What is the best gaming laptop, my son wants one for gaming and for college for in september, he has seen a few and all have been either to slow, or not enough memory,

so what is the best laptop for gaming?

he has a budget of about £900, any suggestions?

http://www.laptopshop.co.uk/sony-vaio_vgn_fz31z,laptop,n4.htm

2.4GHz CPU Intel Core 2 Duo processor (CPU) and NVidia GeForce Video Chipset.

weight: 2.8 kg

4096MB RAM

300GB Hard Disk Drive

http://www.laptopshop.co.uk/images_big/images_large/fz19.jpg

talk to me Lucifer,

talk to me...

tell me what he thinks of those numbers

Laptops and gaming don't mix really. You can get an OK gaming laptop, but it will be crucified by a desktop of the same cost. Just look at a top end video card, ... and then try and think where that's going to fit in a laptop;

http://www.techzine.nl/uploaded/46755_2e3ef3d5.jpg

So it's compromise time. For college, what does he need to do? Word processing, a bit of web browsing, email? You can get a basic laptop to do that for £300, leaving £600 for a fairly hot desktop for games. Plus he'll be able to backup his work from laptop to his desktop, should it fail, or get lost or stolen.

I guess firstly, we need to know what course he's going to study, and what games he wants to play, and we can work with that.

Oh, and ignore Dragon.

Laptops and gaming don't mix really. You can get an OK gaming laptop, but it will be crucified by a desktop of the same cost. Just look at a top end video card, ... and then try and think where that's going to fit in a laptop;

http://www.techzine.nl/uploaded/46755_2e3ef3d5.jpg

So it's compromise time. For college, what does he need to do? Word processing, a bit of web browsing, email? You can get a basic laptop to do that for £300, leaving £600 for a fairly hot desktop for games. Plus he'll be able to backup his work from laptop to his desktop, should it fail, or get lost or stolen.

I guess firstly, we need to know what course he's going to study, and what games he wants to play, and we can work with that.

Oh, and ignore Dragon.


he is doing graphic and game design in college, he also has to do a lot of english catch up work, he wants to be able to play world of warcraft, and some other games, he also needs it for internet access

talk to me Lucifer,

talk to me...

tell me what he thinks of those numbers


he's not here for me to show him yet

Don't buy a laptop for gaming!! That isn't going to be very good or fun because it just won't do what a PC can ever do. :eek:

he is doing graphic and game design in college, he also has to do a lot of english catch up work, he wants to be able to play world of warcraft, and some other games, he also needs it for internet access

First things first, the college will provide the machines and software to use, internet access, email, yadda yadda, so dragging a laptop to college is rather a waste of effort.

If he wants to work at his accomodation, rather than in 24x7 resource rooms (and who wouldn't) he's going to need a hot desktop, 'cos 3D rendering, running virtual machines, and game design software are going to need a lot of grunt.

Also, a desktop with a decent sized screen will provide all the entertainment he needs, games, playing music, DVD's, and you can get DVB TV tuners for £30 that turn your PC into a TiVO.

If internet access/email of the move is a requirement, look at some smartphones, they're small, multipurpose (play music and watch films, web browsing, email, yadda yadda), and cheaper than a laptop.

Lucifer when your son comes, show him the info of the laptop.

Laptops are amazing in the aspect that you can carry gaming to anywhere and play anywhere with friends. Laptops are good way to making friends ( I made one friend in my life by gaming =)

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1530?c=nl&cs=nldhs1&l=nl&s=dhs
The specs are already better than the one Draqon suggested and you can upgrade for more than a hundred quid. The price is 999 Euro, which converts to 780 English pounds.
For what it's worth, I'm rather satisfied with it..

As others said though, don't get a laptop as a gaming computer.
You're better off buying a desktop for the same amount of money.

Enmos, your is more expensive then mine and yours is in Netherlands...not UK

Laptops are amazing in the aspect that you can carry gaming to anywhere and play anywhere with friends. Laptops are good way to making friends ( I made one friend in my life by gaming =)

Or, you can talk to the people you meet at University, and chat up girls at the Student Union Bar, and join societies, and generally actually interact with people, as people.

Laptops being small, are easily stolen, and too often dropped and broken. Oh, and Dragon, one of the things the Internet is great for, is playing games online,... no need to drag your laptop around to someone's house on the bus and get mugged.

Enmos, your is more expensive then mine and yours is in Netherlands...not UK


Price is in € not £, and Dell sell to the UK too. Oh, and your offering broke the £900 budget.

Wake up.

Or, you can talk to the people you meet at University, and chat up girls at the Student Union Bar, and join societies, and generally actually interact with people, as people.

Laptops being small, are easily stolen, and too often dropped and broken. Oh, and Dragon, one of the things the Internet is great for, is playing games online,... no need to drag your laptop around to someone's house on the bus and get mugged.

yeah well...I am in a campus and gaming on campus is not legal on their computers. There is wifi everywhere here. Computers are stolen everyday in dorms. Laptops are heavy thou to carry always around...

Enmos, your is more expensive then mine and yours is in Netherlands...not UK

It's in euro's, like phlogistician said.
And Dell is international, I actually believe their headoffice is in Ireland.

Price is in € not £, and Dell sell to the UK too. Oh, and your offering broke the £900 budget.

Wake up.

yeah ok, I jus noticed that. No need to be rude.

My laptop pick was a nice start thou. Now that Enmos found a better pick, someone find a better pick than Enmos'es.

Umm Enmos, could you post the stats of your laptop? Please.

Umm Enmos, could you post the stats of your laptop? Please.

You can find them when you follow the link.

You can find them when you follow the link.

I know...but I am asking you to post them, for me. please.

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T8300 (2,40 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 3 MB L2-cache)

15,4-inch Widescreen™ WXGA (1.280 x 800) TFT-scherm (220 nit) met TrueLife™

NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 8600M GT met 256 MB toegewezen grafisch geheugen

4.096 MB 667 MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2 x 2.048]

320 GB (5.400 rpm) SATA harde schijf

15,4-inch WXGA+ (1.440 x 900) TFT-breedbeeldscherm met TrueLife™ costs 30 euros extra.

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T9300 (2,50 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 6 MB L2-cache) costs 90 euros extra.

30 euros + 90 euros = 120 euros (= 95 English pounds)
So the total costs will be 875 English pounds.

Edit: Oh yea.. free shipping.

yeah ok, I jus noticed that. No need to be rude.

It was rude of you to correct Enmos before verifying your facts. But then you don't do facts, do you, just BS.

It was rude of you to correct Enmos before verifying your facts. But then you don't do facts, do you, just BS.

I missed it, allright.

Enmos...how much RAM does your laptop have? How much hard-drive space is there? I agree though that for a price, your laptop is better.

I missed it, allright.

No, you didn't miss it, you noticed the amount, and your ego is so large you saw an opportunity to score a point, but failed utterly to get your facts straight. Now, please shut up.

No, you didn't miss it, you noticed the amount, and your ego is so large you saw an opportunity to score a point, but failed utterly to get your facts straight. Now, please shut up.

dude its your ego thats up, you keep on attacking me because you got it against me for some time now. I gave a reasonably good laptop, I gave specs of it. Than Enmos gave a better laptop specs. Then you come stirring things up. I said it, I missed the pound sign and the euro sign, yeah I admit it. No it was not ego or whatever you wanna call it. Now you on the other hand did nothing to show any good laptop which Lucifer is looking for, she is not asking for a desktop computer so all this talk telling her how good desktop computer will be is garbage because she DOES NOT NEED IT. You are more worthless than I am.

dude its your ego thats up, you keep on attacking me because you got it against me for some time now. I gave a reasonably good laptop, I gave specs of it. Than Enmos gave a better laptop specs. Then you come stirring things up. I said it, I missed the pound sign and the euro sign, yeah I admit it. No it was not ego or whatever you wanna call it. Now you on the other hand did nothing to show any good laptop which Lucifer is looking for, she is not asking for a desktop computer so all this talk telling her how good desktop computer will be is garbage because she DOES NOT NEED IT. You are more worthless than I am.

Dragon, one, you have never made a post of any value on Sciforums, ever.

You missed the € and £ signs? Pathetic.

You gave a laptop over budget, that was quickly beaten on spec and price by Enmos, ie, you suck.

L.A. asked about laptops and gaming, and the answer is, if you want to play serious games, laptops aren't up for it. I work in IT, and too often people assume the solution they need. What you have to learn to do, is to ask them questions about what they actually want to achieve, and use that to formulate a solution, not just run with their preconceptions. You didn't even ask what course the guy was going to take, so how can you recommend any hardware?

I don't have it in for you, I just have lost patience with you continually posting crap, so I don't feel the need to be polite when I correct you.

Dragon, one, you have never made a post of any value on Sciforums, ever.

You missed the € and £ signs? Pathetic.


you keep on repeating that over and over again, which shows that you got beef with me and your ego is at stake here.

YES for the third time, I missed the Euro and Pound sign, I am not in Europe and I never held the money in my life of that currency.

Enmos...how much RAM does your laptop have? How much hard-drive space is there? I agree though that for a price, your laptop is better.


Specified in post #20, jesus, learn to read.

And the laptop I gave is not that bad either, so yes it is over budget, but it has lots of memory 300GB and RAM of 4000MB and it also does not weigh as much at only 2.8kg. Also I specifically looked in UK, so that she lives in UK and can get it fast and shipping will be easy.

Specified in post #20, jesus, learn to read.

I asked Enmos, not you.

you keep on repeating that over and over again, which shows that you got beef with me and your ego is at stake here.

YES for the third time, I missed the Euro and Pound sign, I am not in Europe and I never held the money in my life of that currency.

And you also missed;

The price is 999 Euro, which converts to 780 English pounds.


and you didn't see that he'd already given the RAM and HD specs of the laptop, and you asked him again, ...


Why don't you read what people actually write? Try to understand their needs? Rather than just spouting off bullshit?

L.A.'s son will have IT equipment provided on campus. All the computers, servers, and software he needs to do his course. That said, dragging a laptop into campus will achieve little. Now, try and imagine the situation, think it through, and then come up with an answer instead of blurting the first bullshit that comes to the top of your head, eh?

Price peformance of Desktops is better. He will have a computer at home, and at Uni. Does he need access in between? Well I suggested a smartphone to cover that.

Oh, and on ego, it's all yours. I've trying to help, whereas you think the crap you spout has some value, when it doesn't. You are arrogant.

I asked Enmos, not you.

Well Enmos had already posted the information, brainiac.

Well Enmos had already posted the information, brainiac.

well fine whatever.

anyways phlogistician you should go away to your IT-cave, cause you are just a hassle here, stirring up war. The point here is to provide information on our choices to Lucifer's Angel. Currently Enmos' laptop is the best. You haven't shown a better laptop. I am looking for another choice from my first one I suggested.

the Falcon Northwest gaming laptop out performs most desktops...

easily the best...

http://www.falcon-nw.com/

look under 'laptops' for 'Fragbook DRX'...

nothing touches it...

SLI dual video cards...

the performance on benchmarks crushes many 'gaming' desktop systems...

And you also missed;



and you didn't see that he'd already given the RAM and HD specs of the laptop, and you asked him again, ...


Why don't you read what people actually write? Try to understand their needs? Rather than just spouting off bullshit?

L.A.'s son will have IT equipment provided on campus. All the computers, servers, and software he needs to do his course. That said, dragging a laptop into campus will achieve little. Now, try and imagine the situation, think it through, and then come up with an answer instead of blurting the first bullshit that comes to the top of your head, eh?

Price peformance of Desktops is better. He will have a computer at home, and at Uni. Does he need access in between? Well I suggested a smartphone to cover that.

Oh, and on ego, it's all yours. I've trying to help, whereas you think the crap you spout has some value, when it doesn't. You are arrogant.


thanks, we have checked with the college, and he will have the equipment supplied for him, we have decided to buy him a shit hot computer that he can have in his room,

this is the one HE wants, is it any good!

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/989063

wtf...I thought you said he wanted laptop...

wtf...I thought you said he wanted laptop...

yes he did, that was until we found out that the college will supply him with all the equipment he needs!

also because he has medical conditions they will supply a laptop! so he has the best of both worlds

so I fought for nothing...

the Falcon Northwest gaming laptop out performs most desktops...

easily the best...

http://www.falcon-nw.com/

look under 'laptops' for 'Fragbook DRX'...

nothing touches it...

SLI dual video cards...

the performance on benchmarks crushes many 'gaming' desktop systems...

Yea, but the aim was to keep the price below 900 English pounds..

http://www.alienware.com/products/area-51-7500-desktop.aspx?SysCode=PC-AREA51-7500-GC&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT

Alienware Area-51 7500

http://gearmedia.ign.com/gear/image/article/721/721902/alienware-area-51-7500-20060728083931825-000.jpg

837 pounds.

-------

45nm Intel "Penryn" CPU architecture :

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo (6MB Cache, 1333MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad (12MB Cache, 1333MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme (12MB Cache, 1333MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme (12MB Cache, 1600MHz FSB)


Standard Single GPU Graphics Cards :

512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 9600GT
512MB ATI® Radeon™ HD 3870
512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800GT

Single Hard Drive :

7200 RPM – up to 32MB cache and 1TB storage
10,000 RPM – up to 16MB cache and 160GB storage

Dual RAID 0 Hard Drives :

7,200 RPM – up to 64MB cache and 2TB storage

Optical Drives :

20x Dual Layer DVD Burner (CD-RW/DVD±RW)
Lightscribe technology
Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BD-ROM, DVD±RW, CD-RW)
4x Dual Layer Blu-ray Burner (BD-RE, DVD±RW, CD-RW)

You named all the options (?)

You named all the options (?)

thats what they got on their site...

thats what they got on their site...

But how is anyone supposed to know what configuration that price is based on ? I assume the lowest configuration then.. :shrug:
Besides, suggesting computers is now beside the point since the school will provide one.

Besides, suggesting computers is now beside the point since the school will provide one.

Yeah well I can dream too...you know...

Plus, I guess I am naive but I think maybe all those listed specs are included inside the computer...

Yeah well I can dream too...you know...

Plus, I guess I am naive but I think maybe all those listed specs are included inside the computer...

:D no.. they are options.

anyways phlogistician you should go away to your IT-cave, cause you are just a hassle here, stirring up war. The point here is to provide information on our choices to Lucifer's Angel. Currently Enmos' laptop is the best. You haven't shown a better laptop. I am looking for another choice from my first one I suggested.


Listen, I do IT for a living. So I know that often people have a pre-conceived idea of what solution they require, ... but they have come to that conclusion usually unaware of all the options.

When you ask them some questions, and provide them with some information, the solution can change, and often does.

I'm not stirring up 'war' btw, it's just your ego getting in the way. You never make any posts that actually help, you just blurt out rubbish. That's not war, it's you talking crap and me correcting you, deal with it.

[QUOTE=phlogistician;1897662]Listen, I do IT for a living. You never make any posts that actually help, you just blurt out rubbish. QUOTE]

maybe not in IT field, since I am not IT-living as you are. And I do not give complete rubbish, I give examples of good laptops, yes they are not as powerful, but they are still good.

I don't see any point in continuing this discussion guys.. :)

Lock please.

I don't see any point in continuing this discussion guys.. :)

Lock please.

yea, well I dont loose any war.

this is the one HE wants, is it any good!

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/989063

That looks pretty damn good. Good specs, plus a TV tuner, and 22" screen means he's got all his entertainment right there. You couldn't really ask for more.

Lightscribe DVD-R is cool too, you can burn labels directly onto the DVD, so with some DVD 'backup' (ahem!) software, he'll be able to rip and burn decent looking DVDs. Mind you, with a 750Gb HD, he'll be able to store a shitload of flicks anyway. (dvdshrink, available off 'tinternet for downloading, to 'backup' (ahem!) your DVD's will get rid of foreign language tracks, and extra features, tweak the resolution a bit, and rip a DVD to about 2Gb, and keep it at good quality. Dunno how many DVDs you have, but he'll be able to store about 300, plus a shedload of mp3's and still have room for coursework and games. Get him a mini fridge for beer and he's going to be a popular guy!)

the Falcon Northwest gaming laptop out performs most desktops...
the performance on benchmarks crushes many 'gaming' desktop systems...

Starting at $4000 it bloody well should. Spend the same on a desktop, and that laptop will look pretty crap by comparison. There is no getting over it, you get more bang per buck with a desktop.

Starting at $4000 it bloody well should. Spend the same on a desktop, and that laptop will look pretty crap by comparison. There is no getting over it, you get more bang per buck with a desktop.

I agree.

Laptop is good for students on the go in that they can take down lecture notes, browsing internet, emails, etc. But for all round and gaming, desktop all the way. Plus if something breaks in it, much cheaper to replace individual components in a desktop than in a laptop.

LA, if you can find someone who's knowledgeable in computers, see if you can have one built for your son. Not only will it probably be cheaper, he can basically get a computer to suit his needs perfectly. My husband builds our computers and the savings have been huge. We basically end up with a top end gaming computers for half the cost of a store bought one.:p

I agree.

Laptop is good for students on the go in that they can take down lecture notes, browsing internet, emails, etc. But for all round and gaming, desktop all the way. Plus if something breaks in it, much cheaper to replace individual components in a desktop than in a laptop.

LA, if you can find someone who's knowledgeable in computers, see if you can have one built for your son. Not only will it probably be cheaper, he can basically get a computer to suit his needs perfectly. My husband builds our computers and the savings have been huge. We basically end up with a top end gaming computers for half the cost of a store bought one.:p

Yep, 'build' your own PC. It's so much cheaper, and you can customise.

Oh, and I wouldn't get Windows Vista. It blows chunks.

Oh, and I wouldn't get Windows Vista. It blows chunks.

So far I have no complaints though.
I was a bit worried about it beforehand because of other people said it blows..
What alternative do you propose ?

Xp.

Xp.

Is it still available ? If it is, it probably won't take long before they take it off the market.
Anyway, I don't think people have much choice, when buying a laptop, at this point.

If it's no longer available just pirate it from bittorrent. It's not our fault MS decided to stop selling it is it?

That looks pretty damn good. Good specs, plus a TV tuner, and 22" screen means he's got all his entertainment right there. You couldn't really ask for more.

Lightscribe DVD-R is cool too, you can burn labels directly onto the DVD, so with some DVD 'backup' (ahem!) software, he'll be able to rip and burn decent looking DVDs. Mind you, with a 750Gb HD, he'll be able to store a shitload of flicks anyway. (dvdshrink, available off 'tinternet for downloading, to 'backup' (ahem!) your DVD's will get rid of foreign language tracks, and extra features, tweak the resolution a bit, and rip a DVD to about 2Gb, and keep it at good quality. Dunno how many DVDs you have, but he'll be able to store about 300, plus a shedload of mp3's and still have room for coursework and games. Get him a mini fridge for beer and he's going to be a popular guy!)

thast the one we have settled on thanks for your advice and help phlogistician.

Gaming laptop is an Oxymoron...but check out alienware....

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/index.php?page=results

Build you're own gaming laptop.

What is the best gaming laptop, my son wants one for gaming and for college for in september, he has seen a few and all have been either to slow, or not enough memory,

so what is the best laptop for gaming?

he has a budget of about £900, any suggestions?

Get a PS3 or something like that along with a small 20 something inch LCD. Then get a cheap laptop for word processing and internet.

Biggest problems for laptops and games is the heat generated from hardware being pushed, the slower hard drives and battery time. It can be done though so it is not out of the question.

Get a desktop if you want to do gaming.
Why? For the price of a high performance gaming laptop, you can get get a desktop with much much better gaming performance, and still have money to buy a good laptop with minimum gaming capabilities.

For a great laptop with minimum gaming capabilities, that is not a gaming laptop, check out the Lenovo T61 with Linux (http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/systemconfig.runtime.workflow:LoadRuntimeTree?sb=: 00000025:00001407:&smid=2432D88590C944B79D33FDA517A5C756).

Of course, you would have to format it, and throw XP Pro in there. But the fact that it comes with Linux allows you to save money in relation to the exact same laptop with garbage vistathevirus+adware preinstalled in it. In other words you are paying much less money for a great peice of hardware without adware and vistathevirus preinstalled.

The problem is that people are using laptops as a desktop. They get a laptop, plug it into their monitor, kb, mouse at home, and use it as a bloody desktop. The only advantage to this is that you can grab and go your laptop at anytime. The disadvantage is that you sacrifice performance in order to do this. For the price, you get much better performance getting a desktop seperate from a laptop. You can connect them together on a network for easy file transfer when necessary. Then, be on the move just fine with your laptop.

When it comes to work, it's best to have a desktop at work, and a desktop at home. Just use a flash drive or external hard drive that you can take with you back and forth for your files.