Is this a good gaming laptop?

[AMD Guy]

That is the question. Seems like one hell of a deal to me!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834115239

Opinions please!

 

[Advanced-Morgan-Duron]

The spec is good, except for the video card. ATI cards in the past have been known to have onboard memory reliability issue. Typical problem such as severe graphical artifacts when gaming due to memory chips failing. I would try to go with the GF based card.

 

[Todd a]

The problems should not be that bad or companies would not use their chips.

 

[glussier]

I don't understand the ATI problem, all my systems, except for 1, are built around ATI graphic cards and I never had any problem with them.

 

[ol' man]

I don't use ATI any more. Their open gl support is not as good as Nvidia. Plus I can tweak their their cards to be professional graphics cards.

 

[Shinma]

Not sure as to how reliable Acer products would be.
Their past history with optical drives has been spotty...

 

[jankerson]

The ATI X1400 isn't a gaming GPU at all so if you want to play games on that laptop I would look at other options.

 

[AMD Guy]

Thanks Jankerson.

 

[jankerson]

Thanks Jankerson.

No problem.

In a LT look for something faster than the X1600 series for games.

The X1600 series and below are pretty sad, the X800 Series is twice as fast as the X1600 if that gives you an idea.

 

[AMD Guy]

I think I am going to take the leap and order one of the new Alienware m9700s. They look like real powerhouses!

 

[ThreeOnTheTree]

Good luck with AlienWare. sjracer tried one of their notebooks and had a living nightmare with it.

 

[sjracer]

To Echo ThreeOnTheTree,

Good Luck. I did have major problems with my Alienware. However, I will say, when it did work, it was awesome. Long story short, it literally went up in smoke on day 28. So after a VERY long battle with Alienware (about 3 months) I got a full refund. With that, I bought my gaming system (in my signature) which I built my self, and then purchased an Acer 5672 laptop. Both the gaming and laptop were LESS than I paid for the Alienware. Here is the kicker, I am a gamer, and do travel. My Acer laptop, which has the same video card as the one you were looking at, will play all the newer games at medium specs or higher, and all the older games at max specs. For instance I can play F.E.A.R. and HL2 at medium or above. Doom is at medium to high, and Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefront 2 are at max. I hope this helps, and good luck.

SJRACER

 

[AMD Guy]

SO the X1600 in the Acer is OK for a laptop to play current games? Yes the one that I was looking at had an X1400. I just liked the idea of dual 7900 GS video cards.

 

[jankerson]

SO the X1600 in the Acer is OK for a laptop to play current games? Yes the one that I was looking at had an X1400. I just liked the idea of dual 7900 GS video cards.

It's about the same as a 9700 Pro speed wise.

So it wouldn't be my fist choice for gaming on a LT.

Have a look at Dell if you want a Gaming rig.

 

[Baloneyflaps]

Another laptop you might consider if you're wanting a gaming laptop is Sager.


I ordered a NP-5720v a few months ago and I've been extremely pleased with it.

Pentium M 760
1920x1200 17"
1.5Gb ram
100Gb HD
Geforce 7800 GTX
etc, etc...

Played FEAR, Quake 4, whatever at max res... might be worth a look. Was a pretty good deal in my opinion.

http://www.sagernotebook.com/pages/centrino_systems.html

(they also have P4 and AMD system besides the centrinos)

 

[jankerson]

I have read the Sagers are pretty good.

 

[Justintime]

but aren't Alienware, Sager etc.. just rebranded clevos?

 

[AMD Guy]

How about xtremenotebooks.com? Very good service and support reviews! Unfortunately the wife and I have to decide today. Sager looks good but on the inexpensive side with few bells and whistles. Wife REFUSES to buy a dell (Great for the wife of AMD Guy, no? ) She has to deal with them on a daily basis and says that their software support ****s. Configuring the Sagers to the full top end puts them in the same price range as the others, $ 3,000-4,000. Xtreme looks good with more extras and a separate warranty on the TFT display. Sager has the $ 200.00 no dead pixel plan as well. I think I will order one of the Xtremes and let you all know how it goes.

 

[Baloneyflaps]

but aren't Alienware, Sager etc.. just rebranded clevos?

You are correct sir.


I also think VoodooPC and Hypersonic rebrand the Clevos, though obviously you end up paying a hefty premium for the paintjobs and those names on the case. Otherwise they're basically the same laptops.

My laptop was around $2400, and similarly configured laptops from other retailers were more in the $2800-3000 range. I ain't paying $400-600 for an Alienhead logo.

 

[Justintime]

On an unrelated note, where've you been the last decade?