Subscribe to How-To Geek

Welcome to the How-To Geek Forums

We encourage you to register on our forums and post any questions you might have. The How-To Geeks monitor this forum and will respond to your question quickly.

How-To Geek Forums » Geek Stuff

New laptop

(14 posts)
  • Started 1 month ago by quahog
  • Latest reply from quahog
  • Topic Viewed 214 times


quahog
quahog
Posts: 68

Im thinking about getting a new laptop and I want a good gamimg computer, but Ive only got about $1500-$1600 to spend. I know that most of the people here know what theyre talking about so if anyone could give me some suggestions, that would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Posted 1 month ago #
 
quahog
quahog
Posts: 68

I accidentaly posted this in the windows vista, and I dont know how to get it moved

Posted 1 month ago #
 
whs
whs
Posts: 5054

It was moved already. But why do you want to get a laptop for gaming. A desktop would be a lot better option. You can have a much bigger screen, a much better graphics card and it is a lot cheaper. A laptop for gaming would be rather heavy (so not that good for lugging around) because only the big ones can have a halfway decent graphics (matter of space and cooling). With $1500 you should be able to find something easily - but again, be aware that a laptop is NOT a good solution for that application. Heat, weight and you will still end up with a mediocre compromise.

Posted 1 month ago #
 
quahog
quahog
Posts: 68

Well, I was thinking about getting a dell xps, and they have some pretty nice and small ones that if you customize them, are pretty good. But I also want to use it for school next year.

Posted 1 month ago #
 
whs
whs
Posts: 5054

The Dell XPS is overpriced. You can find better. I will have a look in the sunday ads. But again, you should consider to spend $1000 on a decent desktop and the rest on a small laptop to lug around. Lugging a 17 inch is no fun.

Posted 1 month ago #
 
whs
whs
Posts: 5054

Look at this super system. Add $250 for a 22inch monitor and you really have something. http://circuitcity.shoplocal.c.....ity-080706
Plus you have change left for a laptop for school.

Posted 1 month ago #
 
Budohorseman
Budohorseman
Posts: 589

AnandTech just put up a laptop buyers guide http://www.anandtech.com/mobil.....spx?i=3351 so you may want to check it out.

Posted 1 month ago #
 
quahog
quahog
Posts: 68

Thanks for the article, and for the link to the pretty sweet system, but Im not a fan of HP or AMD. And I think Im definitely going to go with a laptop, just because I can take everything I have with me, but like you said lugging around a 17" laptop is awful, so I think Im gona get a 15" M1530 XPS

Posted 1 month ago #
 
whs
whs
Posts: 5054

Your choice. I personally think this is a waste of money because you can get a lot more computer in desktops from other than Dell. And lugging an expensive PC to school would not be my choice. But maybe the streets of Texas are safe. Well, you wanted suggestions. I gave you mine.
PS. What is your problem with HP and AMD? I have 2 HP's with AMD's and they are very good. I also have a Dell with Intel Q6600 - I wish I had never bought it.

Posted 1 month ago #
 
quahog
quahog
Posts: 68

I guess its personal preference, and my dad swears by HP and hes never had many problems, but I like dell because they make good computers and they use intel chipsets and boards. I like intel better than amd just because intel is kind of the standard and is compatible with basicly everything (some stuff doesnt work with amds)

Ps: I realy appreciate your suggestion, but I just want all my stuff in one so I dont have to use an external hard drive to transfer data.

Posted 1 month ago #
 
whs
whs
Posts: 5054

I understand. Just one more suggestion: Get an external harddrive (at least 250GB) and Norton Ghost and make a system backup at least once a week. A laptop that is being hauled around a lot is very fragile (disk crashes happen frequently). And should your disk crash and you have to replace it, you can recover with Ghost from your last restore point on your external disk - else you restart from scratch. Should you, by any chance, get Vista Ultimate, you have a similar function built in - but that is a lot more expensive than the Ghost solution. Ghost14 is $70 (but you can do with Ghost12 for less) and the 250GB disk is also about $70.

Posted 1 month ago #
 
quahog
quahog
Posts: 68

I think I will get an external hard drive, but since I have free accessability to acronis, Ill use that to back my stuff up, so I dont have to pay for another program.

Posted 1 month ago #
 
whs
whs
Posts: 5054

Acronis is perfect. Just do the backups on a regular basisi or when you have changed/added a lot.

Posted 1 month ago #
 
quahog
quahog
Posts: 68

Ill probably do it either once a week or whenever I do something big that I need backed up

Posted 1 month ago #
 

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.

Sponsored Links
Getting Started
About How-To Geek
Popular Articles

Copyright © 2006-2008 HowToGeek.com. All Rights Reserved.