Cheap light gaming laptop.

anamaniac

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1_What is your budget?

$800 USD (the cheaper the better. The less it costs, the more I can afford to eat. I have 833-970 to my name at the moment) before shiping (assuming the shipping isn't wild).
If you want to work in CAD, then go right ahead, but I've seen better deals (even including shipping) generally from American sites (but take shipping into consideratio, because I'm a Canadian).

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

Not a damned netbook and I'm fine.

3_What screen resolution do you want?

Anything that works. Will likely plug it into a monitor whenever I can.

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

Portable. Won't be moved around often, and may just sit around my workplace for extended periods of time.

5_How much battery life do you need?

1-2 hours. Will almost always be able to plug it in.

6_Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?

Fallout 3, L4D, Warcraft 3 (best game ever). Medium settings generally works for me, though I have been known to not care about using low settings. I'm a 25FPS or whatever kindof person to.

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing, surfing the web, playing music, watching movies, Etc.)

Live video streaming.

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?

250GB or more. I can and will use more if available.

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them.

Dell.com/outlet

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?

1-2 years.

11_If you would like to mention some other things about purchasing your ideal laptop, post them.

ATI 4570 512MB or NVidias equal for the mobile range or better if in budget.

12_Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.

Yays:
Asus - preferred for quality.
Acer - no reason for me to dislike .
HP - sexy.
Dell - cheap (in a few rare cases).

Nays:
Acer - nothing unique for me.
HP - horrid customer service.
Dell - quality; ugly.

13_What country do you live in?

Canada

From a Canadian source would be preferred. The USD - CAD is a 8% markup. 1 USD = 1.08 CAD at the moment.
Also factor in it will likely cost me $25 to grab a prepaid visa from a local moneymart.

Hopefully something that won't cook it's battery (and whatever it's on) in a matter of months (my 4-5 year old acer has about 15 minutes of battery charge now and runs hotter then my desktop pentium D, which worries me).

Unless it completely dies, I doubt I will ever need and technical support from the company.


I was looking at a Dell 15 - 1555 laptop, C2D T6500 2.1GHz, 4GB DDR2 800MHz, 320GB 5,200rpm HDD, 512MB 4570 (unknown whether it is DDR2 or GDDR3, though likely DDR2 being Dell), integrated webcam (for my homemade kitty movies to get 1 mil youtub hits weekly) and the other common useless goodies with a upgrade to Win7. Costs $730 (with free shipping in the states, but I'm contacting them for the info for Canadian shipping. May ship it to my cousin and have someone bring it up from California in a week).
I do dislike Dell, so if you have any better options, I'll gladly take them. I choose this laptop because:
a) Dell claims it was never in the hands of a customer (yet returned to Dell for some reason they don't want to share).
b) The 4570 512MB GPU.
c) Cheap.
d) I don't really care if it has a few scratches.
e) It may be a ugly red, but a can of black spray paint only adds $10 to the total cost.

Please find me something else before I do the horrid mistake of buying a Dell. Please... Find me a sexy and sleek HP or whatever else with a 4650 for $50 cheaper.

=D
 

anamaniac

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Update:
I took a look over Dell's refurbrished Vostro line.

$600 USD.
C2D P8600 (2.4GHz, 3MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
3GB DDR2 800MHz
80GB 5,4000rpm HDD
512MB GeForce 9600M GS

From all that I can tell so far, if I just drop $95 CAD at Newegg and get a 7,200rpm 320GB HDD (that includes shipping), I'll get a better system (better CPU, around equal GPU, less RAM, and with the cash saved on initial price, better HDD). Also comes with both XP Pro and Vista Business. It's also a 17 inch WXGA+ (1440 x 900) Anti-Glare Display screen. Yay! Something I can actually use!

Also qualifies for the Win7 upgrade program.

And importantly, I'm heard the Vostro line is of a high quality build.
Can anyone confirm this?

Also importantly, it's not nearly as ugly. Though far from pretty.

So far, I still prefer something not a Dell, however if I get no repsonse in 24 hours, I will likely go for this.
 

anamaniac

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I found it, and it's $729.
http://www.ebgames.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=75687#ExpandedInfo

Yeah, it does look pretty snazzy though.
Though still refurbrished...


I view it as this.
........................Dell #1...........................Asus............................Dell #2...................
...Monitor.........17" 1440x900...............15.6" 1,280x720..........17" 1900x1200......
...Wireless.......802.11g.........................802.11n.......................802.11g.................
...Bluetooth......No.................................No................................No..........................
...HDMI.............Yes................................No................................No.........................
...Audio............2.0.................................2.1...............................2.0.........................
...CPU..............2.4GHz 3MB cache.........2.23GHz 3MB cache......2.4GHz 3MB...........
...RAM..............3GB................................4GB..............................4GB........................
...OS................Vista business/XP pro....Vista home premium....Vista ultimate.........
...HDD..............80GB..............................320GB..........................320GB....................
...GPU..............512mb 9600m GS..........512MB 9800m GS.........512MB 9600m GS...
...Cost.............$599...............................$729............................$839......................


Only one problem... Dell seems to have sold the first Vostro on me... assholes...

I know the second one is over my budget... which makes me sad, but it has a sexy res on it.

I know the Asus is a stronger gamer, but gaming isn't the only thing I do. The n wireless is kind of useless to me (use corded on my lappies at the moment anyways), and so is the subwoofer on the asus. Vista Ultimate is also nice, since it means a upgrade to Win7 ultimate soon for free, saving me about $400.

Kind of sad realizing how much (after taxes and the such) I will be going over my budget now... damn. Who needs rent money right?
 

teeth_03

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What your asking is a little hard to do,since, while you can get cheap gaming laptops, they are cheaper the bigger they get generally,so its hard to hit the 'light' target for $800. But heres 2 16 inch ones on NewEgg, the latter providing better gaming performance I would think

$799-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114653

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220559

This here is what I would call a "Light Gaming Laptop",but its not real cheap and way over your budget, just as an example of what I'm talking about.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220572
 

anamaniac

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NOOOO!!!

I check to see if the laptop is still there, and it is.
So I go and load up a credit cvard to make the purchase...
I'm minutes away form giving Dell half a months pay...
And it was sold in the hour or so I was out.

D=