I was looking to get some feedback on this laptop if I could use it for gaming and my 3d/2d arts. Hopefully b-day present, mine comes up this month.

Gfx, cpu and memory look plenty good for gaming but no maxed settings, just want to run some games like COD Black ops, a few old school RTS games, etc.

And I'll probably reformat to xp since I don't like the newer OSes. What do you think about that too, is that a bad idea or doesn't it matter?

What do you think?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115864

Firstly, embrace Windows 7... it's a dream compared to XP. Vista was indeed a disaster but Windows 7 is actually a great OS.

I'm not sure an AMD/ATI setup is ideal for 3D Work. While I know the ATI cards get some hot reviews for gaming, there's a few users on here that have had problems with ATI cards in some 3D apps.

Also, do you really want a 17"? They're pretty damn huge and not really all that portable. A 15 might be a better choice, more portability yet still a decent sized screen. You'll pay a premium for the display size too which would be better spent on more power. If you want a bigger screen when you're using it at home/work, plug it into an external monitor.

I'm way outta touch with laptops but I'd suggest going for an i5 CPU and an NVidia mobile chip.

Something like this might be better:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115860

I have the Acer linked above and was debating between these two for a while, haha.

Bought the nVidia one from NewEgg on Black Friday when it was $600. It works pretty well, handles most games and apps gracefully, and the graphics card switching is nice. All my previous systems have been ATI but I'm really impressed with the GeForce here.

Not much bloatware and stuff either. Speakers kinda suck though.

4 GB of ram isnt gonna cut it anymore. Look into 8GB of ram and a good video card.

+1 for windows 7
and I would suggest something that doesn't cool through the bottom. overheating is a major bummer when it comes to laptops

Originally Posted by Hboybowen

4 GB of ram isnt gonna cut it anymore. Look into 8GB of ram and a good video card.

4GB is still perfectly adequate for most people, especially in a laptop. I only run 6 in my desktop which is an eight-core beast and I've never had a single moment where I thought 'hmmm could really do with another 6gb'.

Besides, laptop RAM is still pretty pricey, and laptops usually only have 2 slots, 2x4GB sticks of laptop RAM would hit the wallet pretty hard I'd have thought.

Also getting a decent mobile GPU is becoming increasingly difficult at this end of the market, as the integrated GPU is becoming more common. If you want to do any gaming at all though you'll want a dedicated card. I've got a 320M integrated chip in my laptop and I can barely run WoW at medium settings, and SC2 struggles with anything above low settings. I would imagine Black Ops would be more like a slideshow than a game on an integrated chip.

Having said that, it's been fine for everything work related. ZBrush is smooth as silk, and Viewport performance in Max is great, UDK runs just fine too.

I don't know about a "slide show," these benchmarks say differently
http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mob...0.23697.0.html

I don't see a huge difference between mine and the link that guy gave me, a few bucks more for mine. Some reviews of the laptop say theres a ton of bloatware. So what do I do there, uninstall the OS and reinstall it?

I am currently looking at an alienware laptop for myself, if you don't mind paying some extra you get some cool glow effects on your keyboard :P

Very funny.

I think you misunderstood my slide show comment. I meant without a dedicated GPU you'll get slideshow performance on demanding games. When I say dedicated GPU, I mean an actual graphics card, not the integrated Intel chips that are becoming increasingly common.

So since you disregarded most of my other comments, what is it you really want? A massive heavy laptop that plays games well but has questionable compatibility with your 3D app viewport display, or one that won't have issues with your 3D apps and can be lifted by those who didn't qualify for this years Worlds Strongest Man, but will still run your games adequately?

Sounds to me like you just want a gaming desktop.

I have an Nvidia 330M 512mb, 4Gb Ram and a i7 2.6 (mac book pro) it runs black ops really well at 1440x900 4x AA. All settings on high.


I'd do some research on ATI gaming chips and 3D apps. I've heard alot of bad things about them. I've had a very good history with nvidia chipsets though.
Also 17" laptops are massive and very heavy they also suck alot of power lighting the screen. for a portable system i like 15 inch laptops.

Got to agree about 4GB being enough for general gaming and most apps. unless you are sculpting alot id say it's fine.

I'm gonna pitch in my 2 cents here and claim that the XPS Dell laptops are incredible for both gaming AND art creation. I have an Xps 1730 with 2x 9800gt's, 4gb ram and 2.4ghz dual core CPU for a while now (2 years or so) and I've been able to run everything to this day at maximum everything, and get way high up there in polycounts (however, you should be using subtools, layers etc if you really are in need of better performance in zbrush anyways).

Indeed the Xps lines' prices might be a bit on the expensive side, they're not as expensive as alienware, of whom I believe to be not that great for how much THEY charge!

Originally Posted by r_fletch_r

I have an Nvidia 330M 512mb, 4Gb Ram and a i7 2.6 (mac book pro) it runs black ops really well at 1440x900 4x AA. All settings on high

Yeah the i7/330 combo seems to be pretty incredible, I was going to recommend a MBP as I've had two over the last 4 years or so and they're by far the best laptops I've ever owned, gotta love that build quality not that price though! Isn't that spec you described like £1800?

You godda get an i7, gotta agree with the rest. Win 7 is a dream on 64bit. I would say those are the minimum requirements. We have one new one in the shops here I am keen on that goes for around 900 euros.

http://www.computerland.nl/ProductDe...px?en=80000731

I checked the ati raedon goes with max, and a 17inch screen.

I didn't mean any disrespect but what about the link I posted, some games get over 50 fps on Medium settings. I wouldn't call that a slideshow, I don't see how you can.

Originally Posted by creationtwentytwo

Yeah the i7/330 combo seems to be pretty incredible, I was going to recommend a MBP as I've had two over the last 4 years or so and they're by far the best laptops I've ever owned, gotta love that build quality not that price though! Isn't that spec you described like £1800?

Yeah, thats the downside. i bought apple care as well so it was more again. got to say tho the only complaint i can think of is its not a true quad core.

Originally Posted by n88tr

I didn't mean any disrespect but what about the link I posted, some games get over 50 fps on Medium settings. I wouldn't call that a slideshow, I don't see how you can.

I KNOW!!!! If you read both my posts again, you'll see I was talking about the INTEGRATED graphics chip in a lot of current laptops. For example, the NVidia 320M, it's not actually a graphics card, it's a chip on the motherboard that handles the graphics. IIRC some of the new Intel mobile architectures are designed to work with integrated graphics, so they're becoming increasingly common. The SEPARATE GPU's, like the ATI one you posted, or the one in the laptop I linked, are GOOD.

And again, in relation to your question, the laptop you posted uses ATI / AMD... which is fine for gaming, but has known issues with some 3D Apps.

Originally Posted by r_fletch_r

Yeah, thats the downside. i bought apple care as well so it was more again. got to say tho the only complaint i can think of is its not a true quad core.

Yeah both my MBP's have been incredible. Ok they're expensive but the only thing that even comes remotely close in terms of build quality is the VAIO, and that's not exactly a budget laptop. If the cash is available, I always recommend a MacBook Pro hands down.

Unless you *really* need to have a mobile PC for artwork and games, which always tend to "sound like a cool idea" but just sucks in reality, you should simply get a PC, spend the same money and get a better, more capable system, that you will actually play games/do work on.

Originally Posted by EarthQuake

Unless you *really* need to have a mobile PC for artwork and games, which always tend to "sound like a cool idea" but just sucks in reality, you should simply get a PC, spend the same money and get a better, more capable system, that you will actually play games/do work on.

+1, I mean how much work/gaming are you actually gonna do on the move.

I did exactly that. Used to have a 'high spec' laptop which I told myself would be great for both art and gaming. In reality it was average at both. Sold it, built a kickass PC and bought an 'ok' laptop which I just use for web/email and a bit of WoW.

EQ said it. I can't wait for the day when I can stop working on this damn laptop. It's "capable" but... Everyday I'm on it I look towards the day I don't have to be, because it will >never< compare to a desktop.

That said, 17" isn't really a pain to lug around, I've been doing it for close to 2 years every day. Carrying it for like 3 hours can get old, but if its just general porting around, meh. Besides working on a much smaller screen at all...no thanks, bigger yes, smaller no.
Also, don't have any delusions and think you'll be doing much content creation on battery power. Once you start crunching polys battery = poo. So you'll pretty much be always plugged in from that standpoint.

I have tower for gaming but if I can get a portable gaming/3d workstation I'm going for it. That ATI one is looking like the winner. What do you all mean by ATI causing issues in 3d, like artifact-generation or slow loading times or what?

another +1 on EQs post.
Why buy a gaming laptop when for the same money you can afford two super fast desktop computers AND one netbook with a fantastic battery life...

Newsflash: a gaming laptop will be used like a stationary PC; you don't get to play a lot of black ops before the battery runs out, oh and you'll have to put up with the noise as well.

edit: Since you will use it as a stationary PC anyway, what's the point of it being a "laptop"? What is the reason you want one? I'm not sure why I'm asking; it's very common for people to want this, and they get it, then realize what a waste of money it is. It's always the same story, so a word of warning to you - don't do this unless you are rich like Joao.

I got a laptop for making games because it was pretty much a necessity my final year of college. Now, I'm back to doing work on my desktop and only using my laptop whenever I do Photoshop or color work. For some reason, my laptop's screen looks a lot better than my desktop's screen :/

+1 for windows 7.
I have xp 64 (I got it for pretty much the same reason your considering it) and I really want to upgrade.
Xp64 has compatibility issues with some games, and software (quick time specifically) not to mention the random monthly bsods, and a handful of updates that won't install because of registry problems. (I've clean installed twice, and done 5 repair installs.....) Save your self the headache!

I've been running xp64 for a few years now, ever sense switching to it from Vista. I've had almost no problems with it of any note, and compatibility has been great. However, I'd say go with Windows7 so that you can take advantage of DirectX 10 and 11 (XP64 only supports up to DX9). I expect that hardware tessellation is going to become an important feature when making games in the near future. And all the current gpus support it, so why not have an OS that does too.