looking for 'best bang for the buck' laptop to replace game/workstation

dr.stevil

dr.stevil

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So right now I'm running an old Q6600 @3.6ghz, a GTX295 GPU and 4GB of Ram

This machine has held up well over the years, but I'm wanting something a little more portable these days. I was going to give the machine to my girlfriends kids to game on when I get the new machine.

With that said, I still want to be able to play games/do GPU intensive stuff, so it needs a decent discreet GPU. Other than that, a solid construction is my only other requirement.

Whats out there that wont break the bank? I really don't follow laptops so not sure whats hot these days.
 
The cheapest one you can find with a GTX675MX (the MX over the M is importnat), GTX680M or HD7970M.
 
DarkStar02 said:
Define breaking the bank as this varies greatly between posters.
Click to expand...

Well, I'd like to keep it an inexpensive as possible. Price really depends on what you're getting with it I suppose. I'd like to keep it closer to 800, but don't have a problem going as high as 1400-ish if its a killer deal.

Definitely don't want to go too much higher than 1500.

Did the external laptop GPU's ever take off? I recall seeing a bunch of articles on them a year or two back. Wonder if it'd be better using something like that with a more inexpensive computer.
 
I'd look at the MSI barebone series like the 16F3 then.
 
The gt650 is much slower and you can't upgrade it...
 
Thinkpad W-series? It's expensive for its performance, but it's one of the most solid-built laptop lines on the market.
 
Check out the inspirion 17R SE from Dell Great bang for the buck. 2 gig dedicated video, 17 inch 1080p display, 8 gig ram. 1tb harddrive, 32gig msata cache drive. Very nice. Check it out. Around 1k.
 
Lenovo Y500, gt650m GDDR5 version (~$850), with an option to upgrade to SLI GT650M in the ultra bay.
 
A single GTX670MX or GTX675MX would give better and more consistent performance.
 
Meaker said:
A single GTX670MX or GTX675MX would give better and more consistent performance.
Click to expand...
Yep, it's much faster, and much (60%) more expensive. Just another option, the thread title said "bang for the buck". Depends on how much gaming performance the OP needs.
 
Assuming the ultra bay is launched, the drivers have no issues, the performance is OK (how are the lanes routed) and you are not adding in the cost of the bay.....

Also the $800 version only comes with a 1366x768 display which is hardly great.
 
Plus one with the Sager/Clevo recommendations. Nothing beats them when it comes to price per dollar. They are cheap but are designed to last and have some of the best cooling designs in the market.

Good retailers include XoticPC (as mentioned before) and Powernotebooks.com. Both have similar prices so either would be just as good as the other to order from.
 
Y580 isn't a bad deal at all for ~$1000. You get a 1080P display, quad core CPU, Blu-ray drive, and 650M.

Vaio S series is more/less expensive (depending on the options). One I got was also ~$1000, had a 640M LE, DVD drive, but an IPS display and was much thinner and lighter.
 
bang for the buck sits squarely in this catagory, an i7 3610 or 3630 and a gtx650M. You get numerous choices of this config from just about every vendor for $1000 or less just about any time. You should be able to find it in 15 or 17 inch with 1080p. 8gb or more of ram and a large hard drive. The only wild card will be multiple HDD slots so you can drop your own SSD in if you feel you would like that. You should like that.
 
rudy said:
The only wild card will be multiple HDD slots so you can drop your own SSD in if you feel you would like that. You should like that.
Click to expand...

This made me laugh and I agree. Everyone should like that :p
 
MSI GX60, $1200. AMD A10 Trinity, HD 7970M, 15.6 1080p, factory CPU and GPU overclocking, dual hard drives (at least one SSD is basically mandatory), 8GB ram, Killer networking, 3x USB3.0.

I have the Sandy Bridge/HD 5870M powered MSI GX660R, which is just a couple revs older now. The laptop is incredibly solid, runs fantastically, looks great, and the price can not be beat. Battery life on mine is abysmal, and it weights 8.5 lbs, but this is a workstation machine. Note that you will be taking a hit w/r/t to the Trinity core but it's really not a bad processor at all. :p I'm more partial to the HD 7970 than I am NVs stuff.

Get a fully loaded system. You can. This one's south of $1200.
 
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