What 13-15.6"laptop for business/gaming?

mproudfoot

mproudfoot

mproudfoot

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I have an old Dell XPS m1530 (T8100, 3Gb, 8600m GT) and while it's still working fine, it's starting to feel really sluggish compared to other desktop/laptop systems I've used lately - particularly when using VMs for work and the odd bit of gaming. I know I could potentially upgrade the RAM (and the OS which is Vista 32-bit flavoured) but I think it's just time to hand it down and move on.

I've been googling my ass off and browsing forums (such as this one) and still haven't really picked anything that meets all my criteria. Essentially, I spend most weeks working away from home and so need a laptop that is comfortable and reasonably quiet for use in customer environments whilst being able to run a few games (EVE, WoW, CoD games etc) at decent framerates (without having to set everything to low). I guess my criteria is something like:

  • between 13 and 15.6" screen
  • not overly thick/heavy (i know this is probably subjective but I spend many hours a week lugging my laptop around airports etc)
  • higher res than the usual 1366x768 which may be fine for gaming but is a bit weak for work - conversely 1920x1080 screens might cause issues when running games at the native res - something like 1600x900 seems to be a good compromise
  • doesn;t look like a something designed by Tomy found in your local Toys R Us.
  • I5 or i7 with at least 6Gb ram
  • decent GPU for gaming - perhaps not top end but at least capable of running most modern games at decent levels
  • couldn't care less about speaker quality or optical drives
  • at least 500Gb 7200rpm drive (or SSD+320Gb or above)
  • doesn;t sound like a steam engine on crack during non-gaming activities

Does such a thing even exist? I suspect I'll have to compromise in a few areas but the fewer the better.

Ones that came close with comprises so far are:

  • Sony Z-Series - very portable, very good specs but awesomely expensive and concerned that the 330M with a 1080p screen will just kill any ideas of gaming.
  • Acer Aspire Ethos 5943G - fits the bill in so many ways but let down badly by the low res screen (and I read somewhere that Acer screens can be a bit meh)
  • Toshiba Satellite A665 - again great spec but the low res lets it down.
  • Dell XPS 15 with the i7/2Gb GF 435M but you can either select a 1366x768 or 1920x1080 resolution - the former is a bit low, the later perhaps a bit much for the 435M when gaming?
  • MSI GX660/Alienware M15x - both well specced but both very plastic and absolutely hideous.. I'd be fairly embarassed taking either out of my bag in a business meeting

Any other ideas?

Oh and as for budget.. preferrably under £2k. And it should be a Windows machine - I'm not averse to Apple products but I just want to head off any software compatibility issues down the line.

TIA

MP
 
Vaio Z : i5 + GT330M + HD screen in 13'' alloy chassis.

you'll probably have to drop the SSD requirement (and thus drop the optical drive), and go with mechanical drive to fit within your budget.

1080p with the GT330M (downclocked iirc) probably too much, but you can drop the resolution for gaming and still look acceptable.

HP Envy 14. But no high res option (900p) here in the UK. Finish looks kinda weird, but has metal chassis, HD5650, i5, and optional slice battery for trips. Like a MBP 15. Kinda big.

Samsung Q430. i5 + 310M. GFX kinda sucks, but still allow some gaming. Cheap and portable. Low res. Similar is the Acer TimelineX 3820TG.

GT435M is pretty good. As always, you can decrease resolution in game if it proves too much.

BTW, gaming while on batteries will suck, no matter how good the GPU is, as it will drain the batteries a LOT quicker. You'll be lucky to get 60-90 mins out of it.

Indeed, a lighter GPU could be a blessing in that case. I can get about 2h30 / 3h on my GMA4500HD (playing Guild Wars).

IMO, the MBP is pretty much the ideal choice in terms of quality and usability. Not sure how well it copes with WIn 7 (optimus enabled, power saving modes).

As stated in another thread, ideally for me, a Samsung QX410, i5 + GT425M, 900p screen, and backlit keyboard, for under £1000. That'd be pretty awesome.
 
Thanks for uour input Olivier - to be honest, I hadn't really considered playing games in a non-native resolution as I thought it might look pretty terrible but I guess doing so would make the Vaio or XPS 15 (with 1080p screen) pretty good choices.

Not overly concerned about battery life although I understand that the likes of the Vaio has an integrated GPU for less demanding tasks that should extend the usage per charge when not gaming etc. I think I'll have a play with the Sony configurator again - as you say, dropping the SSD does bring the price down considerably.
 
Gaming in non-native is a compromise, like decreasing graphics quality, but those low power GPUs usually struggle with fill rate and memory bandwidth compare to their desktop counterparts.

Careful with the 900p on the 13'' screen. Could be an eye sore. In case, you could check out the macbook air 11 (which is at 1366 x 768), which would have about the same pixel density. Would also be similar to a 15.6'' at 1080p. Also, non-gloss finish is a good option to have, if it's available. Reflections can be a bit of a pain on my UL30A.

The graphics switching (Optimus for NVIDIA, Switchable Graphics for ATI) makes use of the i3 / i5 IGP to switch to a less power-hungry GPU while not gaming. Some switching can occur automatically, or manually on the laptop (Vaio Z has both I think). IIRC, the new Dell XPS now support Optimus technology, but it's worth checking. Otherwise, your battery life will basically shrunk by a third to a half. For videos, I'm not sure, as the IGP in the i3 / i5 can decode HD content, but automatic switching may force the dedicated GPU, thus reducing battery life while watching movies on batteries.

I'm still waiting for the ultimate ultra-portable, but apart from the uber-exclusive Vaio Z, there isn't much quality choice. The M11x (another one I forgot to mention) has the same sort of performance, but not the looks or quality. I would love a M13x, with a more sober and stronger build.
 
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I have a old laptop a Dell 9400 with Go7900. Res is 1920x1200. When gaming I often drop to a much lower res and the effect is like AA but with out the performance hit. I usually turn off AA in the game. Visually it looks ok. For gaming. For work it looks terrible.
 
I'm in the same boat as you are mate. There's really not that much available and what there is not always has a problem:

Sony Vaio F series:

Too big, 16.4in

Sony Vaio Z series:

Way too expensive

Macbooks:

Not really suitable for business or gaming + I personally don't like macs

Dell XPS

Just too bulky /non alumminium shell

HP Envy

Perfect except for screen resolution


I've been looking for a week now for a laptop browsing loads of forums and looking at loads of reviews, I'm even willing to spend over £1000 at this point to get something decent but there just isn't there.

I don't know if it's because of Sandybridge, maybe manufacterers are waiting on releasing laptops, it would be nice to have SB laptops in Late Jan/February
 
franco - any reason you think the mbp is no good for business or gaming?

Until recently I wouldnt touch a mac but I have been so annoyed trying to find a decent laptop with:
Good screen
Good battery
reasonable gaming
Good build quality
Backlit keyboard.

The MBP 15 fits all these so I decided to splash out and buy one. I use the OSX partition for home surfing/music/videos and get 9hrs batt life. I then have a large W7 partition for work and gaming. The 330m plays most games well at the 1440x900 res.
I play:
COD BO
BFBC2 and V
MOH 2010
COH
SC2
Empire TW
RUSE

All play well and I have overclocked the 330m to 650core 950ram (cant remember shaders). You can also control the fans so I have mine set high whilst gaming to keep it cool.
 
I'm pretty much in the same boat as the OP, looking for a laptop for work (running virtual machines and .net development) and gaming.
The new MSI laptops announced at CES look good fulfilling most of these requirements also there is an asus laptop which looks pretty good too. The other alternative seems to be to get a clevo but there dont seem to be any re-sellers in the uk (at least those that I would trust with 2k ).

One bad thing about using the MBP for business is if you need to use windows on it as the keyboard is missing some key keys.
 
ninja2000 said:
franco - any reason you think the mbp is no good for business or gaming?

Until recently I wouldnt touch a mac but I have been so annoyed trying to find a decent laptop with:
Good screen
Good battery
reasonable gaming
Good build quality
Backlit keyboard.

The MBP 15 fits all these so I decided to splash out and buy one. I use the OSX partition for home surfing/music/videos and get 9hrs batt life. I then have a large W7 partition for work and gaming. The 330m plays most games well at the 1440x900 res.
I play:
COD BO
BFBC2 and V
MOH 2010
COH
SC2
Empire TW
RUSE

All play well and I have overclocked the 330m to 650core 950ram (cant remember shaders). You can also control the fans so I have mine set high whilst gaming to keep it cool.
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong, I think the build quality and specs of a mac are fantastic and it has everything you could ever want, and I don't think they are very overpriced for what you get, Apple even gives me a 15% discount, I don't know any other computer company that does that.

I just don't like the limitations of the OS X and when I said it's not suitable for business is Apple have marketed themselves as the "play" laptop and windows being the "work" laptop, so I think you'd look funny with a mac in a meeting. It's their own downfall for marketing themselves like that. Or if you're a student, tbh, I think it's a stereotype but people who own macs are generally too opinionated and quite douchey.

I wouldn't want to be associated with that just like I don't want to take a orange neon spaceship laptop to work.
 
After noticing Apple's 0% 10 month deal, I specced up a MBP15 last night with 256Gb HDD and the anti-glare screen - about £2300. My thinking was, use the SSD for OSX and then add an Optibay (moving the Superdrive out to an external caddy) with 640Gb HDD and set up a Windows 7 partition on that plus a FAT32 partition for shared files between the two OS's (and then use Boot camp or VM to switch to/run Windows when necessary).

I cancelled at the checkout stage - I'm just still not sure. I've never used OSX and I'm concerned about a few little things such as keyboard shortcuts and dos commands - hard to break habits formed over many many years. Plus i hear there may be a revised MBP sometime soon - probably making use of Sandy Bridge - ideally I'd like to see them shoehorn a SandyBridge and a 330M into the MBP13 as that's a far more convenient size for me.
 
I am in the same situation, and also looking at the Apple 10 month plan however I just don't know if I can justify the cost and 13" seems a bit small for me I feel :(
 
mproudfoot said:
After noticing Apple's 0% 10 month deal, I specced up a MBP15 last night with 256Gb HDD and the anti-glare screen - about £2300. My thinking was, use the SSD for OSX and then add an Optibay (moving the Superdrive out to an external caddy) with 640Gb HDD and set up a Windows 7 partition on that plus a FAT32 partition for shared files between the two OS's (and then use Boot camp or VM to switch to/run Windows when necessary).

I cancelled at the checkout stage - I'm just still not sure. I've never used OSX and I'm concerned about a few little things such as keyboard shortcuts and dos commands - hard to break habits formed over many many years. Plus i hear there may be a revised MBP sometime soon - probably making use of Sandy Bridge - ideally I'd like to see them shoehorn a SandyBridge and a 330M into the MBP13 as that's a far more convenient size for me.
Click to expand...

dont bother with the apple SSD, they arent great. Pick a OCZ or intel up yourself and plop the original drive in the superdrive bay.

I have worked in IT for 10yrs and have no problem using OSX and Windows (plus I use AIX in my job) yes sometimes you find yourself trying to enter a DOS command in OSX or in my case an AIX command in DOS but I enjoy having the choice.

Also yes, I am sure they will update around april time with sandybridge and I am hoping for a 425m or something. If you can wait that long do it. But I couldnt be bothered. Resale value of MBPs are very high, so I will just sell it and get the new model if it is a big improvement and swallow the difference
 
franco_22 said:
Don't get me wrong, I think the build quality and specs of a mac are fantastic and it has everything you could ever want, and I don't think they are very overpriced for what you get, Apple even gives me a 15% discount, I don't know any other computer company that does that.

I just don't like the limitations of the OS X and when I said it's not suitable for business is Apple have marketed themselves as the "play" laptop and windows being the "work" laptop, so I think you'd look funny with a mac in a meeting. It's their own downfall for marketing themselves like that. Or if you're a student, tbh, I think it's a stereotype but people who own macs are generally too opinionated and quite douchey.

I wouldn't want to be associated with that just like I don't want to take a orange neon spaceship laptop to work.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I do agree, and that is why I havent touched a mac until recently. I just couldnt find a laptop with the same features anywhere else. I even imported an envy 14 with radiance from the USA, but even that was only OK. Screen was great, keyboard had flex and felt cheap and battery life was a max of 4hrs on intel. Build quality was only average, I was expecting so much more considering the hype and price
 
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