Help spec out a gaming laptop...

Hello all,

I am in the market to purchase a gaming laptop, and need helping deciding on what to get. Since most will probably tell me to get a desktop, here is why I am going for the laptop. All I have now is just an Xbox 360, and an old small, desktop pc not capable for gaming. Next year, I will be at college for computer science. I plan on mobile gaming etc. so obviously a desktop will not do. Therefore, I figure I should just get a gaming laptop.

Budget: Around $2000, the lower the better obviously.

Screen size: 17.3 -- Yes I know, big, weighs a lot, etc. Don't care, have a backpack to carry it around in.

What am I looking for?: A laptop with a GPU capable of playing games (such as Starcraft) on high settings for the next four years.

Questions:

What GPU will be good enough to accomplish this?

Is it worth it to get laptop with M.2 drives? Specifically I want to get two and setup a RAID 0. However if I can just get two mSATA's or SSD's and see the same performance, then I'll just go with those.

http://www.asus.com/us/site/g-series/

i would go with asus something with a 7 series nvidia card or greater M.2 drives ARE all that and they are fast supposedly as fast as SATA EXPRESS

but for 2k you can build a monster desktop that will whoop any laptop

Get an i7 laptop with an 880m (980m), 12gb+ ram. The rest of the specs are up to you and your budget. Those RoG laptops are pretty fantastic, and since you don't care about size, I'd go that route. MSI makes some good ones, 1200$ will get yiu a LOT of laptop.

www.xoticpc.com will have everything you need to configure a killer gaming laptop

notarat said:

www.xoticpc.com will have everything you need to configure a killer gaming laptop

Click to expand...

^ this. I highly recommend Sager, Lenovo, or MSI over an ASUS.

Ya I've been frequenting xotic for like the last month lol Has anyone heard of Xidax? There aren't that many laptops I can find with M.2 options...

Would I see any noticeable performance gain between a 4710mq and 4810mq processor?

Why are you stuck on M.2?
You wouldn't notice much if any gains between those two processors, no.

You can kill some time (and money) here http://www.falcon-nw.com/ playing with the configurator. Get crazy enough and you can configure a $ 10k laptop. The base model large screen is a little over your budget , but it looks nice. https://build2.falcon-nw.com/Configurator/Configurator?s=4

sparkey247 said:

http://www.asus.com/us/site/g-series/

i would go with asus something with a 7 series nvidia card or greater M.2 drives ARE all that and they are fast supposedly as fast as SATA EXPRESS

but for 2k you can build a monster desktop that will whoop any laptop

Click to expand...

EarthDog said:

Why are you stuck on M.2?
You wouldn't notice much if any gains between those two processors, no.

Click to expand...

Because, I've been given to understand they are significantly faster... However, the most I'll probably be doing outside of gaming is programming. I'd probably be fine without it...

Youd be fine with regular sata, yes. I wouldn't worry about m.2 for you listed uses.

Would a 970m with 3gb of ram be sufficient for my goals?

OT , you guys have to quit posting links to these places. You should hear my wife after showing her a $20k build. LMAO
Tried to post a link but it didn't show the final configuration.

I doubt any card can last four years with the latest games on high... about the only thing you can do is get the best you can afford and hope for the best.

Maybe something like these would be OK!

1, http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/P25W-V2-CF1-Gigabyte-P25W-V2-CF1_1629181.html#top

2, http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/9S7-177214-422-MSI-GS70-2PE(Stealth-Pro)-422UK_1682402.html

3, http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/G750JS-T4129H-ASUS-G750JS-T4129H_1627260.html

I would look to buy the Asus one as that is the one i am going to buy myself soon, good high end Spec for a reasonable cost. Good luck with your choice.

Ajay.

P.S. All these are on NewEgg. com in the USA.

Ajay57 said:

Maybe something like these would be OK!

1, http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/P25W-V2-CF1-Gigabyte-P25W-V2-CF1_1629181.html#top

2, http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/9S7-177214-422-MSI-GS70-2PE(Stealth-Pro)-422UK_1682402.html

3, http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/G750JS-T4129H-ASUS-G750JS-T4129H_1627260.html

I would look to buy the Asus one as that is the one i am going to buy myself soon, good high end Spec for a reasonable cost. Good luck with your choice.

Ajay.

P.S. All these are on NewEgg. com in the USA.

Click to expand...

I was thinking about getting an Asus as I like the design of them. However there limited selection of GPU's is making the decision tough. Unless I can't find one, I don't believe they offer a version with 6 or 8gb of ram. Which is going to hinder performance in the long run. It seems to me like they charge quite a bit for the Asus name. Their top of the line laptop goes for $2,000+ and only has a the 4710 processor and 980/4gb. That amount on another brand gets a lot more laptop. Since I don't have to get mine till next spring, I'll let the newness of the 900 series and Asus laptop wear down and hopefully the price will drop accordingly.

Correct that has been my decision here also, the ones which where out of my price range have now started to drop down, either via the Jan Sales or by newer models.

Just have to keep looking and waiting for the right time.

Ajay.