Gaming Laptop?

[GrimLoko]

Hello everyone, I was planning to get a laptop that can run games pretty well at about medium quality. Honestly I plan to stick with BF4 and SC2. What if any laptop would you guys recommend for playing these games at medium quality? I was looking at spending no more then $800 but I can give some leway for that. Thank you guys! Appreciate any info or advice on getting one.

[Mokona512]

The cheapest that will smoothly handle GF4 at medium that I am seeing, cost $900 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-539-_-Product

At $800, they keep using cards like the 840m

If you can due without a laptop, and build a desktop gaming PC, then you can build a system that will easily max out just about everything except the crap port of assassins creed unity

if you can go with open box then a system with the 850m is available but you will likely be stuck with console peasant frame rates at medium (well below 60 FPS)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16834231684R

[GrimLoko]

Thanks Mokona! I should've specified. I built a gaming desktop like 2 years ago. I can max out BF4 and pretty much any game. I am going to AIT in the Army for 5 months so I wanted something to play games occasionally with my sister or cousin. I wanted the laptop for that reason. (However I do plan to build my sis a comp in a year or so.)

Also, the Y50 you linked does look like a good buy.

[Mokona512]

Wanted to also add, if you will be playing games that are very CPU intensive, this will make for a more balanced system

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834232132


Only issue is I am not sure how well attempting to overclock an 850m will work out.

At 1080p on BF4, an 850m will give you framerates in the mid 40's to low 50's in some areas at 1080p, thus with one, you will either be stuck at 720P to hold over 60FPS consistently.

The 860M can do the high preset at 1080p and still give you around 50-60FPS

[ModJPB]

Get a used laptop. Alot of good ASUS ROG laptops and lenovo Y series laptops on ebay. I just picked up a G46VW for $500 which has a gtx660, 8gb Ram, and an i5 in it. After overclocking it, it runs BF4 great on high settings.

The first thing we need to know besides your budget is what screen size do you want. 14" and lower is portable, 15.6 starts to compromise portability but it will give you a keyboard with numpad, 17 and higher is not really a "lap"top anymore but something that goes on a desk but can be moved if needed.

If gaming is a concern then the gpu is next. A gtx660, 765, and 840 are really the starting point. I wouldnt suggest anything lower than these. The 860 is probably the best bang for the buck.

An i5 and 8gb of RAM is next. Be careful you want to make sure there are TWO sticks of ram. Some companies will cheap out and put a single 8GB stick running in single channel mode. 4GB x2 or 8GB x2 will enable dual channel mode.

Lastly, although it wont affect game frame rates, an SSD drive is a huge time saver especially for laptops. Laptop HDD are extremely slow so an SSD will make the laptop feel more like your are working on a regular desktop pc. Unfortunatly for your budget this may have to be something to upgrade later on.

Goodluck!

[Scipio]

I would get a Lenovo Y50. Very good performance(860M, options for 4K screen, etc.) for a decent price.

I wouldn't recommend the Lenovo Y40-70 however, which I have. AMD Radeon graphics are pretty crap, and the i7 they advertise is dual core. I would spend the extra $200 for a 15" Y50

[Raw]

I Just Bought the Lenovo Y-40, Its an awesome computer would recommend it if you like a smaller computer to play on. Also they run awesome sales got mine 48% off.

-RawMeats

[graemhoek]

I have a ROG laptop and it's a great machine, that being said I would advise to build your own PC. It's bulky, but cheaper for better components and you have the freedom to upgrade when you have more money. www.pcpartpicker.com can make putting together a rig (theoretically) relatively painless.

[AOD_Mickgoth]

I agree with above posts of getting a second hand one. Gaming laptops are very expensive and normally out of date by the time they hit the street and upgrading is difficult and expensive. Also keeping them "clean" is a chore with only one harddrive (OS,software and programmes all on one etc).
They drop in price for second hand ones. Just make sure you get it from a decent seller, see it working before buy if poss

[ModJPB]

Just an update on my G46VW. I have upgraded it with a quad core i7 3820qm and overclocked. I am now able to play planetside 2 on ultra (except shadows medium).

Be careful about going to a high resolution screen like 4k, because you will lose graphics performance. To run a game at 4k from 1080p you would technically need 4 times more powerful gpu.

[atwood]

Lenovo Y40, y50

[Scipio]

Y40 uses a AMD Radeon M275 card, which gets decent performances. I get around 45 fps playing Ghost Recon Phantoms on very low graphics. I have a feeling that's bottlenecked by the CPU, which while is an i7, is dual core and cannot be upgraded since it's soldered onto the mobo. Also, the 1TB HDD is only 5400 rpm, so in general the computer is pretty slow.

I would recommend a Y50 for Nvidia 860M graphics with an SSD if you want performance over the Y40, which is cheaper and smaller

[EpicBlob]

My friend bought a Y50 and has been loving it. Hes played bf4, dying light, space engineers, and the hardline beta on decent settings with solid framerates. Definitely the best price-for-performance laptop you can get today. Used it cheaper as others have said, and if you do end up buying used I'd open it up and clean fans/vents as they tend to be pretty dusty.

[ModJPB]

Have you decided on a laptop yet?

If not, Another great feature that you may consider is a backlit keyboard. In dark environments and at night this is a huge benefit. Have you ever been staring at a bright screen and look down at the keyboard to suddenly feel like you are blind? This was the major factor of why I chose the G46vw over the Y40. All the Y40 Lenovos look like they have a red backlit keyboard but it is just painted like that, except the newest model released about a month ago which finally added the backlight to the 14" models.