV 850M or 940M cards, which is enough to run L4D2 or Skyrim, but forget about Witcher 3 and other modern games.

All "real" gaming laptops are a waste of time and money. You will either get an overpriced and overheated 20lb monstrosity instead of laptop, or a box with effective performance of a $300 desktop.

And be aware, that it is not as comfortable as desktop gaming. Went back to my i7 rig.

 

[purplekaycee]

a friend if mine here in Lagos told me to stick to desktops when playing games that they are mych better than laptops now its confirmed

 

[MxPhenom 216]

I should stick to a PC for gaming then?

for all recent games .

Well a laptop is also a PC.

 

[purplekaycee]

was referring to a desktop

 

[MxPhenom 216]

was referring to a desktop

Yeah, I I just prefer the bigger screen you can have with a desktop + a lot more performance for your dollar.

 

[R-T-B]

There ARE gaming laptops out there that can work decent, but they are HEAVY have nearly no battery and will burn a hole in your crotch given half a chance in your lap.

No, I prefer a desktop personally.

 

[OneMoar]

what you ask for is pretty well impossible
but something from these guys will get you close
http://www.sagernotebook.com/home.php

 

[rooivalk]

I think laptop with 850M would be okay to play modern games at 1366x768 medium-low setting.

In term of performance, desktop would trump equal priced laptop anyday though.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

To give you an idea how poor a value laptops are, you could build a desktop PC with the desktop variant of the GPU that ROG listed above has, and still have enough left over for a budget, non gaming laptop. And the desktop rig would actually be a bit MORE powerful due to mobile "m" versions of GPUs being down clocked. You could actually spec a better CPU too.

Plus desktops have better ventilation, easier access, more upgradability, etc, etc. There are a LOT of people that buy a gaming laptop because they need a laptop for school or work, and say they can only afford one PC, but when you look at the scenario I pointed out above, even that doesn't make sense.

A real big reason it doesn't make sense is laptops are more damage and theft vulnerable, so it's pointless to spend a lot on one, even if you have to have one for basic school and work needs. Laptops for school or work can be had pretty cheap now, and you can build a decent gaming desktop for under $1000.

It all comes down to how much you can spend though. "Budget" in and of itself doesn't tell us what your actual budget is. You've been asked and have yet to tell us. These kind of threads are pointless unless the OP goes into them with a specific budget in mind.

 

[Devon68]

Well look at it this way. If a gaming desktop costs 800$ a laptop with similar performance will cost around 1600$.

 

[OneMoar]

To give you an idea how poor a value laptops are, you could build a desktop PC with the desktop variant of the GPU that ROG listed above has, and still have enough left over for a budget, non gaming laptop. And the desktop rig would actually be a bit MORE powerful due to mobile "m" versions of GPUs being down clocked. You could actually spec a better CPU too.

Plus desktops have better ventilation, easier access, more upgradability, etc, etc. There are a LOT of people that buy a gaming laptop because they need a laptop for school or work, and say they can only afford one PC, but when you look at the scenario I pointed out above, even that doesn't make sense.

A real big reason it doesn't make sense is laptops are more damage and theft vulnerable, so it's pointless to spend a lot on one, even if you have to have one for basic school and work needs. Laptops for school or work can be had pretty cheap now, and you can build a decent gaming desktop for under $1000.

It all comes down to how much you can spend though. "Budget" in and of itself doesn't tell us what your actual budget is. You've been asked and have yet to tell us. These kind of threads are pointless unless the OP goes into them with a specific budget in mind.

sagers come with full-fledged desktop cpus

 

[Frag_Maniac]

sagers come with full-fledged desktop cpus

Yeah, but the problem is, you're still in for $1800 with the default 4790 (non k mind you) and 970m, when you can build a desktop using those parts for WAY less. Actually better than those parts considering a 970m can't match even a ref 970.

The point still remains. For the difference in price you could buy a hella nice display too.

http://www.sagernotebook.com/customize.php?productid=734

 

[purplekaycee]

alright guys I think I would just back down from using a laptop for gaming
would just get one 1-2gb Nvidia graphics for design s

 

[silentbogo]

alright guys I think I would just back down from using a laptop for gaming
would just get one 1-2gb Nvidia graphics for design s

Good decision. I've built a PC out of mostly used parts. The most expensive part - 240GB SSD cost me probably more than the rest combined.
The total bill for this build was around $400 including 22" monitor and GTX750Ti - not bad for something that can handle Witcher 2 and Metro 2033 at 1080p.

 

[purplekaycee]

@silentbogo, you one hell of a builder .
how did you use this small fugure to build a PC complete with a gtx 750???

 

[P4-630]

@silentbogo, you one hell of a builder .
how did you use this small fugure to build a PC complete with a gtx 750???

out of mostly used parts

 

[purplekaycee]

lol

 

[purplekaycee]

lol

 

[silentbogo]

1) Started off with a broken GA-EX58-UD4P which I got for free. It was helluva broken mobo, but I've managed to get it fixed!
It needed extensive straightening of pins on the LGA1366 socket and some soldering on a couple of ripped PCB tracks.
2) Combined with a deal on used Xeon X5570 and three DDR3 sticks for $50 it was already a good start.
3) Met a fellow electronics hobbyist, who happened to be obsessed with OpenCV and image processing. Dude had 5 videocards laying around for various purposes. He generously provided GTX750Ti for half the market price (around ~$60)
4) Office closing sale in Kiev got me a cool 450W Zalman PSU for a case of beer (beer is cheaper in Ukraine, so around $10). As a backup I had a 400W Chieftech, which was later dismantled to be a lab PSU
5) An old generic beige ATX mid tower was in the garage
6) It was probably a pricing mistake in local "Eldorado" electronics supermarket, but I got a crappy, but still 22" 1080p display for $80 (it was listed as correct model, but with incorrect specs). ...or maybe they just felt like selling it $15-$20 cheaper.

Next step was to find a viable trade, preferably without cash involved. Sold that Xeon to my neighbor for his server rig, while MoBo went somewhere to another side of the country.
After spending a few weeks on my laptop I contacted a friend, whom I sold Rampage II GENE and i7-920 few years ago and he sold it back to me and it was nice to see it working as before!

"What about storage?" you'd ask. Well, this is not a problem when you have a laptop which you don't use. It was sad experience, but it got me through until I saved $180 to buy a 240GB SSD.

For a period of 2-3 months

The moral of this story: sometimes you have to get out of the house and dig through old sh*t in the garage to get some shweeet deals

 

[silentbogo]

Oh. I also forgot the most epic part - a $2 chinese USB mouse with Denver Broncos logo!