Hi Guys, It looks like I may be doing very regular travel for work. It means leaving the main rig behind at home, but on the plus side means more time for gaming! I've been hunting around the gaming laptop scene, for something I can drag around in a little suitcase and set up in a hotel room. Heavy is fine, within reason, as it would just be moved to the hotel and stay there. I would have an ultrabook or similar on the move during the day. I am thinking 17" 1080 or so, 7970M or similar performance, quad core i.e. not too many compromises. SLI perhaps, but that might be overkill for 1080. SSD for sure. The only place I've found that has high end gaming component options is Alienware. I could do Alienware guess, but it feels rather too l33t for a middle aged businessman. It also seems a bit on the expensive side, although I'm willing to shell out for the right kit. Any tips on other gaming laptop options - thinking along the along the lines of desktop replacement rather than mobile gaming persay? Also open to sneaky SFF builds if anyone can work that out, monitor probably required as part of the package however. Thanks ...
Alienware are ridiculously expensive and poorly specced for the price that you pay, I think your paying for the brand name really. I had a look at Novatech and found the Elite Extreme 2760 V2 (not the best name I know) and it seems to fit in with your requirements: Intel Core i7 2760 16GB DDR3 RAM 1TB SATA Hard Drive & 128GB Crucial M4 SSD NVIDIA GTX 670 Mobile 17.3" Full HD Screen Onkyo speakers & backlit keyboard £1329.98 without an OS I've used a couple of Novatech's own laptops (I think they're made by Clevo) and have been very happy with them. I also think it looks a lot more professional than an Alienware
Thanks - that looks very good (the novatech)! I am not interested in paying extra for Alienware branding. I'd like to nudge the GPU up just a bit however. I didn't see how to do that online, but I did see a note saying that it can be done.
I would strongly recommend Schenker laptops: www.mysn.de Decent prices and good customer service in my experience.
A buddy of mine has one of these and he really likes it. It doesn't look nearly as 'bling' as most gaming oriented laptops I've seen around. Not sure if they do business in the UK though, but hey. I would usually recommend a SFF PC for people short on space, but with the amount of traveling it seems like you'll be doing, it might be tough to lug around even something like an Alienware X51, let alone a Shuttle box.
The Acer G series are pretty good. The latest one is going to have Ivy Bridge parts and mobile Kepler, if I read the news blurb right. RoG makes some good laptops, my friend has a late model G37 and it's pretty good one you get past the hugeness and butt ugliness.
Thanks all for the suggestions - +1s all round. Much more to choose from now! I'm currently leaning towards the PC Specialist option. Looks like good value, good flexibility, and seems to be good reviews around the place. I hope their screen is alright, I couldnt find any decent info on the Vortex III screen. Hopefully Ivy bridge and 680Ms will be available by the time I buy too, although the 7970M looks pretty damn decent also.
