Gaming / Netbook Laptop Help

pete layo · Sep 1, 2009, 08:30 PM

Hi guys,

At the moment I've got a custom built gaming PC, but its too big and I don't want it around anymore so I'm going to sell it off piece by piece. I hate having to have an entire desk area set aside for this huge, loud, LED filled PC. I've also got a pretty cool HP laptop but the battery is dead, and the battery life on it isn't that great in the first place.

I would like to have a gaming / media laptop, and a netbook I can throw in my bag and use anywhere at university all day long.

Gaming / Media
So, what I'm looking to do is get a laptop capable of handling 125fps on Quake Live with as higher screen hertz as possible. 75hz+, 100hz ideal. I'd like it to be able to handle games like COD:MW2 pretty well too for more casual gaming.

Netbook
Netbook for work with a solid state hard drive and as long battery life as I can find! I'll be running TinyXP off it as I want to be able to use Word etc. My HP laptop has one of those fingerprint scanners to log in, and now without it my life would be incomplete so if I can get one with the fingerprint scanner in as well it'd be magic.

Asthetics are important, I really like the look and feel of my HP laptop. For the gaming laptop I don't want some lairy LED covered orange freak, its just unneccesary - I'm not 12. I like things with a bit of class.

As I'll be selling what I have currently I'll just have to pay the difference so I'm thinking of around £1000 overall, roughly $1800. I work for the UK's largest webhosting company and we stock exclusively Dell servers so I think we have a company discount with them which may sway the decision.

Any help on this will be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Pete

BlueMak · Sep 1, 2009, 08:47 PM

You will not find a very good gaming laptop for £1000, much less for a gaming laptop and netbook at the same price. Sorry. You can get a good desktop PC for that price, but laptop? No way. Also, I doubt you will find a 75 or 100 hz monitor for a laptop. I don't know why you want it, but you won't find one soon, AFAIK.

pete layo · Sep 1, 2009, 09:03 PM

so a laptop costing £1000 wouldn't even be able to play Quake Live at 125fps? You're kidding me?

now i've moved into my own place, along with a few other students, I don't have the space to keep a PC around. Plus the desk space needs to be used by everyone else as well. there's no way I can sit my stupid great PC there and take over the whole area. its either laptop or nothing. the only competitive game I play is QL, the rest is just for fun.

surely there must be a laptop that has a 75hz screen, what the fuck are we living in the dark ages?

IvanV · Sep 1, 2009, 09:12 PM

I think that BlueMak is right (he makes a habit of that

).

If you're no longer 12 and you no longer like your huge, custom built, LED filled desktop, why not get yourself a nice smaller one with more understated looks? There are fantastic micro-ATX boards out there, as well as decently looking and relatively affordable small cases that can serve as a basis for a very capable, yet quiet and nice looking systems. I've no idea what's MW2 going to require, but you shouldn't have any problems with satisfying the Quake Live condition at a reasonable resolution.

As for the netbook, they all have almost identical innards and fall into a certain price bracket, so just go, check a few of them out and pick one yourself, especially since looks are important to you, it's best that you see several in the flesh before making any decisions (also check to see if you like how the keyboard feels and stuff like that).

EDIT: Now I see that you share the desk. Well, you're in a pickle. As for the 75Hz demand, why is that important? LCDs don't flicker.

IvanV · Sep 1, 2009, 09:18 PM

Well, I saw some laptop with Radeon Mobility 4570 for about 400-430e. For a 1000 pounds, there's probably something better than that which can push Quake Live at 1280*800 or 1366*768 at a decent framerate, but true gaming laptops are rare and expensive. Check out the laptop reviews here at DH, there were a few models that didn't cost an arm and a leg (only the arm and they were mostly flashy as hell

).

EDIT: Here's what a thousand pounds gets you: http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews....d=724&pageid=1

pete layo · Sep 1, 2009, 09:47 PM

i would get a micro atx, I did consider it. but the problem is every time i'd want to use it i'd have to get out the monitor, keyboard, mouse, mousemat, plug it all in. all for a quick go on QL. its far too much effort, and i'd have to leave the monitor out as I'm not going to be able to throw a monitor in the draw. not going to fly i'm afraid...

i mean if we're going to talk about ideals, widescreen laptop at 1440x900 res at 75hz running 125fps on QL. Thats what I was playing on with my PC and I was very happy with it. see, some games are just so much better on a PC than on an xbox - for instance COD. most games on xbox suck online as well as they're run off people's home connections rather than dedicated servers.

i do get a discount from Dell, i think its 10% (I have sold about £100,000's worth of their bloody servers to get it) but i've heard their customer support is crap.

really though, is this 75hz screen a pipedream or what?

BlueMak · Sep 1, 2009, 09:53 PM

He wants £1000 for a gaming laptop and a netbook. Not going to happen.
While £1000 is $1600 which can buy you a good enough, but not top, gaming laptop, £1000 can't because prices in the UK are way higher than in the USA. Usually the exchange rate for equal computers is at £1=$1. So if you find an american laptop that sells there for $1800, then you will probably need £1800 in the UK for the same one.

Now, considering that you eant to spend £1000 for both systems...tehn we are talking for about £700 for the gaming laptop. It just isn't feasible. I am not saying that you won't be able to buy a laptop that will run COD6 (or whatever it is going to be) with that amount of money, but running and actually playing the game at high resolution and/or with more than minimum settings is a different thing.

Also if you plan on keeping the laptop for 3-4 years (since you go to college? now) things are even worse.

I advice you to do what Ivan says. Get a small sized desktop PC and you will be able to buy an outperforming system and netbook for the same or even lower price than the £700-£1000 laptop.

EDIT: I just noticed your newer post. First of all, why the 75 limit? LCD monitors don't have the problems of CRT.
If you refuse to buy anythiing but a laptop and netbook, then you will find something but don't expect anything very good for games.

pete layo · Sep 1, 2009, 10:11 PM

no i'll probably keep it for 2-3 years as I work and go to uni, I don't do too badly. I didn't realise the exchange rate on the laptops were so shit... resolution i'm looking for would be 1440x900 as thats what i'm used to.

there continues to be a debate about hz and all the rest of it, all I know is that playing on 75hz LCD is better than playing on a 60hz LCD. it feels so much better, whatever the reasoning behind it

BlueMak · Sep 2, 2009, 02:51 AM

Well, I am not going to say anything more about the monitor, I find it pointless.

As for a gaming laptop.
Last year, from June till early October, I was looking for a new computer, a very powerful gaming laptop (I had plans for working and travelling, great plans, all destroyed now). I was willing to pay up to £2000 for one. I already had experience with gaming laptops, I had a very powerful for its day (2002) compaq that I kept as a main pc for 3 years, that I bought at high price. Anyway, as I said I was looking for a powerful laptop. I searched everywhere online in Europe and USA+Canada. Searched and compared MANY laptops and many sellers. I even decided to buy one from a british company, for £2100, a great system.
So, what happened?
I came to my fucking senses. I spent half the money and bought a fantastic desktop PC (you can see it in my System Specs on the left) that could run circles around the laptop in question. Hell, it can still do it now against modern/newer laptops, without any problem. And I saved about £1000.
I know that space is precious as a university student (been one for a decade), but I urge you to try harder to find room for a small desktop PC. You can easily find or build one for £700 that will demolish any laptop that is even 50% more expensive.
Also, I don't know if you knew it, but laptop monitors are generally lacking in comparison to proper monitors.

If none of the above can change your view
£600 PCSPECIALIST.CO.UK - Custom PCs, Custom Computers, Custom PC, Custom Built Computers, Gaming PC

You should be able to play CODMW2 at some settings and you will have no problem with quake live.

Takaharu · Sep 2, 2009, 12:13 PM

I don't really get the whole 75Hz obsession as 1080i TVs give you 60Hz and they'd beat the heck out of a 75Hz 17" TFT in clarity, gaming or otherwise.

I don't know what the frame rate would be like but from Alienware, if you go for the lowest spec laptop and only upgrade the graphics you can get dual 3870s in CrossfireX, a Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB RAM with a 160GB hard drive. That scrapes under £1000.

But yeah, I'd agree with everyone else - for £1000 you can get a Micro ATX system for Core i7 (or at least Core 2 Quad) with a high-end graphics card, nice hard drive, 17" widescreen monitor and 2GB of high-speed RAM. That'd run circles around any £1500 laptop.

blibbax · Sep 2, 2009, 12:38 PM

On desk space - I game on desks with both a laptop and a desktop.

The desktop takes up far less space. The thing with gaming on a laptop is that you'll soon find you want all of the peripherals that you had on your desktop. The integrated ones just aren't up to it. And then, you're laptop takes up far more space than a monitor, as you have the whole PC on the desk, rather than just the monitor on the desk and the PC on the floor.

Hell, you could build a PC in a media centre case and pthe monitor on top of it, and use similar to a 17" or 19" laptop.

Yes portability is an issue, so why not get a netbook and a desktop as a reasonable compromise? Using a laptop as your main gaming PC makes absoloutely no sense unless money is no object, which it clearly is.

***Veridian3*** · Sep 2, 2009, 01:05 PM

I have to agree with many of the posts here.... have a serious think about a small desktop. Amazing things can be done with this case : SilverStone Technology Co., Ltd - Designing Inspiration and its tiny. If you need a little more flexibility then go with the SG04 (which also has a handle). It can take I7/4890 etc...

Then with whatever budget you have left grab a decent netbook... or if you manage to have a low cost SG05 system then you may well be able to afford a http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_...39/version.asp which is a great little machine for the price and much more desirable than any netbook. (up to 9hrs battery!!!)

EDIT:
Here is an idea of what you can do with the SG05

Case + PSU
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CA-063-SV
£90

Mobo
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=5&subcat=1436
£115

Memory (4gb)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=8&subcat=817
£48

CPU (Quad)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=6&subcat=567
£104

Raptor HD
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=HD-236-WD
£115

Optical
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=10&subcat=952
£26

GFX (GTS 250 1gb)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...56&subcat=1402
£80

Total: approx £580

+ Timeline = £1007

Thats the way I would go (although you do need to double check component compatibility etc)... you could also knock down the price a little by going dual core cpu, 2gb ddr2-800, 60GB Crucial SSD.

pete layo · Sep 5, 2009, 03:20 PM

i had considered moving onto a microATX system, my current specs are:

intel q9300
8800gts
2gb ram
antec 900 case

i was going to stick it all in a micro atx box but to be perfectly honest this all teeters around whether i really want a gaming pc or not. with such an addictive personality having a gaming pc around makes it harder to work than play. as well, if I have a PC as my computer for home use rather than a laptop I have to sit at a desk all day at work, then come home to a desk. i'd end up either barely using it, or wasting my entire life on it.

so at the moment its looking like the gaming side of things is over. xbox will suffice. although I am now desperate for a decent netbook before university starts again

IvanV · Sep 5, 2009, 03:40 PM

We can't really help you with that, but if you don't want a gaming system, getting a gaming laptop and finding out that it wasn't a good idea would be much worse compared to migrating your existing hardware into a small case and deciding that you want to quit gaming.

I suggest that you get the laptop Veridian3 suggested. It's an ultraportable so it's highly mobile, small and light with huge autonomy, yet provides an almost normal keyboard (in line with many 15.4" laptops) and comfier screen compared to netbooks. That way you'll get your cheap highly portable computer which can also serve the purpose of the main computer because of larger screen and keyboard compared to what you'd find on netbooks. Using it that way for awhile will tell you whether you want and need a larger notebook or you want normal keyboard and monitor. And if you opt for the latter, but are afraid that a gaming PC would be too big a distraction, get a board with integrated graphics and keep the 8800 out of the build.

Sep 1, 2009, 08:30 PM	#1
pete layo HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 9 Rep Power: 0	Gaming / Netbook Laptop Help Hi guys, At the moment I've got a custom built gaming PC, but its too big and I don't want it around anymore so I'm going to sell it off piece by piece. I hate having to have an entire desk area set aside for this huge, loud, LED filled PC. I've also got a pretty cool HP laptop but the battery is dead, and the battery life on it isn't that great in the first place. I would like to have a gaming / media laptop, and a netbook I can throw in my bag and use anywhere at university all day long. Gaming / Media So, what I'm looking to do is get a laptop capable of handling 125fps on Quake Live with as higher screen hertz as possible. 75hz+, 100hz ideal. I'd like it to be able to handle games like COD:MW2 pretty well too for more casual gaming. Netbook Netbook for work with a solid state hard drive and as long battery life as I can find! I'll be running TinyXP off it as I want to be able to use Word etc. My HP laptop has one of those fingerprint scanners to log in, and now without it my life would be incomplete so if I can get one with the fingerprint scanner in as well it'd be magic. Asthetics are important, I really like the look and feel of my HP laptop. For the gaming laptop I don't want some lairy LED covered orange freak, its just unneccesary - I'm not 12. I like things with a bit of class. As I'll be selling what I have currently I'll just have to pay the difference so I'm thinking of around £1000 overall, roughly $1800. I work for the UK's largest webhosting company and we stock exclusively Dell servers so I think we have a company discount with them which may sway the decision. Any help on this will be much appreciated. Cheers, Pete

Sep 1, 2009, 08:47 PM	#2
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,244 Rep Power: 326 System Specs	Re: Gaming / Netbook Laptop Help You will not find a very good gaming laptop for £1000, much less for a gaming laptop and netbook at the same price. Sorry. You can get a good desktop PC for that price, but laptop? No way. Also, I doubt you will find a 75 or 100 hz monitor for a laptop. I don't know why you want it, but you won't find one soon, AFAIK. __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Sep 1, 2009, 09:03 PM	Thread Starter #3
pete layo HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 9 Rep Power: 0	Re: Gaming / Netbook Laptop Help so a laptop costing £1000 wouldn't even be able to play Quake Live at 125fps? You're kidding me? now i've moved into my own place, along with a few other students, I don't have the space to keep a PC around. Plus the desk space needs to be used by everyone else as well. there's no way I can sit my stupid great PC there and take over the whole area. its either laptop or nothing. the only competitive game I play is QL, the rest is just for fun. surely there must be a laptop that has a 75hz screen, what the fuck are we living in the dark ages?

Sep 1, 2009, 09:12 PM	#4
IvanV HH Assassin Guild Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,652 Rep Power: 280 System Specs	Re: Gaming / Netbook Laptop Help I think that BlueMak is right (he makes a habit of that ). If you're no longer 12 and you no longer like your huge, custom built, LED filled desktop, why not get yourself a nice smaller one with more understated looks? There are fantastic micro-ATX boards out there, as well as decently looking and relatively affordable small cases that can serve as a basis for a very capable, yet quiet and nice looking systems. I've no idea what's MW2 going to require, but you shouldn't have any problems with satisfying the Quake Live condition at a reasonable resolution. As for the netbook, they all have almost identical innards and fall into a certain price bracket, so just go, check a few of them out and pick one yourself, especially since looks are important to you, it's best that you see several in the flesh before making any decisions (also check to see if you like how the keyboard feels and stuff like that). EDIT: Now I see that you share the desk. Well, you're in a pickle. As for the 75Hz demand, why is that important? LCDs don't flicker. __________________ Our Folding@home stats:

Sep 1, 2009, 09:18 PM	#5
IvanV HH Assassin Guild Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,652 Rep Power: 280 System Specs	Re: Gaming / Netbook Laptop Help Well, I saw some laptop with Radeon Mobility 4570 for about 400-430e. For a 1000 pounds, there's probably something better than that which can push Quake Live at 1280800 or 1366768 at a decent framerate, but true gaming laptops are rare and expensive. Check out the laptop reviews here at DH, there were a few models that didn't cost an arm and a leg (only the arm and they were mostly flashy as hell ). EDIT: Here's what a thousand pounds gets you: http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews....d=724&pageid=1 __________________ Our Folding@home stats: Last edited by IvanV; Sep 1, 2009 at 09:28 PM.

Sep 1, 2009, 09:47 PM	Thread Starter #6
pete layo HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 9 Rep Power: 0	Re: Gaming / Netbook Laptop Help i would get a micro atx, I did consider it. but the problem is every time i'd want to use it i'd have to get out the monitor, keyboard, mouse, mousemat, plug it all in. all for a quick go on QL. its far too much effort, and i'd have to leave the monitor out as I'm not going to be able to throw a monitor in the draw. not going to fly i'm afraid... i mean if we're going to talk about ideals, widescreen laptop at 1440x900 res at 75hz running 125fps on QL. Thats what I was playing on with my PC and I was very happy with it. see, some games are just so much better on a PC than on an xbox - for instance COD. most games on xbox suck online as well as they're run off people's home connections rather than dedicated servers. i do get a discount from Dell, i think its 10% (I have sold about £100,000's worth of their bloody servers to get it) but i've heard their customer support is crap. really though, is this 75hz screen a pipedream or what?

Sep 1, 2009, 09:53 PM	#7
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,244 Rep Power: 326 System Specs	Re: Gaming / Netbook Laptop Help He wants £1000 for a gaming laptop and a netbook. Not going to happen. While £1000 is $1600 which can buy you a good enough, but not top, gaming laptop, £1000 can't because prices in the UK are way higher than in the USA. Usually the exchange rate for equal computers is at £1=$1. So if you find an american laptop that sells there for $1800, then you will probably need £1800 in the UK for the same one. Now, considering that you eant to spend £1000 for both systems...tehn we are talking for about £700 for the gaming laptop. It just isn't feasible. I am not saying that you won't be able to buy a laptop that will run COD6 (or whatever it is going to be) with that amount of money, but running and actually playing the game at high resolution and/or with more than minimum settings is a different thing. Also if you plan on keeping the laptop for 3-4 years (since you go to college? now) things are even worse. I advice you to do what Ivan says. Get a small sized desktop PC and you will be able to buy an outperforming system and netbook for the same or even lower price than the £700-£1000 laptop. EDIT: I just noticed your newer post. First of all, why the 75 limit? LCD monitors don't have the problems of CRT. If you refuse to buy anythiing but a laptop and netbook, then you will find something but don't expect anything very good for games. __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Sep 1, 2009, 10:11 PM	Thread Starter #8
pete layo HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 9 Rep Power: 0	Re: Gaming / Netbook Laptop Help no i'll probably keep it for 2-3 years as I work and go to uni, I don't do too badly. I didn't realise the exchange rate on the laptops were so shit... resolution i'm looking for would be 1440x900 as thats what i'm used to. there continues to be a debate about hz and all the rest of it, all I know is that playing on 75hz LCD is better than playing on a 60hz LCD. it feels so much better, whatever the reasoning behind it

Sep 2, 2009, 02:51 AM	#9
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 13,244 Rep Power: 326 System Specs	Re: Gaming / Netbook Laptop Help Well, I am not going to say anything more about the monitor, I find it pointless. As for a gaming laptop. Last year, from June till early October, I was looking for a new computer, a very powerful gaming laptop (I had plans for working and travelling, great plans, all destroyed now). I was willing to pay up to £2000 for one. I already had experience with gaming laptops, I had a very powerful for its day (2002) compaq that I kept as a main pc for 3 years, that I bought at high price. Anyway, as I said I was looking for a powerful laptop. I searched everywhere online in Europe and USA+Canada. Searched and compared MANY laptops and many sellers. I even decided to buy one from a british company, for £2100, a great system. So, what happened? I came to my fucking senses. I spent half the money and bought a fantastic desktop PC (you can see it in my System Specs on the left) that could run circles around the laptop in question. Hell, it can still do it now against modern/newer laptops, without any problem. And I saved about £1000. I know that space is precious as a university student (been one for a decade), but I urge you to try harder to find room for a small desktop PC. You can easily find or build one for £700 that will demolish any laptop that is even 50% more expensive. Also, I don't know if you knew it, but laptop monitors are generally lacking in comparison to proper monitors. If none of the above can change your view £600 PCSPECIALIST.CO.UK - Custom PCs, Custom Computers, Custom PC, Custom Built Computers, Gaming PC You should be able to play CODMW2 at some settings and you will have no problem with quake live. __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Sep 2, 2009, 12:13 PM	#10
Takaharu I can fart in 7 languages Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: England, UK Posts: 1,625 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	Re: Gaming / Netbook Laptop Help I don't really get the whole 75Hz obsession as 1080i TVs give you 60Hz and they'd beat the heck out of a 75Hz 17" TFT in clarity, gaming or otherwise. I don't know what the frame rate would be like but from Alienware, if you go for the lowest spec laptop and only upgrade the graphics you can get dual 3870s in CrossfireX, a Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB RAM with a 160GB hard drive. That scrapes under £1000. But yeah, I'd agree with everyone else - for £1000 you can get a Micro ATX system for Core i7 (or at least Core 2 Quad) with a high-end graphics card, nice hard drive, 17" widescreen monitor and 2GB of high-speed RAM. That'd run circles around any £1500 laptop.

Sep 2, 2009, 12:38 PM	#11
blibbax What does this do? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Oxford, UK Posts: 3,683 Rep Power: 169 System Specs	Re: Gaming / Netbook Laptop Help On desk space - I game on desks with both a laptop and a desktop. The desktop takes up far less space. The thing with gaming on a laptop is that you'll soon find you want all of the peripherals that you had on your desktop. The integrated ones just aren't up to it. And then, you're laptop takes up far more space than a monitor, as you have the whole PC on the desk, rather than just the monitor on the desk and the PC on the floor. Hell, you could build a PC in a media centre case and pthe monitor on top of it, and use similar to a 17" or 19" laptop. Yes portability is an issue, so why not get a netbook and a desktop as a reasonable compromise? Using a laptop as your main gaming PC makes absoloutely no sense unless money is no object, which it clearly is. __________________ Donate the spare computing power of your PC to help to cure Alzheimer's, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease and cancer: Fold for HH!

Sep 2, 2009, 01:05 PM	#12
*Veridian3* Administrator Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cloaked Posts: 4,829 Rep Power: 174	Re: Gaming / Netbook Laptop Help I have to agree with many of the posts here.... have a serious think about a small desktop. Amazing things can be done with this case : SilverStone Technology Co., Ltd - Designing Inspiration and its tiny. If you need a little more flexibility then go with the SG04 (which also has a handle). It can take I7/4890 etc... Then with whatever budget you have left grab a decent netbook... or if you manage to have a low cost SG05 system then you may well be able to afford a http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_...39/version.asp which is a great little machine for the price and much more desirable than any netbook. (up to 9hrs battery!!!) EDIT: Here is an idea of what you can do with the SG05 Case + PSU http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CA-063-SV £90 Mobo http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=5&subcat=1436 £115 Memory (4gb) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=8&subcat=817 £48 CPU (Quad) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=6&subcat=567 £104 Raptor HD http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=HD-236-WD £115 Optical http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=10&subcat=952 £26 GFX (GTS 250 1gb) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...56&subcat=1402 £80 Total: approx £580 + Timeline = £1007 Thats the way I would go (although you do need to double check component compatibility etc)... you could also knock down the price a little by going dual core cpu, 2gb ddr2-800, 60GB Crucial SSD.

Sep 5, 2009, 03:20 PM	Thread Starter #13
pete layo HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 9 Rep Power: 0	Re: Gaming / Netbook Laptop Help i had considered moving onto a microATX system, my current specs are: intel q9300 8800gts 2gb ram antec 900 case i was going to stick it all in a micro atx box but to be perfectly honest this all teeters around whether i really want a gaming pc or not. with such an addictive personality having a gaming pc around makes it harder to work than play. as well, if I have a PC as my computer for home use rather than a laptop I have to sit at a desk all day at work, then come home to a desk. i'd end up either barely using it, or wasting my entire life on it. so at the moment its looking like the gaming side of things is over. xbox will suffice. although I am now desperate for a decent netbook before university starts again

Sep 5, 2009, 03:40 PM	#14
IvanV HH Assassin Guild Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,652 Rep Power: 280 System Specs	Re: Gaming / Netbook Laptop Help We can't really help you with that, but if you don't want a gaming system, getting a gaming laptop and finding out that it wasn't a good idea would be much worse compared to migrating your existing hardware into a small case and deciding that you want to quit gaming. I suggest that you get the laptop Veridian3 suggested. It's an ultraportable so it's highly mobile, small and light with huge autonomy, yet provides an almost normal keyboard (in line with many 15.4" laptops) and comfier screen compared to netbooks. That way you'll get your cheap highly portable computer which can also serve the purpose of the main computer because of larger screen and keyboard compared to what you'd find on netbooks. Using it that way for awhile will tell you whether you want and need a larger notebook or you want normal keyboard and monitor. And if you opt for the latter, but are afraid that a gaming PC would be too big a distraction, get a board with integrated graphics and keep the 8800 out of the build. __________________ Our Folding@home stats: