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Acceptable gaming laptop?

R

rb_outdoors

Junior Member
So I'm a student and need to have a laptop but would like to play some games as well (SC 2, CS, etc) without paying 1k. Tell me what you think of this setup: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834157717


I'm hoping to keep it under $500

CPU TypeAMD Turion II Dual-Core P520 2.3GHz Screen15.6" Memory Size4GB DDR3 Hard Disk500GB Optical DriveDVD Super Multi Graphics CardATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 s CommunicationGigabit LAN and WLAN Dimensions14.88" x 9.65" x 1.21" - 1.37" Weight5.46 lbs. TechVISION Premium Technology CPU CPU TypeAMD Turion II Dual-Core CPU SpeedP520(2.3GHz) CPU L2 Cache2MB Display Screen Size15.6" Wide Screen SupportYes Resolution1366 x 768 LCD FeaturesHP BrightView LED Display Operating Systems Operating SystemWindows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Graphics GPU/VPUATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 s Graphic TypeDedicated Card Hard Drive HDD500GB HDD RPM5400rpm HDD InterfaceSATA Memory Memory4GB Memory Type204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM Memory Slot (Total)2 Max Memory Supported8GB
 
IMO, no laptop will ever be suited for gaming. They get too hot, and for the price you pay you can have a beyond killer desktop. I realize your space is limited, have you thought about making a shuttle build? For that $500 you can get a pretty sweet build.

I bought an XPS laptop when they were cool a couple years back, sold that thing 2 weeks after heavy BF2 gaming and built a shuttle gaming PC that actually took up less space than that big ass laptop did.


If you decide you absolutely need a laptop, make sure it has a dedicated card and not a crappy integrated card. That 5650 will be pretty MEH depending on what you play. Everything else will be pretty MEH as well. Hard drive is slow, but that won't matter too much.
 
I would much rather have a desktop or shuttle but I need to be able to go to the library for group work and travel a lot. I dont mind the weight of big laptops.
 
I have an Alienware m11x I bought refurb last summer for ~$650. Its the R1 with the Core 2 Duo CPU and Geforce 335M. It handles most games just fine on medium to high settings on a 1920x1080 external monitor. If you only use the internal screen you can go higher still.

Not sure on current pricing but eBay or refurbs should be in the $500 range by now.
 
Very few laptops have the ventilation necessary to game for extended time. You may need to invest in a tabletop laptop cooler.
 
I did find a problem with laptop ventilation.

I had an Asus G51 with a single fan cooling an i7 and GTX260M. It would overheat and throttle a bit on some games, which is a known issue. Some Alienwares can even do it.

For the above laptop, it might be alright since the components aren't exactly super high power. The CPU isn't the strongest, the GPU isn't great either so forget SC2 at max settings but you can probably run it fairly well on lower settings., medium should be smoothly playable on SC2.

Here are some benchmarks for a very similar system, your performance with the linked laptop should be damn close:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Toshiba-Satellite-L650D-Notebook.38360.0.html

Just try to remember to keep your laptop cool. Don't leave it on a soft surface like a couch or bed, or even your lap, a lap cooler pad with fans. With that setup, even my current i7 SNB/GTX485m doesn't go above 85* ever. As always though, your mileage may vary depending on the laptop cooling system so even that might not be enough (in some rare cases that identical setup wasn't enough for my Asus G51).
 
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The laptop you asked about should be good for most games. The Radeon 5650 is a good gpu, the AMD cpu is a little slower than an Intel i3. In my experience that didn't make a huge difference in games.

I've had the same cpu and a little worse gpu, Radeon 550v, in a Dell 15r and it played games pretty well. I also got a Dell 15r with an Intel i5 and the 550v gpu and it's a little better at Crysis and a few others like Civ 5. But the AMD worked pretty well.

The HP you asked about has a better gpu so it ought to be even better.
 
Awesome, thanks for the input. I'm pretty stoked to have something decent enough to play that is in my budget. One of my friends is oppossed because The CPU is known for having a super short life... I've never heard that, anyone else?
 
MSI makes several notebooks that runs quite cool, has Intel i5 CPU, NVIDIA GT 425M GPU's and runs very well. I use it for 24/7 as a member of a folding@home team.

The models are the FX603 ones. A good balance of everything. That video card (a fermi) is a killer. I get over 4,000 points most days doing nothing but GPU folding.

Regardless of what you buy, a 3 year warranty is a must. Square Trade offers warranties at a fraction of what the retail stores & OEM's charges.

Best of Luck,
Cat
 
catilley1092 said:
MSI makes several notebooks that runs quite cool, has Intel i5 CPU, NVIDIA GT 425M GPU's and runs very well. I use it for 24/7 as a member of a folding@home team.

The models are the FX603 ones. A good balance of everything. That video card (a fermi) is a killer. I get over 4,000 points most days doing nothing but GPU folding.

From Newegg or eBay, you can find these for $750 to $850.

Regardless of what you buy, a 3 year warranty is a must. Square Trade offers warranties at a fraction of what the retail stores & OEM's charges.

Best of Luck,
Cat
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I don't have any ventilation problems with my older Dell Studio 17. I can game on it for hours.

Pentium Dual-Core 2ghz (45nm Penryn)
HD3650 Mobile 512mb
3gb DDR2
250gb 5400 RPM hdd
17" 1440x900 lcd
 
Specs wise low to med settings should be ok for most games. Only issue IMHO is screen resolution might be a tad small for RTS. External monitor fixes that.
 
I would just get a desktop, dosent have to be a huge monster but it will be much more powerful than any laptop will be and also get a small cheap netbook to carry around to the library etc.

Its what i did, i used to buy "gaming" laptops, well i bought one and it wasent really a gaming laptop but it was okay for the time, it had an 8600GT. Now i got a monster desktop and my asus 13" portable for when im on the move, best of both worlds.
 
As somebody who once spent $3000 on a gaming laptop, getting a laptop with that being a major criteria is a bad idea. Hauling around a 13 lb laptop is not at all practical, heat is a major problem, battery life tends to be crap and you never really get the performance you would hope for. I would say your best option would be to go with one of the Alienware m11x machines although you might look into the OnLive service so you can get a laptop that isn't as good and still be able to do some gaming.
 
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