Laptop to play Battlefield 3 at recommended specs

[Zuallauz]

Ok so I need a recommendation for a laptop for Battlefield 3. My current machine is 3 years overdue for an upgrade and not too worried about how much it costs.

Official Recommended BF3 specs:
OS: WINDOWS 7 64-BIT
PROCESSOR: QUAD-CORE CPU
MEMORY: 4 GB
HARD DRIVE: 20 GB
GRAPHICS CARD - DIRECTX 11 COMPATIBLE WITH 1024 MB RAM (NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 OR ATI RADEON 6950)

Ok so I've narrowed it down to a few options, it needs a GTX 560M, 570M or 580M chip. Not really interested in Ati models as I've been burned before with bad laptop driver support from the laptop manufacturers. Prefer to just get a Nvidia chip as the drivers you can just download from Nvidia.
Also needs USB 3 as I have a big 2TB external HD that I'd like to make go a bit faster than the current ~30MB/s transfer rate.

Here's a few laptops I've been looking at:
Asus G74SX
MSI GT780

There's some other similar MSI models with the 570M like the GT683DX not really sure what the difference is.

Are there any other brands I should consider? I'm not really into Alienware they seem to be very overpriced and it's hard to get the best price config on their website when they keep throwing 200 addon options at you.

I'm thinking the GTX560M might not be fast enough for BF3 to get decent quality graphics as Anandtech recently compared it to a desktop GeForce GTS 450 which falls slightly short of the desktop GTX560 requirements. Yes or no?

 

[Axon]

You are correct that Alienware is overpriced. They make a nice laptop, but they charge you an arm and a leg for it.

I own a Sager NP 8130 which has the GTX 560m. I find that it is an extremely powerful card for gaming. All of my games (WoW, SC2, DA:Origins, LoL, HoN, Crysis) run on high - not max, but high settings - at 1920x1080 resolution. I have no doubt it will run BF3 at excellent settings. It runs Crysis well enough. The 570m is only the rough equivalent of the GTX 460 768 mb desktop model, for the record, so if you really want desktop level power, you're going to need an even better card than that.

You are incorrect about being able to DL drivers from Nvidia. They're actually a big pain in the ass of late with mobile drivers, and you usually have to customize your .inf file before installing. They don't even support ASUS laptops, which seems shocking to me given that those things sell like hotcakes. Additionally, the AMD 6990 is simply the best single GPU option out there. the 580m is certainly good as well, however. This is not to dissuade you from Nvidia, I'm just telling you what I think is the current lay of the land.

Okay, so all that said, Sager just put out the new NP 8180 which features the GTX 560m in SLI. I believe they are the only ones who currently have that feature. When combined with the 95% gamut screen, that would be a beast. Check it out over at xoticpc:

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8180-clevo-p180hm-p-3250.html

http://www.xoticpc.com/custom-gaming-laptops-notebooks-intel-generation-mobile-ct-95_51_301.html

Ultimately, I would recommend a Sager/Clevo, as I always do to someone who is looking for raw power and excellent graphics/screen display. I've seen lots of laptop screens and I've never seen anything that beats the 95% gamut matte display for gaming or HD video. Check out this forum:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...-sager-np8180-clevo-p180hm-owners-lounge.html

 

[mnewsham]

What is your price limit? My recommendation would have to be the Sager NP8150 change the screen to Matte type, add the 1,500 or over discount of 100 bucks (it is the first option) then I would choose the custom colour calibration, and bump the GPU up to the HD 6990, my total with just that comes to $1,512

 

[Axon]

The NP8150 is a great deal with those specs at that price point.

 

[ViviTheMage]

What is your price limit? My recommendation would have to be the Sager NP8150 change the screen to Matte type, add the 1,500 or over discount of 100 bucks (it is the first option) then I would choose the custom colour calibration, and bump the GPU up to the HD 6990, my total with just that comes to $1,512

That is a beast of a laptop!

 

[Zuallauz]

You are incorrect about being able to DL drivers from Nvidia. They're actually a big pain in the ass of late with mobile drivers, and you usually have to customize your .inf file before installing. They don't even support ASUS laptops, which seems shocking to me given that those things sell like hotcakes. Additionally, the AMD 6990 is simply the best single GPU option out there. the 580m is certainly good as well, however. This is not to dissuade you from Nvidia, I'm just telling you what I think is the current lay of the land.

I guess AMD have come a long way since I last checked them out. You can in fact now download 6990 mobile drivers direct from their website. Previously they made you download them from Toshiba or the OEMs website which was never updated. Eventually I ended up using Omega drivers or modding the desktop drivers which worked ok for a while. How long they support their mobile cards now I don't know. Last time they moved my X1600 to legacy support after only 2 years. I'd hope for a much longer support line with Nvidia. In fact all their drivers apparently still work for really old cards. It's a shame that you have to customise your inf file or whatever but it sounds a lot better than having to purely use OEM drivers which never get updated.

Okay, so all that said, Sager just put out the new NP 8180 which features the GTX 560m in SLI. I believe they are the only ones who currently have that feature. When combined with the 95% gamut screen, that would be a beast.

That looks really good actually. Two 560s would probably be great for Battlefield 3. And they apparently do international shipping to NZ so that could definitely be an option. I have not heard of Sager before now though. Are they reputable brand? How is your laptop stability wise? Does it overheat, freeze up or shut down unexpectedly at all?

When combined with the 95% gamut screen, that would be a beast.

Tell me a bit about this 95% gamut screen. I have not heard of that either. Is it comparable to 16-bit colour TFT or better?

What is your price limit? My recommendation would have to be the Sager NP8150 change the screen to Matte type, add the 1,500 or over discount of 100 bucks (it is the first option) then I would choose the custom colour calibration, and bump the GPU up to the HD 6990, my total with just that comes to $1,512

Yeah I guess around $2000 USD +/- $200. But the options presented so far appear well under that so that's awesome.

What is this Matte type display?

 

[Axon]

Well, you won't really have any egregious driver concerns with either company, I just find it to be a pain in the ass that nvidia does not support anything but Alienware mobile GPUs or something.

Sager is a great brand. Now, you should know that "Sager" is actually a repackaged Clevo laptop. Clevo is one of two Original Design Manufacturers (along with another company, compal) that more or less design every laptop on the market. You'll see if you google Clevo.

The reason its better to own a Sager or a Malibal or any of the rebranded Clevo laptops is because the reseller can go to bat for you with clevo if there are problems. If you just buy a Clevo directly, you'd have to call taiwan yourself if there are issues. I would be that NZ has it's own Clevo reseller, but I don't know it off the top of my head.

95% color gamut is, in my opinion, simply the best screen in the laptop business. Not everyone needs it or wants it, but I like mine. However, I didn't realize this at the time, but because the Sager NP8180 has an 18.4" display, they are not offering the screen upgrade at this time. The standard screen is still excellent, however.

Matte vs. glossy: simply put, on a glossy screen you can see your own reflection because the glass is shiny. Matte you cannot. The reflection drives some people crazy. Some could care less.

 

[Zuallauz]

OK great, thanks Axon. I'll agree with you that I may not have any problems with either AMD or Nvidia mobile cards these days but the Catalyst Control Centre interface drives me nuts which is still making me lean towards the Nvidia solution.

 

[Axon]

Sure, I understand that. Ironically, nvidia's control panel makes me crazy.

I just think mnewsham gave you a solid pick with the 8150. And there's no question that the 6990m is better than the 580m and cheaper. but then, dual gtx 560m will beat that as well, and there is already buzz that the NP 8180 can accommodate dual 6990ms or 580ms, it's just not officially supported. YMMV on that, however.

 

[mnewsham]

Sure, I understand that. Ironically, nvidia's control panel makes me crazy.

I just think mnewsham gave you a solid pick with the 8150. And there's no question that the 6990m is better than the 580m and cheaper. but then, dual gtx 560m will beat that as well, and there is already buzz that the NP 8180 can accommodate dual 6990ms or 580ms, it's just not officially supported. YMMV on that, however.

Lol not just is the 6990m faster it is cheaper and it is about 200 dollars cheaper!