which video card should i get minimum???

I want to get a laptop that is somewhat able to be portable without being too huge. I want to dual monitor setup. a 32inch 1080p HD LCD as my main (for gaming, movies, video/image editing) and the laptop monitor for browsing web/audio editing. it will be on a desk most of the time with a wired mouse and wired keyboard attached. I want to play decent games at hi res on the big screen. what minimum graphics card should I look for? would a ATI radeon 4670 be enough to play most games decently well on hi res on that monitor. Help me plz. my budget is around under 1800, and I dont want to get non name brands (or not known by me) such as MSI sager or bad brands such as gateway or packard bell. Please help me out, im still looking around. thanks a bunch

 

Hi
firstly visit what notebook should i buy? HERE
is your 1800 in $ or £ as it makes a great difference and as this is a worldwide forum we could then give better advice.

i would recommend clevo/sager all the way.

 

For what you're going to be doing, I would say any of the Asus Gxxx series with at least a GT260m or GT280m. That way you wouldn't be throttled. IMO the clevo/sager brands are just huge. At least the Asus is more portable. Plus you can get the G71GX for around 900-1200. That's a pretty good price for what you get...

 

for sub 1800, you could get the base model M17x or M15x but you will be pushing your budget to the max.

might i suggest the ASUS g15 (i believe it's named) - it has a c2d paired with an nvidia 260m gtx all for around 1 grand.

to maximize mobile performance and your budget, i would say the Sager NP8690 is your best bet, though, it costs $1799 for the base model, but should be plenty enough power for you to game on. it has the base model mobile i7 processor paired with a nvidia 280m gtx.

and there really isn't any laptop that isn't portable. they're all portable. if you want mobility over portability, then go for a 15 inch notebook that has a bit less power if you want to use it for gaming.

 

1) Gateway and Packard Bell are not exactly bad brands today. Like all brands, there are many different product lines. Gateway products have improved in quality over the last few years.

2)Without know what games you're intending to play and what settings you want, it is rather hard to help you out.

3) XGX2007 has some decent suggestions. Levenly, it's the Asus G51vx, not G15. The i7 version is the G51j.

4) Didn't you guys notice this bit?

 

I suggest getting an Alienware M15x you'll be able to play most games today at the high res 1080P you'll have connected.

*edit* to answer your question, I say GTX260m is maybe your min for 1080P res and high on games most recently out, minus Crysis.

 

thanks for the clarification. the G51 is what i was looking for.

though, i wouldn't consider Sager a 'non-name brand'.

if we're talking boutiques, then for gaming notebooks, Sager is a top name brand.

 

Oh, I know. But OP doesn't feel the same. To be honest though, I would NOT consider Sager a top name brand in terms of market penetration even among boutiques. It's not particularly well known among boutiques unless you're in the know, as it is much lower profile compared to companies like Voodoo (while it existed), Falcon Northwest and the like. And for budget boutique gaming, people like to think Ibuypower or Cyberpower and the like. When was the last time you saw a Sager ad in print or online? Ive seen it perhaps twice in total. Were it not for the existence for sites and forums like this, Sager probably wouldn't be where it was today.

 

very true - it's just that their target audience is smaller than the likes of dell or HP.

to the OP, do not think that brands you haven't heard of are garbage - for the most part, largely named computer brands sell many mediocre products for mediocre to expensive prices. top dog brands will generally sell mediocre to good products at high prices, though, you do have good brand names who sell for reasonable prices. ASUS comes to mind in that category, however, i've heard their gaming lineups have heating issues, which is probably why there are a bit cheaper in price.

with gaming laptops, really do get what you pay for. a sub 1000 gaming notebook that is set to compete with high end gaming notebooks will most likely have heating and downclocking issues. they build them for burst performance rather than sustained performance to help decrease cost.

with a bit of research you'll find a good gaming laptop for you. brands i would recommend would be Alienware, Sager, and Asus - for one, they're really the only brands that i have dealt with for mobile gaming performance; however, do research thoroughly because certain notebooks have certain problems

 

sager is certainly a good option... ASUS G51 is cheap gaming option but unlike a similar configured Sager , it runs way hotter.. also looks more flashy... if u have the budget , go for sager... if u don't , G51 is a good option... u just have to undervolt the processor and GPU and many ppl on the forum can help u... then after all these mods G51 is a good gaming notebooks...

 

In my humble opinion Sager is the top notch when it comes to gaming, powerful and well designed rigs, nice thermal design, they look very pro.

MSI is one of the best brands out there, many many pc components are manufactured by MSI, the quality of these laptops are like the ASUS gaming line but more elegant and less childish, very thin and light.

 

Except Sager had nothing to do with the design.

I like the way the MSI units look, especially the fact that they are very thin for the temps they deal with, I'm quite impressed. And the 3 year warranty is also very attractive. Too bad their current line is less than top-notch.

 

Sager, Clevo whatever, but I concur. They are top notch notebooks. I am thoroughly impressed with my NP8662. I would have never considered them in the past, but glad I did this time around. If $1800 is your budget including monitors though, then an NP8690 is probably out of your budget since itself would cost about $1600-$1700 (or more) depending on how it's equipped.

Otherwise you'll be hard pressed to find a better notebook for the price, seriously.

 

i dont know the resoluti0n on the lcd m0nitor. but its an lg 32inch. i live in california, usa. and im looking at no more than 1800 with tax. i want to play games like aion, half life 2, counterstrike, left4dead2, wow, and the like at a reasonable fps with the set up noted. i dont know how their return or repair and support is for msi or sager as well as their longevity and warranty. hope this can better help you help me.

 

So, $1800 for just the laptop, or $1800 for laptop and the two LCD monitors?

Regarding Sager and MSI, companies like XoticPC.com have a great reputation for having good warranty and customer service support. That's where I bought mine.

 

$1800 with tax just the laptop

 

get a 280m gtx or wait for 5850m

 

Then check out the Sager NP8690. It'll be right about $1800. Core i7 & GTX 280m. The lowest Core i7 is more than adequate, and it will be user upgradable down the road should you decide to pop something faster in there.

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8690...stom-gaming-laptop-p-2659.html?wconfigure=yes

Configured base model, updated RAM to 4GB, HDD to 320GB 7200RPM, Win 7 x64 Home Premium = $1803 + shipping ($37 for UPS Ground).

I'm sure there's some coupon codes out there to at least shave off that $40 over your $1800.

 

honestly, to play with high graphics at 1920 x 1080 for newer games you're going to really need to spend more than 1800 bucks. if you're satisfied playing one notch down, or maybe even two notches to 1680 x 1050 or even 1440 x 900 then you should be fine with a sub 1800 notebook, with tax, and shipped.

 

nothing i haven't maxed out at 1200p res with my single 260

What is your size preference ? 15 or 17 inch ?

 

I agree, I stick by the GTX260m or GTX280m. They will handle just about anything. The only thing they might have trouble driving on all high settings I would guess is something like an Apple 30" Cinema Display @ 2560x1600..

 

it has trouble @ 1200p on some games .... But it is adequate. Also there are no more decent systems for 1800 that have 4870's or such

One to consider is the MSI with the 4850 ..... it will curb stomp the 260m GTX

 

More of a 15-16inch preferred. the sager does look decent. let me bring up the specs of the monitor I will be getting, now that I am home. Spent the day out and saw Avatar in 3D. Amazing movie, go check it out .
On Topic, I forgot what monitor it was, it was in-store at bestbuy 30 or 32 in LG monitor for 300 bucks. i cant seem to find ANY LG monitor at that price now that I am browsing...maybe you can help me on that one? :/ well...how are battery life on such powerful gaming laptop? i will most likely have it plugged in most times.

 

You won't be able to game very long on battery, maybe an hour. And for regular desktop tasks (web surfing, office apps, etc) you should get about 2.5 hours. It's a powerful notebook and as such will drain the battery much more quickly.

BTW, I saw Avatar at 3D Imax. Unbelievable.

 

The sager 860 only gets about 1 hour

The m15x gets about 1.5 hours 2 if you get the 9 cell


I would say get the sager and the support and quality is unmatched (gentech powernotebooks or xoticpc is who I reccomend)

 

Sager only one hour gaming or use? With my NP8662 I see about an hour with intense use (i.e. gaming). I can get well over 2 hours with just desktop stuff.

 

this does look nice. how well do these hardcore gaming laptops last??? do they last as long as desktop?? i am looking for life of 3-5 years.

how does the video card compare to desktop cards. overheating issue? noise?

also, is there anything needed to run another monitor or possible triple monitor(including laptop screen)?

will i beable to run audio through aux to an external sound system, such as home theatre. plus..wifi?? and how is the net card?

 

downclocked Soviet was able to get 1:30

the core I7 is a real bummer

 

i hope that is sarcasm. there is a nice difference between a c2d and an i7, especially since many people do not disable unneeded applications which take up processing power. gaming + multitasking is a killer, especially if you only have a 2 or so gb of memory.

@iron monkey

gaming laptops last well depending on how you take care of it. are you going to dust it out, clean it, replace thermal paste, etc? or are you going to let it just sit there?

because gaming laptops are much more prone to overheating than regular laptops, you're really going to need to clean it every month or two.

also, do you plan on overclocking or doing other modifications affecting the voltages? are you going to change bios settings?

i'd say you could expect 3 years easily if you take care of your laptop, though, do note gaming laptops have conditional life expectancies. some laptops go out quickly while others last. they perhaps do not last as long as a desktop should you take care of a desktop, but than again cooling methods for desktops are much easier than laptops.

in other words, it will last a few years if you take good care of it.

 

Laptops last as long as you want them. But because they aren't that upgradable will only last as long the your software doesn't surpass the hardware tech.

With this configuration you're likely to get a solid two years of gaming without having to worry much about dropping game settings. Plus it does have an upgradable CPU and MXM GPU. Not sure what the max possibilities are though.

For multimonitor, it has both a DVI-I and HDMI port, but not sure if you can drive them simultaneously. Most laptops don't. But you'd need a triple head to go or dual head to go adapter: http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/

There is a stereo out, mic out, and a coax S/PDIF port (1/8").

It has an Intel Wi-Fi 5300AGN wireless modem and gigabit ethernet connection. Pretty common stuff. Same thing in my rig and works great.

Moo, are you saying GAMING for 1:30 on battery?

 

I dont know what I would have to do to clean it. i was just going to let it sit there I guess and ocassional dust it with can of air??? I dont plan on messing with biosor overclocking it whatsoever

 

Compressed air is fine. Just don't throw it around or spill food or drink on it mainly. I do very little maintenance to my machines besides cleaning out all the dust bunnies. And then I use filter systems on my desktops, so it's just cleaning the filters. For laptop, I have a pretty dust free and smoke free home, so it's pretty clean.

 

No just surfing check out the owners lounge

 

Ah gotcha. I guess that's where my 25W P9700 WINS! LOL. I don't have it unplugged too often though. It's mainly around the house or off to LAN parties.

 

so.. would a desktop be easier to maintain and live longer? Should I just get that over a sager laptop??? :/

 

Assuming you have no real need for portability, yes. It sounds like that would be a good option.

 

The problem I find is that people WANT their PC to last 3-5 years, but in reality they never do, especially a PC for gaming. Even a desktop, there's usually an upgrade or two that take place to have it last 3 years let alone 5. For gaming I think 3 years is the maximum any one technology can last before it needs to be replaced to even play the latest released games with any amount of detail. So my point being, just expect to make some sort of update if you plan on using it for games.

But you should be able to build a decent desktop for $1000-$1200 and buy a decent laptop for $600-700 that would be able to game reasonably well with older games and even current released games at medium detail. Just in a few years probably wouldn't be able to handle much of anything new.

 

Not trying to open a war but for high end Alienware is now cheaper

due to discounts, certain things are overpriced though.

It's really a case by case basis. Although I prefer a sager on some models and alie ware on 0thers.

Btw games are dumbing down in ways due to then being console ports

 

laptops for sure... way more portable and use less power so some money saving

 

I could grab this desktop.. but with which video card should I purchase? How would it compare to a gtx280m laptop card? and which blu ray drive should I use? If I go external I can get a regular LG dvd drive. I know this is NOT a laptop, but any help in this area would be nice.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=8637909

 

2 mother boards?

Get a 5850 and it will be 125% faster

 

well it has to be tweaked..still deciding which MOBO to get. how does the 285gtx 2 gig compare to the 280m

 

It will be 100% faster

 

Check out a Micro Center if there is one near you. IIRC, they were selling i7-920's dirt cheap, like about $200. They don't show them online though.