Best 1500 "gaming laptop"

MarcusFenix

Hi lads, I work in the service industry and have to travel loads, now im getting ready to buy a laptop for gaming while away (call of duty, battlefield, medal of honor etc)

Now im not going crazy as im only guna use it for around a year but I was thinking somewhere in region of 1500 biscuits??
Im not looking for anything bigger than 15" really but if theres a 17' bargain ill take it.

Ive been looking at the following:
Alienware m14x
Toshiba Qosimo
Dell XPS 15z
possibly Asus G73 if i can get it

New to gaming (console newb:p) on laptops so i'm looking for some feedback.

Ive heard anything dell is very poor service???

Keep in mind I will possibly only end up playing stuff like BF3 and MW3

AlmightyCushion

For gaming the most important component is the graphics card. The XPS 15z only has a nVidia 525 which is fine for most tasks but a bit too weak for gaming so that's out. The Qosmio start with a nVidia 540m which isn't bad and should probably be the bare minimum for a gaming laptop. The alienware m14x has a nVidia 555 which is pretty good and should do you fine. That Asus will have the most powerful card but is a 17.3" monster.

Another laptop to look at is the HP DV6 range. They can be got with a ATI 6770 which is a good card. They're nice looking laptop too and not garish like the G73 or the Alienware.

Big Knox

To be honest laptops aren't great for games, unless you have it connected to a monitor with a mouse and keyboard and it's being used as a PC as such. Playing any kind of FPS like battlefield on it would be a big hindrance but if you absolutely have to go down that road then i'd suggest definitely a 17" screen for a start and make sure to use a decent mouse!!

As for specs hopefully someone else can offer some insight I haven't really any idea what the best gaming laptops are these days. Probably an i5 or i7 with a decent mobile 1gig+ gfx card.

Jaafa

IMO the M14x is the best deal Alienware have going. In that its the only laptop they have that seems reasonably priced. Everything else you pay a big premium for the looks. (which maybe sometimes is worth it.....maybe :P)

sarumite

MarcusFenix wrote: »

Hi lads, I work in the service industry and have to travel loads, now im getting ready to buy a laptop for gaming while away (call of duty, battlefield, medal of honor etc)

Now im not going crazy as im only guna use it for around a year but I was thinking somewhere in region of 1500 biscuits??
Im not looking for anything bigger than 15" really but if theres a 17' bargain ill take it.

Ive been looking at the following:
Alienware m14x
Toshiba Qosimo
Dell XPS 15z
possibly Asus G73 if i can get it

New to gaming (console newb:p) on laptops so i'm looking for some feedback.

Ive heard anything dell is very poor service???

Keep in mind I will possibly only end up playing stuff like BF3 and MW3

I have one of the Dell xps models, I bought it in 2007. I bought the 3 years same day "on site" anywhere service pack for €200 and I have had to call them out 3 times. I could have been unlucky, but I am now onto my third motherboard. The service has been excellent as I have had them come to my hotel room while I was at a conference in Denver and fix it.....though still, third motherboard!!!

MarcusFenix

Ok guys, well I would need to do some soul searching (and clothes burning) before I would commit to a 17"er, I already have a lenovo thinkpad (aka small city car) for work so a 17" would need to be really good value to justify the sacrifice of traveling with both. Ive gamed on that using my own hard drive and it was ok, I could live with it like, and I do have a roccat "something or other" gaming mouse so really as long as the unit i buy has a good enough gfx card etc. then im happy......if i got the m14x is there any reason I would be disappointed?

Any links to a site that can sell me the newest HP DV6 almightycushion?

Jaafa

MarcusFenix wrote: »

Ok guys, well I would need to do some soul searching (and clothes burning) before I would commit to a 17"er, I already have a lenovo thinkpad (aka small city car) for work so a 17" would need to be really good value to justify the sacrifice of traveling with both. Ive gamed on that using my own hard drive and it was ok, I could live with it like, and I do have a roccat "something or other" gaming mouse so really as long as the unit i buy has a good enough gfx card etc. then im happy......if i got the m14x is there any reason I would be disappointed?

Any links to a site that can sell me the newest HP DV6 almightycushion?

Heres a review of the M14x. Scroll down and look to the side to see the pros/cons of it. http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Alienware-M14x-Notebook.54257.0.html

SeantheMan

Check out the PC Upgrade / Laptop sections in the tech forum for the best advice

Upgrading - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=842

Laptops - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=529

Varik

The best thing to do when getting a laptop is Google the name of the one you want plus problem.

Have a 17" XPS and i have no end of problems with it.

As far as screen size goes, every thing else looks tiny when ever i need to change over to do some work on an other laptop so for games you will probably be happy you did.

As you only need it for a year, mid range graphics and CPU would do.

Games aren't made so only the greatest pc can run them.

Also Dell don't use standard parts all the time especially with graphics cards, any drivers it comes with is probably the newest it'll ever get so no nice game optimization or free software performance improvements.

longhalloween

Have you considered a refurbished laptop? (one with a previous problem that has been repaired by the manufacturer)

I have an Asus G50 refurb that cost just over 500e.

Bought 2 years ago, going strong and still comparable to most of the laptops coming out these days.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-G73JH-BST7-GAMING-LAPTOP-i-7-740QM-6GB-640GB-5870-/260779935957?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item3cb7b208d5#ht_4550wt_1139

Roughly 720e inc. shipping. I know its Ebay and I know theres a chance you could get stung by customs but it's worth looking into.

MarcusFenix

Cheers Jaafa, that's a really comprehensive review, looks good to me, will beat out BF and COD so Im happy, now if only I could get it half price!:p

Jaafa

MarcusFenix wrote: »

Cheers Jaafa, that's a really comprehensive review, looks good to me, will beat out BF and COD so Im happy, now if only I could get it half price!:p

Indeed its a great site. Me and you both mate, me and you both. :P

As for the US ebay option I heard its almost certain you'll get hit by customs. Of course I could be wrong and its something Id be interesting in if not.

marco_polo

Probably worth having a look at a few MSIs as well, like this 15" with a GT560m.

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_02PC/02_NOTEBOO/21_15/productdetails/80003304/MSI_15_6_GT683R_421NL_i7_2630QM_8GB_1TB/GT683R_421NL/default.aspx

There are a few cheaper i5s version as well with the same GPU.

longhalloween

Jaafa wrote: »

As for the US ebay option I heard its almost certain you'll get hit by customs. Of course I could be wrong and its something Id be interesting in if not.

I didn't, but I live out in the country where there's no house numbers.

I had to meet the UPS guy down at the shop, too difficult to give him directions to mine

I don't know if that had anything to do with me avoiding customs.

Jaafa

longhalloween wrote: »

I didn't, but I live out in the country where there's no house numbers.

I had to meet the UPS guy down at the shop, too difficult to give him directions to mine

I don't know if that had anything to do with me avoiding customs.

Anything over 150 euro in value should get vat on it at the airport.

MarcusFenix

marco_polo wrote: »

Probably worth having a look at a few MSIs as well, like this 15" with a GT560m.

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_02PC/02_NOTEBOO/21_15/productdetails/80003304/MSI_15_6_GT683R_421NL_i7_2630QM_8GB_1TB/GT683R_421NL/default.aspx

There are a few cheaper i5s version as well with the same GPU.

WOW that's a beast of a yolk! How much difference does the i5-i7 really make, assuming all else is the same.

marco_polo

MarcusFenix wrote: »

WOW that's a beast of a yolk! How much difference does the i5-i7 really make, assuming all else is the same.

Depends on the game really, the i7 is a quad core so in general I would suggest it would be the better option as most newer games can take advantage of more than two cores.

While in alot of games the GPU will be the bottleneck anyway regardless of the CPU, thinking medium / long term (which you might as well if you are investing so much money) I think the i7 is certainly the best option, especially as it is not all that much more expensive.

Mean to point out one thing in the last post, Komplett laptops have US keyboards layout, not a biggie for me but some may find it annoying.

gizmo

May as well mention in the HP Envy 14, really nice laptop although it does have two main deficiencies, the ATI 6630M graphics card which is slightly slower than the Nvidia 540M and the 1366 x 768 screen.

Engadget have just done a review on the 2011 model here.

The 17" does upgrade both the screen and the graphics card though so maybe look at that too.

Sephiroth_dude

marco_polo wrote: »

Probably worth having a look at a few MSIs as well, like this 15" with a GT560m.

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_02PC/02_NOTEBOO/21_15/productdetails/80003304/MSI_15_6_GT683R_421NL_i7_2630QM_8GB_1TB/GT683R_421NL/default.aspx

There are a few cheaper i5s version as well with the same GPU.

Want!

Monotype

marco_polo wrote: »

Probably worth having a look at a few MSIs as well, like this 15" with a GT560m.

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_02PC/02_NOTEBOO/21_15/productdetails/80003304/MSI_15_6_GT683R_421NL_i7_2630QM_8GB_1TB/GT683R_421NL/default.aspx

There are a few cheaper i5s version as well with the same GPU.

+ 1. A friend got an MSI gaming laptop a few years back and it's still going strong.

http://search.laptopsdirect.ie/msi_gaming_series/page.asp
http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/MSI_GX660R-646UK_Core_i7_Laptop_GX660R-646UK/version.asp
I was surprised that this one was 15.6'' when there's a quad core and 5870 in it. It's as heavy as a 17'' though.

You could build a good gaming desktop for €1K, better than what you'd get in a laptop, and just get a €500 laptop.

Jaafa

Monotype wrote: »

+ 1. A friend got an MSI gaming laptop a few years back and it's still going strong.

http://search.laptopsdirect.ie/msi_gaming_series/page.asp
http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/MSI_GX660R-646UK_Core_i7_Laptop_GX660R-646UK/version.asp
I was surprised that this one was 15.6'' when there's a quad core and 5870 in it. It's as heavy as a 17'' though.

You could build a good gaming desktop for €1K, better than what you'd get in a laptop, and just get a €500 laptop.

Read the first post he wants to game on the road.

MarcusFenix

Cheers for links...MSI looks like a good bet but i dunno, think i'm guna try find and alienware m14x somewhere, i dunno really.

Desktop option is out of question as im constantly traveling, when I said in first OP that I only wanted laptop for a year I meant for gaming, after that I should be more grounded, I still will use it for random laptop tasks

Jaafa

MarcusFenix wrote: »

Cheers for links...MSI looks like a good bet but i dunno, think i'm guna try find and alienware m14x somewhere, i dunno really.

Desktop option is out of question as im constantly traveling, when I said in first OP that I only wanted laptop for a year I meant for gaming, after that I should be more grounded, I still will use it for random laptop tasks

Is the M14x not in your budget?

Sephiroth_dude

marco_polo wrote: »

Probably worth having a look at a few MSIs as well, like this 15" with a GT560m.

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_02PC/02_NOTEBOO/21_15/productdetails/80003304/MSI_15_6_GT683R_421NL_i7_2630QM_8GB_1TB/GT683R_421NL/default.aspx

There are a few cheaper i5s version as well with the same GPU.

Good thing its out of stock because knowing me I would have raided my savings and brought :eek:

MarcusFenix

Jaafa wrote: »

Is the M14x not in your budget?

Well Ive done the whole "build your own" on dells site a kabrillion times and im looking at a m14x for either 1489 or 1568 which is what i'd be willing to pay, of course if I could get something with same specs in larger size it would tempt me but the 14" would be a preference, 20 euro and a packet of custard creams would be my preferred price

Jaafa

MarcusFenix wrote: »

Well Ive done the whole "build your own" on dells site a kabrillion times and im looking at a m14x for either 1489 or 1568 which is what i'd be willing to pay, of course if I could get something with same specs in larger size it would tempt me but the 14" would be a preference, 20 euro and a packet of custard creams would be my preferred price

What specs are you putting on it?

You could try this guy. http://cgi.ebay.ie/Dell-Alienware-M14x-i7-2630QM-6GB-750GB-3GB-GT-555M-/180693186284?pt=UK_Computing_Laptops_EH&hash=item2a122736ec#ht_7492wt_1139

MarcusFenix

What's the story with that? It looks from his ad that the yolk is completely configurable but the price is 1349 with these specs :

Surely it's false advertising! Main Specifications[SIZE=-0][/SIZE][SIZE=-0]
[/SIZE]

BRAND NEW
100% CUSTOMIZABLE ?????

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]€40 discount for payment with bank transfer&cheque[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]




Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit

2.90Ghz Intel i7 2630QM QuadCore CPU

3GB nVidia GT 555M

750GB 7,200rpm Hard Drive

[SIZE=-0][/SIZE][SIZE=-0] 6GB 1600Mhz RAM
[/SIZE]






14.1inch HD+ (1600x900) WLED Display
3.0 Megapixel HD Video and Picture Camera with dual digital microphones






Killer™ Wireless-N 1103
8 cell 63Whr battery
Color: Choose from Stealth Black and Nebula Red
1 Year Next Business Day warranty by Dell








UK spec

STRAIGHT FROM DELL FACTORY: DELL packaging, DVDs, documentation

Jaafa

Yeah I think you have to contact him to get the specs changed. The price shown is the price for the specs you have posted their. The other upgrades are there to just give you an idea of what it costs to upgrade. It wont actually update the price on the page. Again just contact him to make sure. 100% feedback with 1960 sales so I doubt its a scam.

MarcusFenix

Yup that's the price for those specs, which if i'm correct is a saving of somewhere around 200 euro on dells price for same specs! Pay day isn't until 30th so ill have to hope he's still got some good deals around then!:cool:

marco_polo

Just wondering what the hell is a mobile GPU doing with 3GB of VRAM

Aside from that is one hell of alot of power wrapped up in a small 14" case.

Jaafa

marco_polo wrote: »

Just wondering what the hell is a mobile GPU doing with 3GB of VRAM

Aside from that is one hell of alot of power wrapped up in a small 14" case.

Yeah its a waste really. But who knows maybe it'll be useful in the future.

MarcusFenix

SO umm......whats VRAM really mean
I just reckon 3Gb is better than 1.5Gb but I don't really know what it means! Would 1.5Gb be good enough?

marco_polo

MarcusFenix wrote: »

SO umm......whats VRAM really mean
I just reckon 3Gb is better than 1.5Gb but I don't really know what it means! Would 1.5Gb be good enough?

It is just dedicated RAM for the GPU, which basically acts as a buffer between the CPU and Graphics cars. Its is mostly for storing textures and frames for display. Basically free VRAM is never used just because it is there, the amount of VRAM a game engine uses depends almost entirely setting like the details levels, AA and resolution etc.

Even playing at 1080p with maximum details/AA most game will barely get over 500MB of peak VRAM usage, and only a handful like maybe Crysis 2, Metro 2033 will get even close to breaking the 1GB mark.

With 2GB VRAM, which is what the powerful desktop cards like the HD6970 come with, the extra 1GB make only a tiny performance boost in a handful of games (such as the two mentioned above) and even that is only when playing on serious three monitor (5760X1080 resolution) eyefinity setups.

MarcusFenix

marco_polo wrote: »

It is just dedicated RAM for the GPU, which basically acts as a buffer between the CPU and Graphics cars. Its is mostly for storing textures and frames for display. Basically free VRAM is never used just because it is there, the amount of VRAM a game engine uses depends almost entirely setting like the details levels, AA and resolution etc.

Even playing at 1080p with maximum details/AA most game will barely get over 500MB of peak VRAM usage, and only a handful like maybe Crysis 2, Metro 2033 will get even close to breaking the 1GB mark.

With 2GB VRAM, which is what the powerful desktop cards like the HD6970 come with, the extra 1GB make only a tiny performance boost in a handful of games (such as the two mentioned above) and even that is only when playing on serious three monitor (5760X1080 resolution) eyefinity setups.

So 1.5Gb is plenty, great that's a few needless bob saved!

pH

I'm interested in a gaming laptop, however the graphics driver situation worries me. Firstly you're going to be on the mobile version of forceware or catalyst, secondly some laptops don't even do this (a friend had a Dell with a radeon GPU which was stuck on some driver version available on the Dell website that never changed).

So in general how compatible are games playing on the Mobile drivers? Is there any difference between nivida and ATI in this regard?

And secondly, take Alienware - the forums are full of stories that you can't install even the Mobile drivers (on some models/cards)- mainly because of the fact there's 2 graphics cards (one simpler less power-hungry one for desktop) - you're stuck with a modified version released by Dell when they can be bothered - I'm really not interested in installing hacked bioses etc just to keep up to date.

So does anyone use a laptop for general gaming, does it allow the standard mobile drivers to be installed and how compatible are they with games. I'm not obsessed with playing bleeding edge games with all the eye candy turned on - I'm looking for a solid gaming experience without spending hours figuring out how to get games to run.

MarcusFenix

pH wrote: »

I'm interested in a gaming laptop, however the graphics driver situation worries me. Firstly you're going to be on the mobile version of forceware or catalyst, secondly some laptops don't even do this (a friend had a Dell with a radeon GPU which was stuck on some driver version available on the Dell website that never changed).

So in general how compatible are games playing on the Mobile drivers? Is there any difference between nivida and ATI in this regard?

And secondly, take Alienware - the forums are full of stories that you can't install even the Mobile drivers (on some models/cards)- mainly because of the fact there's 2 graphics cards (one simpler less power-hungry one for desktop) - you're stuck with a modified version released by Dell when they can be bothered - I'm really not interested in installing hacked bioses etc just to keep up to date.

So does anyone use a laptop for general gaming, does it allow the standard mobile drivers to be installed and how compatible are they with games. I'm not obsessed with playing bleeding edge games with all the eye candy turned on - I'm looking for a solid gaming experience without spending hours figuring out how to get games to run.

Now that you mention it....+1:pac:

Jaafa

pH wrote: »

I'm interested in a gaming laptop, however the graphics driver situation worries me. Firstly you're going to be on the mobile version of forceware or catalyst, secondly some laptops don't even do this (a friend had a Dell with a radeon GPU which was stuck on some driver version available on the Dell website that never changed).

So in general how compatible are games playing on the Mobile drivers? Is there any difference between nivida and ATI in this regard?

And secondly, take Alienware - the forums are full of stories that you can't install even the Mobile drivers (on some models/cards)- mainly because of the fact there's 2 graphics cards (one simpler less power-hungry one for desktop) - you're stuck with a modified version released by Dell when they can be bothered - I'm really not interested in installing hacked bioses etc just to keep up to date.

So does anyone use a laptop for general gaming, does it allow the standard mobile drivers to be installed and how compatible are they with games. I'm not obsessed with playing bleeding edge games with all the eye candy turned on - I'm looking for a solid gaming experience without spending hours figuring out how to get games to run.

The thing with people posting problems on forums as you may well know is that for every problem posted theirs probably 90/100 guys who didn't have a problem.

As regards drivers Nvidia are very reliable in releasing and updating all drivers, especially for Alienware products. I'm sure Alienware collaborates with them on some level as gaming laptops are no good if they can't run the games.

AMD/ATI have a worse reputation in this regard though still sufficient I understand.

You shouldn't have a problem running any new game at least on medium settings with a new Alienware laptop, at least with a Nvidia card anyway.

pH

Jaafa wrote: »

As regards drivers Nvidia are very reliable in releasing and updating all drivers, especially for Alienware products. I'm sure Alienware collaborates with them on some level as gaming laptops are no good if they can't run the games.

And yet a quick look online shows lots of threads like this:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/611276-nvidia-280-28-driver-replaced-inf-file.html

Which seem to be clearly saying that on the 14x you can't just download drivers from nvidia and install - you need patched drivers from god knows where.

This is what's worrying me - I'm not that interested if the fact there are solutions (there clearly are) I'm just not that interested and don't want the hassle - the very minimum would be a laptop that can stay up to date with the standard drivers downloaded from ATI or NVIDIA - clearly the 14x doesn't meet this requirement - I'm wondering what laptops do?

Jaafa

pH wrote: »

And yet a quick look online shows lots of threads like this:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/611276-nvidia-280-28-driver-replaced-inf-file.html

Which seem to be clearly saying that on the 14x you can't just download drivers from nvidia and install - you need patched drivers from god knows where.

This is what's worrying me - I'm not that interested if the fact there are solutions (there clearly are) I'm just not that interested and don't want the hassle - the very minimum would be a laptop that can stay up to date with the standard drivers downloaded from ATI or NVIDIA - clearly the 14x doesn't meet this requirement - I'm wondering what laptops do?

That link you posted to has a guy looking for a driver that's still in beta. Its not as if they're not releasing, its just that he just wants an early solution. Then if you read on you can see people saying they have no problem playing any games so far.

EGriff

I just updated my GT 420m drivers from the nvidia website and it worked fine for what its worth. The integrated cards driver wouldn't update thought for some reason.

It's very hit and miss, the last time I tried neither of them would work. (XPS 15 with optimus)

Tails142

I bought an MSI GT780r last month.

To be honest, I'm not happy with the build quality at all, keyboard surround keeps lifting off, there are dark patches with the keyboard backlight and the touchpad is a bit dodgy/unresponsive. I saw these issues being posted on forums but thought that the one I'd get would be grand and wouldn't have these issues. I thought wrong Other than the build quality and design its a beast though so I'm reasonably happy with the purchase and its working well and serving its purpose.

If I got a do over though I would probably buy an alienware.

MarcusFenix

Made a purchase today

Jaafa

MarcusFenix wrote: »

Made a purchase today

Where'd you end up getting it from?

Sephiroth_dude

MarcusFenix wrote: »

Made a purchase today

watcha get ?

MarcusFenix

Jaafa wrote: »

Where'd you end up getting it from?

Media Markt.....I never mentioned I'm in Holland for work, went down, saw an ASUS G73s and got it for 1300! I DONT wanna hear the flaws of the thing!

It was the last one they had (display) so I got it 100 off, but they are recovering it in english for me as we speak (obv was in dutch):)

i'll post specs when I'm home but I checked the windows index and bar the sata hard drive everything's above 7.0!

Jaafa

MarcusFenix wrote: »

Media Markt.....I never mentioned I'm in Holland for work, went down, saw an ASUS G73s and got it for 1300! I DONT wanna hear the flaws of the thing!

It was the last one they had (display) so I got it 100 off, but they are recovering it in english for me as we speak (obv was in dutch):)

i'll post specs when I'm home but I checked the windows index and bar the sata hard drive everything's above 7.0!

That'll do.