Laptop as primary system and gaming rig.

S

steeltoe

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 15, 2004
Messages
168
Howdy folks. I've been out of the loop for quite a while. For example my current rig is a p3 700 overclocked at 903. The most recent game I have is quake3. Yeah it's embarrassing. So I've decided I want a laptop. Obviously my desktop needs a upgrade too. Seeing some of the recent articles I'm aware I can actually play the new gen of games on a laptop! So rather than buy a decent laptop and build a kickass game rig I'm considering buying a top shelf laptop only. Now can I really play a game like FEAR for hours on a laptop at decent res and quality? I'm a fan of Toshiba's laptops but I doubt they have anything of this caliber. My knowledge so far screams for 7800 graphics, amd 64, 2gb ram, 100gb HD, firewire, wireless, I dunno about sound in laptops. Can this happen? If not I'm building a X2, 7800 based desktop. Thanks in advance.

Here's a funny thought. The last LAN I attended Q2 and Tribes were the tourney games.
 
Well it depends on what you want...
My experience is that buying a "desktop replacement" isn't really the way to go. Most of them are incredibly expensive to upgrade (few can be upgraded) and then when they can't be upgraded any further you have to sell it and get the next model. At least with a desktop you can replace bits and pieces at a time and gaming is just better on a desktop anyway. My Acer Ferrari will play most games decently but is portable enough that I take it to class. I would suggest getting a laptop for portability and a desktop for gaming.
Good luck.
 
never ever buy a 'gaming notebook' as your primary system and gaming rig. i made that mistake, now im paying the price...

i dont have time to explain at the moment (stupid biology papers to write), but if you want me to elaborate, just say so...
 
yea.. it sucks :(

just to sum it up: hardly upgradable, unless its completely unupgradable, and its extremely expensive...
 
I actually feel the opposite. I only use my Laptop as my primary system, infact this is my Second "Desktop Replacement" Laptop that I have owned and I love it.

Benefits:
- I can pickup and go in minutes, and I can take my system wherever I go. I am also not stuck to 1 room of my house, I spend 90% of my time with it on my couch while I surf. But I can move it to a table to work, or lay down in bed and watch a movie.


Cons:
- Expense. It is usually more expensive to buy a Laptop then Desktop
- Battery Life is not super
- No real upgrade path. I can stick a new Video card in mine but the price premium is not usually worth it.


I actually think that I am spending less money by going with a Laptop. When I had my desktop systems I was constantly upgrading, now with my Laptops I never upgade and I tend to wait longer between systems. So there might be a higher short term cost, but in the long term it might be better.


I think it really depends on what you need to use your computer for. For example if I were still a student and needed to take a laptop to class I would definitely get a smaller/lighter one with better battery life and a seperate computer for playing games. But if size is not an issue and you have a plug in nearby its harder to beat a DTR system
 
but are you using it as your primary gaming machine also?

dont get me wrong, having a laptop is great. im gonna miss it a freakin lot when/if i sell it, but the next time a buy a notebook it is definately not going to be my primary machine, let alone my only gaming machine.
 
I use it for everything.

When I first got my Dell 9100 I figured I would still use my desktop for gaming, but as time went on I never turned on my Home PC again. Then when I swapped to the XPS 2, I turned my desktop into a Mythtv box.
 
but thats gonna become obsolete relatively quickly :(

which is why the desktop is better in regards to gaming because its far easier to upgrade. heck, you might not be able to upgrade the laptop at all. and usually desktop parts are cheaper..
 
well considering you said you have a Pentium 3 right now, Im guessing you dont upgrade your pc on a regular basis, so really a laptop would be perfect for you. I sold my Desktop for a just about equivalent laptop in terms of specs....I love having the portablilty, and it can play any game i throw at it. I would def. suggest getting a 7800, will only make it last even longer in terms of gaming.
 
TSS Modder said:
but thats gonna become obsolete relatively quickly :(

which is why the desktop is better in regards to gaming because its far easier to upgrade. heck, you might not be able to upgrade the laptop at all. and usually desktop parts are cheaper..
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But that is kind of my point people upgrade too often. Heck i used to be one of them, new video card every year, more RAM, new CPU. IN the long run using a Laptop has saved me money.

As for upgradeability you need to research things before you buy as laptops have come a long ways in the last few year. My XPS2 I can upgrade RAM, CPU, and Video without too much trouble, but I don't really see the need. Heck my old Desktop (1.8 P4, Radeon 9700) can still run most new games without any issues.
 
i am not sure what meets your requirements, but about laptops as main gaming rigs:

upgradeability? sure, you can replace the cpu, ram, hdd, and in MXM laptops, the gpu. really not that bad but it's more difficult than a desktop, costs more, and eventually won't be upgradeable.

portability? hell yeah! you must also remember to bring your ac adapter everywhere if you plan to stay mobile. battery life sucks in dtr notebooks, but face it, your basically running a desktop in a laptop.

cpu/gpu power? yeah, you can get a kick ass p4, p-m, or amd notebook, along with 7800 or 6800. though, unless the vendor offers upgrades or it's MXM, your screwed if you want to keep playing new releases. seriously, thing about this one.

overall, i would advise not to get a laptop if you want to play all the newest releases. sure, the 7800 will last you awhile until you have to start playing on medium or low settings, or maybe you will become bored with gaming. many factors to consider.

personally, i'd look at a shuttle xpc. bigger than a notebook, upgradeable, smaller than a desktop, and cool looking.
 
I love my XPS2. It's lightweight (debateable, but 8.6 lbs is light unless you're 100 lbs) and fast, how fast?

This fast

If you want AMD, then you're going to have to wait for the D900K from clevo, it'll havea socket 939 and 7800gtx. Then again, it'll probably come to $5000. My XPS2 cost me $2400, then $375 for the 7800gtx upgrade, not bad if you ask me. The 7800 GTX overclocked to the stock clocks easily and the chip never gets over 80C, which is good as far as laptop video cards go. I say go for it, but do your homework and know what you're getting into. I believe MXM and AXIOM are around the corner, but don't quote me. The big thing about laptops is the thermal design, Nvidia has been awesome about thermals recently, and I don't expect that to change. ATI, however, has no chance in hell of stuffing a x1800xt into a laptop to compete with the 7800gtx. If they do, I'll be presently suprised.
 
I dont know what some of you guys are talking about. The DTR style notebooks at the high-end from Dell, Sager, Alienware, ect. may be a little expensive but all the core components are upgradeable and my XPS 2 is easily as fast as the majority of desktop PC's on this board for gaming. A notebook is actually about as easy if not easier to upgrade then a desktop because all the componens have individual compartments with nothing more then just a screw to remove the door usually. On the XPS 2 you can upgrade the hard drive, RAM, CPU, video card, optical drive, mini PCI card and you have a PCMCIA slot for installing a sound card.

A gaming notebook can easily be taken wherever you go and it doesn't take up much room on your desk. Notebookforums is filled with hundreds of users that use their notebook as their primary gaming rig. There really is no reason not to other then it costs a little more then a desktop but not usually a whole lot more when you get to figureing in the cost of a good LCD plus your desktop PC.

I got my XPS Gen 2 back in August for a little over $1700 before taxes using a 40% off coupon. I dont think i'll ever go back to a desktop PC for home use because they just take up too much room and you can't take them anywhere without alot of trouble cause of the monitor even if you have a SFF.

The new Dell M170 has the Go 7800 GTX upgrade available now. I have absolutely no problem playing any game with my Go 6800 Ultra and i dont expect to for a while. The high-end Pentium-M CPU's are as fast as any high-end Athlon 64 desktop CPU for gaming because they have 2MB of L2 cache which is faster then any of the L2 cache used on the A64's.
 
the dell i9300 can be upgraded fairly well. The hard drive, processor and video are upgradeable making it a sensible buy for some. Not that I would buy a 7800 for mine now, but it's nice to know I don't have to live with what I have if I don't want to.
 
Yes I have found most laptops have an upgradable CPU its just making sure its compatible which means checking the Bios Version and what it can do.

Flat out CPU, RAM, HD are upgradable even in early P2/K6-2 Laptops at times. The GPU Upgrades have been around for years with Dell, the 8000 Model Dells showed this feature off really well.

Yes it can be expensive but if its 375 for a 7800GTX and how much is a 7800PCI-E for a desktop? Maybe 80 or so in difference? Come on, thats not bad and with the UXGA screens try getting that in an LCD, normally LCD's with that resolution are over 500+ if that low.

Laptops are great, I have used a Laptop as my main system for over 7 years now starting with a Powerbook 5300cs. I love them. I have built desktops to, water cooled Athlon XP-M's Socket 939 Athlon 64 PCI-X ATI x800's yeah it was fun but with the games Iplayed the extra 12K in Aquamark 3 scores did me no good. I can still play Doom 3 and Final Fantasy XI with no problems. (FF runs at Full Settings Doom I have yet to try but I got good settings out of my m6805 Laptop and this one scored higher then it did!)


The P-M Models get better Battery life and with Power setting controls on video cards you can do the same. I would say if your still playing Quake 3 now with your rig then a DTR would be fine.

Maybe get a P-M version if you worried about battery but def. A DTR is fine for what your looking at.
 
Another vote for the XPS2. Great system and is my primary gaming rig. It also helps that I got my 7800 Go GTX for only $350 CAD and sold my old 6800 Go Ultra for $250 US. Who said laptops couldn't be upgraded for cheap?

Plus with the 3 year complete care warranty I should be able to get decent resale value when I try to sell it.

There are 2 downfalls with the system though:

1) Storage, but I still have my desktop to handle that task and one can always add external 3.5 drives in enclosures for fairly cheap.
2) DVD encodes take forever, and that won't be solved until the next generation of Pentium M (dual cores) which unfortunately won't work in an XPS2 most likely.
 
I use my laptop as my primary machine / gaming box / media encoding machine.

The weight is not an issue and it beats out my old desktop on the upgrade path (P4 3.0 (478) @ 3.8 with 2gb ram and a 6800gt OCd to ~440 (I forget).

Get what you want as there will always be people saying that what you have sucks. Hell, Kyle could give out free Phantom consoles and someone would bitch.
 
I use a laptop as my primary system/game/everything rig.

For me the turning point was when the 6800 based GPUs came out. One look at those benchies kicking my desktops Radeon 9800 NP's but and it was see ya latter to my desktop.

When shopping my #priority was a good docking station. One button disconnect was important as I wanted no impediments in portability/convenience but I also wanted a full size keyboard, nice mouse, external hard drives, gigabit networking, card readers, headphones, ipod dock, 2nd monitor and so on as I had on my desktop.

This setup lets me work and play on the same system. So nice and convenient to have everything on one system. The extra expenditure on the laptop has been repaid by the savings in my time xfering stuff between my various desktops/laptops.
 
Put me up for XPS gen 2 as my main everything rig too. I was really worrying about before i did it, but im glad i did. Great system, it is upgradable, memory, processor, graphics chip, the mini pci cards, dvd, hdd. Now how far the upgrades will go is the only question, currently im maxxed at 2gig of memory, im with the 2.13ghz processor, the 2.26 is avail, ive got the 6800 ultra, 7800gtx available for this machine, 100gig hdd, no limit there when they come out. Mini pci is standard so thats not a problem.

I am not to worried about it being out of date as i spend $3k in destop parts a year, I only paid $2500 for this system with the 40% off. Im happy and do not regret the purchase.

Just my 2 cents :)

EDIT:
Here are some benches for you

PCMark '04=4230
3dmark 2k3=11985
3dmark 2k5=5215
 
What about the Acer Ferrari 4005? Its alot lighter - longer battery life and can play any game out at this time - i dont think its as upgradable but its cheaper.
 
laserdemon said:
I only paid $2500 for this system with the 40% off.
Click to expand...

Was that a special offer coupon or some student discount or something else entirely?
 
rgbyhkr said:
Was that a special offer coupon or some student discount or something else entirely?
Click to expand...

It was just one of those internet coupons they had for ever and seem to be doing less and less of. I did cheat a little, i ordered the 2 gig of mem from newegg because Dell wanted almost 600 bucks for it, $211 at newegg
 
Just an idea. If the XPS2/M170 is too pricey, the 9300 makes a good gaming notebook. I play BF2 with a WXGA, 1.6GHZ, 1.25GB RAM, 60GB 7200RPM, 256MB Go 6800 (no OC'ing) @ all high settings (except no AA), 1440x900 and normally get 35-60 FPS. I paid about $1350 for that about 7 months ago. Here is a example config of a recent deal:

Intel® Pentium® M Processor 760 (2GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™
512MB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800
60GB 5400rpmHard Drive
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless (802.11 b/g, 54Mbps)
3Yr Ltd Warr,At-Home Service,and Tech Support plus Nights and Weekends
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition backup CD

Price: $2,270.00

30% off coupon - $681.00

12% off EPP - $190.68

$200 off coupon - -$200.00

Total = $1,198.32
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Sager has some nice notebooks too, but they will cost a lot more.
 
I use the one in my sig anf love it..

I would never go back to a desktop. I love being able to go play football on my screen porch too much..
 
Most people who have DTRs love them.

I live in both worlds... portability for classes and a decent (if somewhat dated) gaming rig.

IMHO build a nice desktop system and get a cheap and thin laptop if you need it. With SFFs and LCDs having a DTR is kind of overrated.
 
I think it depends on what you buy. I have a custom built laptop, and there is some room for upgrade. It was pricier than buying a Dell, etc., but I have more room to change things at a later date.
 
DirDrlr said:
I think it depends on what you buy. I have a custom built laptop, and there is some room for upgrade. It was pricier than buying a Dell, etc., but I have more room to change things at a later date.
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you have a 9880 with 2 processors?
 
A guy at my work has a Dell XPS with a 6800 ultra 256mb, 2gig ram, and a Pm 2.0Ghz..I was not impressed at all. Tried Bf2 and doom3 on it, ill stick to ym 6800GT and desktop PC thank you very much..

Also, the work desktop replacement makes me laugh, a laptop has got to hold my 160ish gb of data in order to repalce my desktop. And that not counting music.

DirDrlr said:
Had to have two processors to run in RAID 0. I am really pleased with it.
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hua?
 
Why not do this. Have a gaming rig at home. And get your self a nice latop to have on the side. My laptop is a Dell D810, widescreen, 1gb DDR2, 60gb HDD, 2.0Ghz Pentium-M, X600 GPU. It dose all my work stuff just fine, palys/rips/burns DVD great, and even plays light games on downtime when im away form home. (starcraft, BF2 on low, UT2003 on medium) The latop was not a bank breaker and it will do everythign a XPS will short of new games on high settings. Thats what my home rig is for.
 
I(illa Bee said:
A guy at my work has a Dell XPS with a 6800 ultra 256mb, 2gig ram, and a Pm 2.0Ghz..I was not impressed at all. Tried Bf2 and doom3 on it, ill stick to ym 6800GT and desktop PC thank you very much..

Also, the work desktop replacement makes me laugh, a laptop has got to hold my 160ish gb of data in order to repalce my desktop. And that not counting music.

hua?
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Did you use the XPS or XPS2? XPS topped out at the Radeon 9800 mobile.

Curious if you where running at 1900x1200 native on the laptop and if you run the same resolution at home? If not then you need to go back and set the resolutions the same and compare apples and apples.

Even if you where doing an apples and apples comparison and your friends XPS 2 was not dorked up, the OP is coming from a 700 mhz P3. While the 6800 ultra/2ghz centrino in an XPS2 may not impress you, he might have a different point of view. For the average gamer the 6800 ultra/2ghz centrino is plenty.

I can get 200gb in my laptop if I want to give up the optical drive. However I chose to go the external drive route. Much cheaper (but a little less convenient) using a 3.5" 250GB hard drive in an external enclosure than paying for the laptop hard drives.

If you need dual CPUs and dual graphics cards and terrabytes of storage obviously a laptop may not be for you (yet). But for the other 99.99% of humanity a laptop is just fine.....
 
yeah, try one of those new laps with 7800gtx's in them. They bench in the mid to high 7000's in 05 so they have some muscle. I just like having a gaming option with a slight upgradeable path if I ever feel the need to upgrade.
 
I(illa Bee said:
A guy at my work has a Dell XPS with a 6800 ultra 256mb, 2gig ram, and a Pm 2.0Ghz..I was not impressed at all. Tried Bf2 and doom3 on it, ill stick to ym 6800GT and desktop PC thank you very much..

Also, the work desktop replacement makes me laugh, a laptop has got to hold my 160ish gb of data in order to repalce my desktop. And that not counting music.



hua?
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He must have had the software screwed up, mine kicks ass in both of th those games, and eats the 6800gt

I think he means 2 hard drives, not processors
 
DirDrlr said:
Had to have two processors to run in RAID 0. I am really pleased with it.
Click to expand...
What are you talking about here? RAID has nothing to do with the number of processors in a machine. Do you mean that you have hyperthreading?
 
NO he turned it down to 1280x1024 (I think, I know it went down, but im not sure how far) Dont get me wrong, it ran palable jsut fine and looked good. I just know my desktop ran better and for 2500 bux, maybe 3 grand, I could get a good working laptop and a kick ass gaming rig for home

BTW: yes it was a 6800u, so I guess it was a XPS2
 
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