Trying to find a laptop... for gaming... video editing, I want quad core or above.

[Blue Steel]

The last time I bought a computer was in 2003. I upgraded it's shitty celeron to a pentium II a few years ago. I also maxed out the ram to a whopping 2gbs. It's slow as shit, it is time to get a new laptop.

Now that I've been researching new processors, I'm finding that it is very confusing. I would like to be able to play games like skyrim/diablo iii/starcraft ii. I've come to the conclusion that I will need at least a quad core. So, could I get away with buying an i5 with hyper-threading?

The guy at best buy told me that I'd need a stand alone graphics card, that doesn't surprise me, but I thought maybe I could get away with an i7 that had it built in? I'm clueless about this shit, is it even worth bothering with a laptop if I intend to do any gaming?

I was thinking of just waiting to get a desktop next year some time closer to when windows 8 comes out. What laptops/setups do you guys use for gaming?

I don't necessarily have to be able to game on my laptop, but I would have liked to. I'm planning to get an ASUS of some sort.

 

[Ghost-Dog]

I just ordered an Asus G Series (15.6" with the full HD screen), and I think for the money, they cannot be beat. You also get an excellent warranty, and they're more reasonably priced than Dell/Alienware.

If you look around you can get deals. I got the one above for $899 before they went out of stock on their site. The price went back up and now they're available in store only.

Whatever you buy, at the very least I would go with a Core i5, and it should be the 2nd gen version. 6GB of RAM or higher. If you do want to game, you are going to be a bit more limited to specific models. Always look at www.notebookcheck.net if you need to reference the performance of a laptop's GPU. You will definitely want one with discrete graphics. No Intel integrated. I would say for mid range games, go with a GT 540M or higher. For higher end games to run smoothly at 60fps, you will want a GTX 460 or higher.

 

[Marek]

run linux

 

[Blue Steel]

You got your computer for a damn good deal Ghost. I would like to get this one, if I could afford it. Yours is basically the same thing, with a little less ram and a smaller hdd. If you find another deal on the one you got, let me know.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G74SX-A1-17-3-Inch-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B00542SUD8

I'm planning to try out linux soon, the guy at best buy was raving about it.

 

[Cylotron]

A side from the Asus ones, in 2nd place comes the MSI GT series. I personally would only stick with Asus or MSI. Don't even look at the Alienware ones. Way over priced and made by Dell now. I only have an Alienware M11X because I wanted a laptop that could actually do gaming for more then just an hour on batteries(it lasts about 3).

 

[Ghost-Dog]

You got your computer for a damn good deal Ghost. I would like to get this one, if I could afford it. Yours is basically the same thing, with a little less ram and a smaller hdd. If you find another deal on the one you got, let me know.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G74SX-A1-17-3-Inch-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B00542SUD8

I'm planning to try out linux soon, the guy at best buy was raving about it.

Yep, the 17" models are nice. It was more than I could spend though.

I was actually looking at a Dell XPSz 15. They're less than an inch thick, and come in a brushed aluminum case. They're a Macbook Pro clone essentially. The 15" base model with a Core i5, 6GB of DDR3, a 720p screen and an Nvidia GT520M was $899. No bluray drive either. For that price I got a Core i7, more RAM, and a gaming class GPU. That's why I snapped it up so fast.

The G Series laptops have dual hard drive bays as well. So when mine arrives, I'm moving the 5,200rpm 640GB drive to bay two, and dropping this 7,200rpm 500GB Hybrid drive into bay one for the OS. Hybrid drives are nice because they are a lot cheaper than an SSD, but they are faster than a traditional HDD. I highly recommend them. You can get a 500GB Momentus XT for around $99. Less if you shop around.

 

[Ghost-Dog]

A side from the Asus ones, in 2nd place comes the MSI GT series. I personally would only stick with Asus or MSI. Don't even look at the Alienware ones. Way over priced and made by Dell now. I only have an Alienware M11X because I wanted a laptop that could actually do gaming for more then just an hour on batteries(it lasts about 3).

I agree, the MSI gaming laptops are also quite capable. I'm not crazy about their aesthetics when compared to Asus or Alienware, but they are pretty reasonably priced.

The M11X is a nice little gaming laptop. That's probably the only Alienware laptop I would consider getting. The larger ones are too expensive.