Gaming notebook / laptop advice please?

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  1. #1
    Reef Shark Rob77's Avatar
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    Gaming notebook / laptop advice please?

    Hi, my son is using an old PC (Epox 8K3A+ based) and a DV4000 (HP) notebook. He wants to sell the HP and get another laptop for gaming. I've tried to put him off and suggested an HD3850 card upgrade for the PC but he doesn't want to spend money on the PC and seems set on the notebook route.

    I know next to nothing about notebooks, what starting point notebook graphics card / chip should he be looking for to play games on at halfway decent speed and quality? Weight / battery life not important.

    Bearing in mind this is the UK so US deals would be no good thanks. And the games he currently likes are likes of: RPG's, FPS's, like Oblivion, Left4dead, COD5, etc.
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  2. #2
    Reef Shark Rob77's Avatar
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    Does a Dell Latitude E6500 or a Vostro NB 1510 sound a stupid idea? The first one comes with an NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M 256MB and the second with a 256 Mb NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS.
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  3. #3
    nuclear launch detected kpxgq's Avatar
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    youre not gonna be running oblivion and COD5 at any enjoyable framerate with a quadro 160 or geforce 8400

    at the minimum you would need a geforce 8600M-GT
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  4. #4
    Mako Shark Learux's Avatar
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    Best buy has a good deal. Asus laptop with 9800 M GS

    http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1218012519873

    Was just on sale for $999, $1250 still a good price. Wait a month the $999 will be back.

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  5. #5
    Mako Shark kent1146's Avatar
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    Honestly, I would try to persuade him against buying a "gaming" laptop. The purpose of a laptop is to be portable (size, weight, battery life). The purpose of a gaming machine is to deliver powerful graphics and processing power. That inherently defeats the "portability" of a laptop. My guess is what he really WANTS is a gaming machine. And he thinks it would be a nice little novelty if it was also a laptop.

    If he is in a situation where he needs to carry a laptop around, then get a portable laptop. If he wants a computer that can play games well that will be mostly stationary, then get a powerful gaming desktop machine. Trying to combine the two concepts together yields you with a large, bulky machine with poor battery life and costs a fortune. For example, for the $1250 (or $1000) of the Asus laptop, you get a machine that is one generation behind in CPU and GPU. For the same price, you can get a 4GB quad core machine with a GeForce GTX 260, and a better monitor.
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  6. #6
    Mako Shark wh666-666's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob77 View Post
    Hi, my son is using an old PC (Epox 8K3A+ based) and a DV4000 (HP) notebook. He wants to sell the HP and get another laptop for gaming. I've tried to put him off and suggested an HD3850 card upgrade for the PC but he doesn't want to spend money on the PC and seems set on the notebook route.

    I know next to nothing about notebooks, what starting point notebook graphics card / chip should he be looking for to play games on at halfway decent speed and quality? Weight / battery life not important.

    Bearing in mind this is the UK so US deals would be no good thanks. And the games he currently likes are likes of: RPG's, FPS's, like Oblivion, Left4dead, COD5, etc.
    Hi, im in the UK as well.

    Congrats on selling the hp dv4000. Get rid of that piece of crap as fast as you can, truly terrible laptops.

    I must say, I agree with others kpx and kent, any laptop wont reproduce high end games at a enjoyable or playable frame rate. Personally I use a 17" widescreen with integrated/onboard graphics for gaming up to games like farcry and gta sa, then use a desktop for newer games. If you split your gaming between machines like this, then just upgrade your desktop with new GPU's occasionally, you'll be good to go for any games.

    My laptop is a compaq a910 with intel x3100 gma. I would recommend this laptop or the most recent model of it as the keyboard and mousepad is very hard wearing. The entire palmrest area and mousepad is a glossly style, which means it doesnt wear away and discolour, causing mousepad tracking, like on other laptops. Very reasonable a year ago at £400.

    Alternatively you could get a dell with dedicated graphics, but beware, they start around £800 - £1,800 just for decent graphic cards. The boost you get will play more modern games, but still wont play cod5, gta4, etc, at enjoyable speeds like a desktop would.


    For computer parts and laptops, browse ebuyer.com. One of the best sites ive used in the UK before.
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  7. #7
    Reef Shark
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    I've bought 2 gaming laptops off Ebay and they have performed perfectly. My latest a Dell XPS m1710 with the weaker 7900 GS is still very capable and was had for $811. This might be a good option for you to explore as a new gaming laptop price is easily approaching $3000. Just look for someone who really values the laptop and has taken care of it. They usually want to sell to buy the latest & greatest. The XPS still had the protective plastic on it.

    Here is a pretty good deal on a new one with warranty:

    http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Dell-XPS-m1710-DVD-RW-7950GTX-4GB-T7600-2-33Ghz_W0QQitemZ160307137712QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLaptops_Nov05? hash=item160307137712&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A57 0%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3 A1%7C294%3A50

    Or a used one:
    http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-XPS-M1710-C...3A1%7C294%3A50
    Last edited by mjdart; 01-04-2009 at 10:30 AM.
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  8. #8
    Mako Shark mynameis's Avatar
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    My only advice is if you want a gaming laptop, get a 17in and don't plan on moving it around a bunch because it'll weigh a lot.

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