Optimal laptop for a $850 budget?

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I guess the topic says it all folks. My current HP520 (very old school, it doesn't even have a mic or camera) has served me well these past 3 and a half years but it's just too banged up already. I mean, without an external laptop fan it just overheats and shuts down in a few minutes. And the battery is totally crapped out as well and you have to have it plugged in if you want to use it for more than maybe 5mins or so without having it just shut down out of nowhere.

I don't have very large software or hardware requirements or anything. I guess I'd just like something fairly reliable/durable with which I can use the latest windows OS (if a good mac is suggested though, i'm open but they tend to be more expensive, right?) and maximize whatever "gaming options" I can.

Any advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all.

 

No worries, no mac's

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115792 This is a start to go from. I myself dislike Acer but these specifications are good. The Ati 5650 will let you play new games in medium.


Then you could say how about this one it looks more powerful whit the processor:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115791 BUT it lacks a gaming/multi purpose laptop grade graphic card. Yes the processor is stronger but the graphic card sucks.

And that is the thing, the combination of all the specifications. If you want to game, no Intel card will do. It has to have a specific GPU.

 

Buy a new battery and clean up all the dust inside the laptop so it won't overheat anymore.

 

I'd try the Asus UL30Jt and/or the UL30Vt.

 

If you don't mind going to Best Buy you can pick up a good Asus notebook for next to nothing if don't mind last year models. The newer models cost more and the performance is not much better than last year's model.

 

Asus is top notch

 

Have a good look at the graphics card. That's somewhat tricky with notebooks, and iirc Intel is to be avoided in favour of AMD and Nvidia.

 

The UL30Vt fits the advice of 3 previous posts... and it has a discrete, if slow, GPU. UL30Jt is just coming out, and is replacing UL30Vt.

That is, the GPU is slow by desktop standards. By notebook standards it's blazin'. It's plenty for some games... and insufficient for others. If the game's 3 years or older, it'll likely run fine, but don't expect to run the latest and greatest on it. It may still be possible, though.

And the battery's good - up to 10 hours... at brightness minimum, no wifi/bluetooth, the discrete GPU turned off while doing something that doesn't stress the CPU. In practice, think half that if doing web surfing or light gaming, third that if doing heavy gaming, and two thirds if doing text editing or surfing with flash off.

 

Two good brands and right on the money. Both have a good mobile gaming card made by ATI (Yes I confess, I prefer ATI over Nvidia)


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127087

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220753

Ok a Nvidia one with a i 5: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114927

 

While rather more powerful than the UL30Vt, they also show why gaming laptops are such a problem for me - those things are all 15 inches or larger. Personally, I hate Sony and couldn't in good conscience recommend the Vaio to anyone, but the rest look good. Except for the battery life.

---------- Added 20 hours, 57 minutes and 31 seconds later... ----------

And in a turn of events I believe warrants a new post: Just placed an order for my own UL30Vt. So if you'll wait a few weeks, I oughta have more detailed info.

If you're fine with a 15 inch 7lbs machine with no battery life - then by all means purchase one. They're gonna have splendid game performance compared to the more lightweight systems, but they're also a colossal pain to drag around.

 

lolo taza that is where a rolling backpack comes in handy so you dont have to carry the dang thing lol.

 

Thanks for all the advice guys. That ulvt 30 is really tempting. The only thing making me hesitate is the lack of an optical drive.

@Taza

where are you ordering it from and at how much? The cheapest I found was a 690USD (without shipping and everything yet).

 

I paid $900 for mine without shipping... but it IS the Nordic model, and that's including taxes.

... I use mostly Steam, so the lack of an optical drive doesn't really bother me.

 

just wanted to look into a different type as well...

with the same 850$ ceiling price, what would be the best gaming laptop that i could get? truth be told, i wont be doing all that much moving around anyway and don't mind a 14 or even 15 inch screen. I'd probably be close to a power source most of the time anyway so i could sacrifice battery life for superior graphics and sounds. i'd like the heat management to still be good though. and a sturdy build as well as much as possible.

 

just wanted to let everyone know that i'm probably going with the asus ul30vt. i wont be getting it until about november though.

@taza

i'd appreciate it if you let me know more about it once you've got yours.

thanks a lot all.

 

The UL30Vt is absolutely fantastic for web browsing.

Gaming-wise, it runs NWN2 and Team Fortress 2 reasonably at the minimum settings.

The battery life is very good - as long as you turn the discrete graphics card off.

It will not run GTAIV. Tried that, and where I could play at the absolute minimum, it's still laggy.

EDIT: One noticeable complaint: The wireless range is pathetic. Not that bad given I don't tend to keep it far from the wireless devices, but might be a problem elsewhere. Bluetooth especially has a barely meter range.

 

Thanks for the feedback Taza.

Now that the JT has come out though, I'm leaning towards a UL80JT.

I just heard about the Gateway ID49c08u though and its a tossup between the two of them.

What do you guys think? laptopmag.com gave them both high marks in (i think) comprehensive reviews and they're about the same price, so I'm not too sure which one to go with. I have to decide by the end of the month already which one to order.

This is the review for the ul80jt

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/asus-ul80jt.aspx

This one is for the ID49c08u

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptop/gateway-id49c08u.aspx

Thanks again for all the help guys.

Ah crap, just found the Alienware m11x on amazon for $867 as well and it looks tempting too!

 

Honestly, I don't know either way about the Gateway. Both look good.

However, the UL30Vt could save you $150 - more if you get it when it's out later. The UL80Jt looks pretty fantastic too, so as far as advice goes, it's really about preference by now, as far as I know.

Do note that you really want the Core 2 Duo version of the UL30Vt. The Celeron version has an undersized CPU.

 

I just wanted to thank everyone for the advice again. I ended up ordering the ASUS U45JC-A1. It's got an i3-370 processor and is the standard 14-inch. Not quite as thin or light as the ul80jt but I think the difference between the i3-330 and i3-370 was pretty big, considering it was only just slightly more expensive. If anyone wants to look at it, I got mine off of amazon http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-U45JC-A1...YMA6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1286191300&sr=8-3

I'm expecting it early November and will give some feedback then if anyone is interested.

I hope it will at least be able to play Mass Effect 2, hah