I am just confused... need a gaming laptop!

[Shyatic]

I want it to be smaller though... I have a 17" Lenovo that barely plays Starcraft II, and it's unweildy and heavy, and not really a joy to use. I figure a 14.5-15.6" screen is my sweet spot.

I play BF3 and Starcraft II, generally. I'm not sure what kind of options I have for graphics cards; I always look for the uber cards but realistically I don't game all THAT much on my laptop and plus, I don't need all the effects, I just need the game to play smooth. My current laptop stutters a lot.

Anyway, I'm open to suggestions. I would like to keep it comfortably under $1000, so something like $500-700(ish) would be ideal. Since Black Friday is coming up, I wonder, should I wait? Think anything is on the horizon that will be on sale? I'm open for any suggestions here folks. Please let me know what I'd need to run BF3/SCII and other games in that area comfortably if you can. I'm not sure what options I have for GPUs at that size screen (I don't need 1080p resolution, 720p is fine).

Thanks for any help!

 

[Bateluer]

Anyway, I'm open to suggestions. I would like to keep it comfortably under $1000, so something like $500-700(ish) would be ideal. Since Black Friday is coming up, I wonder, should I wait? Think anything is on the horizon that will be on sale? I'm open for any suggestions here folks. Please let me know what I'd need to run BF3/SCII and other games in that area comfortably if you can. I'm not sure what options I have for GPUs at that size screen (I don't need 1080p resolution, 720p is fine).

Thanks for any help!

I'm going to guess that your current laptop has some kind of integrated graphics on it, which is why it stutters. Look for machines with decent discrete graphics chips, a little Googling can give at least a rough estimate of the GPUs performance because the mobile GPUs are . . . muddy.

Others can probably point out specific models in your budget that are on sale, but I'd steer away from 720p panels in the 15-15in screen sizes. 720p doesn't look good when stretched out on larger displays, and vendors usually go with cheaper panels to save money, so they look even worse.

Do you have any brand preferences?

 

[Shyatic]

I'm going to guess that your current laptop has some kind of integrated graphics on it, which is why it stutters. Look for machines with decent discrete graphics chips, a little Googling can give at least a rough estimate of the GPUs performance because the mobile GPUs are . . . muddy.

Others can probably point out specific models in your budget that are on sale, but I'd steer away from 720p panels in the 15-15in screen sizes. 720p doesn't look good when stretched out on larger displays, and vendors usually go with cheaper panels to save money, so they look even worse.

Do you have any brand preferences?

No brand preferences, but I'd prefer something built reasonably sturdy. I like the HP ENVY line, just because it looks rugged and has a backlit keyboard, but I'm open to anything.

My current laptop stutters because it's freaking old. It does have dedicated GPU but it doesn't run anything worthwhile. I can play SC2 but poorly, and it's 17" so it's like carrying a small child on my lap (yes, it sits on my lap while I play).

 

[Shyatic]

how about this?

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-TimelineX...2064903&sr=1-2

 

[DaveSimmons]

how about this?

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-TimelineX...2064903&sr=1-2

This claims the GT 540 in it runs SC2 well at 13x7:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-540M.41715.0.html

The other specs are very good.

 

[Ventanni]

I have a very similarly spec'd Asus laptop with a Core i7 and that Geforce 540m. It plays SC2 and WoW like a dream at medium-high settings. I even played through the first half of Crysis 2 at medium settings on it and it played fine. I don't play much else with it, but everything I have played has been at a more than acceptable performance. It's nothing compared to the Radeon 5850 in my desktop, but I'm happy with it. If it can play Crysis 2, it should be able to play BF3 at a medium setting too.

 

[ElFenix]

there's good reason to think a new mobile GPU lineup from AMD is due out shortly (being that the new HP envy lineup launching dec 12 has 'unnamed' AMD graphics in it). i'd wait for that before plunking down cash.