Laptop recommendations

-Loki-

So, I've been out of the PC game for a long, long time, and I've basically decided I need to fix that. A desktop is out - I don't have the room for one, but a spiffy new laptop would be awesome. Problem is, I have no idea what to look for anymore, hardware wise. I've been looking at some laptops around stores, around $1000au - $1300au, but, yeah, aside from knowing what to look for Intel CPU wise, I'm out of my league now.

I pretty much want something that will run new games decently - I don't care if it won't run them with all options switched on, but I don't want to be playing an ugly mess of a game at 20fps (my old PC ran new games like this and is the reason I got out of PC gaming). I've been looking at some Core 2 Duo ~2.2ghz, 4gb ram laptops, but I have no idea what I should be looking for, graphics card wise, especially in a laptop.

I'm using Crysis Warhead as a goal - anything that will run that I'll be relatively happy with.

Clipse

I'm not familiar with ATI's mobile graphics offerings, but for nVidia I think you're looking for the GTX 280M, GTX 260M, GTS 260M, GTS 250M or GT 240M, in that order. On laptops with older graphics chipsets, 9600 or better is your target.

OremLK

I'll just tell you now what you're going to hear a dozen times in this thread to get it out of the way: Gaming laptops are bad idea for a ton of reasons, ranging from price to hindered mobility to poor battery life to inability to upgrade. Desktops that are nearly as small can be built or purchased if space is a concern.

But, if things are that cramped that you absolutely must purchase a gaming laptop, maybe take a look at what HP is offering. I hear they're actually pretty decent lately. They have some notebooks with decent graphics chips in your price range, and if you're willing to shell out a little more, the new ENVY ones with Core i7 processors look pretty amazing, just in general. They're aluminum MacBook clones, but with better hardware, especially for a gamer.

-Loki-

OremLK wrote: »

I'll just tell you now what you're going to hear a dozen times in this thread to get it out of the way: Gaming laptops are bad idea for a ton of reasons, ranging from price to hindered mobility to poor battery life to inability to upgrade. Desktops that are nearly as small can be built or purchased if space is a concern.

I know all this already. The fact that I don't even have room to put a small desk to sit a monitor on? Yeah, I'm going with a laptop.

edit - one that's caught my eye is a ASUS AMD Dual Core QL-64 2.1ghz, 4gb ram and an Radeon HD4570 512mb for ~$1000au.