Laptops for games?

[dajones]

My current laptop is about to die. I dropped it last month and its never been the same, blue screens getting hot etc. It used to play games pretty well.
Acer aspire 5745dg
Core i3 2.53ghz
8gb ram
Nvidia geforce 425m
Nvidia 3d vision
Blueray.
So not brilliantly specced but worked pretty well.

Been looking at alienwares but everyone knows theyre over priced so what alternatives are out there for the same amount of money (up to around 1300) noticed on the m17x it jumps up 350 quid to add bluray and 3d which isnt ideal.

So laptop for games (arma 3 project cars and gta) with bluray and maybe 3d.

 

[Wrighty.]

I have an Alienware m14x got it in January 2012 and its been brilliant so far does get bloody hot when using it on your lap though!

 

[Darren S]

I'd like to see a laptop that can run ARMA III smoothly!

D.

 

[Matt26]

I'd like to see a laptop that can run ARMA III smoothly!

D.

My 2012 MacBook Pro Retina handles it pretty well. It was £1,800 though, so not within the OP's budget.

 

[dajones]

was looking at the apples but not keen on messing about to get windows on it to use my games.
How would this be? its the base m17x

Included in your system:English Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)

3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)

2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660M


6144MB (1x2GB + 1x4GB) 1600MHz DDR3 Dual Channel

500GB 7,200rpm SATA 3Gb/s HDD

17.3" WideHD+ (1600 x 900 ) WLED LCD

 

[Matt26]

There's no messing about. Create partition using Bootcamp. Install Windows. Install drivers (which OS X handily lets you put on a USB drive when you create the partition).

Job done.

 

[Sargara]

Ive used "gaming spec" laptops for the past 5yrs mate. Believe me when i tell you DO NOT get an Alienware or Apple. They are both massively overpriced when you have to spec them up to a decent level for playing games. Also be prepared to be changing laptops every 2yrs as technology moves on as you cannot upgrade them.

If you have happy with this compromise then welcome aboard because now has never been better for owning a gaming spec laptop. The build quality and performance per ££ has never been better thanks to the increased popularity of Ultrabooks.

Id budget for around £800 then start looking for the best GPU you can get using http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-7970M-Crossfire.74305.0.html to try and get a Class1 card.

(edit). Something like this would be a good shout for current gen gaming:
http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-ch...8gb-ram-1tb-8-ssd-widi-15-6-silver/p231740125

 

[Rubicon_]

I bought a laptop for gaming last year. It was an Acer, had 8gb ram, an i7 and the 660m graphics i think. It played things like GTA, Fifa and COD fine however it got extremely hot. Sold it 3 month later realised gaming isn't for laptops and bought a MBA, never looked back.

 

[dajones]

Azza guessing you no longer use it f9r games.

Was looking at this
http://www.ebuyer.com/479766-lenovo-ideapad-y500-gaming-laptop-59365220
I like the idea that the cd drive can be swapped for an extra graphics card giving a total 4gb in sli. However they only sell the cards in America.

 

[dajones]

So while waiting an absolute eternity for a insurance payout on my last laptop, I am now waiting for pc world vouchers hoping I get them in the week. Seeing as im quite limited to what I can buy being the usual pcworld collection I have found this.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lapto...g-17-3-laptop-grey-21324854-pdt.html#longDesc
Any opinions? Im guessing at that spec most games will be a walk in the park.

I think I would want to roll the windows back to windows 7. Can this be done easily or is some of the tech windows 8 dependant?

 

[McGherkin]

Here's mine:

Asus N56VZ S4242

• Processor : Intel® Core? i7-3610QM processor (2.4 GHz, 3.3 GHz with TurboBoost, 1333 GHz, 6 MB cache)
• RAM : 8 GB
• Graphics card : NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M, 2 GB dedicated memory
• Screen size : 15.6"
• Hard drive : 1 TB SATA III drive, 5400 rpm
• Bang & Olufsen ICEpower audio with external subwoofer

I've found it a very capable laptop, plays TDU2, Ship Sim, Flight Sim, RACE 07 e.t.c., in fact most normal games on full settings. The Bang and Olufsen audio is fcuking excellent, it's worth it.

The cooling on this is a lot better than my last laptop, and it seems much more stable under load. Missed out on the backlit keyboard though as it's only available on the american models :dapprove: My only complaint really is Windows 8 is a bag of w**k. Obviously being an NVIDIA card it supports 3D Vision, so you can go all out and get a 3D Vision setup for at home or just use 3D Vision discover on a HDMI TV.

 

[Sargara]

Cooling is a good point to raise; id never do any sort of gaming without a cooler. I've tried 3 or 4 of these over the years but this model is by far the best I've come across so far:

ZM-NC2500 Plus

With the fans facing away from you rather than down like most so called "coolers", you can actually get a decent level of circulation regardless of which surface you are using it on.

 

[dajones]

Cheers both. I had 3d vision in my last laptop it worked well but watching movies on a small screen is pretty rubbish so I always plugged it into my tv (3dtv) and used that. So im not going to bother with it this time round. Tbh ive never had an issue with cooling but will keep that in mind.

 

[Sargara]

I've found it depends a lot on what you are playing (is it hardware intensive) and where you are playing (is on a flat surface, or your lap etc). So now I just do everything on the cooler tbh as its easier and I prefer the piece of mind that £40 cooler brings lol