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Need a gaming laptop plz help!!!

Spartan3088Spartan3088 Member Posts: 35
in Hardware

So I came to work today and got great news... They are buying me a laptop for work that I get to pick out and I get $1300.00 to spend. And after asking u guys for help on my desktop build I thought i might ask now for help on what would be a good gaming laptop ( i mean work laptop ;) lol ). Only thing i kind of want in a gaming laptop is a 17.3" Full HD 1920x1080 screen.(15" screen might be ok 2 if need be) Dont care to much for how long the Battery last because it will most likely be plug in anytime its being used. Again games I am looking to play are WoW, diablo 3, call of duty, CS. Only thing my job wants out of this is for the laptop to last along time.

Anyway I am lost as to where i should buy it from and what would be the best spec. If u guys could link me some good laptops for $1300 or point me to where would be a good company to buy from that would help a great deal.

thanks so much

Comments

  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,509

    What sort of work are you going to do on it?  If it's going to be frequently used like a desktop in your office, then buying an external keyboard, mouse, and monitor would be very nice, even if you have to give up some gaming performance to make room in the budget.  I'd also make sure that you get an SSD.  You don't want to have to spend a lot of time working on a computer that's nice for gaming but terrible for getting real work done.

  • jdnewelljdnewell Member UncommonPosts: 2,237

    If your looking for a website for laptops http://avadirect.com is a decent place to look and buy from. You can configure your own, and their pre configured ones are not gimped like alot of laptops.

    With that budget strictly on a laptop I would make sure you get an SSD instead of a hard drive. A decent graphics option will do IMO, get something good but not top tier.  8g of RAM will be plenty as well, for most situations.

    Like Quiz said tho, alot depends on what kind of work you are doing. I would buy around work before I did gaming. Make sure it will do everything required for work, and then add a decent gpu.

    If you are going to be doing alot of work for many hours a day then accessories should be bought. Monitor, keyboard, Mouse, ect. Working all day on a laptop pretty much blows.

  • FelixMajorFelixMajor Member RarePosts: 865

    Gaming laptop?  That's the biggest oxymoron ever XD

     

    JK, I honestly have no idea about laptops as gaming rigs.

    Originally posted by Arskaaa
    "when players learned tacticks in dungeon/raids, its bread".

  • Spartan3088Spartan3088 Member Posts: 35
    Well its mostly going to be a gaming laptop. it will be on most likely for 10-12 hours a day. I was planing on getting one of those chill mats to help keep it cooler.(again not sure what a good one would be) As far as work goes not much at all... some word, excel, quickbooks. Not going to lie i work for only about 1 hour a day and in the summer even less then that which is why its mostly going to be a gaming laptop to kill the work day. As far with the external keyboard and monitor... that might be harder at times seeing how i do travel to different locations...about 10 different stores. I guess i do need a good Wi-Fi card (as u mostly guessed). A bigger monitor to go with it would rock however i would have to take that with me at times or just leave it at the main store.
  • jdnewelljdnewell Member UncommonPosts: 2,237
    Originally posted by Spartan3088
    Well its mostly going to be a gaming laptop. it will be on most likely for 10-12 hours a day. I was planing on getting one of those chill mats to help keep it cooler.(again not sure what a good one would be) As far as work goes not much at all... some word, excel, quickbooks. Not going to lie i work for only about 1 hour a day and in the summer even less then that which is why its mostly going to be a gaming laptop to kill the work day. As far with the external keyboard and monitor... that might be harder at times seeing how i do travel to different locations...about 10 different stores. I guess i do need a good Wi-Fi card (as u mostly guessed). A bigger monitor to go with it would rock however i would have to take that with me at times or just leave it at the main store.

    I want to know where you work and your job title. I need to put in an application first thing in the morning. =)

    On that kind of a budget you can get a nice laptop for gaming. Just look around on the web and get some ideas. An SSD is a must have on that budget tho.

  • darkhalf357xdarkhalf357x Member UncommonPosts: 1,237

    I have a laptop gaming rig and surprisingly it cost the same as your budget.  Its nothing fancy

    i7 2600 series processor

    8GB RAM

    Nvidia GTX 570M

    <bunch of other options like network port, usb 3.0, etc>

    Windows 7 64bit

    Throw in a hard drive of your choice (SSD will bump the price but improve performance).  

    I play GW2, SWTOR, TSW, Skyrim, Transformers War for Cybertron, Darksiders 2 (limited graphics options) all on max settings with no issue what so ever.   It does get hot (I have a good fan) and if unplugged I cant use max settings on Nvidia card.  But like me you are not looking for mobility but portability.

    I also use this laptop for my video editing using Adobe CS5 Master Collection and it runs like a charm.

    So yeah, gaming laptops are doable.

    image
  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,509
    Originally posted by Spartan3088
    Well its mostly going to be a gaming laptop. it will be on most likely for 10-12 hours a day. I was planing on getting one of those chill mats to help keep it cooler.(again not sure what a good one would be) As far as work goes not much at all... some word, excel, quickbooks. Not going to lie i work for only about 1 hour a day and in the summer even less then that which is why its mostly going to be a gaming laptop to kill the work day. As far with the external keyboard and monitor... that might be harder at times seeing how i do travel to different locations...about 10 different stores. I guess i do need a good Wi-Fi card (as u mostly guessed). A bigger monitor to go with it would rock however i would have to take that with me at times or just leave it at the main store.

    Are you basically on call waiting for problems to show up, which you then go fix?  And want to sit and play games while you're waiting?

    The reason I ask is that what laptop people should get depends very strongly on what they're going to do with it.

  • Spartan3088Spartan3088 Member Posts: 35

    Well kind of...I send in the store orders and check on the where abouts of orders. So all i need the laptop for is e-mail and surfing the web. There is little more to it then that but not much. Any walmart pc could do.  but they are willing to buy a $1300 laptop and they know i sit there and play games for most of the day all summer long so why not buy a gaming laptop. The only time i do real work for a full day is during the winter. So what i want is to find a good laptop for $1,300 that can run the games i listed well and will last for a long time(the laptop will be on all day at work). And as i said before i dont care much about how long the battery will last as i will always have it plug in. Desktop would of been better however i do travel to different stores and i do have to work a little lol.(also i guess they told me to get a laptop) Dont take this post the wrong way i am greatful ur trying to help me get the best laptop for my job and my gaming needs. I could go into the job more but its kind of pointless...this laptop is going to be for gaming only. So any idea on where i should buy from and what type of build? any links to a laptop u would buy would be great. 

    thanks for all ur help with this laptop and my desktop

  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,509
    Originally posted by Spartan3088

    Well kind of...I send in the store orders and check on the where abouts of orders. So all i need the laptop for is e-mail and surfing the web. There is little more to it then that but not much. Any walmart pc could do.  but they are willing to buy a $1300 laptop and they know i sit there and play games for most of the day all summer long so why not buy a gaming laptop. The only time i do real work for a full day is during the winter. So what i want is to find a good laptop for $1,300 that can run the games i listed well and will last for a long time(the laptop will be on all day at work). And as i said before i dont care much about how long the battery will last as i will always have it plug in. Desktop would of been better however i do travel to different stores and i do have to work a little lol.(also i guess they told me to get a laptop) Dont take this post the wrong way i am greatful ur trying to help me get the best laptop for my job and my gaming needs. I could go into the job more but its kind of pointless...this laptop is going to be for gaming only. So any idea on where i should buy from and what type of build? any links to a laptop u would buy would be great. 

    thanks for all ur help with this laptop and my desktop

    I would go with this:

    http://www.xoticpc.com/force-1756006-msi-1756-msi-ge70-barebones-p-5036.html?wconfigure=yes

    Take your pick of Windows 7 or Windows 8, and add a 128 GB Crucial mSATA SSD.  It's basically an mSATA version of a Crucial M4.  You want it configured as a primary drive with the OS installed, not a cache drive.

    That leaves you some space in the budget, so you could add either a Bigfoot Wireless-N 1103 if you're stuck using a wireless Internet connection, or 8 GB of system memory, configured as two 4 GB modules if you have a wired connection at work.

    It is possible to get a faster video card instead of the SSD, but if it's a GeForce GTX 670M or 675M, I'd advise against it.  Those are old, hot Fermi cards, and your boss won't be impressed if you fry your work laptop by making it overheat.  A GeForce GTX 660M is a decently capable video card, and runs much cooler.

    The only high end video card you could get on your budget is a Radeon HD 7970M in an MSI GX60:

    http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gx60-1ac021us-preorder-p-5009.html?wconfigure=yes

    But I'd advise against that, as it would mean you don't have room in the budget for an SSD, you get a slower processor, and you only get a 15" monitor.

  • rguilbertrguilbert Member Posts: 107
    Highly recommend Xotic PC.  I got my last Sager from them, and have been very happy both with it, and with the company in general. 
  • grndzrogrndzro Member UncommonPosts: 1,163
    Originally posted by Quizzical
    Originally posted by Spartan3088

    Well kind of...I send in the store orders and check on the where abouts of orders. So all i need the laptop for is e-mail and surfing the web. There is little more to it then that but not much. Any walmart pc could do.  but they are willing to buy a $1300 laptop and they know i sit there and play games for most of the day all summer long so why not buy a gaming laptop. The only time i do real work for a full day is during the winter. So what i want is to find a good laptop for $1,300 that can run the games i listed well and will last for a long time(the laptop will be on all day at work). And as i said before i dont care much about how long the battery will last as i will always have it plug in. Desktop would of been better however i do travel to different stores and i do have to work a little lol.(also i guess they told me to get a laptop) Dont take this post the wrong way i am greatful ur trying to help me get the best laptop for my job and my gaming needs. I could go into the job more but its kind of pointless...this laptop is going to be for gaming only. So any idea on where i should buy from and what type of build? any links to a laptop u would buy would be great. 

    thanks for all ur help with this laptop and my desktop

    I would go with this:

    http://www.xoticpc.com/force-1756006-msi-1756-msi-ge70-barebones-p-5036.html?wconfigure=yes

    Take your pick of Windows 7 or Windows 8, and add a 128 GB Crucial mSATA SSD.  It's basically an mSATA version of a Crucial M4.  You want it configured as a primary drive with the OS installed, not a cache drive.

    That leaves you some space in the budget, so you could add either a Bigfoot Wireless-N 1103 if you're stuck using a wireless Internet connection, or 8 GB of system memory, configured as two 4 GB modules if you have a wired connection at work.

    It is possible to get a faster video card instead of the SSD, but if it's a GeForce GTX 670M or 675M, I'd advise against it.  Those are old, hot Fermi cards, and your boss won't be impressed if you fry your work laptop by making it overheat.  A GeForce GTX 660M is a decently capable video card, and runs much cooler.

    The only high end video card you could get on your budget is a Radeon HD 7970M in an MSI GX60:

    http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gx60-1ac021us-preorder-p-5009.html?wconfigure=yes

    But I'd advise against that, as it would mean you don't have room in the budget for an SSD, you get a slower processor, and you only get a 15" monitor.

    I give up trying to beat this. I couldn't find an HP Envy 17t-3200 anywhere. 1hr wasted :)

    Iagree, for a laptop the 660m is a much better card.

  • MoorqueenMoorqueen Member UncommonPosts: 40
    or you could do the ethical thing and buy the cheapest laptop that will allow you to get your work done and save your compnay some money
  • jdnewelljdnewell Member UncommonPosts: 2,237
    Originally posted by Moorqueen
    or you could do the ethical thing and buy the cheapest laptop that will allow you to get your work done and save your compnay some money

    They told him he had a $1300 budget. There is nothing unethical about using the budget the company set. If they are dumb enough to offer him a budget they shouldnt or cant afford then there are bigger issues at hand.

    Chances are its a large company and can easily afford it. The company I work for spends more on a night of food and drinks for a few people.

    This is not an ethics issue.

  • Spartan3088Spartan3088 Member Posts: 35

    Quizzical thanks so much for all of ur help. the laptop looks great. I last thing if u dont mind... what do u think about those chill pads? seeing how this laptop will run all day long do u think i should spend the money to get one to help keep it running for a long time? This is what i found however i didnt look to long

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834997969

    Might be able to get one or even this one cheaper i didnt look much because i wanted to see what u thought about them.

     

    As for the whole saving money for the company comment someone made.... They know very well what i do on the laptop all day long. They are happy that i keep the stores running smooth.(which just so happens to be very easy to do lol) They are happy because they dont have to be here.

     

  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,509
    Originally posted by jdnewell
    Originally posted by Moorqueen
    or you could do the ethical thing and buy the cheapest laptop that will allow you to get your work done and save your compnay some money

    They told him he had a $1300 budget. There is nothing unethical about using the budget the company set. If they are dumb enough to offer him a budget they shouldnt or cant afford then there are bigger issues at hand.

    Chances are its a large company and can easily afford it. The company I work for spends more on a night of food and drinks for a few people.

    This is not an ethics issue.

    It depends on the situation.  If they know he plays games while waiting but drops the game when he gets work that needs to be done, and letting him buy a laptop that will play games well is a perk of the job, then paying for a laptop that will play games well while staying inside the stated budget is certainly ethical.  The company surely knows that you can get a decent laptop for well under $1300.

    Spending the money on a laptop that can't handle the work-related duties of e-mail or web browsing or word processing or whatever would be unethical, but it would take some doing to find such a laptop apart from happening to get a defective product.  With a fast processor, a good SSD, and a 1080p monitor, you could hardly find a laptop that will handle office duties better than the one I linked, apart from plugging in an external keyboard and mouse.

  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,509
    Originally posted by Spartan3088

    Quizzical thanks so much for all of ur help. the laptop looks great. I last thing if u dont mind... what do u think about those chill pads? seeing how this laptop will run all day long do u think i should spend the money to get one to help keep it running for a long time? This is what i found however i didnt look to long

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834997969

    Might be able to get one or even this one cheaper i didnt look much because i wanted to see what u thought about them.

     

    As for the whole saving money for the company comment someone made.... They know very well what i do on the laptop all day long. They are happy that i keep the stores running smooth.(which just so happens to be very easy to do lol) They are happy because they dont have to be here.

     

    Your guess would be as good as mine.  I'm a desktop guy, and only really know that much about laptop hardware because most of the chips are essentially the same as desktop hardware.  My personal laptop is so low power that it often turns the fan off entirely, so I don't need a cooling pad for it.  But that's not what you want, as low power means low performance, so gaming is very hit and miss.

  • birdycephonbirdycephon Member UncommonPosts: 1,314

    What a terrible terrible waste of money.

    Gaming and laptop are the two words that should never be used in the same sentence.

  • Spartan3088Spartan3088 Member Posts: 35

    I guess i lie :( i have to ask something else...

    17.3" FHD 16:9 "Matte Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Matte Screen (1920x1080)

    17.3" FHD 16:9 "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Glossy Screen w/ 72% NTSC Color Gamut (1920x1080)

    Matte type vs glare type ???? dont know what that means lol which will give me a better pic?

  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,509
    If you have a light behind you while you're using a laptop, do you want to see a clear reflection of the light behind you on your laptop screen?  Glare = yes and matte = no.  Think of it as glare meaning partially mirrored and matte scattering external light off in all directions.  I personally think that bright reflections of external lights are distracting, so I'd rather have a matte monitor, as that gives you a better view of what the monitor itself is trying to display.
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