What essentials do I need in a Gaming Laptop?

[WaltonsMountain]

Im looking at buying a laptop for serious gaming use. What essentials should I look for? I heard Processor and RAM is probably the key components in this. What should I be looking for w/ the newest technology out there? Particular brands? Etc. Anything would be helpful!

[kyzen]

1.86ghz Core 2 Duo minimum, 4GB RAM, a video card where the second number is a "5" or higher (GeForce 9500, 9600, Radeon 3650, etc - anything lower are the budget/integrated cards). A 7200 RPM hard drive is also going to be important - I'd even take a 250GB 7200 RPM drive over a 500GB 5400 RPM drive if you're looking for gaming. I'd stick to the GeForce 8xxx, 9xxx series, or the Radeon 3xxx series (or 4xxx series - are those in laptops yet?)

As for brands, I currently like ASUS laptops the most, and they're very well priced for their specs, and very well built - hell, for the most part they don't even come weighed down with bloatware. I bought an ASUS G series from Best Buy last summer, and only had to uninstall my 90 day trial of Symantec; there was no other crapware to deal with, which is an excellent change from Dell, HP, Gateway, etc.

Dell's XPS line and Gateway (the FX series) are also great, though Dell's tend to be overpriced, and require a perfect alignment of the stars, planets, and discount codes to create a good deal. Toshiba makes a gaming line with excellent specs, but the actual design/colors of their laptops are enough to make me want to bleach my eyes.

Also, unless you REALLY need a $1000-$1200 mobile gaming rig, you might consider putting together a more powerful and upgradeable gaming desktop for ~$700 (see here (http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=3486&p=3) and here (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-e5200-radeon,2144.html)), and picking up a cheap ~$400 laptop for your mobile tasks. I don't know your situation, but it's food for thought :)

[WaltonsMountain]

1.86ghz Core 2 Duo minimum, 4GB RAM, a video card where the second number is a "5" or higher (GeForce 9500, 9600, Radeon 3650, etc - anything lower are the budget/integrated cards). A 7200 RPM hard drive is also going to be important - I'd even take a 250GB 7200 RPM drive over a 500GB 5400 RPM drive if you're looking for gaming. I'd stick to the GeForce 8xxx, 9xxx series, or the Radeon 3xxx series (or 4xxx series - are those in laptops yet?)

As for brands, I currently like ASUS laptops the most, and they're very well priced for their specs, and very well built - hell, for the most part they don't even come weighed down with bloatware. I bought an ASUS G series from Best Buy last summer, and only had to uninstall my 90 day trial of Symantec; there was no other crapware to deal with, which is an excellent change from Dell, HP, Gateway, etc.

Dell's XPS line and Gateway (the FX series) are also great, though Dell's tend to be overpriced, and require a perfect alignment of the stars, planets, and discount codes to create a good deal. Toshiba makes a gaming line with excellent specs, but the actual design/colors of their laptops are enough to make me want to bleach my eyes.

Also, unless you REALLY need a $1000-$1200 mobile gaming rig, you might consider putting together a more powerful and upgradeable gaming desktop for ~$700 (see here (http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=3486&p=3) and here (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-e5200-radeon,2144.html)), and picking up a cheap ~$400 laptop for your mobile tasks. I don't know your situation, but it's food for thought :)

Wow, thanks for all the great info. I might take your advice on going w/ the gaming desktop instead of the laptop. Can I upgrade my gaming laptop if I were to go that route?

[kyzen]

Put simply: No, you can't upgrade a laptop. You can add memory, replace the hard drive, and if you're really adventurous, upgrade the CPU, but you'll almost never be able to upgrade the video card in a laptop (a few models have been offered in the past with "upgradeable" video cards, but they never caught on, and there were never many options).

Whereas a desktop you can upgrade any part you want.

[kylezo]

its much more cost effective to get a desktop system for gaming, no question. kyzens info is pretty much spot on. Decent graphics card, max RAM, at leas 7200 rpm HD, and a mid lelve C2D processor and you'll be ok. This would be a lot cheaper on a desktop than a laptop and more easily upgradeable.

[WaltonsMountain]

What are your thoughts on buying a gaming desktop off of ebay? It seems like hard task to put one together myself...unless there is a step-by-step guide out there somewhere?

[lightfoot3b]

I wouldn't worry about a 7200rpm drive. Overkill price for what you get imho.
3GB ram is important (4GB if you go 64bit os)
CPU I agree, 1.8+ dual core is fine. Even a 2.0AMD dual core will work fine.
9600 nvidia or up or 3850 up for AMD/ATI (I'm not sure the 3650 was a really good card, but for the price of laptops they put them in its a decent deal).

Guy I know paid like $700 for a 2.0 C2D + 9600gt video (512MB onboard video ram)
3GB memory and 250GB hard drive (5400rpm)
and loves it.