What should I BUY?!?

[lamettrie]

I'm looking for a laptop (anything over $700 is unfortunately impossible, and over $600 is pushing it) that I can play games on. I'm willing to sacrifice memory -- I definitely do NOT need 320gb. 120gb will probably be more than enough, to be honest. I just want a cheapish laptop with a very good if not top-of-the-line graphics card (NVIDIA preferably, but I hear the newer ATI Mobility Radeon ones are alright), at least 2ghz, and at least 2gb of RAM.

I know this laptop COULD exist, but it seems like I have to pick between something hugely expensive and loaded with bullshit I don't need, or a tiny netbook that wouldn't hurt my wallet, but would probably stutter playing Civilization II. Are there any laptops in the sweet spot I'm talking about?

 

[lamettrie]

And to specify, the games I would want to play would be along the lines of Dragon Age Origins, Left 4 Dead, Fallout 3. I don't need to be able to run Crysis Warhead or anything.

 

[OvrClkr]

Unfortunately with that budget you will not be able to play those games without any lag. Bargain laptops are made for normal tasks, when it comes to gaming you will need at least 1k and even that might not suffice for a decent gaming laptop.

 

[Zark Strife]

In June I picked up an ASUS x83vb from Best Buy for $600. Which I love.

Core 2 Duo T6400
4GB Memory
and the best part... Nvidia 9300m GS graphics card.. 512MB. It is by no way GREAT but it is noticably better than integrated graphics (which almost all Sub $700 laptop come with)

Check out ASUS they usually put in decent GPU's.Or look for an x83vb from ebay or somewhere. Also ASUS (according to square trade) is #1 in laptop quality.

 

[lamettrie]

Unfortunately I cannot find that deal anywhere, including Best Buy...

Are you aware of anywhere that's still selling it? That is exactly the computer and price I am looking for.

 

[OvrClkr]

The Asus x83vb is priced at 799.9$ and not sure if they are still on available for purchase. Black Friday had huge deals on Laptops, not sure if you got a chance to see them or not...

Here is a list of laptops, not sure if this helps :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115675

 

[lamettrie]

The Asus x83vb is priced at 799.9$ and not sure if they are still on available for purchase. Black Friday had huge deals on Laptops, not sure if you got a chance to see them or not...

Here is a list of laptops, not sure if this helps :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115675

Is that Acer you linked to the best laptop in the $700-800 range? It's perfect, but I figure if I go into that range I might as well find the best one.

Thank you for all your help, I truly appreciate it.

P.S. Are NVIDIA Ion graphics as good as the Geforce GT 130M on that Acer?

 

[OvrClkr]

Sorry, posted wrong link...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2034940032%204802%204021&name=%24500%20-%20%24750

As far as I know the Ion is used on netbooks that have the Intel Atom CPU.

This laptop will play all the above games without any lag at med settings :

ASUS K61IC-X2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220638

 

[lamettrie]

Sorry, posted wrong link...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2034940032%204802%204021&name=%24500%20-%20%24750

As far as I know the Ion is used on netbooks that have the Intel Atom CPU.

This laptop will play all the above games without any lag at med settings :

ASUS K61IC-X2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220638

Wow, that one has a much better video card than the Acer, and it's $50 cheaper. The other computers I've seen with specs like that were $1000+.

Thank you so much! That ASUS is definitely the computer I'm buying.

 

[OvrClkr]

my pleasure, let us know how it performs once you get all you games installed.

 

[lamettrie]

my pleasure, let us know how it performs once you get all you games installed.

Hi again. I got the ASUS, and it performs beautifully. It runs Crysis at med settings with no lag, and high settings with a slight but playable lag. It runs Modern Warfare 2 and Dead Space on highest settings, Fallout 3 on high, etc etc etc. It was an outstanding buy, I highly recommend it to anybody looking for a cheap gaming PC. This confirms my suspicion that the video card is what matters most.

 

[OvrClkr]

Hi again. I got the ASUS, and it performs beautifully. It runs Crysis at med settings with no lag, and high settings with a slight but playable lag. It runs Modern Warfare 2 and Dead Space on highest settings, Fallout 3 on high, etc etc etc. It was an outstanding buy, I highly recommend it to anybody looking for a cheap gaming PC. This confirms my suspicion that the video card is what matters most.

Im glad everything worked out for you