Considering one of these 4 laptops

[nkjellman]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompa...%24%24%24%24%24

Side by side comparison to 4 laptops seem to give me the most bang for my buck.

 

Anyways I was on New Egg looking for a new laptop. I want one that will run GTA IV on high settings with steady 60 FPS.

 

Also, I'm aware that Desktops are better for gaming than laptops, but as I'm going to College this fall, I need something portable.

 

This is the best deal I can find but I'm not sure as to which one to pick. I'm leaning towards the Acer one going for $750. What do you guys think. The big questions here are:

-Which laptop is the best choice?

-How will these laptops run GTA IV? (They run other games well according to reviews, but that is nothing to go on for GTA IV for obvious reasons.)

-Do you know of anything that is the same/better and in this price range (or lower)?

[SlaveZer0]

absolutely none of those laptops will run it at high, more like low - medium. unless you buy a laptop that is specifically a gaming laptop you are out of luck... gaming laptops start at about 1000+. build yourself a good desktop system and be happy to play any game you want.

[nkjellman]

 

absolutely none of those laptops will run it at high, more like low - medium. unless you buy a laptop that is specifically a gaming laptop you are out of luck... gaming laptops start at about 1000+. build yourself a good desktop system and be happy to play any game you want.

As much as I would prefer a desktop, it has to be a laptop because of College.

 

Also

-Should the 4 laptops I found on New Egg run other well optimized games on high settings, such as Crysis, Mafia II, Skyrim, etc? (I ask because on my current PC, IV is a little shuttery, but these games I can max out.)

-What about the laptops that Alienware are selling? How will these handle IV?

http://www.alienware.com/Landings/laptops.aspx

 

If I can combine Birthday and Graduation money together, I'll hopefully have enough for one of these, I would probably pick the second option on the build yours page for the M14x

Edited April 26, 2013 by nkjellman

[SlaveZer0]

the m14x is acceptable, but the m17x would be your best bang for the buck.

[nkjellman]

Thanks. But but to help my search:

-What are the minimum Laptop Specs to run IV on max with decent FPS?

-What is holding the 4 laptops from new egg back from running IV maxed out?

 

Edit: How about these?

http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?pag...&selected_cat=8

More interested in the NP9130 because its cheaper.

Edited April 27, 2013 by nkjellman

[luceberg]

It is the cpu speed that limits performance on a laptop. The maximum turbo boost speed for say a mobile intel i7 is for a single core only. Since this game uses multiple cores, the boost is not going to be much above base level. A steady frame rate in this game is not possible, but to get an average of 60fps you require would need an i5/i7 at getting on for 4Ghz.

[SlaveZer0]

Thanks. But but to help my search:

-What are the minimum Laptop Specs to run IV on max with decent FPS?

-What is holding the 4 laptops from new egg back from running IV maxed out?

 

Edit: How about these?

http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?pag...&selected_cat=8

More interested in the NP9130 because its cheaper.

you dont seem to understand... so ill say it this way: NO LAPTOP WILL RUN THE GAME THE WAY YOU WANT UNLESS IT IS A GAMING LAPTOP LIKE I SAID BEFORE!!! all other laptops have slower cpu and sub par graphics card for games. so none of those will work for you.... if you want to game on a laptop, being cheap is not an option.

[nkjellman]

Thanks. But but to help my search:

-What are the minimum Laptop Specs to run IV on max with decent FPS?

-What is holding the 4 laptops from new egg back from running IV maxed out?

 

Edit: How about these?

http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?pag...&selected_cat=8

More interested in the NP9130 because its cheaper.

you dont seem to understand... so ill say it this way: NO LAPTOP WILL RUN THE GAME THE WAY YOU WANT UNLESS IT IS A GAMING LAPTOP LIKE I SAID BEFORE!!! all other laptops have slower cpu and sub par graphics card for games. so none of those will work for you.... if you want to game on a laptop, being cheap is not an option.

Ok making sure. I'm probably going to go for the Alienware. The things that stood out to me was the processor speed, and the graphics card were on the higher side of the 6th gen Nvidia cards where as the ones I found were in the middle. They also are GTX and not GT, which means they are overclockable.

 

I watched videos of GTA IV running on the Alienware. The game runs so well. But I can say that the game will run MUCH better on a 2GB card rather than a 1GB card. On a 2GB, I saw the people jack up the settings at all the way max, and the memory number was still green, and a little over half the memory was used. Bench mark tool gave great results. It will be amazing to see the unoptimized GTA IV PC show its true potential, running with better graphics, AND higher more steady frame rates than the console.

 

More expensive means I'll be waiting longer unless I can find good student discounts on the Alienware m17x R1. If I have to I'll buy the m14x R2, but the problem is those don't have a number pad, but I can use a USB one. I guess I'll live with carting around my Desktop for a semester. If I do combine money and/or work over the Summer, I can probably get the one with the higher resolution screen. A month from now, I'll know how much graduation money I'll get, plus there will be more information about Student Discounts for 2013.

[lydianduck]

The GPU's on those notebooks are from the GTX M series if you read carefully (which are not as powerful as the regular GTX cards), they're just the low powered and slower version for laptops. They're not even near to the same level.

 

Also, the benchmark in GTA IV is completely useless since it's all scripted and there is no traffic or peds, it's simply not a good indicative. (it does give me a constant 60fps maxed out on my 2500k @4.5ghz, asus gtx 680.) but in game it can drop to even 25fps (on star junction when raining, max cars and huge explosions going on), just take that from what you will.

 

Just my two cents, good luck with your purchase.

 

-edit- also, all of those notebooks are cpu clocked really low, GTA IV really benefits from higher clocks at around 4.0ghz.

Edited April 27, 2013 by Brainsick

[nkjellman]

 

The GPU's on those notebooks are from the GTX M series if you read carefully (which are not as powerful as the regular GTX cards), they're just the low powered and slower version for laptops. They're not even near to the same level.

 

Also, the benchmark in GTA IV is completely useless since it's all scripted and there is no traffic or peds, it's simply not a good indicative. (it does give me a constant 60fps maxed out on my 2500k @4.5ghz, asus gtx 680.) but in game it can drop to even 25fps (on star junction when raining, max cars and huge explosions going on), just take that from what you will.

 

Just my two cents, good luck with your purchase.

 

-edit- also, all of those notebooks are cpu clocked really low, GTA IV really benefits from higher clocks at around 4.0ghz.

I get your point. But I found this one. I watched gameplay of it and it ran well.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+17.3%26...20g75&cp=1&lp=3

 

Also I know the M ones are slower. The battery wouldn't last very long if it was as good as the desktop version.

[lydianduck]

In my opinion, the problem with deciding something like this based on a gameplay video on youtube, is that 99.9% of the people record with fraps at 30fps, so it's exactly half the desired framerate you're looking for according to your initial post. Just something to take into account.

Edited April 28, 2013 by Brainsick

[nkjellman]

In my opinion, the problem with deciding something like this based on a gameplay video on youtube, is that 99.9% of the people record with fraps at 30fps, so it's exactly half the desired framerate you're looking for according to your initial post. Just something to take into account.

I know. In aware that FRAPS eats FPS.

 

I'm still able to tell though if there is major lagging. The issue is big changes in FPS that shows the lag.

 

But I'm still trying to figure it out. I read that the m14x has hinge issues that eventually result in the screen not working. I'm hoping to find good deals on a m17x.

[lydianduck]

I meant that fraps actually locks your fps to 30 when recording (you can change it on the recording settings though, but for some reason 99% videos I've seen on youtube are captured with this setting on default), so if you saw a gameplay video on youtube, chances are, it was probably limited to 30fps; that was my whole point, so while it may look smooth (and I agree that GTA IV looks fine at 30 frames) on most videos you won't notice the any framerate above that, so it's not a good indicative of how the game is actually performing if you're looking for 60fps gaming.

[reroll]

Thanks. But but to help my search:

-What are the minimum Laptop Specs to run IV on max with decent FPS?

-What is holding the 4 laptops from new egg back from running IV maxed out?

 

Edit: How about these?

http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?pag...&selected_cat=8

More interested in the NP9130 because its cheaper.

you dont seem to understand... so ill say it this way: NO LAPTOP WILL RUN THE GAME THE WAY YOU WANT UNLESS IT IS A GAMING LAPTOP LIKE I SAID BEFORE!!! all other laptops have slower cpu and sub par graphics card for games. so none of those will work for you.... if you want to game on a laptop, being cheap is not an option.

Ok making sure. I'm probably going to go for the Alienware. The things that stood out to me was the processor speed, and the graphics card were on the higher side of the 6th gen Nvidia cards where as the ones I found were in the middle. They also are GTX and not GT, which means they are overclockable.

 

I watched videos of GTA IV running on the Alienware. The game runs so well. But I can say that the game will run MUCH better on a 2GB card rather than a 1GB card. On a 2GB, I saw the people jack up the settings at all the way max, and the memory number was still green, and a little over half the memory was used. Bench mark tool gave great results. It will be amazing to see the unoptimized GTA IV PC show its true potential, running with better graphics, AND higher more steady frame rates than the console.

 

More expensive means I'll be waiting longer unless I can find good student discounts on the Alienware m17x R1. If I have to I'll buy the m14x R2, but the problem is those don't have a number pad, but I can use a USB one. I guess I'll live with carting around my Desktop for a semester. If I do combine money and/or work over the Summer, I can probably get the one with the higher resolution screen. A month from now, I'll know how much graduation money I'll get, plus there will be more information about Student Discounts for 2013.

Honestly you shouldnt buy any laptop right now because Intel Haswell chips are coming out on June 3rd. Prices will drop on Ivy chips and Haswell promises HUGE increases in battery life.

 

And for God's sakes dont buy overpriced Alienware. Look at Lenovo.

[nkjellman]

I have been looking at Lenovo.

 

I also found this one too. It looks good for the price.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...&sku=A50-173405

 

Haswell chips are going to be very expensive when they come out, but if the prices drop for the Ivy, I could go for that.

 

Edit: Here is another one on sale.

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/control...CA012D9B20ED2FB

Edited May 10, 2013 by nkjellman