Notebooks Ditching My Gaming PC for a Laptop?

Unfortunately the time has come to consider reigning in my gaming. A child under 2 and Twins on the way forces this . . . . we need the space. So assuming i will get the odd 5 minutes to game i want to look at getting a capable gaming laptop that will last me a few years.

My current rig is 2500K, 4GB, HD5870 and thus it is capable of running just about anything with max settings. I also have G15 and Samsung 22" display. I'm looking at selling all this and getting the best Lappie i can for the money.

Suggestions please, whats up coming whats is around for around £800 or less

RIP PC building <sniff>

 

I bought a 'gaming' laptop when living and working in Italy. It cost over £1200 (ordered it from UK) - It had/has a decent GPU, Intel 2.8GHz CPU and a 7200rpm HDD. It is now only just over a year old, but it seem so out of date that it may as well be 5 years old.

While I can play games on it, it is nothing compared to a PC costing £400 less. I have since researched for a better gaming laptop (as I travel back and forth to Italy), and the reality is, if I want to play games more or less the same as my desktop PC, I am looking at £2-2.5k if, as you say, you want it to be pretty future-proof.

If you play games that are not too graphically intensive, then £800 is the bare minimum.

 

Hate to say but if you want to half play decent games you might be better of switching to a console (shudders)

I just dont think at £800 budget your going to get anything that at decent frame rates..you are used too, you will be ok if your into playing games maybe 1/2 years old..

Build quality wise...Toshiba atellite a660 or sony vivo f range...

 

aye i feared as much. I'm an FPS man so a console is no "consolation" . Also as an FPS man, need the GPU to be good enough to pump the polygons around the 17" screen. I'm hoping the new mobile sandybridge platform might help with the price structure of gaming laptops. . .

 

Dell XPS 17 can be had for 630 with an i5 480, and an Nvidia 435M. Seems that the 435m can play BFBC2 at the native res if 1600x900 at over 30fps with everything on full, HBAO off and x2 AA, which isn't bad at all.

 

If your prepared to spend an extra £100 there's this:

http://www.dell.com/uk/p/xps-l702x/pd?oc=n00x7m06&model_id=xps-l702x

3D isn't mandatory but the base of it is good (sandy bridge proc, GT 555M which should be decent) i'd say.

 

Keep the PC

Keep the PC - make the space for it! Glue it to the ceiling if you have to but you won't be happy with a laptop (unless you go OTT)

Feel free to quote me on that, I'm a mum of pre-school twins and I know about these things.

Their favourite game is Dirt 2 BTW, I have to switch accelerate and brake to the gear change on my logitech momo for them though as they can't reach the pedals

 

lol love this level headed advice . . . will strongly consider. Hmm PC in garage, wake on lan and cat 5 . . . .

 

Gaming laptop is a oxymoron. Seriously, don't even think about it. I have a laptop with a HD5650 as a solution for the moments when i'm not at my main PC, but it is simply uncomparable.

 

Nooo, don't do it!

I've just switched from a "gaming laptop" (mandated by my need to be at uni) to a desktop. The difference is just amazing. With a laptop, you'll forever curse:

a) how much you spent on it for a vaguely similar spec
b) how it struggles to run modern games even at reasonable settings
c) how it overheats when you actually try to play said games

If space is an issue, go the microATX route. My Silverstone FT03 takes up very little desk space, yet houses a fairly powerful Core i5 rig.

 

Gaming laptops are a joke. Last resort only.

 

And don't forget the weight/battery life these things entail...

I'm thinking about doing a build in an airfreight case soonish... Maybe you should think along those lines...?

 

If your getting rid of it purely on space consideration get a micro atx mobo and case and get used to using your TV as a monitor.

 

i currently have an acer aspire 7738g, which has intel q9000, 6gb ram, nvidia gt240m with dedicated 1gb vram, and 2x500gb hd, and blu-ray writer, oh and intel ultimate n 6300 wireless.

whilst wireless isn't much cop for gaming, the machine will quite happily play cod:black ops

 

I play wow on a netbook xD Started as an experiment but gave me a quick fix at min settings. The new 3000 GPU in sandybridge is around a 430m which is about the same level as consoles. Dell are selling those laptops for around £600-700

check round laptops in your price range and compare the gpu using this:-
linky

 

This for sure, and maybe consider using your TV instead for a screen if you no longer have a room/desk to accomodate it.

 

The ASUS gaming laptops are not bad at all in my opinion.

My main gripe with most gaming laptops is that they don't have a very good lifespan because of poor cooling (on top of that they turn your desk/lap into a hot plate). ASUS did something about this with their higher end machines with large vents on the rear. As a result of the large rear vents they have a really unique look that's not to everybody's liking - however, at least it's a functional characteristic and not merely for looks. It's not compact but it's more compact than any desktop you buy.

I've said this a couple times before ( and by no means am I trying to toot my own horn, especially since it was a crappy job ) but I used to rep for Dell at a Best Buy and out of all the laptops (and especially the gaming ones ) the ASUS gaming machine kept its temperatures in check. The table underneath it was never that warm at all. Personally, I find it disconcerting that even the low powered machines get the tabletop beneath them hotter than is comfortable to touch.

I have also heard great things from LinusTechTips about his MSI gaming rig.

Of course none of these machines are going to give you the power of a competently spec'd desktop gaming rig - but I can understand the need to downsize and I don't think it's impossible. I used to have tons of fun playing Max Payne 2 and Counter Strike 1.6 on my first laptop with a Pentium M and a Radeon 9000. It's all relative to what you are used to though and I'm sure I would no longer want to use that old POS laptop if someone put it in front of me.

 

Why not build it into an HTPC case and put it under the TV? Use a wireless keyboard and mouse. That way you aren't taking up any extra space.

 

I think it's more blasphemous to the gaming gods to suggest a wireless mouse over the suggestion of a gaming laptop. (Book of Binary: 01:01)

 

Ahem...me and my X8 beg to disagree