Need a new gaming laptop

[Wifestein]

Anyone knows a good gaming laptop that's strong enough to run games like Battlefield 3, MW3, Guild Wars 2 and other weird games like that?

 

Price can be around 900 euro, maybe 1000

 

Only thing I'd want is Windows 7, the screen doesn't have to be big. My Alienware was 11 so that was fine. Small is good! Screen needs good quality though because of my graphic design study

 

Any suggestions? Else I'll probably buy the Alienware M14x, because I know Alienware is good and looks sexy

 

Don't say I should buy a desktop instead, because I'm lazy and need to sit on my sofa while watching tv and I hate a desk because they look ugly in a room + might need to take it to college with me at times and to whereever else.

[Midnight]

http://fearless-assassins.com/topic/38794-can-someone-refer-a-good-gaming-laptop/

[JoeDirt]

MSI GT780R, ASUS G55V come to mind right now, there are others out there but I can't be bothered to look.

[Wifestein]

http://fearless-assassins.com/topic/38794-can-someone-refer-a-good-gaming-laptop/

 

 

MSI GT780R, ASUS G55V come to mind right now, there are others out there but I can't be bothered to look.

 

Thanks to you both, I'll have a look

 

[DeathBringer*]

why would u buy alienware, its overpaid

[Wifestein]

why would u buy alienware, its overpaid

 

Don't reply if you've got nothing useful to say please.

[DeathBringer*]

Don't reply if you've got nothing useful to say please.

 

This was useful, so you'll know not to buy alienware

 

i think u still hate me cuz of that cTRL quote right?

[Wifestein]

This was useful, so you'll know not to buy alienware

 

i think u still hate me cuz of that cTRL quote right?

 

You really that stupid? I even said in my topic I had an Alienware. And I know it's good and looks sexy.

 

So it was useless to even say I should not buy an Alienware.

[rolf]

For a budget up to 1000E I'd guess Alienware is not really an option. I agree that it is one of the best gaming laptops in build quality, but the M14x starts at 900E but I guess you want to upgrade the screen and very likely the memory and cpu as well. On the other hand, there might be some vouchers to cheapen it? Since the M14x has a 650M, I think that's close to your max. With that, the Asus N56VZ could be a nice one (~900E) or the Lenovo Y500 (~800E, slower cpu, possibility to SLI).

 

I have no idea what AMD has at this same moment. Furthermore, buying a pc these days makes it quite hard to avoid Windows 8, except for Dell.

 

This was useful, so you'll know not to buy alienware

 

i think u still hate me cuz of that cTRL quote right?

 

Alienware is only overpriced if you care about specs only. If you want a laptop with which you can both kill your enemy in-game as well as beat them to death in real life, Alienware is a very good candidate. Better than pretty much every other (gaming) laptop.

 

 

The balance between looks (subjective), specs, building quality and price is something most people forget. And Alienware has a rather unique selling point on these. Calling Alienware overpriced might be true in your opinion, but your opinion is completely irrelevant. Especially if you would've read the topic start.

Edited June 3, 2013 by rolf

[Wifestein]

For a budget up to 1000E I'd guess Alienware is not really an option. I agree that it is one of the best gaming laptops in build quality, but the M14x starts at 900E but I guess you want to upgrade the screen and very likely the memory and cpu as well. On the other hand, there might be some vouchers to cheapen it? Since the M14x has a 650M, I think that's close to your max. With that, the Asus N56VZ could be a nice one (~900E) or the Lenovo Y500 (~800E, slower cpu, possibility to SLI).

 

I have no idea what AMD has at this same moment. Furthermore, buying a pc these days makes it quite hard to avoid Windows 8, except for Dell.

 

ATM I'd really like to buy the Alienware M14x, but with better specs (because I'm familiar with Alienware and really like it a lot). That's only possible if my mom pays me back for destroying my Alienware M11x. She said she would try to get it fixed but buying a new one is less expensive, because the screen is broken and also parts of the keyboard now and more things. I could buy the Alienware M14x without the better specs but I'm sure there's some better ones for the same price with better specs then.

 

If mom won't pay me back I'll look up all the laptops said in this topic Thanks for help

 

I just hope there's no problems with the M14x one, my M11x one could never update the drivers. Maybe that's why they don't sell the M11x one anymore though. I'll look up if M14x has the same problem.

[rolf]

For the M14x I'd really recommend to upgrade the screen, on 14" 1366 is quite low, but the upgrade is "only" 50E. The CPU is default an i5, but one of the slowest, so an upgrade would be useful (for some games) and is an additional 82E.

 

The memory doesn't need to be upgraded directly, you can later upgrade it yourself when you think it's necessary.

 

 

You can add the "5% EPP discount"-hack and (unfortunately) the 10% off voucher is now disabled. So today it's 980E (incl shipping), but yesterday it would have been about 880E (incl shipping). With shopkorting.nl you can get also 7% (excl btw ("tax")) off.

 

I never buy via the site since I have business-line dell laptop, however private, but when I call I get 5% off even if there isn't a voucher. Timing might be important for buying it, the M14x I'd recommend (default+i7+screen) can be within budget

[Wifestein]

For the M14x I'd really recommend to upgrade the screen, on 14" 1366 is quite low, but the upgrade is "only" 50E. The CPU is default an i5, but one of the slowest, so an upgrade would be useful (for some games) and is an additional 82E.

 

The memory doesn't need to be upgraded directly, you can later upgrade it yourself when you think it's necessary.

 

 

You can add the "5% EPP discount"-hack and (unfortunately) the 10% off voucher is now disabled. So today it's 980E (incl shipping), but yesterday it would have been about 880E (incl shipping). With shopkorting.nl you can get also 7% (excl btw ("tax")) off.

 

I never buy via the site since I have business-line dell laptop, however private, but when I call I get 5% off even if there isn't a voucher. Timing might be important for buying it, the M14x I'd recommend (default+i7+screen) can be within budget

 

On the dell site the Alienware M14x is -100€ till the 5th of June, Guess I'll have to stop ignoring my mom and talk to her and let her gimme 300euro , before it's too late!

 

So, for the processor instead of: Intel® Core™ i5-3230M Processor (3MB Cache, up to 3.2GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0)

I chose the: 3e génératie Processor Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)

 

Graphic card instead of: 1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M

I chose the: 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M

 

Memory instead of: 6.144 MB (1 x 2 048 + 1 x 4 096) 1.600 MHz Dual Channel DDR3

I chose the: 8. 192 MB (2 x 4 GB) 1.600 MHz Dual Channel DDR3

 

Might also choose the better screen for an extra 50€

 

and what is this option? Would Killer Wireless-N 1202 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO for Gaming & Video and Bluetooth 4.0 be better than Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 with Bluetooth 4.0? I don't know what it is, does it make the internet quicker or something? It's an extra 20€.

 

 

Would this let me run Battlefield 3 and all those other games + future games with good graphics that require a good laptop/computer to run it?

[rolf]

I personally wouldn't upgrade the memory right away; it costs 75E while doing it yourself only costs you 30E. If you can handle a screwdriver upgrading it yourself is easy (link: http://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_alienware_laptops/alienware-m14x_service%20manual_en-us.pdf )

 

The 2GB DDR5 at the GPU would only be useful with the larger screen. Personally I think on 14" 1366 is too low, I have on 15" 1920 and only if I have that on a docking station (and hence further away) that is slightly too low. Since I expect you to work on it directly, I'd at least recommend the better screen, if you'd avoid that then upgrading the GPU is less important. Of course, a higher resolution screen requires more from the GPU and hence FPS will be lower.

 

I would personally never upgrade the wireless. Intel wireless is a lot better supported, and it appears that the killer wireless of Atheros has more often problems.

 

The upgrade of the CPU is good, worth the money.

 

 

What I said about the price, the GPU+CPU+Screen upgrade costs you (now) 1,091.93. With the EPP 'hack' I can get it to 1.037,35. With http://www.shopkorting.nl/winkel/Dell (Dutch!) you can another 7% off (964,74) (no experience). If you would have a 10% off voucher (which is unavailable since 2 days, but probably there will be a new one) you would get 868.27E. That would have been 223E from the base price you configured. That is 20%. That is substracted from the default -100E discount.

 

 

In performance/reviews:

 

Review of the M14x: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6518

Basically, solid laptop, but not the cheapest one. Of course, with some timing you can get 20% off which makes it a lot better priced.

 

Benchmarks of the 650M: http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-650M.71887.0.html

Short summary: lower resolution: better quality (obviously). If you game on the 1366-resolution, 30FPS on BF3 on high seems fair Of course, if you run Crysis 2 / Far Cry 3 on high at 1600, you will see a nice slow-motion movie of ~15fps. Another short summary: it's a laptop, even a gaming laptop of 2000E will not be running all games on high.

 

 

 

 

^^ I think you now have sufficient information about the M14x, now only to convince your mother might be hard Last tip: bribing people with food usually works

[Wifestein]

I personally wouldn't upgrade the memory right away; it costs 75E while doing it yourself only costs you 30E. If you can handle a screwdriver upgrading it yourself is easy (link: http://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_alienware_laptops/alienware-m14x_service%20manual_en-us.pdf )

 

I'm very clumsy

 

The 2GB DDR5 at the GPU would only be useful with the larger screen. Personally I think on 14" 1366 is too low, I have on 15" 1920 and only if I have that on a docking station (and hence further away) that is slightly too low. Since I expect you to work on it directly, I'd at least recommend the better screen, if you'd avoid that then upgrading the GPU is less important. Of course, a higher resolution screen requires more from the GPU and hence FPS will be lower.

 

I'll buy the better screen and GPU

 

What I said about the price, the GPU+CPU+Screen upgrade costs you (now) 1,091.93. With the EPP 'hack' I can get it to 1.037,35. With http://www.shopkorting.nl/winkel/Dell (Dutch!) you can another 7% off (964,74) (no experience). If you would have a 10% off voucher (which is unavailable since 2 days, but probably there will be a new one) you would get 868.27E. That would have been 223E from the base price you configured. That is 20%. That is substracted from the default -100E discount.

 

My price became €1.166 instead of 1.266 so 7% off from shopkorting will be €1.085. How do I add the 5% EPP thing? Can't find that one.

 

 

In performance/reviews:

 

Review of the M14x: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6518

Basically, solid laptop, but not the cheapest one. Of course, with some timing you can get 20% off which makes it a lot better priced.

 

Benchmarks of the 650M: http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-650M.71887.0.html

Short summary: lower resolution: better quality (obviously). If you game on the 1366-resolution, 30FPS on BF3 on high seems fair Of course, if you run Crysis 2 / Far Cry 3 on high at 1600, you will see a nice slow-motion movie of ~15fps. Another short summary: it's a laptop, even a gaming laptop of 2000E will not be running all games on high.

 

Well, my M11x could run Battlefield 3 until they forced me to upgrade my drivers which I couldn't do. So I'm sure M14x would be able to run it also because of the a lot better specs then. I don't really care about high graphics. Playing the game on the lowest without lag is fine for me if that'll be possible with M14x. The M11x I bought without adding any better specs, so it basically was the worst one to buy, but I could play BF3 and MW3 and stuff with it. Just the loading was always very slow. But also after 2 and a half years laptops are ofcourse better now.

 

^^ I think you now have sufficient information about the M14x, now only to convince your mother might be hard Last tip: bribing people with food usually works

 

Thanks for all ur help

 

EDIT: My Alienware M11x specs:

 

Operating System

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1

CPU

Intel Pentium SU4100 @ 1.30GHz

Penryn 45nm Technology

RAM

2,00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 398MHz (6-6-6-15)

Motherboard

Alienware 08JG36 (U2E1)

Graphics

Algemeen PnP-beeldscherm (1366x768@60Hz)

Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family (Dell)

1024MB GeForce GT 335M (Dell)

Hard Drives

298GB Western Digital WDC WD3200BEKT-75KA9T0 (SATA)

Optical Drives

No optical disk drives detected

Audio

Realtek High Definition Audio

 

 

 

I suppose the M14x will be a lot faster?

 

Edited June 4, 2013 by Alexandra

[rolf]

EPP: Before configuring change "&cs=nldhs1" in the url to "&cs=nlepp1".

 

In performance difference, there is not really a comparision. The CPU won't be the bottleneck (anymore). And the GPU, although it is not really a comparision, is roughly twice as fast. But since it is a newer version, up to three times might be possible to achieve in-game. In theory it is a lot faster, in practice it is still a laptop you're gaming on. Don't expect magic, but it'll be fast enough

 

 

 

And everyone is able to handle a screwdriver