Recommended HP Laptop - Gaming Capabilities

[touchtoplay]

Hello everyone,
About two months ago I posted on these forums to ask for a recommendation for a laptop that was capable of gaming (I understand many people gripe about the oxymoron, "gaming laptop"). The link to this discussion can be found here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/77221-35-gaming-laptop

Despite not planning on buying one at the moment, I was looking towards the summer to get a new laptop for when I get back to campus. I haven't been keeping up with the laptop market in HP so I'm unaware for any changes, hence the post for recommendations.To summarize the responses, I was linked to the DV6T upgrades including: Radeon 7690M, i5-(2430M I think?) over the i7 since the majority didn't think an i7 would be essential to me plus it saves money, and a 1920x1080 screen.

Oh and I want an HP specifically because: I know an employee who works there who said they would give me a discount (But if there are any discounts out now for ones that are recommended, please let me know) and I have an HP now and I've had good experiences.

On the subject of gaming, I'd prefer smoother performance over graphic; at most I just want to run games on medium at a nice or decent framerate. I'm looking for the best mainstream gaming laptop, no laptops that are gaming centric. That being said, I'll be very happy if the price is below $800. If it goes to $1000 I'd understand but don't worry about price when recommending.

Anyways, I'd appreciate if you'd leave your recommendations below.

 

[hpfreak]

I can recommend you a bunch of HP laptops... the fact is, the quality of HP laptops is total garbage... No offense to you or your friend who is an employee at HP- but the care service is failure, almost as bad as the build quality of the products.

But if YOU HAVE TO HAVE an HP laptop, then here are two possibilities:

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230144

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246327

 

[Aerohitman]

How about the HP Pavilion dv6-6c53nr from The Microsoft store? It's 799 and comes with a free xbox if you're a student.I just bought it but im thinking of returning it for a newegg refurbished laptop for 519 since i dont game too much or do too much.IM not sure yet though, so hard to chose right now

 

[touchtoplay]

But if YOU HAVE TO HAVE an HP laptop, then here are two possibilities:

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230144

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246327

I'm no detective...but I'm guessing you really don't like HP. I don't doubt your bad experience, but I haven't run into such a dilemma. That being said, if it isn't broken, don't fix it; I'll stick with HP for now.

Besides, doesn't HP's DV6 or DV7 have the most capable GPU for a mainstream laptop without going into the realm of laptops being built solely for gaming?

How about the HP Pavilion dv6-6c53nr from The Microsoft store? It's 799 and comes with a free xbox if you're a student.

That's a pretty good price for what I'm looking for, thanks for the recommendation. I don't really want or care for the Xbox though even though it's technically "free". The 7690M if I remember correctly is a decent GPU for a laptop.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the current DV6 or DV7 have a really good GPU, even for laptop standards. If I can get those below or around $800 I'd be very happy.

 

[fudoka711]

@ touchtoplay, I agree that HP's dv6 and dv7 models have the best gaming capabilities for laptops w/out venturing into actual gaming laptops. I have a dv6t special edition one that I got June 2010. It came with an AMD Radeon HD5650 gpu and a core i5 430m. Needless to say, I could definitely game on it...albeit my screen resolution was 1366x768. I bought a 1080p monitor a year later and I could still game at the same settings...which was weird. Regardless, the dv6t and dv7t have only gotten better since then.

The problem with other OEM laptops is that they either cost too much more for the same product, or they offer too much on the cpu end, but not enough on the gpu end to justify gaming on it (look at Dell and Lenovo, respectively).

I think the 7690m will work great for you, even at 1080p. Of course, don't expect to go high/ultra settings on the popular games.

These HP laptops come with switchable graphics, so you usually won't be able to upgrade to the latest version of AMD's Catalyst Control Center. I think mine's still stuck on 11.8 or whatever it is. None of the 12.x driver versions are compatible with switchable graphics yet. It's not that big of a deal though.

The xbox 360 is also a plus. Keep it or sell it or give it away

 

[touchtoplay]

Thanks for the reply. I'm hoping if I do end up getting the dv6 as my choice of laptop then it will last awhile before it gets outdated; I'm hoping for at least a 2-3 year use.

I'm still not sure which ship to jump and when to jump it. In terms of HP, it does seem like the dv6 is the best one to fit in my price range. Although like I said, throw out any recommendations out there, regardless of brand or price. If it's at a better price and offers better capabilities then I will keep an open mind.

Lastly, is the 1920x1080 screen really a big difference when considering the 1366x768? I'm trying to save every bit of money I can. I'm not sure if I've seen a screen with the former resolution or more likely haven't noticed it and bothered to check to compare with the latter. Some people have told me this upgrade is ESSENTIAL when purchasing a new laptop.