New (Gaming) Laptop

Hi all!

I need your help in regards to picking a new laptop for my school/gaming needs. I have been looking at the HP line (mostly because I hear good things), but am not ruling out any other brands. I've customized a HP G72t series with the following:

i5 430
ATi 5430
4gb RAM
=$749

Besides the usual student needs, I want to be able to play upcoming games such as FF14, FIFA11, NFS Shift on decent eye candy settings; is that possible with the Mobility 5430? How does the M5430 even compare to my current 4850 desktop version?

I can't go over $800- in fact, even 749 is a little high (I was thinking 600-700 dollars for my budget) but I would spend an extra 100 dollars to make it "right" instead of half assing something.

Any ideas/comments/suggestions are highly appreciated!

Thanks and regards to all

EDIT: it seems my signature has been erased, my desktop PC is q6600 @ 3.7, ati 4850, gskill 1066 4gb. I am actually really happy with my desktop performance, and would like my laptop experience to be the same (while within budget).

Hi, there was a recent review for the Acer Aspire 5551G that had the following specs:

AMD Phenom II X3 N830 2.1GHz
Mobility Radeon HD 5470 (750MHz), 512MB (800MHz) DDR3-VRAM, CCC version 8.713.1.0
4096MB RAM

Source: http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-5470.23698.0.html

They didn't test the game on its native resolution of 1366x768 cause it's probably unplayable at that point; on medium settings (1024x768), NFS: Shift only got around 20 FPS and high settings, 13 FPS. It doesn't mention low settings but at those settings maybe expect ~25-27 FPS but I've seen Shift on low settings, at that point why bother playing it? At around 40 FPS, I consider the game playable but I just have unnaturally high standards. Now it's not the same spec to spec comparison with a GPU change but it should give you an indication of where the ATI 5430M is expected to land in terms of game performance. I chose to seek out what seemed like the most GPU demanding game (I haven't seen FF14 demo/clips yet) on your list.

I usually use the above (link) to give me an idea of mobile GPU performance. Suffice to say, it's nothing compared to your HD4850. Should use that site to try to find a GPU to meet your expectations and price range, but sometimes it can't be win-win.

Thanks for your reply Cant.Touch.This

You made me reconsider my gpu option- thank you for that (and the link).

I'm currently looking at the Acer Aspire AS5740G-6949 featuring:

i5
ATI 5650
4gb

I figured this is the best I could do while within my budget. The only problem is: I can't find any stores or e-retailers to carry this specific model. The link you provided gave this laptop an 80% (I believe) because it was lacking features I'm not even interested in (bluetooth,etc). It seems Acer is a pretty mixed brand when it comes to reviews regarding quality, warranty, etc. so I still have some thinking to do.

Please, to anyone: feel free to offer any advice

Thanks all,

EDIT: btw, it's safe to assume Intel HD integrated graphics is pretty garbage, right?

you can use this link to click through to some useful info, they've got all the cards listed on the right:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9800M-GTS.9918.0.html


one thing i did was hold out for a 14" screen, to squeeze a little more budget into the cpu/gpu. i can alway add a nice 24" or so for playing at home.

The Acer Aspire laptop you listed may be a discontinued model, could be a revisied version of it around. I don't have much to say about their laptops other than see if you can find chain stores in your local area to see them in person before looking for the right price.

Forgot to ask, is there a particular size laptop your looking for?

Intel's HD Graphics isn't all too bad when you're trying to save every bit of battery power on the laptop. You could actually find a laptop with switchable graphics now that you mentioned Intel's IGP; could be a tad more expensive. The mobile drivers for the 5650M should offer an option for maximum battery and maximum performance whether you're on battery or plugged into the wall.

Thanks for the replies.

I'm looking for a 15.6, but if the perfect laptop with the better price came around with a 14, I'd get that one.

I'm actually not too worried about battery life (even though the IGP looks tempting) since it will most likely be plugged in for the majority of time. I'm fortunate enough to have power in most of my classes. I believe the Acer or any other laptop with similar specs would be around 2-3hrs which is OK with me.

Thanks for all the advice, I'll keep you all posted

Update:

(Excuse my jumping around) but I think I'm getting closer to the laptop I want.

Sager NP5125

The only thing I wish I could do is change the available nvidia 330M to something more powerful. I was looking at benchmarks, however, and it doesn't seem to be lagging behind horribly. Problem is, the way the laptops are built, I wouldn't be able to replace the gpu because of it's position; which makes me think: should I shell out another 100-200 dollars or so for a ATI 5850 to begin with?

If you're open to used laptops you can find some really good deals on laptops with 9800m or 280/380m (both of which are faster than a 5650). Checkout notebookreview for sale section...tons there...
As for shelling out more for the 5850...I think that may be a decent choice. Checkout MSI's offerings, they have some affordable laptops.

+1 to MSI. I got one from them as they have very good prices vs the competition on their gaming laptops. I have a Mobility HD4850M which allows me to max out Call of Duty at 1680x1050 and can comfortably play most games with at least medium settings. And their laptops come with a "turbo" button that overclocks the CPU, which you can change in the BIOS to 24% overclock, very useful when you need some extra power.

SilverJag said:

Update:

(Excuse my jumping around) but I think I'm getting closer to the laptop I want.

Sager NP5125

The only thing I wish I could do is change the available nvidia 330M to something more powerful. I was looking at benchmarks, however, and it doesn't seem to be lagging behind horribly. Problem is, the way the laptops are built, I wouldn't be able to replace the gpu because of it's position; which makes me think: should I shell out another 100-200 dollars or so for a ATI 5850 to begin with?

Click to expand...

Maybe you should think about battery life, screen quality, and build quality.
Classes are often 3 hours long or more, the NP5125 can meet it. Laptops of similar performance can't, and a more powerful laptop certainly can't. It's the best performance/battery life mix on the market right now, as far as I know.

SilverJag commented on battery life needs already.

SilverJag said:

I'm actually not too worried about battery life (even though the IGP looks tempting) since it will most likely be plugged in for the majority of time. I'm fortunate enough to have power in most of my classes. I believe the Acer or any other laptop with similar specs would be around 2-3hrs which is OK with me.

Click to expand...

As for screen and build quality, I suppose it's up to him to decided what kind of 'quality' can he afford.

BTW OP, haven't responded back to this thread... maybe you've made a decision already?