Recommend a New Laptop?

Konradexius

So I just did my taxes, and I'm getting just over $800. This is coming not a moment too soon, as I very badly need a new laptop.

My current one is a Toshiba Satellite which has served me well for close to 3 years, but it's starting to die. The battery only lasts about 7-8 minutes when unplugged, and the power cord has some internal fraying (I assume) which means it only charged when held at a very specific angle. Both of these things are replaceable, but it also seems to have some internal hardware damage. (diagnosed by a a fairly savvy friend of mine after hearing about the issues it has) Whenever the laptop gets shaken or disturbed even slightly, it has a decent chance of freezing for upwards of 3 minutes. This leaves me unable to play most games on it, because nothing ruins a League of Legends match for me like having my computer go comatose in the middle of a teamfight.

Anyway.

I'm looking for a recommendation of a new laptop for gaming and general use. Needs to be less than $1,000 and capable of running the more modest current-gen games. If I can run Diablo 3 on full graphics when it comes out, I'll be more than happy.

Unfortunately, my search-fu is lacking and I've never been a very savvy shopper. Any and all advice is much appreciated.

CelestialBadger

I bought mine from here http://www.xoticpc.com/

It is very nice.

Make sure the graphics card is not an integrated graphics card (all the cheaper laptop models have this, and it would be terrible for gaming)

You can use http://www.cpubenchmark.net/

to make sure each component is good enough to run Diablo 3.

Raern

GPU is your main issue for gaming. Something like this is a good combination of low price and decent graphics, but without it being a 17" monster laptop: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246324

This is an example of a monster 17" if you were actually looking for that kind of thing, the GPU power on this will run most games on maximum settings: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834214604

minirhyder

Do you need a laptop? For $800 you can get a great high end desktop.
Alternatively you can spend $600 on a mid-range gaming rig and $200 on a net book for your on the go needs.

I've had a big beefy HP laptop for the past three years for my gaming needs, and even when it was brand new it left a lot to be desired in terms of games (heat was a huge issue), which is why I'm rooting for a desktop.

CelestialBadger

My gaming laptop works fine, though I'm sure you wouldn't actually want it on your lap due to heat. I put it on a stand to allow air to circulate. HP isn't a brand I hear much good about.

Konradexius

minirhyder wrote: »

Do you need a laptop? For $800 you can get a great high end desktop.
Alternatively you can spend $600 on a mid-range gaming rig and $200 on a net book for your on the go needs.

I've had a big beefy HP laptop for the past three years for my gaming needs, and even when it was brand new it left a lot to be desired in terms of games (heat was a huge issue), which is why I'm rooting for a desktop.

Desktops have never appealed to me very much. I have a tendency to pick my laptop up and bring it around the house with me, or to pack it along when I go to my local hobby/game store. Beyond that, my current home is a tiny apartment, and I would need to dramatically rearrange the furniture just to fit a desk/chair for a desktop.

Zenitram

I've been very happy with my HP Pavilion dv6 that I bought about a year ago for $1000. It's great for all but the most high-end games (ArmA 2, Crysis 2, etc), here are the stats:

-15.6" display
-Intel i7 processor (2630QM 2.0GHz)
-AMD Radeon 6770M
-6GB RAM
-1TB HDD
-1366x768 native resolution

It would obviously be cheaper now if you can find it, or you can get the current model for probably the same price. I got it through HP's site, by the way.

krapst78

If you can hold out a couple weeks, you might be able to stretch your buck a little further. The new Intel mobile CPUs (Ivy Bridge quad cores) will be coming at the end of this month, with several new notebooks from most of the major manufacturers. Intel's integrated graphics can give you decent performance in current games, although high-settings for Diablo 3 might be a little too much (early benchmarks showed Starcraft 2 with high-settings at 1366x768 with frame rates in the 30s.) At the very least, the release should push down prices of current Sandy Bridge notebooks. The new batch of notebooks should also make it easier to find nvidia's kepler-based discrete GPUs. The new kepler GPUs have been pretty impressive and should give you the performance you are looking for at that price range.

godmode

I would recommend either checking woot.com on the regular - they have pretty decent laptops every once in a while. But they're deal-a-day so you have to wait for a laptop to show up. Also, Newegg.com sells some refurbished or open-box machines for cheaper than their brand new counterparts, so you can often get a great deal if you search carefully.