$800 isn’t much cash to spend on a decent gaming laptop, but he’s not talking about a massive rig here. All he wants to do is play CS:S and the laptops listed in his price range are more than capable of playing CS:S on decent settings. The i3 with the 1GB nvidia GPU is MORE than capable of handling this game.
lolwut? it’s dual. It might have hyperthreading (making it a pseudo-quad) but it’s ULV, so I doubt it.
I read it even worse; I thought it said gaming on a Netbook :zip:
Core i3 330 is a dual core quad threaded CPU.
Also, it’s not too hard to find a laptop that does okay on most current games. Mine wasn’t really for gaming, but it handles it well.
Only paid 700 bucks for the Acer ( not a fan of the brand but meh ) Aspire AS5740G-5323. Has the i3 330, 4GB of ram, AMD 5740 GPU and windows 7 64 bit.
I’ve had no problems at all with it ( though it doesn’t have the full left hand shift key which I hate on laptops ). The point being, even a little work laptop seems to be able to handle most modern games. I even play BFBC2 on her.
For $800 dollars you could get a laptop.
Shit, are you serious? $800 for a laptop. Fuck, man. That is some awesome shit.
[COLOR=‘Black’]/sarcasm
The mobility radeon 5145 is a 4570 re-branded at manufacture’s request because nvidia has so polluted their product numbering. The 4570 is roughly equal, but more powerful than the 310. I wouldn’t worry so much about the video ram quantity. Even the Intel Extreme Graphics Decelerator brags about being able to access up to a gig and a half of (system) memory. Remember that both the PS3 and the Xbox360 has 512mb of ram TOTAL, for system and graphics.
What is really needed is a mobility radeon 4650 or better. It has a (slightly) higher pixel fillrate than the xbox 360 gpu (which is also made by ati), and it can be found in laptops around your price point.
Edit: And do note: The Mobility Radeon 5870 (a very high end laptop GPU) is basically a downclocked desktop 5770. You can get a factory overclocked 5770 card for as little as $170. I’m a college kid with little disposable income myself, and I am stuck with a pentium 4/Radeon 2600xt rig for now and a huge need to replace the laptop I bring to school (at around the same price-point as you). I am prioritizing getting a laptop first, and when I had the above realization about the 5770 I gave up on saving for a laptop with a discreet GPU. I instead focused on (vertical) screen real estate. Maybe I’ll have a chance to swap out my desktop sometime in spring 2011.
Wait, an ATI Radeon 5145 is a re-branding of an NVidia card? Specifically, a 4570 (a card number that NVidia isn’t currently using)?
@Wheybags, I was just saying that he should get a laptop instead of a netbook, because he can clearly afford a laptop and it would be much better.
Hi Jaeti,
Your budget will allow you to pick up a very good laptop in America (damn the rediculous component prices in Europe 
).
I would highly recommend a refurbished Asus laptop with your budget in mind. I have been doing some research into purchasing a cheap gaming laptop for my cousin, and came accross a BestBuy exclusive model of Asus laptop that will blitz through anything you throw at it.
This users “ebay shop” has a large selection of affordable gaming laptops with specifications similar to those found in an alienware 15x.
Another excellent model is the 16" version:
Alternatively if you are looking to purchase a brand new system, try to pick one up with the following specs as a minium:
CPU: i3 330
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 330M / 250M
HDD: 320GB 7200 RPM
Screen: 1366x768 WLED
RAM: 4GB DDR3 1066 mhz
Ideally a 250M GPU will outperform a 330M, but if you can pick up a system with a 260M it will not let you down.
If you are willing to save a little more money i would strongly recommend a Sager/Clevo 15.4" gaming laptop. I own this particular model and its performance is breathtaking.
https://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_info&model_name=NP8690
Unfortunately it is a considerable price hike… with your current budget and situation i would recommend a refurbished Asus with a core 2 duo cpu and geforce 260m gpu.
Good luck with your decision.
-Zal
Edit: As you will be using the system for older generation games, a system with an i3 CPU and Geforce 330M GPU will be more than enough, however as these systems still cost roughly the same as a refurbished Asus with a 260M i would still go for the Asus.
Following on from my previous post, the Clevo B5100M looks like the perfect system for you. It has an excellent balance of portability to system performance, and utilises Optimus technology to balance them out.
The base spec is excellent, and is only 89 dollars above your budget first hand.
Check it out:
https://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_info&model_name=NP5125
-Zal