buying a laptop for gaming

[stephen0205]

Hi there i know all about computers and good graphics cards.

But when it comes to laptops i dont have a scooby.

My friend is looking to sell his deksop shortly which will probably end up on here or e bay.

And hes looking for a laptop for gaming. But hes gonna have a tight budget.

He found a nice dell m1710 with the following spec

Condition: Seller Refurbished

Make: Dell XPS

Model: M1710

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 @2.00Ghz

Memory: 3GB RAM

Hard Drive: 250GB HDD

Screen: 17" 1920 X 1200

Drive: DVD Multi Recorder.

Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium 32Bit

Battery: Yes

AC Adapter: Yes

Wireless: A, B, G & Bluetooth

USB Ports: 6

Various: DVI, Modem, Card reader.

Graphics: Nvidia Go 7950 GTX 512MB.

He basically wants it to play the following:
*world of warcraft
*starcraft 2
*blood bowl
*dawn of war 2
*call of duty
*various flash games

He likes the nice one for sale in the forums but its little over his budget.

ny suggestions on which cards are decent, or what ones are awsome

[Toonshorty]

Why would you get a laptop for gaming?

Several problems:

1) They overheat.
2) The screen is too small.
3) You need a mouse because any FPS is impossible with a trackpad.
4) The graphics cards are never that good.

[KarlHungus]

I just sold a dell xps m1710, avoid at all costs the cards in them are easy to kill.

[El Wayneo]

Why would you get a laptop for gaming?

Several problems:

1) They overheat.
2) The screen is too small.
3) You need a mouse because any FPS is impossible with a trackpad.
4) The graphics cards are never that good.

You are a bit outdated on your generic terms there Toon.

1.False
2.False
3.True
4.False

I'm currently using an ASUS with HD5650 which is not only very quiet but plays games well.

I've ordered a DELL XPS with a 17.3" screen, i have a collegue who has an 18.4" Monster with SLI GTX260M and a 1920 x 1080 Screen, plays crysis maxed out.



Scrivz has a very niice Laptop for sale, better than that you listed and under £500.

[stephen0205]

yeah i seen it, its quite pretty he would gladly have it.

But problem is funds, his system and other stuff will be up for sale here tonight or tomorrow, hoping to gain enuff money to buy the one here for sale

[scrivz69]

The fans on mine are noisy they are powefull things and need to keep cool, after a while I don't notice either the cpu of the gpu fan running if I am gaming, they need cleaning alot due to the dust they can suck in aswell and very heavy to lug about thats why mine has been on a cooling mate since new, they are what they are, you can't just stick another fan in it like a pc.

[captainpsteel]

My HP has a ati mobility 4530 graphics card in and runs the games reasonably fine the nVidia GeForce 7950 GTX is slightly higher on core and shader speeds. Just a concern about the nVidia card that in some systems they were prone to overheating hence why I went for an ATI card, I would recomend using a cooling fan panel under the laptop Belkin do one but not sure if it will be big enough for a 17" unit. As regards the screen resolution not sure that the card will cope well with the 1920 x 1200 res as the higher the res the more effort is required by the card to render the image. I can't say about the games listed as I've never played them.
Rest of specs look reasonable
hope this helps.

[scrivz69]

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Laptops/Accessories/Coolers/Akasa+17%22+Classic+Laptop+Cooler+?productId=40092

The one I use and does a great job.

[jason]

Be extremely careful of this laptop I owned one not to long ago , they are built for gaming but wont last long the GPU has a massive failure rate "Nvidia Go 7950 GTX 512MB", best used only for general day to day stuff and some low power gaming.
The laptop is very easy to fix if the GPU fails obtaining one is the hardest part, KarlHungus can advise you on this as he fixed my old laptop.
Many of the GPU's you will find on the bay and else were have also been reconditioned and you will be lucky to game on one for more that a few months.

[Toonshorty]

You are a bit outdated on your generic terms there Toon.

1.False
2.False
3.True
4.False

I'm currently using an ASUS with HD5650 which is not only very quiet but plays games well.

I've ordered a DELL XPS with a 17.3" screen, i have a collegue who has an 18.4" Monster with SLI GTX260M and a 1920 x 1080 Screen, plays crysis maxed out.



Scrivz has a very niice Laptop for sale, better than that you listed and under £500.

Ah.

My Brother has a SONY Vaio E series that gets very hot over minecraft :L

[El Wayneo]

He should have bought a proper laptop then.

[Toonshorty]

He should have bought a proper laptop then.

I've always though the VAIOs were quite good.

[KarlHungus]

Be extremely careful of this laptop I owned one not to long ago , they are built for gaming but wont last long the GPU has a massive failure rate "Nvidia Go 7950 GTX 512MB", best used only for general day to day stuff and some low power gaming.
The laptop is very easy to fix if the GPU fails obtaining one is the hardest part, KarlHungus can advise you on this as he fixed my old laptop.
Many of the GPU's you will find on the bay and else were have also been reconditioned and you will be lucky to game on one for more that a few months.

I changed that gpu twice in 4 months :fail
The nvidia 7900 has a high failure rate in those xps m1710's, ive read that the 8400/8600gt in the notebooks are also prone to die quickly.

I got my wife a hp dv7 17" notebook around xmas time, has an ati hd4530 video card and runs games ace. Good notebook for what i paid £250.
The notebook scrivz is selling is the bomb, if your friend can afford it he should buy it :thumb:

[jason]

I changed that gpu twice in 4 months :fail
The nvidia 7900 has a high failure rate in those xps m1710's, ive read that the 8400/8600gt in the notebooks are also prone to die quickly.

I got my wife a hp dv7 17" notebook around xmas time, has an ati hd4530 video card and runs games ace. Good notebook for what i paid £250.
The notebook scrivz is selling is the bomb, if your friend can afford it he should buy it :thumb:
Sorry to here that, i was certain the ati cards worked in that laptop if you could be sure they are you would have no problems with them.
It dose seem alot of the replacement 7900 card have been through a re flow process to get them working again before being resold.

Added after 6 minutes:

Edit...
I did a lot of research on the laptop before i gave up and sold it some thing i came across alot was Dell and the knowledge of faulty products, yet they would still use them.
When i purchased the RAM for the laptop (4GB) Dell sold it to me yet never mentioned the chip set could only access 3.5GB.
Why is Dell so free to carry on this underhandedness?

[KarlHungus]

Don't be sorry Jason you were extremely helpful m8 during and after sale.
I was going to buy an ati card but i read that on the xps m1710 the bios is locked to nvidia 7900 series, the card i bought was under warranty so i had it replaced after it went faulty after 2 months then again 2 months later at which point on changing the card again i didnt use the notebook at all and sold it on the bay.
And yes the 3.5gb out of 4gb being recognised was really odd.

The earlier xps notebook the m170 with the geforce 6800 ultra had very few problems, i know someone who had one and used it for 5 years problem free.
I've just bought a Dell inspiron 9300 with the geforce 6800 go card, i have to replace the screen before i can see how this one performs but i dont plan on using it for gaming at all.

[stephen0205]

the dell is out then

Well hes looking at the asus g51 or g60 now, cant get em in the uk, so gonna have to be an import job

[Faisal]

Why would you get a laptop for gaming?

Several problems:

1) They overheat.
2) The screen is too small.
3) You need a mouse because any FPS is impossible with a trackpad.
4) The graphics cards are never that good.

This, I've pretty much bought a laptop for the same reasons but I've received each and every one of these problems.

[scrivz69]

1) They overheat. Mine never has.
2) The screen is too small. 17" works great.
3) You need a mouse because any FPS is impossible with a trackpad. True.
4) The graphics cards are never that good. Mine is great.

You pay for what you get at the end of the day like anything.

[I3R0K3N7FEET]

latest laptops circa i5 with the 5xxxm ati cards are very good i think the only problem is that some games have problems with mobile graphics drivers.

also steer clear of nvidia based mobile cards. they DO fuel the heat of hell.

though..

my advice would be.. dont bother with a laptop.. waste of money imo..

[Pancake]

The thing that has always got me is the battery life, it cant be great? then why not just have a cheaper more powerfull desktop?

[stephen0205]

well the laptop is for my mate, and half his system is gone now, i warned hm about heat, and drivers.

Bu he still wants one, so im trying to figure out the best one he can get for his money. And unfortunately all that fall within the price ranges are nvidia.

The

8800gts
8800gtx
9800gtx
9800gs

or

the 260gtx

Which seems to be the most powerful out of the lot. Defiantly the most expensive

[scrivz69]

The battery life sucks mate, what don't people get its a mobile pc ffs, no wonder the battery life s crap it ain't a netbook its a desktop replacment.

[I3R0K3N7FEET]

indeed, they have to live with them plugged in.. which means they are static, which then means.. why not desktop? :/ if its cos of how much space then its simple.. build a powerful matx system. if its for lan, then build a lan SFF rig.

anyway... i have no idea about performance of laptop graphics cards.. i cant remember as its not something i look into too much but IIRC the mobile equivalent is usually only around 50% the power of the full desktop version.

the only real reason why someone would want a laptop imo is cos they want to use it while they are in bed while they Whack one out.

lets face it you cant game in bed. you need a desk and a hard surface for the mouse and that only arouses homosexual images.

[Pancake]

Also i would avoid the 8 and 9 series GPU's. We all know about the fact they ALL die.

[Bat]

If you're still looking I can recommend the Alienware M11Xr2. I've had mine for about 7-8 months now and it runs like a dream.
Never going to be as powerful as a desktop machine, but it's great on the train! Quite funny to sit down next to someone playing DoodleJump on their iPhone, they look over and I'm playing Medal of Honor and Dead Space 2 :-)

[slater]

The alienware you suggested it quite good, but it's only a 10" screen isn't it. For me personally It would have to be at least 15"

[Bat]

The alienware you suggested it quite good, but it's only a 10" screen isn't it. For me personally It would have to be at least 15"

Clue is in the model name: M11Xr2 = 11" screen.

They also do an M15X and M17X :-)

[stephen0205]

tis kl he got the asus g51 with the nvidia 350m .Runs starcraft on high pretty sweet

[cinek]

lol this thread is sooo old - alienware == overkill

[Faz]

alienware = apple for 'gamers'

get that Asus one they reviewed the other week, looked incredible and was quite cheap

[Themanhunt]

If you want to game, get a goddamn desktop PC.

[Bat]

If you want to game, get a goddamn desktop PC.

What if you have a "goddamn desktop machine" but want to play games on the train in the mornings?

Seriously, whats with all the tech snobbery?

[Themanhunt]

Just saying. Laptops are meant to be portable, and it's going to be a while until portable becomes powerful.

[I3R0K3N7FEET]

@bat
LOL what kinda games will you play on a train? the same kind you will on your phone?

i thought we already discussed this, its not 'tech snobbery' it is tech 'practicality'

if you want to spend £1500 on a laptop to play flash games then feel free. but no gamer will want to pay £1500 on a laptop just to play a game for 30 mins till the battery dies.

and if they do... then ISNT THAT TECH SNOBBERY?

you statement is full of fail imo.

[Bat]

@bat
LOL what kinda games will you play on a train? the same kind you will on your phone?

i thought we already discussed this, its not 'tech snobbery' it is tech 'practicality'

if you want to spend £1500 on a laptop to play flash games then feel free. but no gamer will want to pay £1500 on a laptop just to play a game for 30 mins till the battery dies.

and if they do... then ISNT THAT TECH SNOBBERY?

you statement is full of fail imo.

OK, I'm not sure how I can answer this without being accused of being an alienware fanboy, but:

Alienware M11X = £749, half of what you specify.

The battery lasts around 2-3 hours of solid gaming.

And I frequently play Medal of Honor, Left4Dead 2 and Fallout: NV on the train :-)

I'm not wanting to get into an argument about this, I just think people should know the facts :)

[Themanhunt]

The facts are desktop pcs own laptops in every way apart from portability.

Tbh for playing on a train, a £750 laptop isn't worth it imo.

[Bat]

The facts are desktop pcs own laptops in every way apart from portability.

Tbh for playing on a train, a £750 laptop isn't worth it imo.

First part true, there's no argument from me on that part.

Second is a matter of opinion, and you're entitled to yours, but it doesn't make mine wrong :)

[I3R0K3N7FEET]

And I frequently play Medal of Honor, Left4Dead 2 and Fallout: NV on the train :-)





and if they do... then ISNT THAT TECH SNOBBERY?


and how long do you play on the train for... and is it really worth it i mean really?


a decent gaming laptop would cost £1200-1500

2-3 hours? wow, though surely thatdepends on the power of the componants, IE a more powerful gaming laptop would drain faster?

[Themanhunt]

Well if feal you need A laptop, fine. Though you dont have to play demanding games on the train.

[Bat]

and how long do you play on the train for... and is it really worth it i mean really?


a decent gaming laptop would cost £1200-1500

2-3 hours? wow, though surely thatdepends on the power of the componants, IE a more powerful gaming laptop would drain faster?

I don't want to get into a big thing about the concept of gaming laptops, I was just suggesting the model I own as an idea for the OP, I had no idea it was going to open such a big debate.

with battery life, I was quoting from my own experience of the M11X only, not gaming laptops in general. Of course you're right that battery life is dependant on components so models will vary.

I play about an hour each way, depending on which train I catch. I commute into London from the Midlands.

[I3R0K3N7FEET]

oops quote fail

[Bat]

Quote fail?

[I3R0K3N7FEET]

last post edited :P lol

[Bat]

Ah I see.
By the way, is that your site in your sig?

[I3R0K3N7FEET]

lol, ah no, it is my friend's site :)

[Bat]

Pi$$ing myself at #10!

[addison]

have you seen the price for graphic card upgrades.