Best place online to buy that gaming laptop/PC...

Andy!!

Short version: Anyone know of the best place online to buy a new gaming laptop/tower? That ships to Ireland?

Long version: I'm in the market to upgrade my main unit (Battlefield, Skyrim, blah blah) and was very surprised there is almost no stores in Dublin that offer a decent selection of pre-built towers anymore. I've been using a laptop as my main unit for years and have no problem with gaming laptops, would almost prefer it to be honest, in case I emigrate soon. I've been looking at a 3D Screen i5 Toshiba laptop for about a grand. But I heard Toshiba has a glasses free one now, but have been unable to get any info on whether its any good. I also found the 3D on the Toshiba I demoed to have good depth, but each 'level' or 'plane' was very flat. i.e. you could notice the depth between too people a distance away from each other, but the people themselves were very flat. This new machine has to last me a few years, so no point in buying gimped tech. Thoughts?

Dubba

www4.hardwareversand.de

Recommended by posters on the PC Building & Upgrading forum -

Guide - the Budget Gaming PC:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055278463&page=83

Monotype

Laptops - be sure to get one with a decent graphics card above all. If you're thinking of 3D, you'll need more power (although some forms of 3D might only need a little more since you're only seeing half the resolution in each eye, but I haven't studied the benchmarks on this). MSI's laptops are decent for gaming - check out komplett.ie or laptopsdirect.ie (UK company).

For PC, as Dubba mentions, check out the building and upgrading forum but be specific about what you want (i.e., make a new thread and answer the questions in the thread inked in my signature).

Cuddlesworth

Andy!! wrote: »

This new machine has to last me a few years, so no point in buying gimped tech. Thoughts?

By buying a laptop to play games, it will be gimped in two years.

Corkfeen

I have a gaming laptop while it's still playing games fine 2 years on. I'd prefer to have a desktop for gaming, purely for the upgrade value. That's why i'm building one a the moment. You'll save a bloody fortune and get a better machine if you get a desktop too. I'd recommend hardwareversand for the build too.

Skerries

the old question of getting a laptop or desktop for gaming isn't only a single option these days
Monotype and others would be able to spec up a good gaming desktop that will last years and still leave you money to get a good laptop for general use which would both be cheaper than a gaming laptop alone especially as gaming laptops aren't really that portable

Andy!!

Is it such a leap going from an i5 to an i7? I'm pretty much guaranteed to relegate my laptop to a '2 year machine' if I go i5, but I love shiny things and can't afford to go both 3D screen and i7...

Also is there a big difference between 1st and 2nd gen iProcessors?

Icyseanfitz

build a desktop for yourself, its dead easy and much better value than a gaming laptop, as for 3d you could always just buy a 3d monitor but tbh i couldnt care less about 3d

Andy!!

Yeah Im emigrating soon, Im definitely leaning towards a laptop. Plus, I do care about having the choice of 3D

Icyseanfitz

i had a dell xps m1730 (top of the line 3500 quid gaming laptop 4 years ago) sold it there last year as i could barely play games at medium anymore, you will never be able to upgrade it so 3-4 years after you buy it you will be looking to shell out another massive sum to A either get a desktop or B get another laptop, my advice to you is buy a cheap and cheerful laptop and a gaming desktop which will work out to a similar price as a half decent gaming laptop anyway,

remember a desktop doesnt have to be a miniature building, you can always get a small case or if push comes to shove you could always disassemble the whole thing to travel with it anyway

Andy!!

Yeah I'd NEVER spend that much on a gaming laptop lol, a choice like that would have me running to the towers too, but I like to shop around a little. Better off buying 3 gaming laptops in a row with that, six years ago I bought a gaming laptop for €1500 with a gig of ram and a 128MB (I think) Nvidia. I thought I was so cool at the time but it played all the games I wanted to for several years, €3500 Dells are just a bad choice short and long term...

Icyseanfitz

dont get me wrong 3500 for any sort of computer is madness and its not something id spend again, but it just shows how crappy gaming laptops are tbh. you really have to take the fact that the next generation of consoles will be coming out in a year or two as well, which means visuals will take a leap forward and in all likely hood your laptop will start to struggle.

My advice about a cheap laptop and a reasonable gaming desktop is in my opinion the way to go if you need something portable for work or whatever