Need Information On Gaming Laptops

[Stg-Flame]

My friend is currently at Camp Pendleton in the Marine Corps and wishes to buy a gaming laptop. The store on base is selling some alienware knock-off for $2,400 which I informed him was a ripoff.

To make this brief, I ask for a good site to find gaming-grade laptops. If the "We build it, you buy it" sites are over-priced, then what is a good alternative? I build gaming PCs for people in my area who are not technically inclined, but I know little about laptops (mine was used just for college and now is barely used at all).

 

[Brainonska511]

Your best bet would be to buy something off the shelf. Plenty of good notebooks available on the market.

What size are you looking at? Price range?

 

[boomhower]

In general from what I have seen the Clevo's and Sagers give you the best value for the money on higher end gaming notebooks.

 

[hans030390]

Best Buy usually has some surprisingly good deals on gaming notebooks. Sometimes Newegg does as well. But, as mentioned, do you have a budget?

 

[melek-taus]

asus g 50, g60 or g70 series

Buy any of these and ull be settled for a while. + 2 year warrantee and a uber looking notebook.

Especially the g73jh one of the most pwnage looking gaming notebooks ever.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Budget I am not too sure about. He is paid every two weeks on Monday with the money automatically deposited into his account. I would say a good budget would be around $1200.

Size would be 17"+ and I don't think he is too picky on brands. His computer experience came from me since we lived together for a year before he went into the military, so he called and asked me about the alienware PoS that is being offered at the base. He will be getting the specs for me next weekend since that is the only time he is able to make a call or go off base. I would like to have a few options lined up for him by next week.

Also, I have a Newegg Preferred Account so I could buy it for him on a payment plan and he would pay me back as he gets paid. So I shall continue looking around, but if someone could supply some links, that would be greatly appreciated.

 

[nanobreath]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220695

Basically the most powerful laptop you're going to find for gaming without going for a dual GPU, power-sucking beast. (Even though this one won't exactly sip the power...)



http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+L...&skuId=9741729

Equivalent power, but with a lower screen resolution for a cheaper price.



These are the best options from everything I have looked at lately. The 2nd one from best buy is great value. Though it is arguable that the 5870 is overkill for the lowered resolution, however anything else in this price range includes slower processors and video cards. Why pay the same price for less?

Personally my idea of a gaming laptop is something that is mobile, but not something that is meant to be used without beng plugged into the wall. Hopefully these links help!

 

[AndroidVageta]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220695

Basically the most powerful laptop you're going to find for gaming without going for a dual GPU, power-sucking beast. (Even though this one won't exactly sip the power...)



http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+L...&skuId=9741729

Equivalent power, but with a lower screen resolution for a cheaper price.



These are the best options from everything I have looked at lately. The 2nd one from best buy is great value. Though it is arguable that the 5870 is overkill for the lowered resolution, however anything else in this price range includes slower processors and video cards. Why pay the same price for less?

Personally my idea of a gaming laptop is something that is mobile, but not something that is meant to be used without beng plugged into the wall. Hopefully these links help!

These are the best bang for buck. I would HIGHLY recommend the Best Buy version just due to the lower screen resolution...why? Because gaming at a 1600x900 resolution is a lot easier on the 5870 (lower clocked desktop 5770 GPU) than the 1080p version.

 

[nanobreath]

These are the best bang for buck. I would HIGHLY recommend the Best Buy version just due to the lower screen resolution...why? Because gaming at a 1600x900 resolution is a lot easier on the 5870 (lower clocked desktop 5770 GPU) than the 1080p version.

Eh, the 5770 is about equal to a 4870, which games at 1920x1200 without any problems whatsoever. My thoughts about the resolution is that on a 17" screen, 1920x1080 creates an extremely small dot-pitch that could be problematic. Either way, I don't think the 1080p version is really worth an extra $400!

 

[AndroidVageta]

The 4870 (equivalent to Mobility 5770) might be able to game NOW at 1080p...but what about a year from now? Or later? Id rather be able to turn on more eye candy playing at 1600x900 then have to reduce settings to get playable framerates at 1080p.

 

[Zap]

The store on base is selling some alienware knock-off for $2,400 which I informed him was a ripoff.
...
He will be getting the specs for me next weekend

How do you know it was a ripoff without knowing what was in it?

One benefit of buying on the base is that there is no sales tax.

I do have a recommendation in that I would personally go for lower resolution screens for gaming to retain framerates, kind of like what AndroidVageta is getting at.

 

[MTDEW]

I'm gonna have to agree with everyone here.
I just got my Asus G73JH-A2 with the 1080p screen which replaced my old Asus G72 with a 1600x900 screen.

And although my new laptop plays everything fine at 1080p, id agree that 1600x900 will look just as good and prolong the 5870's gaming life.(not to mention the ability to use AA)

High end Mobile GPUs just dont have the staying power that the high end desktop GPUs have at higher resolutions.
So you need every performance advantage you can get with a gaming laptop, and i agree that 1600x900 / mobile 5870 is the current sweet spot.

Heck i waited almost two months for this laptop and it is a VERY nice pc, but for me personally, i think i may just sell/trade this for a 1600x900 version or a high end desktop GPU + cash and just grab a web surfing laptop.

With all that said, the link posted to the newegg G73JH-X1 is a bit overpriced, i paid that for the G73JH-A2 which came with two 500gb 7200rpm drives , a gaming mouse and backpack.

 

[melek-taus]

just wanted to say gratz on the g73 its a vry nice lappy. If u want to see something nice go and scheck out our g53 3d notebooks. Those are also vry nice.
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=e9WqjDIhlAZgEbT9

But i got to say i rly love the look of the g73. The overall design is vry awsume. Its one awsume piece of machinery.

Another great asus note book is the v series. The lamborgini notebooks from us. The design is vry nice to look at. And the specs are also not bad.
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=SGVGxYEAKu15BCwA

 

[assemblage]

The G73JH-X3 at TigerDirect/CircuitCity/CompUsa.