Buying new laptop. Budget up to $1500

B

blade12

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 29, 2005
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Hey, I was going to buy a gaming laptop and I am willing to spend around $1500. If it goes up a 100 bucks, it wouldn't be too bad but it has to be a decent laptop. I would like the laptop to last me about 3 years. I searched in the forums and got some older threads from end of 2006 so I thought it would be better that I post a new thread. It doesn't matter whether I buy the laptop right away or wait a little bit. I just don't want to go too far above my budget.

b) Are there any upgrades I can do in the future? I don't know too much about laptops so I am not sure myself.
 
I hope this is not for college or traveling as these things are horrible for that. If you are that interested in such a machine, I would recommend waiting until Santa Rosa comes out.
 
clockworks said:
I hope this is not for college or traveling as these things are horrible for that. If you are that interested in such a machine, I would recommend waiting until Santa Rosa comes out.
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Why do you say that?
 
calebb said:
Big, heavy, hot, noisy (inconvenient for taking to the library or to class for notes) ... and they distract you from writing that english paper :)
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That is pretty much it. I've seen several people buy one of these monsters, spend so much money, and hate the machine after a few weeks of use.
 
blade12 said:
b) Are there any upgrades I can do in the future? I don't know too much about laptops so I am not sure myself.
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The only upgrades you can perform on any notebook are hard drive, RAM, and CPU upgrades. Before you ask, no you cannot upgrade the video card.

AS for laptop recommendations, I'd go with a Thinkpad. Thinkpads will definitely last you for three years.
 
well if it wasnt that dell just corrected my service plan and gave me 2 more years of complete care and i raised my price up. you can get a m170 for between 1250-1750 with 2 to 4 years complete care that would kill any laptop in the range you want.

people think that just because its nt the newest its not up there. but ill be the first to say that the pm chip still slaps down the dual core depending on speed.
 
I'd personally recommend Dell. I have my Precision M70 workstation that I purchased off of their outlet (refurb) site for $988. It's a P-M machine with a 15.4" WUXGA based on a medium weight/size chassis (about 7lbs). I upgraded it's video card to a 7800go GTX, and got 2GB of ram for it cheap and overall have a machine that I would consider lasting about 3 years. Oh, and it came with a 3 year next biz day onsite warranty in case of any failures. Not too bad for about $1400 total. edit: Oh, and I agree with the above poster completely. The older Dothan single core P-M processors are not something to be disqualified, they are easily just as fast as their dual core equivelent as long as you don't take the second core into account. Maybe if more games like Supreme Commander come out (that really stress the CPU) but for now a GPU is still more important.
 
Danny Bui said:
The only upgrades you can perform on any notebook are hard drive, RAM, and CPU upgrades. Before you ask, no you cannot upgrade the video card.

AS for laptop recommendations, I'd go with a Thinkpad. Thinkpads will definitely last you for three years.
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Sorry with the invention of the MXM form factor you are incorrect. As long as their are no physical limitations or bios limitations you CAN upgrade video cards in laptops.
 
In practices though MxM hasn't allowed for generalized upgrades since each ODM will fiddle with the exact size/shape of the cards in a given series in order to maximize the packing density. This means you're generally limited to the models available for your laptop when you bought it, and have to buy from the company who made the laptop itself, typically at a $tiff price premium.
 
win32asmguy said:
I'd personally recommend Dell. I have my Precision M70 workstation that I purchased off of their outlet (refurb) site for $988. It's a P-M machine with a 15.4" WUXGA based on a medium weight/size chassis (about 7lbs). I upgraded it's video card to a 7800go GTX, and got 2GB of ram for it cheap and overall have a machine that I would consider lasting about 3 years. Oh, and it came with a 3 year next biz day onsite warranty in case of any failures. Not too bad for about $1400 total. edit: Oh, and I agree with the above poster completely. The older Dothan single core P-M processors are not something to be disqualified, they are easily just as fast as their dual core equivelent as long as you don't take the second core into account. Maybe if more games like Supreme Commander come out (that really stress the CPU) but for now a GPU is still more important.
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a) I would personally like a 17" screen instead of 15.4" because I will be using the laptop for gaming a lot. I really don't want a 15.4" screen for gaming.
b) Somebody else said the videocard cannot be upgraded on some laptops. I assume some of the Dell laptops can be upgraded? If so, how much do videocards for laptops cost? I am not even sure where you can buy them actually.
c) http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/pdet.to?seg=HHO&poid=336035 <-- How is that Toshiba laptop? It's kind of above my budget so maybe somebody knows of some rebate that I can use if it's a decent laptop. :p The videocard on it is almost top of the line and screen is 17" so that's the only reason why I brought it up.

Also, somebody else recommended Thinkpad. I looked at the Thinkpads. I really don't like the videocards they ask to choose from. Most of them are really weak videocards. All of them also have 15" or smaller screen so I dunno if I want to go with those.

I also looked at the HP laptops. Anybody know if the 7600Go are any good? HP has some pretty decent laptops right in my range. If the 7600Go is decent and able to run most of today's games good, I wouldn't have a problem with buying one of those.

Any other laptop recommendations/suggestions that I didn't perhaps consider yet? :)
 
Have you considered refurbished units?

In the Dell Outlet a quick peek just showed me a e1705 w/ a 7900 gs, 2 gigs of ram, 2ghz c2d and a 120gig HD for $1379.

Certainly not my cup of tea and nothing that *I* would call mobile, but I use a m1210...
 
Decibel said:
Have you considered refurbished units?

In the Dell Outlet a quick peek just showed me a e1705 w/ a 7900 gs, 2 gigs of ram, 2ghz c2d and a 120gig HD for $1379.

Certainly not my cup of tea and nothing that *I* would call mobile, but I use a m1210...
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I don't see any e1705 with what you listed. I just looked at the E1705's in refurbished section. But anyways, if it's in good condition I wouldn't have a problem with buying it. :p
 
The outlet has a very high cycle rate for systems, quite likely the machine was already sold.
 
blade12 said:
a) I would personally like a 17" screen instead of 15.4" because I will be using the laptop for gaming a lot. I really don't want a 15.4" screen for gaming.
b) Somebody else said the videocard cannot be upgraded on some laptops. I assume some of the Dell laptops can be upgraded? If so, how much do videocards for laptops cost? I am not even sure where you can buy them actually.
c) http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/pdet.to?seg=HHO&poid=336035 <-- How is that Toshiba laptop? It's kind of above my budget so maybe somebody knows of some rebate that I can use if it's a decent laptop. :p The videocard on it is almost top of the line and screen is 17" so that's the only reason why I brought it up.

Also, somebody else recommended Thinkpad. I looked at the Thinkpads. I really don't like the videocards they ask to choose from. Most of them are really weak videocards. All of them also have 15" or smaller screen so I dunno if I want to go with those.

I also looked at the HP laptops. Anybody know if the 7600Go are any good? HP has some pretty decent laptops right in my range. If the 7600Go is decent and able to run most of today's games good, I wouldn't have a problem with buying one of those.

Any other laptop recommendations/suggestions that I didn't perhaps consider yet? :)
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Dell uses a proprietary format across all of the video cards of the same generation computer (for instance, e1705 precision m90 and XPS m1710, and also i9300 M170 and Precision M70 and Latitude d810) The 7800go GTX was originally offered as an upgrade for the M170, and it fit into the Precision M70 so that is how I upgraded it. They are typically available from Dell spare parts, and the 7800go GTX cost about $275 including shipping back when the upgrade was popular to do.

That is a VERY good deal on the Toshiba, especially with the 7900go GTX. Unless you are willing to wait 6-9 months for 8800go, it will be a very cost effective high end video card and laptop until the next wave comes out. You should try and find one in a B&M store to try out and see if you like the keyboard and form factor. It is identically to the cheap $1000 toshiba's except for video card and maybe a few extra lights. Some stores might even still have the model of it in stock that carry the 7900go GS.

Other than dell or toshiba, you could try and get a Sager/Clevo. The just announced D900C or M570RU come with 7950go GTX, and 7950go GTX SLI, respectively, and are supposed to be upgradeab le to 8800go series in the future. Check www.notebookreview.com for more details. They should be available in a couple of months or less.
 
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