Gaming-viable laptop for around $1,000?

PotatoNinja

I think the subject just about says it all, any recommendations?

And before you start, no I will not buy a netbook and a desktop PC, no I will not buy a desktop PC and a really thick lanyard and drag it around with me, yes I am aware that laptops are not ideal for gaming, no I will not buy your laptop from you used, no I do not want to know how to hack into any school / work / whatever whatevers and I don't need to spend $6,000 on a laptop that can read my brainwaves and loads Windows four seconds faster than a regular PC and that's why this thread goes in H&A not the tech forum.

So, all that said, good gaming laptops for around $1,000?

Esh

Alienware has a 11" gaming laptop coming out for $999. Just buy yourself an external monitor and you're set.

Here ya go.

Trillian

An Asus F or M series laptop is a solid choice, and cheap! My laptop has 1gb dedicated video memory, a 320 gb HD and a wicked processor and cost me under $900 Canadian a year and a half ago.

Elin

This is a slightly upgraded model of the laptop I currently own. My current laptop plays everything I've asked it to play, on high settings.

This is pretty much the same as above, but with a faster processor, more ram, and a bigger hard drive for 100$ more.

Both are Asus laptops. I am in love with Asus.

Shadowfire

Elin wrote: »

This is a slightly upgraded model of the laptop I currently own. My current laptop plays everything I've asked it to play, on high settings.

This is pretty much the same as above, but with a faster processor, more ram, and a bigger hard drive for 100$ more.

Both are Asus laptops. I am in love with Asus.

Have you run Dragon Age on yours? Still run on high? I'm in the market too, so this information is important! ;-)

Demerdar

Go for the Gateway FX series.

It's like 1100 but i am more than happy with it.

plays any game I throw at it full settings and great resolution :^: (yes, even dragon age)

zilo

I have a Gateway FX. It's real good.

Elin

Shadowfire wrote: »

Elin wrote: »

This is a slightly upgraded model of the laptop I currently own. My current laptop plays everything I've asked it to play, on high settings.

This is pretty much the same as above, but with a faster processor, more ram, and a bigger hard drive for 100$ more.

Both are Asus laptops. I am in love with Asus.

Have you run Dragon Age on yours? Still run on high? I'm in the market too, so this information is important! ;-)

Unfortunatly, since I (gasp) never liked Balder's Gate or Neverwinter Nights, and I didn't finish KotOR, I decided not to buy Dragon Age.

143999

Since this one's already open and relatively new/alive, I'm going to throw my own request in here instead of making a new one.

Which is good, really, since my parameters are pretty much the same as OP's, except I'm looking at a first week in February buy date and an expected budget of $100 on either side of $1500. I'm assuming that would make a little bit of a difference on how much more I can future-proof myself.

shugarae

I have the 2008 version of this laptop. They also have a 15.6" version if you want a smaller laptop.

I get around 30-40fps on med-high settings in WoW (even in dalaran). Unfortunately for this thread, I'm an addict, and haven't really tried any other graphically-intensive games on it. :?

Anyhow, what you want to look for is a dedicated video card. Many Asus laptops have dedicated cards, as people have already pointed out, and they make a solid laptop in general.

soxbox

It'll mainly come down to whatever graphics card they've put in the laptop for you. Use this benchmark list. Anything in the top 50 will probably do you, depending on what exactly you're looking to play - higher the better.

MSI had a real cheap laptop, the EX625 (US$700 maybe?) that had a radeon 4670 which was pretty shit-hot for that price level. I think it's obselete though, and I don't think the replacement model (EX628) is on the market yet.

Look for radeon 4670 or 4650 - those are probably the best video cards likely to get into a budget laptop, but if you find something higher on the list, go for that.

Dunadan019

zilo wrote: »

I have a Gateway FX. It's real good.

its got a 19 inch screen with 1920x1200 resolution and runs pretty much anything you want on it.

its also heavy and large which is its one downside. also the power cord connector is kinda shit.


so if you don't care about portability as much as power, go for the FX

John Matrix

Looking at the Gateway FX lineup right now - wow.

Our IT guy recently bought one and wasn't too impressed with the Gateway brand due to their reputation from back in the day. I'll definitely pick one of these up when it comes time to go back to school in the fall.

Nitsua

I got my laptop for around $1200 at ibuypower.com about a year ago. You could possibly get a much better computer from them than that for that cost. What's great about them is that they tend to be cheaper than making one on your own as well as having good tech support and a pretty good warranty as well as being able to choose your own harddrive size, ram, and other hardware specs. Wouldn't hurt to look into it.

John Matrix

All their 17-inch laptops are based on the new Intel i7 chip - the base model is for their 17-inch (same as the gateway) model is $1479. It has a GTS 250M, which is a good 30 places down the above-referenced graphics card list and a smaller hard drive. I'll keep checking out the site though, maybe I'm not looking/creating the laptops correctly.

143999

I'm not seeing any i7 laptops under Gateway's P (-FX) Series. Am I looking in the wrong place?

Richard M. Nixon

I have a Dell Vostro 2510 that handles Steam games (HL2, CS:S, L4D2) that was under $1000CAD. It's apparently been replaced with the Vostro 1520.

I should note that I had to send it back (under warranty) to have the system board replaced.

John Matrix

143999 wrote: »

I'm not seeing any i7 laptops under Gateway's P (-FX) Series. Am I looking in the wrong place?

I didn't see any on the Gateway site, they were all Core 2 Duo's. I'll post if I find anything, but I don't think they've made the move to i7's yet.

From the little reading that I've done, and I should stress that it's rather limited, it seems that the i7 is a little better for gaming, but not that much. i7 is fantastic for rendering, modeling and the like it seems. Don't quote me on that, check around first.

Maybe the best gaming laptop setup for the money centers around the core 2 duo. I'll let the experts weigh in if they see this thread.

143999

John Matrix wrote: »

143999 wrote: »

I'm not seeing any i7 laptops under Gateway's P (-FX) Series. Am I looking in the wrong place?

I didn't see any on the Gateway site, they were all Core 2 Duo's. I'll post if I find anything, but I don't think they've made the move to i7's yet.

From the little reading that I've done, and I should stress that it's rather limited, it seems that the i7 is a little better for gaming, but not that much. i7 is fantastic for rendering, modeling and the like it seems. Don't quote me on that, check around first.

Maybe the best gaming laptop setup for the money centers around the core 2 duo. I'll let the experts weigh in if they see this thread.

Okay, I thought you were saying above that both Gateway and ibuypower had moved to i7s, which made me think that I had hit an old page on Gateway's site somehow.