The Best Gaming Laptop Money Can Buy

Parz writes "Gameplayer has gone live with their winners for the best gaming laptops money can buy as of Q3 2008. The analysis is broken into three sections to cater for three different budget requirements. There is a detailed explanation of why each laptop was selected, going into each hardware component individually. Regular Slashdot users will remember the site's article from a few weeks ago, which analysed the Best Gaming PCs that Money can Buy. Prices may vary depending on where you live."

Re:From the article...

[thewaker]

And note that the constant criticism isn't going away. The MS Marketing machine can't hide the negative opinions.

Re:Never use a laptop for gaming.

[4D6963]

Which is why I for one will be doing my laptopish gaming on a Pandora [openpandora.org]. Close enough in shape and function to be on topic, after all it's like a DS-sized EEE with good gaming controls and keyboard theoretically usable enough to use the device both as a laptop and a gaming console.

Re:Reviews on spec

[__aardcx5948]

I don't know about that - I've got a Dell Inspiron 1520 with a NVIDIA 8600M GT, running Vista 64-bit. In the 6 months I've had the laptop, I've had one BSOD, IIRC it wasn't gfx related. Even getting tv-out to work is non-trivial with the NVIDIA drivers. I'm even using the latest beta drivers targeted for desktop PCs, just with a modded .inf file. One good thing about 64-bit Vista is that the drivers has to be signed by MS, otherwise you can't install them. Should (in theory) result in a more stable OS due to less buggy (more tested?) drivers...

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Never use a laptop for gaming.

[Creepy]

well, there isn't too much better than a 8600M GT as of yet, at least performance-wise, but that card is one generation behind. The best nVidia you can get is still a 9800M GTX, and those are just a die-shrink of the 8xxx line (the GTX 200s don't have a mobile platform yet).

If you always want the latest-and-greatest graphics in a laptop, you should maybe look for something upgradable - nVidia standardized their mobile graphics on the MXM platform and, although ATI has a competing standard (AXIOM), it has so far been losing badly and it is now fairly common to find ATI cards that use MXM.

The real problem comes with MXM systems that are upgradable - the ASUS C90 is, and I've read MXM Acer laptops are, but after that it's anyone's guess - some MXM computers like the 24" iMac are not. There are also 4 separate sized slots - MXM I, MXM II, MXM III, and MXM HE and larger slots can take the smaller GPUs, but not vice versa (most laptops I've seen that have them are MXM II). Sometimes you also need to buy the notebook manufacturer's branded card, as well. Also note that there is now at least one desktop card that uses MXM - the ASUS Trinity. Basically, it has 3 MXM modules on a regular PCI-E card, and when the graphics card needs updating, you replace the MXM modules, not the card, supposedly saving you some expense.

Re:Never use a laptop for gaming.

[Cederic]

I game on a laptop for the simple reason that I have two homes (due to work). So I bought a decent spec laptop and stick it in the car when I switch houses.

I have a power supply, mouse, headset at each house. I also have a USB powered laptop cooler at each house. Something akin to http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=280872&sourceid=2459&CAWELAID=84125196 [misco.co.uk]

(I don't have that model. Google for 'laptop cooler' and see what comes up).

It's a little noisier, but it means I can use a laptop for gaming while lying on a bed (with the laptop on the base on the bed) and the laptop's own fans rarely need to kick in (for WoW - STALKER needed rather more cooling).

So it will greatly improve the likely lifespan of the laptop.

If you're using the laptop in 1-2 main locations (so don't have to worry about carrying them) then I'd definitely recommend grabbing a cooler. They're cheap and effective.