Laptops for Gaming

I travel a bit for my job, often to boring locales with nothing to do during the evenings. As such, I've become a bit of a "gamer," as I take my personal laptop with me on trips to play video games on. My current laptop is a rather nice Samsung unit with a dedicated graphics card. I bought it about 2 years ago. It runs Fallout: New Vegas and the Mass Effect Trilogy in highest resolutions, and does a fairly good job of rendering Skyrim at a mid-level. I'm a huge Fallout fan and want to get Fallout 4 this winter. However, my current rig will not play it to a level acceptable to me (read: "highest possible graphics settings"). I'd also like to dabble a bit in some of the high-resolution mods for Skyrim, which would definitely require a better rig.

I haven't built computers since I was in high school, so I'm a little behind the curve on pricing these things out. I bought my previous laptop from Best Buy and just sort of got lucky. So, if I wanted to play the new Fallout game on the highest possible graphics settings, on a lap top, without breaking the bank, where would I start? What's a good web site to track down recommended requirements to play a game at the highest graphical settings? And where's a good place to buy decent lap tops from that isn't overpriced Alienware?

Maximum PC has great reviews on stuff like this. I haven't kept up with gaming laptops like, ever, because it's never been something I needed so I'm not much help otherwise. Good luck in your search!

I grabbed a Lenovo Y50 over christmas and an really happy with it. The dual graphics cards take some tweeking to get the good card to always run on your games. This is an issue on lots of gaming laptops. The Y50 base model (that I have) has a junk screen. It is really easy to upgrade for less than $100 though. I think that there is a 4k screen version available from Lenovo for a few hundred more.

However, I don't know how much better a tricked out Y50 will be VS your Samsung. The Y50-70 ought to do it. Looks like those are under 1300 from Lenovo. It runs an i7, GTX960M (I am on an 8 series), and 16 gigs. Should handle most anything.

This little guy?

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Y50-70-Laptop-Computer-59440638/dp/B00WLUIEHS/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1438352633&sr=1-5&keywords=Lenovo+Y50-70

I also found this one:

http://www.amazon.com/GL551JW-DS74-15-6-Inch-Gaming-GeForce-Graphics/dp/B00T7XRGGC/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1438353105&sr=1-2&refinements=p_n_intended_use_browse-bin%3A9647497011%2Cp_n_feature_four_browse-bin%3A2289792011%2Cp_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A7817225011%2Cp_n_feature_fourteen_browse-bin%3A2057441011

I generally run whatever Asus ROG rig is out. I think they're on the G751 at the moment....

mndsm wrote: I generally run whatever Asus ROG rig is out. I think they're on the G751 at the moment....

Oooh, that second one I linked to is an Asus ROG. So those are good laptops?

Yep, the Asus ROG and Y50s are competitors in this market. I considered but and went for the Lenovo because I am a cheap ass and my model was under $900. Lenovo sometimes runs deals through their website that no one can touch. They have a dozen or so models of the Y50 with all sorts of different options. A friend went with some no name brand that has a slightly large card and has had lots of trouble with it, so buy from one of the big guys. The ROG stuff is nice for sure. Just shop around and you can usually find much better deals through other sites than Amazon.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y50-uhd/

This is the one with the better screen already in there. Other versions are cheaper.

http://www.asus.com/Notebooks/Gaming-Series-Products/

Asus ROG. Lots of options.

Partly, I wanted a smaller form factor and to get what I wanted, Lenovo was more better.

Sky_Render wrote: So, if I wanted to play the new *Fallout* game on the highest possible graphics settings, on a lap top, without breaking the bank, where would I start?

Start by waiting until the new Fallout is released, and we have an idea of what kind of hardware will run it best. Plus, new stuff will be out that will give better bang for the buck. A friend of mine built a new PC with AMD video cards, only to find out that Project Cars runs like crap on AMDs.

The problem with Asus is they are E36 M3 quality Its kind of like a "insert exotic of choice here". Awesome, but will let you down eventually.

The key is the GPU. You don't need mountains of RAM (or faster RAM, RAM is fast enough these days) or the craziest processor (everyone seems to have a boner for I7's, and while all my computers have them, thats because they were cheap and came with them, not because I spec'd it that way).

You want a MINIMUM of a Nvidia 860M. Need a handy guide to find where your GPU falls performance wise? www.notebookcheck.net. Specifically, go to teh googles, type in the gpu you want to view like so:

860m site:notebookcheck.net

First result: http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-860M.107794.0.html

And on the side it will give a list of the various "classes" (1,2,3,4 which are basically extreme, high, mid, and low end) and the order of how other cards stack up.

If you want to run everything on max detail, the number one performance spec that matters is the GPU, and you'll need a nvidia 965m at minimum IMO. Expect to pay $1100-$1300US for the priveledge.

I've been shopping laptops forever and finally broke my old one, so I bit the bullet and bought this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314701

But mine has 16gbs of ram. Its good for what it is, but is still lacking in the GPU department.

RE: the screen...

Since you travel a lot- do the TV's have an HDMI input that is usable? That would cool to have a larger TV to play on vs. the laptop screen.

Other than that, I got nuttin.

Wow, good info in this thread. The Asus I was looking at had a very good Geeforce 9XX video card with 4GB of dedicated VRAM. My experience (with only 500MB of VRAM) has been that more VRAM = better draw distance and higher framerates. I also want a smaller screen (~15") for portability. That actually seems to lower the cost a good bit.

What's weird is that the minimum system requirements I see for the games I currently have often call for a processor with a clockspeed higher than what is on the market. I'm assuming the minimum requirement clockspeed is for a single core CPU?

Yeah, waiting until the actual game comes out is probably a good idea. Asking the Google reveals that Bethesda hasn't even released the minimum requirements yet. And although I could take an educated guess, the last thing I want is to blow coilover money on a laptop that ends up not being what I want.

alfadriver wrote: RE: the screen... Since you travel a lot- do the TV's have an HDMI input that is usable? That would cool to have a larger TV to play on vs. the laptop screen. Other than that, I got nuttin.

My current laptop has that, actually! I've only been able to use it once, however. Strangely enough, most hotel TVs have the ports "locked down." :-/

I have an 860M in my laptop and it hasn't had trouble with anything yet. If I were in your position though, I would be running something a bit higher end, like the 965 mentioned.

Alienware? They used to be the shiz back before Dell bought them, I haven't paid much attention for a few years now.

I haven't kept up, my "gaming" PC is still a E6550 in a 680i ASUS motherboard, 6 Gb of Corsair XMS2 DDR2, and a single 7900GT video card. I'm a little behind the times.

I've no doubt that Alienware makes nice stuff, but I'm not spending $3,000 on a laptop. My budget is about half that.

A lot of games favor a high single core clock speed. Others newer games make use of many cores. Just depends on what you like to do. I've rarely seen any specify a required clock speed.

As time goes on, many games will start utilizing more and more cores. Both the current consoles are 8 core AMD systems.

RE: GPU, A 9xx series can mean a lot of things. The GPU numbering is very weird (and infuriating). A Check this chart to see where it falls: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

Sky_Render wrote: I've no doubt that Alienware makes nice stuff, but I'm not spending $3,000 on a laptop. My budget is about half that.

Looks like $1200 gets you in the door with a 15.6" screen, i5, 8 Gb of Ram, 1 Tb 7200 RPM HD, and a GTX 965M, that'd be alright with me. The 15 caps out at $2500 with an i7, 16 Gb of Ram, dual HDs (ones an SSD), and a GTX 980M.

Those specs kind of make my poor little Vostro look like a Commodore. It's got an i5 and AMD Radeon HD 6630M, it kicks but at Diablo II LOD , does alright with Star Craft II, and Diablo 3 too.

I might just wait 3 years and pick up the game whenever I can play it in high res with only $500 in hardware.

In all seriousness, that's kind of what I've done up to this point!

Sky_Render wrote: I might just wait 3 years and pick up the game whenever I can play it in high res with only $500 in hardware. In all seriousness, that's kind of what I've done up to this point!

It makes the games a ton cheaper too

I kinda do this for the most part. Build a $500-700 computer every 5 years or so. A lot of AAA titles a year or two old go for ultra cheap on Steam.

Most multiplayer games I like are on old engines so computer power doesn't matter as much. I can't find anything new that is multiplayer that is worth a E36 M3 :(

OK, so next topic: What are some good sci-fi or RPGs to play on old hardware that will hold me over for a few years?

What do you mean by Sci-Fi? Like a Fallout (RPG) or other style game?

Only thing that comes to mind besides what you are already into is Borderlands.

Mass Effect, Fallout, and Elder Scrolls are my favorite video game series. I've not yet played any of the Borderlands games.

Of course, I love sim racing, too. Anything comparable to Forza or Gran Turismo on the PC?!

I don't know what sim racers you'd want to play while traveling.

I think you may have that genre covered so far... I'd probably get Steam and try out some new genres. Some great RTS games out there cheap, interesting simulation (sim-city-like) games out there right now, and lots of indie puzzle, side-scrollers, arcade, or diablo-style RPGs that may be fun.

I was really into borderlands and now I can't even get myself to finish the last one. They are great games though. I think I have just burned myself out on them.

All the Bioshock games

Dues Ex: Human Revolution

The Far Cry games are great fun but then you have to install their BS DRM stuff on top of Steam

I know that a lot of the Metro games are really well reviewed but am only a few hours into 2033

Spin Tires: so much fun!

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, old but good

Tower of Guns: watch videos (Bullet Hell game)

I think this sums up RPG games for me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MCI0FbU7VM (I'm Jake).

I bet the results of this test for you look a lot different than for me:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/07/we-took-gamings-version-of-the-myers-briggs-test-and-you-can-too/

https://apps.quanticfoundry.com/lab/10

My results: https://goo.gl/Z0CwIE