Need a reasonably priced laptop for gaming, multimedia,

[Krait]

hey guys, newbie here. need-want a laptop, never owned a computer before. want to use it for gaming, watching movies, storing-playing around with photos, internet surfing, some microsoft word usage(minimal tho). Dont want to spend more than $2000 canadian, mostly an entertainment laptop. 15.4" screen, need some portability. Dont want something that runs really hot or loud, but with some power. Been looking at Hp's, Dell's, Alienware's, etc.
Heres what i got that fits my budget and seems decent:

HP Pavillion Dv6565:

Processor
Intel® Centrino® Duo processor technology
• Intel ® Centrino ® Duo processor technology featuring Intel ® Core ™ 2 Duo processor T5450
• 1.66GHz , 2MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB
• Intel® PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection & Bluetooth ™
Operating system installed
Genuine Windows® Vista® Premium
Standard memory
2048MB DDR2
Maximum memory
Supports up to 2 GB DDR2 memory
Memory type
667MHz DDR2 System Memory
memory layout
1024MB x 2
Internal drives
Internal hard disk drive
160GB
Hard disk controller
SATA Hard Disk Drive
Hard disk drive speed
5400RPM
Optical drive type
Super Multi 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support
System features
Memory card device
5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards
Modem
High speed 56K modem
Network interface
Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)
Wireless Technologies
Intel® PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection & Bluetooth ™
External I/O ports
3 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, 2 Headphone out, 1 microphone-in, 1 VGA (15-pin), 1 TV-Out (S-video), 1 RJ-11 (modem), 1 RJ -45 (LAN), 1 notebook expansion port 3, 1 IEEE 1394 Firewire (4-pin), 1 Consumer IR
Video capture interface
IEEE 1394 FireWire® Interface
Expansion slots
One ExpressCard/54 slot (also supports ExpressCard/34)
Display size
15.4” WXGA High Definition BrightView Widescreen
Display resolution
1280 x 800
Video adapter
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
Video RAM
128MB dedicated (895MB total graphics memory available)
Control Panel
HP QuickPlay media player software and its dedicated menu controls, music and DVD buttons
Webcam
HP Pavilion Webcam & Mic
Handheld remote control
HP Mobile Remote Control
Internal audio
3D Sound Blaster Pro compatible sound 16 bit integrated
Speakers and microphone
Altec Lansing® speakers
Keyboard
101 key compatible keyboard
Mouse/Pointing Device
Touch Pad with On/Off button and dedicated vertical Scroll Up/Down pad, volume control, mute buttons, 2 Quick Launch Buttons
power supply type
90W AC Adapter; 6-Cell Lithium-Ion battery



And a Dell Inspiron 1520:


Components
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 (4MB cache/2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB), English edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium Edition, English edit
SYSTEM COLOUR Jet Black Color with Matte Finish edit
LCD DISPLAY 15.4 inch UltraSharp ™ Wide Screen SXGA+ Display with TrueLife™ edit
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam edit
MEMORY 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 Dimm edit
HARD DRIVE 160G 7200RPM SATA HDD edit
GRAPHICS CARD 256MB NVIDIA ®GeForce™8600M GT edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability edit
Essentials
PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 edit
WIRELESS CARD Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card edit
INTERNET ACCESS Please contact me with more details edit
SECURITY SOFTWARE Norton Internet Security™ 2007, 30 Day Trial, English edit
ONLINE DATA STORAGE DataSafe Online Backup 3GB (included with price) edit
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate) edit
HARDWARE SERVICES 1 Year Return to Depot Service and Technical Support edit

Dell Recommends
Get the support you need! 3 Year Next Busines Day Onsite/In Home Service and Technical Support.
Upgrade to 3 Year Next Busines Day Onsite/In Home Service and Technical Support [add $249 or $6/month1]
BATTERY OPTIONS 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery edit
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition edit
Accessories
MEDIA CENTER ENHANCEMENTS Dell Travel Remote Control, IR edit
MP3 & SOUND Skullcandy G.I. Stereo Headphones Black/Snow Camo edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Network Card and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.08


so mainly the dell has better specs, but the Hp is $1300CAN, and the Dell is $1819CAN.

I know each of them can handle most of what i want to do, but will the HP handle games well enough? I want to be able to play any new games, Unreal Tournament, Bioshock, FEAR, Lost Planet Extreme Condition etc. and enjoy them not at really low settings. Is the Dell worth the extra moolah, and any other laptops you guys recommend for a decent price.

sorry for the long post, thanks

-Krait

[mtnboydl]

You are really going to want to go with the dell...there is quite a performance jump there...

Take a look at the dell coupons link at the top of the NBR page and use that to get $325 off.

You could also look at the dell vostro (small business) laptop, which will have the same options. And you could save money by not buying the upgraded RAM from dell, but rather buying the minimum and upgrading it yourself from newegg. I am confident you can bring that price way down on the dell...

[ilikeicehockey]

You could go for the Asus F3SV (has the 8600GS i believe), or wait for the newer models to come out in a couple weeks such as the Asus V1S (has the 8600GT GPU). Both should be able to run those games listed and are known to have excellent build quality. As for the dell';s I hear theres a big backlog right now for the inpsiron and their customer service is not that great and neither is the build quality in my opinion.

[wizzwizz]

You are really going to want to go with the dell...there is quite a performance jump there...

Take a look at the dell coupons link at the top of the NBR page and use that to get $325 off.

You could also look at the dell vostro (small business) laptop, which will have the same options. And you could save money by not buying the upgraded RAM from dell, but rather buying the minimum and upgrading it yourself from newegg. I am confident you can bring that price way down on the dell...

Those coupons don't work in Canada, which is very saddening for us people.

Since you are ordering from Canada check out and compare the same Vostro to the same Inspiron, because for me the Vostro came out to be much cheaper for the same specs, (and we don't have the afformentioned coupons that would kick ). Also, make sure you aren't configuring from the basic model, but rather the hot offers models where the savings can be over $300.

Just to give an example, a similarily configured Vostro 1500 comes out to be 1399 with these basic specs:
T7300
WSXGA+
2GB RAM
256MB 8600M GT
160GB @ 5400RPM
8x DL drive
Webcam
Dell wireless 1505

If you're worried about heat (or battery life) then consider not getting the 7200rpm drive to reduce heat in the laptop, and battery consumption. If you do want to take this around with you also consider a 9-cell battery for around a 50% increase in life. Good luck .

[Krait]

hey thanks guys, yeah the coupons dont work here. and yes, the price is the cheapest i could get it. originally it was over $2000, but i got it down to $1758...sorry the $1819 price included a pair of skull candy headphones so that wasnt as fair as it should of been...i will check into the Vostro's, also i have looked at ASUS G1S's, seem ok too but not huge on the design of them, but how are they for performance for price?

Any other suggestions?

[wizzwizz]

I don't know much about the G1S other then Asus makes good laptops, and I'm pretty sure the 256mb 8600m GT is GDDR3 and not GDDR2 like in most laptops, which basically means it's a much faster card. So if that is important to you the G1S might be a good option. Looking at the specs tho, it seems like a major price jump for not that much more, but I might be missing something.

[ilikeicehockey]

yeah, g1s is over your budget. Also, will you be moving around a lot? If so I recommend a smaller laptop such as the asus v2s. Otherwise you could go for the V1S or the F3sv which are 15.4 ' screens. Asus is a very reputable company and has excellent build quality to their laptops backed by very good customer service. If you need more info about Asus, you can go and check the asus forum.

[Krait]

hey thanks, I was originally looking at the G1S before, it retails for around $2200 here in canada...but I found it on Ebay for like around $1800US, which since the conversion rate is so close right now its like $1834CAN. Then plus shipping, tax, duty, etc etc I am sure it will push it back over $2000 quickly but I want a laptop that is futureproofed as well. Seems you guys are pushing Asus for what I want, I do like their 2year global warantee as well since altho I will buy in Canada I will be travelling to England next year for a year and germany etc etc. so having a global warantee is actually pretty huge for me, I could always ship it back to canada to get my family to get it waranteed if I had to but i would rather take Asus's global one...

sorry for the rambling, I tend to do that...I will look more closely at Asus, I also dont really want to go thru the Dellay's either...lol.

-Krait

[Krait]

oh hey, also this might seem stupid but does anyone know if I buy a game/cd/dvd in Europe and want to play it in my canadian laptop, would it work? or do laptops have region encoding in their disc drives.

thanks, Krait

[ilikeicehockey]

well i got a game from hong kong and I had a laptop brought from canada and the game works fine, if that helps