Best Gaming/Multimedia Notebook available?

I'm in the market for a new laptop, had endless problems with Dell and my Inspiron 9100, in a year it's seen the HD burn out, Battery run out of juice, touch pad fail, AC adapter fry itself, lcd screen have intermittent problems and finally the motherboard has managed to get itself in a mess affecting the GPU and soundcard. So overall a complete nightmare. The old spec was 3.4Ghz HT P4, 1gig DDR2 & 256mb Radeon 9800. Basicly I'm looking for a nice looking 17" powerhouse. I'm into gaming and also would like the multimedia aspect with a digital tuner and remote included if possible. Anyone got any suggestions? I'm from england btw but wouldnt' be put off by having to import a system. Thanks!

 

Hello there, welcome to NotebookReview.com.

How much are you planning on spending?

You can definitely get what you need. Since you have had such a bad experience with your current Dell notebook, I assume you probably won't want to buy another one . .

I would take a look at the Fujitsu Amilo M3438:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2519
Very powerful, not that expensive. Build quality is very good.

 

Hey thanks! Great site, I'm amazed I've not discovered it before!

Erm, preferrably not an extortionate amount. And no I wouldn't hit a Dell with a crappy stick! Well actually I might! The Amilo is a nice machine, there was a reason I was put off before but can't think of the reason why now, it is 2am! Any further suggestions? I read guides to the newer processors and was quite interested in the AMD 64 Dual core systems. Any suggestions involving this processor?

 

You're welcome. Yeah - the Athlon 64 Dual core - very hot, lot of power, plus you need one heck of a cooler for it. . currently the only notebook you can get it in to my knowledge is the Sager NP-9750 [aka a Clevo D900k]. RockDirect has them. Obscenely priced too.

If you are interested in a dual-core processor, I would look for one with one of the new Intel Core-Duo processors - manufacturers are starting to release them, a bunch are already out. In a month or two, there should be more. They produce no more heat than a current Pentium M, while being more powerful. Excellent solution for notebooks!

 

Yeh I've looked at Rocks before, and Mesh varietys. Not the best looking things are they? But I spose neither is my Inspiron 9100, so a sacrifice worthy of making. I'll bare in mind the heat, thanks. Rock have have a sort of holder that apparently ventilates the system better so might consider one of them. Have you heard of Savrow? I'm not sure if they're UK only but they seem to make really nice machines, if a little pricey. I was looking at an Asus W2 but the 128meg gfx card really put me off. Anyways thanks for the help again!

 

If you want to game, you're right - a 256MB card is what to go for. I was playing FEAR earlier today - I was using well over 128MB of video memory - about 200MB on maximum settings. Also, same thing with Call of Duty 2 - only had around 60MB or so free out of my 256MB of dedicated video memory.

Let me just ask . . how much are you willing to spend, and how much would you like to spend? There are a lot of differently priced notebooks out there . .

 

I'm willing to spend as much as I need to really. Preferably i'd like to spend less but I wouldn't be put off by spending like £2000 or over (max being lik $4000 dollars really). I've been checking out the up and coming technology and I'm not so fussed by a 64 bit processor, seems things are gona change alot in that area over the next 2 years so might aswel get something that I can use now then geta 64bit later. I've been particurly interested by the Dell 9400, seems great but it's a Dell. Any suggestions of something like this as it pretty much fits my ideal specs?

 

I would NOT recommend buying this Amilo. Apparently, it has severe problems with its RAID controller.
More info here and here

HTH,
danton

 

The Dell Inspiron i9400 is the best price/performance laptop right now, at least in the US. It incorporates all the "latest and greatest" stuff from Intel, Nvidia. Basically an updated i9300 [hence the name ].

There aren't many competing laptops to the Dell i9400 . . I would just go for that if you want to save a bit of cash and get great performance. It's a high-end Dell, so it can't be as bad as the lower end ones.

Cheers

 

Hmm I'll consider it. I'm currently running a top-spec i9100, and this was awful and the customer service was even worse. But if Dell offer me some form of compensation after everything I may consider the i9400. Got the WHOLE system replaced today, motherboard, lcd, dvd drive, ac adapter, battery, and the bloody thing is still having problems! I just cant win!

 

But that one was a P4... P4s and laptops and gaming = north pole.

Anyway, look for a Clevo OEM/ODM around your area, you might like what you find.

 

Ok cheers, and particular model?

 

If you are looking for a 17" notebook, I would take a look at the Clevo M570A/M575A [same notebook]. It is the same thing as a Sager NP-5720.

For 15.4" - the notebook I have, which is a Sager NP-5320, is a rebadged Clevo M560A.

Cheers

 

Yeh I hada look, in the UK the Clevo M570A is called RockDirect Xtreme XT. Only concern is the Pentium M processor, which would be considerably slower than the 2.16 Dual Core in the i9400. But I'm certainly considering it, thanks

 

Remember that if you are only running a single-threaded application, both the dual-core and single-core processors will have pretty much the same performance.

 

My 5720 (specs in sig) is a gaming beast. I wonder about the performance differences between the 5720's 7800 GTX and the 9400's 7800?

 

The Go7800 in the Dell i9400/E1705 is apparantly low-clocked from what I am hearing.

Anybody have any 3DMark results for the Go7800?

 

One thing I would do is if you get the 17'', look for a numpad as well. Novel, but INCREDIBLY usefull.

Also, If you go intel, I'm not a fan of the centrinos. If you are going to be gaming, I'd go for a desktop processor.

Finally, if you really will spend 4k on a laptop, Check out alienware, as long as you are not looking for anything portable.

 

Fan or not, gaming performance is more heavily dictated by the GPU than the CPU. The Pentium Mobile offers significantly better battery & heat performance with a very small drop in game performance.

 

Yeah, the 7800Go is very underclocked. Check my sig for my scores.

 

is it safe to overclock it?

 

Yes, you can overclock it. It is safe to go only so far to overclock. I don't know much about the core/memory speeds of it, check out some threads about the Go7800 and/or Inspiron 9400 on here - there's a big one in the News & Reviews section, give that a look.

 

Thanks dude!!

 

What is the ATi 1800X equal to in Nividia cards?

 

Well, no one really has an answer to that yet . . I have very limited information.

I have been in contact with Clevo's R&D, they said the new version of the M570A [which has a Go7800GTX] will have a "Mobility Radeon X1800PRO" - I'm assuming that it will be equivalent to a Go7800GTX. BUT - nothing is confirmed, we'll just have to wait and see.

 

yea i guess casue thats the card in the Acer 8200, but as far as the card in the E1705 does a hell of a better job with graphics. whats the story with that?

 

ALIENWARE

Come on, how have you guies not mentioned ALIENWARE yet!! Alienware has got to have the BEST laptops out there...

 

Oh yea, i am in the market for a new laptop my self and the other day i called alienware and asked what was going on with them not having colors.. They will be releasing new colors for the laptops within the next month or so!

 

MANY people will disagree with your alienware comment, first your only buying a colorful clevo/uniwill for alot more money. and dont be like well your buying support because if u look at our alienware fourm ive read ALOT of nightmares,