Your opinion on a gaming laptop

CelesKnight · Post by **CelesKnight** » 2006-08-28 08:40pm

Hey everyone. I'm looking to buy a new laptop, and I wanted to get your opinions.

I'm mostly going to be using the laptop for web-surfing and programming, but I will also be using it for at least some hard-core gaming. (Yeah, yeah, I know I bunch of people are going to scream "WHY!?!?" It's because I would rather game from an easy chair, bed, or the lawn outside than sitting at a desk, and don't mind paying for that privilege in dollars and slower speeds). Size, battery life, and price aren't major issues. (As long as the final price is less than $3k or so).

What is a big issue for me is screen resolution--I currently have a 15.4" WSGXA+ (1680x1050) and the text is almost too small for me. I've found that a lot of programs and sites don't work well if you expand the text size, so I don't want to get anything smaller than my current setup. So, I suspect that UXGA would be too small even if it was on a 17" screen.

Since I plan to drop a lot of money into the laptop, I also want a 2-4 year warranty, preferably with accidental damage protection.

So, my three requirements are gaming, warranty, and screen resolution. Although one wouldn't think that finding a laptop that meets those requirements would be hard, I've actually found relatively few that meet my needs because most manufactures want to put UXGA on their top models.

Three that I've found that do meet my needs are:

Alienware m9700 or m5750 -- These are both pretty high powered, but I would have to settle for a 17" XGA screen (which is probably too low of a resolution for me) and Alienware doesn't seem to offer ADP (accidental damage protection).

HP dv8000t or dv9000z - This is probably the cheapest option that perfectly matches my needs: 17" WSGXA+ screens, 2Ghz Turin or Core Duo, and GeForce 7600 Go, 3 year warranty with ADP, and 2GB RAM for about $2300.

Gateway NX860XL - This is slightly more expensive than that HP, but it has a GeForce 7900 GS.

My current plan is to go with the Gateway.

Any thoughts on the above?

BTW, from what I understand, the Core 2 Duo should be making it's way to laptops soon. Is there any value in waiting for it? From what I hear it's only a marginal increase in performance over the Core Duo, so I'm betting it's not worth waiting for.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-08-28 08:45pm

Gaming laptops are a fucking absurd idea and enjoy wasting your money.

However, I wouldn't buy a Gateway anything. They're like Dell, and their laptops are to be avoided. Of course I wouldn't buy an Alienware either, unless you're dead-set on paying a h4xx0r premium for your 1337 laptop.

PS, in a year your gaming laptop will be worthless and US$3k could buy you one damn fine desktop with a smokin' huge monitor.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-08-28 08:53pm

I wouldn't say it'll be worthless in one year, although for longevity I'd wait for Core 2.

Alienware laptops tend to be rebranded Sager laptops, although Sager offers a 17" WSXGA display. But Sager doesn't seem to offer ADP either.

You might try getting insurance on the laptop... I remember reading on one forum that insuring your laptop could be even more effective, although what "some guy on the internet said" should really be looked into before plunging in that way.

Davis 51 · Post by **Davis 51** » 2006-08-28 11:45pm

If you must buy a laptop for gaming, screw HP, Compaq, Gateway, and the like. If you must go with Dell, and you need a gaming laptop, the XPS models are not terrible. Otherwise, your best bet is Alienware, out of the ones you listed.

And yes, wait and see if the Core 2 Duo.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-08-28 11:52pm

Davis 51 wrote:If you must buy a laptop for gaming, screw HP, Compaq, Gateway, and the like. If you must go with Dell, and you need a gaming laptop, the XPS models are not terrible. Otherwise, your best bet is Alienware, out of the ones you listed.

And yes, wait and see if the Core 2 Duo.

I realize he didn't list Alienware, but why should he go with Alienware over Sager?

Ypoknons · Post by **Ypoknons** » 2006-08-29 12:11am

Why settle with a 7600-series? It might be usable now, but soon newer games will outstrip it. The Toshiba P150 is a good choice too. The laptop Core 2 Duo, at any rate, offers a 7-8% performance increase and 10% improvement on battery life - nothing to get too hyped about.

ThatGuyFromThatPlace · Post by **ThatGuyFromThatPlace** » 2006-08-29 01:16am

I know people will scream and hiss and claw out there eyes. But right this minute, I am responding to your post from a Dell with a 17" widescreen with Truelife (I forget all the wack acronymns, UXQGYZ or something, whatever) 2gigs of RAM, a 7900GS GPU, An intel core Duo processor and a 2 year warranty.
I use this Laptop for playing Battlefield 2 at midrange Resolution with full graphics quality and no slowdowns or problems.

Thats really the only 'hardcore' game I play, so I don't know how it would handle some of the other stuff, but as of this moment, I can say that I have expereinced no problems with this computer, its faster than any non-Conroe I've experienced and my only real complaint is that it runs a little hot for my tastes, but no hotter than any other laptop I've used.

Personally, I think HP made anything except printers are evil, second only to Macs (which I hate for purely ideological reasons, rather than any problems with their inherent hardware)
After Dell, Gateway would probably be my second choice, but other Laptop makers are highly overpriced in their gaming laptop dept. (except HP, but what you don't pay in cash, you pay in tears and suffering) and should only be turned to if you want the absolutely latest laptop harware and can afford prices that will leave your nether region stinging for years.

need4spd · Post by **need4spd** » 2006-08-29 06:29am

Whatever you do.

DO NOT GET A DELL

Get a custom computer like a asus motherboard
Or a sager they kick ass. My buddy just baught the 5160
http://www.discountlaptops.com/index.ph ... de_type=16
Kick ass video card and gaming pc on the go and lighter than most dells that are 15" inch screen. And this is a 17" inch

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-08-29 03:47pm

My advice would be to get something from Sager's 5000 series. The 7900gtx is a serious gaming GPU, and should be for at least two years. Out more than 2 years you will start running into problems with DX10. Of course a year ago when the 7800gtx mobile cards came out I'd have said the same thing, only the problem would still be 3 years down the road.
So it becomes a question of how you value mobility. For $1500 you could get a system with pretty much the same specs, maybe better, and would have the option to upgrade the GPU and such as time goes on. Problem with laptops is that you have to pay extra to get these high quality parts, you cannot upgrade them down the road, and you *need* to spend extra money to get a warrenty that secures a replacement (which is VERY expensive) in the event of damage.

Now, some people will bitch and moan about how big of a waste it is, but keep in mind, you are paying for the ability to take your computer wherever you want, whenever you want. Do a lot of LAN parties, going to school and end up traveling home a lot? Those might be good reasons to invest in a gaming laptop. A desktop is a better buy, but they've got some physical limitations. Shit, you might be able to afford 3 grand every 2 years on a gaming laptop; if thats the case then great! Go for it!

Just keep in mind that if money is a real issue, sit down and consider how many hours you'd be playing games while not at your desk. If you're rarely at home, maybe a gaming laptop really is the right way to go. I don't know, you have to consider your situation and see just how much better a laptop would be for you.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-08-29 05:45pm

I've always liked Sager's notebooks, but now looking at that page, it's got me worried.

Anyone who charges $200 to guarantee the product won't be defective on arrival or for 30 days, and calls a Core Duo a "Pentium DUO", and writes nVIDIA, should make you a bit worried.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-08-29 07:58pm

That's not a page on Sager's website, that's on some site called "discountlaptops.com"

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2006-09-02 10:11pm

Stark wrote:Gaming laptops are a fucking absurd idea and enjoy wasting your money.

As to the topic at hand. Acer makes some very nice gaming laptops at affordable prices.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-02 10:20pm

Aside from Alienware, does anyone else distribute Sager laptops? They've turned up in enough laptop discussions to make me curious, but being in AU kinda cuts me off.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2006-09-02 10:29pm

All I know about them is they are pretty much the BMW of laptops. Very expensive, but also very badassed.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-09-03 01:03pm

Sager is just one of many rebanded names for Clevo laptops. They're a Taiwan based company, places like Sager, Alienware and many others get their laptops from them. Sager is simply a popular botique company that resells them for generally good prices. The one flaw with these clevos is that they lack dedicated support. To my knowledge Sager's operation imports the Clevo laptops, tests them, and provides a warranty (note that the support may be through a 3rd party, thats how it used to be, but that may have changed, I'm not sure). Alienware, VoodooPC, WidowPC and a dozen others (check wiki's Clevo entry for a better list).

Places that Sell Sager laptops (the same that you could buy directly from Sager) sell them cheaper than Sager does, I don't know exactly, but it is less, though not much. These other guys will also offer to sell you a machine without an OS installed for a slightly larger savings. Compare: DiscountLaptops vs Sager

To my knowledge they aren't really any better or worse than the Dell XPS gen 2, they might use better components or something, but they are always less expensive, though they do lack the large and sofisticated support Dell has (though at $1000+ premiums, I don't think I'd ever go Dell for a high end gaming laptop - mid end is another story; when the dell coupons come around).