Looking for a laptop

Setzer · Post by **Setzer** » 2006-07-04 11:56am

Well, my own laptop has seen the limit of its capalities, gaming wise. I'm looking for something that'll be able to run Oblivion, as well as the upcoming sequel to MTW. I live on a ship (in the Navy) so it has to be a laptop. Are there any computers that have that kind of performance?

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2006-07-04 12:01pm

I've had good luck with Dell notebooks and would recommend a Dell XPS notebook, but I'm sure there are others who would disagree.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2006-07-04 12:35pm

What is your approximate budget range for such a system? Also, do you have any size requirements (ie., does it have to be a true laptop or can it be a DTR?)

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2006-07-04 02:15pm

Acer makes wonderful laptops in a very nice price range. I bought a monster of a laptop that rivaled most high end desktops of the time for $2500 which includes a 3 year total warranty.

Ypoknons · Post by **Ypoknons** » 2006-07-04 08:45pm

Anything less than a Radeon X1600 or Geforce 7600 will not be able to run Oblivion smoothly at good resolution, especially outdoors; I'm not sure if anyone really knows about MTW2. The cheapest option is the Acer Aspire AS5672WLMi, just meeting the requirements at $1069. The Asus A8J, Asus W3J, and certain models of the Sony FE-series will also do, and the Acer 8200 has a X1600 with 256MB, which is handy for those big textures. All of those check in for less than $2000. If you don't mind a 17" laptop, certain models of the Toshiba P105 series have a 7900GS, which is 1.5x faster than X1600 or 7600 (roughly), and also comes in at $2000 - a good value, especially since it's light for such a big laptop. Gateway has something similar.

Then there are the truly huge laptops, 17" and 8+ibs, with all kinds of crazy graphics options. Dells get special mention here. The E1705 can be equipped with a 7900GS, and the XPS with 7900GTX mobile is one of the most acclaimed gaming laptops out there.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-07-04 08:55pm

The MacBook Pro booted in Windows does quite well with Oblivion, has the fastest processor performance of any Wintel laptop on the market, and is extremely pretty to boot. If not that, I'd say go with the Acer Ypoknons posted- it's considerably cheaper than the MacBook and about the same spec-wise (same GPU, 0.44 GHz slower) and only slightly fatter and uglier.

In fact, I really like that Acer. A lot. Great deal. I've seen desktop setups that cost more and perform weaker.

Ypoknons · Post by **Ypoknons** » 2006-07-04 10:11pm

Praxis wrote:If not that, I'd say go with the Acer Ypoknons posted- it's considerably cheaper than the MacBook and about the same spec-wise (same GPU, 0.44 GHz slower) and only slightly fatter and uglier.

The thing is, the 15" Macbook Pro has a underclocked GPU that ends up getting only 60-70% of what the typical X1600 notebook gives in 3DMark05, which doesn't bode too well for its performance in other games. As attractive as the MBP is, its GPU doesn't quite do the trick. Also, just to nitpick, there's actually a 2.33ghz Yonah out now, so the MBP isn't quite the fastest either, but that hardly matters.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-07-05 12:19am

Ypoknons wrote:
Praxis wrote:If not that, I'd say go with the Acer Ypoknons posted- it's considerably cheaper than the MacBook and about the same spec-wise (same GPU, 0.44 GHz slower) and only slightly fatter and uglier.
The thing is, the 15" Macbook Pro has a underclocked GPU that ends up getting only 60-70% of what the typical X1600 notebook gives in 3DMark05, which doesn't bode too well for its performance in other games. As attractive as the MBP is, its GPU doesn't quite do the trick. Also, just to nitpick, there's actually a 2.33ghz Yonah out now, so the MBP isn't quite the fastest either, but that hardly matters.

That's, like, as of this week.

I forgot about the GPU thing though. So yeah, raw performance, buy the Acer, it's a great bargain.

Setzer · Post by **Setzer** » 2006-07-05 05:20am

I've got no rent, no car payments, and no food or medical bills, due to being in the Navy and living on a ship. My options are pretty wide, and my expenses nonexistent.

Ypoknons · Post by **Ypoknons** » 2006-07-05 11:03am

Then, ask yourself if you're going to be carrying it around much. If it's going to stay in the bedroom (or whatever your ship has, excuse me ignorence of the Navy) and will only move when you transfer bunks, then something big and mean will do - Dell XPS, really, maxed out with the 7900GTX. There's some crazier SLI options but SLI laptops... are unproven. If not, then a Acer 8200-series or Asus W3J.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2006-07-05 12:02pm

I'd look into the fujitsu or IBM laptops. IBM will be a little more pricy, but you definitely get what you pay for.

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2006-07-05 12:13pm

Vertigo1 wrote:I'd look into the fujitsu or IBM laptops. IBM will be a little more pricy, but you definitely get what you pay for.

I have to agree there, particularly if durability is a concern, and with a laptop it can be...my IBM laptop survived a 6 foot drop onto concrete without any damage at all.

They seem to made of somewhat sterner stuff than most.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-07-05 12:29pm

For a true gaming machine, check out some of the stuff Sager offers. You can't go wrong with a Mobile 7900gtx. And if that just doesn't do it for you, how about SLI 7900gtxs?

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2006-07-05 01:05pm

I would seriously look into the AMD 64-bit mobile chips. Those are some powerful little bastards. Don't accept less than 1GB of RAM as well.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-07-05 01:33pm

Vertigo1 wrote:I would seriously look into the AMD 64-bit mobile chips. Those are some powerful little bastards. Don't accept less than 1GB of RAM as well.

Intel's Core 2 will be released soonish and is probably going to crush any K8-based solution.

Tiger Ace · Post by **Tiger Ace** » 2006-07-05 01:34pm

Vertigo1 wrote:I would seriously look into the AMD 64-bit mobile chips. Those are some powerful little bastards. Don't accept less than 1GB of RAM as well.

Look at AMDs stuff when you have Core Duo?

TimothyC · Post by **TimothyC** » 2006-07-05 01:36pm

Stay away from Dell. If you are out on a ship, and you get a system with a design flaw (the 51XX series for example), you're fucked.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2006-07-05 01:50pm

MariusRoi wrote:Stay away from Dell. If you are out on a ship, and you get a system with a design flaw (the 51XX series for example), you're fucked.

As much as I hate to admit it, their laptops really aren't that bad. They need to work on their battery life though. Even a 9 cell lithium-ion battery barely lasts through a two hour DVD.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-07-05 02:02pm

Vertigo1 wrote:As much as I hate to admit it, their laptops really aren't that bad. They need to work on their battery life though. Even a 9 cell lithium-ion battery barely lasts through a two hour DVD.

Aside from including bigger/more batteries, how much can they do? Takes power to run an optical drive.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2006-07-05 02:23pm

InnocentBystander wrote:
Vertigo1 wrote:As much as I hate to admit it, their laptops really aren't that bad. They need to work on their battery life though. Even a 9 cell lithium-ion battery barely lasts through a two hour DVD.
Aside from including bigger/more batteries, how much can they do? Takes power to run an optical drive.

Lower current usage for one thing. They could load the data into a huge ass buffer as well.

Ypoknons · Post by **Ypoknons** » 2006-07-05 08:41pm

Vertigo1 wrote:I'd look into the fujitsu or IBM laptops. IBM will be a little more pricy, but you definitely get what you pay for.

I have an IBM T40 at work and I know how tough those buggers are and the wonder that is IBM Laptop keyboards, but a gaming laptop? Even the top T60's only have a X1400, which if my experience with 6600 (a similiar card in performance) doesn't do Oblivion very well. Same goes for Fujitsu. Sager does a fine job on the specs and price, but uncertain availability and service leaves me hesitant. 1GB RAM, of course, is wise. 2GB, really isn't strange at all.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2006-07-05 09:16pm

MariusRoi wrote:Stay away from Dell. If you are out on a ship, and you get a system with a design flaw (the 51XX series for example), you're fucked.

Uhhhh...
Wouldn't that be true of a laptop from any other manufacturer as well?

When I owned my Inspiron 1100 (later sold and bought a 9300), Dell was Johnny on the spot with a prepaid shipping carton for warranty service when the inverter board went out on it and shipped a replacement power brick via next day air when it died.

The only problems I've had dealing with Dell is understanding what the hell the Indian call center people are saying, as I'm hard of hearing and their accents are so thick you could slice them with knives.

And my understanding is that most manufacturers have outsourced their consumer tech support to India just like Dell.

TimothyC · Post by **TimothyC** » 2006-07-06 08:20am

Glocksman wrote:
MariusRoi wrote:Stay away from Dell. If you are out on a ship, and you get a system with a design flaw (the 51XX series for example), you're fucked.

Uhhhh...
Wouldn't that be true of a laptop from any other manufacturer as well?

Yes, but I've only had this problem (the design flaw) with Dell. I tend to hate them because if I didn't buy the on-site warenty, I would have had to pay for 3 motherboards (at 600$ a pop).

The only problems I've had dealing with Dell is understanding what the hell the Indian call center people are saying, as I'm hard of hearing and their accents are so thick you could slice them with knives.
And my understanding is that most manufacturers have outsourced their consumer tech support to India just like Dell.

True, and I'll admit that once you get a *live* person on the line things go quickly, but because my laptop is my life (Notes, papers, music, work stuff, ect.) having it out of commission for any time at all is a pain.