Gaming notebooks - Yay or Nay?

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MinistrOfJustiz

Limp Gawd
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Jul 27, 2005
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This thread touches on an issue that I'm sure we all have opinions about. I'm sure there are old threads dedicated to this, but with the advent of sub-$2000 gaming notebooks that include the latest graphics card and glossy screens, I'm curious as to what the prevailing opinions are now.

What does everybody think? Are gaming notebooks worth it? Why or why not?

My take:
If you are the type of gamer who upgrades frequently, then the answer is a flat no. New graphics cards may not even be compatible with your system, and even if they are the notebook card will be at an extraordinary price. (For example: Somebody on this forum mentioned the XPS2 is upgradeable to the 7800 for over $1000. That'd buy you a new i700m!)

If you are a two-computer person, the answer depends. If your desktop is a huge beast and you want to start going to LAN parties left and right, maybe it'll be worth your while. You will likely never see the same gaming performance on a notebook that you would on a desktop that cost exactly the same price, especially if you already have a monitor that you like, but if you have the cash and you'll get two grand worth of enjoyment out of it, more power to you.

Most likely, though, the two computer user will only need portability for office/classroom tasks. Get a low-cost, battery efficient, cool-running notebook for well under $1000 and save the money for upgrades to the desktop.

If you only have one computer, now, that's where things get interesting. Do you split your $2000, buying an "only okay" gaming rig for $1500 (and that might even include the monitor) and a cheap-o $500 notebook? Or do you buy something like the Sager 5720 with your whole budget, giving you some portability and enough gaming "oomph" to get you through the next couple years?
 
Owning what is arguably the fastest 15.4" form factor gaming laptop...

I want an ultraportable.

Or a thin & light.

I am playing through Quake 4 right now on it while I'm waiting for X-Fi XP64 drivers...and it's doing great. But...I want to -NOT- game on my laptop. I want to go back to the days of it doing everything I wanted...and weighing less than 4lbs. (X31 and X30 from IBM).


I'm looking at selling this and buying a barebones Z63A from RJTech. It fits my needs a bit better.

My vote is that for the long haul, a gaming notebook isn't that great of an idea if you plan on staying at the top, performance wise. My vote is for a light cheap laptop, and a good SFF if you're a LANner.

If you're a mobile user who wants to live their life on one system, then by all means go for a high end laptop like I did.
 
i dunno from what ive read gaming on the go isnt that great unless your a real geek. i see these guys at lunch playing games on their laptops, its not all that great. i mean if you really wanna play games and be able to upgrade its not worth buying a gaming notebook
 
i say nay...notebooks are for convienience, not power...

for gaming and power, desktops which can be tweaked and upgraded.
 
I'd say only get it if you plan on:

a) freq. lan parties
b) work requires something portable with power
 
They're most definately overpriced. but if you can afford it i'd say why not. Otherwise you might as well just get a PII or PIII laptop if you're using it for messenger and microsoft word. I have a ferrari 3400 and i love it. it's not going to play any new games amazingly, but it does the job and i enjoy playing games on it when it's possible to. I'm not one of those kids that sits in the back of lectures and plays rise of Red alert or anything like that. But I take it most places with me, and 6.5lbs isn't too heavy for me. I can see how it'd get annoying though.
 
Well for me I look at it this way. I am into gamming, but I want something thats moblie. I only want to own a single computer. No point of owning two. Plus it also helps save me money B/C I love to upgrade ;) :p There is then only one choice, the best bang for my buck gaming notebook. Got My Dell 9300 for 1400$ and its loaded. can't complain really.
 
I'm on the nay side.
For reasons stated, when it comes to notebooks, I want light, portable/DURABLE and able to handle everyday tasks. The high end notebooks are nice, but unless you live in a dorm or are limited by space, I don't think an ultra gaming notebook is usually the best way to go. Of course there are some sweet laptops that I wouldn't mind owning, but I just wouldn't want to pay for them. :p
 
If I was highly mobile and had a legitimate use for a notebook that couldn't wait until I got home? Sure. As it stands all I would use a notebook for is to play games on the road and maybe chat on yahoo or aim, and I can do all of that with a PSP and a cell phone. I don't need a notebook for my job and if I wanted to go to lots of lan parties I would get an SFF since it'd be cheaper and more upgradeable.
 
Tekara said:
I love my laptop, so much so I'm never going to buy another desktop, maybe a server but not a desktop.

Being able to game in the living room or hang out on the porch is great. I'm not restricted to sitting behind my computer desk. A couple of my friends have decent laptops and it's really cool being able to hook up with them and set up an adhoc network to play some games.

But the big thing is that with my laptop being my main rig there's no need for synchronozing files. I don't have to worry about forgetting files at home and with a powrful laptop I don't have to worry about not being able to run certain programs or games.

Battery life doesn't mean anything anymore, there isn't anywhere I can go that I can't plug in power. Classes all have plugs in the desks, work has plugs everywhere, even the coffee shops have outlets available for laptops. Weight just isn't an issue either, with a decent backpack I can carry my laptop around campus and town without issue.

Upgrading was something that I was worried about but the only thing I've suffered is that I can't run games with all the bells and whistles, big loss, I'm sure. Nah, when I first started gaming eye candy was great, but I think age is making me want better gameplay, find myself playing more rpgs and whatnot instead of fps's. Even still with the average consumers desktop still being spec'd fairly low it'll take a fair bit of time for a laptop to go out of date and with all the money you didn't spend on upgrades you can go buy a new one.

Anyway, what it comes down to is what people vote for with their money and with high end laptops becomming more prevalent it looks like powerful laptops is something a lot of folks want.
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Well stated, I'm in the same position. I like the fact that I have everything I possibly need in a computer in my laptop (dell inspiron 6000d). At family functions I can take pictures off my digital camera via the built in sd card slot and show them to everyone right away. If i go over to a friends house and we decide to swap some legal mp3's, no need to worry that I left files on my desktop. The only downsides are that 7 pounds gets a little annoying to carry alot and 15.4 is borderline too big to take to class everyday. Gaming isn't that great but I don't do a whole lot of gaming so its not that big of a deal to me. I would say that if you don't mind carrying heavy ass laptop and paying out the ass for it go for the DTR 17 inch laptop. Portability if you need it, still has the power that you want but forget about battery life. If you don't mind having two computers and synching files you go go with a good gaming desktop and a laptop. This way gives you alot of options. You could go with a good desktop system and get a ultra portable giveing you the portability and battery life you would want for taking a notebook to class, or you could get a power notebook like mine that lets you play most games while still being fairly portable and decent battery life.

edit: I purely use my dell for everything now. Synching files annoys me and I like having everything I will need with me at all times. I get decent battery life (3+ hours doing light work, 2.5 ish playing a dvd at full brightness. I don't do much gaming and the little I do this laptop handles fine.
 
I think it's funny how half of the people who won't game on laptops have 6800gt level cards in their desktops.

You can get a inspiron 9300 with a go6800 and Dothan for around $1000.00. (17" lcd)

Although it requires buying a 9 cell battery and 120watt power brick you can install at 7800gtx go in it. You just have to flash the 9300 with the xps bios. The gtx is around $450.00 purchased from Dell.

With all the desktop modding goin' on around here, that shouldnt scare anyone.

P.s.

The 7800 go gtx isn't officialy for sale as a replacement part at this time, although a few people have managed to wiggle one out of dell. When supplies are sufficient to meet production demands the card will be made available as a spare part for the xps2.

Tie Nbr: 1
Product Nbr: 320-4529
Description: 256MB NVIDIA GEFORCE 7800
Unit Price (CAD): 349
 
for ultra portable the M6v from asus is probably the fastest/lightest 15.4" laptop you can get you can customize it with

any PM (2.26GHz)
any ram (2.0GB PC4200 Ram)
any HDD (120GB 5400RPM 8MB)
any dvd drive (DVDRW or DVD ROM + CDRW)
dual batteries, so you can GAME for 5 hours on battery
dual HDD's for storage or pilaging
its ultra light at 5.6lbs
super thin
awsome WSXGA+ screen (1650x1050)
internal bluetooth
internal ABG WLAN


basically you bring your laptop with dual batteries and your wireless bluetooth mouse and you are ready to game, dont even need a bag
 
I love my xps gen 2, alot faster than any desktop ive ever owned, sure its a little slower than the new 7800s but i run doom 3 at 1600x1200 ultra quality with 2x AA on and its great. benches are in my sig
 
Well, my situation will be quite a bit different than (I'm guessing since I don't know how you all use your lappys) than most folks. Consider that I like to game and that I travel 70+% of the year.

My company recently allowed me to upgrade from my 4 year old Toshiba P3 1.11 GHz to a lappy of my choice within a certain budget. They gave me $1600 to spend which is a lot more than I expected. For that money, I was able to get an i9300 with 256 MB, 6800, and the True-Life screen, plus a 3-year warranty. After that, I shelled out about $220 of my own cash to bring it up to 2 GB RAM. Since this was to become my primary machine for the road, the home office, and personal entertainment, $220 from my own funds seemed pretty reasonable.

The lappy I bought is a lot faster than the 1900+ with 768 MB and GF3 ti500 that I gave to my wife, so gaming has taken a definite step up (that machine is four years old next month). I'm able to run BF2 at full settings with no problems whatsoever. The sound on it is quite good with my Senn 590s at the house (on the road, I have some Philips amplified buds that do just fine). The picture is excellent, and I say that as a hardcore CRT whore. The only gripe I have is that storage, at 60 MB, is a bit limited, but I must admit that 1/3 of that is taken up by the mp3s I ripped from our complete CD collection. That will get pared down to the stuff I actually want to have with me on the road and the full collection will go on her machine with much more available storage.

So yeah, for a laptop that will easily last 3+ years, it works out to roughly $650 per year. I can play future games, just with the details turned down a bit as they become bigger and badder. I'm okay with that - I don't need ultra-pretty graphics so long as the play is smooth and the game is fun to play. If you have the problem where you just can't live without the latest and greatest hardware and end up upgrading frequently, than a laptop is not the best way to go. If you can deal with diminishing capabilities (in comparison to the new software) and only want one machine, then a gaming lappy is perfectly viable. Just don't expect the latest and greatest software to run smoothly at max settings for the next three years.

Here's what I like about it:

- screen just blows me away; I didn't realize LCDs could look this good, even when interpolating other resolutions. Only one dead/stuck pixel and it doesn't bother me a bit.
- sound is fine, actually. With very good headphones, it sounds quite good to me and even with higher-quality earbuds the sound is more than adequate for gaming.
- as mentioned in another post, I don't have to do the DataFile Shuffle. All the stuff I do in the office is already on the PC I use for the road. For my work, this can be a big timesaver and a nice convenience.

Dislikes:

- gaming lappys are heavy. I have a rolling case since in addition to the laptop, I have a lot of other stuff I carry for work. I tried the backpack thing for a while and my shoulders just didn't particularly like it. In my job, I rarely deal with stairs - most factories I visit are on one floor only and airports almost always have escalators - so a rolling case is the way to go for me.
- I'm a little paranoid having that much money socked into a piece of hardware that can be stolen fairly easily.
- battery life, on the basic battery anyway, is not particularly good. Fortunately, I don't require long periods on battery so this isn't a big deal in my case. I can always upgrade to a better battery in the future if need be. Same thing should apply to the hard drive.

If you go the gaming notebook route, my only suggestion beyond what you may normally hear is that you should not settle for one of those travel mice. They're too damn small to use for any length of time - just get a normal-sized mouse and your hand will thank you. It doesn't take up significantly more space in your bag and is probably higher quality and/or cheaper than a small "travel" mouse.
 
Well I'm not sure. I recently bought a laptop with a A64 3500+ cpu , a gig of ram, 15.4" WS LCD and an ATI 200M 128Mb graphics system. The laptop was a bargain for the spec and I'm thrilled with it, the brightview screen is stunning with no dead pixels (Sony, take note). As a test I tried to see if BF2 would run on it.

Lo and behold its pretty damn playable at 1024x768. Ok it doesnt look at pretty as on my main rig at home but its a real nice bonus that it will run some of the more hardware heavy games. Plus it will be interesting to see how it performs in a years time against all those pretty little Centrino 32bit jobs that my buddies at work have all bought for far more cash.

It seems you dont have to buy a Gamer laptop to get there. Some of those machines will set you back £2000+. Mine was £850. You pays yer money...........

I'm intrigued to see if they will bring out upgraded graphics chipsets for my ExpressCard slot. ?!?
 
daglesj said:
I'm intrigued to see if they will bring out upgraded graphics chipsets for my ExpressCard slot. ?!?
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That's a good question. It's pointless for the laptop manufacturers to advertise their machines as being capable of graphic system upgrades when those upgrade components never actually materialize or simply don't work properly in the machine.
 
The DELL i9300. You can get them for around $1100.00 with a geforce 6800 go in them.
They are light around 8.5 pounds You get 2 to 3 hours time on a 9 cell sometimes even a little more with the new bios upgrade.

Plus you can pin mod them drop in a geforce 7800 later. :D My screen is 1920x1200 and is just stunning to look at its like looking at almost perfect crt.

Now you can also find the Dell 700m for around $750.00 so for under $2000.00 grand you can have both of them. :D
 
The reason why i got a laptop is because i want to get my works done when i'm away from my desk. I dont see whats the point of getting a gaming laptop for, i mean isnt laptops are for portability? Whoever wants to game they can just get a desktop for better gaming experience. I see some students at my universities carry their 17inch gaming laptops to classes and i can only look at them and laugh :D.
 
MaxHardcore is right, the Go 7800 GTX will be around $400, which makes it on par with desktop systems. Add to that I'll be upgrading to 2 gigs of memory for $160 and pin modding a 1.8 400fsb to 2.4 533fsb before I leave for Afghanistan, I think I'll do pretty well with games while I'm there. The only reason to get a desktop right now is dual core and SLI, and those will be moving to laptops soon enough. MXM and AXIOM make the upgrading path a moot point, you'll have to upgrade the lappy just as much as you'll have to upgrade a computer to accomodate bus changes.

After SLI and dualcore hit the laptop, the only reason to get a desktop would be a freaking huge lcd and awesome surround sound....that being said 19" laptops are around the corner, and I do have some nice surround sound headphones.


oh, and unless you're a 90lb skinny nerd, an 8.6 lb laptop is easily portable. Hit the gym a bit more than the [H]ardforums and you'll be able to heft it about. ;)
 
MXM and AXIOM are not being implemented like i would like to see - NV and ATI promised us user upgradable graphics a LONG time ago and i want to see it, damnit :mad:

its not only the weight, the size matters too. with a laptop as huge as the xps2, i wouldnt have any room in my bag for my books and notebooks. of course, weight DOES matter, and carrying around a 9lb laptop as well as a couple books gets to be a bit on the strenous side for my back. my T23 (soon to be a new TXX, whatever Lenovo calls the T series with DC Yonah :p) suits my needs MUCH more, i use my laptop as a mobile workstation, not mobile gaming machine - i have plenty of time to waste playing games while im at home, i dont need to be doing it while im in class/lab/otherwise out

btw, im not a skinny nerd ;) well, actually, i take that back. im still not 90lbs though, more like 160-170 :p

thin, light, and long battery life for teh win!

my criteria for a notebook:
1. under 5 lbs
2. 5+ hours batt life on single std/extended battery
3. 1", or close to it, thick. closed.
4. high resolution (SXGA+) 14.1" screen. 15" is too bulky.
5. swappable drive bay!
6. discrete video memory, doenst have to be anything too powerful, just a 64mb or so ATI/NV low power GPU.
7. IBM's trackpoint. <3 that thing
8. rugged construction, solid feel.
9. decent audio.
 
Good points above, but then again, this is a gaming laptop thread, not a laptop that can also play games thread :p . With regards to gaming on my laptop, I'm saying that it's light enough and powerful enough unless you want the bleeding edge. I have a thin lappy that I use when I need something really small too, work provided it :D .

My xps2's playable settings:

Quake 4 1280*1024 4xAA
CS:S/HL2 1680*1050 4xAA
COD2 1280*800 4xAA (very smooth)
FEAR 1280*800 2xAA

Thats pretty damn good for a laptop, and to clarify, I like 30+ fps, need not be 60+ fps, but I can tell when it's approaching 30, and I like to consistantly stay above that, especially with CS:S. To top it all off, I believe Dell is finally releasing the go 7800 gtx to the spare parts bin for under $400 now, which when I buy it, should allow me to play most games at 1920*1200 2XAA minimum(except FEAR, of course) and will let me cruise through to the next year.

PS 8.6 lbs is pretty light for gaming laptops, seeing that sager and alienware release 14+ lb behemoths that can give you a 2nd degree burn
 
yay

I love my laptop. Its much quiter than my desktop, so when I leave it on a night it wont bother me. I can take it to friend's houses and play bf2 if I choose and despite what others say, it IS upgradable. Almost as much as a desktop. You can upgrade the video card, which I am getting a 7800 gtx soon, 2gbs of memory, Pentium M up to 2.26ghz, hard drive options, sound blaster audigy 2, and more. Its as fast as a desktop, or even faster. Of course all of these features come at a price but for me, it was worth it.

I paid 1256 for mine.
Added another gb of memory for $100.
Added a Dual Layer DVD Burner for $80.
Currently waiting on my 7800 GO GTX for $500.

edit - I need to add a couple things too. IT ONLY WEIGHS 9LBS...I dont get why people have a problem carrying around an extra 9lbs...Its not that much..jesus. Hit a gym or something.

Obviously the laptop isnt as mobile as others, but it is still much more mobile than a desktop. You cant get this much power for anything smaller right now, unless its very bulky.

If there was a 15inch model with the same amount of power and wasnt huge, I would probably buy it.
 
ToyYoda03 said:
edit - I need to add a couple things too. IT ONLY WEIGHS 9LBS...I dont get why people have a problem carrying around an extra 9lbs...Its not that much..jesus. Hit a gym or something.
rofl, thats what I said, people like to cry alot, especially ont he internet, if ti's not your thing, don't do it. Buts stop making up lame-ass excuses like, "it's too heavy". IT'S 8.6 LBS YOU SCRAWNY HOMOS! If you're looking for a portable game system with next to no compromises, it's here, it's light, it's cool, and it's 90% as fast as desktop systems, accept it.



I'm done with this thread. :mad:
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I like notebooks. My laptop is not for gaming but this is not the point. If you want one that can handle games get a notebookswith X700 or GF6800. Notebook with 17" widescreen LCD and a powerful video card from ATI or Nvidia is not far behind for a desktop.
 
Rabidfox said:
ToyYoda03 said:
edit - I need to add a couple things too. IT ONLY WEIGHS 9LBS...I dont get why people have a problem carrying around an extra 9lbs...Its not that much..jesus. Hit a gym or something.
rofl, thats what I said, people like to cry alot, especially ont he internet, if ti's not your thing, don't do it. Buts stop making up lame-ass excuses like, "it's too heavy". IT'S 8.6 LBS YOU SCRAWNY HOMOS! If you're looking for a portable game system with next to no compromises, it's here, it's light, it's cool, and it's 90% as fast as desktop systems, accept it.



I'm done with this thread. :mad:
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Well fucking said. :mad: Your arms must be made out of noodles or something to cry like that...people have better things to do than to hear you moaning all the time. :mad:
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Small, light and cool for the lappy. power and heat for the desktop :D Needs to fit in a backpack with other books and stuff... I'm not addicted to gaming enough that i need to play everywhere i go. I just need to type notes in class and have the damned thing run for 2 hours on battery and not have the cooling fan on the entire time with my legs on fire.
 
My comment on this is that they both are and aren't worth it at the same time...

When I'm at home, I'm gaming on an athlon 64 system with an x800XL on a 19" trinitron CRT with 5.1 sound. It's a nice experience.

But when I'm on campus with a 5 hour break and nothing to do for 3 hours of that time, being able to pull out my laptop and play something is a godsend. Same deal with when I'm working a weekend evening shift in which I'll help maybe 4 people in over 6 hours, having the capability to game is definately worth it for me.

Having said that, to me, a gaming laptop can't, and probably shouldn't, be as fast as the latest and greatest desktop, laptops should be thin, light, and have good battery life, something that the fastest and newest gaming hardware has troubles with.

I'm using a Sager 3790, which to me is a good combination, I can play reasonably new games at decent resolutions while at the same time, I get great battery life and a reasonably quiet system. To me, this is what gaming laptops should be.
 
If laptops were as upgradable as desktops then I'd go down to just one machine. However, I would not consider spending £2000+ on a laptop that only a couple of components could be upgraded (to a point) and then its worth just £500 on Ebay the next year.

When it comes to laptops, value for money and useful features reign over gaming power. Sure there is a market for them, they are cool machines but my pockets dont go deep or get replenished enough. :) I buy a laptop, it has to last me 3 years+. I can upgrade my desktop £100 at a time if need be but I cant do that with a laptop.

Plus my R4155 weighs 8lbs and I dont mind at all. Small means too much compromise/heat/cost and usually lack of features.
 
daglesj said:
If laptops were as upgradable as desktops then I'd go down to just one machine. However, I would not consider spending £2000+ on a laptop that only a couple of components could be upgraded (to a point) and then its worth just £500 on Ebay the next year.

When it comes to laptops, value for money and useful features reign over gaming power. Sure there is a market for them, they are cool machines but my pockets dont go deep or get replenished enough. :) I buy a laptop, it has to last me 3 years+. I can upgrade my desktop £100 at a time if need be but I cant do that with a laptop.

Plus my R4155 weighs 8lbs and I dont mind at all. Small means too much compromise/heat/cost and usually lack of features.
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Im really glad you read the thread.... :eek:
 
I had a gaming laptop, may she rest in peace :( , and it ran games (from Doom II to simcity hell yea) amazingly. I had it for almost a whole school year. However, towards the end of the school year, May-ish, the hard drive started to falter. Things ran worse, it took a long time to open shit yada yada yada you know the rest. It was not spyware or anything like that because i was very careful about that shit. Eventually the whole thing just stopped working altogether. Now i have a laptop that needs a new HD. So yea, although they are fun thats what happened to me, and i may be an idiot and that is why it died but i hope thats not the case.

Also i never, ever , took it out of my room. Unless ineeded to write a paper on a saturaday night or something i wouldnt move it. so yea, shoulda just used a desktop. <sigh>
 
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