Need a good gaming laptop for ~$900.

[JohnnyK]

My dad is looking at buying me a new laptop so he can take my old one. I'm looking for one that could definitely game (like a 9800m GT, 260m GT, or 4870 mobile for a GPU.) We almost bought an Asus one from Bestbuy for $850

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9173262&type=product&id=1218044029168

but you can no longer get them in any stores around me and they don't sell them online, which is weird if it's still on the website. The next best thing we saw was better than that Asus and it was also at Bestbuy and it is replacing that older model.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9366651&type=product&id=1218092150636

The only problem is that it's $100 more and we need something $900 or less. If you can find anything please let me know. Oh and sorry the links don't work, my bad.

 

[ghettogeddy]

to words to me that dont belong together
gaming and laptop

why oh why does it have to be a laptop

for 900 you can build a beastly desktop with a monitor
that will out due any laptop

sorry for the mini rant i just dont think those to terms should be together
once again laptop and gaming should never accompany each other

 

[jamesman32]

laptop and gaming should never accompany each other

You sir, are correct. I learned that the hard way. Bought a "gaming" laptop a few weeks ago and it was nothing but trouble. Sold it and for $900 I got the setup you see in my sig.

 

[cyberfish]

Another vote for no gaming on laptops. I learned it the hard way, too. You are taking the worst of both worlds - desktops' low mobility (due to the weight), high power consumption (low battery life), and laptops' high price and low performance (compared to desktops).

Just get a cheap portable laptop and a desktop. You can do both combined for less.

 

[A-Dub]

I don't think you are going to get a 260m or 4870 in a laptop for $900 or less. The best you're likely to get for that price is something like this msi with 3850:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152087

Also found this ASUS with 120m, though I haven't heard of that video card before:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220519

 

[JohnnyK]

I disagree that laptops aren't good for gaming, but that doesn't matter. I already have a good enough desktop (in my sig) for my small screen. I need something I can take on the go. Plus I have a 360, so any non-mobile gaming is pretty much done on that.

 

[Bobnova]

Laptops are great for gaming if you have cubic dollars. To equal the performance of my $449 system in laptop form costs about $1500, or did back when i built it and was looking at laptops at least.

My box isn't very mobile though, and you can take that laptop anywhere.
Add a $30 harbor freight ac/dc inverter and you can game on road trips

 

[ghettogeddy]

Laptops are great for gaming if you have cubic dollars. To equal the performance of my $449 system in laptop form costs about $1500, or did back when i built it and was looking at laptops at least.

My box isn't very mobile though, and you can take that laptop anywhere.
Add a $30 harbor freight ac/dc inverter and you can game on road trips

you pointed out the most important reason the money factor you can spend that 1500
but give it about 6 months and that laptop that you bought is outdated with lil chance of updating lol

but that 500 buck desktop can be upgraded for years

 

[cyberfish]

And then laptops cannot be overclocked.

Unless gaming on the road is really THAT important for you, a gaming laptop is a poor investment.

I was once in your position, too, and chose to buy a gaming laptop at the end as well - a Acer 5920G, the almost top end gaming laptop at that time, with 8600M GT (8800M was VERY rare, and 9 series wasn't out yet), with a 15" screen at 3kg. about $1200. Great eh? I'll just use that computer everywhere. No need to switch from desktop to laptop and move files around and stuff, and I get to play games everywhere... Well, you won't realize how heavy it is to haul that thing around until you actually tried it. When you are looking at the specs, it's just a number. When you actually need to move it around, the number means much more. It only delivered mediocre gaming performance, too. I'm so glad that I eventually "upgraded" to a $800 13" laptop, at almost half the weight, with integrated graphics, a Core 2 Solo (single core) 1.4ghz CPU, and 8 hrs battery life. I'll just play games at home.

 

[Mjolnir]

120M = 9500GT isn't it? I think.. If I recall correctly, the 130 was a 9600GT, and the 150 was a 9800GT (just renamed for both mobile GPU's + mac GPU's)

Anyway, define 'gaming' What games? What size do you need? etc etc.

I'm not sure about prices over there on laptops, but here we're paying a fairly large amount for any 'decent' laptop and even then you'd be lucky to get a 9600GT or higher..

I want a laptop, but I know I don't need it.. Just for kicks really. If anything I'd get a macbook (I do image/video/audio work) and be done with it :\.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9173262&type=product&id=1218044029168
Asus - Laptop with Intel® Centrino® 2 Processor Technology - Brown/Yellow/Black

If the link loads what's wrong with this one? 850 bucks with 4gb of ram and a 9800M GS

I wish we had cheap laptops here.. Something the likes of those specs (with a lower GPU might I add), would cost $2000AUD. Sigh.

 

[ou_phidelt]

Good specs for the price but man that thing is ugly!

 

[Bobnova]

Some higher end laptops can be overclocked.
My alienware M7700 (that i'm trying to sell) can be. It's not the greatest idea with a Prescott desktop chip in a laptop, but whatever

 

[ghettogeddy]

Some higher end laptops can be overclocked.
My alienware M7700 (that i'm trying to sell) can be. It's not the greatest idea with a Prescott desktop chip in a laptop, but whatever

well the main reason he said that is cooling ya you can overclock but it wont last long

 

[MonkeyMhz]

I don't think you are going to get a 260m or 4870 in a laptop for $900 or less. The best you're likely to get for that price is something like this msi with 3850:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152087

Also found this ASUS with 120m, though I haven't heard of that video card before:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220519

The 3850m is good, I have a barebones MSI laptop with it. But yea, don't buy a laptop to focus on gaming, its useless. It may play Crysis in medium/high ok, but it has no hope for the future. Your better off with a desktop.

 

[curtis1552]

While you do seem determined that you want to game-on-the-go I also question the relevancy. You have your 360 for playing at home or even at a friends, so do you do that much traveling that you can't live without playing Crysis for that time?
You could spend $279 on a nice eeePC 901, and if you want you can play games like WoW and such fine on it. Then use the rest to get the start of a beastly desktop.

 

[Jkicak]

i used to think that you had to spend too much on a laptop for games.. i wanted one because i often go to the inlaw's camp on the weekends and need a fix here and there at night after spending a day on the lake. I found the asus G50v (at bestbuy of all places) for $900 and it is a very good laptop for games. it is not as good as my desktop but it gets the job done for sure.

2.13ghz c2d
4gb ddr2
320gb 7200rpm
512mb 9800m
vista 64
15.6" screen
wireless N

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/asus-g50vt-x5/4505-3121_7-33496181.html