Getting a New Laptop, Suggestions?

[Wanted Bob]

Hey HalfLife2.net,

So, this being my last year of high school, I plan to go to university next year. Along with that, I'm planning to get a laptop as well. The one problem for me is trying to find the right balance between a number of factors, and knowing you guys know a lot about various computers, I thought I would ask for some advice.

In university, I would still plan to use the laptop for quite a bit of gaming, amongst things like photoshop, blender, and word processing. Obviously, gaming is going to be the most demanding activity, and will probably require a good processor, graphics card, RAM, and hard drive (not Solid State cause I dont have the budget for it). In terms of price I would be willing to pay a good amount to get the right parts, so preferably between $2500-$3000 (or less).

However, there is one problem. Seeing as I am going to university, I will definately carry it around to classes, making a really heavy laptop impractical. Ideally, somewhere around 7 pounds would be a good weight, unless someone recommends going lighter than this. In addition, I know that battery life can also be an issue, so I'm looking to find a decent life, though I know most desktop replacements only go for 2 hours or so.

It is a lot of parameters to consider, and although there is no "perfect" laptop I am just trying to find the best compromise here, even if that means sacrificing something. Are there any models/companies that you would recommend?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Laivasse]

$2500-3000 will net you pretty much the best of the best, so there shouldn't have to be too much compromise involved IMO. Personally when I required a laptop that could do gaming I opted for a Sager, and I think maybe the 15.4" Sager NP8662 would suit your needs, since it can be configged with the new GTX 260m and weighs about 7lbs with the batt-pack. I have no idea how much it costs in its various configurations (of RAM, HD size, etc) so you would have to play with the config options to see, but I very much doubt it would exceed your limit.

The only problems I could foresee are heat and fan noise, although I think the NP8662 has a silent mode which slows the fans right down (just make sure you're not gaming at the time). Also has a HDMI out which is handy.

You could investigate what other people are saying about it on the Sager forums here (I own a different model so I can't really help), and this thread might help you out with Canada based resellers (although I'm pretty sure places like xoticpc.com and powernotebooks.com should ship to Canada).

However, I have read that Dell are selling off their XPS M1730's very cheaply lately, something like $1200-1600. You can get these with dual GeForce 9800m in SLI, which would be much better value and more powerful for gaming, although they are 17" machines, much heavier and less portable (and would likely run quite hot).
EDIT: Here's a link for that.

 

[Shakermaker]

If you're gonna spend that kind of money, I'd go for a MacBook and run bootcamp for your games. You're gonna carry it around a lot, so you don't want a laptop that weighs 3 or 4 kilos. I've seen older MacBooks run the Source games with all bells and whistles on.

 

[Dinnesch]

If you're gonna spend that kind of money, I'd go for a MacBook and run bootcamp for your games. You're gonna carry it around a lot, so you don't want a laptop that weighs 3 or 4 kilos. I've seen older MacBooks run the Source games with all bells and whistles on.

Running 5 year old games on extremely overpriced hardware isn't very impressive. A macbook isn't going to run any newer so doesn't fit as a gaming notebook.

This Sager thing Laivasse mentioned looks very interesting, especially for such a price. That GPU will slay games like Crysis and GTA IV, and of course the majority of games have lower requirements.

 

[Shakermaker]

For gaming it's great. It's over 3 kilos though. If portability is as big a factor as playing games I'd still reconsider.

 

[Rico]

Never buy a Mac if you're looking for value.
Never buy a Mac if you want to do any kind of gaming on it

 

[Dinnesch]

Only buy a mac if you want a PC which perfectly suits for office/school/internet use without any problems

Well let's not go offtopic

 

[Asus]

You've got a good budget, probably with room to spare. So that isn't a limiting factor.

Getting a laptop with at least a 6 cell battery instead of a 3 cell is a must for battery life.

Desktop replacements are not known to be light nor good on the battery life. But that is where you normally can find the good graphic cards being used (not even talking about high end gaming laptops like alienware). So I'd say researching and knowing what great mobile graphic cards can be used in lower powered laptops is what you need to know.
Maybe like Gateway's P series 17" LCD w/Nvidia 8800 mobile and 9 cell battery?
Newest model $1300 on gateways site. That was just a laptop that came up when searching. I'm sure there are others that are good gaming and yet are portable than desktop replacements have been in the past.

I know nvidia makes a 9500 mobile chip which is slower than the 8800. Not sure if it is in smaller laptops than the gateway above (9 pounds).
Just stay away from the Intel graphics (4500?).

That 15" Sager that Laivasse mentioned sounds awesome. Not quite the 9 cell (8 cell) but that shouldn't make much difference. The 15" form factor sounds a lot more portable plus the GPU is newer (260).

 

[Wanted Bob]

Yep, I gotta admit I had been looking at that particular Sager notebook for a few months now, and I finally decided on getting it.

Sure it aint the lightest, or have the longest battery life. But for the parts and the not-too-bad price, it was the best model I encountered during my research.

Thanks for the opinions guys.

 

[Dinnesch]

Yep, I gotta admit I had been looking at that particular Sager notebook for a few months now, and I finally decided on getting it.

Sure it aint the lightest, or have the longest battery life. But for the parts and the not-too-bad price, it was the best model I encountered during my research.

Thanks for the opinions guys.

I recommend you to buy a LOT of extended warranty for that one. Sager isn't quite a popular brand, and it seems like they didn't put as much effort in designing+testing it as more popular brands.

Be aware of a possible high fail rate which can happen with any brand(you can't tell now, as the notebook is just released)

 

[MRG]

Not sure if you put much stock in "Consumer Reports" but their last issue reviewed over 60 laptops. May help.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/computers-internet/computers/index.htm

-MRG

 

[Rico]

Only buy a mac if you want a PC which perfectly suits for office/school/internet use without any problems

Well let's not go offtopic

Only person going off topic here is you, my post was in direct response to someone recommending a mac as a gaming notebook within a certain budget.

 

[CyberPitz]

In reality, I have no idea.

 

[Wanted Bob]

I recommend you to buy a LOT of extended warranty for that one. Sager isn't quite a popular brand, and it seems like they didn't put as much effort in designing+testing it as more popular brands.

Be aware of a possible high fail rate which can happen with any brand(you can't tell now, as the notebook is just released)

Yeah, planned to get the 3-year warranty, cause I can't afford to replace the laptop during uni.

 

[Wanted Bob]

Sorry for the double post and bump, but I had another question.

So unwisely, I ordered it straight through the Sager website, and not a Canadian reseller (one is in my city, d'oh!).

The shipping according to them is three days, but I have no idea how long it takes to process/build my order.

Those of you who have bought from Sager, how long did it take you to receive your order from the time you placed the order?

 

[Dinnesch]

Just in case you didn't buy it yet, look at http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Xplorer_X5-9900_Notebook/ here. They sell the same notebook(apperantly some company just sells them to Cyberpower/Sager) with a better CPU and more RAM, and it doesn't cost very much more.

 

[Sedako]

*snip

A subwoofer in a freaking laptop? It's almost as if Alienware intentionally throws these things in to up the price.

 

[lame-o]

If you're gonna get a desktop replacement then get a 17 inch screen... it'll be worth it and if you have a problem lugging it around why not just buy a good laptop bag? Then it'll be like carrying a briefcase.

If you don't mind racing stripes then possibly get a Qosmio? They have good specs, but I don't think they look very good.

http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.grp?section=1&group=1&product=8471

Or, if you want something with good specs and looks good, get a Gateway P-7808u FX Edition

http://www.gateway.com/systems/series/529598056.php?cmpid=cmpid=sectnav_pseries

 

[Laivasse]

Sorry for the double post and bump, but I had another question.

So unwisely, I ordered it straight through the Sager website, and not a Canadian reseller (one is in my city, d'oh!).

The shipping according to them is three days, but I have no idea how long it takes to process/build my order.

Those of you who have bought from Sager, how long did it take you to receive your order from the time you placed the order?

I'm afraid I didn't buy direct from Sager so I don't really know. My order was also a pre-order on a newly released model so my experience was doubly atypical.

Usually these sorts of places are pretty helpful and communicative if you just shoot them an email. I wouldn't imagine that the order processing takes any longer than a week at the most.