Cheap(ish) gaming laptop?

concealer404

Well, the "top 5 games" thread motivated me to get back into computer gaming.

Now... a desktop is a bit inconvienent for me, since i'm a little limited on space, and i'd like to run sound through my stereo. But on the other hand, i'm not really interested in dumping a ton of money on a laptop.

The most graphics intensive game that i'll play is probably Command and Conquer: Generals, or possibly UT3 if i can possibly swing it.

I'm more of an RTS guy these days.

What am i looking for in terms of laptop graphics cards (never worried about it with laptops before) and am i smoking a crack pipe thinking that i may be able to do this for around $500?

Any recommendations?

A lot of my gaming will hopefully be done with my girlfriend, who has a decent Compaq, but i have no idea what GFX are on that thing. I'll check when i get home.

kawizx9r

Mobile's running an ATI 3200 aren't bad, plus they're affordable too!

Been playing Dawn of War, Half-Life:2 all over again and a few other games on pretty decent settings.

Btw, wife says it should be the 'warmest' day on Saturday. Hopefully it stays that way cause we've been getting alot of snow!

concealer404

As a reference, i played all of my games on pretty high setting that i'll be playing now before, on the following:

AMD Athlon 2500-m socket A
2gig Crucial Ballistix PC3200
Asus V9999 Gamer Edition (6800nu modded to ultra)

Am i correct in thinking that pretty much anything in a laptop these days that isn't integrated graphics would be a step up from that? I don't really care about portability, so a 17" monster (if they even still exist?) isn't a problem. My only reason for wanting a laptop is so i don't have to try to place a desk, and i've gotten used to gaming on the couch.


Yeah... Saturday looks like the best day here so far, too.

What time are you wanting to come in? And PM me what you want to snack on during the day before we go out to dinner. Pretty much anything is fair game.

kawizx9r

Hmmm, well I got my wife an Acer laptop for an early Christmas present.

She plays a few games as well, and it runs the ATI I mentioned and does it well...even for me.

I had an OC'd Duo Core E8400@3.8ghz, 4gb of corsair xms-2 ram running dual nVidia 8800 GTS that were also OC'd in sli and I too ran everything on the highest settings.

Hmm, not sure about earlier in the day. We'll think of something, and we're thinking kind of early or so considering it's a 3+hr drive. Think we should make the most of it cause I'll have another 3hrs to drive back lol.

Edit: One more thing, you'll need to resend me that menu! My wife wanted to check it out again but I had cleared my inbox.

dubradio

I personally purchased the hp dv7-3065dx, its a bit above the price range of 500 (laptop priced 729) but I can play HL2, Team fortress 2, L4D2, all with very good settings and they play smoothly(left 4 dead is notorious for slow down due to all the active information occuring from swarms of zombies :P ) but Im not complaining as it is a laptop that is using a ati 4500 graphics (best buy.com shows it using the 4200 which is wrong) which is using shared memory.

you would cut the cost down by going with the smaller screen of the dv6-2066dx (priced at 599)

concealer404

I guess basically it looks like i'm looking for the cheapest laptop i can get that has a standalone graphics card from ATi or NVidia, and that should be plenty for what i want to do.

I've been seeing a few in the $600 range, anyone got a hot deal that they know of of cheaper?

concealer404

Well, i got the go-ahead to use the 42" plasma as my monitor if i please... soo....

Answer me a few questions if you don't mind, keeping in mind that these apply IF i decide that i just want to build a new desktop.

1) WTF goes with WHAT these days? I'm no stranger to computers, used to build all of mine, but that was back in the Intel Prescott/Northwood and AMD Socket A days. I about had an aneurysm trying to figure out what motherboard and heatsink/fan i needed with the processor i picked out

2) If i post a list of what i've picked out for a "rough draft" of what i'm putting together, will someone say yay or nay for me?

And of course, suggestions are always welcomed. I want to go with AMD/Nvidia. Just because that's what i've always used, and it'll help me sleep better at night. No better reason than that.

kawizx9r

concealer404 wrote: »

Well, i got the go-ahead to use the 42" plasma as my monitor if i please... soo....

Answer me a few questions if you don't mind, keeping in mind that these apply IF i decide that i just want to build a new desktop.

1) WTF goes with WHAT these days? I'm no stranger to computers, used to build all of mine, but that was back in the Intel Prescott/Northwood and AMD Socket A days. I about had an aneurysm trying to figure out what motherboard and heatsink/fan i needed with the processor i picked out

2) If i post a list of what i've picked out for a "rough draft" of what i'm putting together, will someone say yay or nay for me?

And of course, suggestions are always welcomed. I want to go with AMD/Nvidia. Just because that's what i've always used, and it'll help me sleep better at night. No better reason than that.

I'll help ya out when I head out there, I helped piece together and recommend to....doug was it...his htpc he's using now

concealer404

OH yeah... that IS one of the cool things...

This will get to play dual purpose gaming and HTPC.

kawizx9r

concealer404 wrote: »

OH yeah... that IS one of the cool things...

This will get to play dual purpose gaming and HTPC.

Even more of a reason to have it hooked up to your tv

Sherardp

I have a Dell XPS1530 with all the toppings you can imagine. It would be killer for games. I personally only use this one for connecting to our John Deere machines and running diagnostics.

concealer404

Sherardp wrote: »

I have a Dell XPS1530 with all the toppings you can imagine. It would be killer for games. I personally only use this one for connecting to our John Deere machines and running diagnostics.

That WOULD be sweet... but way out of my budget, i imagine.

concealer404

Alright, here's what i've got:


Thermaltake Tsunami - $49.99

Big Bad Asus Mobo - $73.99

AMD 3.0ghz dual core AM3 - $67.00

2x2gig GSkill badass DDR3 pc15000 ram - $94.99

Gigabyte 9800GT OC - $119.99 after rebate

OCZ SLi ready, dual +12v rail, 550w psu - $44.99 after rebate

Seagate 320gb drive - $44.99

Lite-On combo drive - $17.99

$529.29 shipped after rebates.

Yay or nay?

kawizx9r

I have to find pictures of my older pc I just got rid of, but the only place I had them was on myspace and I deleted that accnt.

Also used a TT case and a nice modular power supply.

concealer404

kawizx9r wrote: »

I have to find pictures of my older pc I just got rid of, but the only place I had them was on myspace and I deleted that accnt.

Also used a TT case and a nice modular power supply.

That's usually what i used, too.... but the last one i built was a Coolermaster Centurion and an OCZ Modular.

I have pics on my old hard drive still, but that's not hooked into anything right now.

What do you think about that list Freddy? And PM me your number, fool! I gotta call you tonite to work out details for tomorrow.

kawizx9r

concealer404 wrote: »

That's usually what i used, too.... but the last one i built was a Coolermaster Centurion and an OCZ Modular.

I have pics on my old hard drive still, but that's not hooked into anything right now.

What do you think about that list Freddy? And PM me your number, fool! I gotta call you tonite to work out details for tomorrow.

Yea, I've got all my pictures on a laptop HDD but it's dead. For some reason I've still got it, thinking it might work some day. Oh well

PM coming your way, fool!