[Lumiere]

Am in the market for a new laptop as my macbook pro is on its last legs

I am severely un-impressed by the quality of macbook hardware and the hassle I have had with my macbook so I am in the market for a windows laptop

The main thing I missed about not having a windows machine was 3D gaming.

So I am looking for a laptop with the following criteria :

* light portable and preferably under 15 inches in size and less than 5 lbs
* Good graphics card for powerful 3D gaming. Good spec / directx capabilities etc.
* Under $1,000
* As much memory and hard drive as I can get for my $$$$$
* Sturdy and reliable build quality. This will be my main travel laptop.
* Good battery life so several modes of operation. One mode for gaming (high performance, low battery), one for long battery life for when I am just typing or browsing and not doing anything too per-formant for example
* Does not have to come with an OS. I am a techie. I can put windows on it myself.

Anyone in the know on such things have some recommendations?

Any of the new tablet PCs worth a look?

[Badstuber]

Mac Osx isn't good for gaming anyways.
What games do you play?

This is what I have running on my Asus K72JK notebook. Like you said, standard systems come with a lot of bloatware crap, so I installed windows on my own (PM me if you need a key.)

Operating System
MS Windows 7 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i5 430M @ 2.27GHz53 °C
Arrandale 32nm Technology
RAM
6.0GB
Motherboard
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. K72Jk (Socket 989)
Graphics
Generic PnP Monitor @ 1600x900
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 Series
Hard Drives
488GB Seagate ST9500325AS ATA Device (Unknown Interface)37 °C
488GB Seagate ST9500325AS ATA Device (Unknown Interface)31 °C
Optical Drives
MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ890AS ATA Device
Audio
High Definition Audio Device

[Lumiere]

I was leaning towards buying an ASUS but dont have any experience with them

Are they good / reliable / sturdy build?

Is the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 Series a good graphics card for 3D gaming? Games like the recent call of duty game. First person shooters, GTA, things like that.

How is performance and battery life?

Do ASUS ship anywhere in the world? I am in Indonesia now and they have local distributors here but it might be cheaper to buy direct from them if that is possible.

Does 64 bit windows run well?

[Lumiere]

Anyone tried the alienware m11x ?

For its size its capabilities looks awesome !

6000 graphics performance rating on 3DMark06 via an NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M (with Nvidia Optimus) and an i5 or i7 intel CPU in an 11 inch notebook
weighing less than 5lbs !

Check it out

Problem would be getting one in Indonesia. Anyone in the states care to help me out by shipping one from there? PM me if you can help.

This looks good too but pricier and a bit on the heavy side.

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=wGROClu9UevFOGKS

[Badstuber]

I wouldn't buy an alienware. Expensive for nothing.

My laptop plays those games fine if you put the graphics on medium.

[Mrs. Chocolate]

If you like to play high quality games, expend your money on video hardware.

[Lumiere]

(09-18-2010 05:15 PM)Mrs. Chocolate Wrote:  

If you like to play high quality games, expend your money on video hardware.

Yeah there isn't anything else like that alienware machine with that power in that form factor.

I would actually prefer at 13 or 14 inch gaming PC with a nicer screen but the form factors seem to jump straight to 15 inch, way to heavy and way too expensive.

If anyone knows of any, let me know.

[Caramel Communist]

Do not buy the HP Envy...I bought the 15th inch model for like 2 grand....shit overheats, cutsoff for no reason.....I'm sending it in for warranty this week.....HP has done nothing to address common customer issues nor force vendors to update drivers....

[Lumiere]

(09-18-2010 03:06 PM)Badstuber Wrote:  

I wouldn't buy an alienware. Expensive for nothing.

The alienware that I mentioned is under $1,000

Pretty amazing graphics and processor for that price

[Gmac]

I don't recommend laptops for gaming period. They're more expensive, overheat easily with extended use, and last a lot less long than a good desktop (which is cheaper). Building your own PC is the way to go (a la newegg.com), but if you can't do that there are a few sites out there much better than bestbuy.

[Chad Daring]

(04-18-2011 01:13 PM)Gmac Wrote:  

I don't recommend laptops for gaming period. They're more expensive, overheat easily with extended use, and last a lot less long than a good desktop (which is cheaper). Building your own PC is the way to go (a la newegg.com), but if you can't do that there are a few sites out there much better than bestbuy.

This is basically what I was just about to type. Building your own PC is very easy and very affordable for a gaming rig.

Protip: Go to Alienware or Velocity Micro's website and do a custom build, they'll give you the name of each piece of hardware. Take that info go to http://www.tigerdirect.com and order all that hardware. Shove it in a box and enjoy.

I did this when I was 17 for my crazy assed gaming rig. Alienware priced the computer I built near 7k, I built it for just under 2k.