which midrange gaming laptop? - solved

[Stern]

Hi, I want to get a laptop I can play some decent games on (maybe not crysis ).

My limit is $1500

I'm currently looking at:

ASUS M50Vm-B1 from buy.com for $1,358.99

Gateway P-173X FX Edition from compusa.com/tigerdirect.com for $1,329.99

ACER Aspire AS8920-6257 from compusa.com/tigerdirect.com for $1,149.99

The ASUS one has a better processor than the other two. (T9400 vs T7500 and T7500).
They all have 4 GB DDR2 memory.
The Gateway only has 200GB(7400rpm) HDD compared to 320GB(5400rpm) on the ASUS and ACER ones.
The Gateway has (I think) the best graphics card (8800M GTS 512MB vs 9600M GS 1GB and 9500M GS 512MB).
The ACER has 18.4" screen, followed by 17" on the Gateway and 15.4" on the ASUS.

I'm leaning more towards the ASUS or the Gateway, the ACER has the biggest screen but the 17" on the Gateway would be enough for me. Also the Gateway has Vista Ultimate 64-bit compared to Vista Home Premium 64-bit on the ACER and Vista Home Premium 32-bit on the ASUS.

My question is, would the better graphics card (although lower VRAM) in the Gateway make up for the worse processor? I'm thinking of playing games like Company of Heroes, Half-Life 2(+mods), Battlefield 2, Call of Duty 4, GRID.

Thanks for any opinions and tips!

 

[Tdavis5432]

Gaming laptop? The new Gateway P-7811FX would be the way to go IMO, its at BB for $1449 but it has been on sale for $1249 and I'm sure it will be again... Screen is awesome, has a 9800M GTS on it, 4GB memory, 200GB 7200 HD with another HD bay so you can easily add another HDD... Also Centrino 2, DDR3 means lower power usage, but its still a desktop replacement...

 

[IlllI]

gateway hands down

yeah and if you have a bestbuy nearby you should look into the new model that just came out http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...oduct&id=1211587727985

 

[boomhower]

While I agree with the others on the BB Gateway anothr opinion would be the Asus G50V X1 from newegg. IMHO it is much better than the M50.

 

[Stern]

Thanks for the advice guys! Ordered it this morning, its arriving on Friday.

 

[boomhower]

Which one did you go with? The BB or compusa? The BB is a much better system.

 

[Stern]

I went for the compusa Gateway P-173X FX sytem and got an 19" monitor as I also do some coding work and I thought why not combine the two. I know the BB is better as it has DDR3 and a 9800 rather than 8800 but any benchmark/reviews/forums I've found comparing 9800mGTS and 8800mGTS say they is not very much difference between them, it is just an NVIDIA naming gimmick.