Recommend me a new gaming laptop

Looking to get a laptop with my tax refund, probably nothing more expensive than $700 or so. Looking at this one preliminarily. Any thoughts/recommendations? Doesn't have to be super duper high quality but I'd like to be able to play some of my backlog on Steam that my current system isn't quite up to snuff for (Deus Ex, the Batman Arkham games, Dishonored, etc).

dhelor wrote:

Looking to get a laptop with my tax refund, probably nothing more expensive than $700 or so. Looking at this one preliminarily. Any thoughts/recommendations? Doesn't have to be super duper high quality but I'd like to be able to play some of my backlog on Steam that my current system isn't quite up to snuff for (Deus Ex, the Batman Arkham games, Dishonored, etc).

Check the notebookcheck.net pages for the CPU and GPU aspects of its APU. Depending on the RAM being used, it could be decent for those titles specifically.

dhelor wrote:

Looking to get a laptop with my tax refund, probably nothing more expensive than $700 or so. Looking at this one preliminarily. Any thoughts/recommendations? Doesn't have to be super duper high quality but I'd like to be able to play some of my backlog on Steam that my current system isn't quite up to snuff for (Deus Ex, the Batman Arkham games, Dishonored, etc).

Well, while those APUs (Combined CPU and GPU on a single die) are getting better, they still barely run modern games.

I couldn't find much for $700, but I found this one on Newegg for $800. It has an Nvidia 740m chip in it which will run some games. Scroll down to the bottom of this page to get an idea of how well it will run some recent games.

This Acer is going to have cheap build quality, but it has an AMD 8750M in it, which will give you better performance than the 740M. That laptop is $730.

This Lenovo is $800 and has an Nvidia 745M chip in it. That should run a bit better than the first one I mentioned.

You might try and find a deal on something refurbished or used. A laptop that runs games even just okay won't come too cheap. Just always be sure to google the graphics chip and check the performance on notebookcheck.net.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

This Lenovo is $800 and has an Nvidia 745M chip in it. That should run a bit better than the first one I mentioned.

The entry-level Lenovo Y510p is comparable, but includes a GT755M and an i7 CPU with a slightly lower clock speed. Employee pricing can knock $20-$30 off of what's listed.

Kurrelgyre wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

This Lenovo is $800 and has an Nvidia 745M chip in it. That should run a bit better than the first one I mentioned.

The entry-level Lenovo Y510p is comparable, but includes a GT755M and an i7 CPU with a slightly lower clock speed. Employee pricing can knock $20-$30 off of what's listed.

Planning on getting a mostly for the wife laptop that I can use for some light gaming. Key apsects are a 15+ inch screen, internet, and the color red as a case option... and I want this thing to last 3+ years. I am leaning toward the 17" one.

Anyone care to comment on the long term performance of either product line? I have a lenovo for work, but our IT department is horrible so I don't know how many of its issues are related to them instead of build quality.

Kurrelgyre wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

This Lenovo is $800 and has an Nvidia 745M chip in it. That should run a bit better than the first one I mentioned.

The entry-level Lenovo Y510p is comparable, but includes a GT755M and an i7 CPU with a slightly lower clock speed. Employee pricing can knock $20-$30 off of what's listed.

After looking at both in a little more detail I am worried about the keyboard complaints. I have a Lenovo T420 for work and think it's keyboard is fine, do these have a similar keyboard and people are just looking for something to complain about?

Also this laptop is a little pricier but seems to be more popular/better? On that note is this a go to for a ~$1000 laptop?

The keyboard isn't wonderful. At least not by my standard. And the touchpad curves down at the bottom corners so it feels a bit weird.

DSGamer wrote:

The keyboard isn't wonderful. At least not by my standard. And the touchpad curves down at the bottom corners so it feels a bit weird.

Which one?

manta173 wrote:
Kurrelgyre wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

This Lenovo is $800 and has an Nvidia 745M chip in it. That should run a bit better than the first one I mentioned.

The entry-level Lenovo Y510p is comparable, but includes a GT755M and an i7 CPU with a slightly lower clock speed. Employee pricing can knock $20-$30 off of what's listed.

After looking at both in a little more detail I am worried about the keyboard complaints. I have a Lenovo T420 for work and think it's keyboard is fine, do these have a similar keyboard and people are just looking for something to complain about?

Also this laptop is a little pricier but seems to be more popular/better? On that note is this a go to for a ~$1000 laptop?

I purchased that laptop before and the touchpad is nearly unusable. I know that most of the time you'll be using a mouse so it's not a big deal. I had my system have hardware failure and Lenovo was not easy to deal with. I was lucky that I purchased mine from Amazon and they took it back and refunded my money even though I purchased the laptop months ago. I'm not saying my experience is the most common but it is what I experienced.

I purchased an Alienware 14 laptop and its still in production after a week. Anyone ever purchase from alienware? How long does it take for them to build the machines and get them out to people?

manta173 wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

The keyboard isn't wonderful. At least not by my standard. And the touchpad curves down at the bottom corners so it feels a bit weird.

Which one?

The Lenovo Y510.

Ulairi wrote:
manta173 wrote:
Kurrelgyre wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

This Lenovo is $800 and has an Nvidia 745M chip in it. That should run a bit better than the first one I mentioned.

The entry-level Lenovo Y510p is comparable, but includes a GT755M and an i7 CPU with a slightly lower clock speed. Employee pricing can knock $20-$30 off of what's listed.

After looking at both in a little more detail I am worried about the keyboard complaints. I have a Lenovo T420 for work and think it's keyboard is fine, do these have a similar keyboard and people are just looking for something to complain about?

Also this laptop is a little pricier but seems to be more popular/better? On that note is this a go to for a ~$1000 laptop?

I purchased that laptop before and the touchpad is nearly unusable. I know that most of the time you'll be using a mouse so it's not a big deal. I had my system have hardware failure and Lenovo was not easy to deal with. I was lucky that I purchased mine from Amazon and they took it back and refunded my money even though I purchased the laptop months ago. I'm not saying my experience is the most common but it is what I experienced.

I purchased an Alienware 14 laptop and its still in production after a week. Anyone ever purchase from alienware? How long does it take for them to build the machines and get them out to people?

did you customize it? Tends to take longer if you do. I seem to remember mine took about 2-3 weeks.

Chairman_Mao wrote:
Ulairi wrote:
manta173 wrote:
Kurrelgyre wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

This Lenovo is $800 and has an Nvidia 745M chip in it. That should run a bit better than the first one I mentioned.

The entry-level Lenovo Y510p is comparable, but includes a GT755M and an i7 CPU with a slightly lower clock speed. Employee pricing can knock $20-$30 off of what's listed.

After looking at both in a little more detail I am worried about the keyboard complaints. I have a Lenovo T420 for work and think it's keyboard is fine, do these have a similar keyboard and people are just looking for something to complain about?

Also this laptop is a little pricier but seems to be more popular/better? On that note is this a go to for a ~$1000 laptop?

I purchased that laptop before and the touchpad is nearly unusable. I know that most of the time you'll be using a mouse so it's not a big deal. I had my system have hardware failure and Lenovo was not easy to deal with. I was lucky that I purchased mine from Amazon and they took it back and refunded my money even though I purchased the laptop months ago. I'm not saying my experience is the most common but it is what I experienced.

I purchased an Alienware 14 laptop and its still in production after a week. Anyone ever purchase from alienware? How long does it take for them to build the machines and get them out to people?

did you customize it? Tends to take longer if you do. I seem to remember mine took about 2-3 weeks.

Yeah. I got the 1080p screen, bigger HD, and the Nvidia 765m. BOO! I want my new toy! This is the first time I've ever purchased an alienware device, despite wanting one since jr high.

Ulairi wrote:
Chairman_Mao wrote:
Ulairi wrote:
manta173 wrote:
Kurrelgyre wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

This Lenovo is $800 and has an Nvidia 745M chip in it. That should run a bit better than the first one I mentioned.

The entry-level Lenovo Y510p is comparable, but includes a GT755M and an i7 CPU with a slightly lower clock speed. Employee pricing can knock $20-$30 off of what's listed.

After looking at both in a little more detail I am worried about the keyboard complaints. I have a Lenovo T420 for work and think it's keyboard is fine, do these have a similar keyboard and people are just looking for something to complain about?

Also this laptop is a little pricier but seems to be more popular/better? On that note is this a go to for a ~$1000 laptop?

I purchased that laptop before and the touchpad is nearly unusable. I know that most of the time you'll be using a mouse so it's not a big deal. I had my system have hardware failure and Lenovo was not easy to deal with. I was lucky that I purchased mine from Amazon and they took it back and refunded my money even though I purchased the laptop months ago. I'm not saying my experience is the most common but it is what I experienced.

I purchased an Alienware 14 laptop and its still in production after a week. Anyone ever purchase from alienware? How long does it take for them to build the machines and get them out to people?

did you customize it? Tends to take longer if you do. I seem to remember mine took about 2-3 weeks.

Yeah. I got the 1080p screen, bigger HD, and the Nvidia 765m. BOO! I want my new toy! This is the first time I've ever purchased an alienware device, despite wanting one since jr high.

The new 14s seem to be really great, matte screens too. I got the last of the M11x before they stopped making them and it's holding up well. I've only had to glue the nubby feet back on a few times, but it's otherwise built like a tank.

Yeah, it can take awhile. I believe they're all assembled in Mexico, then they'll Fedex it to you. They should have given you an approximate date on the order.

Well, I'm an idiot. I accidentally ordered the Core i5 instead of the Core i7. So, I'm going to call Dell and cancel that model. I'm thinking about upgrading to the 17" model. I don't think I'll be hauling the machine around with me and the 780m will run games better.

Ulairi wrote:

I don't think I'll be hauling the machine around with me and the 780m will run games better.

Then why a laptop?

Kurrelgyre wrote:
Ulairi wrote:

I don't think I'll be hauling the machine around with me and the 780m will run games better.

Then why a laptop?

I don't feel safe having a tower with a toddler around. I feel like she could hurt herself or damage the tower. the other thing is that I'm a single dad and being able to game in my room at night is easier with the laptop than having my office. Also, my office is my work room and separating it might keep me efficient.

The 780m will be a significant improvement at 1080p for sure. I don't think you'd see much difference between an i5 and i7, at least in gaming, though.

I ended up going with a 17. Better CPU, 16GB of RAM, better GPU and bigger screen. Not a bad thing.

Ulairi wrote:

I ended up going with a 17. Better CPU, 16GB of RAM, better GPU and bigger screen. Not a bad thing.

At that point you should have went all out and went SLI M18!

TheGameguru wrote:
Ulairi wrote:

I ended up going with a 17. Better CPU, 16GB of RAM, better GPU and bigger screen. Not a bad thing.

At that point you should have went all out and went SLI M18!

I thought about it. But, I read a lot of games aren't really supporting SLI.

Some disappointing news: I guess the alienware 17 isn't an IPS display. That kind of sucks for a $2800 computer.

Ulairi wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:
Ulairi wrote:

I ended up going with a 17. Better CPU, 16GB of RAM, better GPU and bigger screen. Not a bad thing.

At that point you should have went all out and went SLI M18!

I thought about it. But, I read a lot of games aren't really supporting SLI.

Some disappointing news: I guess the alienware 17 isn't an IPS display. That kind of sucks for a $2800 computer.

I don't know where you read that about SLI but it really isn't true. I have 70 or so games installed. Of the 3D games the only ones SLI doesn't work with are Diablo 3 and Company of Heroes 2.

So much misinformation out about multicard setups these days.

Ah well. Long as you like what you ended up with

Ulairi wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:
Ulairi wrote:

I ended up going with a 17. Better CPU, 16GB of RAM, better GPU and bigger screen. Not a bad thing.

At that point you should have went all out and went SLI M18!

I thought about it. But, I read a lot of games aren't really supporting SLI.

Some disappointing news: I guess the alienware 17 isn't an IPS display. That kind of sucks for a $2800 computer.

I would just hook it up to an external monitor anyway, if you're not moving it around much. Bigger, better quality screen.

Chairman_Mao wrote:
Ulairi wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:
Ulairi wrote:

I ended up going with a 17. Better CPU, 16GB of RAM, better GPU and bigger screen. Not a bad thing.

At that point you should have went all out and went SLI M18!

I thought about it. But, I read a lot of games aren't really supporting SLI.

Some disappointing news: I guess the alienware 17 isn't an IPS display. That kind of sucks for a $2800 computer.

I would just hook it up to an external monitor anyway, if you're not moving it around much. Bigger, better quality screen.

I'm debating returning it and getting the 18 with the SLI cards and the better display.

Ulairi wrote:
Chairman_Mao wrote:
Ulairi wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:
Ulairi wrote:

I ended up going with a 17. Better CPU, 16GB of RAM, better GPU and bigger screen. Not a bad thing.

At that point you should have went all out and went SLI M18!

I thought about it. But, I read a lot of games aren't really supporting SLI.

Some disappointing news: I guess the alienware 17 isn't an IPS display. That kind of sucks for a $2800 computer.

I would just hook it up to an external monitor anyway, if you're not moving it around much. Bigger, better quality screen.

I'm debating returning it and getting the 18 with the SLI cards and the better display.

That's a lot of trouble. Just really be sure you aren't ok with what you've got.

On the other hand... every time I use my laptop I want to hit it with a hammer I hate the display so bad. Never before have I made so complete a mistake when buying a laptop. If the display genuinely bothers you... and if you're at all like me, it's never going to get less annoying. Only more so

Our main computer became essentially unusable for my primary purposes*, so I ended up going down to Staple's and getting a new laptop there. Not nearly as powerful as the ones suggested, but so far all the games I've tried have run swimmingly.

*Can't stay connected to the internet, but otherwise functional... however, since my primary uses require internet access, it therefore is utterly useless.

My laptop showed up today. This is the coolest computer I've ever owned. I'm glad I got it just because I always wanted one and now that I can afford almost $3,000 on a laptop I am glad I purchased it. The screen is much better than I feared it would be. Final Fantasy XIV runs like a champ. DOTA2 is amazing on it.

Nice!

Any comment on this laptop? seems like a good weight/performance compromise, no idea of build quality tho.

EDIT: Trying to decide between this and A 14" Razer Blade.

jonnypolite wrote:

Any comment on this laptop? seems like a good weight/performance compromise, no idea of build quality tho.

EDIT: Trying to decide between this and A 14" Razer Blade.

If you have a reasonably powerful desktop PC, I'd go with the Razer just because the build quality is going to be so much nicer. The 765M should do a great job letting you play pretty much anything at medium to high settings and getting you over the 30 FPS mark. That is one sweet looking laptop. You're already paying through the teeth for a laptop with performance, you might as well go all the way and get something you and anyone else would drool over. It'll actually probably retain its value relatively well like a macbook, so you could theoretically sell it for something reasonable in a couple years. That's just speculation to be clear.