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I'm finally able to buy a decent computer but I don't know much about them. I will be traveling extensively overseas for the next few years so I need a notebook that will be durable and reliable. I'm also hoping to get one that can run games well and I have about $4000 (American) to spend. What would you all recommend?

What type of games are you looking to run? If it's the latest and greatest then you probably won't be able to use anything short of an Alienware machine. Though for most games under 5 years old that aren't bleeding edge there's several systems out there under $2000 that will let you run most titles. IBM is always a solid brand, and HP is somewhat decent. But there's not much in the way of advice to give if you're not more specific.

General Zod wrote:What type of games are you looking to run? If it's the latest and greatest then you probably won't be able to use anything short of an Alienware machine. Though for most games under 5 years old that aren't bleeding edge there's several systems out there under $2000 that will let you run most titles. IBM is always a solid brand, and HP is somewhat decent. But there's not much in the way of advice to give if you're not more specific.

I think Sager also offers the same basic hardware.

The 'latest and greatest' will generally mean a 'desktop replacement' laptop, however... not the best for travel.

Gaming laptops tend not to be that reliable or well-built. Business laptops usually are, but they put their money into solid engineering rather than the fastest CPUs and GPUs.

Be careful here. A lot of the gaming laptops, while powerful and competitively priced, are somewhat less reliable. If you have 4 grand to spend on a laptop, I would suggest you examine your needs (games you'd like to run). A safer investment would be to buy a laptop now that runs your current games, and plan for an upgrade in the near future.

As far as I know there are no DirectX 10 mobile GPUs out yet. So, if you are a gamer you'll likely find that within 1.5-2 years you will want to play some of these DX10 games, but can't. By not going all out you'll have enough leftover green that you can simply buy yourself a new one when the time is right.

Since you'll be traveling a lot I would seriously consider the possibility of theft or damage. Four grand is a lot of computer, a computer which could get stolen, lost, damaged or hopelessly obsolete during your years abroad. If you find that a $1200 laptop will work for you for the next year or so, I would suggest going that route and then buying a new one when the need arises (be it due to damage, loss, or obsolescence).

As was said, powerful gaming laptops are big and hefty. If you are going to be lugging this machine around a lot it might be best if it wasn't 15 pounds. Something closer to 6 pounds before the power adapter would be big enough to house some semi-modern hardware (say the kind that would let you run Oblivion well) but still be toted around easily.

If you have 4 grand burning a hole in your pocket and you really want a bichin' computer then Sager is the name. Last I checked they had freakin' SLI in some of their laptops. But if you do that, make sure you find out about, and get, insurance for the thing.

Personally, I've got a pretty good experience with my HP laptop, its one of the business ones. Its about 6 pounds, it had (3.5years ago) pretty decent hardware and is fairly sturdy. Many folks say IBM/Lenovo makes the best, but I personally dislike them.

I would actually recommend getting an HP entertainment notebook, investing the money, and buying a good DX10 notebook when they come out.

HP's have surprisingly good graphics cards for the money you spend ($1200 nets a 17 inch notebook with a 7600 mobile). That should last you until a real DX10 mobile card comes out. You can probably even transfer over the HDD and the RAM, when you're done.

I'd recommend a "low end" business class laptop (low end in quotes since business laptops are fairly expensive) such as a thinkpad T series, Latitude D series, or HP nc series , and just get a small form factor PC +LCD monitor for your gaming purposes. Gaming laptops get obsolete fairly quickly and are nonupgradable.

Most people I know who have huge gaming /media laptops don't really use them more than a desktop replacement due to the size/weight, while I take my 13" (or was it 14? Sadly they don't seem to make them that small anymore, but the X series are probably equivalent in size, also lacking touchpad) T22 thinkpad everywhere (although it's starting to show it's age and dying being dropped and mishandled a couple of times ,such as detecting only 1 RAM stick upon boot roughly 50% of the time).

Or is this for moving from hotel to hotel, and fitting it into luggage ? There you might have a problem....

EDIT: Well, there are these: http://www.starcase.com/computercases.htm

Master of Ossus wrote:I would actually recommend getting an HP entertainment notebook, investing the money, and buying a good DX10 notebook when they come out.

HP's have surprisingly good graphics cards for the money you spend ($1200 nets a 17 inch notebook with a 7600 mobile). That should last you until a real DX10 mobile card comes out. You can probably even transfer over the HDD and the RAM, when you're done.

I paid $750 for my HP notebook, though I wound up upgrading the ram later on for a full 2 gigs. Surprisingly even with the lower end graphics card I can run most games I want to without many issues. (Rome: Total War, Half-Life 2, GTA: San Andreas, Halo, etc) all have ran fine without too many issues. Though some things like Supreme Commander didn't work so well.

Thanks for your suggestions. After talking it over last night with a friend of mine I ordered a Macbook Pro with the three year warranty. I decided on the Mac because everywhere I ask people tell me how reliable they are. With the full warranty I decided to give it a shot.

Hah, with 4 grand to spend I'd get a nice laptop and one of those portable Fragboxen

Dalton wrote:Hah, with 4 grand to spend I'd get a nice laptop and one of those portable Fragboxen

Those things are so heavy!

phongn wrote:

Dalton wrote:Hah, with 4 grand to spend I'd get a nice laptop and one of those portable Fragboxen

Those things are so heavy!

It'd be cheaper than a gaming laptop though, and also more upgradable.

UCBooties wrote:Thanks for your suggestions. After talking it over last night with a friend of mine I ordered a Macbook Pro with the three year warranty. I decided on the Mac because everywhere I ask people tell me how reliable they are. With the full warranty I decided to give it a shot.

Are you going to use it as a windows machine, or have you decided against games?

A lot of people have mentioned that gaming laptops are less reliable - which is why I game on a souped-up Alienware workstation-replacement model (now discontinued). Speed and reliability!

InnocentBystander wrote:Are you going to use it as a windows machine, or have you decided against games?

I'm putting Windows XP on it but I'll mostly be using it for work.

Magus wrote:A lot of people have mentioned that gaming laptops are less reliable - which is why I game on a souped-up Alienware workstation-replacement model (now discontinued). Speed and reliability!

Meh, I've not heard good things about Alienware's reliability.

phongn wrote:

Magus wrote:A lot of people have mentioned that gaming laptops are less reliable - which is why I game on a souped-up Alienware workstation-replacement model (now discontinued). Speed and reliability!

Meh, I've not heard good things about Alienware's reliability.

The same could be said for every major brand. I've heard good and bad about most of them.[/i]