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Gamer-approved laptop recommendation thread
- Thread starter dLMN8R
- Start date
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Most manufacturers charge you way, way too much for an SSD. Better off in most cases just buying it yourself. There's been 256GB ones for $150-180 lately, and I saw an Agility 4 512GB for ~$325-330 I believe the other day.
chadderbox77
Member
I have one of these, and it can run anything. I love it.
Boombloxer
Member
What kind of keyboard did you get? Does the layout bother you at all?
Yea, that's kinda what makes so hard. The ease of typing is fairly important to me.
Dacvak
No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
I mentioned this a while back, but I've been using my laptop for over a month now, so I figured I'd give new impressions.
I have the Retina MacBook Pro
Specs:
After a month of use, I'm really torn between using OS X and Windows. Both look fantastic with the retina screen. Surprisingly, scaling looks wonderful in most applications, since the pixel are so small, it's hard to actually see any scaling. Both operating systems run in 2880x1800.
OS X definitely has a bit better battery life (due to the video card switching), but obviously I use Windows for gaming. Running in Windows generally gets the machine hotter, since I am usually gaming. (A nice laptop chill pad makes this a non-issue.) It took me a while, but I finally installed and configured enough tweaks/programs/drivers to fully take advantage of things like the unrivaled Apple trackpad. Holy shit, that trackpad is so smoother, I prefer it over a mouse when I'm not gaming. Gestures in both OSes is remarkable.
Gaming is far better than expected. I bought a huge number of games during the Steam sale, and so far, it runs all of them without a hitch. Most games have no problem running at 60fps on their high or highest settings. It depends on the game, but a lot of them run in 2880x1800 at 60fps, too. (Though, for the life of me, I can't see much difference between that and 1900x1080 when in motion.)
Emulation is tremendous. Some Wii games will run at a full 60fps in 2880x1800. The only game I can't get to run at 60fps is Super Mario Galaxy 2. Not sure if there are some settings I could tweak to make it smoother, though.
PS2 emulation never skips a beat. Full 60fps at its highest supported resolution. Tears it apart.
In short, this is a REALLY incredible laptop - the build quality is remarkable. It's extremely thin and light, has those superfluous yet cool things like a magnetic AC adapter, and a really good battery life.
That being said, it's REALLY expensive. At $3000, it's not for everyone. You could probably get this kind of performance out of less elegant laptop for half the price. That being said, I've been told these laptops don't lose their value as much. And from what I've seen so far, this thing will probably last a very long time. Also, dat retina screen... so good.
So, yeah. Still very happy with this purchase. I was never an Apple guy before - this is my first Apple computer. I'd definitely recommend it as a gaming machine to anyone, though. The whole thing kicks so much ass.
I have the Retina MacBook Pro
Specs:
- 2.6ghz (3.6ghz TurboBoost) i7
- 16GB DDR3 1600mhz RAM
- Nvidia GeForce 650m 1GB GDDR5
- 512gb Solid State ultra-fast drive
- 15.4" LED Display @ 2880x1800
- OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
- Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (Used for gaming)
After a month of use, I'm really torn between using OS X and Windows. Both look fantastic with the retina screen. Surprisingly, scaling looks wonderful in most applications, since the pixel are so small, it's hard to actually see any scaling. Both operating systems run in 2880x1800.
OS X definitely has a bit better battery life (due to the video card switching), but obviously I use Windows for gaming. Running in Windows generally gets the machine hotter, since I am usually gaming. (A nice laptop chill pad makes this a non-issue.) It took me a while, but I finally installed and configured enough tweaks/programs/drivers to fully take advantage of things like the unrivaled Apple trackpad. Holy shit, that trackpad is so smoother, I prefer it over a mouse when I'm not gaming. Gestures in both OSes is remarkable.
Gaming is far better than expected. I bought a huge number of games during the Steam sale, and so far, it runs all of them without a hitch. Most games have no problem running at 60fps on their high or highest settings. It depends on the game, but a lot of them run in 2880x1800 at 60fps, too. (Though, for the life of me, I can't see much difference between that and 1900x1080 when in motion.)
Emulation is tremendous. Some Wii games will run at a full 60fps in 2880x1800. The only game I can't get to run at 60fps is Super Mario Galaxy 2. Not sure if there are some settings I could tweak to make it smoother, though.
PS2 emulation never skips a beat. Full 60fps at its highest supported resolution. Tears it apart.
In short, this is a REALLY incredible laptop - the build quality is remarkable. It's extremely thin and light, has those superfluous yet cool things like a magnetic AC adapter, and a really good battery life.
That being said, it's REALLY expensive. At $3000, it's not for everyone. You could probably get this kind of performance out of less elegant laptop for half the price. That being said, I've been told these laptops don't lose their value as much. And from what I've seen so far, this thing will probably last a very long time. Also, dat retina screen... so good.
So, yeah. Still very happy with this purchase. I was never an Apple guy before - this is my first Apple computer. I'd definitely recommend it as a gaming machine to anyone, though. The whole thing kicks so much ass.
Unknown Soldier
Member
Right. You didn't exactly specify what games you played on it. If someone bought the RMBP based on your post and tried to play Skyrim, The Witcher II, Crysis or Crysis II, BF3, or even Diablo III at 2880x1800 resolution he would be mad at you. The RMBP uses a GT 650M with GDDR5. There is no magic there, a $3,000 Sager/Clevo laptop with GTX 680M will be ugly as sin compared to the RMBP but it will slap the RMBP's shit silly in any remotely demanding games. Try to be a little more specific about what games you're talking about when you post. People actually go out and spend real money after reading this thread.
Your whole post reads like a shill for Apple and RMBP, quite frankly. You didn't mention how the keyboard heats up like crazy when the RMBP is used for gaming, which makes actually touching the keys to control the game rather uncomfortable. You didn't mention how people who still buy games on discs were supposed to install them, since the RMBP lacks an internal optical drive. (Does anybody still buy physical PC games anymore?) You didn't mention that the RMBP lacks an Ethernet port, so God forbid if they try to play a game online and their WiFi router is being a bit dodgy and they can't stay connected without plugging in to the router.
The RMBP is an incredibly poor choice if you are buying a gaming laptop, period. It is not worth the $3,000. If you spend $3,000 on a Sager/Clevo laptop you are getting an SSD + HDD, both upgradable. You are getting GTX 680M, a video card that is literally a slightly down-clocked desktop GTX 670. You are getting the max Core i7 CPU. You are getting an internal optical drive. You are getting a goddamned Ethernet port. And you are getting a machine which can actually be upgraded down the road, a bigger HDD later when you need it, more RAM if you want it. The RMBP is many things, but a serious gaming laptop it absolutely is not.
Nice screen though.
Your whole post reads like a shill for Apple and RMBP, quite frankly. You didn't mention how the keyboard heats up like crazy when the RMBP is used for gaming, which makes actually touching the keys to control the game rather uncomfortable. You didn't mention how people who still buy games on discs were supposed to install them, since the RMBP lacks an internal optical drive. (Does anybody still buy physical PC games anymore?) You didn't mention that the RMBP lacks an Ethernet port, so God forbid if they try to play a game online and their WiFi router is being a bit dodgy and they can't stay connected without plugging in to the router.
The RMBP is an incredibly poor choice if you are buying a gaming laptop, period. It is not worth the $3,000. If you spend $3,000 on a Sager/Clevo laptop you are getting an SSD + HDD, both upgradable. You are getting GTX 680M, a video card that is literally a slightly down-clocked desktop GTX 670. You are getting the max Core i7 CPU. You are getting an internal optical drive. You are getting a goddamned Ethernet port. And you are getting a machine which can actually be upgraded down the road, a bigger HDD later when you need it, more RAM if you want it. The RMBP is many things, but a serious gaming laptop it absolutely is not.
Nice screen though.
Boombloxer
Member
That's probably one of the few posts I've seen that actually recommends a Macbook for gaming.
A few of my friends have it, and they don't use it for that, like at all, really. They all have serious rigs at home. The screen is nice, but the innards are a joke compared to anything else in that price range for gaming.
I think even the style is up for debate at that point. If you are spending $3k for a gaming laptop, you can do better.
A few of my friends have it, and they don't use it for that, like at all, really. They all have serious rigs at home. The screen is nice, but the innards are a joke compared to anything else in that price range for gaming.
I think even the style is up for debate at that point. If you are spending $3k for a gaming laptop, you can do better.
Unknown Soldier
Member
Can you be more specific as to what you'll do with it? Many laptops can be had for about a grand, it's a mainstream price point.
Unknown Soldier
Member
Darksiders 2 is a console port. I'm guessing it will be fine in 1080p, but we won't know until it actually is released.
True, and I wouldn't mind doing that. However, if you buy the Y580 does it ship with the Windows disk? Or only pre-installed? I would rather not have to buy an SSD drive and Windows 7 if I could help it.
Other than basic word processing Id like to be able to stream from an xbox/ps3, and occasionally play newer games at reasonable settings. It wouldnt be my primary gaming device but if i could run diablo/batlefield/other newer games at good settings id be pleased.
Not sure, to be honest. One nice perk of being an IT guy is I can find windows disks all over the place. Any Windows 7 OEM download (even non-OEM seems to work with Win7) will work fine with the key that's on the bottom of the computer.
These are fully legit and should work:
http://www.mytechguide.org/10042/windows-7-service-pack-sp1-official-digitalriver-download/
Those are intended to be downloads for digital distribution customers, but unlike XP, you can install from one of those DVDs and still use most install CD-Keys, including OEM.
If you're worried about the key not working, I recommend using a cloning program like Acronis or Clonezilla and take a full cloned image of the original load from Lenovo. You can also use this method to simply clone from one drive to the other when upgrading to SSD, although that's only recommended if you also know how to align the partitions, turn on AHCI, and do all of the other SSD tweaks that won't work properly if you don't do a fresh install.
For the record, I used Acronis home's boot CD to clone my friend's 320GB HDD (roughly half full) to his new 256GB Crucial M4. I had to download a program to align the partitions (not free, although there are free manual methods), manually turn on AHCI and change a registry item for it to work, and manually disable defrag. Also would want to check on TRIM status, although that worked out of the box. Damn thing runs great now, better than my SSD since he has a SATA III rig, vs. my old SATA II.
Hey guys, I'm looking to get a nice gaming laptop within the year, and was wondering if there was anything that's really good out of the box. I know most would say to build/customize your own, but I dunno.
My budget is around $1000 - $1200.
My budget is around $1000 - $1200.
Hey all,
Whats the general opinion on this Compal laptop at XoticPC?
http://www.xoticpc.com/force-qal15hd-compal-qal15-p-4808.html
Seems like a good price. Even after upgrading the CPU to an i7, its still less than $950
I just don't know anything about Compal.
Whats the general opinion on this Compal laptop at XoticPC?
http://www.xoticpc.com/force-qal15hd-compal-qal15-p-4808.html
Seems like a good price. Even after upgrading the CPU to an i7, its still less than $950
I just don't know anything about Compal.
I got the steelseries. Love it! The keys DO NOT MATCH!!! though to all hot buttons. They give you software to download though which helps a bunch but still, very annoying. Other than that the laptop is awesome!!!
Phoenician_Viking
Banned
From what I can tell, this QAL15 is a brand new Compal chassis, so it's hard to say until a site like Anandtech reviews it.
Here is their review of its predecessor, the PL21.
Thank K.Jack,
One more question, I think I've found THE ONE. But I need all of you to have a look at it for me first. I have the option to get this one for $899
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0394503
Wondering how you feel about that one. Thanks!
One more question, I think I've found THE ONE. But I need all of you to have a look at it for me first. I have the option to get this one for $899
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0394503
Wondering how you feel about that one. Thanks!
The price at the link is $999, which would be a good deal, so if you can pay $899 for that it is an absolute steal. With it having a 1080p LCD, Blu-ray drive, 8GB 1600MHz RAM, and a large 7200RPM HDD, you should buy ASAP.
The only con I can give the notebook, is that I believe the GT 650M is the slower DDR3 version. But you can overcome the performance gap with overclocking.
Yes, I should have bought it! One of the sellers on Amazon had it for $899. It was bought from under me in the last hour. Really frustrated. Good to know its a good deal. I may still grab that one from Microcenter. Thanks K.Jack
Boombloxer
Member
Thanks a bunch. Have to think about this one...
What about under 17"?
Thanks
flintstryker
Banned
To you guys who have placed orders for the y580 from Lenovo how long does it take for them to process your order? My first order got cancelled because of some issue with my billing and shipping adress so I had that resolved and reordered on tuesday, however I still see my stuff havent been processed as yet, does it usually take this long?
Which is the most powerful among those specs? A few seem different.
The 7670M is faster than the GT 540M.
I'd pay for the quad core. Don't want to get caught pants down when games really need one.
Could you link me to the one you're looking at, so I can see this SSD?
Jim E. Rossler
Banned
I SAID GOD DAMN
BamYouHaveAids
Member
Yes, it took nearly 3 weeks. Absurdly long wait time.
flintstryker
Banned
Wait it took three weeks for it to be shipped? Wtf?
So i will take one of these laptops although I'm not 100% which one will it be so i need a bit of help. Although none of them is a "true" gaming laptop i can't afford a more expensive one at this moment. I will mostly use it for programing but i want to play a game once in a while as well.The sites are on croatian but the specs are same everywhere 
Dell:
http://www.adm.hr/product_info.php?products_id=11729
Toshiba:
http://www.vario.bg/145/11254/toshiba-satellite-l850-13r
Acer:
http://www.vixus.hr/shop2/prijenosna-racunala-acer/10008595-ACER-Aspire-V3-571G---NXRZPEX007.html
Asus:
http://www.centro.hr/detalji_proizvoda.A534A05D-F646-483D-85DC-15947EBEE80A.aspx
Thanks for help in advance
Dell:
http://www.adm.hr/product_info.php?products_id=11729
Toshiba:
http://www.vario.bg/145/11254/toshiba-satellite-l850-13r
Acer:
http://www.vixus.hr/shop2/prijenosna-racunala-acer/10008595-ACER-Aspire-V3-571G---NXRZPEX007.html
Asus:
http://www.centro.hr/detalji_proizvoda.A534A05D-F646-483D-85DC-15947EBEE80A.aspx
Thanks for help in advance
Dacvak
No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
Those are all legitimate points, and I won't take them away from you. (Well, to be honest, I don't think the laptop gets all that hot, but maybe it's because I have it on a cooling mat?)
That being said, it plays all of the games you mentioned, just not at 2880x1800. I didn't mean to imply it plays all games at 2880x1800, but it does Wii emulation at that resolution, as well as a huge chunk of my Steam library (modern games, too).
I still maintain that it's a great gaming machine, but that could be based on personal opinion. To me, I value build quality and portability quite a bit, and no other gaming laptop can touch the RMBP in that category, IMO. That might not factor into your consideration when choosing a laptop, but it makes a big deal to me. It's the same reason why I like the GameBoy Micro over the original GBA.
Everything is subjective - I can only tell you my opinion of the machine. It handles every game I've thrown at it at what I consider very respectable settings, and I would absolutely recommend it to someone who was looking for a new laptop that could play games.
I don't know if the PC community thinks only in terms of raw specs, but I'd take the RMBP over the ASUS G75 any day of the week based on the fact that it's half the size, alone. Portability might not be a big deal to everyone, but since this is a thread about laptops, I'd assume that's important to people. Otherwise, why wouldn't they just build a tower?
But I want to still acknowledge that all of your points are valid and should be considered, and I apologize for not bringing them to light.
I did not purposefully try and make my post sound like an advertisement for the product - I'm honestly just that happy with my purchase. It's a fantastic piece of equipment.
OS X sucks, though.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...ffiliateID=Es5Ekr9eEBk-oBBbUvz946NMtRP_0Qi8Gw
Looks like a great deal, but is this too good to be true? How does this laptop handle heat- that's usually my main concern given what I do with laptops. I know the G series handles heat well, didn't see a review on this one though.
Looks like a great deal, but is this too good to be true? How does this laptop handle heat- that's usually my main concern given what I do with laptops. I know the G series handles heat well, didn't see a review on this one though.
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/gbweb/LenovoPortal/en_GB/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=55&Code=M772CUK&category-id=99B5C6173DE70D28B91F9B176A8E365F
Are games going to start using quad cores soon? I thought most still weren't coded to properly take advantage of multicores. If a dual core will get me through 2 years that'd be enough. I5 is 4 threads though right?
Apocryphon
Member
Not on high settings, and probably not above 30fps on lower settings.
Anything horribly wrong with this one? Trying to find something at 1920 x 1080 at a sub $1000 price after tax and shipping.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3184128&csid=_61
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3184128&csid=_61
I've played D3 on a Core i3 with an HD 3000 on low settings at and average of 50 FPS at 1366x768. I imagine an Ivy i5 or i7 with an HD 4000 could do the same but at medium settings at that resolution.
I really don't want you to feel the need to defend yourself. Your post was completely fine, as it's not like anyone was going to go blindly drop $3k just because you said you like it.
Apple brings a lot of hate, but don't be afraid to share your opinions.
If gaming is your main objective, only acquiring the GT 630M (rebranded GT 540M) at $799 is really not even a decent deal, especially when that Lenovo Y580 with GTX 660M was just going at $850 for a few weeks.
Intel HD 4000 benchmarked by Notebookcheck. These should help you establish somewhat of a ballpark on its capabilities. The Blizzard games are trivial for the 4000.
Well, there are games now, which benefit from four cores. The Witcher 2, Skyrim, Battlefield 3 Multiplayer, and Deus Ex:HR are just a few of the recent games I know of without thinking too hard. But then I don't want to paint the picture that pairing the GTX 660M with an i5 is a death sentence, because there are a lot of games which will get by fine, with a fast dual core.
The near future with the dual core concerns me, especially with the next-gen consoles right around the corner.
Going with the i7 quad takes all uncertainty out of the equation, because you'll have it when you need it, instead of needing it when you don't have it, as the old saying goes.
In the end, it comes down to whether you want to spend.
The 630M is horridly anemic for $900. Why not go for one of the mid-tier Sager machines? They skirt the $1k line, with 1080p, an i5, and GT 650M GDDR5 cards.
Spiderjericho
Member
I have a Y470 and absolutely hate the touchpad. Do the Y580/Y480 improve on the previous models?
And those poo pooing on the Macbook Pro, I'll admit the price is rather high ($3,000 for 512 GB SSD, GT650, I7, 16 GB RAM, etc). But I do like the aesthetics of the unit, the retina display and touchpad.
And those poo pooing on the Macbook Pro, I'll admit the price is rather high ($3,000 for 512 GB SSD, GT650, I7, 16 GB RAM, etc). But I do like the aesthetics of the unit, the retina display and touchpad.
Non-retina has the 650m 1GB too. But basically you'd buy that for other reasons, with the opportunity to play games ok too.
Spiderjericho
Member
Is there anything in the same market space on the Windows side comparable to Apple?
HP Envy used to be until they moved to ultrabooks. Yeah, the Clevos/Alienware are great powerhouses but they don't design for aesthetics/form factor, etc.
HP Envy used to be until they moved to ultrabooks. Yeah, the Clevos/Alienware are great powerhouses but they don't design for aesthetics/form factor, etc.
saveweyard
Banned
There are still some good HP Envy configurations out there that are comparable/even better than the Macbooks. Like this one: http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/A6U26AV?HP-ENVY-15t-3200-Notebook-PC
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