[simplepcguide]

I was looking for a gaming laptop, and I found one that looks like a pretty good deal, just wondered what you guys thought.

Total price including tax, shipping, etc. (to USA) : about $1050.

Stats:

17" LCD (1440 x 900)
Intel Core 2 Duo (2.0GHZ/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
4gb RAM DDR2 800Mhz
Nvidia Geforce 8600 GT (256mb)
Blue-ray Reader/DVD burner/CD burner
120gb Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
Wireless G
Vista (will switch to XP)

The unit would cost $970 (including tax and shipping, new from dell), and come with 1gb Ram, the then I would get another 4gb from Newegg ($80), so I would have 5gb but I could only use 4gb (2x2gb) because there is only two slots.

Also it has an open hard drive bay so for an extra $140 I could add another 250gb storage.

This looks like a good deal to me. For a little over $1000. However it only has a 1 year warranty.

Any thoughts?

[alex]

Any 'gaming' computer should be built around the graphics card and cpu (primarily).

The cpu is fine for that resolution, as is the ram (although 4gb is massive overkill, 2gb will more than suffice).

The weakpoint is the 8600GT, it's not a gaming card. It will be able to game at the resolution of the screen but you'll struggle with eye-candy.

[link590o]

for what it offers, it's surprisingly good. i've seen similar laptops that go for about twice the price and only closely match that.

just make sure you've got a 64 bit operating system or else you're wasting your time with all that RAM. 32 bit operating systems can't recognize very much more than 2 or 3 gigs.

if it came with an nvidia quadro FX graphics chip, i might've been more impressed. mobile 8600gt cards aren't all that great.

but that being said, i'd buy it. given it won't be a very POWERFUL gaming laptop, it can certainly do a crap lot more than most with those specs. that processor is a beast in comparison to most. it could be better if it had a 2.3ghz. but that's probably what would make it jump to the 2000 dollar range lol.

[simplepcguide]

Ok I upgraded the CPU. I think 2.4 is pretty good.

17" LCD (1440 x 900)
Intel Core 2 Duo (2.4GHZ/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)
2gb RAM DDR2 800Mhz (can upgrade to 4gb for $30)
Nvidia Geforce 8600 GT (256mb)
DVD/CD burner
120gb Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
Wireless G
Vista (will switch to XP)

Total Cost: $1050.

Or there is also this gateway one I am looking at:

17" LCD (1440 x 900)
Intel Core 2 Duo (1.73Ghz)
3gb RAM DDR2 667Mhz
Nvidia Geforce 8800 GTS (GDR3 512mb)
DVD/CD burner
250gb Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
Wireless G
Vista (will switch to XP)

Total Cost:$1200

Which one do you think would be better?

I kinda like the 8800 GTS (7000+ in 3dmark06!)

Thanks

[link590o]

despite having slightly slower ram, it will have plenty to handle just about any game. and a GTS will serve you very very well. certainly better than the 8600. despite having a slower processor, it will still outperform the other model IMO. the extra graphical power will help it tremendously.

you can't upgrade that processor, can you? you upgraded it for the other laptop. i mean...yeah dell has customization built into their website so you can upgrade various things...but gateway should have that ability as well.

quite frankly, i trust gateway more than i trust dell at the moment actually. dell may be on the rise, but i have a lot of reasons to despise them. a lot of crappy products for way too long, and they're no better than anyone else. so why should i prefer them?

see what i mean?

i've seen tons of gateway products that have performed very admirably. see if you can get that gateway instead of the dell.

[Carbon]

They're throwing GTSs into laptops?

Wow. G92 for the win.