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Gamer-approved laptop recommendation thread
- Thread starter dLMN8R
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SMT
this show is not Breaking Bad why is it not Breaking Bad? it should be Breaking Bad dammit Breaking Bad
Y580 from Lenovo, the graphic card (gtx 660m) is a tad weak, but what the hell, they don't heavily discount the products every day and the blu-ray reader writer makes up for it.
Are there any options or even websites that review Gaming laptops that are the smaller type? I'm looking into getting a new laptop and I'd like one that gets decent battery life.
I remember seeing some Alienware 11inch model a while ago, but it appears they've discontinued it. I noticed that they have a 14 inch model, though. Reading about it seems that it gets decent battery life and I'd like to see what is comparable.
Basically, I'm looking for something that will be good for my work situation. At work, in my downtime, I'm able to do anything I want, which includes gaming. I'd like something that would be able to game for more than 20 minutes on battery (current laptop is an ASUS G50VT-X) and provide great battery life for non-gaming. I get about 2 hours now on my current laptop. I hear some newer laptops are getting 3-5 hours (not gaming, just web browsing, etc). It'd be nice if I could play something like Torchlight 2 or League of Legends for an hour or two. I'm not really sure what is reasonable these days.
I remember seeing some Alienware 11inch model a while ago, but it appears they've discontinued it. I noticed that they have a 14 inch model, though. Reading about it seems that it gets decent battery life and I'd like to see what is comparable.
Basically, I'm looking for something that will be good for my work situation. At work, in my downtime, I'm able to do anything I want, which includes gaming. I'd like something that would be able to game for more than 20 minutes on battery (current laptop is an ASUS G50VT-X) and provide great battery life for non-gaming. I get about 2 hours now on my current laptop. I hear some newer laptops are getting 3-5 hours (not gaming, just web browsing, etc). It'd be nice if I could play something like Torchlight 2 or League of Legends for an hour or two. I'm not really sure what is reasonable these days.
SMT
this show is not Breaking Bad why is it not Breaking Bad? it should be Breaking Bad dammit Breaking Bad
Yeah, I mean you can change the clock speed of the GPU to that of a 675m with MSI Afterburner (big difference in performance), but it's a new laptop, and I would like to extend the warranty. $150 for 3 years.
I'm going to play Guild Wars 2 on it, as well as Torchlight II.
It's not the best GPU out there, but with the discount, it makes it a hot deal. I wouldn't overclock a Lenovo anyway, also get a cooling pad.
Also your video depicts the card performing in 1366X768, when the GPU itself is supposed to push 1080p and above.
DivineRage002
Member
So I'm looking at a GTX680m laptop, and I'm thinking of getting a 3D screen along with it. But that got me thinking, what are the odds I'll be able to get 120fps on modern games? Or is 3D usable below 120fps?
How multicore enabled are emulators? CPU might be important eg for dolphin. If they are multithreaded then it's worth going for the MSI. If they're only single/dual threaded, then you should look at the turbo speeds for each chip.
SMT
this show is not Breaking Bad why is it not Breaking Bad? it should be Breaking Bad dammit Breaking Bad
3D is only usable if your screen has a 120hz refresh rate or above.
Your framerate can dip, it doesn't matter, all that matters is the screen, and graphic card compatibility.
saveweyard
Banned
So, after first ordering the Lenovo Y580 through Lenovo's website and being very disappointed with how long they were taking to ship it (I ordered it on September 3 and it had yet to ship as of today; it was scheduled to ship on the 25th but that was the third time they had pushed pack the shipping date) I decided to cancel my order as I needed the laptop before I go back to college.
Looking for a new laptop, I ended up purchasing this one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007Z9WWDW/?tag=neogaf0e-20
It was about $100 more than the Lenovo, but it seems like it was worth it, looking at videos online and reading reviews. Looks very sturdy (and heavy!) and I also like the design of it more than the Lenovo. Dual fans is also a bonus, as I may use MSI Afterburner to get a little more power out of the GPU, and reviews have said it stays very cool. The screen also seems to be of better quality (pretty sure its a matte screen).
Best of all the thing will be here on Tuesday thanks to Amazon Prime!
Looking for a new laptop, I ended up purchasing this one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007Z9WWDW/?tag=neogaf0e-20
It was about $100 more than the Lenovo, but it seems like it was worth it, looking at videos online and reading reviews. Looks very sturdy (and heavy!) and I also like the design of it more than the Lenovo. Dual fans is also a bonus, as I may use MSI Afterburner to get a little more power out of the GPU, and reviews have said it stays very cool. The screen also seems to be of better quality (pretty sure its a matte screen).
Best of all the thing will be here on Tuesday thanks to Amazon Prime!
Games like Skyrim, Deus Ex, and The Witcher 2 get huge boosts from having four cores, and that trend is only going to increase greatly in 2012-2013. Take the quad core.So there's 2 deals that sound interesting, these end tomorrow (Finland):
1200€ MSI GT70: 3610QM, 670M (3GB), 8GB RAM (1600MHZ), 750GB 7200RPM HDD. (Normal price here is 1500-1700€
VS
1000€ TOSHIBA QOSMIO: 3210M, 670M (3GB), 6GB RAM (1600MHZ), 750GB 5400RPM HDD. (Normal price here is 1200-1400€
What kind of FPS would I be looking at with these systems? Main use would be Guild Wars 2 and emulators. I play other random games too but I don't have the need to max out games. Would be nice to play on high though, is it possible with these? 30 fps is fine by me, as long as it doesn't drop below.
And while obviously the first set up is better, is there that much difference between the two in gaming? Not many games use quad core right? If I bought the 1000€ laptop that would leave me money for a SSD.
Parallax Scroll
Banned
Are ASUS Ultralights still good? I'm looking to upgrade from a UL30V from a couple years ago. Specs for my old one: http://www.amazon.com/UL30Vt-X1-Light-13-3-Inch-Laptop-Battery/dp/B002XZLURC/ref=sr_1_1
Hey GAF, I'm looking to buy a new laptop later this year.
I'm not necessarily interested in gaming, rather, I'm interested in video capture and streaming. I didn't want to make a new thread, and figured people in this one would be able to point me in the right direction.
Basically I want to make sure the processor is fast enough handle the HD video from my HD PVR, screen cap it with X-Split, and broadcast it. The one I have currently will stream to an extent, but has trouble and will stutter, sound drops, etc. So...any recommendations? Decent vid card is a plus. This is what I have now:
AMD A8 (1.8GHz) with Radeon Graphics Chip (shared memory, I guess?)
8GB RAM
Also, I need Windows 7 64-Bit (though I imagine that won't be a challenge, I think most ship with this). Also looking to spend under a thousand bucks, preferably around 700 to 800.
Thanks Gaf!
Edit: Was looking at this, but I'm not really sure if it's sufficient. I miss the good ole days where specs were easy to fucking read instead of all these code names to hide shit from us laymen
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pa...lver/5608295.p?id=1218672046425&skuId=5608295
I'm not necessarily interested in gaming, rather, I'm interested in video capture and streaming. I didn't want to make a new thread, and figured people in this one would be able to point me in the right direction.
Basically I want to make sure the processor is fast enough handle the HD video from my HD PVR, screen cap it with X-Split, and broadcast it. The one I have currently will stream to an extent, but has trouble and will stutter, sound drops, etc. So...any recommendations? Decent vid card is a plus. This is what I have now:
AMD A8 (1.8GHz) with Radeon Graphics Chip (shared memory, I guess?)
8GB RAM
Also, I need Windows 7 64-Bit (though I imagine that won't be a challenge, I think most ship with this). Also looking to spend under a thousand bucks, preferably around 700 to 800.
Thanks Gaf!
Edit: Was looking at this, but I'm not really sure if it's sufficient. I miss the good ole days where specs were easy to fucking read instead of all these code names to hide shit from us laymen
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pa...lver/5608295.p?id=1218672046425&skuId=5608295
Yep.
Check out the line of Zenbooks.
Hey GAF, I'm looking to buy a new laptop later this year.
I'm not necessarily interested in gaming, rather, I'm interested in video capture and streaming. I didn't want to make a new thread, and figured people in this one would be able to point me in the right direction.
Basically I want to make sure the processor is fast enough handle the HD video from my HD PVR, screen cap it with X-Split, and broadcast it. The one I have currently will stream to an extent, but has trouble and will stutter, sound drops, etc. So...any recommendations? Decent vid card is a plus. This is what I have now:
AMD A8 (1.8GHz) with Radeon Graphics Chip (shared memory, I guess?)
8GB RAM
Also, I need Windows 7 64-Bit (though I imagine that won't be a challenge, I think most ship with this). Also looking to spend under a thousand bucks, preferably around 700 to 800.
Thanks Gaf!
Edit: Was looking at this, but I'm not really sure if it's sufficient. I miss the good ole days where specs were easy to fucking read instead of all these code names to hide shit from us laymen
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pa...lver/5608295.p?id=1218672046425&skuId=5608295
The $850 Lenovo Y580 really is the most outstanding deal out right now. You get an Ivy Bridge i7 quad core and a high-end Nvidia GPU, in a well built machine.
To put this in perspective to the HP you posted, for $120 more you get 2x the CPU processing power and a GPU which is over 5x faster (it's so much faster I chose 5x to not seem exaggerated, but it's more) than the HD 4000.
I know you're not explicitly looking for a gaming machine, but as a bonus, this Lenovo also opens the option to play any game out at High/Max settings, at the screen's native resolution of 1366x768.
You sold me! Thanks so much for the help man.
fluffydelusions
Member
That is my main issue with this laptop. I've had a 15.6" laptop with that res and I don't think I could ever do it again personally...noticeable "screen door effect" Not very noticeable in game though but I also use my laptop for programming and screen real estate is important. Still a pretty awesome buy at that price though. If that res doesn't bother you you cannot really go wrong there.
What exactly is the "screen door effect"?
fluffydelusions
Member
Best way to describe it is kind of like you are looking through a screen door where you can somewhat see the pixels. Like 1366x768 on say a 14" monitor is not very noticeable but on the 15.6" it becomes slightly noticeable. If you have a bestbuy or something similar around you look at a 15.6" screen @ 1366x768 then another at 1920x1080 and the difference becomes noticeable. Or if you've used the iPhone over the years compare the older models with no retina display to the newer versions with a retina. Unfortunately 1366x768 is pretty much standard these days and higher res displays cost more. That lenevo is still an amazing buy though. If you aren't bothered by the the resolution get it. That thing will play anything.
Best way to describe it is kind of like you are looking through a screen door where you can somewhat see the pixels. Like 1366x768 on say a 14" monitor is not very noticeable but on the 15.6" it becomes slightly noticeable. If you have a bestbuy or something similar around you look at a 15.6" screen @ 1366x768 then another at 1920x1080 and the difference becomes noticeable. Or if you've used the iPhone over the years compare the older models with no retina display to the newer versions with a retina. Unfortunately 1366x768 is pretty much standard these days and higher res displays cost more. That lenevo is still an amazing buy though. If you aren't bothered by the the resolution get it. That thing will play anything.
Man, I must have awful vision, hahaha. I have a 15.6" display on my current laptop at the same res and I cannot see that. Thanks for the info though! Shouldn't be too much of a problem for me since I'll primarily have it hooked up to my monitor via HDMI out.
fluffydelusions
Member
Well if it doesn't bother you definitely go for it then! It's a really great buy. Especially if you're just going to play using HDMI out anyway.
SMT
this show is not Breaking Bad why is it not Breaking Bad? it should be Breaking Bad dammit Breaking Bad
Did you check if they billed your Visa yet? If the order still says processing, it means they are having trouble. If it says 'order sent to factory for fulfillment', it means they are building your notebook. I don't mean to take sides, but this is a blazing deal, and I'm sure many gamers around the world took advantage of it. It's also back to school, so I assume they have a heavy workload.
They have one factory in Beijing, and the other in Hong Kong. Thank God Lenovo isn't a Japanese company, otherwise everyone who didn't get their laptops yet would be on their wits end.
After they ship it, it usually takes up to a month to get here, no hurry lad.
saveweyard
Banned
Yeah, they did bill me, but the order is cancelled now. And I'm not too mad at Lenovo, they are offering a great deal after all, but I just wish they were a little bit more speedy.
If I could have waited for them to ship it then I probably would have stuck with the order, but I really needed it to get delivered before I went back to school in about a week; thus, I had to go with something else, the Asus G55VW.
Speaking of which, it should be here tomorrow! I'll post some impressions and maybe some benchmarks once I have it. I'll be playing Guild Wars 2, Borderlands 2, and Sleeping Dogs.
well, it is a great deal
It was one of my options, but the Precision was far more tempting to me. Regarding that, I still have to post some more in-depth impressions, but haven't had the time to even do a Win7 clean reinstall, but at least I could test the FirePro M6000, which can be easily overclocked to a desktop Radeon 7770.
Dooooo iiiit
I came close to biting. Just went to a store to check similar Lenovo models. The build quality isn't super hot, it's heavy, and that resolution REALLY bothers me.
Newegg has a similar model that's identical as far as I can tell, only with a 750gb HDD (slower RPM though) for $899. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246628
I think I may hold off a bit then. I'd love an ultrabook form factor with those specs, but I imagine they either don't exist or are wildly expensive.
Rocket Scientist
Member
Hey guys, how do you know which sounds are normal and which are bad coming from a laptop? =/ My new laptop makes some mildly strange high pitched sounds (especially when viewing flash video's etc) and I think it has to do with the intel graphics part, because I didn't hear the same type of noise when playing a video game (that's when the nvidia card kicks in I guess). I bought it online so I can't go to the store. Is this a know thing with optimus and the intel part?
Edit: The sound is getting pretty annoying now. I don't know if it's going to help anything to return it and ask for a different one, but I guess I should.
Edit: The sound is getting pretty annoying now. I don't know if it's going to help anything to return it and ask for a different one, but I guess I should.
The GTX 680M is literally a desktop GTX 670, downclocked from 915/1502 to 719/900.
Their are VBIOS tweaks available, which claim to allow one to overclock the 680M even beyond the stock 670.
Tablets are a bit beyond the scope of this thread.
I think there's an Android thread in the OT or OT/C.
Any sound which annoys you, imo, is not normal. What laptop is this?
Rocket Scientist
Member
That's true. I don't hear anything similar with my old laptop or my sisters. It's the Medion Akoya P6815, I think you replied to my question a few weeks ago on whether it was a good deal haha. I know sounds get worse when you pay attention to them, but it's just too annoying. Even scrolling through Facebook is accompanied by weird crackles. Anyway, I called them and he made me do some random seeming things and advised to return to factory settings as a last resort before sending it back.
Edit: Okay so the sound becomes much, much less when plugged into the power, but when I remove power it's really bad... During video/Facebook anything. I didn't notice when I talked on the phone, does this sound familiar to anyone? I guess it's the battery...?
Guys i just bought a very cheap laptop with an i5-2450m and gt520MX, with 4gb ram. I know the gpu is shitty but i was wondering what (fairly modern) games will play on this at 1366x768, i tried Arkham City and it was pretty playable but i know UE3 is not very demanding.
I'm looking mostly for action and racing games to play with my 360 wireless controller, but i'd like to play at the native screen resolution. Thanks.
I'm looking mostly for action and racing games to play with my 360 wireless controller, but i'd like to play at the native screen resolution. Thanks.
one of us. which model did u buy?
saveweyard
Banned
My Asus G55VW came in about an hour ago! Haven't really had too much time to test anything yet, but I'm loving the keyboard, touchpad, and screen so far. Machine seems to be of the highest quality.
The screen will take a little getting used to (its my first 1920x1080 screen) but it is very nice. Matte screen, so viewing angles are great! The battery is also surprisingly good for a laptop like this. I had 3 hours of battery life on about an 80% charge when I first booted up using the battery saving option built in to the machine.
Edit: Windows Experience Index is 5.9, being held back by the hard drive at this point. Everything else is 7.3 to 7.8.
Edit 2: Benchmark Test of Sleeping Dogs with a bunch of stuff turned to high. Somewhat playable, but I'll probably turn a few things down.
The screen will take a little getting used to (its my first 1920x1080 screen) but it is very nice. Matte screen, so viewing angles are great! The battery is also surprisingly good for a laptop like this. I had 3 hours of battery life on about an 80% charge when I first booted up using the battery saving option built in to the machine.
Edit: Windows Experience Index is 5.9, being held back by the hard drive at this point. Everything else is 7.3 to 7.8.
Edit 2: Benchmark Test of Sleeping Dogs with a bunch of stuff turned to high. Somewhat playable, but I'll probably turn a few things down.
stn
Member
I have a solid gaming laptop (Nvidia 630M 1GB, 8GB RAM, quad processor). Should I be worried about over-heating if I play a bit of games like Morrowind and Saints Row 2 every day? I'm talking about 1-2 hours of gaming, no more.
It gets quite hot and I'm nervous. I need this thing for school.
It gets quite hot and I'm nervous. I need this thing for school.
RapidCancel
Member
You aren't the only one...I caved and ordered one too. Looks like it won't ship till 9/28 though =[
First off: no, they are designed to manage heat well, they may feel hot but that's normal. I used to be really paranoid about it but learned that it's just normal and it never affects the hardware.
Worst case is, if the system reaches a certain heat via hardware problems (fans, thermal paste) your PC will bluescreen itself to protect the hardware so if it isn't doing that don't sweat, oh and 1-2 hours is fuck all, I used to play WoW on my old laptop for sessions over 6 hours easily (raiding too so pretty demanding).
the lower resolution model.
I got the laptop + 16 GB RAM (2x8) for a total of 826
notbad.jpg
I must first ask, how much did you pay for this? An i3 + GT630M is going for less than $500, last I checked.
The GTX 680M is the highest. It and the 7970M are equal, but unfortunately the AMD card is currently hampered by a driver issue with its switchable graphics interface, Enduro.
And, yes, the 680M can handle PhysX.
Well, the exact temps of your CPU and GPU are what matter most. Let a program like HWMonitor run while you game. Don't be concerned unless you see the temps blaze over 90C. And this is running on a flat, hard surface; if you're directly on your lap or bed/couch, it will get much hotter.
soundahfekz
Member
Didn't see a regular laptop thread but any recommendations for some into music production? I don't care about the graphics card beyond video displaying in hd smoothly and would rather have a fast quad code processor, tons of ram and possibly ssd with at least one hdmi and fire wire output.
Sorry if this isn't the proper place but any recommendations?
Sorry if this isn't the proper place but any recommendations?
not bad at all, sir!
Not sure where else to ask this so I'll give it a go here; does anyone know where I could find a dvd/bluray drive bezel for a Dell XPS 17 (L702X) laptop? I'm contemplating getting an HDD bay for the optical slot that I can hot swap with my blu ray drive but it'd look pretty bad without the silver bezel. I've been searching for a while but no luck so far
Take something like this VAIO E, then add your own SSD.
But Firewire is dead, son.
Not sure where else to ask this so I'll give it a go here; does anyone know where I could find a dvd/bluray drive bezel for a Dell XPS 17 (L702X) laptop? I'm contemplating getting an HDD bay for the optical slot that I can hot swap with my blu ray drive but it'd look pretty bad without the silver bezel. I've been searching for a while but no luck so far
Have you gone directly to Dell yet?
Looks like you can go firewire to USB these days anyways.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10314
low res will let you run even more things at high details, and you can always HDMI out to a nice TV or external monitor if you need more res/space
I have a question and i hope someone can help me:
My mom is looking for a new laptop (mind you she only needs it for office and internet)
But she has a few things she want; a 16 or 17" screen, and preferably a good screen (i dont know if there are IPS screens on laptops). Money isnt really an issue, but i would hate for her to buy a very expensive laptop with features she doesnt use just because the screens are better on those. Is there a middle road in this?
My mom is looking for a new laptop (mind you she only needs it for office and internet)
But she has a few things she want; a 16 or 17" screen, and preferably a good screen (i dont know if there are IPS screens on laptops). Money isnt really an issue, but i would hate for her to buy a very expensive laptop with features she doesnt use just because the screens are better on those. Is there a middle road in this?
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