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New Laptop Options

So with Diablo III on the horizon and the amount of SCII I play I am considering Selling my 13in Macbook pro and getting a new PC laptop for gaming

What are some recommendations around the 900 dollar range ?
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Comments

  • IvanIvan Icrontic’s Loveable Bot
  • mertesnmertesn Icrontic Duke of Haxor Community Leader, Supporter, Writer, Expo Attendee
    Your best bet will be a laptop based around an AMD A8 APU, possibly paired with a discrete GPU. Don't be turned off by the lack of a discrete GPU though - the A8 APU is a surprisingly capable processor.

    The HP Pavilion dv6z Quad Edition is a good starting point. Its base price is $499 and can be made into a great portable gaming machine while still sticking to your budget.
  • ardichokeardichoke Buttes Supporter, Gaming Leader
    I've been looking into this exact same quandry, especially since my GD MSI laptop started breaking near the LCD hinge. From what I've seen, nothing with a better LCD than 1366x768 is going to be less than 1200 dollars... and believe me, you want a better panel than that for gaming. I hate 1366 panels.

    EDIT: of course, mertsen swoops in and proves me wrong preemptively. How did I not find that one before now?!
  • ThraxThrax Professional Shill, Fashion Police, Complex Hierarchy Interpreter, Community Leader, D&D Supernerd, Supporter, Dance Commander, Official Rep, Expo Attendee
    How long will you be keeping it before you sell it? ;)
  • Not sure why? Its a 13in pro with 8gb DDR 1066 and a 500 gb WD scorpio black 2.2 C2D and the 330M Graphics
  • also not quite 1 yr old
  • So If I got a A8-3550MX 2.7/2.0 With a 7690M graphics what performance should i expect?
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach! Event Organizer, Supporter, Gaming Leader, Writer, Folding@Home Leader, Expo Attendee
    http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1670898
    http://www.anandtech.com/Show/Index/4616?cPage=3&all=False&sort=0&page=5&slug=llano-in-the-wild-toshibas-satellite-l775ds7206

    You'll be able to Crossfire the graphics for a little boost, but it will not beat i5 from what I saw. Very usable real world though.

    I built it with those two options and a 1080p screen, came out to $794.99. I would add a SSD (purchased separately from Newegg or the like) and call it a day. If you will have access to a monitor, or don't care about 1080p content, that will drop $150 off your price.
  • mertesnmertesn Icrontic Duke of Haxor Community Leader, Supporter, Writer, Expo Attendee
    Save your money on the SSD upgrade and buy one separately. Same with any non-free memory upgrades. Those are very easy to do on your own, and often much less expensive. HP doesn't list the speed of that RAM...guarantee it's DDR3-1333 at best. For the same $60 they're charging for the 8GB mystery speed upgrade, you can get an 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600 kit and have $19 left over. A screwdriver and ten minutes is all you'll need. That $460 they're charging for the 16GB upgrade? $170 on Newegg for better stuff.

    (edit for my terrible mousing skills):
    HP wants $290 for the 160GB mystery brand SSD upgrade. There's a nice 240GB Corsair Force III SSD for $15 less. Probably add another five minutes or so if you're upgrading at the same time as your RAM.
  • SSD is not high on my list as long as it is 7200 RPM ill be happy Ram id upgrade myself, Graphics and speed of CPU is all I am really worried about
  • mertesnmertesn Icrontic Duke of Haxor Community Leader, Supporter, Writer, Expo Attendee
    I'd spring for the upgraded display and discrete GPU. For gaming I'd start at 1920x1080 with no settings turned up and adjust to taste. Some games might need 1280x720 to use any kind of AA or AF, but you should have a good gaming experience either way.
  • See right now sc 2 plays on medium. all i car is diablo 3 plays on medium will my current macbook do that
  • allenpanallenpan Icrontic Posting Maniac Member, Supporter
    u might wanna wait, i prefer ASUS laptop, there is a new model coming in june for computex Taiwan, (which will be avalibe right the way in TW @ july) and end of summer or begining of fall in NA

    have you look into the ASUS G serie? the 15.6" and 17" has 4 DIMM slots... like seriously.... as ram so cheap, i rather have that many slots, btw if do get ASUS and has empty slots let me know, i got a box of 2GB sticks free of charge.

    the G53SX is going about 900$ for standard spec...pop mroe free ram from you, you are golden...!

    Geforce 560GTX M...

    http://usa.asus.com/Notebooks/Gaming_Powerhouse/G53SX/#specifications

    image
  • Honestly dude that thing is uglier than our economy
  • mertesnmertesn Icrontic Duke of Haxor Community Leader, Supporter, Writer, Expo Attendee
    u might wanna wait, i prefer ASUS laptop, there is a new model coming in june for computex Taiwan, (which will be avalibe right the way in TW @ july) and end of summer or begining of fall in NA

    have you look into the ASUS G serie? the 15.6" and 17" has 4 DIMM slots... like seriously.... as ram so cheap, i rather have that many slots, btw if do get ASUS and has empty slots let me know, i got a box of 2GB sticks free of charge.

    the G53SX is going about 900$ for standard spec...pop mroe free ram from you, you are golden...!

    Geforce 560GTX M...

    http://usa.asus.com/Notebooks/Gaming_Powerhouse/G53SX/#specifications

    image
    I wouldn't touch another ASUS notebook if you paid me to. You're golden as long as it doesn't have problems, but if you ever need a repair you'll be dealing with this shit

    My laptop is going in for its sixth, and final, RMA. It's being replaced because they just can't get it working correctly.

    I'm not saying every ASUS notebook is like this, because they couldn't possibly stay in business if it were the case. I am saying that their warranty repair service has not been a pleasant experience. I'm placing their "Republic of Gamers" G-series notebooks in the category of "Cheap for a Reason".
  • Since its been a while for me, What kida gaming performance can I expect out of this?



    • AMD Quad-Core A8-3550MX Accelerated Processor (2.7GHz/2.0GHz, 4MB L2 Cache)
    • 1GB AMD Radeon(TM) HD 7690M GDDR5 Discrete Graphics(TM) [HDMI, VGA]
    • FREE UPGRADE to 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
    • 750GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
    • 9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
    • 15.6" Full HD HP Anti-glare LED (1920 x 1080)
    • SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
    • HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
    • 802.11b/g/n WLAN
  • Church4252Church4252 Supporter, Writer
    Honestly dude that thing is uglier than our economy
    I lawl'd
  • ardichokeardichoke Buttes Supporter, Gaming Leader
    Since its been a while for me, What kida gaming performance can I expect out of this?
    -snip-
    Good enough to play most any current or upcoming video game I reckon
  • SYSTEM Inspiron 15R
    PROCESSOR 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5-2450M processor (2.50GHz, with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.10GHz)
    MEMORY 6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
    HARD DRIVE 750GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
    INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE 8X Tray Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
    SYSTEM COLOR Switch by Design Studio - Diamond Black
    DISPLAY 15.6" High Definition (720p) LED Display with Truelife™
    WEBCAM Integrated 1.0 mega pixel widescreen HD Webcam
    BATTERY OPTIONS 48 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
    WIRELESS CARDS Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1030, 1x2 bgn + Bluetooth
    SOUND OPTIONS HD Audio 2.0 Support SRS™ Premium Sound
    NETWORK CARD Integrated 10/100 Network Card
  • Looking at that one too
  • ardichokeardichoke Buttes Supporter, Gaming Leader
    I see no mention of a graphics card on the Inspiron... also, only a 720p display... this doesn't bode well for the gaming experience. I'd definitely go for the first one you linked.
  • Yea i am going to go HP if i sell,
  • hmm the 330M in my macbook pro is the recommended system specs so that means Medium is attainable. But I am salivating over the possibilities
  • allenpanallenpan Icrontic Posting Maniac Member, Supporter
    hummm,i was not aware of this problem, i will forward Nick Mertes' problem to someone higher up whom i know well in ASUS.

    the color issue is mostlikey due to BGA fultige, one reason i prefer asus is the board layout, and 98% of time i can fix the board myself... unlike Dell which is made by Quanta, the board is auto generation and alot of mix analog and digital circuits, i hate it, it usually take longer for me to troubleshoot/ fix one
  • ardichokeardichoke Buttes Supporter, Gaming Leader
    That's the difference between you and everyone else in this thread... you're happy to fix your own electronics when they break. Everyone else expects the company to honor their warranty and fix the broken thing in a timely manner.
  • allenpanallenpan Icrontic Posting Maniac Member, Supporter
    true, anyway i just fried an email to ASUS higher up, see what they say
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