How good are laptops at gaming?

[MSB]

Ok the question explains it all, can a laptop play a game as well as a PC of the same spec. Thing is I am thinking about getting a laptop for (myself) at Christmas so I can play M2 without cluttering up anymore space in my house. So do they play games just as well, or are they a bit rubbish vs. a PC?

[KukriKhan]

They play games fine. But go high-end to equal a desktop's performance (in other words $2,000+). Good gaming laptop brands are: Dell, Sagar, Alienware.

The guys in this forum here , almost all gamers, can give you the detailed low-down on laptop performance.

Down side is: most are not upgradeable, so 2-3 years later you buy a whole new machine, instead of swapping out/upgrading components, as in a desktop.

My 2.5 year old Alienware lappie handles every game I've tried it with, with one exception: it stuttered a bit with F.E.A.R. (needed a different graphics driver).

[MSB]

Thats good, I can now get my laptop and not worry about its gaming performance, thanks KukriKhan. There is however one more question I need answering, what is $2000 in pounds? I'm sorry about this, but I am English so have no idea about American currency .

[Lemur]

1 U.S. dollars = 0.533134297 British pounds, so $2,000 should equal 1,066.26859 pounds. You can do these conversion straight from within the Google interface -- just search for "$2000 to pounds" and you get the sum. It's a stupid Google trick I use fairly regularly.

[MSB]

1 U.S. dollars = 0.533134297 British pounds, so $2,000 should equal 1,066.26859 pounds. You can do these conversion straight from within the Google interface -- just search for "$2000 to pounds" and you get the sum. It's a stupid Google trick I use fairly regularly.

Good, so I can afford a top quality laptop as well. Horray! Thanks Lemur!

[KukriKhan]

This thread from the Entrance Hall link a fellow with money to burn is considering buying a laptop for near $6,000 (3,200 pounds), so the range can be broad. I suggest going to some of the manugacturer's websites and using their "configure your own" features to see what kind of machine you can get for however much money.

One final caution: If you opt for the latest and greatest components (graphics card,processor, etc) there is usually a waiting period of 2-6 weeks before delivery, because the manufacturers typically use "just-in-time" supply systems for such high-cost components - in other words, they usually don't have 200 of the latest vid card just laying on the shelf; they wait for your order to confirm, THEN order the part from nVidia or Intel, or whoever. So you may have to wait a bit before your 'monster' is truly 'alive' in your house. :)

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

1 U.S. dollars = 0.533134297 British pounds, so $2,000 should equal 1,066.26859 pounds. You can do these conversion straight from within the Google interface -- just search for "$2000 to pounds" and you get the sum. It's a stupid Google trick I use fairly regularly.

The problem with this is that components are much more expensive over here than in the states. I suspect you'd be looking at about £1500 for the same latop $2000 would buy you in America.