Gaming Notebook < $2000

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loviotor

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Apr 25, 2005
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I'm looking to get a gaming laptop. My budget is under $2000.00. I'm in the military, travel a lot and will possibly be deploying within the next year, so I need something that is reliable, will play games like Crysis, and weight isn't really a major issue.

Specifics that I'm looking for are:

17" screen preferably w/ 1680x1050 resolution
2.2Ghz or better Core 2 Duo processor
Good video card GeForce 8600 or better
2GB RAM (preferably upgradeable to 4GB)


Beyond that, the rest is just filler. I don't need BluRay or any other fancy stuff.

I was looking at the Toshiba x205-sli1, however its resolution is 1440x900, and the upgrade to it (x205-sli3) is almost $500.00 more.

If anyone has any input they could provide me, it would be appreciated.
 
actually if you wanted to increase your budget the asus w2w is awesome but has equivalent ati
 
BtoTech-com said:
How About asus g2s-b2?
meets all your requirements and more
Click to expand...

Seconded. I have the G1S-B2 and paid $1800 for it. It's a 15.4" vs the G2's 17" LCD. I find the 15.4" to be just fine though since I sit so close anyway.

T7700 Core 2 Duo @2.4Ghz, 3Gb DDR2@667Mhz RAM with 1GB Intel TurboMemory, 200Gb@7200rpm SATA, nVidia 8600M GT 256MB GDDR3 + 256 shared, 15.4" WSXGA+ Color Shine Glossy, DVD Super Multi with LightScribe, Vista Home Premium

I have the following games installed and all run in DX9 mode for better performance. Crysis runs at medium settings but I haven't tweaked it yet. Steam games run maxed out just fine.

Steam (TF2, HL 2+ Eps 1&2, CS)
Bioshock
ES4: Oblivion
Stalker
Crysis
Guitar Hero III
Company of Heroes
UT2004
Diablo II LOD (get newest patch for Vista compatibility)
Fallout
Spiderman 3

I'm also in the military (USAF) and bought this mostly for deployments and the 3 month TDY I'm on right now. I haven't had any problems with it yet.
 
Have you had any issues with anything not working properly with Vista? That has actually been a worry of mine when dealing with any upgrades that I do... My system at home is still running XP Pro, and I'm hesitant about changing over to Vista due to the incompatibilities that people have reported with drivers and games.
 
SolidBladez said:
He said less than $2000. With that 8800M GTX, it adds $465.

Anyways, I would suggest what Best Buy has:

Gateway P-6831FX
* Intel Core 2 Duo T5450
* 3GB PC2-5300 DDR2 memory
* 17" WXGA+
* 250GB Serial ATA
* Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTS

$1,349.99 - Link
Click to expand...

I saw that model in-store this weekend. While the price is very good for a 8800 equipped laptop, IMO the processor speed is slower than I wanted. I would want something 2.0 GHz or higher for gaming. I didn't particularly care for the orange trim either, but it does seem like a great deal if those things do not bother you.
 
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4208

Check out that review. Apparently Gateway has made this notebook pretty easy to upgrade. You probably wouldn't have much trouble upgrading the processor.

If I was in the market for a gaming laptop, my search probably begins and ends with the Gateway (unless I was willing to spend over $2000)

I agree the orange trim isn't that nice but wonder if that's replaceable as well.
 
Yeah that's what I was thinking too.

But to be honest, you can easily replace that CPU for something better, T7500/T7700 perhaps? Or even the newer T9300/T9500.. :)
 
loviotor said:
Have you had any issues with anything not working properly with Vista? That has actually been a worry of mine when dealing with any upgrades that I do... My system at home is still running XP Pro, and I'm hesitant about changing over to Vista due to the incompatibilities that people have reported with drivers and games.
Click to expand...

Nope. Like I said, all of those games have worked fine with newest patches and updated drivers for everything. I keep Vista updated as well but don't install every update since a lot of them are for crap I don't use like Outlook, Internet Explorer, etc. I have had a few crashes to desktop with Bioshock but I don't blame Vista for that, just 2K games. Oblivion gives me an error message when I quit the game that I have to Alt-Tab to close (likely due to my 121 mods running) but other than that, no problems. I'm enjoying Vista and like some of the new features.

I haven't installed any old peripherals like printers or anything so I can't attest to problems with stuff like that.
 
that is dirt cheap for a 8800 gpu. most manufs or oem's dont even have that available yet. i am shocked gateway is already shipping them.
 
I've decided to go with the Asus G2S-B2, it has all the features that I'm looking for, has a good price and has some rugged construction (got to see one today).

Just wish I could find someplace that sold the types of computers and components that I buy that actually gives a military discount... Regretfully, most computer and electronic retailers don't offer a military discount.

Thank you for the input, everyone. I'll post once I actually have the machine and let you all know what I think.
 
it is hard to give any discount when your markup is below 5%. Our markup is below 5%. what kind of discount do you want? would you rather go buy from a company that has a 10% markup and get your 5% discount or buy where the markup is already below 5%. any company that offers you a military discound is not offering the lowest price online in the first place
 
Dell XPS M1530

SYSTEM COLOR ... Tuxedo Black edit
PROCESSOR ... Intel® Core&#8482; 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM ...Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition edit
LCD AND CAMERA ... High Resolution glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1680x1050) & 2MP Camera edit
MEMORY ... 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms) edit
HARD DRIVE Speed: ...200GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Free Fall Sensor edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE ...Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write) edit
VIDEO CARD ... 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT edit
WIRELESS CARDS... Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card edit
BLUETOOTH OPTIONS ...Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate) edit
BATTERY OPTIONS ...6-cell Primary Battery and 9 -cell additional Lithium Ion Battery edit
SOUND OPTIONS ...High Definition Audio 2.0

$1704
 
BtoTech-com said:
it is hard to give any discount when your markup is below 5%. Our markup is below 5%. what kind of discount do you want? would you rather go buy from a company that has a 10% markup and get your 5% discount or buy where the markup is already below 5%. any company that offers you a military discound is not offering the lowest price online in the first place
Click to expand...

I honestly don't quite believe that. There are plenty of places that will sell close to cost for Employee purchase programs, and I know that plenty of them do the same for active duty military (easily half the stuff in our EPP is tagged for military as well). Just because ~you~ can't do that doesn't mean others cannot. (no offense intended, it's just that some of the mass-producers can afford to sell to certain groups at or below cost for qualified people ;))

On a different hand - good to see an excellent Asus retailer in here. Been looking for a decent place to shop for those :)
 
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