Help me find a laptop!

[Narradisall]

I don't usually seek out the advice of strangers in such things, but to be honest I've been looking round and while I'm fine sorting out aPC (as I can update as I go) I'm a bit more careful around laptops and I've completely lost track of where graphics card etc are at since I stopped PC gaming over a year ago.

Anyway, to the issue.

I want to get a new laptop, primarily for gaming, downloading and to hook my iphone up to for organising it.

My main issues are;

I want an up-to-date graphics card that won't go out of date in 5 mins (I'm aware the shelf life of them is short). As I'm not too sure on how easy cracking open a laptop to update graphics cards is. I've NO idea what the lastest/best/next big thing graphic cards are.
I'd like the laptop to be a decent enough gaming platform for a few years (4ish) before it becomes craptastic. Not 'magic PC' running Crisis at full spec but I'd at least like to be able to churn DOWII, SoASE, SCII and some other PC games out at full spec
Something that isn't going to drag its ass loading everything
Although I like Dell XPS's the whole LCD lights everywhere on gaming systems isn't for me. Stylish is not having an epileptic fit everytime I turn the thing on.
Decent processing power, RAM and around 100-200G storage.
Wireless
17" screen
I've had good experiences with Dell, Acer laptops but willing to give anything a look.
Looking to spend around £1,000, give or take.


Since some of you are more u p to date on the PC gaming I'd appreciate any input.

Has to be able to get to the UK or already be avaliable here though!

Thanks in advance!

[Voodoo]

I've always found that this site, http://www.notebookreview.com/, is an excellent resource regarding notebooks of all types. Personally, I have a Gateway P-6860 FX and I absolutely love it. It has two drive bays, an 8800M GTS and a 17" 1440x900 screen. For gaming, which is it's purpose, it is perfect. I'm sorry to say, though, that once I got this laptop I haven't been keeping up with gaming laptops very well.

[Narradisall]

Thanks for the link. Checking it out now.

[Disgustipated]

Get a Gateway gaming laptop. Cheap, loads of power, and great quality.

[Narradisall]

I ended up building a Dell Studio XPS

Not too sure on graphics cards though, any new ones coming out soon?

Heres the vital statistics:

BASE Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9400 (2.53Ghz, 6MB, 1066MHz) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1(32 BIT) - English edit
HARDWARE SUPPORT 1Yr Premium Warranty Support edit
LCD 16" (inch) Truelife 1080p Full HD RGBLED Edge to Edge Display edit
MEMORY 4096MB 1067MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048] edit
HARD DRIVE 160GB (7,200rpm) Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive edit
GRAPHICS CARD 512MB ATI® Radeon™ HD 3670 graphics card edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Internal DVD+/-RW (DVD & CD read and write) Slot Load Drive including Software edit
PRIMARY BATTERY Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery edit
TV TUNER AND REMOTE CONTROL No Integrated TV Tuner edit
Accessories
CARRY CASES No Carry Case edit
MICROSOFT SOFTWARE Microsoft® Works 9.0 / English - (Does not include Microsoft® Word) edit
MOUSE Logitech G9 Laser Gaming Mouse - Adjustable sensitivity, interchangeable grips, weight tuning edit
WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Intel WiFi Link 5100 (802.11 a/b/g/n 1X2) 1/2 MiniCard edit
Services & Software
SECURITY SOFTWARE No Security/Anti-Virus Protection - English edit
ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE SUPPORT No Accidental Damage Support edit
ONLINE BACKUP DataSafe Online Backup 2GB 1 year edit
Also included with your system
Gedis Bundle Reference N03X1601
Order Information Studio XPS 16 Order - UK
Shipping Documents English - Documentation Studio XPS 16
Dell System Media Kit Studio XPS 16 Resource DVD (Diagnostic & Drivers)
Power Supply 90W AC Adaptor
Cables 1 Meter Power Cord (3 Wire) - UK
Keyboard Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard
Standard Warranty 1 Year Premium Warranty Support
Camera 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera with Facial Recognition Software
Labels Wireless Label (Intel Wireless Cards)- Core 2 Duo

[Wraith]

I checked Newegg, a U.S. online retailer, and it looks like the best one that matches those requirements for the price (around $1350 USD) is this: MSI GT725-074US (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152103). Some of the specs:
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium
CPU Type Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4G
Screen 17" WSXGA+
Memory Size 4GB DDR2
Hard Disk 320GB
Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Graphics Card ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850
Video Memory 512MB DDR3 VRAM
Communication Modem, Gigabit LAN and WLAN
Card slot 1 x Express Card
Dimensions 15.56" x 10.95" x 1.04-1.38"
Weight 7.35 lbs.

Screen Size 17.0"
Wide Screen Support Yes
LCD Features Glare
Display Type Wide SXGA+
Resolution 1680 x 1050

GPU/VPU ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850
Video Memory 512MB DDR3 VRAM
Graphic Type Dedicated Card

HDD 320GB
HD RPM 7200rpm
HD Interface SATA

Memory 4GB
Max Memory Supported 4GB
Memory Spec 2GB x 2

Modem 56K
LAN 10/100/1000Mbps
WLAN 802.11n Wireless LAN
Bluetooth Yes

AC Adapter Output: 19V DC, 120W
Input: 100~240V AC, 50/60Hz universal
Battery 9-cell lithium ion

A couple of UK sites have it as the MSI GT725-087UK, priced around £1,000. Scan.co.uk (http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=969120), aria.co.uk (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Laptops/Laptops/17%22+MSI+GT725-087UK+Gaming+Notebook+?productId=35170), but not in stock. Looks like this version has a slightly better CPU and a larger hard drive.Card reader Yes
Dimensions 395 x 29 x 278 mm (WxHxD)
Display 17"
Graphics controller ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850
Graphics memory 512MB
Hard drive 500 GB
Operating system MS Windows Vista Home Premium
Weight 3.2 kg
Wireless lan Yes
Cpu type Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo P9500
Cpu speed 2.53 GHz
Resolution 1680x1050
Memory 4GB (2x2GB)
Memory type DDR2
Memory speed DDR2 - 800
Maximum memory capacity 4GB
I/o 1 x 10/100/1000 (LAN), 1 x D-Sub, 1 x eSATA (USB Combo), 1 x Express Card, 1 x Firewire, 1 x HDMI, 1 x Line In, 1 x Line Out, 1 x Mic In, 1 x RJ11, 3 x USB 2.0/1.1
Express card slot N/A
Colour Black/ RedNo idea if those sellers are any good, but that laptop model looks worth checking out.

[Narradisall]

Cool, thanks for the help.

Stupid question but Radeon, Nvidia etc, any good preferences? I honestly couldn't tell the difference between a Radeon HD 4850 or a 512MB ATI Radeon HD 3670 except the formers number are higher than the later, lol.

[Wraith]

I'm not terribly knowledgeable about mobile graphics cards, but benchmarks like these (http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html) would suggest that the mobile 4850 is significantly faster than the mobile 3670, and somewhat faster than the 8800M GTS.

[Voodoo]

I'm not terribly knowledgeable about mobile graphics cards, but benchmarks like these (http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html) would suggest that the mobile 4850 is significantly faster than the mobile 3670, and somewhat faster than the 8800M GTS.

That link you posted is one of the best, if not the best, tools to use when deciding upon which GPU to choose for a laptop.

[Xerxes]

I'm not terribly knowledgeable about mobile graphics cards, but benchmarks like these (http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html) would suggest that the mobile 4850 is significantly faster than the mobile 3670, and somewhat faster than the 8800M GTS.

My GPU is number 67. :(

I love my Vostro but now I wonder about our future. Well, couple more years atleast.
This does however look noice... Gateway® P-7805u FX Edition. (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9172511&type=product&id=1218043606827#tabbed-customerreviews) I even have a friend who works at BB. :confused:

[gvsudahc]

I just picked up this laptop from new egg and I love it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220488
I am playing Fear 2 and Bioshock on it no problem.

It is only a 14" screen but I wanted a more portable laptop.

[Voodoo]

I just picked up this laptop from new egg and I love it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220488
I am playing Fear 2 and Bioshock on it no problem.

It is only a 14" screen but I wanted a more portable laptop.

Welcome to the site. :)

[Xerxes]

Ain't this about a bitch. My Vostro is outdated. O_o

[Narradisall]

I just picked up this laptop from new egg and I love it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220488
I am playing Fear 2 and Bioshock on it no problem.

It is only a 14" screen but I wanted a more portable laptop.

Pretty nice.

I think I have a good idea of my build now. The last thing I'm having trouble with is still the graphics card. Since they are intergrated into the mother board I'm trying to get the next best latest card so that it'll last a while.

Your NVIDIA GeForce 9650M GT looks good. Guess I'll have to dig around to see what the next best card is. I wish they didn't make them all so damned confusing though with lots of random names, letters and numbers.

Welcome to the site btw.

[jeffbax]

Don't overlook www.powernotebooks.com for fast and cheap laptops.