Should I buy a gaming lappie now?

Lindir The Green · Post by **Lindir The Green** » 20 Mar 2007, 01:35

Zpock wrote:Instead of buying a "gaming" laptop for 1500$

Buy a desktop fo 1000$

Buy a laptop for 500$

Win.

But that'll take up even more space, and I won't be able to game at school / on the porch / in coffeeshops / at college.

Zpock · Post by **Zpock** » 20 Mar 2007, 01:38

grumpy_Bastard wrote:After that, I picked up a 1988 Zenith supersport 286. Why the old crap? $10.00 for a laptop that works with a good battery, for typing and banging around is well worth it.

YOU OWN!!!!

I can only imagine you sitting next to the hordes of macbooks users at UNI... With that THING..

Zpock · Post by **Zpock** » 20 Mar 2007, 01:41

Lindir The Green wrote: But that'll take up even more space, and I won't be able to game at school / on the porch / in coffeeshops / at college.

Nicely put the main reason why you would not want a gaming laptop.

superppl · Post by **superppl** » 20 Mar 2007, 01:51

Zpock wrote:
Lindir The Green wrote: But that'll take up even more space, and I won't be able to game at school / on the porch / in coffeeshops / at college.
Nicely put the main reason why you would want a gaming laptop.

Fixed
But speaking of, this thread is now officially go no where. I would probably be better off getting an OLPC.

Zpock · Post by **Zpock** » 20 Mar 2007, 02:01

http://cgi.ebay.com/Zenith-SupersPort-P ... dZViewItem

ralphie · Post by **ralphie** » 20 Mar 2007, 08:57

Buying a gaming laptop is the worst idea since Operation Barbarossa.

AF · Post by AF » 20 Mar 2007, 10:39

Lindir, it'd be cheaper to buy a ├é┬ú200 laptop with low specs and a gaming desktop and use a remote terminal to play games, you'd get better battery life, performance, and itd be much cheaper.

However I'd at least try out someone elses gaming laptop first, if you think that playing a game on max detail on a gaming laptop is the same as on an equivilant desktop then you're in for a surprise.

Companies bring out gaming laptops for the same reason they release overclocked hardware a week before they're to be made obsolete, the same reason you can buy geforce 7900GX2's for nearly twice the price of an 8800GTS despite the 8800 having double the performance, and why companies like dell charge you ├é┬ú600 to upgrade from a 7xxx series gfx card to an 8xxx card despite the 8800GTS only being around ├é┬ú200. You're being ripped off plain and simple. There is no such thing as a true gaming laptop.

superppl · Post by **superppl** » 20 Mar 2007, 15:40

Actually, a 8800GTS is closer to three times as strong as an 7900GX2, and is cheaper.
What's the battery life of that Zenith SuperSport. I've seen a macbook get 8 hours.

rattle · Post by **rattle** » 20 Mar 2007, 15:49

On full load? I mean it will be on full load if you play games which demand much of your hardware (read: graphics card and CPU).

I'd never opt for a laptop, mainly because it will be most of the time slower than a PC while it's about 50% more expensive, if you want a laptop suitable to play games for more than a year that is, which is what you want. Unless you can shit money, go for a PC. Or expect your cheaper laptop to be outdated rather soon.

grumpy_Bastard · Post by **grumpy_Bastard** » 20 Mar 2007, 17:24

superppl wrote:Actually, a 8800GTS is closer to three times as strong as an 7900GX2, and is cheaper.
What's the battery life of that Zenith SuperSport. I've seen a macbook get 8 hours.

The zenith, im not sure.. if the screen is on and you are using the hard drive, its going to be quite a bit different than just a crappy 12Mhz cpu idling in word-processing. The backlight alone uses about 0.3 Amps, though I cant imagine a 286 CPU and 640K ram using much. The most Ive ever gotten out of it before was about 10 hours, even longer might be possible if the batteries wernt 15 years old at the time.

As far as the macbook goes, thats a bit of an unfair comparison. MSDOS/win 2.03 + Word perfect running from ram on a 12Mhz cpu, vs bloatOS and a G3.

The ibook things I had to use: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBook (Blueberry). Stupidest looking PC, ever. Usually averaged 3-4 hours on those things before they needed to be charged.

But anyways, ill put together a few things on newegg for comparison.

EDIT:

Alright, put together something on newegg real quick while still half asleep.

DVD Burner - $28.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827136108

somewhat small mATX case - $99.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811129014

2x 320GB Hitachi's - 159.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822145129

Crappy 17" LCD - 144.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6824112004

Radeon X1600PRO 512MB - $104.00, $30.00 rebate = $70.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161042

Sparkle 400W - 44.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817103013

2x crappy A-Data 1GB - $121.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820211059

Asus mATX motherboard - $54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131162

Core 2 Duo E4300 - $169.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115013

Total of $929.00. No, I didnt pick out a nice case, there are smaller ones that will take a real videocard and a real PSU (Q-pack, I beleive). The Videocard, not the best... Sparkle was rated somewhat well out as far as PSUs go. Yes, you could go with 1GB, and yes, 1 hard drive would be fine.
Can be upgrades to an 8800GT, more ram, more hard drives, faster cpu... but this would be more than enough for right now.

By the time its shipped, $1k. As far as "gaming laptops" go on newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... der=PRICED
(Bottom of the page)
CPU Type: Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 2.33GHz
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400 and Intel GMA950
Hard Disk: 160GB
Memory Size: 2GB DDR2
Operating System: Windows XP Professional
Optical Drive: DVD├é┬▒R/RW
Screen: 13.3" WXGA
Video Memory: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400(TurboCache up to 128MB) and GMA950(Shared up to 128MB)
$2,416.99

Now, to be fair, lets just look at laptops which are no more than twice the price of the desktop PC I priced out : http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... =4&bop=And

Nothing from then on down in price, really strikes me as a laptop that would really be suitable for any kind of "gaming" as an alternative to a desktop.

Lindir The Green · Post by **Lindir The Green** » 20 Mar 2007, 19:39

AF wrote:Lindir, it'd be cheaper to buy a ├é┬ú200 laptop with low specs and a gaming desktop and use a remote terminal to play games, you'd get better battery life, performance, and itd be much cheaper.

However I'd at least try out someone elses gaming laptop first, if you think that playing a game on max detail on a gaming laptop is the same as on an equivilant desktop then you're in for a surprise.

I don't think that. I do think though that it would be much much more powerful than any computer I've ever used. Currently that title belongs to the family computer, which has a 2.8 Ghz Pentium 4 and a FX 5200.

Companies bring out gaming laptops for the same reason they release overclocked hardware a week before they're to be made obsolete, the same reason you can buy geforce 7900GX2's for nearly twice the price of an 8800GTS despite the 8800 having double the performance, and why companies like dell charge you ├é┬ú600 to upgrade from a 7xxx series gfx card to an 8xxx card despite the 8800GTS only being around ├é┬ú200. You're being ripped off plain and simple. There is no such thing as a true gaming laptop.

Well, it isn't really a "gaming laptop," but one of its major purposes for me is gaming. And yes, I know it is a rip off compared to the equivelant desktop. But a desktop really isn't an option, for many reasons, mostly relating to my parents:

-I can't have internet access in my room, and there is no space for another desktop somewhere else in the house.
-While the money is mine, it was mostly supplied by my parents, and is earmarked for a laptop.
-Next year I'll be in college, but since I'm young I'll still be living at home. I don't want to take the bus home whenever I want to game; I would much rather be able to on campus. for reasons also due to some unreasonable parental restrictions... <_< >_> But don't quote me on that

Oh, and grumpy_Bastard:

The Newegg laptops are ripoffs, at least spec wise. A similar laptop from Dell is ~<$1400.

superppl · Post by **superppl** » 20 Mar 2007, 20:15

I don't think I can overstate this....
I am not an idiot or a newbie when it comes to computers!!!
Yes I know about building computers, all of my pc's were custom built, by me. I find that newegg has is about 10% cheaper than the suggested retail prices, where as fry and other stores tend to be 10-20% more expensive.
I know with $1500 I could build a kick ass pc, hell I built my last for ~600 and it played most games maxed out.

Neddie · Post by **Neddie** » 20 Mar 2007, 20:54

Lindir The Green wrote: The Newegg laptops are ripoffs, at least spec wise. A similar laptop from Dell is ~<$1400.

Dell laptops are terrible with poor designs and miserable support. I have never had a Dell laptop which has not suffered from at least two of these issues; overheating/fan failure, monitor/graphics card instability, modular failure (Given the swappable drives), RAM failure, power supply failure or hard drive failure.

Lindir The Green · Post by **Lindir The Green** » 20 Mar 2007, 21:50

Everyone in the internet says that Dell computers are horrible, but no one from RL has had any problems with them...

superppl · Post by **superppl** » 20 Mar 2007, 22:17

neddiedrow wrote:
Lindir The Green wrote: The Newegg laptops are ripoffs, at least spec wise. A similar laptop from Dell is ~<$1400.
Dell laptops are terrible with poor designs and miserable support. I have never had a Dell laptop which has not suffered from at least two of these issues; overheating/fan failure, monitor/graphics card instability, modular failure (Given the swappable drives), RAM failure, power supply failure or hard drive failure.

Dell's first laptops were absolutely terrible. My friend had one and after a week he wanted to throw it into a wall. The same isn't true with their more recent laptops, their actually solid and they have their stuff straight.
But for savings, major oems tend to rip you off.

iamacup · Post by **iamacup** » 20 Mar 2007, 22:27

http://www.johnlewis.com/Computing/Comp ... oduct.aspx
(what a shit url)

im getting this lawl

but i get 25 percent off for working there

and

i only pay for half the full price anyway (PARENTS 'r' US)

so for me a grand total of 325 quid (or there abouts)

win win

ps, dont get alienware they are built by dell. lol

Kixxe · Post by **Kixxe** » 20 Mar 2007, 23:26

Meh, he's got a point.

If he wants to game ON THE MOVE, he's gotta get a gaming laptop. Thou i would proably be happy with a last or last last years model and be able to play som HL2 and Q3 or something on it. I'd say go for the semi good model. Having a 1989 laptop can be annoying sometimes, and buying one as a total new deskop replacement is... well, wasting money. But hey, if you REALLY need Quake Wars and Supcom in class so sure, knock yourself out.

Rich bastard.

Ishach · Post by **Ishach** » 20 Mar 2007, 23:31

he convinced his parents he needs a laptop for school and now he is trying to pick the one that plays games the best, its not rocket science guys

superppl · Post by **superppl** » 20 Mar 2007, 23:39

Ishach wrote:he convinced his parents he needs a laptop for school and now he is trying to pick the one that plays games the best, its not rocket science guys

Actually, my parents convinced themselves that I need a laptop, so I wanna take advantage, but I have to pay for half so I sold my desktop. And I'm not allowed to get another desktop.
Anyhow, I'm usually either at one of my friends house, the library or school and I can't keep a desktop in my backpack.

Neddie · Post by **Neddie** » 21 Mar 2007, 02:36

Ishach wrote:he convinced his parents he needs a laptop for school and now he is trying to pick the one that plays games the best, its not rocket science guys

Pretty much how I got one. I needed a computer for college, I found the best priced machine for reliability, cost and ability... and I got quite possibly the only new thing of any significance I have ever owned.

Spring RTS Engine

Should I buy a gaming lappie now?

Should I buy now?