Gaming Laptop

[katie333]

My 6 year old laptop died a quiet death recently. It was a fairly low end MSI machine that was really only used for occasional email and browsing. We've got 2 desktops that are our primary computers. Knowing our desktops are showing their age, but wanting to continue playing online games and other PC games I've thought about replacing two things with one and getting a gaming laptop. Of course, anything branded this way seems to be overpriced for the comparative computing power.

I'm not expecting to get a top of the line machine but would prefer to have a stutter free experience playing games like WoW and Rift. Any recommendations?

[brunt]

Gaming PC's are not priced according to computing power. Better screens, full metal cases (better strength and heat dissipation), better keyboards (to better handle adrenaline-based bashing) and so on. A Ferrari may not go too much faster than a regular muscle car, but there is a world of difference between the two under the hood.

I am not into gaming at all, but I considered a gaming laptop for their superior build quality. Given that I could buy three (or more) flimsier computers for the same price as one gaming laptop, I will not be buying a gaming computer.

Get something with an i5 or i7 in it, with at least 4 GB of RAM. This should be fine for speed. Pay attention to the resolution of the screen in addition to its size. There are many 13 inch or smaller screens with incredible resolution, but are small in size (have a look at the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 for an example). And there are plenty of 15 inch screens with 1366x768 resolution which is pretty poor for a bunch of things (I don't know about gaming, but it stinks for programming like I do).

You will probably be looking at about $600 for a middle of the road laptop. Something like this (http://www.costco.ca/HP-Pavilion-17-...100121279.html) from Costco may be what you are looking for. This is not a clear winner in my books, but perhaps the least objectionable all-round. That may sound like faint praise, and that would be a fair assessment.

I'm kind of looking for a similar laptop right now, and I am not finding anything too exciting that doesn't cost considerably more. I bought two i7 computers with 17 inch screens (1600x900 resolution) more than two years ago for $600 each. Nothing that I have seen comes close to this deal, even with two years of supposed improvements.

[hirev]

Tiger direct sometimes has the MSI 17 inch laptops on sale. There is one that goes on sale for 799 all the time. Has i7 8gb ram. And a bunch of stuff. I am on a phone but will try to find the link later

[kapri123]

It could do the work, but my advice is to simply make new gaming pc ( you will make it cheaper, and better then in most retails )

[shiro]

$500-600 will just about get you a laptop for normal use, Asus and lenovo are the ones I recommend

[shiro]

As mid-range laptop, Lenovo Z50 looks pretty good

• AMD A10-7300 Quad-Core 1.9 GHz Processor
• 8 GB DDR3 RAM
• 1 TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
• 15.6-Inch Screen
• Windows 8.1, 5-hour battery life

[shiro]

Check more models here http://pcgamerhome.com/gaming-laptops-under-500/

[Weeeooojr]

For playing games like WoW and Rift you don't need that good of a computer. You could build yourself a desktop that's more than good enough to run those game fine for like $300. Build a desktop and maybe get a chromebook or something?

[JKD2015]

Nothing beats Alienware!

[Maelstrom720]

AMD A10 is also relatively cheap and good for gaming.

[Mrsaver]

buliding a custom PC is the way to go if you know how, you can save a looot of money and gain more PC power!

[Britanica]

I hate to say it but when it comes to PC gaming, your best bet is to get a custom tower built. If you must use a laptop, you won't find much under $900 that will be great for WoW. You can try finding a refurbished deal. Mine is and it was a $750 laptop I got for $500.

[Owen Paradis]

I own an MSI laptop (GE P2E apache Pro) and i paid 1500$ for it, now that is a bit more expensive than other laptops considering it has upgraded spec to it but you can get the MSI GE 70 for 800 plus get a 100$ instant rebate if you send a copy of a receipt to them by a certain amount of time after the purchase. I find they're AMAZING for customer service, my friend has a tower and one of his parts was not working. Since they have a warranty they didn't question much and sent him the new part without the tassel. I haven't had one single problem with my laptop and you definitely get a lot more for your dollar compared to Alienware. With that being said, I would definitely recommend an MSI once again. The GE 70 is also a very good and stylish laptop that can pack a punch

[Cody Holmes]

Honestly even cheaper gaming pcs blow the doors off any gaming laptop. The trick is to build yourself, which is actually fairly easy. I have a desktop PC that will play any game on max settings and I only spent 1100 on it. If you would like any advice let me know!

[torikul]

You can take a new one