More Laptop help... Whats a great gaming laptop???

[bbock727]

What specs for a great gaming laptop right now. For 2000 or less, with a decent battery life, not 30 min like the new alienware.

[humble-bargain-seeker]

If you want the best gaming performance now available in a laptop, you want one with ATi Mobility 9600 graphics (aka M10). If you want good battery life, you want one with a Pentium M CPU. If you want both in the same laptop for less than $2000, you currently have one and only one choice, the Gateway M505. The M505 offers 4 hours plus of battery life.

If you are willing to wait an indefinite period of time, it is rumored that Dell will be selling a version of the 8600 with ATi 9600 graphics -- just don't hold your breath.

If you are not familiar with the ATi 9600 GPU or the Pentium M CPU, then see my last post in this thread.

[ATilaptops]

Yeah, I can't understand how Gateway is elling the M505 so cheap, I mean all the other P-M and M10 laptops are above $2000 at least, for about the same stuff. I drool over it so much and it's better than anything else out there, except maybe voodoo's M:855. Of course to be the best you'd have to pump it up and then the price would go up but you could get awesome performance from it for like $2000-$2500 and an ALienWare Area 51-M is $2800-$3000 and would be a worse choice, voodoo's M:855 is top-of-the-line but starts at $3000, can get even better for around $3500. I won't lie, I'd love an M:855, but the M505 is top dog for everything besides absolute super performance and it will still play any game out right now and you can upgrade (I think) the graphics chip later on so it can play new games. You can't lose

[thrawn86]

I hear good things about the Voodoo laptops, but they're probably out of your price range

[bbock727]

m505 only has 1280x800 resolution.. which is pitiful.. cropped it would be 1024 max.. which is really bad .. any other makes of an M processor w/ radeon?

[ATilaptops]

Maybe that's why it's so cheap? Because it doesn't have such a great screen, but dude it's only $1600! For a P-M and 9600 card! IBM is supposed to have one or 2 and HP has a few, that's about it. I believe HP's nc6000, nc8000, and nw8000 and IBM's 41p and R50. Not sure on that last IBM though. Plus IBM only has 14" screens. HP's all start at around $2000 or so, but be my guest to get one if you can, I believe they have better screens.

Edit: I checked the HP's and you're gona get screwed, they only have TFT XGA screens and you ahve to get tat leats the nc8000 to get a 15" screen and that starts at $2049. The nc6000 has only a 14" TFT XGA screen. The nc6000 starts at $1650 and has only a 14" screen. Both bad choices IMO. The IBM's are a little wierd, they seem to ahve a choice of either a 9000 card or a FireGL T2. You can get a T41 with a 32MB 9000 and an SXGA screen, only 14" though and for $1700. Ok, so I think you could get an IBM T41p with a 1.3GHz P-M a 128MB FireGL 14" SXGA screen 40GB HDD and 256MB of RAM for like $2100. I can't believe that no one has a 15" UXGA screen avaiable for one of these.

[mystifmagic]

Originally posted by thrawn86
I hear good things about the Voodoo laptops, but they're probably out of your price range

If I was buying a laptop strictly for gaming and I had an infinate amount of money this is the brand I would buy.

[ATilaptops]

Me too You think if I called up Gateway they'd let me get a UXGA or at least an SXGA on their M505?

[Nabby]

WOW!! that gateway looks nice . I may have to pick one up, I'm pretty sure I can get a discount through my school too . Unfortunately that WXGA monitor is keeping me at bay, 1280x768 is kinda gimp. I'd rather slap an SXGA on that bad boy and have fun with it, 1280x1024 plz.

On-topic:
You could always try and see if gateway will let you change the monitor.

[Elephant16]

how can you get a discount?

[Nabby]

Originally posted by Elephant16
how can you get a discount?

My university has a contract with Gateway and all the computers here are gateways. They pass their saving on to the students but unfortunately they only have 2 laptops that I can get a dicsount on and they suck..

[Almost Famous]

Originally posted by mystifmagic
If I was buying a laptop strictly for gaming and I had an infinate amount of money this is the brand I would buy.

Hmm ya think?
I'd grab the 4780 here:
http://pctorque.com/pre-notebook.php