Guest nevawlkalone Posted February 16, 2006 Report Posted February 16, 2006 Hi, A user at the company i work for is lookin for the best deal on 3D/gaming spec laptop..... I was wondering if anyone out there knows the best deals there are Im looking at around 1,200 quid...possibly more if needs be... Cheers M
Guest JamieDow Posted February 18, 2006 Report Posted February 18, 2006 Well if you want a gaming spec laptop make sure it's capable of running the more demanding games. You'd want a PCIe Graphics card with plenty of memory. I tend to use Battlefield 2 as a benchmark as it's quite specific about it's supported cards and it's one of the newer games so it's only going to get more graphically intense. If you have £1200 then spec yourself a laptop up at AlienWare Any of these should be fine :) After sales service is fantastic, you do get what you pay for with them. The laptop itself, ( my neighbour has the Area 51 m5500) is fantastic, it's light, looks good, runs very fast. Nothing like sitting down at your desk, pulling out a laptop with an alien head and blue glowing eyes :twisted:
Guest Dr Who Posted February 18, 2006 Report Posted February 18, 2006 (edited) Personally I would avoide Alienware - they don't have the best reputation. You could try and bag yourself a Dell XPS2 or M170 from the Dell outlet website - you would need patience though as they tend to be quite rare. Rockdirect also do some powerful gaming laptops, and maybe also Evesham. Biggest problem is that the best cards (7800GTX for instance) only appear in 17" desktop replacements - best you can get in a 15" is an X1600 I think. If you can stretch the budget a bit my first port of call would be Rock for a DTR, or maybe a Dell 9400. Actually there is a 9400 with a 7800Go (not as good as the GTX) on the Dell Outlet for £920+VAT as we speak......... Edited February 18, 2006 by Dr Who
Guest fraser Posted February 20, 2006 Report Posted February 20, 2006 Cool topic, I'm looking into this myself. Can anyone suggest any laptops that have the following? I can't find one, despite looking numerous times. - GeForce Go 7800 - Dock with the following ports: USB, DVI, audio No need for two drive bays, SATA would be nice but not essential. I'm beginning to believe that laptop docks (or port-replicatators as they are sometimes called) are a thing of the past, don't see that many these days.
Guest Matt Kirby Posted February 23, 2006 Report Posted February 23, 2006 I also wouldn't recomend Alienware for laptops. I've got one, and have had major problems with it overheating - even with regular dust removal and one of those fan pads sat under the machine at all times. Initially I also had problems with random crashes and lock-ups, spent ages on the phone to tech support before they decided to take it in for repair - despite me saying that I worked in IT support myself, so I had already found out that the memory was faulty. After several calls and BIOS updates they eventually aggreed to take it in; and then replaced the memory, motherboard and graphics card. I told them that it was broke! The guys on the tech support line are good, but you have to fight for them to agree to collect the machine. Avoid Alienware laptops at all costs - they look pretty, and have hugely impressive specs but they are built for pure power, not useability. It's great having all that power in a laptop, but is fcuk all use if you can only play FarCry for 10 mins before the machine shuts down due to over heating. By all means get a powerful machine, but get one from a company that has a reputation for building good laptops - don't be seduced by the specs alone.
Guest fraser Posted February 25, 2006 Report Posted February 25, 2006 The problem with laptops is that the companies that "make" them don't really make them. I know that both IBM and Compaq have their laptops made by sub-contracted companies and that some others are the same. Dell make some powerful laptops but I have some aversion to Dell for some reason, can't remember why. Others I have seen are Rock Direct and Acer. Might eventually come to a decision one day!
Guest Monolithix [MVP] Posted February 26, 2006 Report Posted February 26, 2006 Dell support is not always fantastic, and components suitable for upgrade have a tendancy of being proprietary to Dells hardware and therefore a good deal more expensive than other companies offerings. That aside, Dell do make some of the best gaming laptops at the moment and i would recommend them. The latest Acers are well worth a look at the moment too, although recently they seem to be taking advantage of their new found popularity by slowly pumping up their prices
Guest nevawlkalone Posted February 26, 2006 Report Posted February 26, 2006 TOo add to the dell support issue.....all there stuff is now goin to a "dell Standard" type of thing.....so all there equipment only works with dell products... I had toi get a new monitor at work coz the DVI connection had too many pins on the cable to fit the monitor coz it wasnt a dell..... WTF...lol I do agree though dell's are cool...again at work we just bought two or three M70 and OMG they are just SEXY....lol
Guest fraser Posted February 28, 2006 Report Posted February 28, 2006 I had toi get a new monitor at work coz the DVI connection had too many pins on the cable to fit the monitor coz it wasnt a dell..... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> WTF indeed! That's dell right out. I've had enough trouble getting compatible proprietry laptop RAM over the years, but monitors? Dell can go to hell. Will check out the Acers again, however my car has just gasped it's last breath so that might be a more important money sink for the moment.
Guest nevawlkalone Posted February 28, 2006 Report Posted February 28, 2006 WTF indeed! That's dell right out. I've had enough trouble getting compatible proprietry laptop RAM over the years, but monitors? Dell can go to hell. Will check out the Acers again, however my car has just gasped it's last breath so that might be a more important money sink for the moment. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hmmmm...acer arnt really my thing...had a few ppc n stuff by them and i found them un reliable however the custom care is ace.... R.I.P Fraser's car...lol... :-({|= :)
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