Are Gaming Laptops worth the money - Page 6

Two words, and spoken with pride:

H3LL No.


Why Brownies?

Because spending 1,000 USD on a mid-range Laptop that can barely current games is just not worth it, unless you are ALWAYS traveling. And no, not meaning once every two months, I mean like every other week and staying somewhere for a week or so. 1,000 USD can get you so much farther. We can live without games, and yes, coming from a die-hard-core-gamers, I can live without them for a week. It's just not worth it. And, you're always having to worry about something overheating, or breaking, etc.etc.

I'm done blabbing. Thank you for bringing up the topic.

Meh...They come with warranties...plus they are designed to take higher heat levels. Dont be a moron and set the laptop on the carpet where it cant breath and you wont have anything to worry about...I have always said. Go big or go home....If you are going to buy a laptop and are a gamer...Might as well get a bad a$$ laptop that can play awesome games...because you can always do all your other stuff on it as well if you dont want to play games at the specific time.


But something that you will never hear someone question is spending 2000 on 4 680's for quad sli and a 1000 CPU with 4 SSDs Raided together....No one will ever cry foul on that one...

Alright, for #1:

Yes, gaming on the go. It's a fairly interesting concept. See, you take the laptop and the charger WITH IT so when you get to the place you want to be, you just plug it in and go. See how that works? You pick up your TINY machine, comparing it to a desktop machine...even compared to a smaller desktop the laptop is still smaller, place it and the peripherals in your bag, go wherever you're heading, removing the contents upon arrival, plug it into the wall outlet and BOOM ready to rock.

Now for #2:

I've got an Alienware M17x R2 and this thing is freaking heavy as all hell. BUT compare that to the average desktop for weight, the battery is more of a UPS as someone quoted me on and that's 100% accurate for one of these machines, unless it has Optimus...which is a godsend for gaming machines similar to mine.

And for #3:

Gaming laptops lose value SLOWER than standard desktops and other generic laptops. Why? Because the newer hardware generally costs so damn much. Ever seen how much the 680M costs ALONE? Look it up around $750-$1000 depending on the vendor. Greed levels may vary. Also mind this, the 7970M costs around $600 vs the 6990M going for around $350 and the 6970M for around $300. The 6990M was going for around $450 at it's peak with the 6970M going for around $350. So if anything, within the last six months, my laptop has lost about $50 total value, plus not all laptops are the same. There aren't any other machines out there that have the 1920x1200 RGB screen that this machine has, which marks up the value on the R2 a LOT more than on other laptops.

I'd like to make the note that the M17x R2 supports the 6970M, 6990M, and 7970M too...so I can upgrade to the latest GPU if I want and the older i7-920XM I have won't bottleneck it. According to Vantage and 3DMark11 it scores the same GPU score as it does with an Ivy Bridge CPU.


You do a poor job if you have people who come back every six months and they return laptops because something new came out. You probably are just a standard salesman who sells as fast as possible and lies through his teeth as that's what this sounds like. I sold laptops at Office Depot for around a half year and I was appraised by returning customers for my persistence with a particular choice. Just sayin', you're wrong, I'm right. Poor investment in your eyes, but the desktop market loses value faster because it takes manufacturers LONGER to make the next laptop GPU.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3310573&CatId=4938

its refurbished but still a great deal for a asus g73

Clevo models. The 7970M and 650M are what I have used. Both are great chips. Want to max games at 1080p? 7970M. Want to play games on high on 1080p? 650M with a nice OC.

Yes and no.

I feel like if you ABSOLUTELY MUST game on the go, then by all means get one. Otherwise, if you have access to your desktop at home (dorm, etc.), then I wouldn't bother. You have to spend nearly twice (sometimes more) as much money on a laptop to get specs of an equivalent desktop. On top of that it's kind of uncomfortable playing on laptop keys (IMHO), although it's not something you can't get used to.

In fact, I am a college student myself and I scrapped my gaming PC (Mockingjay in sig) and just bought myself a 13" 2012 MBP (base model). I play Starcraft, Command & Conquer, and even competitive CoD on it perfectly fine. I mean the graphics and framerates are nothing to drool over, but hey I hardly play anyway. I mainly use the laptop for school and when I'm bored and I have time I will jump on for a few games of w/e.

Bottomline is that if you REALLY want to game on the go with good graphics and framerates, then get yourself a decent gaming laptop. Otherwise, just buy some laptop with an Ivy processor and be happy with it as you can still play games on it (on the go)! And for the rest of your gaming needs, use your more powerful desktop!

Lenovo Y580
Sager NP6350 / Clevo W350ETQ
Asus G55VW-ES71

Those are a few good option with a GTX660m.

I would personally say that at least 50% of the people who said that gaming on laptop isn't worth it, are saying so because:

1. They have a so much powerful gaming computer that even alienwares and sagers don't give that performance that they desire (split screen setup bla bla)
2. They just can't afford a gaming laptop fullstop.
3. They have a computer and don't want to get a laptop since they've heard so much about laptop being over heated, lasting not long enough....and they also never got the taste of gaming on laptop.

I'm not pinpointing anyone but i'm just saying that around 50% of the posts don't show any experience with laptops whatsoever, yet they are obliged to make false comments and misguide people who are willing to buy a gaming laptop.

I personally owned an i5 with gt 540m and i could game on it with medium-high graphics with 30 FPS+ and it was enough for me though it isn't considered gaming laptop but i fulfilled my pleasure with it...

What i would say to most people who're interested in buying a gaming laptop is that.

1. If you have the money to spend with no worries, then go for it because the experience you get on laptop is no where near the one you get on desktop and vice verse because they both are unique experiences.
2. If you have just about the money for a gaming laptop and also thinking of using it for studying purpose then don't get a gaming laptop like alienware or so and instead get something with i7 3rd gen (3612qm especially since it is a 35W rated cpu), good battery (9 cell) and a decent graphics card like hd 7730 or gt 640m so that they provide you decent gaming performance plus moderate heat/battery.

Gaming on desktop is amazing with all those lights coming out of your pc and the 7.1 surround system but laptop has its own charm. It gives you personal space and you feel relaxed (well i do) when gaming on laptop since you can place it anywhere, on your bed (make sure you get a cooling pad ), in your drawing room, your car, your cousin's place so that you can play on lan etc...

TO answer the question direction, yes gaming laptops are worth it but it depends on what you've got in your pocket ($$$) and whether it would benefit you compared to desktop gaming or not....

Again i'm sorry to those who don't own a laptop and had commented in the thread, please don't take it personally whatever i've said in my thread because i just don't want to be offensive and want to give the best idea of how it feels to game on a laptop. Cheers!
Edited by shad0wboss - 9/16/12 at 9:04am

You bought a MBP and use that as your basis for what a Gaming Laptop can do? Wow...

My machine was released back in 2010 and I've since overclocked the shiznit out of the CPU and upgraded the GPU to the latest beastly item, the 7970M. Sooo..... I'd say that's fair enough of a boost to state that my machine can keep up with most of the desktops here on OCN.

Again, yes it's worth the cash. *points to previous post*