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I need a laptop that can play games and cheap

Soccerman06

Soccerman06

Diamond Member
Ok guys I try to stay away from the mobile area as much as possible because Intel dominates it. But to get to the point, I need a laptop. Its for going off to college and needs to cost about $1000. I would like to play games at detail and would like to stay away from onboard video and the x300s if possible. It needs to have a long battery life of atleast 4+ hours. I dont care about the screen size as long as its above 14" (flexible if WS). Remember I am a gamer at heart. I've looked at Dell and and yes I'm ashamed that I have even thought about them, those overpricing bastards. Would appreciate as much help as possible. (big fan of gaming!)
 
Man, I am in the exact same boat as you. Ideally, I would like something with a 15.4" screen, DVD burner, and I would like a glossy screen (ex: Asus Z70 refresh, Fujitsu Amilo 1437, Acer Ferrari 4005, or Acer Aspire 5024). However, they are all too overpriced/not available in the US yet. The best deal IMHO is the Inspiron 9300 w/ 6800 go, however, its quite big and has a price tag of around 1300 after coupons (-300 if you dont want warranty, glossy screen, and a DVD burner, so I guess it could be made to fit your budget)
 
So you want long battery life, decent gaming performance, and it can only cost $1K?
Well I want a car JUST like a Corvette, but that costs about $10K. 😉

My point is that you're asking for a lot of stuff for almost nothing. A reasonable gaming laptop starts at about $1200, but it won't get 4 hours of battery life.

Right now your options are the Gateway 7510GX (A64 3700+, 15.4", ~8lbs, 128MB X600, $1200) or the Acer 5020 (Turion 64, 15.4", ~6-7lbs, 128MB X700, $1200 starting price; not yet available in the US). Acer I believe also makes some cheaper models that use 64MB X700 graphics, but if you're as into gaming as you say then you don't want 64MB VRAM.

And if this is going to college: I see you already have a kick ass desktop. So you think that you will use this machine out & about to game? Let me just share my experience with that and take it as you will: you won't use your laptop for all the gaming you think you will. What you should concentrate on with your laptop is portability and battery life, not gaming performance. You need a thin & light ~14-15" machine with an 8-12 cell battery on it. All of those types of machines in the $1K price range generally have integrated graphics.

Just my $0.02 🙂
 
The laptop doesnt need to last 4 hours of playing games just 4 hours of using word and other simple programs while I'm off in a classroom. Obviously I'll be playing games in my dorm with the laptop hooked up with the wall. and yes an 8-12cell isnt out of the question
 
Originally posted by: Soccerman06
The laptop doesnt need to last 4 hours of playing games just 4 hours of using word and other simple programs while I'm off in a classroom. Obviously I'll be playing games in my dorm with the laptop hooked up with the wall. and yes an 8-12cell isnt out of the question
Click to expand...
That's my point. First, NO laptop will play games on batt for 4 hours. And you will not find a laptop that will play games as well as you seem to want it to and last 4 hours on battery, at least not for $1K. Loosen up your price range or give in to a more realistic goal
 
And if this is going to college: I see you already have a kick ass desktop. So you think that you will use this machine out & about to game? Let me just share my experience with that and take it as you will: you won't use your laptop for all the gaming you think you will
Click to expand...

I will not be taking a $3000 computer to college plain and simple. Would you take $3000 of cash and leave it below your desk out in the open, I think not. I'm not saying it has to do the same as my desktop either.
 
Originally posted by: Soccerman06
And if this is going to college: I see you already have a kick ass desktop. So you think that you will use this machine out & about to game? Let me just share my experience with that and take it as you will: you won't use your laptop for all the gaming you think you will
Click to expand...

I will not be taking a $3000 computer to college plain and simple. Would you take $3000 of cash and leave it below your desk out in the open, I think not. I'm not saying it has to do the same as my desktop either.
Click to expand...
Okay, well that's diff 😉 I figured u were taking your desktop to college. I wouldn't worry about it personally, but to each his own. I'd think a laptop would walk away even easier 😛

I'm assuming this should be semi-portable? i.e. No 17" widescreens

I'll just reiterate that for $1K you will not get a budget gaming machine, unless its used/refurb and even then you'll only get a 64MB Radeon 9600 (newer games won't play but at LOW res w/low settings, if that)
 
You can get a 1K laptop, but don't expect to do anything fancy on it. Like I said earlier, even the 1K laptops are junk and are barely desktop replacements. Go on Dell and yourself an 800 dollar laptop, 200 dollars will cover accesories and shipping.

By the way, most 1K laptops don't come with XP Professional, and who wants HOME on their laptop? You can't even connect to a domain!
 
Ill say this again, it doesnt need to be a replacement for my desktop, it just needs to play games at 12x10 (UT2k4, Doom3, CS:S, and HL2, some other random games) and medium-high res without aa/af.
 
i dont know of a single lappy for ca. 1k comin with a better card than a 97pro. and u can imagine this card will die when u throw cs:s at it. so forget gaming@1k. maybe u like to look for the best non gaming notebook in this price range, somethin slim and light. Iam a big fan of 12" machines with WXGA, glare screeen, like the UNIWILL 223ii or MSI S260 and S270.

ps: here some pictures of the Uniwill, excellent painting mod btw....*rrrhhhhrrr*
http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=87856&highlight=223II0

on second thought xmeld.com has the MSI M635 listed, with an X700. But u will be the beta tester, cuz nobody has reviewed those books, cuz they arent availble yet in any country. The been expected to hit the market in June, now they say mid July...but reviews on the other MSI books have been okay, so the M635 should be as good as any low price high performance notebook. check it out 🙂 u can configure it down to 1200$.
 
Soccer,
What you aren't getting is that there is NO NEW LAPPY for 1K sub that will play Doom3 at anything but LOW AND HORRID settings. Even the new GATEWAY runs 1250 which is over your limit and you still don't have the extended warranty. YOU ARE GETTING THE WARRANTY ARNT YOU???? You should have a budget of about 2k or so. Just to answer a question that you posed to Fbrd who has been helpin me out findin a lappy that has a budget of more than tripple yours yes i would take it to college and to class but there are a few things i would do first and that is get lappy lojac which they have now. and some other things to help if you happen 2 get a bit loose with the fingers. I don't leave my 4 dollar pen layin around for joe schmoe to pick up why would i do it with my 3k photoshop lappy??? In the end here is my 2 cents. Either lower what games you want to play or raise the dollar amount you wish to spend. and we can see what we can find.


Will G.

PS.. THANKS 4 ALL THE HELP Fbrd
 

What they all said about ubber graphics and battery life in a 1k laptop.

Life is about compromises.

Maybe try trolling the dell refurbs and getting a deal. The mondo 17" dell 9200 with the Radeon 9700 128mb had reportedly pretty decent battery life and OK gaming performance. No longer for sale but try trolling the dell refurbs they have deals once in a while.

OK even that is beyond your price range (tonight):
$1,249.00 Inspiron 9200 PM-1600 40 G (I) 5400RPM 512 DVD 128MB Radeon 9700
If you want decent x800 or 6800 mobile gaming you are probably looking at least $1500 or so (9300 with one of those super discount coupons, but again thats a surfboard).

 
Dell has a coupon for $600 off Inspiron notebooks $1500+, so I configured a 9300 for you with:

1.6GHz P-M
256MB of memory (their memory upgrades are outrageous, so I would buy a 1GB stick from newegg for ~$105)
Nvidia go6800 graphics
40GB hard drive (crapshoot whether they give you 4200 or 5400 RPMs)
17" WXGA+
CDRW/DVD combo
blah blah blah 6 cell battery, but you won't get a ton of battery life...maybe 2.5 hours? you can get a 9-cell too if you're willing to fork a little more money to get an extra hour
this is their standard 90-day warranty...i'd look for some money to suck up at least a 2 year warranty.

after the coupon, all that came in at $998 before tax/shipping (which they give a discount on).

Add the 1GB stick for about $100 and you get it for maybe $1150-$1200 depending on tax....
probably want to add the warranty too....1 year is $40 more and is necessary.
 
I just saw your desktop system - Why not sell it and buy a really nice gaming laptop? I'm guessing you won't be home very often...

By the way....4 hours is absolutely impossible with any decent graphics card. They have good power saving techniques, but they still consume. You'd have to buy another battery and make that sacrifice.
 
5 people reaffirming the same thing...............

😛

That 9300 is your best shot, but its not portable nor will it get 4 hours of battery life. Give up the gaming; its college!!! GET DRUNK AND GET LAID

😛

PSA: Never listen to my non-technology related advice.
 
Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
That 9300 is your best shot, but its not portable nor will it get 4 hours of battery life. Give up the gaming; its college!!! GET DRUNK AND GET LAID
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That is correct 😉. Unless it's a technology school. Those are sausagefests, man.

I'm in University, and the only reason I get to use my computer a lot now is because it's the summer and there ain't that much going on.
 
Originally posted by: ryanv12
That is correct 😉. Unless it's a technology school. Those are sausagefests, man.

I'm in University, and the only reason I get to use my computer a lot now is because it's the summer and there ain't that much going on.
Click to expand...
You callin' my school are a sausage fest? :|

<----North Carolina State University, major engineering/research school;Senior pursuing Computer & Electrical Engineering degrees

😛
 
Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Originally posted by: ryanv12
That is correct 😉. Unless it's a technology school. Those are sausagefests, man.

I'm in University, and the only reason I get to use my computer a lot now is because it's the summer and there ain't that much going on.
Click to expand...
You callin' my school are a sausage fest? :|

<----North Carolina State University, major engineering/research school;Senior pursuing Computer & Electrical Engineering degrees

😛
Click to expand...

If it's a State University, it's probably not a sausagefest. Your department probably is though 😛
 
Originally posted by: ryanv12
Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Originally posted by: ryanv12
That is correct 😉. Unless it's a technology school. Those are sausagefests, man.

I'm in University, and the only reason I get to use my computer a lot now is because it's the summer and there ain't that much going on.
Click to expand...
You callin' my school are a sausage fest? :|

<----North Carolina State University, major engineering/research school;Senior pursuing Computer & Electrical Engineering degrees

😛
Click to expand...

If it's a State University, it's probably not a sausagefest. Your department probably is though 😛
Click to expand...
We've got maybe..............a dozen girls in the entire ECE dept? And maybe one of them is hot.

Now head on over to CHASS (College of Humanities and Social Science), OOOOOHHHHHHHH BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY 😀
 
Originally posted by: ShellGuy
Fbrd is gunna change majors next week... LOL...
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Haha, after the 3 years of hell in this engineering crap I don't think so buddy 😉

EDIT
Besides, my gf is a CHASS major 😉
 
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