Gaming Laptop

[akniss]

Howdy gamers. I'm a little out of my element in this part of the forum. I've been asked to find a good laptop for my brother-in-law for christmas. He likes to play games in WinXP, but I was planning on giving him one of my ShipIt CDs to go along with the computer. He will be coming to University next August, so the laptop will have to be portable enough to take between classes, but powerful enough to play all the games he likes, and preferably Linux friendly so I can try to bring him over to the "dark side".

I've heard that for gaming, the two most important factors are processor and video card... What should I be looking for in a laptop? about 2 Ghz? faster? can I go down to 1.7 Ghz and spend that money on a better video card? Is integrated video better? how much video memory will he need? Any advice on these two issues would be greatly appreciated. Also if you have had luck getting a good buy for a gaming laptop with a particular brand, i would be very interested.

Thanks!!

[audax321]

PROCESSOR/RAM:
If your getting a 64-bit processor, definitely go for 2GB of RAM.
If your getting a 32-bit processor (I recommend a Pentium M 2.0 or higher), go for 1-1.5 GB of RAM.

VIDEO CARD:
Integrated video that shares RAM with the rest of the computer will run like crap. The best I can recommend here is a nVidia GeForce 6800 Go or nVidia GeForce 6800 Go Ultra (not sure if the 7800 series has made it to laptops yet). ATI normally doesn't play well with Linux and with a Laptop could be difficult to deal with.

I used to have a Dell Inspiron 9300 with these specs:
Pentium M 2.0
1.0 GB RAM
nVidia GeForce 6800 Go

and it played games nicely. But on Breezy to get the setup to work you have to following this howto: http://rtr.ca/dell_i9300/breezy.html

Also if you go with Dell, keep an eye out for coupons using Google. I got the 9300 with 40% off.

[Rinzwind]

I can vouch for that website. I used it to set up almost all out-of-the-box-non-working issues.

My ATI X300 runs fine under ubuntu btw ;)

[audax321]

I should probably clarify a little. I use an ATI 9700 on my desktop and it works great, but I don't have much experience with ATI on laptops. All I know is that I couldn't get dual screen working on my desktop (but it was extrememly easy with the nVidia 6600 I used to have) so it could be difficult getting the external video port working on laptops, BUT this could just be me.. and you might not have any problems. Also, when I was installing the ATI driver, for some reason Ubuntu kept dropping the driver and switching to some generic driver. I ended up having to format to get it to stick. Again, probably just my configuration. :)

Bottom line, stick with ATI and nVidia for the video card (just make sure it doesn't share system RAM). ;)

And about the RAM, it is usually cheaper to get the minimum from the manufacturer and buy extra after market. For example, in my HP DV1000 laptop I just got 512 MB and bought 1 GB after and installed it myself... saved about $100

[audax321]

Also,

WIRELESS CARD:
I have two laptops with Intel 2200 B/G cards that worked out of the box with Ubuntu.

10/100 NETWORK CARD:
My laptop has a Realtek that works.

MODEM:
Never used one, so couldn't tell you what works and what doesn't.

[Breepee]

PROCESSOR/RAM:
If your getting a 64-bit processor, definitely go for 2GB of RAM.
If your getting a 32-bit processor (I recommend a Pentium M 2.0 or higher), go for 1-1.5 GB of RAM.

That's a little exaggerated for an occasional gamer. Cut those values down to 1GB and I agree.

If he's going to game in Linxu, try to find one with an NVidia chip, better drivers.

[penvzila]

A gaming laptop is not such a good idea. I know, because I have one. They tend to be wayyyy more expensive than a similarly equipped desktop, extremely heavy, run hot, have crappy battery life, and in my case, the build quality is ****. Oh and laptops are a lot more expensive to upgrade, and often the video card is not upgradeable.

On the other hand, it is a kickass computer if space is an issue on your desk (although you can easily build a small ff pc and get an LCD monitor). Just don't have any illusions about taking it on the go and using it as a normal laptop.

[bjweeks]

PROCESSOR/RAM:
If your getting a 64-bit processor, definitely go for 2GB of RAM.
If your getting a 32-bit processor (I recommend a Pentium M 2.0 or higher), go for 1-1.5 GB of RAM.

VIDEO CARD:
Integrated video that shares RAM with the rest of the computer will run like crap. The best I can recommend here is a nVidia GeForce 6800 Go or nVidia GeForce 6800 Go Ultra (not sure if the 7800 series has made it to laptops yet). ATI normally doesn't play well with Linux and with a Laptop could be difficult to deal with.

I used to have a Dell Inspiron 9300 with these specs:
Pentium M 2.0
1.0 GB RAM
nVidia GeForce 6800 Go

and it played games nicely. But on Breezy to get the setup to work you have to following this howto: http://rtr.ca/dell_i9300/breezy.html

Also if you go with Dell, keep an eye out for coupons using Google. I got the 9300 with 40% off.

No, that is wrong. I have a 6800 and 1 gb of ram on my desktop and can play any game on hi. Ask him what games he wants to play, you only need that for BF2, COD2, Q4, Doom3, Frycry etc

[Gray.]

2GB?!? That is just over-kill for any but the newest games (i.e. F.E.A.R, Battlefield 2) even though they don't NEED them, 1GB is fine for all others (i.e. Far Cry, DOOM 3, Quake 4, Call of Duty 2 etc.) And it would be better to get a laptop with a nVidia card because they have better drivers.

[audax321]

2GB?!? That is just over-kill for any but the newest games (i.e. F.E.A.R, Battlefield 2) even though they don't NEED them, 1GB is fine for all others (i.e. Far Cry, DOOM 3, Quake 4, Call of Duty 2 etc.) And it would be better to get a laptop with a nVidia card because they have better drivers.

Well the 2GB was for a 64-bit system. I read somewhere that you needed to double the memory for a 64-bit system, or maybe it was dual core?? Not so sure now... but yes, 1 GB is enough.. BUT if you can get one 512 dimm in the laptop and then buy a 1 GB chip from newegg or something you can get 1.5 GB for roughly the same price the manufacturer would charge for 2 512. Now, if you want to run the memory dual channel, then you'll have to get the two dimms from the manufacturer.


No, that is wrong. I have a 6800 and 1 gb of ram on my desktop and can play any game on hi. Ask him what games he wants to play, you only need that for BF2, COD2, Q4, Doom3, Frycry etc

That actually is a good questions, What games does your brother-in-law play exactly?


And yes, I do tend to exaggerate the specs for gaming systems. But the truth of the matter is that at the rate games develop, a current bleeding edge system is a good idea if you want this system to play games in the future...especially since its a laptop and most of its components aren't upgradeable. In my opinion, there is no point in paying $800-$1000 extra for a laptop with a fast video card if you can only play games on "high" for maybe a year or year and half. For example, a modest computer today could beat the crap out of UT2004, but UT2007 (or Envy as they call it) is probably going to chug on it. In all honesty I gave up my 9300 because it ate battery and was huge. I completely agree with the statement that gaming should only be done on laptops if there is a space issue. Laptops are far too expensive to maintain as gaming machines. Right now I have an HP Dv1000 with a small 14" widescreen and integrated intel video card that is just awesome... I drag it everywhere and it will play simple games like TuxRacer and even UT2004 (on low to medium settings). I do not however, expect this laptop to play anything current or coming out in the future. If your brother-in-law is planning on taking a laptop to class with him, consider getting a screen that is 15.4" or less, especially if his university has those little crap desks with the attached chairs. Also, go for widescreen if at all possible, the extra width of the screen really pays off when writing documents.

Sorry, that is one long post. Good luck and I hope you're not too confused. :)

[akniss]

I appreciate everyone's help. Its looking like the specs required to make a typical gamer happy are going to put the laptop out of my in-laws price range. It looks like it is pretty difficult to get dedicated video card in a small laptop. How much difference would 256 MB of integrated video RAM make compared to 63 or 128? I think the 'top of the line' video is going to be out of the picture.

[audax321]

I would say shoot for 128 to 256. The difference between 128 and 256 can be significant but it depends on the type of video card being used. Anything less is alright for a business application only laptop. Also, no matter what video card the laptop has, check some reviews using Google because Windows Vista is right around the corner and from what I've read needs a 3D accelerated card if you want to use the default theme (it will have a lower requirement compatibility theme as well though). Remember though that an integrated card will share memory with the system, so make sure to have plenty of ram available.