Laptop Recommendations Needed

[oblivion3134]

I am currently in the market for a $1300 or so laptop and was looking for potential ideas as to what I should get. I am upgrading from a 9800 Pro 2.8 P4 desktop and am planning to do a decent amount of mid end gaming on my laptop.

Generally speaking, I am looking for a laptop in my price range with at least 2 gigs of ram and if possible an 8600M GT, and preferably an Intel cpu. All other features such as HD space, screen size, even battery life are all secondary to the laptop having decent video, ram, and cpu.

I was looking at the Battalion 101 CZ-7 Ultra at www.ibuypower.com, which more than matches my desired specs and falls decently below my max price, but after some research decided against it as ibuypower is apparently a terrible place to buy a computer or laptop from.

Any suggestions and recommendations would be much appreciated.

 

[steveak]

I am currently in the market for a $1300 or so laptop and was looking for potential ideas as to what I should get. I am upgrading from a 9800 Pro 2.8 P4 desktop and am planning to do a decent amount of mid end gaming on my laptop.

Generally speaking, I am looking for a laptop in my price range with at least 2 gigs of ram and if possible an 8600M GT, and preferably an Intel cpu. All other features such as HD space, screen size, even battery life are all secondary to the laptop having decent video, ram, and cpu.

Check the barebones at AVA:
http://www.avadirect.com/Notebooks/Core_2_Duo_Notebooks

I've just got in this Compal FL90 (shhhhh.... don't tell the wife; it's her Christmas present), with those basic specs you mention:
http://www.avadirect.com/product_details_configurator.asp?PRID=9704. Even with the various upgrades, the whole thing came to about $1,100.

Of course there are other choices as well.


steve

 

[BtoTech-com]

check out asus f3sa-a1 or f8sv-a1 or f3sv- b2 or b3
also comes to mind asus s96s
the rest are a little outside your budget

 

[Sobek]

If you are willing to spend $200 more (less if you shop around), newegg has the Asus G1S-A1 for $1499.99. C2D @ 2.2ghz, 8600M GT, 2gig ram, 15.4 WSXGA+ display, 160GB HDD (5400 though), and tons of other crap. Basically it sound like it is exactly what you are looking for. Someone over at notebookreview forums got the G1S at Best Buy for $1136. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2714136&postcount=11

Some have stated that the only difference with it is that the BB one has DDR2 ram on the 8800M GT vs DDR3 on the one at newegg. Can't confirm it though. I'm ordering the newer G1S-B2 on Saturday since it has a 2.4ghz CPU, 3gig ram and the just released 200GB 7200rpm Hitachi drive (about the fastest, high capacity drive with lower power consumption you can get...http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/11/15/travelstar_7k200_and_5k250_beat_the_band/page3.html) . It's out of your budget at $1800 though. Look into getting the G1S if you really just want an affordable gaming notebook. People are playing Crysis on Med to Med-High settings on it. Beats playing it on all low on my PC.

 

[BtoTech-com]

best buy skus lack the following
a 2 year warraqnty
bag and mouse
accessories
sometimes the resolution can be lower
sometimes the specs can be lower. it depends on the model