Gaming Laptop Choices

[JadedTrust]

I've been going back and forth about getting a new laptop which will be mostly used for gaming and some photoshop work. Occasionally I work with Adobe Premier Pro but it is not often. Unfortunately I've gotten to the point in my own investigations where I have too many choices.

With the SSD I will be probably buying and installing that myself and probably don't need a ridiculous amount of RAM as I can upgrade that myself at a later date so I would be probably looking at about 8 or 12 GB to start. At home the laptop will be hooked up to an external LED monitor but it will be moved around as sometimes I will need to take it into classes if my tablet does not cut it.

What is your budget?
$2000

What country will you be buying this in?
AUS or USA

What size notebook do you prefer?
Thin and Light (13 - 14-inch screen)
Mainstream (15 - 16-inch screen)

What brands do you like or dislike?
Dislike: ASUS, Sony, Toshiba

Would you consider a refurbished laptop?
Maybe

What are the primary tasks you need this notebook for?
Web Surfing, Office and Productivity Software, Listening to Music, Movie Streaming and Viewing, Output Video to TV or Large Monitor, Graphic Intense 3D Gaming

What games will you be playing?
BF3, SWTOR, Assassins Creed

Where will you be using this laptop?
Will be used different places

How many hours of battery life do you need?
3-4

Will you be buying online or in store?
online or in store

Which OS do you prefer?
Windows 7

List the screen resolutions that interest you:
Standard Resolution (1366 x 768)
High Resolution (1600 x 900)
Max Resolution (1920 x 1080)

Do you prefer a glossy or matte screen?
Glossy or Matte is fine

Is the laptops design important to you?
Yes and No. If it can tempt me enough with the specs I would be happy to overlook the design.

Approximately what date will you be buying this laptop?
Around 02/15/2012

How long do you want this laptop to last?
3 years

How much storage capacity do you need?
250 GB or more

Are you interested in SSD for storage?
Yes

Do you want a built-in optical drive, what type?
Don't really care about this too much. If it has it it has it if it doesn't it doesn't. Most of my games are downloaded and if I need an external optical drive I have an external one for occasional use.

[Valentin N]

Lotus P150HM1 - add i7, 95% screen and your done

You won't be able to play everything on high but it's worth the money.

[ntrain96]

I've been going back and forth about getting a new laptop which will be mostly used for gaming and some photoshop work. Occasionally I work with Adobe Premier Pro but it is not often. Unfortunately I've gotten to the point in my own investigations where I have too many choices.

With the SSD I will be probably buying and installing that myself and probably don't need a ridiculous amount of RAM as I can upgrade that myself at a later date so I would be probably looking at about 8 or 12 GB to start. At home the laptop will be hooked up to an external LED monitor but it will be moved around as sometimes I will need to take it into classes if my tablet does not cut it.

What is your budget?
$2000

What country will you be buying this in?
AUS or USA

What size notebook do you prefer?
Thin and Light (13 - 14-inch screen)
Mainstream (15 - 16-inch screen)

What brands do you like or dislike?
Dislike: ASUS, Sony, Toshiba

Would you consider a refurbished laptop?
Maybe

What are the primary tasks you need this notebook for?
Web Surfing, Office and Productivity Software, Listening to Music, Movie Streaming and Viewing, Output Video to TV or Large Monitor, Graphic Intense 3D Gaming

What games will you be playing?
BF3, SWTOR, Assassins Creed

Where will you be using this laptop?
Will be used different places

How many hours of battery life do you need?
3-4

Will you be buying online or in store?
online or in store

Which OS do you prefer?
Windows 7

List the screen resolutions that interest you:
Standard Resolution (1366 x 768)
High Resolution (1600 x 900)
Max Resolution (1920 x 1080)

Do you prefer a glossy or matte screen?
Glossy or Matte is fine

Is the laptops design important to you?
Yes and No. If it can tempt me enough with the specs I would be happy to overlook the design.

Approximately what date will you be buying this laptop?
Around 02/15/2012

How long do you want this laptop to last?
3 years

How much storage capacity do you need?
250 GB or more

Are you interested in SSD for storage?
Yes

Do you want a built-in optical drive, what type?
Don't really care about this too much. If it has it it has it if it doesn't it doesn't. Most of my games are downloaded and if I need an external optical drive I have an external one for occasional use.

With a budget of $2k regardless of your choice, you should be looking at a graphics card solution that has either a 6990m Ati card or Nvidia 580m card using an MXM upgradeable slot to pair up with a screen which I assume will be 1080p.

Choices you should look closely at include the customizable Clevo / Sager NP8150(With Ati 6990m video card) or an MSI 16F2(With GTX 580m video card)which is also fully customizable. Both would be well within your budget loaded with all the bells and whistles you probably would want. Just make sure you get either a 580m or 6990m if your sporting a native 1080p resolution if you want the majority of your games to look and play their best.

[Ellatan]

I recommend Clevo laptops, a good place to buy in Australia is Metabox.

Metabox W150HR - Clevo W150HRM - 15.6 inch laptop notebook with GT 555M 2GB switchable graphics
Metabox P150HM - Clevo P150HM - 15.6 inch Gaming laptop notebook with HD 6990M or GTX 580M

The first one is slimmer and lighter, it will get you 3.5-4 hours of battery life. The second one is bulkier and heavier, it will only get you 2-3 hours of battery life. However it's more than 2 times better in gaming performance in comparison.

You really don't need 2760QM CPU to game, so downgrade that option to any i7 Quadcore if you want to save money. A screen upgrade on P150HM seems to be really cheap and a nice pickup. 8GB of RAM should be plenty, there is no reason to get anything higher than 1333Mhz.

In order to get a benefit of SSD, select to remove Optical Drives on them and install a hard drive caddy. Then you can buy and install your own SSD. I recommend Samsung 830 and Crucial M4 Sata III SSDs with Marvel Controllers.