Question:
Gaming Laptop at Budget Price
General Questions
1) What is your budget?
$1000 - $1250 (Could be stretched $100 more, if the extra cost is justified)
2) What size notebook would you prefer?
Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
3) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?
Gaming. Painter IX and Photoshop. Using Word, some programming, graphing, web surfing etc.
4) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?
Left at the desk most of the time, but might move it around once in a while.
5) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?
I want to play games such as Oblivion, F.E.A.R. at the native resolution of the laptop screen, without sacrificing too much image quality (med~med-high settings is fine).
6) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
No preference. Maybe a slight dislike for Dell's, but still, let me hear what you recommend for Dell.
7) How many hours of battery life do you need?
2 hours. But doesn't really matter if the laptop is sweet enough a deal.
8) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?
No.
9) What country are you buying this in?
US
Screen Specifics
10) Would you prefer standard or widescreen?
No preference.
11) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?
WXGA or WXGA+ - 1280x768/800 or 1440x900; Wider viewing version of XGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets. (Budget gaming laptop would have trouble handling a higher native resolution. Stretched graphics/ black borders is out of question due to the small laptop screen.)
12) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
Glossy. I <3 glossy screens.
Build Quality and Design
13) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
No - if the machine is a gaming powerhouse. But if not, then, looks matter a bit.
14) How long do you want this laptop to last?
2~3 years
Notebook Components
15) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 120GB?
80GB to 120GB is fine with me. I have 200GB + 300GB external HDDs anyway.
16) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD-ROM, DVD-CD/RW or DVD-RW drive?
DVD+/-RW is a must.
Additional Comments
Acer 5672WLMi w/X1600 seems good to me, but I would love to have more options before throwing away $1000+.
Answer:
Re: Gaming Laptop at Budget Price
either that or the asus s96j or compal hel80 are your options.
Answer:
Re: Gaming Laptop at Budget Price
yesh. Asus S96J might be something to look into.
Answer:
Re: Gaming Laptop at Budget Price
Hmm, the Asus S96J sounds like the one I've been looking for, especially seeing Cassandra's specs. The problem is, I can't find reviews of the notebook.
Answer:
Re: Gaming Laptop at Budget Price
check the asus forums. symetrikal's journal has some information. also, there is a link floating around to a review on another site.
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Re: Gaming Laptop at Budget Price
These laptops require self-assembly, right? Is that the reason for their low prices?
Now that I've found some reviews on the units, I'm having a hard time finding any website that sells them. *sigh*
Answer:
Re: Gaming Laptop at Budget Price
errr...they are not self-assembly if you don't want them to be. if you want to save money, you can buy the barebones system and then install the components yourself. or you can order from the reseller and just get them to install it for you. check out geared2play.com, powernotebooks.com, and gentechpc.com for some excellent resellers.
if you would like to check out the compal hel80, discountlaptops.com is a reputable reseller that carries it right now.
Answer:
Re: Gaming Laptop at Budget Price
As ejl said, you CAN assemble it yourself, and save some money, but you certainly don't have to. Mine is coming to me all ready. Basically built-on means that Asus doesnt assemble them, and you get to choose exactly what specs you want (so the price also varies depending on what you choose). If you want to be the one assembling it, you can. Or you can tell a reseller what specs you want, and they do it for you.
With the s96J, Gentech is where you can get it cheapest, to my knowledge, with the option of them assembling it for you. powernotebooks is a tad more, but they have a 3 year warranty (where I ordered mine from). Both have good reviews on resellerratings.com
googling S96J will get you Gentech as the first link. Powernotebooks.com for powernotebooks^^
Answer:
Re: Gaming Laptop at Budget Price
Looks like the Asus S96J is the best deal out there. Is it worth waiting for the price drop in Core Duo chips at the end of May?
I've also noticed that the S96J comes with a 256MB X1600... Does the 256MB version make a huge difference compared to the 128MB version? Allows one to use better texture quality and higher resolutions without a huge performance hit?
Answer:
Re: Gaming Laptop at Budget Price
The price drop is today, so you don't need to wait. I know powernotebooks adgusted for it already, but they have a backorder so you'd have to wait to get it either way. Dunno about Gentech/geared2play/other resellers, but if they haven't adjusted the price already, they should be doing so very soon.
Generally, to my knowledge, the higher the VRAM the better the performance, within reason (like, if it's higher then the graphics card is capable of, not gonna help you much to have it). Dunno about notebooks specifically, but I do know that when I changed my desktop graphics are to a higher VRAM there was a noticable performance improvment.