Laptop suggestions...

I'm looking to buy a new laptop mainly for gaming followed by assignments and stuff. My budget is about 1k USD. Could anyone give me some suggestions?

 

For serious laptop gamers on a budget ... $1399.
ASUS M50 Series M50Vm-B1 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T9400
It has pretty much everything a gamer needs plus all the nice things all of us want.

If you have a few extra hundred to throw ...
ASUS M50 Series M50Vm-B4 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 and you can upgrade to Blue Ray Combo optical drive.

 

i'm actually looking for something 1k and below

 

I'm not big on recommending brands, I have 3 different computers from 3 different manufactures.

The best gaming computer of the 3 has a 256Mb video card and 2 Gig of Ram (XP Pro). So I'm gonna recommend a computer with a dedicated video card and atleast 3 gig RAM (Vista).

Anyway that my 10-cents worth.

A quick search on the net, I found this
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8907953&type=product&id=1213046785694
Its $50 over your budget, but something similar to this should work well and you should be able to find something in your budget.

 

I won't present you with a "shopping cart"

If gaming is the most important aspect, research the graphics adapter. You can put the model of the adapter into a websearch along with the term "review" and get an idea of what is better.

That doesn't mean to totally neglect the other parts, but you may not need them to be "top end ". You shouldn't need any more than a dual core processor, "quads ", etc, will run multiple programs better, not games. If your games do not need anywhere near 4GB of RAM, consider working with just 2GB.

As I said, if you want to concentrate on games, get a good graphics adapter. If you get a high end CPU or more RAM than you need, the graphics, which appears to be your main aim, will suffer.

Matt

 

I'm looking at a Dual core AMD 2Ghz processor, 3-4 GB RAM, 512MB/1GB Graphics card, with a 250 GB HD.

But so far, i couldn't really find a graphics card in a laptop that has 1GB memory.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3181112&cp=2032061.2032357&parentPage=family

This is one of the laptop that i could find with a 1GB graphics card but it only runs on a single processor.

 

the NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M is not a dedicated video card, this computer is good for moderate gaming, nothing video intensive

 

jAsOs

The Radio Shack notebook in your above link comes with a NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M (UMA) graphics card.
The following post was authored by tech support from the company that provides WoW. (see his post, thread #6) on World of Warcraft forums ......

Good gaming on notebooks is just developing. I'm not a gamer, but the past 6 months building my own desktop and looking for a notebook for my son I've look at a lot of GPU's. I'm a Nvidia fan and in this line you would like to be in the 8800 series or above with at least 512MB of dedicated RAM to get the games to run smooth. I'm sure you are eager to get get your notebook and I wish you the best of luck. If you could hold off 90 days and the Christmas deals start coming out, you may be able to snag that Asus I posted at a reduced price or an equal gamer notebook from another provider.

 

This Asus group should fit your budget just fine - Newegg
Another item I've noticed on most Asus notebooks is their (retail only) 2 year warranty/parts and labor (limited). Also they have a 1 year accidental drop, fire, spill ... you must signup / register for. While surfing I did notice Nvidia GPU's and notebooks were having some issues in the 8 series for gaming. The suggestion was to go to Nvidia 9 series or ATI.
See this notebook review for benchmarks (note specific model/config when comparing to others).

Some additional suggestions ...
Toshiba Satellite A305-S6864 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo P8400
Compaq JHL-90 (Sager 2096) ... Nvidia 9600M GT
Dell 15" with 9600M GT

 

The Asus M51 series look almost i not exactly the same as the Toshiba A300.

I personally wouldn't like Dell because i'm currently using one and its kinda shitty IMO.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/cto.do

This is something that i have in mind, and i was wondering when i selected 4GB for my RAM, it says that a 32bit OS will only recognize up to 3 GB of ram. Which pretty much means that any more than that it'll just be wasted?

 

This is true on all Windows 32bit operating systems. To go past this barrier you need to run the 64bit version. You can choose a configuration to equal 3GB, but most of us who are running 4GB on 32bit machines is because the extra GB came into the purchase at little or no extra cost. The vast majority of systems/programs have no issues with having 4GB installed, but a few say they have had problems.

 

Basically it wouldn't hurt to get a 4GB, but i might not be able to fully utilize the 4 GBs?

 

Correct ....
Now is the time to start researching. Pick out some of your favorite games and go to the appropriate forum(s) and search for any issue with 4GB configurations running on 32bit systems. If you get any hits, check to see if it occurs on any 4GB/32bit system or only on certain brands or possible hardware settings (example in BIOS or GPU).
If I would venture a guess, the lions share of users running XP/Vista 64bit are serious games ... primary reason is to get past the 32bit RAM limitation.

 

Ok, i'll take a look at those issues.

@Arie - Why isn't AMD the best for performance? Is it because of the heat issues?

@Dennis - Is there any way to customize or change parts in the Newegg pre-built laptop?


Is this a good laptop to get?

 

To my knowledge, Newegg does not offer "configure your own" notebooks. With most notebooks, end users can easily change out the RAM, HDD and PSU. After that most users let a pro work on it or buy a different notebook. Your above URL /computer is nice, but 14" screen. For gaming and all around use you would be happier with a 15.4" ... which is considered the sweet spot for notebooks with portability an consideration. If you can squeeze up to $1199 with free shipping, the ASUS M50 Series M50Vm-X1 has excellent reviews (22 total / 20 excellent - take the time to read them all)... the lions share are gamers. It has a good gaming balance .. screen size/CPU/GPU, fast FSB with nice audio and all the ports you need. This would be a good notebook to upgrade over the next 12-18 months. Note one of the posters stated it was a easy upgrade to 64bit Vista with no driver issues. Moving in a 7200 speed HDD, moving out 5400 HDD out to a nice compact portable external.

 

Ok i guess i should've known that.
So the only drawback of the f8sp-x1 is the small screen, besides that it looks pretty much the same.
So by squeezing in another 200 dollars, i'd be able to get one of the higher end gaming laptop around, am i right?

Question - How do i upgrade it to a 64-bit Vista?

Another Edit from me - I've just bought a Asus m50vm-x1, is it possible to install 2 hard drives into it?

 

Congratulations on the new notebook purchase.
If Vista64 and more drives were real important, they should have been included in your original "need this" requirements.

Get on the phone to Newegg/customer support immediately with your order number ... be very very nice ...
Ask if their is way you could upgrade to Vista64 (this may require them to special order, you may have to wait longer). Be prepared to drop another $120 plus.

per 2x HDD ...
This is unusual for a 15" notebook, but could(?) be possible. You would remove DVD optical and use space for HDD. Not sure how involved this would be. Are you looking to configure as Raid ... or 2nd drive for more storage/game installs? Keep in mind, the notebook you bought has eSata porting. This interface blows the doors of of USB/Firewire anything because it allows the external HDD to operate at it's native speed. So if you purchase a Sata II/3GB/7200 it will read and write the same speed as an internal mount ... just not as convenient per portability.
Found a site which allows you to configure your own Asus notebook. ASUS M50Vm-A1. It has same base config but allows you 3x Vista64 options and 4x HDD options ... but hang on to your checkbook.

UPDATE
Just reread the porting specs on model you purchased. It has every nice option you would want on a computer ... except NO eSata port. If their is a spare Sata connection on the motherboard you could / should be able to build in the port ... just be careful of your warranty.

 

Thanks alot mate!
I really appreciate all the help i've received over here!
Thanks again!

 

When you get your new computer, let us know how it turns out. I hoping all will be a pleasant surprise... and when it comes to games on a laptop for under $1200, you have a nice one. I know you don't want to hear this now, but please get into a backup routine for your new investment. Don't be like my son with his new lappy ... "what backup, whatever for "? He feels because he has all of his music duplicated on his Zune 20GB, their is no further need. I just rolled my eyes. Experience is always the best teacher.
Enjoy

Dennis