Need a Laptop for Gaming Mainly Starcraft 2

Hello,

I'm looking to buy a new laptop and i need something that would be able to play starcraft 2 in at least hih setting with a good performance

i found the Sony Vaio E Series
intel i5 with 4GB Ram and a Ati 5650 1GB VGA
VPCEA17FG : E Series : VAIO Notebook & Computer : Sony Middle East & Africa


the second choice is a Toshiba Qusmio F60-11
I7-620 with 6GB RAM and a GT330M 1GB VGA
http://gulf.computers.toshiba-euro [...] hop/false/

these two are available locally. but i could order the
Asus G73 online which is
i7-720 with 8GB RAM and Ati 5870 1GB VGA
but i'm not sure because i never owned a 17" laptop

or the Asus G51
i7 and 4 GB RAM and a Nvida GTS360M VGA


the sony is the less expensive and if it does the job I might go for it.
and is the Asus over kill

 

I'd say the second choice is definitely out since GT330M won't run SC2 quite nicely on high. The first one might just barely make it but not on huge battles.

Asus G73 will do it perfectly. In fact, it's overkill and would be well worth it for the future too in case you want to play other games on ultra high

 

The Asus is definitly overkill but if you want to go with a laptop that would allow you to run the game on higher settings (but not maxed out) the MSI GX640 could be a good compromise with its i5 processor, 15 inch screen with 1680 x 1050 resolution and ATI 5850 GPU. It should give you better gaming performance than all other 3 laptops you listed but is less expensive than a G73.

StarCraft 2 can be pretty demanding when ran on Ultra settings. Even a G73 will not run the game smoothly on ultra setting and HD resolution. You will need to lower some settings when that 100+ zergling rush comes

 

The MSI g640 and g740 are also great choices and cheaper then anything else out there.

 

Well the MSI GX640 is available but i never looked at it cuz i dont know what kind of reliability i will get.

 

there's a $999 Asus with i7 and 360m at Compusa online I think. 15" screen I think? maybe 16" with 1920x1080p

 

They are fantastic, Mine works flawlessly plays everything except the crazy custom games on Ultra.

 

after some research it says that the MSI GX640 Suffers from heat.

there is also the GX660 which has the ATi 5870.

I'm leaning towards the G73. how long has the G73 been out?

 

It suffers no more than any other. I never go about 85c on mine, The only people who have "problems" are the ones expecting to see under 80...

 

what settings do you play on ur system and what frames do you get on sc2 in big battle moments

 

Ultra all settings on the Campaign, High for all those insane custom map games. Never dips below 30fps hangs anywhere from 40-50.

 

I finished the campaign on a 330m at high 1366*768 and only saw slow down a dozen times (tops). But everything else equal, the RADEON 5650 is much better.

 

better than what? lol

 

^ than his 330m

 

GX640 is a single fan setup with a gamer GPU so it will get hotter than a midrange notebook with a weaker GPU but it's quite similar to any other single fan gaming laptop, nothing out of the ordinary. You can always get a good cooler if heat bothers you.

The GX660 uses a slightly more powerful GPU but also has a new msi chassis so temperature and cooling improvements remain untested. The downside to this notebook is the screen resolution which is lower than the GX640 for some reason.

The G73 has been out since February 2010. This notebook is a class above. It's big, has good specs and an awesome screen. The replacement model, G73JW, has been announced and should be available for sale in September. Gentech.com has already started to take pre-order on it. The major differences between G73JH and G73JW is the inclusion of 1 USB3.0 port, i7 740 processor insted of i7 720 and GPU switch from the ATI 5870 to the Nvidia GTX460m. Slightly better CPU, slightly lower GPU, in the end its pretty similar.

I'm running SC2 on my G73JH with a 1600 resolution and Ultra settings in campain mode. FPS during calm moments is 50 and it will move between 30 and 50 during action scene and dip below 30 in intense fight scenes.

 

Until you click on a Pylon.

 

thanks for the very informative posts Kowell & Retto

just to get a clear picture

Asus G73JH has a better CPU (i7-720), RAM (8GB=4 x 2GB 1066- four slots!!!), slightly better GPU (Ati 5870 DDR3), 1TB of space and a better screen (bigger and higher res) it would cost me 1900 dollars with shipping
(more expensive but future proof, correct?)

MSI GX640 has a less CPU i5-420, RAM 4 GB, GPU is less (but what does DDR5 add?) 500GB of space
it would cost me 1145 Dollars and its available locally.(cheaper but less future proof?)

what is puzzeling me is with all this said why does the MSI get better Windows 7 index scores for 3D and gaming. does MS index matter

referance reviews

Notebookcheck: Review Asus G73JH (ATI HD 5870) Gaming Notebook

Notebookcheck: Review MSI GX640-i5447LW7P Notebook

 

Notebookcheck: Review Update Asus G73JH (i7-720QM, FHD TFT) Notebook this is the i7 review the prevoius one is i5 review.

why does the i5 have better 3D indexs score than the i7 model ?

 

Congratulation you now have the same puzzling question I beated myself with 2 months ago.... "Is the G73JH worth the extra 600$ compared to the GX640?"

As for the 3D index, this feature probably just isn't optimised to use the 4 cores of the i7 processors.

 

Another way of going about it as shown laptop DIY vidock - Starcraft 2 Ultra Settings .

US$530 15.6" Dell E5510 i5-540M 2.53 4GB 250GB W7P + US$300 GTX460-768MB DIY ViDock via the expresscard slot. Will be able to do a Optimus setup to use the internal LCD and get superior performance if use an external LCD.

 

While Vidocks are cool an all they defeat the point of quick and easy portable gaming that is key to laptops lol.

 

WOW! i didnt even know this was possible.

 

Sure it is, its called a desktop

Spend the $200 more and build a full desktop and dont have the frankenstein of a machine and hassles.

I built a HTPC for $300 that rivals any of the DIY V-Docks.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by osomphane
If you want to be able to play stacraft 2 smoothly (as well as the future games you mentioned at decent quality and performance), go for the MSI GX740. It's graphics card is vastly better. Though, anything with an ati 5870 will do like the ASUS G73 (careful with GSODs on this one), sagers, clevos, or Alienware m17x.
what do you mean with "GSODs" ?

is this a recent issue, has it been fixed or does it unlikely to occur

 

well i already have a desktop
my brother in law had a gaming cafe that he closed down, in the process i got a free PC
Inter Pentium D 3.20 GHz
2GB RAM
Nvidia 7300 SE / 7200 GS - 256MB

but Istruggled to play SC2 on all low and lowest Res

this was going to be my second thread.

do i just need a graphic card and some RAM and thats it ?

 

For that desktop? No it needs to be retired the cpu sucks, the gpu sucks, chances are the psu sucks and the mobo behind the times and the RAM not compatible with newer mobos.

 

Well as I stated earlier , its free. and i only use it for downloading and browsing.

my brother has the same desktop so i will send him this post

 

Ok feel free

I just let you know you cant upgrade it to work for SC2 it has to be used for browsing and downloading like it has been, its too much a relic now to be upgraded for a new game like SC2.

 

loooool I'm not upgrading it.

but just using it and for what i do with it. it does the job

 

Not Back to what seems to be the Gray Screen of Death (GSOD) that occurs on Ati 5800 series, is this something to be worry of?

 

I think its only some people with the Asus G73 having that issue not the 5000 series in general. I could be wrong though.

I however own a desktop with a 5870 and own a Asus G73 and never got a GSOD so not everybody has the issue that I can say for sure.

It seems to be happening 90%+ with people that changed the drivers and not those with stock drivers.

I have actually changed my drivers as well, maybe I got lucky or did something differently or use better drivers. Who knows.

 

Hp envy17 with 5850 is a good option ?

 

my 5730 chokes with high settings when the action starts coming in on multiplayer. Too lazy to test optimal settings.

 

good option other than no optical drive and design... but i suggest G73..nothing beats it and this GSOD issue doesn't always happen.. buy from a reseller and ask them to test it for u with new drivers..

 

The problem with the G73 is that it weighs a lot more than the Envy 17, and is much thicker. It is a faster GPU, though.

Really, anything with a 5800 level GPU will be quite fast for SC2. So look at the other features and appearance to make your decision. The machine is a heck of a lot more than just a GPU.

 

You're thinking of the Envy 15. The Envy 17 has an ODD. In general try to do a little more research before you claim things.

 

gee sorry but i don't recommend hp products especially after what happened after a bought a free Dv5t oven..

 

I have decided on the G73. I'm just waiting on some finances to go through for me to be able to buy it.

its very frustraiting to wait on someone esle to do something that benifits you only.

I read somewhere that they fixed the GSOD with a driver update as i believe.

I hate HP in general, their relibility is below avarage

 

yes the issue has been temporarily fixed with a driver update next week.. the permanent fix is also done but not full proof with older drivers and BIOS versions so for those ppl who have the older versions and have no updated , they're maxing the fix full proof.