Gaming laptop help

Critch1990 · 21 Aug 2011 at 21:57

Hi guys,

Basically I'm just looking for some help and advice with regards to gaming laptops. I'm going to be replacing my desktop soon as it's 6 years old and was just a pcworld job.

But in the mean time while I'm saving up funds and I'm in need of a laptop anyways I've been taking a look around at what's out there.

The laptop will be mostly used at home and taken round to my girlfriends house and obviously the odd times to a friends house or on a vacation once a year.

The three choices that I have looked into are the alien ware mx14 the alien ware mx17 and the mac book pro 15".

The MacBook was just because of what it is really I know it's not a gaming machine. The mx14 I was a bit unsure about as I thought the 14" screen may bit a bit small for arena on wow and competitive counter strike play.

Games I'm normally playing are wow and CSS, but there will be games like battlefield 3 and mw3 being played on it to as soon as there released.

Any help or advice is more than welcome.

Critch

PrChaos · 21 Aug 2011 at 21:58

BF3 on a laptop? Ouch... Tough task to find a laptop capable of running that on high.

Still... I bet you could find something that runs it adequately.

Critch1990 · 21 Aug 2011 at 22:01

Bf3 doesn't have to be on high setting just something that can run it smoothly.

jorzeh · 22 Aug 2011 at 02:58

Critch1990 said:
Bf3 doesn't have to be on high setting just something that can run it smoothly.

That's still quite hard to find. :mad:

Xelene · 22 Aug 2011 at 07:04

It's always been my experience that you can get a good gaming desktop + a lightweight laptop for light gaming & portability for the same price as a gaming laptop. This combination gives you better gaming at home, and a lighter more portable machine with better battery life on the move.

Rapier · 22 Aug 2011 at 09:32

It would be stupid in my opinion to buy a MBP as a gaming laptop not to mention I can't see a 6750M being able to run BF3 at anything worthwhile.

ro55o · 22 Aug 2011 at 09:48

I wouldn't even bother thinking about the macbook if it's mainly gaming you're thinking about. Out of the list the M17X is the better option, although incredibly expensive. Check out the MSI GX660R, it has a a pretty decent spec without having to spend a couple of grand. Older games are fine on gaming laptops, MMO's and the latest and greatest FPS games should run medium to high on the likes of the MSI.

A gaming PC is always going to be better/cheaper than the equivalent laptop, but if you need the portability then a gaming laptop is a good idea, just don't expect to max everything out.

Critch1990 · 22 Aug 2011 at 10:32

The main idea of picking up a laptop is so i have something to do while im staying at the girlfriends house during in the week so somthing that would run CSS and WoW would be fine.

The main uses of the laptop will be general gaming nothing to heavy as the desktop will be used for that, Internet surfing, General work related stuff. Hopefully some coding and Design work.

Also do you guys thin the 14" screen would be to small for CSS and Wow Competative play i would always normally go 15" and up.

Any Recomendations?

ro55o · 22 Aug 2011 at 11:21

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-045-MS&groupid=959&catid=1828&subcat=

coupled with the money back scheme

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18309469

It's 15.6" screen, so big enough for some competitive gaming and powerful enough to run pretty much anything. It's also cheaper than the equivalent Alienware laptop.

I wouldn't bother with the M14X, definitely a downgrade from the M15X it replaced. The graphics in the MSI are much better and it's coupled with an excellent mobile CPU as well.

Xelene · 22 Aug 2011 at 11:58

ro55o said:
I wouldn't even bother thinking about the macbook if it's mainly gaming you're thinking about.

I dunno, my 4 year old MBP is only starting to struggle with games now. But you do need to install Windows on it. Never tried anything particularly heavy, but mainstream games / warcraft were always fine on it.

Meaker · 22 Aug 2011 at 14:13

ro55o said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-045-MS&groupid=959&catid=1828&subcat=

coupled with the money back scheme

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18309469

It's 15.6" screen, so big enough for some competitive gaming and powerful enough to run pretty much anything. It's also cheaper than the equivalent Alienware laptop.

I wouldn't bother with the M14X, definitely a downgrade from the M15X it replaced. The graphics in the MSI are much better and it's coupled with an excellent mobile CPU as well.

If you are brave then it's better to ship in the 16F2 barebone from america and build it yourself (it's easier than building a desktop).

ro55o · 22 Aug 2011 at 14:49

Never even thought about building a laptop. I've upgraded parts in mine, but that's a pretty much plug and play situation. Suppose the rest would be similar.

I wasn't putting down the macbook, just that for a mainly gaming system he would be better off spending the money on a laptop designed for gaming in mind, i.e. powerful graphics.

Alexrose1uk · 22 Aug 2011 at 19:06

Personally I wouldn't build your own just because of the cost of warranty repairs due to the delivery. I'td be more hassle than it's worth IMO.

@OP. Whats your budget and how mobile do you need to be (by that I mean can you go with a DTR or do you prefer smaller, say 15").

I would checkout Clevo chassis as well as the AW. Basically with a gaming laptop, the better the GPU you can get within your budget, the longer it'll last, and remember that as a focus, although typically better GPUs will result in bigger due to better cooling, and a shorter battery life. If you can find a machine with say a 6990, GTX485 or similar, it'll last you a lot longer than one with a 5870m *which is about equivalent to a desktop 5750 or 5770 - it has shaders of the 5770 but clocks of the 5750* as a gaming machine.

shannowdr · 23 Aug 2011 at 07:49

If you don't want to spend a £1500 on a 6990m / 17inch laptop then then MSI GX660R is a good option.

If you want to spend 500-600 £ then I would be tempted to look for a second hand dell m1730 with sli 8800gtx's.

Oh and keep an eye on Dell outlet for offers on alienware laptops

Critch1990 · 23 Aug 2011 at 12:51

Hi Again,

Ive been looking around and ive come down to the conclusion that the M17x is far to expensive for my needs £1800 on a laptop to play wow and CSS is crazy.

Ive been looking into the alienware m15x, MSI Gx660 and a mac book pro as all these will do what i need them to.

The two questions i have are:

1. Is the alienware m15x to outdated compared with today machines, Always fancied and alienware computer but dont want somthing that im paying for somthing that is far to out-dated.

2. What would you guys go for?

Portability: Semi (moving from my house to GF and Friends but i drive)
Budget: Anything upto about £1500
Games: Mainly Css and Wow (Possability of some upcoming games but as long as they play settings dont bother me)

Any other information that may help please let me know still really un-decided on this matter.

ro55o · 23 Aug 2011 at 13:35

The M15X I'm guessing is second hand? I don't think dell sell it anymore. It's what I currently have and managing to play anything I've came across. CSS would run on anything built in the last millennium so I wouldn't worry about that. I have rift on medium settings and unless I'm in a crowded city it runs very well. So I'd guess WOW would be similar.

The good thing about the M15X is you can upgrade pretty much everything about it, so graphics cards, cpu's etc. Obviously you can't just put anything in, but if you check out a few forums others have managed to get 6990's to work in it (They aren't cheap though).

You could easily get an M17X for £1500, or check out clevo laptops as well, similar to AW in performance. Then again you can spend under a grand and get the MSI GX660R and it'll still perform well, then put the extra money to a decent gaming rig as well

Dell are always pushing special offers as well, so always a good idea to phone up and see what they can give you, i.e. free hard drive upgrades etc.

Again for a purely gaming laptop I'd discount the mac book pro. I'd consider apple if gaming wasn't your first priority, but as above get the best graphics card you can get in the laptop.

jorzeh · 27 Aug 2011 at 11:06

You can get a m17x, Get it, If i wasn't running such a highend desktop and i did a lot of lans or needed to move around a lot i wouldn't even second guess the M17X i allways wanted a ailenware to be cool lol, I quite fancy a M17X 6990 at the moment, But i don't travel enough for the time being.

Meaker · 28 Aug 2011 at 03:30

Alexrose1uk said:
Personally I wouldn't build your own just because of the cost of warranty repairs due to the delivery. I'td be more hassle than it's worth IMO.

@OP. Whats your budget and how mobile do you need to be (by that I mean can you go with a DTR or do you prefer smaller, say 15").

I would checkout Clevo chassis as well as the AW. Basically with a gaming laptop, the better the GPU you can get within your budget, the longer it'll last, and remember that as a focus, although typically better GPUs will result in bigger due to better cooling, and a shorter battery life. If you can find a machine with say a 6990, GTX485 or similar, it'll last you a lot longer than one with a 5870m *which is about equivalent to a desktop 5750 or 5770 - it has shaders of the 5770 but clocks of the 5750* as a gaming machine.

I'd say a saving for a total cost of £800 for a machine with specs like mine it's a bargain.

Scrutinize · 28 Aug 2011 at 07:21

Meaker said:
I'd say a saving for a total cost of £800 for a machine with specs like mine it's a bargain.

Yes but if it goes wrong or is DOA it is a heck of lot of hassle and you don't get any uk warranty coverage

Critch1990 said:
Hi Again,

Ive been looking around and ive come down to the conclusion that the M17x is far to expensive for my needs £1800 on a laptop to play wow and CSS is crazy.

Ive been looking into the alienware m15x, MSI Gx660 and a mac book pro as all these will do what i need them to.

The two questions i have are:

1. Is the alienware m15x to outdated compared with today machines, Always fancied and alienware computer but dont want somthing that im paying for somthing that is far to out-dated.

2. What would you guys go for?

Portability: Semi (moving from my house to GF and Friends but i drive)
Budget: Anything upto about £1500
Games: Mainly Css and Wow (Possability of some upcoming games but as long as they play settings dont bother me)

Any other information that may help please let me know still really un-decided on this matter.

Surely just an XPS 17 is the way to go, have a look on dmxdimension.com at the latest dell deals with current discounts starting at around £600 for an i5 and GT550 and this will play your games fine.

Alexrose1uk · 28 Aug 2011 at 19:54

Meaker said:
I'd say a saving for a total cost of £800 for a machine with specs like mine it's a bargain.

Oh, in terms of PURE price, its definately (usually) way cheaper and a great option, but I was talking in regards to warranty support, delivery costs if you have things go wrong etc (even worse if you buy something you discover has a recurrant fault, or flaw in the model). It can quickly mount up; and from experience with higher end laptops, they can (note, not will) be more prone at times to issues which need a little TLC. There's also the time issue; unless you pay a decent whack for postage, it can be quite slow, at least compared to internal post within the UK (not that that says much given Royal Mail etc these days).

If you got unlucky, it could work out quite a bit more expensive in the long run.