College Laptop...and lots of gaming!

[Walzber813]

Ok, So I'm going to be heading off to college and I want to buy a laptop. I have 2000 dollars or, right around that to spend. I want a 15" laptop I think, that can game well and obviously handle my school work and media. Any suggestions, I'm open to either AMD or Intel processors, and I am also wondering how important the 64 bit technology actually is. Thanks

 

[Tarrant64]

The 64-bit technology really isn't anything right now, at least not to me. Not too many applications that support it and actually using a 64-bit version of Windows downgrades performance just a little bit(which is sad).

If choosing between AMD and Intel I would opt for the new Intel Core Duo's.

You will want to be looking for at least a 2.0Ghz processor, a dedicated video card(not shared memory), and if possible 1GB of memory.

You won't be taking that decent PC build you already have with you(in your sig)? Or are you looking for something to take around with you on campus and to play games during lectures.

 

[Brainonska511]

Go for a video card of at least a MR X1600 of 7600 Go. With your price range and size, I'd recommend the W3J. The refreshed W3J (the first set of W3Js were 1.86 Core Duos, 2x512MB RAM) comes with a 2.0GHz Yonah, MR X1600, 14" WXGA display, 1x1GB of RAM, 100GB 5400RPM HDD, and intel wireless. The refreshed model is available through Proportable.com (where I got my W3J), which also happens to be a great webstore.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

What are you wanting to get out of it gaming wise? Not really anything too spectacular under 17"

 

[Walzber813]

I'm bringing my desktop to college, which is what I use for ALL of my gaming. I really just want the laptop for school work, and being able to run around campus, go to lan parties, and just take to friends house' and be able to play my games. The main game right now is Wow and prolly will be for a while, I've been playing Hitman and CS: Source a bit too. So screen wise, I think I'd be happy with a 15 inch wide screen notebook, 17 would be fine as long as it wasn't TOO heavy.

 

[Hyperlite]

Acer Travelmate 8200. $1999, 2ghz Duo, 2GB ram, 120gb HDD, 15.4" screen, X1600 256mb.

 

[ubercaffeinated]

make people hella jealous and get a asus w3j+ for 1800

 

[HomeyFoos]

I recommend you go to the HP Builder at costco.com. The dv8000t (17" screen, 7600 Go video card) starts at $1070 or so. Maxed out in the builder and you get to around $1500. REviews are favorable however most I read were from the initial batches of these machines which had the 7400 Go card.

 

[cheesehead]

W3J. It's much smaller than anything else (it only weighs about 4 lbs.) and has an x1600. Not cheap, though; expect to pay at least 1800$.
Asus is VERY high quality stuff, too. I've yet to see much better.

 

[Walzber813]

Hmm so W3J or 8200...it seems that the 8200 has been out for a while, will anything be replacing that soon?

 

[deathwalker]

I have a 17" laptop and I love it...but...you would grow tired of lugging it around campus.

 

[6000SUX]

Originally posted by: Cheesehead
W3J. It's much smaller than anything else (it only weighs about 4 lbs.) and has an x1600. Not cheap, though; expect to pay at least 1800$.
Asus is VERY high quality stuff, too. I've yet to see much better.

The W3J does not weigh about 4 pounds. It weighs 5 pounds without anything in the modular bay. With the optical drive inserted, it weighs about 5.5 pounds.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

lets face it: portable laptops are not made for gaming. if u have 2k buy urself a decent gaming desktop and spend 1k for a light 12" notebook for learning and stuff. MSI has some good 12" MSI Megabooks S271, S262 http://img485.imageshack.us/my.php?image=imgp24665kd.jpg
or get an 13" MacBook

 

[HomeyFoos]

this always makes me laugh. He already has a desktop he is taking with him, however, when buying a laptop, you would like it to be as much of an extention of your desktop as possible. That means the ability to game a little on the road. The last 2 laptops I have had sat in their bag because the video cards were so terrible that I couldn't play hardly anything on it. Therefore, they were reduced to part-time players. $1800 mp3 players. No thanks. For $2k, you can get a monster of a laptop that will game all day long. Why spend $1k on a substandard desktop and a substandard laptop when you already have a desktop and for $1500 (as I mentioned earlier in the thread) you can get a machine that will handle any game out there, plus do everything else that a $1k laptop will do?

Original Poster:
NEVER listen to people who direct you away from what you want. For the money you specified, you can have a terrific gaming laptop at either 15 or 17 inches. If you like the Asus 15", knock yourself out and be the envy of your dorm. If you want to go 17", I think the HP is a great value but you can still do a 17" Dell or Asus for just a little more if HP doesn't 'do it' for you. I did a hefty amount of research regarding the HP and it tested out very favorably among owners. I don't personally like HP and the Dell came w/ the 7900GS so I went w/ the Dell. I live in TExas so I paid taxes and walking out the door, it cost me $1820 (tax was $141 so the laptop was like $1600) but I got that video card, the T2500 2.0 ghz dual core, 1 gig of ram, 100gig hd, soundblaster inside, and the WUXGA screen (1920x1080 or 1920x1200, I forget). I looked for 2 weeks before deciding on that machine and in the process, ripped up the web reading reviews and consumer opinions.

One last thing that I have mentioned before...laptops break. Even the really expensive ones. As a matter of fact, I've never had one that has lived beyond 2 years and not broken. So whichever one you choose to buy, get the most machine for your money and brand-name be damned. They all break.

Good luck,