Gaming Laptop Recomendations

Thanks for all the advice guys.

I have nailed it down to 2 laptops

Alienware M17X R3 (Stealth Black) (2630QM)
http://www.incredible.co.za/ProductDescription.aspx?SKU=77214

Or

Samsung Series 7 700G Gamer laptop
http://g3ar.co.za/review/samsung-series-7-700g-gamer-laptop/

Does anybody know where I can get the Samsung laptop from? I cant find any local suppliers in South Africa who sell it? If you do know of a place that does stock them locally please let me know otherwise I will just go for the Alienware Laptop.
 
Dude, I don't know why you're looking at the Alienware notebooks. They're not bad notebooks but for the price the Asus ROG series is much better.

That M17X is comparable (apart from the SB chip) to my 1.5 Year old Asus G73JH, not to mention I paid R16K for my Asus. I'd look for a good deal on the G74 if I were you.

The Asus even looks better. Personal taste I know, but ever since other manufacturers started competing on the gaming notebook front I can't help but feel the christmas tree kiddie reputation combined with the pricing of the Alienware series is starting to become pretty lame.

As for the Samsung Series 7, it looks nice and I like the specs. I'd read a lot of reviews on it before buying though. Gaming notebooks tend to only show their issues a few weeks or months after being released in the form of forum complaints etc.

Don't forget that when it comes to gaming notebooks the biggest factor in the long term usually comes down to how well the cooling works. I've yet to see a gaming notebook range that beats Asus when it comes to that. Remember that while a review's conclusion might be that a machine's cooling is "adequate", that cooling will continually degrade over the life of the machine so it's better to get something where overkill is the norm.

As for the Samsung, just make sure that you're not getting a machine where they took a "standard" chassis design and just dumped high-end components in it. I tend to prefer a brand where the machine was designed from the ground up to be a gaming machine.

Try to skim a few grand off the top if you can (excluding things you don't necessarily need, like huge HDD's, BluRay etc.). It's easy to save about R2-3K on a notebook when your budget is R20K. Then use that money and get yourself a decent 120GB+ SSD drive. I'd also suggest you order an extra Power Supply from the word go.
 
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*cringe*

It's an awful waste of money to buy a top tier laptop for games. Please get a Desktop, it is much faster and more powerful and will cost you less than a third for the same power.
If you are playing games at work, then you are not working. Get a desktop and a nice tablet PC to mash on at work, but for the love of goodness, do not get a gaming laptop because it is "portable". That's a dumb excuse to waste +R10k.
 
agentrfr said:
*cringe*

It's an awful waste of money to buy a top tier laptop for games. Please get a Desktop, it is much faster and more powerful and will cost you less than a third for the same power.
If you are playing games at work, then you are not working. Get a desktop and a nice tablet PC to mash on at work, but for the love of goodness, do not get a gaming laptop because it is "portable". That's a dumb excuse to waste +R10k.
Click to expand...

I prefer to play devil's advocate on the gaming notebook discussion.
I have a gaming notebook myself and I don't regret ever spending the cash on it. If you spend some time making sure you get a good deal you end up with a portable machine that has all the power you can possibly need. I fully understand why some people would rather have one machine they can take with them than a bunch of niche devices.
The whole "it'll be obsolete in 2 years etc." point people make is also BS.

EDIT: Of course I'm biased here. As a contractor it's great to have a powerful machine you can use on projects for anything from running SQL Server, Visual Studio etc. Also, many gaming machines tend to be designed for comfortable gaming, which makes them great for long-term use on the job. Also, things like having discrete graphics, 120hz refresh rates designed for gaming use makes a HUGE difference to normal computing.
 
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Neosteve said:
Thanks for all the advice guys :)

Id need to be a laptop because Im going to be taking it with me everywhere from home to work and I just want to have one main computer.

How do these 3 compare and which one would you guys rate is the best bang for buck?

MSI GT780DXR Gaming Notebook R 21352
MSI GT780DXR series MS-GT780DXR-275ZA Black Gaming Notebook, Intel Mobile HM67 Express Chipset, Intel Core i7 Sandy Bridge Quad Core i7-2630QM 2.0Ghz 6MB L3 Cache Processor, 8192MB DDR3-1333 SO-Dimm Memory (2x4096), 16GB Max Mem, 1TB (2x500GB) 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive, Bluray Writer / DVD Super Multi Writer optical drive, 17.3" FULL HD (1920 x 1080 resolution) Glossy Type LED Backlit Display, nVidia Geforce GTX 570M with 1.5GB dedicated graphics, 802.11b/g/n Wireless Lan, 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN, Bluetooth, Webcam, 9 Cell Battery, Full Size Keyboard with Numpad, USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, 3.9 kg, Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64bit, 2 Year Carry in warranty, MSI Carry Bag and Mouse
http://www.laptopdirect.co.za/laptop_specifications.php?laptop=50494

Dell XPS L702x Notebook Silver R 17006
Dell XPS 17 L702x Series XPS17-2720 Silver Notebook, Intel Mobile HM67 Express Chipset, Intel Core i7 Sandy Bridge Quad Core i7-2720QM 2.2Ghz 6MB L3 Cache Processor, 6144MB DDR3-1333 SO-Dimm Memory (1x4096,1x2048), 1TB (2x500GB) 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive, 8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R write capability optical drive, 17.3" FULL HD (1920 x 1080 resolution) TruLife 3D Vision WLED Backlit Display, nVidia GeForce GT 555M with 3GB dedicated graphics, 802.11b/g/n Wireless Lan, 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN, Bluetooth, 2.0MP Webcam, 9 Cell Battery, Backlit Keyboard, Full Size Keyboard with Numpad, USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, 3.4 kg, Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Edition 64bit, 3 Year On-site warranty
http://www.laptopdirect.co.za/laptop_specifications.php?laptop=48408

Alienware M17x R3 Black R 20632
Alienware M17X R3 Series M17XR3-I72670-8750BLK Black Gaming Notebook, Intel Core i7 Sandy Bridge Quad Core i7-2760QM 2.4Ghz 6MB L3 Cache Processor, 8192MB DDR3-1333 SO-Dimm Memory (2x4096), 16GB Max Mem, 750GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive, 8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R write capability optical drive, 17.3" FULL HD (1920 x 1080 resolution) TruLife WLED Backlit Display, AMD Radeon HD 6870M with 1GB dedicated graphics, 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless Lan, 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN, Bluetooth, 3.0MP Webcam, 9 Cell Battery, Full Size Keyboard with Numpad, USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, 4.3 kg, Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Edition 64bit, 3 Year Next Business Day On-site warranty
http://www.laptopdirect.co.za/laptop_specifications.php?laptop=52105

If there are any more laptops which are similar and that im missing out please let me know.

Also a mobile graphics card comparison would be nice to see if anybody has a link to that?
Click to expand...

By far the MSI is the best. I'd even take it over an ASUS G74, and I have a G73.
 
Qwikslver said:
By far the MSI is the best. I'd even take it over an ASUS G74, and I have a G73.
Click to expand...

the asus g74sx has better specs than the msi and a lot cheaper, under R17k

I have a slightly oder asus as well as the lenovo y570 (awesome) cant afford a g74sx so will getting another lenovo
 
lived666 said:
that is the older G73 at a hefty price, G74SX is available under R17k at a few online stores.
Click to expand...

Please could you direct me to these online stores because all the places I have looked at online show that the Asus Laptops are more pricy than the MSI?

I have dropped my decision on getting the Alienware and will either go for the Samsung or the MSI Laptop.

The samsung has the best GFX so if I can get it I will, otherwise the MSI is my second option now.
Samsung: AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB
MSI: nVidia Geforce GTX 570M 1.5GB

I dont mind getting a laptop with GTX 560M since I think it will be enought to play most games on I just havent found one that is priced nicely.
 
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