Gaming laptop recommendations?

sharingan

A friend wants to pick up a laptop for gaming. He is looking at one of the Dell models ~€2500, big F-Off screen the works. THe XPS M2010 I think.

Portability is important so he has ruled out all desktop type stuff. Is this a good model or would he be better off looking at other manufacturers in the gaming laptop category?

majiktripp

Well rule out the XPS M2010 as at a 20" screen it aint exactly portable plus the graphics card it comes with aint exactly brilliant for hardcore gaming.
Probably better to get an XPS M1710 laptop with 17" True life screen (1920x1200 resolution) and a Nvidia 7900 or 7950 GTX graphics card and at least 1GB Ram if not 2 for the sake of it.That should smoke about any game he throws at it (as long as your not running on battery power!)
And for god's sake get a good warranty!

BostonB

I've had a 9400 with a 7900GS and a M1710 with 7950gtx both with 2G. Both were great. The M1710 is obviously much faster with the 512mb 7950gtx. Amazingly they still get about about 2.5hrs battery life.

sharingan

Agh! I only read the sticky now, so I should clarify some details.

My mate wants a serious gaming machine, but desktops of any kind are not practical for him (he could build, but his free time isn't the best). By portable, I mean in this instance, more portable than an SFF/HTPC-build + flatscreen say. Y'know practical to move in the back of his car if an impromptu Lan party got arranged.

He's a big lad and fairly athletic, so he can survive dragging the thing through a few airports if it comes to it - he has worked abroad in the past and leaving the gaming kit behind isn't fun.

Basically he does want it to handle the latest games (obviously not in 2xSLI gorgeousness etc.) but he is willing to compromise on power/price for the practicality of a laptop.

BostonB

sharingan wrote:

...
Basically he does want it to handle the latest games (obviously not in 2xSLI gorgeousness etc.) but he is willing to compromise on power/price for the practicality of a laptop.

What compromise? Not many desktops are going to be better than a M1710 with a 7950gtx.

TerrorFirmer

BostonB wrote:

What compromise? Not many desktops are going to be better than a M1710 with a 7950gtx.

Mobile graphics cards are substantially slower then their desktop counterparts - a mobile 7950GTX is not the same as the desktop version.

BostonB

HavoK wrote:

Mobile graphics cards are substantially slower then their desktop counterparts - a mobile 7950GTX is not the same as the desktop version.

What game is "substantially slower" on a M1710 with a 7950GTX than a desktop of the same spec?

TerrorFirmer

BostonB wrote:

What game is "substantially slower" on a M1710 with a 7950GTX than a desktop of the same spec?

Right at this moment in time, any very modern title like Company of Heroes, try running it at very high native res with all options on - even on a 7950GTX, not a great experience. That's just an example. I'm not saying the 7950GTX is anything short of a fantastic performer, just that it is significantly slower then desktop equivilents (that was my point after all, not its capabilities in itself) and that is always the way with mobile cards. As time goes on, the difference will become more pronounced - again, just the way things are with any notebook.

But I was just making the point, that there's no reason to say that you can't get better in a desktop, because you can, easily.



Take this for example - note the desktop 8800GTX is 173% faster then a X1950XTX! And even the X1950XTX is better then the Go7950GTX...so where does that leave the Go7950GTX in comparison to the 8800GTX desktop card? Miles behind, in the dust....making it significantly and hugely inferior!

Just saying! If you want hardcore gaming, for the same price as a monster notebook you'd get a fairly decent notebook and a desktop with better gaming potential.

BostonB

My bad I didn't explain myself properly. I meant comparing a desktop 7950gtx and a mobile one. Not a much faster card or a sli (7950x2) card. Theres mobile sli laptops and there'll most likely be a mobile 8800gtx shortly. But in all things theres a compromise. Usually cost. So comparing it against a €600 gfx card isn't what I was thinking. Despite what I actually said.

sharingan wrote:

...My mate wants a serious gaming machine.... Y'know practical to move in the back of his car if an impromptu Lan party got arranged....Basically he does want it to handle the latest games (obviously not in 2xSLI gorgeousness etc.) but he is willing to compromise on power/price for the practicality of a laptop.

When I had a M1710 I found with a little tweaking, and a little drop in res/detail most things ran happily enough. I didn't test it on every game or benchmarks, just the ones I was interested in. I had a problem with the screen so i returned it.