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Gamer-approved laptop recommendation thread

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prodystopian said:
Do you have a link comparing them? I don't doubt you, I'd just like to see how they compare in different tests.
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I have no official tests, but they aren't needed for CPUs, especially these. The linear increase in Ghz makes it basic math.

The only difference is that the 2630QM doesn't support VT.
 
K.Jack said:
I have no official tests, but they aren't needed for CPUs, especially these. The linear increase in Ghz makes it basic math.

The only difference is that the 2630QM doesn't support VT.
Click to expand...

Ok, I was concerned the Cache might make a difference. Thanks.
 
Nah that 2MB of cache does nothing.

The 2820QM is a terrible value. The 2630QM + 485M or 6970M is all we need for this generation of machines.

btw, the 6970M is a 200 pound premium, over the 460M. That should translate to around $120 to $150 USD. That makes the 6970M $350 cheaper than the 485M, and it's likely within 10% of its performance.

Great value.
 
K.Jack said:
Nah that 2MB of cache does nothing.

The 2820QM is a terrible value. The 2630QM + 485M or 6970M is all we need for this generation of machines.

btw, the 6970M is a 200 pound premium, over the 460M. That should translate to around $120 to $150 USD. That makes the 6970M $350 cheaper than the 485M, and it's likely within 10% of its performance.

Great value.
Click to expand...

Yea, I just have to decide if I really care about battery life. The 460M is pretty nice since I already have a desktop for most gaming needs.
 
Dear GAF, help me buy a laptop please!

Lengthy background (optional reading, skip to bottom for quick summary): My current computer is a 2006 a Toshiba Satellite laptop (17" TruBrite glossy LCD with 1440x900 resolution, Pentium M 1.86GHz, 1GB DDR2 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce Go 6600 with 128MB DDR, 100GB 5400rpm HDD, Windows XP Pro)[/i].

I got it as a desktop replacement and it has served me well for years (don't play PC games and its mainly used for internet browsing), but last year I started seriously getting into digital photography and editing (Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop) and recently it has become obvious to me that my laptop is holding me back and it's time to upgrade.

At first I thought I'd get a cheap, compact laptop that has a fast processor (dual core minimum) and HDMI output. I thought since I have an excellent 1080p HDTV that barely gets any use, I could use it as a monitor for editing photos and save myself from having to buy an expensive desktop replacement laptop (even an entry-level i3 laptop would be a substantial improvement in performance from my current one and should be adequate for my needs).

But then I read about Sandy Bridge AND I learned that my brother is going to the US this week (I live in Jordan), and by comparing local prices with US prices ($650 entry-level i3 laptop Vs. $900 Sandy Bridge laptop)... I realized I would be stupid not to jump on this chance to pay a little more and get a kickass laptop that can serve me well for years longer.

It's unfortunate that the only Sandy Bridge laptops out now are i7 quad cores (perhaps a bit overkill for my needs), and there aren't that many options within my budget. I can't wait a month or two for the i5 and i3 SB laptops because my brother is only in the US for a week. It's my only window of opportunity as there is no way I can afford an SB laptop locally.

Another thing that's making my research difficult is the fact that Intel didn't give SB a unique, search-engine friendly name to query on retail sites. "Sandy Bridge" is almost never listed in the product description and searching for "i7" brings back tons of non-SB laptops.

I found the following models that fall within my budget on Amazon.com:

Toshiba Satellite A665-S5184
i7-2630QM 2.0 GHz
$944.00
Pros:
Price
6GB RAM
Integrated Graphics (I don't really need 3D performance, and I rather have a cooler and cheaper laptop)
12 cell battery; Battery Life: 9+ hours
Blu-ray
Cons:
500GB (5400 RPM)

Acer AS5750-9668
i7-2620QM 2.00 GHz
$883
Pros:
Price
Integrated graphics
Cons:
4 GB RAM
No blu-ray
640 GB (5400 RPM)

ASUS N53SV-A1
i7-2630QM 2.0 GHz
$1,211
Pros:
750GB (7200 RPM)
eSATA
Cons:
Price
4GB RAM
No blu-ray
Unknown:
Nvidia GT540M Graphics with 1GB DDR3 VRAM (how good is this? It would be a con if it can't be disabled to use integrated when needed)

HP Pavilion dv7-4290us
i7-2630QM 2.00GHz
$1,128
Pros:
6GB RAM
1TB (5400RPM)
Blu-ray
Cons:
17.3" screen (I had a 17" laptop for the past 4 years, I wouldn't mind a smaller one now, and I don't want to increase the burden on my brother with a heavier laptop)
Price
No USB 3.0
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6570 graphics with 1024MB GDDR5 with up to 3830MB total (can't be disabled to use integrated Intel graphics)

HP Pavilion dv7t dv7tqe
$1,345
i7-2630QM 2.00GHz
Pros:
8GB RAM
1TB 5400RPM
BLU-RAY WRITER
Cons:
Price
17.3"
Unknown:
1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6570 graphics

Lenovo Ideapad Y560p 439722U
i7-2630QM 2.0GHz
$1,024
15.6" screen
6GB RAM
750GB HDD
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6570, 1GB graphics


What do you think? Do you know of other SB models currently on the market that I should look at? The prices seem to vary day by day on Amazon, and the units are also going in and out of stock quickly, which is worrying.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick Summary:

Need to buy a Sandy Bridge laptop online from USA within 1 week.
Budget: $900 - $1300
Prefer smaller, lighter, cooler units, but would consider a larger one if the LCD is high-quality
Prefer glossy screen over matte
HDMI is a must
Won't be gaming. Prefer integrated graphics, or switchable dedicated.
Battery life not important
Won't be overclocking
HDD size and speed matters
Would like Blu-ray but not a must
Main Use: Adobe Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 (developing and editing RAW photos)

Any help is greatly appreciated!
 
Just saw this on Slickdeals:

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/46097

XoticPC is offering a great deal on a loaded SAGER NP5160 (Clevo W150HN) gaming laptop. Price is $828 + $28 shipping. During customizing, under display tab, make sure to upgrade to the 1920x1080 LCD (+$65). Thanks noobcake

Specs:

2nd Generation Intel Core i7-2630QM, 2.0-2.8GHz
15.6" LED Backlit WS (1920x1080) LCD
2MP Camera
4GB DDR3
DVDRW + DL
320GB 7200RPM HD
nVidia GT 540M 1GB Video Card
WiFi N + Blutooth
6 Cell Battery
3-Year Warranty
NO Operating System

540m stats here

It says glossy screen, anyone have any info on Sager screens? Glad to see deals like this coming with Sandy Bridge, now.
 
^ Interesting deal, I'll look into it. Thanks for sharing! I learned today that my brother will be returning on Saturday, so I should make the order ASAP to allow time for shipping.

I've been wondering about 1920x1080 resolutions on 15.6" screens, on the one hand higher resolutions are extremely handy for the kind of work that I do, and I love the fact that it's native 1080p, but I worry if it will be overkill on that size. Anyone here seen/used one?
 
It does say PRE ORDER at the top of the page :(

In the "I need a new PC" thread someone said they saw a i5 Sany Bridge Samsung laptop at Best Buy today... I thought those weren't out till mid February.
 
Naked Snake said:
Oh, I saw that one earlier tonight on bestbuy.com

So far I'm leaning towards the Toshiba I posted in my list above.
Click to expand...

I don't know... The build quality of the Samsung is just superb in every way. I ended up getting a Samsung QX410 with the Core i5 480M ($829.99) because I couldn't justify the extra $370.00 and I really don't use a laptop for gaming purposes, but I was very close to splurging.

Seriously, Samsung has their shit together with their designs. It just makes HP and Toshiba look sort of amateur hour by comparison.
 
Chiggs said:
I don't know... The build quality of the Samsung is just superb in every way. I ended up getting a Samsung QX410 with the Core i5 480M ($829.99) because I couldn't justify the extra $370.00 and I really don't use a laptop for gaming purposes, but I was very close to splurging.

Seriously, Samsung has their shit together with their designs. It just makes HP and Toshiba look sort of amateur hour by comparison.
Click to expand...

It does look very nice in the images on bestbuy.com, and incredibly thin! But I rarely take my laptop out of the house, so I care much more about function than looks in this case. I'm comparing the specs on the Toshiba and Samsung, and the only notable differences I see are a dedicated graphics (not important for me as I pointed out earlier), slightly larger HDD, and much shorter batter life (3hrs vs 9 hrs). Not sure if it's worth the extra $250+ for me.

I'm trying to finish some work at the moment so I'm unable to dig deep into this, but later today or tomorrow I'll be reading customer reviews and carefully weighing my options.
 
Naked Snake said:
It does say PRE ORDER at the top of the page :(

In the "I need a new PC" thread someone said they saw a i5 Sany Bridge Samsung laptop at Best Buy today... I thought those weren't out till mid February.
Click to expand...

I totally missed that it was a pre order. Sorry about that.
 
TimmiT said:
Hi GAF,

Would the Asus N53SV-SZ016V be a good choice? And how would it run Dolphin?
Click to expand...

Yes, I'd buy that in a flash if it were available in the US. The ASUS N53SV-XV1 (closest model to the one you posted; 1080p screen) is not released yet in America unfortunately. I'm so torn, I need to make the order by the tomorrow and it seems I'll be going with the N53SV-A1, which has a 720p display and costs more! :(

Here's a detailed review of the N53SV, Intel Sandy Bridge + Nvidia GT 540M = Blazingly fast gaming performance.
 
Naked Snake said:
Oh crap, I just learned about the sandy bridge design flaw that Intel announced today!

http://www.google.com/search?q=sand...&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=

Does anyone know if this affects notebooks too, or only desktop motherboards?

*investigating*

Edit: Yes, apparently affects laptops too. FUCK.
Click to expand...
Late March, early April is what's coming down the pipeline. It could be May, before Intel has caught up and the repair/order queues are filled.

We are fucked. Proper fucked.
 
K.Jack said:
Late March, early April is what's coming down the pipeline. It could be May, before Intel has caught up and the repair/order queues are filled.

We are fucked. Proper fucked.
Click to expand...
FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Man, I really wanted to get a laptop this month. What am I gonna do :(
 
I was buying a gaming notebook this month too. This news is devastating.

I have no choice but to wait. I skipped the last-gen because of the sub 2Ghz Clarkfield CPUs, and I'm not going to settle for one now.

Notebooks are out selling desktops 2:1 and rising, so let's hope that Intel allots the majority of the new chipsets to notebook manufacturers. Then we may have a small shot at March.

It's kinda blowing my mind, how Intel pretty much just shut down the entire industry. Every laptop maker was already switched over to Sandy Bridge, and were about to refresh their websites within this week, and I mean all of them. And here Intel's like "lol wait a sec we fucked up. You won't be selling any laptops until April."

Imagine if AMD had been taking mobile CPUs and chipsets seriously. This would be the best shot they've ever had, at taking a chunk of Intel's pie in the mobile market. Their execs should be committing seppukku right now, idiots.

I'm just floored by the fact that I'm out of the laptop game for at least 3 months. Fuck this.
 
Whaaat, just placed a preorder for tomorrow. Which can be cancelled. Can this be fixed/patched at all (Sandy Bridge flaw)? Cancelling preorder, waiting.
 
Alright help me out guys, I bought the the Gateway P-7805u FX back when it first came out. I dropped it last week (;_;) and destroyed it. Gateway want's $800 to fix it, It's been a year or so, are there any new laptops out that I can replace this with for a similar price to the repair? (or a little over)
 
Now that you mention it I'm not sure I would, most of my old games and my os (not sure if you can download win7 online, probably) are cd's but I mainly use Steam. I'm just too old school I feel like I would need that drive for something :lol. I'll keep it in mind though.
 
Well if you decide you want the m11x, a coupon was posted on Slickdeals several weeks ago that gave you an additional $50 off and shipping was free when I ordered mine.
 
livestOne said:
Alright help me out guys, I bought the the Gateway P-7805u FX back when it first came out. I dropped it last week (;_;) and destroyed it. Gateway want's $800 to fix it, It's been a year or so, are there any new laptops out that I can replace this with for a similar price to the repair? (or a little over)
Click to expand...
If you're desperate for a cheep re-up, check out this Asus.
 
K.Jack said:
GX640?
Click to expand...

Best one I've seen so far, a little over my price cap of 1k but meh. Only thing is it's Ati not really familiar with them mostly nvidia. I feel like someone who's been using windows all their life wanting to get leopard or ubuntu, are they user friendly?
 
livestOne said:
Best one I've seen so far, a little over my price cap of 1k but meh. Only thing is it's Ati not really familiar with them mostly nvidia. I feel like someone who's been using windows all their life wanting to get leopard or ubuntu, are they user friendly?
Click to expand...
I'm not a Linux guy, but AMD has improved their driver support greatly.

A similar machine, but with Nvidia gfx, see this Asus.


re: your replacement

No $800 notebook has a GPU which is faster than the 9800M GTS.

Currently, you'll need to look for:

GTX 260M - 30% faster
GTX 460M - 45% faster
Mobility 5850 - 40% faster
Mobility 5870 - 55% faster

In a few months, it will be all about the 6950M and 6970M.
 
K.Jack said:
I'm not a Linux guy, but AMD has improved their driver support greatly.

A similar machine, but with Nvidia gfx, see this Asus.


re: your replacement

No $800 notebook has a GPU which is faster than the 9800M GTS.

Currently, you'll need to look for:

GTX 260M - 30% faster
GTX 460M - 45% faster
Mobility 5850 - 40% faster
Mobility 5870 - 55% faster

In a few months, it will be all about the 6950M and 6970M.
Click to expand...

that looks good, I was going to say for that price I might as well wait for the 15" you were looking at 2 pages back but 8g of ram really is overkill for what I need

fakeedit: And gateway wants my answer by the end of the day wut? trying to strongarm me :lol
 
Because of the Sandy Bridge snafu, don't expect to be receiving a notebook with one of those CPUs until mid to late March, at the earliest. Those who are in immediate need of a machine sadly have to settle for last-gen parts.

One silver lining is that AMD's 6900 series mobile chips will be immediately available, when notebook manufacturers have recovered from the recall.
 
K.Jack said:
Because of the Sandy Bridge snafu, don't expect to be receiving a notebook with one of those CPUs until mid to late March, at the earliest. Those who are in immediate need of a machine sadly have to settle for last-gen parts.
Click to expand...

What if I'm content with never using more than the two unaffected SATA ports? Assuming that makes it OK, I'm wondering what is better for me: i7 quad core sandy bridge with 720p screen, or i5 dual core with 1080p screen. Same price and all other things being equal (both ASUS models currently in stock at Amazon.com).

A 1920x1080 screen is a big deal for me as my primary use of the laptop is going to be high resolution photo editing. But then again, the substantial performance boost of and other benefits of SB, AT THE SAME PRICE, is so hard to dismiss. Ugh, I hate this!

Another option I'm debating is to get the cheapest i3 laptop (about $650, local price), and use it as a stop-gap until I can find perfect sandy bridge laptop.

I'm not made of money, I'm actually in debt. But I really need a new laptop as my current one is dying.
 
Naked Snake said:
What if I'm content with never using more than the two unaffected SATA ports?
Click to expand...
The decision is out of our hands, as no one will sell you an affected machine right now.
 
K.Jack said:
Because of the Sandy Bridge snafu, don't expect to be receiving a notebook with one of those CPUs until mid to late March, at the earliest. Those who are in immediate need of a machine sadly have to settle for last-gen parts.

One silver lining is that AMD's 6900 series mobile chips will be immediately available, when notebook manufacturers have recovered from the recall.
Click to expand...


Do you know if NVidia plans to counter that anytime soon? I'm normally brand agnostic, but I really like the GPU switching in my current laptop and I'd like to keep it.
 
DSmalls84 said:
I bought an Alienware m11x last week and am really liking it so far. With an upgrade to 4 gb Ram it came out to $641 shipped.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&model_id=alienware-m11x

I used to have a Gateway FX until the motherboard died, but I like the Alienware better. If you don't need a disk drive, it's a great little machine.
Click to expand...

Any other opinions on the m11x? I'm having a really tough time ignoring the $200 off, and it fulfills my desire of a (close to) netbook sized machine that can do some decent gaming. For my serious gaming, I got my desktop rig.
 
JoeBoy101 said:
Any other opinions on the m11x? I'm having a really tough time ignoring the $200 off, and it fulfills my desire of a (close to) netbook sized machine that can do some decent gaming. For my serious gaming, I got my desktop rig.
Click to expand...

it is decent, you can run crysis at medium settings at least at 1024 resolution.

there is room for some overclocking.

i would recommend to get R2 since it has better driver support at the moment. R1's driver updates has been dead for awhile, there are some community mod drivers but those aren't always reliable.

but with R1, you can at least switch to discrete graphics mode and use the latest nvidia drivers. you will loss the IGP function this way though, the battery is usually around 3hours in discrete mode, while in switchable mode you get bout 6-7 hours with the IGP.

now R2 does not allow switchable, it is done automatically via optimus, you cant force discrete or switchable like the R1. But so far i've read the nvidia driver releases covers optimus, so the drivers can be installed directly from nvidia, or it might need minimal mods.

also, the core2duo in R1s are a bottleneck, i5s or i7 in R2 are much better.
 
K.Jack said:
The decision is out of our hands, as no one will sell you an affected machine right now.
Click to expand...

Oh shit, I didn't realize they were pulled out down on Amazon.com too... well that makes my decision easier at least, one less option to consider!
 
prodystopian said:
Do you know if NVidia plans to counter that anytime soon? I'm normally brand agnostic, but I really like the GPU switching in my current laptop and I'd like to keep it.
Click to expand...
Nvidia has the GTX 485M, which is faster than the 6970M by a small margin, but is a couple hundred more expensive.
 
Been looking to get my girlfriend a laptop since her old one died. Everyone says beware of the Alienware tax but does that apply to the M11x? Seems like a pretty solid little laptop, and for ~$600 with coupons and the savings, does anything else compare performance wise?
 
BuddhaRockstar said:
Been looking to get my girlfriend a laptop since her old one died. Everyone says beware of the Alienware tax but does that apply to the M11x? Seems like a pretty solid little laptop, and for ~$600 with coupons and the savings, does anything else compare performance wise?
Click to expand...

Right now the R1 with a student discount is $499 for the base :D

Well worth it. I have a R2 and my mom likes it because of the "colorful lights" lol. I was about to order her the R1 for web browsing.
 
K.Jack said:
That has integrated Intel graphics.
Click to expand...

Ah, I forgot this is a "Gamer-approved" thread, totally missed that :)

I haven't been playing games in a long time, so I find the benefits of a next-generation processor and chipset easily outweigh having a low/mid-range mobile GPU.

Of course he wants to game on the laptop, the dedicated GPU is a no brainer.
 
Alright GAF, was looking at the M11x with the nice savings, but my wife suggested it was severe overkill, given that any serious gaming would get done on my desktop and I'm just not travelling enough were I would use it heavily.

SO, all that said, is there a netbook out there I could do some light gaming on? Thinking in the less than $500 range and can do older games and some indie games.

And example of what I am looking at is this ASUS Eee PC 1015PN with a discrete ION GPU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220850
 
Just take the $599 M11x.

that's not overkill, especially with the coupons floating around

Spending ~$400 on a netbook makes no sense to me.
 
JoeBoy101 said:
Any direction you can point me in for said cupans?
Click to expand...
BHW1L0MX0D?MCX at check out, for a $50 discount.

I just tested it, and it works. I'm not sure how long it lasts, so jump on it ASAP.
 
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