Looking for a small/midsize gaming laptop

[dsemitit]

1. What is your budget?
About 1500.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
13"-14", I currently have a M15x and it's just a little bigger than I'd like. I think 13 would be perfect.

3. What screen resolution do you want?
HD would be nice, not necessary.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Desktop replacement is too big. The idea is something a little more portable/slick than the M15x, but still powerful-ish.

5. How much battery life do you need?
Will most likely have an adapter but will definitely appreciate good battery life.

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)?
Yes. Diablo 3, possibly some shooters (Battlefield, Halo). On Med/High graphics.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Photoshop, movies, office.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
500GB is plenty.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
No preference. The M14x has my attention though.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
3+ years.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD is probably fine. Bluray would be cool though.

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.
My current M15x is the pre-2009 model (a bad idea), flimsy plastic parts that broke, ruining the screen. I don't know what Alienware notebooks are like now though, so some advice about that would be nice considering I'm looking into the M14x.

13. What country do you live in?
US.

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I just looked at the Sony VAIO S-series and customized this laptop:

If anyone has any experience with VAIO S-series that would be good to here from. I don't know how good the Radeon HD 6630M(1GB) is. This laptop (WITH 3-year Accidental Warranty) came to $1729. I really like the back-lit keyboard. How does this compare to the M14x do you think? or any others you know of?

Intel® Core™ i7-2640M processor (2.80GHz / 3.50GHz with Turbo Boost)
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
13.3" LED backlit display (1600x900)
AMD Radeon™ HD 6630M (1GB) hybrid graphics with Intel® Wireless Display technology
No wireless mobile broadband
500GB (7200rpm) hard drive
8GB (4GB fixed onboard + 4GB removable) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
CD/DVD player / burner
Internal lithium polymer battery (4400mAh)
Jet Black
3-year Express Ship Service with Accidental Damage from Handling for Laptops

EDIT: Further research is telling me that the 6630M is not a very good card..


Thanks for advice!

 

[WR2]

HD 6630M might be a bit light in GPU power for your gaming goal.
AMD Radeon HD 6630M

Especially compared with the MX14's GT 555M
Nvidia GeForce GT 555M

 

[dsemitit]

Thanks for the response. Ya, I'm not familiar with the ATI cards. Unfortunately it's the only option for the "What seemed to be a nice" laptop from Sony. Guess I need to keep looking.

 

[nubsauce101]

In my opinion in think Sony Vaio's a overpriced. Considering you already have dell/alienware product it might not be a bad idea to switch over to the XPS z series

 

[dsemitit]

In my opinion in think Sony Vaio's a overpriced. Considering you already have dell/alienware product it might not be a bad idea to switch over to the XPS z series

Thanks for the advice.

I just checked out the XPS Z series. They are a little less powered than I would like. The only gpu available is weaker than my current laptop's.

Man, it's hard to find a 13-14" with a decent gpu. The m14x has it, but temporarily unavailable. I might have to wait sometime for this.

 

[WR2]

There's a new range of CPU and graphics card coming out shortly.
Think you can expect the see the Alienware with a new CPU/GPU combo shortly.

 

[dsemitit]

Best answer selected by dsemitit.