I would like to build a laptop for gaming. need advice

Post Reply New Topic

I have been sort of wanting to get a computer I can play games on, but havent been able to find one I care for I can afford. I'm not someone who has built anything like this mostly all I have done with computers is replace parts, cards, memory.(but I am pretty clever at learning things) I'm not sure where to look up information on what components to get and where to buy them. Does anyone know a good website , magizine or place to find this information that is reliable?

I have a somewhat limited budget, around 1300$ US.

Thank you if anyone can help direct me to what information I need.

I would not get a gaming laptop unless there is no choice. For PC gaming, a laptop with the same performance of a desktop can be 2x the price or more - I'd spend the $1300 on a desktop instead, you will get much more mileage out of it.

I have a gaming tower already , but this summer I will have to travel a lot,( we are repairing a house we inherited and can't live in )and I don't really want to haul my computer back and forth from where I will be every weekend. There is nothing to do in that place after dark.

I think a decent option would be a Dell Vostro 1500 with a 2.0 ghz Core 2 Duo, a 8600M GT vid card, and 3 gigs of ram. You can customize one here: Vostro. What games are you going to be playing?

Thank you I will look into that. Right now I am playing World of Warcraft, but only very casually, i have played some other games but currently I'm not.

Well for that game even a 8400m GT would be fine. You should find one that fits in your budget.

Yeah, if you're only playing WoW, you won't need a 8600. WoW isn't demanding as some of the newer games. I guess it all comes down to the difference in price ($100?) against the ability to play newer games in the future if you ever want to.

No, buy the best darn video card you can afford. Its folly not to.

Wow isn't /won't be the only game I have played or will play it's what I'm playing right now, and yes I intend to put in the best video card I can.I play WoW because my husband and son do and they are happy with me playing with them. My husband i think intends to start playing CoH or CoV, I prefer fantasy genre though, I'm not a big super hero fan although he is, and I often pick up what he does or he picks up what I do.

*concealed advertisement link deleted by lau*
>>Ask here

unless you want to play games that require direct x 10 then get xp. get somthing with at leas 2 gb of ram probably 4. make sure you get a 3ghz+ processor from AMD. and get a 500 gb Hard Disk and an HD dvd drive and get a decent battery. dell would be nice but their high end computers all have intel. get a decent graphics card non integrated.

AMD used to be better back in the day, but Intel C2D is a very solid processor that made me switch to Intel after all of my previous computers being AMD.

Windows xp only goes up to directx9, and maxes out at 3 gigs of ram. I've rarely seen it use over two.

A 500 gig hard drive is massive, and would be truly expensive for a laptop. Windows xp should fully install at less than 40 gigs. 500 gigs is overkill except for the most hard core gamer.

Non integrated vid card for sure. Its a MUST. Otherwise you might end up sharing system ram with the graphics card, and the onboard ones tend to perform poorly anyway.

Nothing wrong with an intel chip. They tend to be more forgiving of heat. If you can, get a dual core chip. Try for 3.0 ghz as said before.

If you're going to be getting a gaming laptop, as I plan on doing soon, you really should try and max out RAM and graphics, to help "future-proof" your computer, since laptops can't really be upgraded like desktops.

If money was no object then an Alienware or Dell XPS would be good, but since you're on a budget, try one of the higher-end "normal" computers.

I use a Dell Inspiron e1705 for gaming (purchased about a year ago) and it has performed quite well. It is not as high-end as an XPS but handles plenty of newer games just fine and the price was much more reasonable. Vanguard is a notoriously resource-hungry next-gen MMORPG and it plays that fine.

As others have suggested - just make sure you get at least 2 gigs of RAM and the best video card you can afford.

I haven't looked at Dell's recent offerings but there is probably something comparable now - maybe the Vostro is a good choice.