$800-$1200 budget Gaming laptop

[rld082982]

1. What is your budget?
800-1200

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15-17, preferably 17

3. What screen resolution do you want?
the higher the better

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Portability isn't an issue - it could weigh 50lbs for all I care

5. How much battery life do you need?
Non issue

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)?
Skyrim, possibly the new Starwars MMO, Borderlands, basically any new game at at least medium settings

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
NA

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
NA

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Normally use newegg/tigerdirect. Are financing options available? If not, I might have to resort to bestbuy

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
At least 3 years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Preferably blue ray

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.
Friend has a $1200 Asus that I'm concidering. MSI I've heard are also good. I'm open to all brands. Lenovo I'm iffy about though, I've heard they're cheap and bad quality
13. What country do you live in?
US

 

[rld082982]

Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks

 

[perfectblue]

For around $900, you could go for any 17 inch with GT 540 to 555M graphics and quad core cpu. ASUS brand is good.

For around 1100-1200, go for the Sager 8130 if you need the most bang for the buck (i7-2670QM, 8GB ram, GTX560M, FULL HD screen, Bluray = $1167
or even a MSI 1661 if you dont need a branded laptop but the most powerful graphic card you can have in a sub $1200 laptop (GTX 570M).

For around the same price, you do get the ASUS G53, but the latest models have a 'gimped' GTX 560M which is 128 bit compared to the standard 192 bit. So it will perform lower than GTX 460M it replaced. But you will get a branded laptop will insanely good cooling a beastly look.

So its upto you to decide what you need the most. But a GT550M or GT 555M should be enough to go high settings at 720p resolution for skyrim. The asus A73 should fit your requirements just fine.

But after all, its not just performance which defines a laptop but also its build quality. I highly recommend you to go for an ASUS G73. Its not the latest model, but it is definitely enough for the next three years. At $1100 its not a bad deal at all.

 

[rld082982]

Thanks perfectblue. I just might go for the Asus. And the fact that bestbuy has the A74, with financing, is also an incentive.
What you say about the 'gimped' graphics card concerns me though. Does the Asus A74, which also has the 560M, also gimped as the G53?

 

[perfectblue]

Thanks perfectblue. I just might go for the Asus. And the fact that bestbuy has the A74, with financing, is also an incentive.
What you say about the 'gimped' graphics card concerns me though. Does the Asus A74, which also has the 560M, also gimped as the G53?

I might have to correct you, it is a G74 laptop as there is no such A74 models yet that i have known of.
And yes, the $1199 G74 BBK model at bestbuy has a gimped GTX560 card. Some explanations are given here. Scroll down to the end to see a nice picture explaining the difference. Its not much though, and it will certainly do better than the GT555M. But the gimped version does perform below the level of the GTX460M from the previous generation. Also this particular model doesn't have full hd, its resolution is 1600 x 900.

It is still enough to get you through with most games in atleast medium at 1600x900. And I really love these Asus G series. Very solid design and very cool even under load.

I might as well suggest, if you are going for a $1200 best buy model got for this one with 15 inch screen but full hd screen and bigger ram and a bit faster single hard disk(so you can always add an ssd in the future anytime).

 

[rld082982]

Thanks for the replies guys. Definately a help.
I've noticed that HP is having some deals. Any thoughts on their laptops? For instance: http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/273854
Also, they're equipped with this: 2GB Radeon(TM) HD 6770M GDDR5 Graphics
How does that video card compare with the cards the Asus laptops run?

 

[rld082982]

Nevermind on the HP, I read some 3dMark scores and it doesn't compare to the Asus

 

[rld082982]

I think I'll splurge a bit and go for: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=1219120&sku=A50-173400

 

[AntiZig]

hoho absolutely, if you're willing to spend the money that's a great machine, nothing budget about it.

 

[rld082982]

i know this sounds crazy but even though a friend of mine has this similar model.. and i know it's a great machine, the determining factor in my decision is the keyboard layout. I'm left handed, so i'll be using a mouse in my left hand, and the position of the directional keys in the lower right, like any traditional keyboard is perfect since i use those keys in just about every game, to move my character front/back/left/right for instance. I hate the fact that other laptops, these keys are mashed together with everything else

 

[AntiZig]

ah I see, well, all of us have our personal preferences. I for once picked between sager and asus based on port placement

enjoy your laptop

 

[rld082982]

Best answer selected by rld082982.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

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