First, I do IT work for a living. I'm hands on with both hardware and software all day, every day. Second I'm also an avid gamer and have been for a very long time, so I'm not just talking out of my rear, here. Please don't take this the wrong way:
I'm sure you know a lot about gaming, but, to be fair, the vast majority of IT work has nothing to do with the subject. I'm a programmer, and I know a lot of the IT guys in my company; most of them have virtually zero experience with high end graphics (that goes for the developers too, before I start sounding all snobby). Now, they can diagnose a bad switch port from the other side of the globe with nothing more than a toothpick and a soldering iron, but graphics? Nope. Employees aren't supposed to play games.
Maybe you work in IT for Blizzard or something though.
I highly doubt you're going to find a machine that will run this acceptably in your price range. I know alot of the other posters above are trying to let you down easy, but the simple blunt fact is that unless your idea of "runs a game fine" is 20-30 FPS on low-mid graphics settings, you're SOL on this.
He's definitely toeing the line, but it's not as bad as you say. For under a grand you can get an i7 with 4-8 gigs of ram and a 555m. That should play all modern games at high framerates and high detail. You might have to lower things a bit if you want 1920, but 1366 - 1600ish? Sure.
I've not installed it on my laptop yet(i7 w/5870m) to see how well it runs, but I can tell you her desktop is faster than my laptop, and my laptop cost nearly twice your price range two months ago.
The computer world moves fast.
A quick search shows that an i7, 4gb, 5870m can be had for $1150, if you can live with a 1366 screen. I assume the one you have is 1920? $1500 for that. I'm sure prices a little lower than that can be found, as I just clicked on the first site I saw. Anyway, a 555m should be in his price range, and should be able to play modern games very, very well at resolutions below 1920. I don't think it's a stretch at all to say that something with a 555m is a capable gaming laptop.
...Now, it'll go obsolete fairly quickly, and he'll soon have to start turning down the settings, but he'd probably have very good experiences with TOR and/or Skyrim.
I'm in the market for a decent gaming laptop...
- 25/04/2011 12:28:24 PM
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First, will you explain why you want a gaming laptop?
- 25/04/2011 10:17:22 PM
545 Views
some of us just don't want a desktop
- 26/04/2011 07:33:05 AM
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Which is fair enough, I just think it's an unusual viewpoint.
- 26/04/2011 06:14:58 PM
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I'm special. I effectively tank with a touch pad.
- 26/04/2011 11:24:17 PM
520 Views
Ah, you're one of THOSE tanks. On behalf of WoW players everywhere, I hate you.
- 26/04/2011 11:34:06 PM
516 Views
Pretty sure that consistent touch pad use would give me carpal tunnel. *NM*
- 27/04/2011 02:19:09 PM
235 Views
much appreciated...
- 26/04/2011 10:36:22 AM
552 Views
Sounds good. Keep in mind that buying a low-end laptop doesn't mean you can't game on the go.
- 26/04/2011 05:41:07 PM
674 Views
A few words based on experience.
- 26/04/2011 06:19:53 PM
631 Views
It's not as bad as all that.
- 26/04/2011 08:35:52 PM
683 Views
Forgot to mention
- 26/04/2011 07:17:58 PM
515 Views
Definitely worth mentioning, but there's always something better just a couple months down the road. *NM*
- 26/04/2011 07:39:33 PM
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