Laptop deals?

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solohunter

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Hey guys - I need some help. I am starting grad school next year and my laptop is dying, so I need a new one. I would like a powerful enough laptop to do some gaming, such that it would be able to continue running new games for the next few years (to some degree or other). i'm pretty flexible on price, but i would like a good deal. i don't need it until school starts, so i have the whole summer to look. so i have two questions:

1. what kind of specs should i be looking for, how much would it cost?

2. where can i find good deals on such things - is there a CAG-like website for laptops so that i can scan it daily for good deals?
 
[quote name='solohunter'] I would like a powerful enough laptop to do some gaming, such that it would be able to continue running new games for the next few years (to some degree or other).[/QUOTE]

That, right there, is what will get you. If you don't want to use it for games, you'll pay less than half the price, and it will probably weigh less and run cooler, too.
 
[quote name='mkelehan']That, right there, is what will get you. If you don't want to use it for games, you'll pay less than half the price, and it will probably weigh less and run cooler, too.[/QUOTE]

yeah, i know, but i'm willing to spend the money and get the clunkier computer - the one i'm using right now is huge and hot, and cost around 1200 - is that about how much a similar laptop these day will cost?
 
I was searching for a laptop for speed and a bigger hard drive, not gaming. My search found Toshiba laptops which start at $347.99 for their 'Satellite' series. I have no experience with Toshiba laptops or computer gaming(does Bejeweled count?, lol) and I did not buy one, but maybe you can search Google for a 'Toshiba laptop forum'.
 
Come to think of it, maybe it wouldn't be the wisest idea to find a forum that's 'product specific/caters to one brand' so you may keep the responses bias.

Maybe, go to the 'deals' section, on this forum, and post your question under the different PC gaming threads.
 
The price for a good gaming laptop will be around $800+. You can look out for deals at dealnews.com, slickdeals.net, fatwallet.com, techbargains.com, and bensbargains.net. Obviously look for one with a dedicated video card with its own dedicated memory (1gb minimum) and 6-8gbs of ram. They will always have sales and right before school starts is the perfect time to pick one up. Try and get a i7 Sandybridge if you can afford it or go with an i5 sandybridge.
 
Sweet spot for the prices seem to be between $800 to $1100, prices vary between brands and what options you get. If you don't mind refurbished (more like dented box) dell usually has really good sales around fall for gaming spec laptops that are not their xps or alienware line.
 
thanks everyone - i especially found allerka's link helpful. do you agree that i should shoot for a class 1 graphics card? i'm looking on the sites jirotokio linked to (especially techbargains, their layout is easy to browse through), and class 1 graphics cards are hard to come by

also, if i'm looking at amd cpus, what should i be looking for? how do they compare with intel?
 
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Try Newegg, if you want, or Amazon. Usually only higher-end laptop makers use good parts (Acer, Asus -- my fave, or some HP models). Whatever you do, do NOT get a laptop with an Intel GMA card in it. The laptop will barely be able to play games from 5 years ago.
 
look into getting a Sony Vaio, Toshiba, or Asus laptop. Sony is best in overall value, but toshiba and asus are slightly more durable. The samsung 9000 series are great as well. What you want is an intel I7-2600s processor for what you are using it for. You also want a Nividia geforce GT435m or above graphics card. You want 6GB of Ram or more with a 320 GB 7200rpm HDD or more. A laptop with these specs will run you anywhere from $1300 to $1500 including tax and other fees. If you can find one in any of these 4 brands for less than that, It is a great deal. Take a look at best buy so you can see what I am talking about and play with one as they might have one that meets these specs. Also, get I suggest looking online for purchase unless BB gives you the aformentioned deal. Windows 7 professional if you want windows. This might be slight overkill for mild game usage but, if you can afford it, you will love this purchase so much more than cheaping out on it. I am a programmer so I keep up with the computers because I upgrade every couple of years at most. I don't know what you are going to grad school for, but most likey, as with any graduate work, you are going to be using this thing constantly. It's better to get one that can take some punishment as these specs can than to have to get some know nothing wannabe techy to try to overclock a system that just can't take it and then burning out the internals. I hope this helps.
 
thanks for the advice everyone, i really liked that site antlp89 gave.

how's the 555m graphics card? i see a lot of them around, and it's in the "class 1" cards in that list

also, a few of you mentioned good sales in the summer/fall - can you give more info about that?
 
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hey - hope its not bad form to dig this up from a few weeks back, but how is this laptop?


  • 2nd generation Intel(R) Quad Core(TM) i7-2630QM (2.0 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) w/Turbo Boost up to 2.9 GHz
  • 2GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD 6770M Graphics [HDMI, VGA]
  • 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
  • 750GB 5400RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
  • 9-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (over-sized) - Up to 9.75 hours of battery life +++
  • 15.6" diagonal High Definition HP BrightView LED Display (1366x768)
  • Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
with the memorial day coupon, i can get it for $934...would you recommend this or something like this?
 
Well, that battery life estimate is WAY over what you should probably expect, but that's a pretty great system right there. Obviously you could get a lot more gaming power out of a desktop, but as far as laptops go, that's excellent.
 
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