Help pick my 17in laptop for some gaming

Ok so my father has said he will put $600 toward a new laptop. I might be able to come up with another $200/$300 in the near future so were looking at $800-900 total to work with. I would really like to get a 17 inch screen as I use a laptop only and never use a desktop so this is a full desktop replacement for me. I play some games but nothing cutting edge. Mainly WOW and will probably play some halo2 and age of empires kinda stuff. I have been looking at refurbished and ebay stuff and have came up with the following. If anyone has any of these laptops or knows anything about them or the graphics that cards they have I would appreciate any feedback. Also if you know of another laptop with 17in screen for a decent price please point me to it and tell me why you would pick it. Thanks a million for any help.

http://www.pcpartsohio.com/BookDetail.aspx?item_id=559
which has a 128 MB DDR-SDRAM ATI M10-P 256-bit 3D and 2D graphics accelerator


http://www.saveateagle.com/av7155ea1-ref-v14.html Does really tell anything about the graphics so thinking this one isn't gonna be any good at games.

http://www.saveateagle.com/av7115-eh1-v000.html This says it runs the ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M IGP

http://cgi.ebay.com/Toshiba-Satelli...yZ140085QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
which has a NVIDIA® GeForce™ FX Go5200, 32MB DDR video memory

http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-Laptop-zd716...yZ140082QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
which has a NVIDIA Fx 5200GO (128MB)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Toshiba-P25-S52...yZ140085QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
which has a NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 which says 64mb

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-Inspiron-9...yZ140080QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
which has a ATI Radeon X300 with 128MB Dedicated Memory

http://cgi.ebay.com/Toshiba-17-P100...yZ140085QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
which has a NVidea Geforce Go 7600 with 256mb ram

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-Inspiron-9...yZ140080QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
which has a ATI Radeon X300 with 128MB Dedicated Memory

http://cgi.ebay.com/dell-inspiron-e...yZ140080QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
which has a radeon x1400

http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-Pavilion-dv9...yZ140082QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
which has a Nvidia GeForce 6150 256MB video

http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-Pavilion-dv8...yZ140082QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
which has a TI RADEON® XPRESS 200M IGP and says a 128MB DDR dedicated)

http://cgi.ebay.com/EVEREX-XT5000-1...goryZ177QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
which has a NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7600 with 256MB DDR2 Dedicated Video Memory

http://cgi.ebay.com/Gateway-M680-La...yZ140081QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
ATI Mobility Radeon X700 Video Memory: 128 MB

Honestly I'd try to scape together another $200 and get the dell 1720 with a 8400GS. It will totally wreck any of the ones you mentioned and will cost you about $1000

idk about 17 inch for gaming... i'd say 15.4.... it'll be cheaper too

a laptop is never a desktop replacement. And i say this to everyone. If you ever plan on taking a 17" laptop to class. Well, just don't because if you manage to get it there, you will have nowhere to put it.

And don't use ebay. You can find parts cheaper/better elsewhere. And since you have a strict budget, if you get stiffed on one deal your screwed.

get a dell 1720, with 2.0ghz 2gb ram, 120-160gb hdd, 8600 gt.

17" laptops are heavy and bigger than they look seriously 15.4 is pushing large too.

I agree 15.4 is large ONLY IF YOUR TAKING TO CLASS. If its in your dorm room, i believe that is the best all-around size.

I have had just about every size except 17". I believer 14" is the PERFECT size for class. Although i carry a 12" since the model i use gets around 7h battery life which i need.

Xenocide said:

a laptop is never a desktop replacement. And i say this to everyone. If you ever plan on taking a 17" laptop to class. Well, just don't because if you manage to get it there, you will have nowhere to put it.

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Mine is. I use a 17" HP Pavilion DV9000t as my primary computer. It was about $1,100. It's powerful, quiet, and I can unplug it to take it downstairs to work if I want. When at my desk I hook it up to an external monitor for dual-monitor 2880x900 goodness.

As for weight, I took it on a cross-country road trip for about 3 weeks. I carried it EVERYWHERE. Into resteraunts, hotels, stores, anywhere. I never ran out of battery power, though I plugged it in whenever I had a chance. It wasn't exactly light, but it wasn't heavy - I lost a large amount of weight from carrying it around and walking so much, but other than that it was comfortable, and having your "desktop" system ready to use at any given moment with all your files, and without a last-minute trip rush to get the files you need from your desktop to your laptop is excellent... On planes, it was inconvenient to say the least. I finally settled on watching a movie with it, with the screen mostly closed and the bottom resting vertically against my stomach, which was confortable enough. I certainly wouldn't want to work on it on a plane. Buses were fine though.

Would I rather it have been a 15.4inch? Yes. However, it certainly wasn't too difficult to carry that far, and having the extra screen space for when you are at your desk is quite nice...

If I were carrying it to class every day though, I would probably get a 15".

i'm a huge fan of Thinkpads. but for gaming, you might want to check out the asus laptops at newegg or scour the dell outlet for some deals, since it looks like your budget is a little light. I wouldn't expect to get a *good* gaming laptop for under 1500 (1gig-2gig ram, c2d, geforce 8600 series graphics/geforce 7900 series graphics).

splat is right about thinkpads if you can do without gaming.

Check out the T40 series (T40,T41, T42...), they are SOLID (I am using one right now) But most of them either have intergrated graphics or a ati 7500 card. (definatly not what you want for 3d)

IMHO I like Sager Laptops. They're made as a desktop replacement for gaming machines. My buddy has one and it rocks. He got it about a year ago with a 7900 gtx. Plus the proccessor cooler on it is a 5 heat pipe design running across 3 sets of fans across the back of the PC. It can pump out some heat but all the parts are cooled well.
http://www.sagernotebook.com/default.php

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I don't think 17" is necessarily too big, it's really a matter of personal preference. My friend has a 17" laptop that he takes to class regularly. At the same time, I have a 15", and I don't like to move it around very much because I think it's too big. You should try out or at least look at both sizes and try to get a feel for them, so you'll know if it's too big for you. Another thing I would recommend, don't get a panel with too high of a native resolution. Gaming is already more difficult on a mobile platform without having to push a massive resolution. You'll be able to play newer games if you get a lower resolution panel.

Thanks for all the quick replies. I know why I asked at this forum cause you guys are great. I currently have a Toshiba Satellite A10-S127 with a 15 inch screen. I have used it exclusively as a desktop replacement and actually sit in bed with it 100% of the time. It never goes to class with me. Most of my professors don't allow laptops at my crappy college. So those that are saying dont go as big as 17in is that because the price is so much higher or are the graphics not up to par on them? Well I guess with my new job I could save and spend a $1000 sometime in a month or so. What is the best for a $1000 right now? I'm gonna start looking at some 15.4 inch screens as well and see what I can find. Thanks alot and I'll go ahead and stay away from ebay, dont want to lose all my money on nothing. Specs of my current toshiba is Intel Celeron 2.0 GHz Processor
256 MB PC2100 DDR Memory (upgraded to 1gig)
30 Gigabyte Hard Drive (upgraded to 80gig)
24x CD-RW Combo Drive Optical Drive
15" XGA (1024x768) LCD and Intel Extreme 3D Graphics with 64MB Shared
AC'97 Audio
v.92 56Kbps Modem and 10/100 Ethernet
Two USB 2.0 Ports and One Type II PC Card Slot (dont actually run at 2.0 which sucks)
13" x 11.5" x 1.5" @ 6.1 lbs.
Windows XP Professional Operating System