need help finding gaming laptop for cheap. lots of options would be nice thanx :D

[ichi]

1) What is your budget?
450-500 maybe 600 dollars

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

a. Ultraportable; 12" screen or less
b. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
c. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
d. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen
c or d

3) Please select your country's flag as a post icon and tell us what country are you buying this in.
united states

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like? just a nice cheap gaming laptop

5) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?gaming and browsing the internet and maybe downloading music

6) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk? someplaces but lots of the time at home.

7) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?
world of warcraft
8) How many hours of battery life do you need?
3-4 is ok
9) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?yeah

10) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista), Mac OS, Linux, etc.if possble with price. windows XP professional

Screen Specifics

11) Would you prefer standard or widescreen?
widescreen but if not the ther works just fine
12) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?

Standard
a. XGA -1024x768 - Large and easy to read text + graphics icons, but you fit less stuff on the screen.
b. SXGA - 1400x1050 - Compromise resolution between XGA and UXGA.
c. UXGA - 1600x1200 - Very small text and graphics icons, you can fit lots of stuff on the screen.

Widescreen
d. WXGA or WXGA+ - 1280x768/800 or 1440x900; Wider viewing version of XGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
e. WSXGA+ - 1680x1050; Wider viewing version of SXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
f. WUXGA - 1920x1200; Wider viewing version of UXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
what ever one is best for gaming
13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?does not matter

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you? just want it to be slim and not balky but other then that it does not matter

15) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last? 3-4 years

Notebook Components

16) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 200GB?60-80

17) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD-ROM, DVD-CD/RW or DVD-RW drive?DVD-RW

[Pitabred]

Unfortunately, "gaming laptop" and "$600 or less" are mutually exclusive. You can barely get a non-gaming laptop for $600.

[usapatriot]

Since you cannot upgrade the graphics cards on 99% of notebook:

Since you plan on gaming you want to focus on getting a good graphics card.
For WoW I would recommend the following, starting from least powerful to most powerful:

Nvidia7400
ATI x1400
Nvidia 7600
ATI x1600
ATI x1700
Nvidia7700

now whether you can find a notebook with one of these graphics cards for $600 you would have to be very lucky.

the cheapest option would be a Dell E1505 with X1400 which can be had for around $800-$800 using Dell coupons.

[2n2is5]

Im sorry to say that Pitabread is right... although, I think that the words "laptop" and "$450-$600" barely go together let alone the word "gaming". I'd suggest that you just keep saving, because whatever you get for that price will be a system that will more than likely barely run things now, and in the future, it wouldn't be able to do very much of anything. Just SAVE SAVE SAVE. You should be able to get a "gaming laptop" for about $800-$1000. Mabye.

[psxsage]

http://www.officemax.com/max/solutio...OID=1611550371


That is the only laptop even CLOSE to your price range that can handle gaming to a degree. And even then it's 699$ with instant savings and the quantity is limited. Now it will handle world of warcraft PERFECTLY as it doesn't require much to run world of warcraft at all. But past that games like doom 3/half life 2 will run at Medium or so settings. The video card it offers isn't bad but the processor isn;'t quite up to par with the intel core duo/2 for gaming. But for 699$ this is the closest laptop to your price range that can even be considered ""gaming""

AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TL-50
(1.6GHz) (512MB L2 Cache)
1024MB DDR2 System Memory
100GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support
17.0" WXGA DiamondBrite TFT Widescreen Display (1440x900)
NVIDEA® GeForce® Go 7600 Graphics (Discrete 256MB)
Atheros AR5005G 802.11b/g WLAN
Windows® Vista Home Premium OS
1-Year Limited Hardware Warranty

[psxsage]

As per USApatriots list it's a bit off.

Those video cards From least powerful to most are

Nvidia7400 800 3D Mark 06
ATI x1400 900 3d mark 06
ATI x1600 1800 3d mark 06
x1700 1850 3d mark 06
Nvidia 7600 1900 3d mark 06
Nvidia7700 2700 3d mark 06

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-...ist.844.0.html

Used as a reference.

[HCanciano]

http://www.officemax.com/max/solutio...OID=1611550371


That is the only laptop even CLOSE to your price range that can handle gaming to a degree. And even then it's 699$ with instant savings and the quantity is limited. Now it will handle world of warcraft PERFECTLY as it doesn't require much to run world of warcraft at all. But past that games like doom 3/half life 2 will run at Medium or so settings. The video card it offers isn't bad but the processor isn;'t quite up to par with the intel core duo/2 for gaming. But for 699$ this is the closest laptop to your price range that can even be considered ""gaming""

AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TL-50
(1.6GHz) (512MB L2 Cache)
1024MB DDR2 System Memory
100GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support
17.0" WXGA DiamondBrite TFT Widescreen Display (1440x900)
NVIDEA® GeForce® Go 7600 Graphics (Discrete 256MB)
Atheros AR5005G 802.11b/g WLAN
Windows® Vista Home Premium OS
1-Year Limited Hardware Warranty

Amazing find. I recommend this one as well.

[DrewN]

Unfortunately, "gaming laptop" and "$600 or less" are mutually exclusive. You can barely get a non-gaming laptop for $600.

QFT, although if all you're playing is WOW you can get away with a lower-end card. The Stepnote/Everex brands are about as close you can get to getting a decent video card for $700.

As per USApatriots list it's a bit off.

Those video cards From least powerful to most are

Nvidia7400 800 3D Mark 06
ATI x1400 900 3d mark 06
ATI x1600 1800 3d mark 06
Nvidia 7600 1900 3d mark 06
ATI x1700 2100 3d mark 06
Nvidia7700 2700 3d mark 06

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-...ist.844.0.html

Used as a reference.

Fixed. Check my sig for A8JP/x1700 Benchmarks. I get a consistent 2143-2173 3DMark06 on default settings.

[dburache]

Wait at least till the middle of May cause prices on dx 9 laptops will likely drop if you can't or don't want to wait then:

There's a RARE discount coupon on the Dell Small Business Inspiron 6400 (equivalent to the Dell Home Inspiron E1505), taking the price down to just $598! This one comes with a faster 1.73Ghz Pentium Dual Core T2080, 15.4" WXGA TFT with TrueLife ($10 value), 1GB of dual channel DDR2 SDRAM, 80GB S-ATA hard drive, 8x DVD+/-RW dual layer burner ($40 value), and 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 graphics (plays WoW pretty well)($99 value)! It also comes with 802.11b/g wireless, your choice of Windows Vista Home Basic or Windows XP, and a 1 year warranty. This will expire 4/25/07. Use coupon code: D8NB50C4C23LL2 for the discount. link = Vista
XP

[psxsage]

Iv'e seen higher then that on 7600 Go enabled notebooks as well. But that is a general scoring table that's fairly well accepted here.

And in fact here is another comparison of the cards.

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards....=468&card2=409


As you can see the 7600 Go leads in nearly every category.