[Cloud Striffe]

I am about to start college and I was just debating whether or not to get a laptop. I would really like to have one but they are just so expensive. I was looking at the Dell XPS Gen 2. It looks pretty solid. But I want something that will last more than an hour without being plugged. All I want is something to take to the library and still be decent at playing games like kotor2 and guildwars. If you know of any place that makes good notebooks I'm open for suggestions.

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micron makes (or at least made) a pretty good laptop...i don't know if they still do...it's been a while... though with dell if you get the extra snazzy battery it boosts your run time (depending on usage) from 3 hours to somewhere around 9. though you can't use a cd rom and that battery so you would have to get some software to emulate one.

personally when i was in college i deffinitely would have prefered having a laptop to my desktop...cuz art class would have been better with at least solitair

[dsenette]

micron makes (or at least made) a pretty good laptop...i don't know if they still do...it's been a while... though with dell if you get the extra snazzy battery it boosts your run time (depending on usage) from 3 hours to somewhere around 9. though you can't use a cd rom and that battery so you would have to get some software to emulate one.

personally when i was in college i deffinitely would have prefered having a laptop to my desktop...cuz art class would have been better with at least solitair

[warriorscot]

Well Dell make really good ones if you dont mind the price tag, but alienware still rule the roost for laptops they have somekind of book of magic spells to make there laptops so wonderful performers and still look amazing.

The disadvantage of a laptop is the rate at which they become obsolete and the fact that they cant pack in the better gpu hardware because of the power and heat. They are also reallt a nightmare to upgrade and repair. A PC is going to last you longer, but you could always spend less mosey on the PC which isnt as bad as you think as alot of hardware will overclock well and you can upgrade to keep up cheaply. And get a cheap laptop for work and the odd game on lower settings when bored. The sony VAIO are quite nice and the older ones are really quite cheap and have those really smashing xblack screens and ATI mobility graphics which is enough to play some RTS and maybe HL2 or GTA on lower settings, They are good for music and work due to the sony bundled software and OS modifications ACER also make good ones at cheap prces with the new turion cpus from AMD.

[Cloud Striffe]

Yeah I was thinking of doing that kind of making a split and get both. But it still would all have to equal 3000 or somewhere really close to that and I don't know how good of a system I can get for 1500. Any recommendations?

[dsenette]

well if you do it right you can get a kickin laptop and a bottom of the line desktop and when you're at the house use the desktop just for storage or internet sharing through a small network. or you could go for a kickass desktop and a small laptop

Edited by dsenette, 16 August 2005 - 01:08 PM.

[Cloud Striffe]

I don't think I have enough to get a kickass anything if I do get them both. I'd probably go with about a 1200 laptop and a 1800 desktop or vica versa.

[warriorscot]

That sounds the best combo and for 1800 you can get a kick [bleep] pc as it doesnt have to be top of the line you can get a 3700 san diego with a gig of ocz ram and 6800GT for that with a decent monitor i dont know what laptop priceing is like though for you.

[hudihoo]

you can get an awesome computer that can handle games for around $1500 a sony at bestbuy after mail in rebates. that leaves 1500 for a laptop and you can get a decent gateway for 1500 a dell laptop is good but avoid dell when getting a desktop as they tend not to use standard parts and make it very difficult to upgrade. You want a desktop you can upgrade later on.

[warriorscot]

Sony dont make pcs that are amazin at gamin the vaio range puts style before performance, YOU ALWAYS get a better, cheaper PC when you build yourself. Laptops are easy to pick acer mak some really good ones with Turion processors and a bit of style as well , bloody good value as well.

[humorsavesmysoul]

i just finished my first year of college and tried to go with a laptop that did gaming while not breaking the bank. i got a HP(i won't be shot for mentioning HP will i) zt3000 last year for around $1500. at 800x600 on the default settings in HL2 i can get playable fps of 40-60. i kinda wish i had gone with a sub 1000 laptop and saved the money for a desktop :-(.

now i am in the works building my desktop. including a new monitor, tax, and shipping, it will cost me around $1600 for what i think is gonna be a pretty kick [bleep] system. between high-end and mid-range for a gaming pc, though i did sacrifice on the processor side .

listen to warriorscot he's got a lot of good advice. definately acer for the laptop. they make cheap kick [bleep] gaming laptops. granted it's not an alienware, but that's the sacrifice u have to make.

as for sony i've had good experience with them on everything except computers. they are the one company i would not recommend when it comes to computers.

if you have the time to research on building ur own computer i highly reccomend it. it's so much cheaper. but in the event u don't feel like doing that you can get a pretty decent gaming rig from hp, dell, or alienware for under 1800. here i've cut some corners but that's only to stay under the 1800

Area-51 5500 Desktop
Processor: Intel P4 3.4GHz /HT
GPU: 6600GT 128mb PCI
RAM: 1GB
HDD: 160GB
CD/DVD dual layer burner
Audio: integrated or updgrade for $68 to an audigy ZS
Monitor: NEC 17inch
total = $1676

i can't really help u with the notebook aspect but if you go to www.notebookforums.com there is a lot of information just on laptops

i personally recommend building your own desktop urself though. easier upgradability when u need to. plus u'll kno what parts u have so u'll have an easier time selecting compatible upgrades.
ultimately i suggest whichever computer u think u'll be spending more of ur time(gaming) using is the one i'd spend more of my money on.

[Cloud Striffe]

Well fellas yall have a lot of good advice but as im not goin to be an extreme gamer, occasional but not too extreme, I have decided to go with a DELL 9300 with:
2 GB of OCZ DDR2 533 ram
Intel Pentium M processor 2.0
Geforce Go 6800
Ultra brite 17in screen with true life
I can get all this for just under 2500 and im just goin to have to save during college to get a top of the line one when i get out. But again thanks for the advice and i would like to know what you think about the laptop im gettin

[warriorscot]

Looks good will last a while see if they are making the 7800 in the go series yet though before you buy and makbe wait.

[Cloud Striffe]

If they are going to make the 7800 they aren't telling us now. But more than likely they are in the future but im goin to be buying in a couple of weeks if i hear something about it coming out soon then i might wait for them to come out then

[warriorscot]

It would be worth it as the g70 cores are much more power efficient so a 7800Go would give you better fps and battery life. Not that you get more than an hour out of one of those things at the best of times.

[hudihoo]

the sony may not be designed for gaming but it has the ram and processor needed and you can a buy a better video card later. i still say for 3000 you can get a good notebook and desktop also im am warning you know you won't be able to upgrade the dell.