da_stabbah
Member
i hate to say it, but are you sure you are looking for a laptop? what you listed would be better served by a desktop PC.
Gamer-approved laptop recommendation thread
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i hate to say it, but are you sure you are looking for a laptop? what you listed would be better served by a desktop PC.
Hi guys
Well, my laptop's screen cracked because cell phone fell on top it when my chair fell over a I was making my futon bed. Sigh. :-( is there any way to get my laptop screen fixed.
My laptop is asus m50vm_a1. If that can't happen then what new laptop do you guys recommend?
I do bit of gaming and a lot of graphical modeling. So I need good graphic card and a good processor, right?
Thank you in advance.
Well, my laptop's screen cracked because cell phone fell on top it when my chair fell over a I was making my futon bed. Sigh. :-( is there any way to get my laptop screen fixed.
My laptop is asus m50vm_a1. If that can't happen then what new laptop do you guys recommend?
I do bit of gaming and a lot of graphical modeling. So I need good graphic card and a good processor, right?
Thank you in advance.
Kilgore Trout
Member
I recently ordered a Lenovo laptop and it was dead on arrival. I spent 2 hours on the line with customer service before I was able to schedule a replacement. They said someone would call me in 3-5 business days and I ended up receiving an email a week later saying my computer model was no longer in stock. They seem to have good prices which is what appealed to me, and after having an HP for years and dealing with its incredibly loud fan that seems to be the norm for their computers I wanted to try something else, but I've read that other people have had similar problems and mine wasn't an isolated event. Worth a shot for that price, though, I guess.
I ended up getting a laptop from http://www.xoticpc.com instead. Their prices aren't as competitive compared to say Lenovo or HP, but they offer nice customization options and have much better customer service.
I am in the market for a laptop for my cousin who is rather obsessed with Minecraft, but I don't want to buy anything overly unnecessary. I haven't played the game in awhile nor at great length so I am unfamiliar with how much leeway I should give the system requirements to make sure the game doesn't slow down when the maps get big. Any suggestions?
I don't think Nvidia Optimus can be turned off. :|
goldenpp72
Member
So i'm thinking of buying a new laptop this year, I use my laptop for traveling a lot (probably about 4-5 months in a year) but the rest of the time I use it at home like a desktop. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of my current one (almost 4 years) so am thinking of going for one when windows 8 is out. Is there a general best place to buy one from that is reliable and fair priced?
I have Amazon credit to use, so strictly looking at Amazon only...what would be a good laptop that's around the $600-800 range? My objective is to be able to play Diablo 3 comfortably (medium settings at least, smoothly). I'm not a graphics whore so I don't need everything at max settings.
I haven't PC game'd since literally a decade ago, but I'll probably mainly just play indie games and whatever the hell is cheap on Steam.
Edit: I have no idea what pricing is like on laptops so I'm willing to hear anything above $800 but not too much
I haven't PC game'd since literally a decade ago, but I'll probably mainly just play indie games and whatever the hell is cheap on Steam.
Edit: I have no idea what pricing is like on laptops so I'm willing to hear anything above $800 but not too much
Appreciate the response and I passed it along to my friend, who is really interested in one of these laptops now. He's was curious if you or anyone else had any thoughts on this specific laptop from them. He's anxious to pull the trigger, but just wants to make sure there isn't anything off here.
Kilgore Trout
Member
I think either one of these should suffice.
This Acer should run it on medium and maybe high.
And this Asus should be able to run it on high (Here's a youtube video with someone using the same card) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmzmZKvvMHs
That looks like a pretty good computer to me, but how important is gaming to your friend? Because that graphics card should be able to run current games on medium settings at least, but I don't know how many years that will last.
I'm not an expert on computers either, I just did a lot of research recently because I was trying to buy myself a computer so I investigated a lot of different manufacturers and parts. Sometimes spending $50 or $100 more will allow you to get something much more futureproof as gaming goes, but it comes down to how much you're willing to pay vs. how much you want to get for your money.
I used a Zalman cooler with a Sager NP8150 2 years ago. Had about 5 degrees Celsius decrease I think. Looking back though, the Sager kept itself cool very nicely so a cooler was probably unnecessary.
One caveat of this cooler is that it's a pain trying to get the cables back into the little storage space on the back of the cooler. It's similar to how arcade sticks hold their cables if you're familiar with those, but it's a much tighter fit. They might have released newer laptop coolers so I'd search around.
My friend is having an issue with his Alienware, he recently added a second monitor to it, through the DVI out on the M15x, but due to his Radeon 5850M down clocking to save power his secondary monitor keeps flickering whenever any applications that don't require 3D acceleration are running. So essentially any time he's just using the Windows dashboard, it'll flicker when an application opens or when he scrolls or anything, we figured we could just manually set the clock speeds through something like AMD GPU Clock Tool, or Sapphire Trixx, but having to do that every time the laptop is started is a bit of a nuisance.
Anyone know how to disable the GPU throttling without flashing the BIOS? I'd check in the ATI overdrive section of Catalyst Control but it's disabled on mobile cards for some reason.
Anyone know how to disable the GPU throttling without flashing the BIOS? I'd check in the ATI overdrive section of Catalyst Control but it's disabled on mobile cards for some reason.
HotHamWater
Member
I don't know what's needed for rendering but has he checked out Sager laptops? I think you can put a lot of RAM and a good CPU in them, and they don't look too flashy so taking them to work wouldn't be a problem. If you're in the US, you can grab them from a reseller like XoticPC.
or if you're not in a hurry, you could hang on a little while and when Ivy Bridge comes out, most average laptops will be able to game ok with the integrated graphics.
I'm disappointed in the UK at the moment. I bought a laptop for the kids' homework earlier this year - sandy bridge i5, 4GB ram, GT540M GPU with 1GB ram (wanted it to play minecraft well). About £500
These days that money is just getting you integrated graphics or the odd AMD APU stuff which I'm not convinced by. 540M level is actually more expensive than 12 months ago which is a surprise to me.
I'm holding off until Ivy Bridge comes out and seeing what the benchmarks are for that. CPU should be only a tiny bit faster than current, but the GPU should be getting a decent bump.
if you want to check out the GPUs, google the card number, and one of the first results is usually notebookcheck which is good to get an idea of where that GPU sits in the overall heirarchy, and how well it'll play games.
Hey GAF (first post here). My country doesn't really have any Sager or Toshiba laptops here so I searched around and finally found this laptop, Dell Inspiron 15R.
Here are the specs:
2nd Generation Intel® Core i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
15.6" High Definition (720p) LED Display with TrueLife
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 525M (128-bit) 1GB (Quad)
640GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1030, 1x2 bgn + Bluetooth
Webcam Integrated 1.0 mega pixel widescreen HD Webcam
I'm not really a hardcore PC gamer because I'm a console gamer but I would like to play Skyrim, MW3 and other games like that occasionally on a PC. Would this laptop do the job because the price is pretty good here. I don't really care if I have to play on minimum or medium settings.
Here are the specs:
2nd Generation Intel® Core i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
15.6" High Definition (720p) LED Display with TrueLife
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 525M (128-bit) 1GB (Quad)
640GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1030, 1x2 bgn + Bluetooth
Webcam Integrated 1.0 mega pixel widescreen HD Webcam
I'm not really a hardcore PC gamer because I'm a console gamer but I would like to play Skyrim, MW3 and other games like that occasionally on a PC. Would this laptop do the job because the price is pretty good here. I don't really care if I have to play on minimum or medium settings.
Fair Trial
Member
525m should do medium setting at 720p, but i'd rather go at least with a 540m.
Thanks buddy!
BoobPhysics101
Banned
Where are you located?
BTW everyone, K.Jack will be unbanned soon. He was banned for a month about 3 weeks ago. I'll ask him when he'll be back.
You can get a Sager/Clevo NP8150 with an ATI HD6990M for around $1500.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
I wonder what Ivy Bridge will bring to the table. How much better battery life in real life are we looking at, and what will the integrated graphics be able to do in real games performance?
Sony is taking hits. I fear for the future of the Sony Vaio line.
Sony is taking hits. I fear for the future of the Sony Vaio line.
wheremypho
Member
Anyone care to help a computer noob out?
I've recently got a laptop as a gift. The specs are:
i5-2450m, 2.45ghz, 3 MB L3
8GB, DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX; Optimus
This will be mostly used for school but I'm trying to get into PC gaming (League of legends, Assassins Creed)
I'm also not quite sure how fast this CPU is supposed to be, which led me to test it:
3MB/sec transferring files from USB to PC and 9MB/sec transferring files from C: drive to D: drive. Is this the norm of how fast this is supposed to be?
Thanks in advance and sorry for asking for too much.
I've recently got a laptop as a gift. The specs are:
i5-2450m, 2.45ghz, 3 MB L3
8GB, DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX; Optimus
This will be mostly used for school but I'm trying to get into PC gaming (League of legends, Assassins Creed)
I'm also not quite sure how fast this CPU is supposed to be, which led me to test it:
3MB/sec transferring files from USB to PC and 9MB/sec transferring files from C: drive to D: drive. Is this the norm of how fast this is supposed to be?
Thanks in advance and sorry for asking for too much.
AppleSmack
Banned
Anyone know a good laptop that can run Starcraft II for $600 and is available to buy in Canada?
Okay, I'm back from my ban. Sorry you guys have been left hanging for so long.
Instead of me quoting every single query from the last month, please post and let me know whether you still need help.
If you don't mind spending $2k, go for it.
Instead of me quoting every single query from the last month, please post and let me know whether you still need help.
What do you mean with the word "worth?
If you don't mind spending $2k, go for it.
Your CPU is really fast, your GPU is not.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Welcome back, K.Jack!!!
twinturbo2
butthurt Heat fan
HP DV7t Quad Edition. Yay or ney? I can get a decent employee discount for it.
Thanks. I really felt like I abandoned my post.
Price and specs?
2670QM + 7690M XT for around $800 would be nice.
p.s. - the CeBIT tech conference is coming up, from March 6 to 12. Every notebook that's coming out in the next 6 months will be there.
It'll be all about Ivy Bridge and the next generation GPUs of AMD and Nvidia. Stay tuned. 2012 thread goes up soon too. I just need a banner and some headers.
twinturbo2
butthurt Heat fan
lol, I wish! I can get it down to about $1300 with that spec.
Hm, hopefully, something good will show up.
Then am I correct that you are not the US?
Here it's under $1k USD for that, before tax and shipping.
Wordsgohere
Neo Member
Hey, cool, K.Jack is back.
I'm going to need a laptop for college later in the year, so I've been looking. Aside from fairly basic student stuff, I'd like something that can play higher-end games relatively well (e.g. Skyrim).
Does this fit the bill? Or will I need to spend more? I'm not especially familiar with laptop hardware.
I'm going to need a laptop for college later in the year, so I've been looking. Aside from fairly basic student stuff, I'd like something that can play higher-end games relatively well (e.g. Skyrim).
Does this fit the bill? Or will I need to spend more? I'm not especially familiar with laptop hardware.
The value on this barebone MSI is just.... incredible. It's even the only notebook where I wouldn't question you, if you went with the GTX 580M. If you're buying right now, I'd take this machine. The GTX 570M is a very competent chip, and overclocks like mad. You'd be looking at power in the range of a dektopp GTX 560, whereas an overclocked 580M brings you into the league of the GTX 560 Ti. Either GPU will game at 1080p.
Now, it must be said that machines with next generation GPUs will be available in April, and these chips will kick the crap out of what we have now.
I've been scrounging as much data as possible, but the NDAs on mobile chips are things my sources won't break. The one thing I pulled from someone was that "yes, the GTX 670M (a 192-bit chip) will be very close to the GTX 580M."
Which allows me to speculate:
GTX 670M equals GTX 580M
GTX 675M beats up GTX 580M
GTX 680M gets medieval on GTX 580M
Which is why current buyers are squeezing within tight window, because machines packing the 670M and 675M were announced last month at CES, for April release. And then there's the desktop 7800 based 7900M series.
I'm not telling anyone to wait because if you need it now, get it, but we are on the cusp of a change in generations, so what you buy today will be outdated before you've even broken it in properly.
Wordsgohere
Neo Member
Hm... I can afford to wait until a little later in the year, so I guess I'll do that. Might even have a little more cash around that time, so it all works out.
Thanks for the info K.Jack.
Thanks for the info K.Jack.
What do you think the price point will be for these new machines? If I'm looking to grab something in 6mo, should I start aggressively budgeting for a 'next generation' laptop or be content with spending 1k on a current generation model (like the MSI above for example) and hope that it'll last through 4/5yr of casual use? I'd like to play GW2 med-high settings later this year for reference. What do you think?
Well, I have some disappointing revalations.
Apparently the GTX 600M series is not Kepler. Instead Nvidia has taken the existing 40nm 500M cards and shrunk them down to the 28nm process, denoted as GF11xM.
So GTX 670M = 28nm GTX 570M
Comparison:
Same card, more efficient, slightly higher clocks.
Sauces say that the GTX 675M = 28nm GTX 580M, but the GTX 680M is still a mystery. Maybe it will be the first true Kepler chip.
Treat this all as unofficial speculation, for now, but it looks like AMD is going to steamroll Nvidia in this round.
At their launch in April, I'll estimate that a shiny new Clevo with the Ivy Bridge i7-3670QM and AMD 7970M will be going for $1,600 USD give or take $100.
In six months, there will be a refresh and the prices will have dropped about $175.
So, basically, ~$1.5k will have you set with a high-end machine. It will be barely $1k if you go for a 7700M or 7800M machine.
I will have a buyer's guide up, soon after CeBIT announcement have subsided.
Apparently the GTX 600M series is not Kepler. Instead Nvidia has taken the existing 40nm 500M cards and shrunk them down to the 28nm process, denoted as GF11xM.
So GTX 670M = 28nm GTX 570M
Comparison:
Same card, more efficient, slightly higher clocks.
Sauces say that the GTX 675M = 28nm GTX 580M, but the GTX 680M is still a mystery. Maybe it will be the first true Kepler chip.
Treat this all as unofficial speculation, for now, but it looks like AMD is going to steamroll Nvidia in this round.
At their launch in April, I'll estimate that a shiny new Clevo with the Ivy Bridge i7-3670QM and AMD 7970M will be going for $1,600 USD give or take $100.
In six months, there will be a refresh and the prices will have dropped about $175.
So, basically, ~$1.5k will have you set with a high-end machine. It will be barely $1k if you go for a 7700M or 7800M machine.
I will have a buyer's guide up, soon after CeBIT announcement have subsided.
Pinko Marx
Banned
Currently trying to choose between
http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gt780dxr447us-p-3487.html
and
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8180-clevo-p180hm-p-3250.html
Leaning towards the MSI.
http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gt780dxr447us-p-3487.html
and
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8180-clevo-p180hm-p-3250.html
Leaning towards the MSI.
Pinko's back in the building.
Yeah, between those two, you take the MSI.
One, the NP8180 is huge. Two, SLI 560Ms are about as fast as a single 6990M, plus you have to deal with the pains of dual card compatibility and microstutter. Just not a good deal and not worth the hassle.
BUT. The CeBIT tech conference is coming up on March 6th, and all of the new gaming notebooks are going to be on deck,with all of the latest tech. You may want to wait until then before you make a buying decision. AMD's 7900M graphics series is supposed to be monstrous.
Hi guys, thought about making my own thread but found this one.
Long story short, old 5 year old laptop was stolen and I need to replace it. Unlike what seems to be the norm, I have had a GREAT experience with dell computers and they are always incredibly helpful when I call for help or need to get a new keyboard or whatever. So I was looking at this
It's an "Inspiron 17R"
2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM processor (2.20 GHz, with Turbo Boost up to 3.10 GHz)
8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
1TB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 525M (128-bit) 1GB
Would this allow me to play games fairly comfortably? Not looking for anything top of the line just would like the option to play pc exclusive games at something close to recommended settings, which I didn't really have on the now stolen laptop.
Long story short, old 5 year old laptop was stolen and I need to replace it. Unlike what seems to be the norm, I have had a GREAT experience with dell computers and they are always incredibly helpful when I call for help or need to get a new keyboard or whatever. So I was looking at this
It's an "Inspiron 17R"
2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM processor (2.20 GHz, with Turbo Boost up to 3.10 GHz)
8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
1TB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 525M (128-bit) 1GB
Would this allow me to play games fairly comfortably? Not looking for anything top of the line just would like the option to play pc exclusive games at something close to recommended settings, which I didn't really have on the now stolen laptop.
Man, thank you so much for keeping us in the loop with this stuff. Waiting for new mobile cards and laptops is so damn hard especially with how quiet it can be without sauces.
sazzy
Member
Hey everyone,
I got this laptop as a gift a little while ago. I just play WoW (more of a console gamer right now) and was wondering how these specs are for PC gaming. I know very little about current PC hardware trends etc.
BTW it came with BF3 LE. Haven't downloaded it yet. I'm assuming it should run well since it was a 'pack-in' of sorts..?
Operating System:
Windows 2.6.1.7601 (Service Pack 1)
CPU Type:
Intel® Core i7-2670QM CPU @ 2.20GHz
CPU Speed:
2.2 GHz
System Memory:
7.98 GB
Video Card Model:
NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
Video Card Memory:
3.97 GB
Video Card Driver:
nvd3dum.dll
Desktop Resolution:
1920x1080
Hard Disk Size:
453.52 GB
Thanks.
I got this laptop as a gift a little while ago. I just play WoW (more of a console gamer right now) and was wondering how these specs are for PC gaming. I know very little about current PC hardware trends etc.
BTW it came with BF3 LE. Haven't downloaded it yet. I'm assuming it should run well since it was a 'pack-in' of sorts..?
Operating System:
Windows 2.6.1.7601 (Service Pack 1)
CPU Type:
Intel® Core i7-2670QM CPU @ 2.20GHz
CPU Speed:
2.2 GHz
System Memory:
7.98 GB
Video Card Model:
NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
Video Card Memory:
3.97 GB
Video Card Driver:
nvd3dum.dll
Desktop Resolution:
1920x1080
Hard Disk Size:
453.52 GB
Thanks.
That's a good cpu. Only a few games and programs use all 4 cores though. 8 gigs of ram is more than enough. That Nvidia GT540m is whats gonna hold you back. Can run most games on the market but not at native resolution (1080p in this case).
You'll be able to play your games on medium settings.
1. What is your budget? If you're talking CPU upgrades, that means your willing to spend $1k, right?
2. Stick with the 2670QM. Your wasting money going any further, as there's only a 10% jump in performance at each step, but your spending increases exponentially.
You won't be playing any games at 1080p. At 720p, you can expect to do decently with medium/high settings.
Wait until the end of the week, and I'll have the thread updated. There's going to have a lot of new machines announced this year at CeBIT.
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