Advice on getting a new lap top

Gaddez

So guys, I'm looking to get myself a new laptop that is capable of doing a bit of gaming (probably not multi player stuff), but I don't exactly have a ton of cash to throw around (I could spend about $700).

Could I get some advise on good ones to go for?

Pantshandshake

$700 isn't really a whole lot of money for a gaming laptop. I suspect this is why nobody has posted here yet. At that price point, you'll maybe be able to find a decent gaming desktop rig if you shop for bargains. I don't see you coming out with a laptop for that, though.

Inquisitor77

The #1 question for gaming laptops is making sure you absolutely need one. The price premium is extravagant given the performance, and the "portability" is questionable in comparison to a non-gaming laptop (e.g., you probably won't be able to use it on an airplane).

If you're a student and you want a laptop to "carry around" for shit, then your money would be better spent split between a budget gaming desktop and a cheap word processing laptop for class/studying.

But yeah, $700 won't get you much of anything, unfortunately.

Kick_04

Open Box for $720

Just going to have to look at your local Microcenter and see what they have... It won't be able to handle games at max settings, but will be able to play games.

My current laptop I got almost a year ago from Microcenter, was normally $1099 got open box for $899. Came with 12 gb ram, 740m dedicated card.

Sale with dedicated card

schuss

As long as you get a decent amount of RAM, a decent proc and a dedicated card you can game on your laptop. No Crysis or anything, but things like Civ, League of Legends etc. will be fine.

Jasconius

i dont think you're going to get anything that seriously games

I've spent twice that much on a PC laptop and still barely been able to run Civ 5

Gaddez

To clarify, I'm not looking to do anything silly like run cyrsis at a 120 fps, but rather something that can handle a telltale title or CK2 without crying tears of blood.

Jasconius

you need 8 gigs of RAM and ideally an SSD... period.

And at $700 you'll want to go for a smaller resolution display because it will never EVER pump out 1080p at that price point

Haswell w/ Intel GPu, 8GB ram and SSD will play most non-shooters and shit like World of Wacraft. Whether or not you can find that in your price range or even in a 15 inch laptop is an open question.

bowen

Yeah. You can probably find a decent laptop that will meet those expectations for $400-700.

You'll want to shoot for an i5, or an i3 at the lowest. i7 if you can find it in your price range would be aces. But, you want a dedicated card first and foremost.

http://www.amazon.com/MSI-CX61-2PC-499US-15-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B00ISKS4A2/
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-MSI-CX61-Notebook.87038.0.html

Maybe not the best for the price, but not a bad one in general.

bowen

You'll never find an SSD in a laptop until you hit the 1200 price point, they're too expensive.

You're better off buying your own and reformatting the PC.

MichaelLC

The Crucial M100 series is the current hot SSD at a good price.