Looking for a decent laptop for gaming, no idea where to start (UK)

[Neo Demi]

Hi, I haven't posted on here in a long time, however its about due, I need the opinion of an expert or two as Im stumped as to whats good or not today.

Im looking for a laptop for a bit of lightweight gaming/general use.
Preferably something that will be capable of playing Oblivion.
It will probably also be used for work, which will mean it will have to be able to run autocad 2008 & 3ds max 8 respectably.

I have a budget of £450.

Im thinking something with the following:

Either a core 2 duo or turion 64 x2 as 3ds max should be able to utilise them, im not sure what speed would be best. probably something lower down the scale, as i dont particularily want the machine to burn my crotch off when im sitting on the couch rendering!

Dedicated graphics, most likely the 128mb geforce go 7600. from what ive seen it should be able to handle everything i can think of adequately, i would go as low as 64 dedicated if the rest of the machine is good. Im not keen on shared graphics/sys ram, all the machines ive seen with it are pretty poor.

Display size, anything 14" or over, preferably widescreen, but not needed.

Ram, 1 gig would be fine for the moment, though 2gb would be nice. as long as i can upgrade later, it would do for the time being.

Hard drive, not important, as long as the machine takes SATA, i can use my current drive.

Other stuff - DVD writer, USB 2.0, and Firewire. I dont need wireless, my home is all wired and my work wont let us use it for security reasons.

Battery life isn't too big a deal, as the machine will be plugged in wherever i use it normally.

I know this may not be possible in my budget. The dedicated graphics will probably kill it.

However if any has any advice/recommendations, Im willing to listen.


(Sorry about the long thread, I don't think i missed any of the major points)

-Neo

[dskid807]

The dedicated graphics are a problem. I have heard that you can get barebones laptop cases with choice of graphics cards but these are expensive and you would have to find all the components though.

[BenF]

I'm not entirely sure of the laptop prices in the UK but I think it will be very hard to find a laptop looking to do what you want for £450. Look primarly for 14 and 15 inch models as those will be the least expensive. 12 and 13 inch ones are going to cost way too much and so are 17+ inch ones. I'm not sure how good the current integrated graffics cards are but they might be able to play Oblivion at 640x480 (I'm not entirely sure that 480 is the correct second number for the res so correct me if I'm wrong). Oblivion is quite demanding at least at higher settings.

The dell inspiron 1520 is your best bet in my opinion. It is about 150 pounds over your budget though...I don't know if you can go that much over it will be hard to find a laptop with a dedicated graphics card for much less (new laptops atleast). http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/inspn_1520?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

[Neo Demi]

I had a feeling I was asking for a lot for my budget, it looks like it may be time to start saving again. Ive had a look at the sites for dell, toshiba and hp and couldnt find anything that would fit my needs in my current price range.

Ill keep an eye out though, theres always the odd special offer or discount, and theres always ebay.

Ill keep an eye on this thread too, from what i can see though, your right BenF. The decent laptops are still a fair bit more expense :(

[BenF]

Maybe someone on the forums has a budget laptop with integrated graphics who can test running a few games on it...if it works ok then thats the only way you're going to get a new laptop for under 450. Used or referbished laptops will be less so you might want to check those out if you can't save some more cash.

[ps2cho]

Dell Vostro! Solved!