Getting a Gaming Laptop

Well I have looked around on the web and have read a lot of articles about Vista vs XP in gaming performance. I have a friend who has a very nice Dell XPS with Vista on it with the 8800 GTX. He likes it, but the few games that do support DX 10 run really sluggish even on the 8800. The improvement in graphics is minimal and Crysis on DX 10 looks no different except shadows on DX 9 and runs like 10 fps slower. Not many games in the next year or so are going to be DX 10 marvels either.

So I am in the market for new gaming laptop. My point is do I get a Windows XP Professional system with Dual 7950 GTX SLI or do I get Dual 8700m SLI on Vista Home Premium? I have about 2.5k to work with and I have found that Alienware has the best price right now on the gaming laptops. I hope to be using this laptop to play all current games on high settings and eventually Age of Conan. I will get a 2.0 or 2.13Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2Gb Ram, and whichever graphics card. If a year down the road DX 10 is more optimized and Vista's performance issues are fixed, I think I can upgrade the cards to the 8 series. So would you just hold off on DX 10?

 

8800gtx havent shippped yet

 

If you're looking for DX10, wait until early 08 and get an 8800m. The 8600m is a fine card, but will struggle on the high settings needed for DX10.

 

Not asking about 8800s or 8600s. I am talking about the 8700, but thanks for the advice about next year.

 

Well, sure, the dual 8700M cards would make things like Crysis in DX10 playable pretty well. But if you're after that much power, I'd really wait for the 8800M GTX early next year as has been suggested. Although there are only a few benchmarks that have been released (and almost no independent ones), a SINGLE 8800M GTX appears to have similar power to DUAL 8700M cards. Needless to say, you will have less heat and more battery life with a single card as well, and it may well be quite a bit cheaper.

So unless you really can't wait 6 weeks, go for the 7950 SLI setup. It will be plenty powerful, but you will have to do without the DX10 features. I think anyone would have to be really desperate to get dual 8700M cards ATM, with something so much better so close.

 

Well now that I know that the 8800m is coming out. I looked at the benchamrks on it, and it looked like it will perform about the same as dual 7950s. That was on Vista though. So if I got the 7950s on XP then it would run better, but no DX 10. So now it comes down to price. So if the 8800m will cost me as much as dual 7950s then I will get that, but it will probably be very expensive considering its nVidia's new card. Thanks for the info guys.

 

Not necessarily. When the 8800m is finally released it will be replacing the 7950 so I personally don't anticipate pricing to go up. A high end laptop is a highend laptop and if you look at prices and trends laptop prices stay the same throughout.

But here's the thing, if you can wait, then wait, if you need a laptop now then just go ahead and buy one now. I would go with the dual 7950's now as they are the most powerful and combined with Windows XP they will be pretty slick (in games that support SLI) and you can always upgrade to Vista later on.

 

Alienware doubtfully has the best price.

Check out powernotebooks.com, xoticpc.com.

 

Yeah Alienware is expensive, but they are the cheapest main brand for what I am looking for. Like Dell, HP, Gateway, .... ect. I had a bad experience in the past with unkown companies with support. Ended up suing the company, but thats another story. You can also upgrade the computer's graphics cards, which isn't possible on other conventional laptops. So its future proof to an extent.

 

Alienware is not expensive... I mean... look at them compared to other Hgih end companies... jeez people.. compare them to XPS, NW-FALCON, VOODOO...

And... your friend can trully not own a 8800m laptop yet...

I personally believe that the alienware m15x (15.4incher yay!)with 8800gtx will be a KICK in the face to other companies

 

Ok, my friend does NOT own a laptop with an 8800m card. He owns a DESKTOP with an nVidia Geforce 8800 GTX 768mb. I am only using it as an example of how poor DirectX 10 Games are running. Sorry for the confusion, and I tried to clarify it in an earlier post.

 

All these games are really way too much for current hardware (other then super - high end desktop with SLI and OC proccessor and RAM) to handle smoothly on highest settings.

If you wait a year or 2 maybe you get a laptop that can give u a decent performance on current games, but by then they will come out with even more advanced games that are going to run slow LOL!

 

8800gtx in a laptop will run crysis on high at pretty good frames and res.

I dont see what you guys mean... the 8600gt can handle alott too...

Games are good for current hardware... I dont see the problem... assides if you dont upgrade... an 8800gt is about $250 I believe and can run any games on high assides some that JUST came out...

 

So does anyone know if a PC with a single 8800m GTX will cost more or the same then one with Dual 7950 GTX. What will perform the Dual 7950s on XP or the 8800m GTX on Vista? If not by much then I will stick then its worth just getting buggy Vista with an 8800m?

 

The cheapest 8800 laptop currently available might be m15x from Alienware, decently spec'd out with a 8800, it amounts to slightly over 2k. However, prices may be increased when they are actually released. On the other hand, PC Microworks is currently offering a free upgrade to the 8800m for their 17 inch laptops. Of course, you will have to wait till they actually get the 8800s.

Based on the results released by Nvidia, the 8800 is supposed to be beat dual 7950s by some degree. However, new hardware usually has teething problems.

 

m15x will be the bomb... even if it goes up $500 in price... its still going to be the ONLY 15.4 inch laptop with 8800gtx...

And teething problems?

Who cares... if it beats 7950 dual maybe even lets say by just 75% thats huge... your talking 2-3 times speed... and dont forget DX10 and vista updates... as in patches and drivers and maybe SP1 for vista will make a huge difference