Laptop that can Play Some Games

MegaMan001

All right - I don't hold any delusions that a laptop can be a full fledged PC gaming monstrosity. I say this because all of the gaming laptops that I have seen are extremely expensive, heavy, have crappy battery life...etc.

What I am looking for is a laptop that can play older games. Or at least a laptop that can play games I bought on my PC prior to getting a 360. Games like KOTOR 2, NWN2 - things around that time. I am not looking for a laptop that can run Crysis or anything like that.

Anyone have suggestions on brands? Parts I should look for, etc? I know Dell is kind of a standard - and I would like to avoid Cyberpower.com / Ibuypower.com because both of them have extremely sketchy customer service (check the reviews on resellerratings.com)

vonPoonBurGer

The trick is to find a notebook that has the standard features you want in a laptop (size, weight, battery life and processing power that meets your needs) and has a video card that's capable of at least tolerable frame rates in games. I'd recommend checking out this and this, both pages have good info on determining the quality of the video hardware in any given model you might be evaluating. For older games like the ones you're interested in playing, it's actually not too hard to find decent notebooks capable of playing them. Hit up a site like notebookreview.com, find a unit that looks decent, then check to see if it's got a worthy graphics chip. If you're willing to make some concessions in terms of weight, something like a Dell Vostro 1500 with the discrete graphics chip (Geforce 8400M) will work fine and cost you less than $800 easily.

Corvus

I would reccomend you head over to the What Notebook Should I Buy forum @Notebookreview.com

In that forum, they give you a list of questions to figure out what your needs and wants are. I'm going to steal it:

General Questions

1) What is your budget?

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

a. Ultraportable; 12" screen or less
b. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
c. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
d. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen

3) Please select your country's flag as a post icon and tell us what country are you buying this in.

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

5) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?

6) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?

7) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?

8) How many hours of battery life do you need?

9) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?

10) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista), Mac OS, Linux, etc.

Screen Specifics

11) Would you prefer standard or widescreen?

12) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?

Standard
a. XGA -1024x768 - Large and easy to read text + graphics icons, but you fit less stuff on the screen.
b. SXGA - 1400x1050 - Compromise resolution between XGA and UXGA.
c. UXGA - 1600x1200 - Very small text and graphics icons, you can fit lots of stuff on the screen.

Widescreen
d. WXGA or WXGA+ - 1280x768/800 or 1440x900; Wider viewing version of XGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
e. WSXGA+ - 1680x1050; Wider viewing version of SXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
f. WUXGA - 1920x1200; Wider viewing version of UXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

15) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?

Notebook Components

16) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 200GB?

17) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD, Blu-Ray or HD-DVD drive?

There are a bunch of other forums over there, that I've found really informative in planning a notebook purchase I'm going to make soon.