Gaming laptops anyone? Or is that an oxymoron?

[legacyoneup]

I have a nomadic lifestyle so the portability of a laptop is sooooo attractive.

[Guses]

I had an asus laptop with a dedicated graphics card. Although it was better than nothing, it still was not very good. I got rid of it after a few months.

Maybe the technology has improved in the last generation, but gaming laptops are not very good at portable gaming.  If you MUST game while on the go, I guess they do an ok job. However, the portable aspects are disadvantaged with the larger screen,  are heavier and have less battery duration.

If you can compromise, it would be much cheaper and better to have a cheapo laptop for portable computing and a dedicated gaming rig. You will pay through the nose for a decent gaming laptop.

[rocketpj]

I play games on my laptop, but the games I tend to buy are a few years out of date.  They all look pretty good compared to Space Invaders, which was my first video game.

I don't know about paying out the huge cash to buy a top of the line machine.  When my old clunker gives up I usually get the 'cutting edge last year' machine for 1/2 the price of the new stuff.  Then I play games that came out two years ago - with the added bonus that all the glitches have been patched, all the extra content has been released, and all the crappy games have been outed already.  I don't game enough to ever run out of 'top of the line 3 years ago' games.

[legacyoneup]

http://www.asus.com/us/site/g-series/

I've been looking at this :-) :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231633

[Left]

does it have to be pc games? android/ios games arent bad and play well on tablet/phone

[legacyoneup]

does it have to be pc games? android/ios games arent bad and play well on tablet/phone

Um.. I got hooked onto mmo games. It would be difficult for me to switch back.

[Left]

there are mmo games on the mobile os too, if graphics aren't as important anyways.

I like my toshiba qosmio but it has a 18 inch screen, big for a laptop but I use it as a destop replacement so large screen is nice. I can't testify how it does on games (I don't really play) but I think they advertised it for games as well (and a 3d screen too). Might look into the toshiba lines anyways, I've been pleased with the quality of it. It isn't "rugged" though so not for lots of outdoor work if you need it for that. Toshiba laptops have dual harddive bays, might be more standard now but at the time I got mine, it was fairly new concept to me. Could keep a solid state for games and normal (cheaper) for OS

that near $2k laptop in your link, might want to look into getting one with less harddrive/ram then buy it yourself and put it in for a cheaper price. I've also found the i5 chip does as well for most things as the i7 outside of hard video/graphic editting (don't know if games require the same processing since it's mostly inthe graphic chip isn't it?). i5 chip will cost a bit less and runs cooler, use less electricity if it meets your needs.

what about those all in one pcs? The ones that have the pc built into the monitor (doesn't sound like a gaming setup but I've been out of pc hardware loop for a long time)
Wait a few weeks, with the holidays coming up, laptop deals should be coming out for it and they want to move inventory for new years too

[Bonsai]

I got a $1000 ASUS gaming Laptop from Best Buy in 2009. It crapped out after a year and a half, but the Best Buy warranty covered it. The stipulations of the warranty said that the failing laptop could be subbed out for an equivalent or better one -- since that was one of the rare laptops with a modular video card, and they had no other modular laptops in the store, I walked out with the best ASUS in the room, a $1200 display model. That laptop has lasted me 3.5 years and counting, and runs pretty much everything you'd want it to at a decent clip. That same laptop probably costs in the $700 range now, if that.

So what I'm saying is, yeah, you can get a decent gaming laptop, but you've gotta be willing to pay for it, or at the very least luck out into it.

[legacyoneup]

I walked out with the best ASUS in the room, a $1200 display model. That laptop has lasted me 3.5 years and counting, and runs pretty much everything you'd want it to at a decent clip. That same laptop probably costs in the $700 range now, if that.

Sweet!!!

[Beaker]

I've got a Lenovo Y510p. I got it because they had a sale that made it cheaper than the non-gaming laptops, but it's turned out well. I don't run anything super demanding, probably the most high end thing is World of Tanks with medium-high settings, but it's done well with that. I'm sure it would be fine for MMOs, but probably not for cutting edge action games.

My only major complaint is that the trackpad is utter trash - I basically won't use it without a mouse. Also I've noticed is that if it's unplugged the graphics performance goes off a cliff, even after tweaking power settings so that it shouldn't do that, but it's not too much trouble to just plug it in.

[Future Lazy]

+1 to the Asus - I bought an Asus in Feb of this year, one with a double GPU - one integrated for internet browsing and video and one dedicated for actual games. So far, it's played beautifully. I picked it after I read through a number of online reviews where the worst complaints were of defective models replaced with working ones, the keyboard being 'too plastic-y' (whatever that means) and the metal casing being 'too smudgey'. Will update this thread later with the exact model number...

[legacyoneup]

I bought it. This is my first laptop ever.. and i'm old ( will be 35 this December).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231633

Let the facepunches begin :-(

[poorjoy]

Gaming laptops probably give the worst value for money out of any product I can think of.

Want to pc game in general?
Second hand 7970 and a 2500k.
Want to game on the go?
Handheld device with buttons of some sort.

[Bonsai]

Since you already pulled the trigger on a ~$2000 laptop, take this advice: Get an aftermarket warranty, and do absolutely anything and everything you can to make that laptop last for 10 years.

That's pretty much the only way this purchase makes even a remote amount of sense.