I'm thinking it's about time to get a new laptop. I want to be able to play new games with a half decent level of detail/framerate for a change. Since I know nothing about such matters I thought I'd consult the most tech savvy people I know. Since I'm not made of airports I obviously can't be spending too much money on a new laptop, maybe £400-£500. I'll only need it for playing games, surfing the web, and using video editing software like Windows Movie Maker. And since I'll be spending almost half a grand on it I want it to serve me well for at least a couple of years. I know getting a PC would be the obvious choice but I really don't like being tied down when surfing the web etc, therefore it must be a laptop. Any suggestions? I thought Alienware looked good but I've heard that's all they're useful for, looking good.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop I'd recommend finding something with a discrete graphics processor if you want it to last. But in the US, you'd have to pay at least around $650-$700 to get a laptop with low end discrete graphics. Dunno how this will translate in the UK. And in other news, don't expect something to last if you can't upgrade the parts you need to upgrade. For example, you say couple of years, and if you mean 4-5 years as a couple of years, that's an eternity in the mobile technology world. Are there any alienware in that price range? If not, don't bother with Alienware. You're paying a premium for the name. Not trying to be a debbie downer, but just setting your expectations. If you want longevity, you're going to have to shell out the cash.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop So what's a discrete graphics processor and how does it differ from a non discrete one? Also $700 = £440 so that's around the right price range.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop discrete = dedicated non-discrete = integrated integrated is fine if you plan on doing old games. for example my core i3 laptop (bought in april 2010) with intel gma hd integrated video ran left 4 dead 2 on medium details pretty well. it also plays hd videos flawlessly. i got it for $500 at the time. integrated video also uses a lot less power (obviously). but this has changed since late 2010 since nvidia is using optimus technology now. it auto switches to the integrated gpu when it doesn't need the extra muscle. i believe amd uses similar technology as well.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop I've got an asus with dedicated nvidia graphics card and it switches between the built in Intel hd 3000 depending on what's running. Gets up to 4/5 hours if I'm just doing basic stuff/ browsing.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop So discrete is better then. I had my first laptop from 2007 - 2010 and it cost me about £300. I've been using this Dell Inspiron 1520 Intel Core 2 Duo since 2010 and it can obviously play things like Max Payne 2 and San Andreas perfectly. I can also play Oblivion and Fallout 3 on respectable(ish) settings with a decent framerate but wouldn't entertain playing something like Skyrim or GTA 4 on it, which I'd like to be able to do. I just had a quick gander at the Alienware website but there's no way in hell I'm paying £900+ for something that won't be able to do the job I bought it for in 3 years' time. What sort of specs would be good enough to play the new/pretty games? I'm talking specifically about graphics cards and RAM. Just to give me an idea how would you rate these specs for a gaming laptop? Intel® Core™ i3-2230m Processor 6Gb RAM 750Gb Hard Drive 15.6in Display BluRay Reader Dedicated RadeonTM HD 6370M 1Gb graphics 802.11 b/g/n WiFi Energy Management RapidBoot feature Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium That one's £600. Also I'm not bothered about battery life as my laptop is almost always plugged in.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop Dude your gettin a Dell. Just felt like sayin that. if they sell Dells in the UK I'd suggest you get that. I don't know if they make a bad one... but you might wanna wait until Ivy Bridge comes out first if you can. (Dell is the cheaper version of Alienware...) Yeah upgrading your Core 2 to a SandyBridge (Core i#) would be wasting quite a bit of money for little gain. I'd just sit on it if I were you. You should put an SSD into your laptop or talk to someone to do it for you. SSDs give old laptops new life!
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop he does video encoding though so moving to the core i3 will give him a nice boost. armadean, i'm not sure if anyone here follows mobile graphics processors on a regular basis so we might not be able to give you an accurate answer. browse around some laptop specialized review sites for benchmarks.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop I still think you should buy a decent SSD for it though. Just about any one will do, every one out there will easily max your SATA2 (or SATA1) interface so don't bother, just get the cheapest one. Actually skip the bugs on the newest bunch and scour craigslist for one. It'll make your tasks faster and probly buy you some time. I think when you DO buy you should expect to stretch your budget though. It sounds like your thinking cheap and that's not generally a good thing here. your probably best off keeping you 'slow' laptop (with SSD) and buying a desktop. Laptops aren't good at gaming unless your willing to spend the big bucks on them. And even than they aren't very future proof either as you can't upgrade the cpu or graphics card. You can get a local shop to make you a nice, relatively small Trinity desktop with 22" monitor for what you want to spend that way you can game to satisfaction, you just can't game on the go (you CAN still get on the internet/ play older games on the core2 laptop)! But you spend the amount you want to spend, you don't have to give up eating dinner every other day or something...
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop That would be absolutely horrible for gaming. Only marginally better than what you currently have I would imagine. Call of Duty Black Ops is barely playable on the lowest settings with that card for instance, and that's not exactly a demanding game. Also, an i3 isn't much better than a Core 2. http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6370M.40970.0.html I'm going to level with you. Laptops suck ass for gaming. You can pay out the ass for a $1500 "gaming" laptop, and it will still have issues keeping up with a $500 budget gaming desktop PC. This would be decent for gaming, but it's way out of your price range: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230142 And to put things in perspective, it actually benchmarks quite a bit worse than my desktop. And my desktop is mostly five year old parts with a two year old midrange video card.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop Ouch. My first gen alienware m11x's geforce gt 335m from 2 years ago is 3x the performance of that gpu.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop Seriously, dudebro, build yourself a good desktop. The only thing that needs to be upgraded most of the time is the video card. Even when you do a major overhaul, you'll still reuse most of the stuff. I would go with something like this: Core i5-2500k 8GB Corsair XMS DDR3-1600 Intel BOXDP67BGB3 Motherboard EVGA Geforce GTX 560Ti 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black Corsair TX650V2 Antec Nine Hundred Case Maybe drop down to an i3-2100 and a Radeon 7770 if you can't get the price under control. Game with the desktop, browse the web with the laptop. Laptops aren't meant for gaming.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop ~60FPS on Low at 720p in a Source Engine based game is nothing to brag about. Dudebro needs to just get himself a desktop.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop Yeah. I think I'll abandon the gaming laptop idea. I wanted one because outside of term I have 4 hours in the afternoons to waste until my ride home is ready. Maybe I'll buy a stupid desktop then, and be tied down to a desk I don't yet have. Or I could just stay with the infinitely cheaper and infinitely easier to use consoles.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop Your price range isn't realistic for a gaming laptop. And even the best gaming laptops are usually only comparable to entry level gaming desktops in terms of performance. Plus they usually weigh a ton, get really hot, and have appalling battery life. Stick to consoles. In my experience, dudebros and PC gaming just don't mix. Dudebros need something that just has an on/off switch. PCs are way too complicated for them.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop I don't think all the extra money and extra hassle that PC gaming entails is worth it for slightly prettier graphics, especially when I have two consoles already. If I had no gaming devices I'd probably consider it but I'm stuck in my ways now. £300 once every 6+ years and no hassle suits me to the ground. I don't have the time or the patience to be rummaging around looking for a CD I'm told is on the back of the manual I don't have because I downloaded the game and then find out the game runs like shit. I'd rather download a game and start playing immediately which is exactly what I do on consoles.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop PC gaming really isn't any more expensive if you know what you're doing. In the last five years, I've only spent $200 on hardware for my PC. And it runs every game flawlessly on high or maximum settings. The games are much cheaper and you don't have to pay to play online. For the price of one your $60 console games, I'll pick up five or six PC games during a Steam sale. I'd actually argue that PC gaming is much cheaper. I don't game on consoles that much because when you factor in the high cost of games and $60/year for Xbox Live, it gets really expensive really fast. I also use my desktop for a lot of other things, so I don't see hardware upgrades as being just for gaming. The problem is that you're trying to game on a laptop with an integrated GPU equivalent to a desktop video card from like ten years ago. So of course everything is going to run like shit and PC gaming is going to seem expensive. That's because laptops are expensive and shitty for gaming. PC gaming is pointless anyway unless you're going to build your own desktop. If you can't do that then don't bother with it. Laptops suck for gaming, and prebuilt desktops use overpriced garbage for parts.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop Do you have like a student center at the place you wait 4hrs at? or at least a library?? My old Community College's student center from 5 years ago had a full on Rock Band setup. Or you can volunteer somewhere, make a little extra money or notoriety at the very least. My brother paid his tuition by helping out in the student body a couple times a week.
Re: Looking to buy a new laptop Here's list of components to custom build a PC, I have no idea what almost all of this stuff is, or which ones are better than others. Like why a Cooler Master CM Storm Trooper is £130 cheaper than a Silverstone Temjin TJ07. http://www.computerplanet.co.uk/custom/intel-sandy-bridge/step1.html So much choice, so little knowledge. How much did you pay for your PC initially?