Gaming Laptops

[eldaec]

I need a new gaming laptop, as my current monstrosity has got locked in some ridculous cpu underclock mode again.

I do travel with it, so 15"ish form factor is ideal.

I'm hearing good things about Clevos, anyone have any personal experience of them (or Sagers, or the many rebadged equivalents), or can anyone recommend anything else?

Doesn't have to be cheap, within reason.

[Righ]

I've had a Sager for a couple of years, it's been a good experience. I had to send it back because the power connector was too loose, but the turnaround was quick. Other than that, it has been fine. It's no longer the powerhouse it once was, but it's still a good gaming laptop. Unless it's actually on your lap - it's a vast 17" notebook that weighs a ton. Or unplugged - with all the performance options turned up, it lasts under half an hour on the battery. But that's the kind of thing I wanted (speed over portability). You can buy much more portable gaming laptops.

[Engels]

What kind of gaming are we talking about? Because in my experience, there are good laptops, like the Dell Studio XPS, which are adequate for most games, they just can't run Crysis. Then there's the ones that can, but they tend to run hot, weigh a ton and cost a renal transplant.

[SnakeCharmer]

I've got the Gateway P-171 FX something laptop and it's been surprisingly good for what I paid for it (1300ish) a year ago.  Plays everything I want it to.  I'd imagine the new versions are just as good or better.  Only complaint I've had is the battery lasting about half an hour no matter what I do as it seems to have developed a memory or is just going bad.  Runs AoC on high settings at about 60fps average, and twice that in instances for a reference point.  This new version is basically mine with a slightly bigger HDD and renamed video card.  1100 bucks.

[Selby]

like the Dell Studio XPS

I run WoW on one of these and other much older games without any issue.  I inherited it since my sister said it wasn't fast enough for what she wanted to do.

[Prospero]

My 6 month old MacBook Pro is pretty awesome for games. i haven't tried it with Crysis, but it's done well with all the Valve games. Not sure if you're morally opposed to Apple hardware, but if not, I think it hits a pretty sweet balance for power/battery life/weight.

[Salamok]

Laptops seem to have just taken a drop for w7 week and Dell's new studio XPS 16 offers a core i7 proc.  Adding an i7 to a laptop is like a $1k jump in price though once you take into account the increased memory cost.
High end Dell studio 15 ($1700): 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570, Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9600 (2.8GHz/1066Mhz FSB/6MB cache), 8 gig ddr2.
Pimped out XPS 16 ($2700): ATI Mobility RADEON® HD 4670 – 1GB, Intel ® Core ™ i7 820QM 1.73GHz (3.06GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache), 8gig ddr3.

I'm thinking the Studio 15 would run pretty much anything.

[Trippy]

In the 15" size, if price is not a concern, you'll want something like the Clevo W860CU/Sager NP8690 (same laptop).

http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=216215
http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/products/prodinfo_2.asp?productid=235

The NVIDIA GTX 280M is the fastest mobile GPU at the moment and ATI's mobile drivers are even crappier than their desktop drivers even if you wanted to consider something like the 4870 Mobility Radeon.

In terms of performance the GTX 280M can barely play Crysis on High at acceptable frame rates (~30 fps average):

http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3660&p=11

I'm thinking the Studio 15 would run pretty much anything.

Sure it will run anything but that doesn't mean it'll be playable. The 4570 is slower than, say, a 9600M GT which is not a particular fast GPU either.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-280M.14558.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9600M-GT.9449.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4570.13885.0.html

Edit: 4570 not 4650

[Evil Elvis]

I bought a Sager a little over a year ago.  Best 15" laptop I could find at the time, and at the best price.  I'd definitely buy from them again.  Unfortunately, the best graphics card you could get in a 15" at that time was a 8600M, so it's sub-par for gaming.

If it's really going to be primarily for gaming, you might want to consider a 17"+, though. You generally have a broader choice in terms of CPU and GPU.

[Cheddar]

Wow, I was just about to post something like this.  I was looking at the HP Pavilion dv8t Quad Edition series.  Its a bit bigger then you are looking for but seems pretty awesome for gaming.  In addition I was gonna do the HD Tuner thingy that comes with a remote.  I save a bundle on it due to my company - like 25% off or so.  I priced out similiar models with Dell and Gateway and nothing comes close. 

Quick stats:
-Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-720QM Processor
-1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 230M
-18.4" diagonal High Definition HP Ultra BrightView Infinity Display (1920x1080p)

[Trippy]

The GT 230M is okay but it's nowhere near the GTX 260/280Ms.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_m_series.html

Scroll down to the bottom.

[Cheddar]

The GT 230M is okay but it's nowhere near the GTX 260/280Ms.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_m_series.html

Scroll down to the bottom.

Wow, good tip.  HP does not offer the 260/280 yet.  Maybe I will wait a couple weeks and cross my fingers. 

[lamaros]

I recently got a Dell Studio XPS 16 Laptop. It's quite nice so far but I've yet to play any games on it... so this post is highly useful.

[Broughden]

Im using a specc'ed out Lenovo T500. Very nice.

I had a Sager prior to that and was happy with it the 3 or so years it lasted.