Gaming laptop - Let me pause and ask you guys before I make a big mistake.

[blkhogan]

I currenty own this laptop http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220490R&cm_re=g50v-_-34-220-490R-_-Product. I really like it a lot. I will never buy another brand again. Once you own one you can never go back to a normal grade laptop. Gaming is still very good quality, but will never take the place of my rig. They are truly a cut above. If you can... get one.

 

[Papahyooie]

Bottom line: as long as you pay for it, you'll have no problems playing any game you want to on a laptop. You won't play it on battery power in the park for more than 30 minutes, but you probably already knew that. You'll sacrifice some power opposed to a desktop, and you'll pay a premium, but gaming laptops are built for just that: gaming, Just as a gaming desktop is built for gaming. If you want a rig you can tote with you, go for it. I have even a modest gaming laptop, and I'm thrilled with it.

Sager, Asus, gateway, Alienware, qosmio. Those are about your choices, and you can get plenty of power on your budget. Don't listen to the naysayers.
I have the Asus G-series as well, though an older one. The one you linked is amazing. You'll never need more power than that thing. Go for it.

 

[strick94u]

I just got an asus G60jx i5 430 360gs m 4 gigs 500 hdd it does not replace my desk top but I can sit and watch tv do a lil fragging for 1000 bucks it just has a strange resolution 1366x768 only thing it wont run is vantage

 

[shevanel]

Bottom line: as long as you pay for it, you'll have no problems playing any game you want to on a laptop. You won't play it on battery power in the park for more than 30 minutes, but you probably already knew that. You'll sacrifice some power opposed to a desktop, and you'll pay a premium, but gaming laptops are built for just that: gaming, Just as a gaming desktop is built for gaming. If you want a rig you can tote with you, go for it. I have even a modest gaming laptop, and I'm thrilled with it.

Sager, Asus, gateway, Alienware, qosmio. Those are about your choices, and you can get plenty of power on your budget. Don't listen to the naysayers.
I have the Asus G-series as well, though an older one. The one you linked is amazing. You'll never need more power than that thing. Go for it.

yeah i am going to think about a smaller case. my case is already small.. but smaller would be cooler.

Is your avatar from job for a cowboy?

 

[afw]

EDIT: X1 version of the G73JH isnt great ... the A1 and A2 versions are far better ...

 

[ShiBDiB]

id say hell no.. laptops suck unless ur using them for simple internet surfing or docs writing. Anymore then that and its not a laptop cause if u leave it on ur lap either ur gonna have burnt legs or ull fry ur laptop... aka gaming laptops like already said run hot, and have no battery life

 

[shevanel]

yeah ive decided against it.

gonna try to sell this $190 lian li case i bought and get something even smaller.

someones gonna get a good deal.

 

[alucasa]

I got this gaming laptop -> http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668240.php

for 780 CAD back in 2009 Xmas. It was a steal deal. I've put in a SSD recently. It also offered free Windows 7 upgrade. It took a month, but I got the upgrade CD which was basically an OEM windows 7 DVD.

It has two HDD compartments which is perfect for SSD set up. One SSD boot drive and one 500gb storage drive.
What I dislike about it is its appearance, but I suppose nothing is perfect.

It can replace my main rig when I go out of town for business.

It plays an intensive game for an hour and 30 minutes before it gives me low battery warning. (Dragon age Origins, steam version) But then I don't expect a gaming laptop to play on battery a lot anyway. The purpose of my gaming laptop is to provide me with adequate performance when I am away from home, and it does.

When I am out of town, I charge it either at a hotel or at my car with a car adapter.

When I don't go too far away from home which means I will be back home by end of a day, I bring XPS M1330.

For internet, I signed up for rogers rocket internet (wireless 3.5G). Speed at optimal situation is 2MB/s down and 400KB/s up.

 

[n-ster]

Great you are taking my advice

 

[shevanel]

yeah u wanna buy my lian li? will give a DEAL

 

[Deleted member 74752]

Waiting on this Silverstone for my next that will hold my i5 670 and Saaphire 5870 that will double as my 24/7 and game rig.
http://tv.hexus.net/show/2010/03/CeBIT_2010_It_s_not_size_that_matters_with_the_Silverstone_SG07

 

[shevanel]

nice case, that looks awesome. id have to swap mobos though.. mini-itx no thanks. would be sweet though

 

[Deleted member 74752]

Been testing with this mb... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128421

I have clocked it past 5.5GHz so it should suffice. I also have been playing FEAR online at 4.7GHz with the 5870...it is awesome! Plans are to have two profiles loaded in bios...one for everyday use and the other at 4.5GHz for gaming. All on air!

 

[alucasa]

Waiting on this Silverstone for my next that will hold my i5 670 and Saaphire 5870 that will double as my 24/7 and game rig.
http://tv.hexus.net/show/2010/03/CeBIT_2010_It_s_not_size_that_matters_with_the_Silverstone_SG07

might want to check out my mini-itx build.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115932

 

[n-ster]

might want to check out my mini-itx build.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115932

his 5870 would never fit

 

[mlee49]

I know you may have already made up your mind about not getting a "gaming laptop" but I thought I'd share a bit that may help.

About 3 years ago I bought a $2400 Alienware M9700. It had a single core 1.8Ghz 1GB ram, a single 7900GS, and 1920x1200 17" screen. It ran 2 frames per second in Crysis(I remember, I downloaded the demo and died watching it). Long story short, I invested another $800 into it and spec'd it out with a 2.4Ghz single core cpu, dual 7900's, and 2GB ddr1. Thought it was pimpin for sho until it burned. Overheated while playing Tiger Woods 08 and melted the motherboard only 18 months after paying for it. I was pissed and swore off Alienware(still good to this day) and gaming laptops for ever.

Well I cracked and bought in to the idea of a laptop and thought well might as well invest in a good one. So I looked at everything; price, performance, user experience, reviews, even questioned a couple times over at notebookreview.com.
After scrutinizing every component, brand, and options I found my ideal laptop. It's a Clevo 860 eTU. It was one year old used with 2 more years remaining on the warranty for $975 shipped. Thats quite a bit but look at the specs:
1680x1050 15"
4GB ddr3 1066 ram
2.8Ghz dual core cpu w/6MB L2 cache
Nvidia 260m
320GB sata hdd

New that was $1700 easy, but I looked and waited and found a reputable buyer who threw in a case, Win7 key, and XP w/Office installed. The lappy is beautiful inside and out.

I've played Prototype and MW2 on it without a hitch and love it. It's cpu is crazy fast and hangs with most desktops in WPrime benchmark. I'd definitely say I'd buy this again in a heartbeat.

So if you do decide to go gaming laptop dont think your $2000 new is the only way. Going used, with transferable warranty, is a great starting point and can spread your money well.

 

[lemode]

I’m just not a fan of gaming laptops. A friend of mine has a newer gateway fx with a core duo and she has a hard time playing badco2 well on it.

If your desktop isn’t broken, don’t bother! And even if it is, a smaller lan box home theater type setup is what I would do over a laptop.

 

[MN12BIRD]

I HATE gaming laptops soooooooo much. Laptops should be light, slim, have a good battery life and in my opinion a Core 2 Duo or Core i3 suits them perfectly.

Gaming laptops have always been big, heavy, hot and had shitty battery life.

Another thing I don't get is they say they have the 5870 in them but if you look at the GPU specs it's actually a Juniper based core but with only 800 Stream processors. Hrm isn't a 5870 supposed to have 1,600 Stream processing cores?

So why don't they call it a 5770? It's not a 5870 at all. It's deceiving and I wish AMD wouldn't do that.

 

[n-ster]

I HATE gaming laptops soooooooo much. Laptops should be light, slim, have a good battery life and in my opinion a Core 2 Duo or Core i3 suits them perfectly.

Gaming laptops have always been big, heavy, hot and had shitty battery life.

Another thing I don't get is they say they have the 5870 in them but if you look at the GPU specs it's actually a Juniper based core but with only 800 Stream processors. Hrm isn't a 5870 supposed to have 1,600 Stream processing cores?

So why don't they call it a 5770? It's not a 5870 at all. It's deceiving and I wish AMD wouldn't do that.

Guess who started that? Nvidia...

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

Sorry to digress to the old OT (but it's such a good topic!)

At XS there is Shazza (a mod, actually) and Natalia that I know of...

Siiiiiiigh

 

[Baum]

Gaming and Laptop is an epic fail, trust me as i had some alienware laptops and even upgraded them with mxm-gpu's to and beyond their limits.....

just expensive and stupid

 

[Papahyooie]

No, my avvy is not from anything exept general nonsense forum lol.

I know you've already decided against it, but I thought I'd keep arguing for my side lol. If a small LAN box fits your bill, then by all means go for that. If you can go where you need to go while still toting a box and monitor, then a LAN box is the best way to go. However, people who are writing off gaming laptops alltogether havent thought things through. There are times/people that need a rig that can fit on a tiny desk, fit in a backpack, and be able to tote down the road on your bike, skateboard, walking, w/e. And also think about public places. Starbucks isn't gonna let you set up your lan box on the bar. Wanna do some fragging in the park? None for you, lan box.

For all those people saying:
Gaming laptops run hot- the hardware is built to run at the temps it does. If your rig melted down, you wouldnt blame it on the fact that its a computer, you'd blame bad hardware. If your laptop melts down, something was wrong. Either user error or bad hardware. Not because its a laptop.

Low battery life- Well guess how long your desktop's battery life is? .... thats right none. In low power mode, my asus can run for three hours. Plenty for web browsing or watching a movie. Don't game on battery power. That's what a gameboy is for. Nobody ever said you should be able to game on battery power. The battery is for using the gaming laptop like a regular laptop.

Laptops should be light, run cool, long battery, etc: Netbooks and regular laptops should. But a gaming laptop is not meant to do any of these things. It's not thier purpose. Same argument for those saying you'll burn your leg if you game on your lap. It's simply not meant for that. And also, i've seen plenty of regular laptops that die from overheating because people put them on thier laps and they overheat. They shouldn't be called laptops, they're portable computers.

Point is, those who write off gaming laptops have completely missed the idea. Its not a laptop. Its an ultraportable gaming rig. As far as power is concerned, you will always sacrifice power for mobility. It's just part of the trade-off and should be expected. That being said, anyone who needs to run crysis on all high specs at 200 fps is just crazy in the first place. The majority of power in cutting-edge technology just simply isn't used by games. A high end desktop is overkill for most gaming. A 2000 dollar gaming laptop is plenty to play all current games.

 

[n-ster]

...

Great points there, but from what I comprehended, he doesn't need that portability... though it is an obvious plus, he doesn't need it

 

[MN12BIRD]

My point was the battery life sucks compared to other notebooks that are designed for mainstream use. Take a Macbook Pro or Lenovo X60 and you have a notebook with 3 times the battery life.

Plus if you want a powerful gaming machine why wouldn't you want a desktop?

For the same price you can have much better performance, bigger screen, bigger keyboard etc etc.

I understand some odd folks might NEED portable gaming. But if you just want a good notebook I would rather a Lenovo X series or Macbook for that price.

 

[eidairaman1]

Gaming laptops= desktop replacements, they are pretty decent for gaming but they are horrible on battery life and when you don't have them tethered to a wall they half their speed to preserve battery life.