Gamer-approved laptop recommendation thread

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hi all

i'm in the uk here and i wanted a rough idea of how much i'd pay for a decent gaming laptop as i'm looking to get one in the january sales

i want to be able to run modern games at at least 30fps 1080p so i can output them to my telly

i also want to be able to run emulators like the wii one and ps2 one

thanks
 
Just bought customise reasonable gaming laptop about £1000 from PCSpecialist.co.uk.

Optimus II: 15.6" Matte Gamut LED Full HD Widescreen, i7-2760QM, 8GB 1600MHz, GT 555M. Backpack bag and upgrade battery.

Hopefully it's good enough for portable. (I have GTX580 tower anyway)
 
Simple question: are laptop deals going to get any better as we get closer to Black Friday? I need a laptop for school and for more mobility. I don't really want to spend over $600, and $500 or below is pretty comfortable for me. What can I get for around that amount? Does not need to be fancy, if I'm doing any type of gaming on it, pretty casual (like TF2 and other not so demanding games). Also dunno if anybody is aware of ColcaSac, but I imagine non-Apple laptops would fit into those cases, as long as it has similar size dimensions and screen length for whatever option I choose? If there isn't much around the $600 or below threshold now or around Black Friday I could always wait until early 2012, and bump my range up to $700 - $800. No Macbooks obviously, due to my price range and even if I wanted to spend over $1000 or so I wouldn't choose a Macbook.

Edit - Just completely overlooked the topic title, seems to really only be a gamer-friendly topic discussion. Is there perhaps a topic just for regular not-so-gaming laptops? Sorry about that.
 
Keiician said:
I've played Diablo III beta without any game breaking hiccups on my hp dv6-6030ew.
The graphics is Radeon 6770M, which is not half bad, and you can switch to integrated graphics if you aren't playing, which saves power and generates much less heat.
Necessity of buying a cooling pad for a few hours gaming sessions is a con, but you can just put it on something thick, like I do.
Click to expand...
Hmm, well that gives me a baseline for a graphics card to hit as a minimum. Any other suggestions?
 
OK, I'm having a little bit of a hiccup over here involving my brother's laptop. It's a HP Pavilion dv7. Basically, my brother, while booting up the system, accidentally pressed F11 and initiated the system in what I'm calling "ground zero" mode. None of the drivers or devices are being recognized except for what's necessary to run Windows 7 in 640x480 mode.

My first idea to fix this was to run System Restore and restore to a point when everything was working smoothly (yesterday when he updated his laptop with MSE). I started SysRestore and let it run thinking the process wouldn't be as long as it is. It's now 3 hours later and I'm seeing no change at all.

What should I do next Laptop-GAF? I have ideas, but both himself and I don't want to go through with a hard shutdown in the middle of this process.
 
Natiko said:
I'm looking into buying a new laptop soon, maybe around Black Friday if a good deal shows up. Shooting for something that can run Civ V and in the future Diablo III, willing to spend around $1500 give or take a bit. Any specific laptops I should look into? Or at least some specs I should try to shoot for? I'm not exactly a huge computer buff so any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
With that kind of budget, you should be looking at nothing less than a P150HM with 6990M (which is a desktop 6870). If you want a 17", check out the P170HM instead.

Sipowicz said:
hi all

i'm in the uk here and i wanted a rough idea of how much i'd pay for a decent gaming laptop as i'm looking to get one in the january sales

i want to be able to run modern games at at least 30fps 1080p so i can output them to my telly

i also want to be able to run emulators like the wii one and ps2 one

thanks
Click to expand...
For 1080p/30fps, you'll need to take this, then configure it with an i7-2670QM, 6990M, and 4GB RAM. If you want a 17", look at this model instead.
Karmum said:
Simple question: are laptop deals going to get any better as we get closer to Black Friday? I need a laptop for school and for more mobility.
Click to expand...
Stores like Best Buy and Walmart will definitely have decent deals around Black Friday.
AzureJericho said:
OK, I'm having a little bit of a hiccup over here involving my brother's laptop. It's a HP Pavilion dv7. Basically, my brother, while booting up the system, accidentally pressed F11 and initiated the system in what I'm calling "ground zero" mode. None of the drivers or devices are being recognized except for what's necessary to run Windows 7 in 640x480 mode.

My first idea to fix this was to run System Restore and restore to a point when everything was working smoothly (yesterday when he updated his laptop with MSE). I started SysRestore and let it run thinking the process wouldn't be as long as it is. It's now 3 hours later and I'm seeing no change at all.

What should I do next Laptop-GAF? I have ideas, but both himself and I don't want to go through with a hard shutdown in the middle of this process.
Click to expand...
sorry I'm so late. Did you get it sorted?
 
K.Jack said:
He'a looking for a netbook sirs. Gaming clearly isn't on the priority list.

I have no netbook recommendations. They're all the same to me.
That's the steal of the century. Outside of BF3 and Witcher 2, you'll run nearly every games at 720p in a better state than the HD consoles.
Click to expand...

I got it on Thursday...
I'm enjoying it... feels like it's quite expensive... more than my HP that's for sure :)

The Witcher 2 isn't running too hot even on the lowest setting :(
 
Yeah well, any game that lists an 8800 series Nvidia chip as the minimum is going to be an issue.
 
After much thought, I've decided to buy two new computers:

1 Gaming capable desktop
1 Working capable notebook (Programming and Java/C# Development)

So, I ask my Laptop GAF friends: is there any $600 notebook capable of doing what I mentioned above? I won't be playing on it, but a good graphics card would be welcome, if possible. Any suggestions?
 
So I'm pretty sure I'm going to switch to a laptop and sell my old computer to my brother. This is mostly for school's sake, but I'm looking for something that's relatively easy to carry around(I've got a Swiss Gear backpack that I'll be carrying it in) and is 'decent' graphically. I'm not going to be doing any of my main gaming on it as I pretty much just play on my consoles now, but I do want to be able to play stuff like Diablo 3 and Torchlight 2 on the go.
 
Perfect timing that i stumbled upon this thread! Thinking about getting a laptop/netbook to replace my old macbook. Not looking something amazingly fancy since i'll mainly be using it for web browsing, photoshop, and probably some light gaming.

Any recommendations/tips? Any specific good, reliable brands? Any brands I need to avoid? As for budget, i'd rather not spend more than $500-$600 unless i find something thats worth it. Thanks in advance!
 
K.Jack said:
With that kind of budget, you should be looking at nothing less than a P150HM with 6990M (which is a desktop 6870). If you want a 17", check out the P170HM instead.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the suggestions! I'm definitely looking for a 17" as that's what my current one is and downsizing would feel weird. Are pro-star's good? I've never actually heard of them before. Would you recommend buying the extra warranty? Or any upgrades I should choose? I know basics like ram and that kind of stuff but when I look at differences in processors or graphics cards I'm not really sure what the benefits are.
 
My request may be unreasonable but I don't really know much about hardware so bare with me. I'm looking to spend around 500. I'd like to run the saturn and dolphin emulators (if possible >__>) and be able to run something like Sonic Generations. More importantly, be able to run one of the two emulators. What should I look for? Should I go look around for prebuilt stuff (costco has good prices) or should I build one? Thanks again.
 
K.Jack said:
This.
Click to expand...
Thank you, K.Jack. As always, you save lives here :D

I'm all set now. Instead of buying a gaming laptop for about $1600, now I'm going to split it between a gaming desktop (the $1000 build from the "I need a new PC" thread) and the $600 notebook you mentioned above. I'll have the mobility AND the ability to play most modern games nicely, I guess.

EDIT: Damn it, Newegg seems to have a problem with international credit cards (i.e. not issued in the US - I'm brazilian). So, I'll have to choose Amazon. Problem is, that notebook is being sold there for $675. Is there another one equivalent in the same price range?
 
Hey I have a budget from about 700-900$ for a laptop that can do most modern gaming, nothing too demanding but I want at least playability for medium settings. I would be fine with either 14-15.6inch for the screen size.


Thanks , in advance!
 
K.Jack said:
Yeah well, any game that lists an 8800 series Nvidia chip as the minimum is going to be an issue.
Click to expand...

I guess so :\

It's playable but feels really clunky.. maybe that's just the way the game feels
I'm really enjoying this laptop, both for gaming and general purposes.. feels really high quality compared to any laptop I ever had

I've got a question... the other day the laptop was on the floor in it's case leaning on my knee and it fall off

I know probably nothing happened to it but could something like this have caused any kind of damage? It was in a case but it's not really hard

I only ask because I've played Rage today without headphones and I noticed the fan was quite loud and I think I felt a lot of air coming out of the left side of the laptop..
 
I wouldn't expect a minor fall to cause damage. Do you see any cracks or seams which weren't there before?

RetroRocket said:
Hey I have a budget from about 700-900$ for a laptop that can do most modern gaming, nothing too demanding but I want at least playability for medium settings. I would be fine with either 14-15.6inch for the screen size.
Click to expand...
The HP DV6 is the best within your price range, but if you're spending $900, you might as well up the budget by $100 to get an Asus G53.

dinosaur_hunter2 said:
Is this a worthy deal?
Click to expand...
Looks pretty good. Just check some reviews first.
 
Hey guys, I'm looking to spend about $600-$800 for a laptop.
15 inch screen.
I don't care too much about battery life as it will mainly be used at home.
I will be using it for gaming, hopefully Diablo 3 can be ran on it.

I want something that's durable, as in has gotten good reviews without widespread malfunctioning complaints.

I think I would rather focus on the processor speed, because my last laptop I didn't take full advantage of the graphics card and my processor speed was lacking.

I'm not sure how necessary quad core is these days; I'm thinking dual core is sufficient.

I want to take advantage of deals on Black Friday. I will checking out Slickdeals to see anything comes up. I live close to a Microcenter, sometimes they have sick deals.
I live in NY, so if you happen to know any local deals, let me know.

Thanks.
 
Thinking about going with this. Not going to lie, I don't feel like waiting another two damn weeks for Black Friday to see what sales they have. >_>

Looking for a good deal, anything under $600 really and thin enough that it could slip into a Colcasac case.

So, wait or go for it?
 
bigmit3737 said:
Hey guys, I'm looking to spend about $600-$800 for a laptop.
15 inch screen.
I don't care too much about battery life as it will mainly be used at home.
I will be using it for gaming, hopefully Diablo 3 can be ran on it.

I want something that's durable, as in has gotten good reviews without widespread malfunctioning complaints.

I think I would rather focus on the processor speed, because my last laptop I didn't take full advantage of the graphics card and my processor speed was lacking.

I'm not sure how necessary quad core is these days; I'm thinking dual core is sufficient.

I want to take advantage of deals on Black Friday. I will checking out Slickdeals to see anything comes up. I live close to a Microcenter, sometimes they have sick deals.
I live in NY, so if you happen to know any local deals, let me know.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I would seriously consider this package deal.


Karmum said:
Thinking about going with this. Not going to lie, I don't feel like waiting another two damn weeks for Black Friday to see what sales they have. >_>

Looking for a good deal, anything under $600 really and thin enough that it could slip into a Colcasac case.

So, wait or go for it?
Click to expand...
As long as you don't intend to play any games on it, the machine looks pretty nice.

It's just really hard to call what Black Friday is going to bring.
 
K.Jack said:
I would seriously consider this package deal.



As long as you don't intend to play any games on it, the machine looks pretty nice.

It's just really hard to call what Black Friday is going to bring.
Click to expand...
Probably not, and even if I were to, it'd be nothing too demanding. I wouldn't be playing any recently released or demanding games (GTA IV and Skyrim being two examples), but perhaps like TF2.

Yeah I figured that as well, and I'd also have to hope that I'd be able to pick up said deal that day. Would another $100 really change much gaming performance wise? Not for the two examples I gave, but make a somewhat adequate gaming laptop? But it's really mobility first and gaming a distant second, so I can get away with this.
 
Thanks K.Jack. I also posted on Slick Deals, so I will let you know what they post.
That laptop seems amazing, though it may be out of my range depending on what other deals I find.

Thank you once again.
 
Thanks for the help man, the dv6 looks good, however I think i might wait for blackfriday before I buy anything... hope you do a blackfriday special edition of gamer approved laptop
 
K.Jack said:
He'a looking for a netbook sirs. Gaming clearly isn't on the priority list.

I have no netbook recommendations. They're all the same to me.
That's the steal of the century. Outside of BF3 and Witcher 2, you'll run nearly every games at 720p in a better state than the HD consoles.
Click to expand...
BF3 will run 30-40fps @ 720p @ medium.
 
Looking for a netbook sub $500. Doesn't have to be able to play games but needs to not totally suck. My current 1215n is having backlight/screen issues and I'm in the process of replacing the screen, but considering just buying a new netbook anyway. The Asus 1215b seems pretty nice. Any thoughts from GAF/are there any details you've seen yet for netbooks for Black Friday? I saw a $150 one at Best Buy I think, but that is an older single core model.
 
Hi Guys and Guylinas,

I haven't played games on a PC in .. 11 years or something/

I just bought this Asus K53SV-SX174V for my girlfriend.
I read that there is a decent card in there (2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M ).
Probably nothing spectacular, but decent.

Do you know what games i could play on that so i can experience a bit of PC gaming again?

I'd like the games to look better than on console. I have a HD projector that i will be gaming on through HDMI.


So, great playing and great looking PC games recommendations are welcome. Thanx ahead.

edit: specs:
Intel Core i7
Processor - Type Intel Core i7 2630QM
Processor - frequence 2 GHz (with turboboost, haha, wtf? anyway, sounds cool)
Chipset Intel HM65
Memory 4 GB
Type geheugen DDR3
Geheugen klokfrequentie 1333 MHz

Graphics card nVidia GeForce GT 540M
Discreet video memory2048 MB
Screensize 15,6 inch
Resolution 1366x768

Harddisk/SSD - Type Seagate ST9500325AS
Harddisk/SSD - Capacity 500 GB
Harddisk/SSD -5400 rpm
 
I do not know much about gaming laptops, as i used to have a macbook before it broke and now i have a really shitty dell with built in graphics that doesnt work unless plugged in but how is this computer (I am in Canada). What is a 6630M equivalent to? is it outdated? Keep in mind I have a gaming desktop I use, but I wouldn't mind being able to play a few games when i go out of town and such.

Vostro 3550 15.6" Laptop w/Core i5-2430, Radeon 6630 1GB - $629.00

Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit,, english
2nd generation Intel Core i5-2430M 2.40 GHz Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.00GHz
4GB DDR3 at 1333MHZ, 1 DIMM
1 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 1 Year NBD Onsite Service
6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
15.6 inch High Definition LED Display (1366 x 768) with anti-glare
Integrated HD Webcam and Digital Array Mic with Dell Webcam Central
AMD Radeon HD 6630M (128-bit) 1GB Graphic
8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R write capability
 
What do you guys think about this?

http://www.catchoftheday.com.au/smallfish_info.php?products_id=43765

Asus G53Sw
15.6" Full HD LED display (1920x1080)
Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM Processor (6M Cache, 2.00 GHz up to 2.9Ghz with Turbo Boost)
8GB DDR3 RAM
2 x 500GB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M 1.5GB dedicated graphics
Blu-Ray/DVD combo drive
Wireless 11N
Bluetooth
1x USB 3.0 Port
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
2 year global warranty
Super awesome value pack - includes mouse, headset and backpack!

$1399
 
Poimandres said:
What do you guys think about this?

http://www.catchoftheday.com.au/smallfish_info.php?products_id=43765

Asus G53Sw
15.6" Full HD LED display (1920x1080)
Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM Processor (6M Cache, 2.00 GHz up to 2.9Ghz with Turbo Boost)
8GB DDR3 RAM
2 x 500GB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M 1.5GB dedicated graphics
Blu-Ray/DVD combo drive
Wireless 11N
Bluetooth
1x USB 3.0 Port
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
2 year global warranty
Super awesome value pack - includes mouse, headset and backpack!

$1399
Click to expand...

That is a lot for a 460m. I would stay away.
 
Poimandres said:
Thanks!

I'm almost ready to buy a new comp and if it was a good deal I was tempted to jump in. I'll keep searching.
Click to expand...

you should be able to get a 560m with that price tag. make sure you get the best version though, there's like 3 version of 560m and one of those version is worse than a 460m. normally the 560m is like 10% faster than the 460m.
 
Always-honest said:
Hi Guys and Guylinas,

I haven't played games on a PC in .. 11 years or something/

I just bought this Asus K53SV-SX174V for my girlfriend.
I read that there is a decent card in there (2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M ).
Probably nothing spectacular, but decent.

Do you know what games i could play on that so i can experience a bit of PC gaming again?

I'd like the games to look better than on console. I have a HD projector that i will be gaming on through HDMI.


So, great playing and great looking PC games recommendations are welcome. Thanx ahead.

edit: specs:
Intel Core i7
Processor - Type Intel Core i7 2630QM
Processor - frequence 2 GHz (with turboboost, haha, wtf? anyway, sounds cool)
Chipset Intel HM65
Memory 4 GB
Type geheugen DDR3
Geheugen klokfrequentie 1333 MHz

Graphics card nVidia GeForce GT 540M
Discreet video memory2048 MB
Screensize 15,6 inch
Resolution 1366x768

Harddisk/SSD - Type Seagate ST9500325AS
Harddisk/SSD - Capacity 500 GB
Harddisk/SSD -5400 rpm
Click to expand...

This is very similar to my Sammy. The 540m is pretty solid at 768 when it works. I have issues with my 540m blue screening but it was one of the first 540m on the market, so perhaps they have fixed it.

Anyway all Source games should run great. Dead Space and Dead Space 2 run 40+ fps, Battlefield BC2 averages around 30 on medium. I was having trouble with Crysis, nothing I tried seem to do away with the stutter every couple of steps.

You should be able to run most things at medium settings for 30 fps or better. Not sure about any of the new shooters with 3 in the titles though.
 
Poimandres said:
Thanks!

I'm almost ready to buy a new comp and if it was a good deal I was tempted to jump in. I'll keep searching.
Click to expand...

Looking back, you are in Australia, so I am not quite sure how that price fares down there.
 
twdnewh_k said:
Looking back, you are in Australia, so I am not quite sure how that price fares down there.
Click to expand...

Retail prices are usually pretty inflated, but we have close to dollar parity so if it isn't good value in the states I'm not buying!
 
Poimandres said:
What do you guys think about this?

http://www.catchoftheday.com.au/smallfish_info.php?products_id=43765

Asus G53Sw
15.6" Full HD LED display (1920x1080)
Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM Processor (6M Cache, 2.00 GHz up to 2.9Ghz with Turbo Boost)
8GB DDR3 RAM
2 x 500GB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M 1.5GB dedicated graphics
Blu-Ray/DVD combo drive
Wireless 11N
Bluetooth
1x USB 3.0 Port
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
2 year global warranty
Super awesome value pack - includes mouse, headset and backpack!

$1399
Click to expand...
This is actually a pretty good deal in Aussie land. Compare it with similar notebooks, and you'll see $1399 is not really overreaching for the specs.

Compare that to this dealer also.

Given the going rates, I'd take it or the Clevo P151HM.
 
hteng said:
you should be able to get a 560m with that price tag. make sure you get the best version though, there's like 3 version of 560m and one of those version is worse than a 460m. normally the 560m is like 10% faster than the 460m.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I got the gimped version of the 560m and I didn't do enough research before hand. I was able to overclock the GPU and get better results than the 460m on stock but I am still bitter by it.
 
FallingEdge said:
Unfortunately, I got the gimped version of the 560m and I didn't do enough research before hand. I was able to overclock the GPU and get better results than the 460m on stock but I am still bitter by it.
Click to expand...
Is the 128-bit 560M really that much worse than the 192-bit version?

What kind of GPU score does yours get in Vantage, stock clocks?
 
LyarVonLyar said:
I have a lot of trouble with optimus not correctly choosing the right gpu. I have to make nvidia profiles and assign each game to be used by the dedicated card. In my experience Optimus always derps on Source games like HL2, Portal, etc and tries to run them on integrated. Anymore, I assume Optimus will not work and just make profiles for each of my games.

Some games like Minecraft will not work properly even with a nvidia profile. For Minecraft I have to right click on the Minecraft shortcut and choose Run With Nvidia GPU or whatever it is.

My 540m is my second Nvidia card, and it's nice when it works, but getting it to work can take a lot coaxing. Not too happy with this card.
Click to expand...


Yep. And you know what makes me absolutely FUCKING INSANELY ANGRY?

When you have all these douchebag reviewers who lower the score on ATI enabled graphic laptops because they dont have optimus.

you douchebag review assholes. if you knew anything you can see that optimus is so crappy, and thus it's not a negative for the ati cards to let people spend two seconds disabling the gpu and see the screen flicker. go fuck yourself you clueless turds>:(


it just proves that they dont test shit. they are so busy during the standard bla bla, that they dont even question or test what they are advocating. pieces of shit.
 
Probably going to throw a SSD into a laptop, whenever I buy one, sometime this week or next week. All I really want to put on it is Windows 7, so that should give you an idea of how much space it needs to be. Anything I should be looking for specifically (for instance, can I shop for SSDs with the mindset they will work with the laptop - are there laptop specific SSDs?)

Not that knowledgeable when it comes to SSDs, so some suggestions would be nice as well. A good rating, price and size (really just needs to hold W7, and maybe a bit more space) is what I'm looking for.

I sort of forgot about the fact that there is already another harddrive in the laptop already, so an SSD that will just "only fit Windows 7" won't really make sense since there is probably only one slot in the laptop anyway.

2gucvp2.jpg
 
So I got a new lappy and have it outputting to an external monitor. Is there a way to letterbox games to 16:9 on a non-16:9 monitor? My Nvidia control panel settings (it has a Geforce 540M) don't have any settings regarding aspect ratios.

RvxJG.png
 
I've been holding out for the Samsung Chronos Series 7 but they seem to be having difficulty getting the 14" out to market and the 15.6" version is scarce. I was pretty much set on this until I heard about the new 15" envy. If I could rip out the screen from the Envy and stick it in the Series 7 (obvious 15" or greater) I would be totally satisfied.
 
Ok! So I finally have the money to buy a new laptop! I am primarily concerned with producing music on it so it has to be high powered. I won't be playing games on it at all but I know the people that post on here are geniuses!
I already have a good external sound card so that is taken care of... I only mentioned that I won't be playing games on it because I would rather have a better processor and/or RAM than a better video card.

Basically, I want to spend around $1000 but would go up to $1200 if the computer was too good to pass up.
Also of importance to me is that it is a durable brand of computers since I will be using it to play live music in relatively hot places like bars and clubs.

Any awesome recommendations for me? I live in Canada but my wife's family lives in the US so I am there often so I could buy it in either country.

Thanks for the help!
 
I would like to get a laptop that will allow my girlfriend to play World of Warcraft and Star Wars: The Old Republic with me. I really don't know anything about good mobility graphics chips -- what sort of specs should I look for?
 
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