Gaming Laptop - Decisions Decisions

[gtd2000]

OK then!

I'm in a state of confusion regarding the next laptop to buy.
I have essentially narrowed it down to 3 possible models:

Acer 2012WLMi ($1300) R9700, Centrino 1.5Ghz
Emachines m6810 ($1300ish) R9600 64MB, AMD 64 3200+
Compaq R3000Z ($1300ish) GF 440 64MB Go, AMD 64 3000+

Now the Acer looks like the most stylish of the three units but one aspect that is a complete waste of time are the card reader options which do not support CF.

The Emachines is widely regarded as a decent laptop which generally sells for significantly more (spec wise) and but without the DVD-R capability of the Acer.
It also has the lower spec R9600 which I am led to believe stands up well to the R9700 in benchmarks.

The Compaq is fairly well kitted out and comes with the useable CF card reader and a DVD-R for the price but I am not sure of the performance of the GF440 64MB vs the R9600 & 9700 offerings

I'm more concerned about the gaming performance at the end of the day rather than anything else as a laptop of half the speed of these machines is already more than enough for DVD's and surfing etc etc.

If it was your money what would you choose ? and if you are an owner please tell me what your likes and dislikes are.

If you know of any other notebooks in this ballpark ($1300) then feel free to advise!

Thanks in advance.

 

[ShellGuy]

If you are worried about the DVD burining of the 6810 then get the 6811 instead which has the DVD +/- R and RW function. It also has the ability to read your must use CF card. lol sorry... It uses a 6-n-1 reader minus Xd. IMHO it is the best bang for buck lappy around. Pick one up from BestBuy and get their "extended warranty" which is real sweet that it covers ur batt.


Will G

 

[gtd2000]

The DVD-R equipped m6811 at some $200 extra is a bit on the overkill side to a FW and Hot Deals fanboy

I'd rather "suffer" the lack of DVD-R for that price

Unless I've missed something in the pricing?

 

[ShellGuy]

M6811 or M6810 not bad pricing... They both have your CF slot you are lookin for the marjo difs are the DVD burning and 20gb on the hdd and the 6811 is a 3400 as compared to a 3200 on the processor as well....


Will G

 

[beyoku]

well with the emachines you should get 250 in rebates BUT i would go with the slower chip centrino - less money AND you get the DVD burner and faster gfx chip. I own the m6809 and it will probably blow the socks off that centrino - just FORGET about the HP -they even whipped out a new model with a .90 nano 3700 KIT!!!! - paired with dog azz slow grafix though!!!. - if you can get the centrino for 1300 WITH the burner then get it, its probably more portable and its only 1300.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

erm i think u should wait till september......at the mo DELL have an exclusive deal with ATI, and for the the month of august are the only laptop manufacturer to supply the new Mobility radeon 9800pro in there laptops

MR9800pro specs -
8 pixel pipe lines (the 9700 was only 4x1)
4 vertex engines
256mb ram (not sure what type) but it runs at 300mhz (600 effective)
the ram uses a 256bit bus (at last)
the core is clocked at 350Mhz

interestingly its based on the x800 core and not the last gen 9800, so its more efficient will have great AA and AF and also have SM2.0 b and 3Dc compression

in september more manufacturers will be supplying this card and if u want a gamin laptop the 9800pro is the way to go

 

[gtd2000]

My earlier reply failed for some reason?

So even although the Centrino is of a lower speed, the faster graphics card makes up the difference then ? compared to the AMD with the R9600?

I'm out of the country at the moment (working for Intel actually!) and will be back in the USA for 2 weeks after this weekend for vacation. I've only got a short window of opportunity to purchase the laptop so the Dell alternative is out for now.

All I want at the end of the day is a machine to watch DVD's, make DVD rips to Divx, check email, surf and then be able to play games that are not slideshows. Basically an all in one media center .

Assuming the general performance of the Acer is similar to the Emachines m68xx then that?s good enough for me with the bonus of the DVD-R capabilities.

 

[beyoku]

i cant point you to any specific benchies so im not sure - IT may - i did see benchies where they put the emachine with the a643000/9600 against a centrino chip with a better grafix card the Emachine was faster or even because of the a64. The problem is, is i cant remember if that chip was a moble 9600 PRO or a mobile 9700. sorry hope it helps.

 

[Eric1285]

I'm selling my eMachines:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=45&threadid=1369145&highlight_key=y&keyword1=emachines

Price is negotiable.

 

[Mook1e]

Get the Emachines. The Centrino will not be able to keep up when it comes to games or DVD rips...especially if you overclock the Emachines' 9600 (which is a no-brainer IME) I've got my M6809 overclocked to 450/220 and get around 3300 in 3dmark03...

 

[gtd2000]

Well if the AMD 64 will slap the Centrino at the end of the day in the 3D gaming department that's the area that I'm mostly concerned with for the performance.

I'm working outside of the USA at the moment and bought a Compaq 2199US to suit the temporary nature of this assignment. Now they want to extend the length of my commitment here and I'll be back in the USA on Saturday evening for two weeks.

The Emachines option appeals to me in many ways, the extra horsepower of the CPU and that minor detail of the CF card reader for my Canon digital camera.
The other more significant point is that I can check that their are no problems with the LCD screen when purchasing at Best Buy and simply drive back for a replacement if there are problems.

The DVD-R option of the Acer would be nice and it does appear to be a very nicely put together machine (from the pics anyway!).

The other plus point of the Besy Buy deal will be the collection of the Reward Zone points which will help to offset the cost to a certain extent - actually I can probably use the points I accrued already from the purchase of the Compaq 2199?

Is this eMachines deal "ongoing" at Best Buy or is it a one off with the $250 in rebates?