Buying a laptop, need advice!

[MacnukeTroy]

I have been lurking SRF for almost a year now, now I made an account because I need some help from you!
I'm going to buy a laptop but I have almost no clue about what to buy. I know a few things about normal computers though.

Firstly, I'm looking to spend about $1000 and I'm going to use the computer for lots of different things but mainly gaming. I want to be able to handle games like WoW and SRO with ease. I want a harddrive of atleast 200gbs.

My friend said this was a good deal:
http://www.b-ray.se/?p=productsMore&iPr ... X620-059NE
Mainly because of the graph card: nVIDIA Geforce 9600M GT. It's a bit over my budget though. But do you think it's a good deal?

I also have some questions:
1. What brand of laptops is the best do you think? Why?
2. I have problems finding out what graphic cards laptops have, why don't the stores state that like they do with normal computers? Is it not as important on a laptop with integrated RAM memory?

Please help me, Dom & Co!

[Mr.Ganji]

I have been lurking SRF for almost a year now, now I made an account because I need some help from you!
I'm going to buy a laptop but I have almost no clue about what to buy. I know a few things about normal computers though.

Firstly, I'm looking to spend about $1000 and I'm going to use the computer for lots of different things but mainly gaming. I want to be able to handle games like WoW and SRO with ease. I want a harddrive of atleast 200gbs.

My friend said this was a good deal:
http://www.b-ray.se/?p=productsMore&iPr ... X620-059NE
Mainly because of the graph card: nVIDIA Geforce 9600M GT. It's a bit over my budget though. But do you think it's a good deal?
I find any nVIDIA products to be a good buy

I also have some questions:
1. What brand of laptops is the best do you think? Why?
Dell, HP, or Gateway. I'd opt for a Dell though. I find these the most reliable. I've never tried using Sony, Acer, Samsung, Panasonic, Compaq etc. But I can say with certainty to avoid Toshiba. They suck.
2. I have problems finding out what graphic cards laptops have, why don't the stores state that like they do with normal computers? Is it not as important on a laptop with integrated RAM memory?
Look up laptop specs online.

Please help me, Dom & Co!

You might want to look into desktops. They are usually more appropriate for running heavy games and with a thousand dollar budget, I think desktops would be a worthy investment.

[MacnukeTroy]

I know it's stupid to pay lots of money for a laptop you will use for gaming. But I need a laptop for other things and it's better to have a good laptop than 2 shitty computers imo ;p

[Mr.Ganji]

I know it's stupid to pay lots of money for a laptop you will use for gaming. But I need a laptop for other things and it's better to have a good laptop than 2 shitty computers imo ;p

I never said it was stupid to buy a laptop over a desktop. I personally also prefer laptops over regular computers, but I was talking about being most cost effective. Do you travel a lot? I don't see the point in pouring so much money into a laptop to get the same power as you would from buying a desktop at a cheaper price. No one said you had to buy more than one computer either.

[Key-J]

Well,

If you want to run SRO, WoW. Which aren't so graphic heavy then you could probably do it on a 1k bugget laptop, you wont find them to be as good as a Pc for that price. Spec wise.

If you are looking to run, really high end games on a laptop, then you will probably need to fork out ~2K

If you are going to go with the Dells, i would stick to the XPS models. I've never had good experience with the Inspirons. They just arent good in my eyes. The problem is i dont think even the base model of the XPS is 1K or under.

Hp are pretty ok, the thing about them is that they are really "patriotic" in the fact that they are HP, and love to show that they are HP, like... everywhere. Especially in their PCs, because they build em in such a way that makes them difficult to customize and i dont like that

A great website, one that helped me when i was deciding with buying mine was: http://www.notebookreview.com/

Edit
Just looking around, they released a new thing called the Studio XPS. You might want to check it out, it's not as expensive as the XPS, but its still ok.

[xKingpinx]

Yea I would definitely take a look at the dell XPS series (http://www.dell.com/content/products/ca ... c=us&cs=19) ..Can run silkroad with ease and it is a very good laptop series overall. Theres also alienware(http://www.alienware.com)...pretty good with gaming laptops too.

[Crowley]

Sony Vaio

[DumboDii]

First of all don't buy HP! It's worst computer brand out there.

I am using Fujitsu Siemens amilo Xa 2528 and I can play some games as Left 4 dead, SRO, Rohan, Trackmania, Civilization 4 whitout problems.

[MacnukeTroy]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I've looked around on Dell and Alienware. Alienware didnt really catch my interest... too flashy. The XPS series were a bit too costy, but I found this one.
http://www.dell.com/content/products/pr ... l=en&s=dhs
Dell XPS M1530. I think I'll improve the graphic card to 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT. Then it will cost about 1.1k.

So what I've looked at up to now is basically these 4 computers:
Dell XPS M1530: http://www.dell.com/content/products/pr ... l=en&s=dhs
MSI GX620-059NE: http://www.b-ray.se/?p=productsMore&iPr ... X620-059NE
Acer Aspire 6930G: https://www.inet.se/?page=product&stock ... a=1967962&
ASUS PRO61SL: http://www.dustinhome.se/pd_5010298502.aspx

I'm leaning towards the MSI... it's a bit more expensive than the others though. Which one do you think?

[maxietheboss]

Sony Vaio

indeed, i have a sony vaio fw11e.
Gorgeous 16.4" screen (16:9). Powerfull enough to run photoshop. I mostly play sro on it.

[Mirosuke]

First of all don't buy HP! It's worst computer brand out there.

I am using Fujitsu Siemens amilo Xa 2528 and I can play some games as Left 4 dead, SRO, Rohan, Trackmania, Civilization 4 whitout problems.

No wai! You offenses me

<- HP lover

So i'd say, get a HP. Or you can try a Dell or Sony Vaio's (My sister has one, really nice)
I wonder if W7 will suck as Vista did.

Dell, HP, or Gateway. I'd opt for a Dell though. I find these the most reliable. I've never tried using Sony, Acer, Samsung, Panasonic, Compaq etc. But I can say with certainty to avoid Toshiba. They suck.

Definetly :/

[DumboDii]

Buy HP if you want your laptop broken in 2 months. They are freaking ugly also.

[Mirosuke]

Buy HP if you want your laptop broken in 2 months. They are freaking ugly also.

Well
I bought mine in 2006, and it was one of the cheaper on the store (800$)
and it still 'complete'.

Ugly?

[SidiousX]

I got a Toshiba one.. no idea wot one or what is in it, but i can play SRO with ease and also Star Wars Battlefront

I thinks its Toshiba Satteliete or w/e

[Crowley]

Sony Vaio

indeed, i have a sony vaio fw11e.
Gorgeous 16.4" screen (16:9). Powerfull enough to run photoshop. I mostly play sro on it.

I run Fallout 3, CoD 4/W@W, Crysis, TF2 and L4D all without any problems on mine =]

[cuchulainn]

You may not like this, but:

Build. A. Desktop.

Laptops are: Underpowered, Overheat easily, Have uncomfortable keyboards, Any decent "gaming laptop" is going to be rather heavy.

Seriously, listen to me and others saying the same thing. I've been there. I went off to college and got a laptop thinking "Oh won't this be great, I have my own computer now. I can play games on it AND take it to class." Why do you need it in class? Take notes? I'm an engineer. I take notes with paper and pencil cause it would take too long to type equations into computer. Liberal Arts classes? My notes on computer were just as short as what I would've written on paper with a pencil, it just gave me more time to not pay attention because I could type a bit faster. Just learn to take good notes instead of writing down every thing the professor says.

Still not convinced?

You know that laptop I have? In the less than 4 years I've had it, I've had to replace the following:

Motherboard x3
Harddrive x1
LCD x1
Plastic Casing x1
Keyboard x1

Each time, I had to wait at least a day or two for Dell to send the part out then send a technician to install it. Thank god for the unlimited 3 year warranty. Now that it's expired, I'm pretty sure something else is wrong since it overheats quickly and is very, very, very slow to load programs (takes about 15 seconds to load Firefox, iTunes is choppy playback at best, good luck watching video, etc). I'm pretty sure this is brought on my extra stress by heavy gaming that this laptop wasn't designed for, but still that's ridiculous.

Another reason to build a desktop. Last summer, I finally had some cash and built a desktop mostly for gaming. It cost me 700 dollars. My laptop cost 1500 back in 2005 and that is with a 40% discount. My desktop plays WoW at maximum settings with 70 fps in 1440 by 900 resolution. My laptop played it at 20 fps with minimum settings at 1024 by 840 resolution. My desktop has 250 GB of hard drive space and 4 GB of RAM. My laptop has 70 GB hard drive space and 2 GB of RAM (originally 512 MB).

My suggestion: Build a very solid desktop for about 600-700 (which is enough to easily run SRO and WoW very well). If you're still dead set on a laptop, get a cheap low end model for watching movies, music or internet away from home.

In conclusion, DON'T BUY A LAPTOP.

Seriously, listen to the people who have come before you and are offering you advice so you don't make the same mistakes.