Need Laptop for under E1200 suitable for gaming

Darren_NZ

Hi, I have read the sticky!

I need a new laptop and the budget is about Eur1200. I intend to use it for 4 main things: General email, Storing and transfering digital photos, DVD authoring (home movies, backups etc, plenty of HDD needed), and gaming (hopefully - Battlefield, COD etc).

So I need a dual layer DVD writer and plenty of grunt but not sure what the best buy is for this application.

From reading the boards it seems as if for the gaming I need something with a separate graphics card(??).

What about Vista? I'm concerned about getting an XP version and it being out of date very quickly.

I have been checking out the Vaio machines and they seem a good option. Can someone help me with good options available at the moment?

many thanks in advance, D

Recon

Why do you need a laptop? Why not get a desktop? You could get a higher speced machine for far less money.

Doodee

there another factor your not taking into consideration.

Do you want a 15.4" lappie or 17"

The reason i ask is that you wont see the higher end cards in laptops that are only 15".
If your willing to go down the 17" road then check adverts.ie for the Dell 9400 , that has everything you have mention so far and a graphics card capable of running games at high detail with no problems.

Tom Dunne

Recon wrote:

Why do you need a laptop? Why not get a desktop? You could get a higher speced machine for far less money.

Whoa, you are very brave posting that in the laptop forum.

Darren_NZ - check the stickies at the top of the forum. There is a link in there with info on graphics cards that should tell you all you need to know.

For €1200 you will get a pretty decent machine - look for a Core Duo with at least 1 gig of RAM. Most, if not all, laptops/PC sellers are giving free upgrades to Vista. Make sure it's not just advertising "Vista capable" vs. free "Vista upgrade".

For that budget, you could also get a Macbook.

TerrorFirmer

Macbooks are not suitable for gaming though, one of this intended uses.

For decent gaming, I'd recommend at least an Nvidia Go7400 or Ati X1400 - both can run new games decently, if you don't mind low-ish res at medium settings. There are dedicated cards below that like the X1300 and the 7200/7300 but whilst these can still play games, it's only at low levels for new titles. Obviously what you're looking for is a good compromise between price and performance, in which I'd recommend an X1600 or Go7600, both of which can be found it that price range if you take a good look.

It's not necessarily true that only 17" notebooks have 'higher end' cards, the Go7700 appears in 15.4" notebooks and is quite powerful. Don't be overly bothered with clock speed of your cpu as well, as long as it's core duo/core 2 duo - much better to get a better gpu then cpu, as nearly always unless you have an absolute killer gpu, it serves as the bottleneck.

I've posted this a few threads back but this is my Go7400 card screenshot thread. I've provided screenshots of alot of games running, including Quake IV, Call of Duty 2, Battlefield 2 etc. It should give you a good indication of what you do or don't find acceptable for notebook gaming, and what you're prepared to settle for should the price be right. The Go7400 features in many budget laptops around the 1k mark.

Darren_NZ

Thanks very much for the replies.

The DELL machine looks very good value. What do you think of this Sony machine - I guess it has a smaller screen but would the graphics capability cut it?

Is there any major trade off DELL vs SONY?

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Sony_Vaio_VGN-FE31H_Laptop_VGN-FE31H/version-1.asp

TerrorFirmer

The link I posted above shows my Go7400 in-game screenshots.

Tom Dunne

HavoK wrote:

Macbooks are not suitable for gaming though, one of this intended uses.

I know, I just thought I'd get in there before the Mac Evangelists.

Darren_NZ wrote:

Is there any major trade off DELL vs SONY?

Dell is Ryanair, Sony is British Airways.

In both cases, you get what you pay for. I have never had any trouble with Dell laptops (nor Ryanair, for that matter ), but the build quality is cheap and cheerful. Sony machines tend to be higher priced, but they seem to be of better quality and certainly look more stylish.

You will hear bad and good about both brands on this very forum.

Darren_NZ

Thanks for all the feedback. Your advice has been really useful...i'm ready to take the plunge! thanks.