Getting a new laptop. I really need help plz!

[JxF]

Hello everyone !

I am new to this site and have been looking around for some of the answers to my questions, which I have enountered regarding a new laptop. I really want a student / gaming pc, with a 15" inch screen( since I will have to carry it around alot, but still want something to look at while gaming).

I am thinking about buying it at a small local computer shop, since they usually are very nice when I need them to help fix. a problem with my computer(desktop).

Even thouh I have very little knowledge about hardware and software in generall(usually limited to information that can enhance my gameplay) , I can sometimes be a pretty hardcore gamer and therefore loathe any lag/fps drop in my games. I used to play hardcore CS1.6 and I have over 2.5 year played alot of Heroes of Newerth (MOBA). I'm recently been thinking about starting on Guild Wars 2 or CS:GO.

I am not so interested in prices here, but more that what i buy will go well together and that i wont have a bottleneck problem on my hardware.

Here is the offer I am currently looking at:

Graphic card: Gefore GTX 660M
Processor: Intel core i7 3610 QM 2.3 Ghz
Memmory: 8Gb SoDimm DDR-3 1600 Kingston (should I go for 8GB or the 2x8GB ?)
Hard drive: Seagate 2,5" Momentus 320 GB 7200 XT
Motherboard: They have not written anything about the motherboard ( but they said i could have the 16GB in it if i wantet) What specs should I look for in a motherboard? Should I ask anything specific about the motherboard to be sure?

Any comment on any of this would be a help.
(Sorry for the bad gramma) - JxF

 

[PurpleTangent]

[strike]This website might help a bit: http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
Just fill it out, if you don't understand it leave it blank. A ~650W power supply should do you fine though, with enough for a second graphics card down the road and a few years of degradation (power supplies slowly get weaker over time).

As for the motherboard it depends on you as the user.
Do you have any USB 3 devices or plan on getting any? If so, make sure it has a 7 series chipset (ex. Z75)
Trying to save money? Maybe aim for a 6 series chipset, just make sure the board has firmware that supports your CPU.
Do you have any old PCI devices? If so makes the board has it, intel is trying to phase PCI out.
Do you plan on adding a second GPU down the road? If so, look for two 16x PCI-E slots.

EDIT: If you're looking to alleviate bottlenecks, you might want to invest in a small-ish SSD to put your operating system / commonly used programs on.
Also, why is the hard drive you have now 2.5"? Do you know the cases form factor (ex. Full tower, mid tower, microATX)? If you can try to fit a full 3.5" drive for more storage. I have 4.5TB I wish I had more space, you might find 320GB a bit cramped.


Hope this helps![/strike]


Disregard, missed the key word "Laptop". Seriously consider building a desktop.

 

[ram1009]

Unfortunately, you sound like a person who believes that laptops are portable desktops. It seems to be an epidemic around here. They're not. You say you're fussy about how your games run. Be prepared for a big let down. If laptops could do everything desktops can do then desktops would have disappeared by now. Sorry to rain on your parade but somebody needs to prepare you.

 

[nbelote]

I play GW2 on my HP DV7-6163CL. It's a good laptop, but a desktop that costs the same amount of money would've been able to royally devastate that laptop in all benchmarks and raw performance as well as image quality. I game on a laptop because I'm always on the move. It's not nearly as good as one would hope, but it is good enough for me and in a life where I can't be tethered to one spot, it's great.

To more answer your question(s): as far as motherboards go, you get whatever's in the laptop that was put there by the manufacturer... there's no "laptop motherboard store" but as far as features go, make sure you have at least 1 USB 3.0 port and an HDMI out. That laptop would also be able to play GW2 at medium-ish settings (some can be turned up higher) and the shooters you're talking about at roughly high settings (MMO's use a lot more video processing power due to all the players and such).

For memory, you won't benefit by having 16GB over 8GB right now. If the upgrade is cheap (less than $50) then go for it if you feel good about it. You probably won't reap the benefits of it within the lifetime of that laptop, which is about 2 years, but at the end of its life you may come close...

If you can live with the poor performance vs. an equally priced desktop, and the price is acceptable to you (that's roughly a $1000 laptop) then I would go for it.

 

[JxF]

[strike]This website might help a bit: http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
Just fill it out, if you don't understand it leave it blank. A ~650W power supply should do you fine though, with enough for a second graphics card down the road and a few years of degradation (power supplies slowly get weaker over time).

As for the motherboard it depends on you as the user.
Do you have any USB 3 devices or plan on getting any? If so, make sure it has a 7 series chipset (ex. Z75)
Trying to save money? Maybe aim for a 6 series chipset, just make sure the board has firmware that supports your CPU.
Do you have any old PCI devices? If so makes the board has it, intel is trying to phase PCI out.
Do you plan on adding a second GPU down the road? If so, look for two 16x PCI-E slots.

EDIT: If you're looking to alleviate bottlenecks, you might want to invest in a small-ish SSD to put your operating system / commonly used programs on.
Also, why is the hard drive you have now 2.5"? Do you know the cases form factor (ex. Full tower, mid tower, microATX)? If you can try to fit a full 3.5" drive for more storage. I have 4.5TB I wish I had more space, you might find 320GB a bit cramped.


Hope this helps![/strike]


Disregard, missed the key word "Laptop". Seriously consider building a desktop.

Okay, thank you very much for you'r time and help anyways!!
I am not so sure about the desktop though, I really need a laptop for my studies. I dont really like downtime and If I went to a student friends home and wantet to play, it would be nice just to bring my bag and then be able to play?

 

[JxF]

Unfortunately, you sound like a person who believes that laptops are portable desktops. It seems to be an epidemic around here. They're not. You say you're fussy about how your games run. Be prepared for a big let down. If laptops could do everything desktops can do then desktops would have disappeared by now. Sorry to rain on your parade but somebody needs to prepare you.

I know your are right and I know that even though i payed all the money i have on a 15"inch laptop. I would only play like 1/2 or 3/4 as good on any game i played. I have played enough games to know that one, BUT I move around alot and it would not be suitable for me to bring a desktop with me. I am therefore looking for a berable alternative for me.

 

[JxF]

I play GW2 on my HP DV7-6163CL. It's a good laptop, but a desktop that costs the same amount of money would've been able to royally devastate that laptop in all benchmarks and raw performance as well as image quality. I game on a laptop because I'm always on the move. It's not nearly as good as one would hope, but it is good enough for me and in a life where I can't be tethered to one spot, it's great.

To more answer your question(s): as far as motherboards go, you get whatever's in the laptop that was put there by the manufacturer... there's no "laptop motherboard store" but as far as features go, make sure you have at least 1 USB 3.0 port and an HDMI out. That laptop would also be able to play GW2 at medium-ish settings (some can be turned up higher) and the shooters you're talking about at roughly high settings (MMO's use a lot more video processing power due to all the players and such).

For memory, you won't benefit by having 16GB over 8GB right now. If the upgrade is cheap (less than $50) then go for it if you feel good about it. You probably won't reap the benefits of it within the lifetime of that laptop, which is about 2 years, but at the end of its life you may come close...

If you can live with the poor performance vs. an equally priced desktop, and the price is acceptable to you (that's roughly a $1000 laptop) then I would go for it.

Thank you so much for the help, this helped me alot!!
I am a little concerned about overheating and stuff like. Have you had any probles on your laptop? I was told by someone that his "study/gaming" laptop got quite bad after 6 months because of overheating?

Concerning the battery lifetime. I am walking around alot on campus, and I drive around alot too ( work, friends, etc.) So it would be awesome with a battery lifetime on at least 3-4 hours. Is that realistic with a laptop as yours?

Sorry for the questions, but you seems to have some experience with laptops

 

[nbelote]

Battery life on heavy duty laptops aren't the best. Mine has a battery that lasts 3-4 hours, sure, but that's without wifi on and with the brightness all the way down and with me not doing much other than typing. Average is about 2 hours, asking any more is like asking for winning lottery numbers, and asking for any sort of battery life while gaming is pure insanity because that'll never work.

Any laptop can have plenty of heating problems if not handled correctly, but if you're gaming then you need to keep it on a flat, even surface that is not your bed or the floor. Desks, tables, that sort of thing. Or do what I did and invest in a lap tray. It adds to the bulk but I leave it by my recliner and only use it for when I want to game there.

You can't run around thinking that "laptop" means it can function properly while in your lap. That's not feasible. Entertainment and gaming laptops, specifically, need proper ventilation on all sides to function well. Mine still gets hot, on the surface, above where the CPU and GPU are located on the motherboard (on mine, that's the ESC corner of the keyboard right next to the exhaust vent). It can be very surprising how hot it can get and, if you don't ventilate it properly, you can indeed damage components. You'll also find that body temperature can add to the heat so you need to not press so hard with your palms on that hot surface.

Edit: Laptops have a built-in throttling mechanism. When the CPU or GPU get hot, they throttle down to allow time to cool down so the components don't burn up. This can adversely affect your gameplay if you turn your settings up as high as the laptop can push during its coolest moments. Keep this in mind when choosing settings, as you don't want your FPS to be cut in half because you've been gaming for 2 hours.

Oh, and the best thing you can do with such poor battery life is buy another battery and/or hover near power outlets.

 

[ELMO_2006]

I won't repeat what the other members have said as they are all correct - there is no comparison between a desktop and laptop its akin to comparing grapefruit to watermelon.

However if you are still interested in the "fabled" gamers laptop you may want to look into Alienware products or if anything get yourself an SSD installed to speed things up.

http://www.alienware.com/Landings/laptops.aspx

 

[nbelote]

I won't repeat what the other members have said as they are all correct - there is no comparison between a desktop and laptop its akin to comparing grapefruit to watermelon.

However if you are still interested in the "fabled" gamers laptop you may want to look into Alienware products or if anything get yourself an SSD installed to speed things up.

http://www.alienware.com/Landings/laptops.aspx

Take it from someone who games on a laptop: Minus the Alienware bit (I don't like post-Dell Alienware, but that's a personal preference), all of that's 100% true. Mobile CPUs have closed the gap a bit but mobile GPUs are downright terrible.

 

[ihavenoid4u]

i dont know why ppl worry about battery life. anytime i turn on my laptop outside of my house there is always an outlet. get samsung chronos 7. got the 17" with a nvidia 650 and plays GW2 beautifully.