Best gaming laptop for around 2000-2300$

The best laptop, like the best desktop is one you build yourself.... and since that's not practical w/o accessibility to the necessary parts, then the 2nd best option is to get one where you select each and every part and have someone build it for, you.

Alienware never actually "built" a laptop. They made their name t the same time as FaclconNorthwest, VoodooPC, WidowPC and others. All these laptops were actually "built by Clevo", but the lil alien head logo caught the eye of jouraalists and soon after articles abounded citing the hi end componentry, solid build, robust cooling systems, and better warranty. The thing is the only thing Alienware contributed to those laptops was the alien head logo as Alienware was simply a Clevo distributor, just like the above mentioned resellers.

Instead of the alien head, WidowPC has a black widow spider, Falcon Northwest, a falcon head. Other than the optional custom paint job and logo, the laptops were identical, they just cost 35 - 50% more buying from these sources. I find it a bit amusing to hear folks argue over who makes the best laptop because a) almost every vendor in these discussions actually doesn't "make" a single laptop and b) they are oft made on the same production lines with the same parts as the other.

Here's source list of the various laptop vendors:

Quanta sells to (among others) HP, Lenovo, Apple, Acer, Toshiba, Dell, Sony, Fujitsu and NEC
Compal sells to (among others) Acer, Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo and HP/Compaq
Wistron sells to Dell, Acer, Lenovo and HP
Inventec sells to Toshiba, HP, Dell and Lenovo
Pegatron sells to Asus, Toshiba, Apple, Dell and Acer
Foxconn sells to Asus, Dell, HP and Apple
Flextronics sells to HP

The most common comment I hear when mentioning Clevo is "I never heard of them" .. well I'll bet you never heard of the folks who "made" every laptop you and everyone you know have ever owned.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/clevo-guide-v2-0-faq-and-reseller-info.91510/

CLEVO is a large Taiwanese computer company specializing in laptops. While the Clevo brand name is perhaps not widely known, their products are re-branded and sold by known boutique brand OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers)… notably Sager, VoodooPC, Falcon Northwest, Eurocom, etc. They are also considered (by whoever knows about notebooks) to design and manufacturer the best of the best notebooks in terms of superior build quality and innovative designs.

Established in 1983, as an ODM (Original Design Manufacturer), they sell barebones ranging from laptop to portable computing solutions for both AMD and Intel processors. Clevo is one of the world's most preferred ODM partners and markets their products in more than 50 countries, and have established service centers in the USA, Germany, Britain, China, and Taiwan.

Click to expand...

Might also wanna read the updated FAQ here, especially the "Why should I buy a Clevo product ? section

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/clevo-guide-v3-0-faq-and-reseller-info-read-before-posting.592609/

I'll come back with a build in a few minutes that addresses the stated budget.

It will have like a 40 min battery life and will basically just be a plugged in all the time laptop.

Build a micro-atx mini-tower build. They are pretty small but still fit a standard video card and power supply using a mATX board.
A i5-6600K\GTX1080 build would be the best. Pick out a monitor, key, mouse, Xbox 360 gamepad, joystick, sat/sub speakers.

If they still need a laptop, because the micro-atx build is much cheaper, there is still over $500-$800 left over to buy a budget laptop with.
You will have to search the benchmarks and batterylife ect. Some of the amd APU's are fairly good for light gaming. Some intel IGP's have improved or some intel cpus are paired with budget a nvidia or amd gpu.

I have an older one with less efficient GPU and I get more than double that.

Or android instead of the laptop. My Samsung S4 plays some classic games @1080p. Games like Maxpayne, Hitman sniper, NPS hot pursuit. Sega sonic, ect. Many tablets have a micro HDMI out. Some phones with with a adaptor cable.

-Likely they already have a smartphone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yny3p5AL960

https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Cable-Micro-USB-Samsung-Galaxy/dp/B01EZ1JS52/ref=sr_1_21/159-6224173-6467021?ie=UTF8&qid=1482073134&sr=8-21&keywords=android+tablet+with+hdmi+output
$9.99.

https://www.amazon.com/NVIDIA-SHIELD-K1-Tablet-Black/dp/B0171BS9CG/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1482076616&sr=1-1&keywords=Nvidia+Shield+Tablet

https://www.amazon.com/NVIDIA-945-12570-2500-000-SHIELD-Controller/dp/B00LMRL00O/ref=pd_sim_147_7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=YRT4E0Y2DQQ4VZ32CZ87