Help finding a great gaming laptop

Antic

Antic

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I've got +$300 in gift cards at Best Buy, so I'm kind of forced to look at ones from there or Amazon. I'm looking for a nice gaming laptop with a good graphics card, i7 Processor, tons of ram, and a blu-ray player. Any recommendations? Also, I don't want to spend more than $1,100.

EDIT: I had to use my money for something else at that time, but I'm looking for one again now! Especially since Diablo III comes out tomorrow.
 
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Look at the ASUS G series. Pretty great performance for the price! That one you linked only has a GT 540 in it. Not very good graphics card for a gaming laptop.
 
Is there a particular reason why you want a gaming laptop? Do you play a lot of games with high system requirements on the go?

Everyone I know who has ever bought a gaming laptop ended up regretting it and saying they should have just spent the money on a gaming PC and a netbook for documents, presentations, and smaller games for on the go.
 
[quote name='blindinglights']Is there a particular reason why you want a gaming laptop? Do you play a lot of games with high system requirements on the go?

Everyone I know who has ever bought a gaming laptop ended up regretting it and saying they should have just spent the money on a gaming PC and a netbook for documents, presentations, and smaller games for on the go.[/QUOTE]

Scratch what I said and go with this!!! But the G series are fantastic laptops if you have to have one.
 
[quote name='blindinglights']Is there a particular reason why you want a gaming laptop? Do you play a lot of games with high system requirements on the go?

Everyone I know who has ever bought a gaming laptop ended up regretting it and saying they should have just spent the money on a gaming PC and a netbook for documents, presentations, and smaller games for on the go.[/QUOTE]

I'm not home consistently enough to get a dedicated gaming PC. I'm trying to get into the habit of playing more PC games too. It really doesn't have to be top of the line, just something really good that can hold up for quite some time. I have a weekly radio show that I take and produce on the go as well, and my current laptop is slowly dying and becoming unreliable at times.
 
[quote name='Mr Dude65']Use your BB GC's to buy Kindle GC's in-store at BB.[/QUOTE]

I guess I had no clue I could do that. I'll have to look at it the next time I'm in there. Lol, that comp is a beast. Has pretty much everything I could ever imagine though.
 
Well, if you're getting a laptop for gaming, just go for it! Otherwise, there's cheaper options to be had, but they aren't for anything more than casual/moderate gaming.
 
IDK if that's a good one for portability lol. 24 pounds is ridiculous xD Also, HDD space is limited to 500 GB when it would have been the same size for a larger drive.

Don't have any recommendations personally as I'm just now looking to upgrade, but just a quick question: is their any way you could spend your credit at somewhere like dell.com? Saw this one laptop that fits your needs- http://www.dell.com/us/p/signature-event-laptops.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn&ref=hbn1

Laptop on the far right. XPS 17
 
it also depends on what type of system you have now. If it's just a small upgrade you should just wait until you have more money and buy a better laptop (you can use dxdiag to find out your system specs)

I mean if you are gonna get a gaming laptop, you might as well get it right lol
 
[quote name='mrspicytacoman']yep asus g series is awesome

typing this on a g74sx right now[/QUOTE]

+1

Remember, Labtop not that great for gaming since cant keep up with new releases and gets hot.
 
I vote against the Asus. Computers... I bought a Asus g74 less then 5 months ago.. touch pad crapped out on me. And it was unstable,tried contacting Asus by phone and emails .. got no response from them. Till a week after Amazon made a exception and did a full refund for me. On a side note the Asus community was glad to tell me how to take apart my laptop and fix it my self sense Asus is so hard to work with.. my advise stay away from Asus. (Side note I was brand loyal to them before this buying PC parts extra from them being a builder)

Edit: was trying to contact them for 3 weeks. Sorry for they typos did this on a Droid
 
[quote name='The Punisher']+1

Remember, Labtop not that great for gaming since cant keep up with new releases and gets hot.[/QUOTE]

This isn't necessarily true. A laptop with a high end GPU is going to be able to keep up for a while. Anything new, as in this year, will be able to keep up. No, you won't see every blade of grass like you would with a desktop running two GTX 690s, but it'll still be better than consoles. Also, as far as heat, look into it. It varies wildly, but some stay much, much cooler than others.

EDIT: To the guy above me, I realize that you had a bad experience, but Asus makes fantastic machines. And I do know their CS is a little iffy, as you either get great service, or hardly any at all. Sounds like your machine was an isolated incident. Stuff happens, but I wouldn't say stay away from Asus. Especially with the new G55/75's being out. Ivy bridge and a GTX 670 are a sweet combo!
 
[quote name='randomdud']Oh hai. Are you still stuck with credit in one specific place?[/QUOTE]

Yeah, Best Buy or Amazon unfortunately. Although, if the price is right I could move to a different place. Blu-ray player is important because I'm probably going to be on the road until November because of work. Any good deals people are spotting?
 
I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but I recommend a 13" MacBook Pro. I got mine back in 2010 and I've been able to run everything I've wanted to without issue, particularly StarCraft 2 with settings at ultra, the only compromise I had to make was to install
Windows 7 via boot camp to run LoL.
 
[quote name='gr8asianman']I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but I recommend a 13" MacBook Pro. I got mine back in 2010 and I've been able to run everything I've wanted to without issue, particularly StarCraft 2 with settings at ultra, the only compromise I had to make was to install
Windows 7 via boot camp to run LoL.[/QUOTE]

No. Macbooks are great if you need to run a plethora of arts software, but for performance for price, they suck. I mean, just looking at the specs, you can see that you can get a PC with the same specs for far less.

OP, this is definitely not the way to go.
 
[quote name='Antic']Guessing you'd recommend something like this...

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Qosmi...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1337084610&sr=1-1

I like how it looks, but the cost is higher and it has a 1.5 for the video card instead of a 2.0.

Not really looking for a Macbook though. I can get the performance as Mr. Dude said without spending a ton more.[/QUOTE]

Yep.

Even this one would work, though you'll lose some performance with the drop to the i5

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Qosmio-X775-Q7170-17-3-Inch-Horizon/dp/B006GTCXG8/ref=pd_cp_pc_1

This would be my true recommendation, but only if it uses an Ivy Bridge processor (I couldn't tell)

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G75VW-AS71-17-3-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B007MW73C2/ref=dp_ob_title_ce
 
[quote name='Antic']Not having a blu-ray player kills it though :/[/QUOTE]

Well, at some point I think you're going to have to compromise on it, if you want to stay on budget. That's one thing that you'd be okay without compared to lesser performance, I think. If you have to have BD, keep looking on Amazon. BB might have a few high enders with BD, but it's unlikely...
 
[quote name='Mr Dude65']Yep.

Even this one would work, though you'll lose some performance with the drop to the i5

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Qosmio-X775-Q7170-17-3-Inch-Horizon/dp/B006GTCXG8/ref=pd_cp_pc_1

This would be my true recommendation, but only if it uses an Ivy Bridge processor (I couldn't tell)

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G75VW-AS71-17-3-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B007MW73C2/ref=dp_ob_title_ce[/QUOTE]If it's a i7-3xxx processor, it's Ivy Bridge.

[quote name='Antic']Not having a blu-ray player kills it though :/[/QUOTE]You can add in an external one, though as games aren't coming on BD, it's hard to justify one.

You may want to look at this version of the HP dv7tqe-7000, which is a 17" display laptop.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/ho...t-7000-Quad-Edition-Entertainment-Notebook-PC

If you use coupon code NBT6631, it'll knock another $100 off the already present $250 discount. The system gives you a free upgrade to 8GB of RAM and a BD-ROM/DVD-RW drive for free.

I've looked at this system as a possible replacement for my existing laptop if I don't go with a MacBook Pro.
 
If you don't mind losing $12 to activation fees, you could always 'cash out' those BB gift cards into pre-paid Visa cards. That way then you're not locked into either BB or Amazon.

The max you can put on one is $200 according to BB around here, so you could put $200 on one and whatever is left after the $6 activation fees on the other one.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']If it's a i7-3xxx processor, it's Ivy Bridge.

You can add in an external one, though as games aren't coming on BD, it's hard to justify one.

You may want to look at this version of the HP dv7tqe-7000, which is a 17" display laptop.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/ho...t-7000-Quad-Edition-Entertainment-Notebook-PC

If you use coupon code NBT6631, it'll knock another $100 off the already present $250 discount. The system gives you a free upgrade to 8GB of RAM and a BD-ROM/DVD-RW drive for free.


I've looked at this system as a possible replacement for my existing laptop if I don't go with a MacBook Pro.[/QUOTE]

That's really tempting. Could make one for $1,094 before tax. Do you know how long that coupon will work? My main reason for the blu-ray is so I can watch movies while I'm gone from home/on the road until November. I have a ton of Criterions to blow through.

EDIT: Do you think I should pay extra for the "17.3-inch diagonal Full HD Anti-glare LED-backlit Display (1920 x 1080)"

It would be...


  • Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
  • 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
  • NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 650M Graphics with 2GB GDDR5 memory [HDMI, VGA]
  • FREE UPGRADE to 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
  • 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
  • 32GB mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache
  • Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word/Excel(R) only, No PowerPoint(R)/Outlook(R)
  • No additional security software
  • 30% off 9 cell Lithium Ion Battery
  • 17.3-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1600 x 900)
  • FREE Upgrade to Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
  • HP TrueVision HD Webcam
  • 802.11b/g/n WLAN
  • Backlit Keyboard
  • Included 2 Year Warranty
 
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[quote name='Antic']That's really tempting. Could make one for $1,094 before tax. Do you know how long that coupon will work? My main reason for the blu-ray is so I can watch movies while I'm gone from home/on the road until November. I have a ton of Criterions to blow through.

EDIT: Do you think I should pay extra for the "17.3-inch diagonal Full HD Anti-glare LED-backlit Display (1920 x 1080)"

It would be...


  • Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
  • 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
  • NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 650M Graphics with 2GB GDDR5 memory [HDMI, VGA]
  • FREE UPGRADE to 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
  • 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
  • 32GB mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache
  • Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word/Excel(R) only, No PowerPoint(R)/Outlook(R)
  • No additional security software
  • 30% off 9 cell Lithium Ion Battery
  • 17.3-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1600 x 900)
  • FREE Upgrade to Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
  • HP TrueVision HD Webcam
  • 802.11b/g/n WLAN
  • Backlit Keyboard
  • Included 2 Year Warranty
[/QUOTE]

That's a nice laptop for the price, but definitely not a gaming machine. It's a really nice multimedia one, but you're cutting out a lot of performance with that GPU. And the RAM could be more. You'll also want a 7200 RPM HDD, or a SSD.

And, if I remember, HP's run hot, so consider that. Not a bad choice at all, just a little different than what you originally had been looking for.
 
[quote name='Mr Dude65']That's a nice laptop for the price, but definitely not a gaming machine. It's a really nice multimedia one, but you're cutting out a lot of performance with that GPU. And the RAM could be more. You'll also want a 7200 RPM HDD, or a SSD.

And, if I remember, HP's run hot, so consider that. Not a bad choice at all, just a little different than what you originally had been looking for.[/QUOTE]

It seems almost unobtainable without going much over $1,100. The Asus I was eying before through Best Buy is out of stock too now. Didn't know that about the HP.
 
[quote name='Antic']It seems almost unobtainable without going much over $1,100. The Asus I was eying before through Best Buy is out of stock too now. Didn't know that about the HP.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I get what you're saying. If you need the BD in there, it's really difficult. I guess I'd say to go with that HP, but look up reviews first. Also, upgrade to a 7.2k HDD or SSD, and any more RAM if possible without going too far over budget. Otherwise, looking at a list of GPU's for mobile PC's, that 650M should do well, especially paired with the Ivy Bridge processor.

List can be found here: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html
 
[quote name='Antic']That's really tempting. Could make one for $1,094 before tax. Do you know how long that coupon will work? My main reason for the blu-ray is so I can watch movies while I'm gone from home/on the road until November. I have a ton of Criterions to blow through.

EDIT: Do you think I should pay extra for the "17.3-inch diagonal Full HD Anti-glare LED-backlit Display (1920 x 1080)"

It would be...


  • Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
  • 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
  • NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 650M Graphics with 2GB GDDR5 memory [HDMI, VGA]
  • FREE UPGRADE to 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
  • 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
  • 32GB mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache
  • Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word/Excel(R) only, No PowerPoint(R)/Outlook(R)
  • No additional security software
  • 30% off 9 cell Lithium Ion Battery
  • 17.3-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1600 x 900)
  • FREE Upgrade to Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
  • HP TrueVision HD Webcam
  • 802.11b/g/n WLAN
  • Backlit Keyboard
  • Included 2 Year Warranty
[/QUOTE]I would spring for the 1920 x 1080 screen without question.

There's also a 15.6" version of the same system, the dv6, though it only has a 1-year warranty and no second HDD bay.

That coupon shows up periodically and it was a $400 coupon a week or so ago. With the Sandy Bridge / previous generation version of the dv7/dv6 models, when they were trying to flush them out, they had 30% off and 35% off system coupons, which knocked more than the $350 off the current coupon.

Thread with more info about the dv6/dv7-7000 than you can possibly stand:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...v7t-7xxx-series-ivy-bridge-owners-lounge.html

Speaking of that:
33% off coupon on this unit (dv6qte/dv7qte custom units)
Coupon: NBP8784
Expires: 5/23 or earlier

[quote name='Mr Dude65']That's a nice laptop for the price, but definitely not a gaming machine. It's a really nice multimedia one, but you're cutting out a lot of performance with that GPU. And the RAM could be more. You'll also want a 7200 RPM HDD, or a SSD.

And, if I remember, HP's run hot, so consider that. Not a bad choice at all, just a little different than what you originally had been looking for.[/QUOTE]First off, what game really needs more than 8GB system RAM?

Also, 7200RPM is an option, as it a SSD, though you can probably get a better SSD for the money HP would charge for the pre-installed SSD. The dv7 has a bay for a second HDD, so you could add the SSD as the primary drive and leave the 1TB 5400RPM drive as the secondary data drive.

GT650M is the best GPU they have to offer, and unless you're going eye-candy crazy, it'll do the job.

HP overheating issues are a thing of the past, as the 6000 series have been issue-free with that problem. 7000 series aren't any different, from what I've seen.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']I would spring for the 1920 x 1080 screen without question.

There's also a 15.6" version of the same system, the dv6, though it only has a 1-year warranty and no second HDD bay.

That coupon shows up periodically and it was a $400 coupon a week or so ago. With the Sandy Bridge / previous generation version of the dv7/dv6 models, when they were trying to flush them out, they had 30% off and 35% off system coupons, which knocked more than the $350 off the current coupon.

Thread with more info about the dv6/dv7-7000 than you can possibly stand:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...v7t-7xxx-series-ivy-bridge-owners-lounge.html

Speaking of that:
33% off coupon on this unit (dv6qte/dv7qte custom units)
Coupon: NBP8784
Expires: 5/23 or earlier

First off, what game really needs more than 8GB system RAM?

Also, 7200RPM is an option, as it a SSD, though you can probably get a better SSD for the money HP would charge for the pre-installed SSD. The dv7 has a bay for a second HDD, so you could add the SSD as the primary drive and leave the 1TB 5400RPM drive as the secondary data drive.

GT650M is the best GPU they have to offer, and unless you're going eye-candy crazy, it'll do the job.

HP overheating issues are a thing of the past, as the 6000 series have been issue-free with that problem. 7000 series aren't any different, from what I've seen.[/QUOTE]

Well, like I said in my later post, it's a good option for the price, but it's not a gaming PC. Plain and simple. Yes, no game (right now) is going to use more than 8GB, but you also want it for multitasking and the like. For the budget the OP has though, if he upgrades to a 7.2k drive or SSD, it'd be good for him. The graphics card is not super high end, so he may run into trouble later, but it's a good budget option.
 
If I use the coupon and change things I get this for $1,341 (or 1,263 if I can get a friend to have it shipped to his state.)...


  • Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
  • 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3720QM Processor (2.6 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
  • NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 650M Graphics with 2GB GDDR5 memory [HDMI, VGA]
  • FREE UPGRADE to 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
  • 1.5TB 7200 rpm Dual Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
  • 32GB mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache
  • Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word/Excel(R) only, No PowerPoint(R)/Outlook(R)
  • No additional security software
  • 30% off 9 cell Lithium Ion Battery
  • 17.3-inch diagonal Full HD Anti-glare LED-backlit Display (1920 x 1080)
  • FREE Upgrade to Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
  • HP TrueVision HD Webcam
  • 802.11b/g/n WLAN
  • Backlit Keyboard
  • Included 2 Year Warranty
  • HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

    EDIT: IS that better?
 
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The "1.5TB 7200 rpm Dual Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection" are two hard drives hooked together in RAID-0, so if one drive dies, they both die. It'll be faster than a single drive, though 2x the chance of hard drive failure.

Other than that, I think it looks fine by me.
 
[quote name='Antic']My main reason for the blu-ray is so I can watch movies while I'm gone from home/on the road until November. I have a ton of Criterions to blow through.
[/QUOTE]

Personally I'd still drop the blu-ray in favor of more graphics power. If you want it to be as "future-proof" as you can get it why pay extra money for an upgrade unrelated to PC gaming that you will only use on occasion and possibly until only November? You could get a laptop with a better GPU and just purchase a USB portable external BD Drive for under $100 at some point if you felt you really needed it. I know that sounds kind of cumbersome at first. But I was on the road a ton for work until recently and while I only took some BD movies if it was an extended trip, I had an M11X and external BD drive setup I'd take with me and it worked well for me.
 
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