Somebody asked this same question last month. I'll just repost my answer here:

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OK, you want to go with a gaming laptop. Not cheap, but actually doable below the $1500 range.

1) Stay away from Alienware. I don't care what anybody else and their mother says about them, they are FAR overpriced for what you get, and being the owner of 8 of them, overall, they are CRAP. Between Battalion, Asus, and Xplorer tops are your best bet. You'll hear about Dell but their reliability is highly questionable to say the least, and don't get me started with their customer service.

2) Most gaming laptops are bought online, but shop around your local stores to see if they offer the manufacturers above. You might find them for cheaper prices too, or at very least, see what they actually look like.

Specs:

CPU: Intel Core I7, nothing below 1.6ghz
RAM: 4gb of DDR3
HD: your call (500gb is good) but keep an eye on HD speed, faster are more $$$
GPU: 1gb of ATI or Nvidia card.

Now, you'll have your ATI fans and your Nvidia fans but I'll give it to your straight: ATI cards are much more simpler to use than Nvidia cards but don't offer as much sharp graphical power. Nvidia cards can be a bloody nightmare to setup properly, but when they work, holy shit do they WORK!

Here are a couple models to look at:

Xplorer X7-8500
Battalion 101 X8100-U3
Asus G51Jx

Compare their specs to each other and begin to research. The problem with laptops is you can't really "upgrade" them. Memory and maybe the DVD drive but that's it. So, buy the best that you can get your hands on, so it will be able to operate everything efficiently for at least the next 3 years.

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There is a simple solution to every problem; finding the simple solution is the difficult problem.

Yes, they are generally price higher than many other laptops. One thing to consider about them however is that their graphic card are upgradeable (with the exception of the M11x) due to the their graphical MXM slot. Those GPUs are usually a few hundred dollars more expensive than their desktop equivalent though - like the desktop HD5770 is equivalent to the Mobility HD5870, and yet will cost you $300-$400 to get. Just thought you would like to know. I also like the fact that it only take two screws and you just slide the bottom cover off of their laptops. It make it faster to get into the inside in case you need to clean out the dust and what ever.

But even then I wouldn't go with them, as there are other options that price more reasonable and may often offer you better warranty. Most clevo-base laptops and a few Asus like the G73 are MXM compatible (Asus has a proprietary slot, which you need to buy it directly from them if you want to upgrade - given that they have it available). Clevo is an notebook ODM, btw. They don't sell laptops directly to consumers like you and me. They have companies like Sager, iBuyPower, CyberPowerPC (I personally don't like IBP and CBPC), AVADirect, Digital Storm, Falcon-NW, etc. slap their logo on them and sell it under their name. In the past, even AW went with them (it's some other ODM atm). So if you see them, know they all should be build the same, and it's up to you to do research on their customer service, their price, and pick whichever one that offer you better warranty for that price. A lot of companies will only give you a 1 year basic warranty as it's base, while Sager will give you 3 years labor and 1 years parts as it's base. Not clevo-base laptop, but Asus often offers 2 years warranty plus a 1 year accidental coverage ( you could buy it uncustomize for cheaper on other sites like Newegg, Amazon, and Bestbuy, but they may not give you the full 2 year warranty and may not even accidental on either).

Btw, if the ability to upgrade your GPU caught your interest, you should do a little bit of research on it. There are certain conditions you need to meet, that I'm not entirely sure of myself (I'm not a gamer, so I never cared to read on it). From what I understand, you need to make sure you got the correct MXM card (there are like 3 different types, I believe) as well as you need to note the max TDP rating. For example, the laptop you had before has a mobility HD5850 with a max TDP rating of 40w, and you want to upgrade to a GTX485m which has TDP rating of 100w. You better not attempt to stick in that GTX485m, if it turns out your laptop is MXM compatible without doing any research.

I don't dislike Acer, but they usually sell laptops with an decent GPU at a budget. In the price range of $1200, there are other much better options for a gamer. The Dell XPS models and Toshiba Qosimo are more worth considering than Acer in this case IMO.

As for what would be best at each price point. As stated before, I usually lean towards Asus, MSI, and Clevos in the price range and upwards you are looking at, and they are all available on that XoticPC site.

Last edited by qwan456 at 7:54 am, Apr 15 2011

Go for Acer. I've have been using 1st Generation Gaming Laptop and they still work by now.

I also got Acer 4820TG. They are cheap and reliable...

I got a sweet Dell Studio XPS a few months back and it works like baby Jesus. Only trouble is that it ran $1700. Dell or Alienware is def the way to go. Actually, a good Dell is almost as good as an Alienware for a lot less

I've had really bad experiences with dell, honestly. The first two laptops I got were both Dell, and they broke fairly quickly - much too quickly for the price I paid for them. They were just general usage laptops, too, not gaming, and I found them to be a lot slower than even my crappy e-machine desktop that I got for $250. Plus, their customer service is AWFUL. Not even worth it, really.

Oh, thanks Jake. I don't really browse the random question topic. Sorry for the repeat questions. Oh, thanks for posting the specs, though. I'm new to serious gaming (before I just played whatever my brother was playing/already bought, and if my computer couldn't run it I just didn't play it), so although I do have a pretty good idea of what I need, any new information is helpful.

Sooo, since I don't like dell, it seems like Asus, Sager, and maybe Acer? I have a couple yes/nos on Acer, so it looks like I'll have to do my own research on that and make my own opinions.

Thanks so much guys. All these posts are making me happy.

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I'd strongly advise against it. OEM gaming laptops are often overpriced, underpowered, prone to overheating, and impossible to upgrade. You'd find it useless within 5 years, and you wouldn't be able to change any parts. For that kind of money you could build yourself a pretty decent gaming rig that would outstrip any laptop.

@JakeOrion That distinction between ATI and Nvidia cards has largely vanished over the past 2 years. They've been pretty tooth and nail in trying to pull ahead of each other, so they're more or less even. If one does get the lead they only retain it for a month or two.

To be more specific on the specs, don't just look for 1GB memory for the graphic card. For $1000, you could get an Asus with a good ATI HD 5730 or Nvidia GT 540M, whereas you could get a Nvidia 310m on another Asus. Both has 1GB of vRAM, but the difference in performance is you can play MW2 on mostly low at 800x600 resolution and on high @ 1366x768.

In your price range, you could aim for something like GTX 460m or HD5870.

I would change Acer to MSI. Like I said, there aren't many GPU options beyond the mobility HD5650 for Acer, if I'm not mistaken. Though, it is a very capable GPU that is priced in the $700-$800 price category. I personally like that Acer TimelineX that was made in the more recent post due to its battery life and weight (I travel a lot with my laptop), but you could get something better setup as well as a higher resolution screen to go with it for your budget.

Another point to consider, if you don't need the mobility of a laptop, you could always build a very good gaming desktop like Barono said.

Except when it comes to drivers. I'm sorry, but I've always had driver issues with ATIs. My dad, my friends, my girlfriend, ALL of them have had driver issues with them. Never so much of a problem with Nvidia though. Sure, the newest drivers are sometimes buggy, but that is to be expected. Of course this is coming from my experience, so I am biased about it.

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There is a simple solution to every problem; finding the simple solution is the difficult problem.

Since i did this aswell not too long ago ill give you my reasoning for going with Asus, 2 year standard warranty, 1 year accidental and Asus dont usualy come with alot of crap preinstalled (well they still have some but yee ) ..it may not seem alot but an extra years worth of warranty coming standard means alot especially when your going to be playing games that will tax your rig via heat (or dust depending on your setup) etc. Also in your price range you should be able to find a pretty decent Asus that lets you run majority of the current games in their intended settings.

#1 When you are shopping around for a gaming laptop, you should always look up the video card in the laptop before you look for anything else. Most of the gaming power comes from the video card and a $2000+ brand name laptop can have a worthless video card that won't let you play anything worth mention.

This is a list of video cards that appear in the market from strongest to lowest including SLI/Crossfire for laptops: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Laptop-Graphics-C ards.130.0.html

Pick out the one that suit you best then look on how well the perform on games (same link). Finally, check up laptop lists they have that carry the GPU you want. They have a link for laptops with those video cards.

Most of the other stuff like CPU/RAM/HDD...etc will fall into place since the GPU will determine what 'range' of laptop you are getting. You will probably get about a handful of options each.

#2 Look up for review of the laptops. Particularly, look up about how well the laptop is losing its heat. Gaming laptops tend to become over heated very quickly without an extra source of cooling. One of my buddy melted a hole on his table with an overheated laptop. I'm using MSI GX660 that comes with its own high powered fan (very loud when you turn it on) so I don't need an external source of cooling but I used to need an extra fan/tablet to cool my old gaming laptops.

#3 Native resolution vs laptop size. A 17" laptop is heavy and it's not 'mobile' enough for most people to carry around every day. A 17" gaming laptop can go to around 7 pounds or even more. A 15" laptop is more suitable to carry around but the screen is fairly small and is not nice to view in 1920x1080 resolution. I find changing the native resolution of LCD makes the stuff look ugly but that's just me.