Laptop for gaming and college (Need Help)

Hey I start college soon and decided to go with a laptop. I won't be doing any heavy full maxed out performance gaming but just light play with new releases and some old games on medium settings. I havnt had a chance to play since I don't have a comp right now. I really don't know what to look for in a laptop and my budget is between 1000 and 1500.

here is two that I have been looking at so far.. micro Express IFL9025 and a Dell XPS M1530

Just wondering if I should look for a laptop with Xp, Vista, or maybe even Linux. Trying to stay away from apple like my gf has and parents want me to get. Apples are great for non gamers but come on i want to play to in college.

Any suggestions on other laptops or even companys to look in would be great. Going to look at cyberpower next and newegg. Though I do want a good warranty. Any recommendations would be awsome. Thank you.

bump*

If you're concerned with gaming then the first thing you should look at is the graphics chip. Here is a great article on what's out there and what they can handle:
forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=39568

This site also has a lot of great reviews, so you can check out potential purchases there. If you want to game, then staying away from a Mac is a good idea. Most games need Windows to run so on top of your pricey Mac you'll have to buy a legit copy of Windows. As for other laptop brands you might want to look at Asus. They've got some nice specs on some of their models. Gateway also has a midrange laptop that got a good review. Here's the link for that:
www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3273

Ack....links won't go in. Guess you'll have to just copy and paste them .

I am going to college and am in the same boat as you. I have done LOTS of research on laptops and this weekend i finally ordered this laptop: It should arrive tomorrow (tuesday).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220279

It's got the 9500GS, a POWERFULL 2.5 processor, 3 gigs of ram, a numpad on the keyboard, vista, 15' inch portability, and the WXGA"+" screen giving it a higher resolution (1440 x 900 ) than the more common ( 1280 x 800 ) which means more workspace and the ability to have more than one window open on your screen. ASUS makes solid systems i've heard too... this laptop runs pretty quiet. It has all the ASUS security features (face recognition, fingerprint reader). Other bells and wistles too like the ambient lighting sensor that checks the lighting of the room and ajusts the screen brightness accordingly. Looks very solid and slick too ;)

Only cons of this laptop is the mediocre battery life with the standard 6 cell battery (about one hour when gaming and under 3 in power save settings) and just a little bit hotter than other laptops when your gaming. There is a 9 cell battery that you can upgrade too but i think it sticks out the back a little bit.

I can't wait to play with this laptop tomorrow! =D

If your getting a laptop get it with the cards "ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650" or the " NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS" as they are the best cards you can get in 15' sized laptops. They are pretty much identical and preform a little worse than the 8800 gts cards that come in desktops. (this computer should run Crysis at medium-low settings)

oh BTW that laptop comes with a killer warranty too. 1 year accidental warranty (meaning if you spill a drink on it or drop it off the side of your table and break it) they will replace it even if it was your fault. And a two year warranty if something breaks in the laptop by itself. These laptops must be built pretty good if they have that warranty ;)

remember to regester within 30 days of buying it in order to have the 1 year accidental warranty.

If that laptop for a little under 1500 is a little to much for your budget, this one (1000$ w/o tax)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220317

is good (only 1.8 processor but 4 gigs of ram and standard resolution)

or this one (1200$ w/o tax)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220308

is also good (pretty much the same as the 1500 laptop posted before, but without the nice resolution screen but one more gig of ram)

the dell xps 1530 is great, and gateway have some great 17" laptops with 8800s in them. do you care about batterylife or physical size?

anything with a 8600m gt or better or a radeon hd2600 or better will run new games fine. stay away from the radeon hd 2400 and gefore 8400gs, both are worthless for gaming and you might as well save money and get integrated graphics

http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668033.php

It has an 8800m GTS, T5750, 3GB RAM, 160GB hdd, and it's $1400.

Why do you need a gaming laptop so badly?

Get a cheap 500$ and get a 1000$ or what ever gaming PC. It comes to the same price and the desktop would kick any 1500$ laptops ass.

Why do you need a gaming laptop so badly?

Get a cheap 500$ and get a 1000$ or what ever gaming PC. It comes to the same price and the desktop would kick any 1500$ laptops ass.

Angry_Bosmer

is a good point if you rae spending like 1500 or so on a laptop, you could easily find a crappy laptop to do all your schoolwork on for $500.00 .... take the other 1000 and build yourself a nice little gaming rig that would be far better than your laptops gaming abilities.

laptops and gaming are like an oxymoron ... unless you have 3k to dish out.

[QUOTE="Angry_Bosmer"]

Why do you need a gaming laptop so badly?

Get a cheap 500$ and get a 1000$ or what ever gaming PC. It comes to the same price and the desktop would kick any 1500$ laptops ass.

whitey_rolls

is a good point if you rae spending like 1500 or so on a laptop, you could easily find a crappy laptop to do all your schoolwork on for $500.00 .... take the other 1000 and build yourself a nice little gaming rig that would be far better than your laptops gaming abilities.

laptops and gaming are like an oxymoron ... unless you have 3k to dish out.

Agreed, but if you really want a good lap that fits with your budget fo fot the Asus G1S

Look at the Asus laptops on newegg.com. In your price range there are numerous models that are good for gaming.

Everybody else seemed to show off the bigger more powerful laptops like the Gateway, which are great. If you want something smaller and don't want to break the bank, this is a good choice:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220331

It has the best midrange card on the market, the 9500GS, and is made by the very reliable ASUS. Plus, it's only $949.99 so you can save some money for games. The 14.1 inch screen will also come in handy if you're carrying it everywhere.

Or, if you're a bigger spender you can get this:

http://www.alienware.com/customize/area-51-m15x-notebook.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-AREA51M15X-AI1&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT

The video card is about the same in performance, but i believe this line of laptops is upgradeable, so when you find some extra cash lying around, you can buy an 8800M GTX and slap it in there.