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Gamer-approved laptop recommendation thread

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best buy has a version of the g73 for $1200 (the bbk5). 6gb ram instead of 8gb, and a lower-quality 1600x900 screen instead of a top-grade 1920x1200 one. i believe it also has a second hard drive in its $1500ish incarnation. still an awesome deal if you can get one with one of the better-grade 1600x900 panels they shipped in the first batch, but be warned: there's a variant with a crappy auo screen that is hard on the ol' eyes. open the box and power on before you leave the store!
 
Have any of the the G73 owners in this thread experienced the GSoD issues I keep reading about? The G73 seems like one of the best options for a gaming laptop, but I haven't pulled the trigger yet due to what I've read about the display driver issues and horror stories about Asus tech support... Still, it's probably my number one candidate at the moment.
 
nope. according to the notebookreview forum fiends, it hasn't been a problem in any recent production model. i've never had any such issue, myself.
 
Any good deals going around for 13"-15" laptops? Still haven't ended up buying an Air or anything so still looking at windows stuff :p
 
robotzombie said:
Okay guys, I think I'm going to dive in for a Laptop and I was looking if you guys could suggest a machine based on my preferences/uses:

1. I'm willing to spend 1000-1200 and my parents are willing to put in 600-700 more as a christmas gift (This is max, if I can get something closer to the 1500 total range that would be sweet)

2. The main reason I want this laptop is to LAN some Diablo III at a friends house. I want a good gaming Laptop that will stay relevent for a few years. We also tend to LAN L4D2, Call of Dutys, and other misc titles.

3. Having super maxed out ultra perfect graphics aren't a huge deal to me, I mean I'll take the best I can get but as long as the games perform well and look good enough I'm golden. Again I'd like to be able to play games and maintain the performance and pretty good graphics for at least 2+ years

4. I'm not planning on taking this thing with me everywhere, so if it is a little bigger and heavier I won't mind, in fact I'd rather like a nice sized screen. I only intend to really take it to friends' houses on the weekends for the most part.

5. I also do a ton of writing, which this machine will be useful for, don't know if that really matters as I'll probably just plug in a usb keyboard when I plan on typing.


Anyone have some good suggestions?
Click to expand...


So is that asus g73 something that fits my needs?
 
So Alienware has the m11x for 600 bucks for black friday, but I cant tell if its the Core 2 Duo or the i5. Anyone know??
 
Ah, they must still be trying to clear out the Core 2 Duo models then. They've been on even deeper discount than that though.
 
Ugh. Fuck dell customer service.

All I wanted to know is if both models are on sale and the dude wouldnt stop asking for my phone number and adress. After I assured him I would give him all of that information once I bought the system and that all I wanted to know is if both systems were on sale, he just stopped talking :lol
 
KaYotiX said:
Nice, that 11" screen would drive me nuts though. I have a 17" toshiba now.
Click to expand...
If im not on the go I can just hook it up to my TV through the HDMI Jack. I've got a spare wireless M & K and a beanbag desk so I can couch PC game.
 
KaYotiX said:
Nice, that 11" screen would drive me nuts though. I have a 17" toshiba now.
Click to expand...
It's closer to 12" than 11", and it's perfectly fine for me when playing anything from Black Ops to Starcraft 2 to Mass Effect 2. It's a laptop - by definition you're going to be sitting close enough to it when it's on your lap that it'll take up most of your field of view, and even if you put it on a desk, it's still plenty big.

A 17" laptop would force me to lean way back from it just to comfortably look at it....yikes.

kai3345 said:
I hear all of these reviews talking about overclocking, what is it and how do I do it?
Click to expand...
If you don't know what overclocking is, then it's probably a good idea to just avoid it altogether.

Basically, you can go into the system BIOS and make the CPU run faster than it's intended to run. You might get a slight performance increase, but hardly enough for the instability and dropping battery life that comes along with it.
 
dLMN8R said:
It's closer to 12" than 11", and it's perfectly fine for me when playing anything from Black Ops to Starcraft 2 to Mass Effect 2. It's a laptop - by definition you're going to be sitting close enough to it when it's on your lap that it'll take up most of your field of view, and even if you put it on a desk, it's still plenty big.

A 17" laptop would force me to lean way back from it just to comfortably look at it....yikes.


If you don't know what overclocking is, then it's probably a good idea to just avoid it altogether.

Basically, you can go into the system BIOS and make the CPU run faster than it's intended to run. You might get a slight performance increase, but hardly enough for the instability and dropping battery life that comes along with it.
Click to expand...

maybe ill try and go to a store and find one, i like my 17" but im lookin for a new one and a smaller screen would cut the cost down a bit :D
 
Hello all, I'm looking for a laptop for my brother. All he really wants is something for internet browsing and downloading music/itunes/making cds etc. Maybe playing flash/browser games, nothing special. the price range has to be between 500-700 and I'd rather go for pc rather than mac. Anyone have some good suggestions?
 
dLMN8R said:
It's closer to 12" than 11", and it's perfectly fine for me when playing anything from Black Ops to Starcraft 2 to Mass Effect 2. It's a laptop - by definition you're going to be sitting close enough to it when it's on your lap that it'll take up most of your field of view, and even if you put it on a desk, it's still plenty big.

A 17" laptop would force me to lean way back from it just to comfortably look at it....yikes.


If you don't know what overclocking is, then it's probably a good idea to just avoid it altogether.

Basically, you can go into the system BIOS and make the CPU run faster than it's intended to run. You might get a slight performance increase, but hardly enough for the instability and dropping battery life that comes along with it.
Click to expand...

If a 12" laptop sitting on your lap takes up most of your field of view than you must have severe tunnel vision. I'm on a 15,4" and when sitting on my lap, it's not really any closer to my eyes than my 22" monitor is when I'm sitting at my desk. In fact I'm moving up to a 17" with my next laptop because I don't like how small the 15,4" is.
 
Maybe it's because I'm 6'5", but even my 15.4" is too small for my FOV.

I'm going 17" for my next machine.
robotzombie said:
Hello all, I'm looking for a laptop for my brother. All he really wants is something for internet browsing and downloading music/itunes/making cds etc. Maybe playing flash/browser games, nothing special. the price range has to be between 500-700 and I'd rather go for pc rather than mac. Anyone have some good suggestions?
Click to expand...
I'd go with this Toshiba.

Core i3, and a Mobility 5650, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD. I know you said he's not much of a gamer, but it's always best to get a dedicated GPU, in case you change your mind later.

It only takes one Steam sale, to make you regret choosing an integrated gfx card.
 
robotzombie said:
Okay guys, I think I'm going to dive in for a Laptop and I was looking if you guys could suggest a machine based on my preferences/uses:

1. I'm willing to spend 1000-1200 and my parents are willing to put in 600-700 more as a christmas gift (This is max, if I can get something closer to the 1500 total range that would be sweet)

2. The main reason I want this laptop is to LAN some Diablo III at a friends house. I want a good gaming Laptop that will stay relevent for a few years. We also tend to LAN L4D2, Call of Dutys, and other misc titles.

3. Having super maxed out ultra perfect graphics aren't a huge deal to me, I mean I'll take the best I can get but as long as the games perform well and look good enough I'm golden. Again I'd like to be able to play games and maintain the performance and pretty good graphics for at least 2+ years

4. I'm not planning on taking this thing with me everywhere, so if it is a little bigger and heavier I won't mind, in fact I'd rather like a nice sized screen. I only intend to really take it to friends' houses on the weekends for the most part.

5. I also do a ton of writing, which this machine will be useful for, don't know if that really matters as I'll probably just plug in a usb keyboard when I plan on typing.


Anyone have some good suggestions?
Click to expand...

Reposting for suggestions please
 
anyone know if the Alienware m11x can still get 60 FPS on World of Warcraft on Ultra with the new textures and everything?
 
kai3345 said:
anyone know if the Alienware m11x can still get 60 FPS on World of Warcraft on Ultra with the new textures and everything?
Click to expand...

Nope. The combination of the water effects and shadows on ultra would kill the framerate on such a computer.

edit: unless you keep the resolution down low.
 
Got my m11x in today, I booted up some Portal and it looked great, except one thing. There was a shitload of screen tearing, what setting do I need to adjust to change this?
 
I decided to go with the Asus G73JW-A1. It hasn't gotten here yet, but I hope it's good. :D
 
I might buy a W870CU, with GTX 470M.
kai3345 said:
Got my m11x in today, I booted up some Portal and it looked great, except one thing. There was a shitload of screen tearing, what setting do I need to adjust to change this?
Click to expand...
D3DOverrider. Enable v-sync and triple buffering.

Problem solved.

p.s. - you will have to download the entire Rivatuner package to gain access to the D3D magic.
 
How do I tell if I have Optimus enabled?

I'm running WoW at Ultra except for shadows and water and all of the videos I watched said constant 60 fps on WoW when Ultra'd. But im getting constant 45 with occasional jumps to 60 in low populated areas

I went into the Nvidia control panel and set it to activate at the launcher instead of the program itself, could that be my problem?
 
So is the general consensus to get a lower clocked quad compared to a higher clocked dual-core? At what point does the performance cross over?
 
Gaming-laptops advocates, help a brother out:

I bought an Asus RoG G73JH (i7 720 - 8gb RAM - 1gb HD 5870) and it's been great so far. A few days ago I bought Civ5, and tried playing it on DX11 mode w/ all settings set to high. 5 minutes into the first game, strange artifacts started appearing then my machine froze. Some fellow GAFfers said it may be caused by my GPU overheating (which is weird since one of the main draws of this laptop are the giant fans).

I used GPUZ to measure my GPU's temp while playing and the logs showed that the temp peaked at 90c for while before the freeze and hard reboot.

Since then I googled, asked around, and found:

- An 11-page thread on Civ's forum about people facing freezing problems when playing on the DX11 mode. So I may not be the only one.
- An update to my bios that adjusts fans' thresholds, as well as solve some GSOD issues.

I tried the game every since updating and the game is yet to freeze on me again, HOWEVER, the temp is still peaking at 90 85. So this is my main question:

Is a 90 85-peak-temp considered really high for a gaming laptop running a game under those conditions? What's the average/acceptable temp if the answer is yes?

I had this machine ordered from Amazon and shipped to Saudi Arabia, so needless to say sending it for repairs is gonna be a pain in the ass.

Edit: Played some more, peaked at 85c for 20 minutes or so, then froze :\
 
I'm pretty sure 90c is a bit high... I think the card shuts itself off at ~100c to avoid getting damaged by the heat, so 90c is cutting it a bit close I think.

edit: On the other hand, you probably shouldn't listen to me. I was just thinking that cards don't usually get that close to max temp, but maybe they do and I'm completely wrong.
 
The temp is usually around 65c while in idle state or performing regular tasks, so I thought a 20c rise in temp when gaming on high settings wasn't that alarming. But I'm new gaming laptops and PC gaming in general so I wouldn't really know.
 
kai3345 said:
How do I tell if I have Optimus enabled?

I'm running WoW at Ultra except for shadows and water and all of the videos I watched said constant 60 fps on WoW when Ultra'd. But im getting constant 45 with occasional jumps to 60 in low populated areas

I went into the Nvidia control panel and set it to activate at the launcher instead of the program itself, could that be my problem?
Click to expand...

Try turning off that new sun effect they added in WoW.
 
Jinfash said:
Gaming-laptops advocates, help a brother out:

I bought an Asus RoG G73JH (i7 720 - 8gb RAM - 1gb HD 5870) and it's been great so far. A few days ago I bought Civ5, and tried playing it on DX11 mode w/ all settings set to high. 5 minutes into the first game, strange artifacts started appearing then my machine froze. Some fellow GAFfers said it may be caused by my GPU overheating (which is weird since one of the main draws of this laptop are the giant fans).

I used GPUZ to measure my GPU's temp while playing and the logs showed that the temp peaked at 90c for while before the freeze and hard reboot.

Since then I googled, asked around, and found:

- An 11-page thread on Civ's forum about people facing freezing problems when playing on the DX11 mode. So I may not be the only one.
- An update to my bios that adjusts fans' thresholds, as well as solve some GSOD issues.

I tried the game every since updating and the game is yet to freeze on me again, HOWEVER, the temp is still peaking at 90 85. So this is my main question:

Is a 90 85-peak-temp considered really high for a gaming laptop running a game under those conditions? What's the average/acceptable temp if the answer is yes?

I had this machine ordered from Amazon and shipped to Saudi Arabia, so needless to say sending it for repairs is gonna be a pain in the ass.

Edit: Played some more, peaked at 85c for 20 minutes or so, then froze :\
Click to expand...

I recently bought a G73JH-B1, and I've played Civ 5 quite a bit using DX11 without problems. I don't know if that's bad for you, or a sign of a ticking time bomb for me.
 
Patryn said:
I recently bought a G73JH-B1, and I've played Civ 5 quite a bit using DX11 without problems. I don't know if that's bad for you, or a sign of a ticking time bomb for me.
Click to expand...
1- what settings were you using?
2- define quite a bit?
3- What map size? I went with huge as a stress test.
4- can you use GPUZ and test the peak temp you get after a session of playing?
5- please help me out
6- please
7- :'(

Drinky told me that there's a small percentage of G73's with misaligned heatsinks and/or suffer from fan failures. I hope mine isn't one of them. It's under warranty and should replaced if it is... the same warranty I didn't activate by mailing asus. Fuck geography.
 
Jinfash said:
1- what settings were you using?
2- define quite a bit?
3- What map size? I went with huge as a stress test.
4- can you use GPUZ and test the peak temp you get after a session of playing?
5- please help me out
6- please
7- :'(

Drinky told me that there's a small percentage of G73's with misaligned heatsinks and/or suffer from fan failures. I hope mine isn't one of them. It's under warranty and should replaced if it is... the same warranty I didn't activate by mailing asus. Fuck geography.
Click to expand...

Haven't stress-tested it out so I'm using a variety of map sizes towards the lower end of the spectrum. I'd guess about 10-15 hours played? I tend to play a full game in one sitting, so take that as you will (so about 3-5 hours at a time).

I'll try to get some hard numbers on temps for you in a little bit.
 
anyone have an experience with this Toshiba Satellite A665D-S6096?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041O42BE/?tag=neogaf0e-20

$650

Processor*
AMD Phenom™ II Quad Core Mobile Processor P940
Operating System*
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Graphics Engine*
ATI® Mobility Radeon™ HD 4250
Graphics Memory*
256MB-1917MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory

Memory*
4GB DDR3 1066MHz memory
Hard Drive*
500GB HDD (7200rpm)
Optical Drive*
DVD-SuperMulti drive (+/-R double layer)
 
Jinfash said:
1- what settings were you using?
2- define quite a bit?
3- What map size? I went with huge as a stress test.
4- can you use GPUZ and test the peak temp you get after a session of playing?
5- please help me out
6- please
7- :'(

Drinky told me that there's a small percentage of G73's with misaligned heatsinks and/or suffer from fan failures. I hope mine isn't one of them. It's under warranty and should replaced if it is... the same warranty I didn't activate by mailing asus. Fuck geography.
Click to expand...


Just played Civ 5 DX 11 for 1.5 hours. Huge map, all settings maxed.

GPU went from 49 degrees to 71 degrees.
 
Patryn said:
Just played Civ 5 DX 11 for 1.5 hours. Huge map, all settings maxed.

GPU went from 49 degrees to 71 degrees.
Click to expand...


yeah, my gpu never gets over 75 degrees celsius. i'd call in the warranty, myself. sucks. :-(
 
85 degrees is completely within normal operation temps. It'd be silly to worry about.

It looks to be a GPU issue, but it's unrelated to the temperatures.

EDIT:I'm pretty sure Asus' warranty is global, so you would only have to ship it to the nearest country.
 
What's the best 15.6" RoG model and how does it compare with the 17" models?

Drinky Crow said:
best buy has a version of the g73 for $1200 (the bbk5). 6gb ram instead of 8gb, and a lower-quality 1600x900 screen instead of a top-grade 1920x1200 one. i believe it also has a second hard drive in its $1500ish incarnation. still an awesome deal if you can get one with one of the better-grade 1600x900 panels they shipped in the first batch, but be warned: there's a variant with a crappy auo screen that is hard on the ol' eyes. open the box and power on before you leave the store!
Click to expand...

I was there yesterday and looked at the RoG they had on display; sounds like it was one of the lower-quality models. The screen was pretty bad. Also did not like the way the buttons on the touchpad felt, but that's minor since if I were to get one of these I'd use a regular mouse with it anyway.
 
K.Jack said:
85 degrees is completely within normal operation temps. It'd be silly to worry about.

It looks to be a GPU issue, but it's unrelated to the temperatures.

EDIT:I'm pretty sure Asus' warranty is global, so you would only have to ship it to the nearest country.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's global. But the warranty card that came with it stated that I need to mail some info + purchase receipt to a US address in order to activate it, which I haven't done yet :3

Not sure if that's really an important requirement or if I should just drive Asus' Saudi center.

Still, hearing other RoG users say their GPU temp's doesn't go over 75 is concerning. Mine definitely hit the 90c ceiling. Sigh.
 
When booting up a game on steam or doing a Can You Run It? test for a game, it says that my computer doesn't show my real graphics card or processing speed, it detects the Intel integrated card, not my NvIdia one, how do I make it so they detect the correct devices?
 
kai3345 said:
When booting up a game on steam or doing a Can You Run It? test for a game, it says that my computer doesn't show my real graphics card or processing speed, it detects the Intel integrated card, not my NvIdia one, how do I make it so they detect the correct devices?
Click to expand...

do games run ok? Dell Vostro here and it has dynamic switching of the video card (nvidia) for power conservation, i've noticed that occasionally when plugging it back in to AC it doesn't reactivate the nvidia. came up when i was installing DA:O recently and the graphics test was reporting the wrong card, I checked power settings and noticed for whatever reason even though they were set correctly, it hadn't changed state on plug in. I think i just re-applied all settings and maybe reseated the plug.

Also recently isntalled Stalker SOC and when I tried to run it once it was like it ignored the nvidia and booted into integrated graphics. was performing so bad i quit, and booted up l4d2 for comparison, and it came up in integrated mode also, no filters and ran like crap. I restarted the lappy and it was fine but I haven't checked STALKER again. Wasn't the same issue though as i'd been playing L4d2 before I started stalker so i know the card was active to begin with.
 
Mr_Appleby said:
do games run ok? Dell Vostro here and it has dynamic switching of the video card (nvidia) for power conservation, i've noticed that occasionally when plugging it back in to AC it doesn't reactivate the nvidia. came up when i was installing DA:O recently and the graphics test was reporting the wrong card, I checked power settings and noticed for whatever reason even though they were set correctly, it hadn't changed state on plug in. I think i just re-applied all settings and maybe reseated the plug.

Also recently isntalled Stalker SOC and when I tried to run it once it was like it ignored the nvidia and booted into integrated graphics. was performing so bad i quit, and booted up l4d2 for comparison, and it came up in integrated mode also, no filters and ran like crap. I restarted the lappy and it was fine but I haven't checked STALKER again. Wasn't the same issue though as i'd been playing L4d2 before I started stalker so i know the card was active to begin with.
Click to expand...
Yeah the games run fine, its just when im trying to gauge whether or not I can run a game or not with a Can You Run It test, I don't get accurate results because it isnt detecting the correct hardware.
 
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