Looking for a Casual gaming laptop

[jeremiah reese]

1. What is your budget? 500$-650$

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15-16 inches
3. What screen resolution do you want?
Whatever fits the price
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Portable

5. How much battery life do you need?
doesn't matter a whole lot... Just a 6 cell battery
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)? Starcraft 2 on at least medium and world of Warcraft on about medium too. Don't need any huge graphics card but maybe something that is fairly future proof.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
Games (mentioned above) nothing else really graphical.
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
320-500gb is good but 7200rpm is a must as I have had bad experiences with the 5400rpm harddrives.
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Not really foun any specifics yet
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
2-3 year
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Just a drive that plays DVDs and can also right them.
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Ehh not really a brad freak but I usually stay away from hp laptops due to ther and processors.
13. What country do you live in?
U.S.
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed. 4th of ddr3 ram would be nice but 3 gb or ddr2 is fine Also. I Am mainly going to be using this computer playing casual games and as such I just want a midrange graphics card, I know I so t have alot of options at this priceso thanks for looking. Thank you all for your future posts!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Gaming laptops, that I'd recpmmend, start at about $1100 price point ... check out the Clevo models here, which start at $668 ...before OS and customization :

http://www.pro-star.com/index.cfm?mainpage=product&filter=4
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/91510-clevo-guide-v2-0-faq-reseller-info.html

 

[jeremiah reese]

Thanks for the post! 1100$ is a too much money and I am not looking for a super laptop either, just a casual one.

 

[WR2]

Hello Jeremiah reesE;

To get SC2 and WoW performance up to what you want you'll need to get the right video card.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html

In your primary price range up to $650 I could only find laptops with Radeon HD 5470 or GeForce GT 320M video cards.
Acer Aspire AS5553G-5881 & lenovo IdeaPad Z565(4311-3FU) w/ HD 5470 or Gateway NV59C65u w/ GeForce GT 320M

To get the SC2/WoW on Medium graphics:
Acer Aspire AS5745G-7671 w/ Geforce GT 420M or Gateway NV53A36u w/ Radeon HD 5650

 

[bloodstorm69]

I just picked up a computer for the same thing, and what i did was wait for there to be a dell outlet coupon. For $367 i got

Inspiron 15 w/ hmdi port
AMD 2.1 ghz dual core
3 gigs ddr3
320 gig HD 5200 rpm
1 gig 5650 video card

plays dragon age origins, starcraft 2, and WOW all medium to high settings, anyhow just my 2 cents

 

[Klosteral]

Have a look here:
http://www.xoticpc.com/custom-gaming-laptops-notebooks-15416-laptops-ct-95_51_149.html
The two I would reccommend, in order, are the Sager NP5160 and ASUS N53JF-A1.

I do wish to point out that it is almost impossible to get a gaming laptop for under $600 - and one that is futureproofed at that. I have absolutely no idea how Bloodstorm picked up that laptop for under $400. It is a good computer for the money but there is no futureproofing what so ever. That will become out-dated withing 6 to 12 months. I would strongly reccommend buying a much better laptop - even if it goes slightly over your budget - and have it last longer. An $800 that lasts you for 2 years is better than two $400 laptops that will last you for the same time.

Good luck,
-Klosteral

 

[bloodstorm69]

Klosteral has a point about the $600 barrier real hard to find anything under it, best i can think of is a Asus G51VX-RX05 which would come with a core 2 duo at 2.0 but a 1gig 260gtx video card, but any gaming laptop with anything under an i7 and a 5850 really isnt future proof, and you won't find anything under about $1300 that is, as for the laptop i got for under $400 i know it isn't super future proof, but it should last at least a year. And the way i got it is from the Dell outlet, it was refurbished and it still carries a 1 year dell waranty, it was $429 before a 15% off coupon, so if you keep your eyes out and watch the deals you can get a good rig for a somewhat reasonable price.

 

[jeremiah reese]

Wow, thank you all so much for your help... WR2 you really helped me on which graphic cards are good to get and also some laptops. Thanks!

 

[ericpol]

The way to go is listen to bloodstorm you can find some deals at dell outlet for light gaming

 

[jeremiah reese]

Best answer selected by Jeremiah Reese.

 

[Maziar]

This topic has been closed by Maziar