techies of sec, i request your assistance and computer hardware knowledge!

I'm probably going to be getting a new laptop when I graduate high school for college. I don't want something ridiculously expensive and super powerful, but I'd like some kind of above average system that could run BF3, Starcraft II, and EVE on high/medium-high settings.

Portability is not a factor, battery life is not a factor.


This is what i currently have my eye on,
http://get.com/asus-a53sv-eh71/p11096v
But it's a bit too expensive and probably more powerful than I need.


I was thinking of an Nvidia geforce gtx540, don't know if that's overkill.

Also, why would I ever need anything more than 4gb of ram? I've never seen a game recommend more than like 2.

Intel i7 or i5? Is i7 overkill or is i5 going to get too old too fast? Afterall I can't upgrade a laptop cpu.

so basically I'll wait till tom gets online.

If your dead set on getting a laptop, thats not a bad deal. The 540M will play most games fairly well.

On the RAM, 4GB really is plenty for gaming. 2Gb's isn't enough. You would need more than 4 if you are doing cpu intensive work. Like AutoCad for example, or any music editing.


I would get an I7, however if you can find a laptop with an I52500k (dont know if the put them in laptops), that would be a beast for games and more then enough for school.

There is alot to consider when getting a laptop. Heat is going to be an issue.

I'd rather get a desktop if I were to stay at home, but I'll probably be lugging this laptop all over college. It also helps to play off the "it's for school!" image that I'll need for my parents to, eh, subsidize it XD

Dave wrote:I'd rather get a desktop if I were to stay at home, but I'll probably be lugging this laptop all over college. It also helps to play off the "it's for school!" image that I'll need for my parents to, eh, subsidize it XD

No I get you. I understand why you need one. This is similar to the thread Adli posted last this week. If your looking for something good for school, capable of playing games on, then those specs will work for you. I would still look around, as you can usually find better deals on places like Newegg. I dont know much about laptops really, so maybe Tom could recommend something more specific.

Resolution though, look for something capable of 1080.

http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_customed&model_name=NP9130

Try that and customize it. If you can save some more and pour a bit into it, you'll get a very good laptop. That one, for instance, has a GTX 670M. I haven't checked performance, but it's way better than the GPU in the laptop you posted simply because it's GDDR5. For +70 you can have an i7. Or check other options in the same site.

I can't say that an i7 is overkill, because laptop's i5 are mostly (if not all) double cores with hyperthreading (giving you 4 total threads), while i7s are all quad cores with hyperthread (8 threads). Some games are starting to take advantage of cores, Battlefield is one of them.

Also, nope, Sym, there are no 2500k on laptops last I checked I don't even see anyone overclocking them, I doubt it's a good idea or if it's even supported.

Edit: BTW, I doubt that laptop you posted is overkill, or that it can run the games you mentioned on medium-high. It's a GT series, I have my doubts. You could check out some benchmarks I guess. The thing is, if you want to play on medium-high on a laptop, it will be expensive. 900+ at least.

Ars Diaboli wrote:http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_customed&model_name=NP9130

1,269 starting, thats kinda expensive bro.

1,179, actually. I suggested an expensive one as a "top".

And he says he wants to game on it. Unless he wants to get rid of that ASUS laptop in 1 year... I'd say that it's better to save some more for a good one. Unless you want to limit yourself with a GT to play old 360 ports at 30 FPS at low-medium and low resolution. There are more laptops on that site, too.

There's this one for example:
http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_customed&model_name=NP3260

But again, that card... yeah, seems like it's just like a 540M GT. You can't have gaming laptop and cheap in the same sentence, it's not like PCs that can be good at cheap prices.

Edit: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

Check that list too, Dave. For reference, I played games on my PC with a 9800 GT at low-medium (some even at high) with a good framerate. Example: Mass Effect 2, Amnesia, etc. However, StarCraft 2 (at low!!) is a nono if you have plenty of units on the map. Example: I played 2vs2 with my friend, and when we are at 130 food all 4, and there's a big battle, the game freezes to literally 0 FPS. Now, the 540M is worse than the 9800 GT AND it's on a laptop, which means even less performance.

I'm not so much looking for a gaming laptop as much as for a laptop that can play games. I can't be spending more than like 700 on it...

Eh... you're sorta screwed then You can buy one for lesser games, but don't expect medium settings on something from 2007+

http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_customed&model_name=NP2240

You can try that one. It has a 7200 RPM hard drive, unlike the 5400 one from the ASUS laptop you posted, though it has integrated graphics. It's 739, just about exceding the budget. Again, that's not for games. This said...

Dave wrote:but I'd like some kind of above average system that could run BF3, Starcraft II, and EVE on high/medium-high settings.

You can't do that with 700. On a PC, probably, but not on a laptop. Maybe some obscure dealings that other guys here know, but it will be hard to find what you mention in your first post.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2375410,00.asp

Check that out too if you want. There are some on the 700 range.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-l702x/pd

3rd from the left.

its £800 in the UK (sale ftw!), so its a 'reasonable' price for me to split with my parents to soften the blow.

Eh so I can't do under 1000 and not worthless with games with the same laptop.

Laptops are always much more expensive than a desktop, especially if you want it gaming capable.

Ars Diaboli wrote:http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_customed&model_name=NP9130

Try that and customize it. If you can save some more and pour a bit into it, you'll get a very good laptop. That one, for instance, has a GTX 670M. I haven't checked performance, but it's way better than the GPU in the laptop you posted simply because it's GDDR5. For +70 you can have an i7. Or check other options in the same site.

I can't say that an i7 is overkill, because laptop's i5 are mostly (if not all) double cores with hyperthreading (giving you 4 total threads), while i7s are all quad cores with hyperthread (8 threads). Some games are starting to take advantage of cores, Battlefield is one of them.

Also, nope, Sym, there are no 2500k on laptops last I checked I don't even see anyone overclocking them, I doubt it's a good idea or if it's even supported.

Edit: BTW, I doubt that laptop you posted is overkill, or that it can run the games you mentioned on medium-high. It's a GT series, I have my doubts. You could check out some benchmarks I guess. The thing is, if you want to play on medium-high on a laptop, it will be expensive. 900+ at least.

No actually, there is to my knowledge 1 quad core mobile i7, rest are also dual core with HT. Anyways if you are dead set on getting a laptop wait for trinity or ivy bridge which should be released in the next month or 2. if you can not wait go try to find a cheap M11x or M14x. Those laptops will play games quite well and have pretty good battery life because of nvidia optimus. The processor does not really matter that much in regards to a laptop, so you should be able to score an older M11x or M14x for around $800 that can play games quite well. Like I said though waiting for trinity or Ivy bridge is a much better option because of the performance boots they provide. Also stay away from 1920x1080 laptop screens, even though they are very nice you will not be able to game with decent fps on the settings you want at the native resolution.

Disregard what I crossed out above. Here is what I found for $936 with a 570m. http://www.xoticpc.com/force-16f2012-msi-16f2-p-3376.html It looks like it should play most games on medium to high settings (including BF3 and skyrim). I still think it is the best option to wait right now but if can't the laptop above that I linked to is your best bet for price/performance.

http://ark.intel.com/products/family/59136/2nd-Generation-Intel-Core-i7-Processors/mobile

Plenty of double cores, which I didn't know. But actually only about half of those are double cores, and the other half are quads.

The laptop that Tom posted is good too, but it's more expensive than what you plan to spend. I also think that you should wait for a bit longer.

Ars Diaboli wrote:http://ark.intel.com/products/family/59136/2nd-Generation-Intel-Core-i7-Processors/mobile

Plenty of double cores, which I didn't know. But actually only about half of those are double cores, and the other half are quads.

The laptop that Tom posted is good too, but it's more expensive than what you plan to spend. I also think that you should wait for a bit longer.

Ah wow did not know there were so many mobile i7 quads. Guess I have never looked it up because I usually only look at laptops that are 1k and under. Also from what I read in this thread I thought his budget was just under 1k.

yeah that's like the upper limit of my budget. My parents won't be willing to pay that much but I'll just buy it myself if I really want to. Who needs life savings anyways.

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/builder.workflow:Enter?mtm-item=%3A000001C9%3A0000197B%3A

This looks like a pretty good deal, any comments?

That looks like a very good deal. It's damn cheap, to be honest. Go for it.