• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 19:23
CEST 01:23
KST 08:23
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL22] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror4[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Rough Waters10
Community News
5.0.17 Patch Notes - October 7, 202610Weekly Cups Results (Sep 28-Oct 4)0SC4ALL: II SC2 Complete Invited Player Lineup10StarCraft II 5.0.17 PTR Patch Notes (Sept 30, 2026)78Weekly Cups (Sept 21-27): herO and ByuN double2
StarCraft 2
General
5.0.17 Patch Notes - October 7, 2026 [Old] StarCraft 3 Reportedly in Development StarCraft II 5.0.17 PTR Patch Notes (Sept 30, 2026) How do you feel about the mass reverts in the 5.0.17 PTR? Weekly Cups Results (Sep 28-Oct 4)
Tourneys
ISSL (IntoTheTV x SOOP SC2 League): Premier Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament 2026 GSTL Grand Finals Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond)
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
[M] (2) Sweltering Sands [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
Mutation # 546 Catch the Train The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 545 And Drops and Rifts Mutation # 544 Double Trouble
Brood War
General
Sagi.gg Launcher Released Fantasy returning? BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion GG Lan Fest Sofia, Bulgaria [this November]
Tourneys
[ASL22] Semifinal B [ASL22] Semifinal A [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL22] Ro8 Day 4
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) Replay Review Process - What do you do?
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Total Annihilation Zero
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25! Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
Artificial Intelligence Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread
Fan Clubs
Serral Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion! Diablo Animated Series on Netflix
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
Escaping Into Video Games: G…
TrAiDoS
38 yo Retired SWE loo…
PurE)Rabbit-SF
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
[meme] I finally understa…
LUCKY_NOOB
Regacy Esports:Our Goa…
regacyesports
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 7373 users

[R] Laptop buying

Blogs > HnR)Insane
Post a Reply
1 2 Next All
Insane
Profile Blog Joined November 2003
United States4991 Posts
June 09 2009 13:51 GMT
#1
Hi guys,
I'm going to be getting a new laptop soon. I can afford any price pretty much, but I don't want to waste money regardless.... I basically want to be able to play games like SC2/Diablo 3/other modern games.

I have no idea where to look or start looking, as just googling up laptops isn't really guaranteed to produce reliable results. I know a friend of mine had an alienware laptop that was crap (it would overheat way too easily, and randomly restart even with him having it over cooling stuff)

Advice? :D

*****
b3h47pte
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
United States1317 Posts
June 09 2009 13:58 GMT
#2
http://ibuypower.com/
Those look good and are pretty well priced too imo
ZoW
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
United States3983 Posts
June 09 2009 14:00 GMT
#3
I've been using a dell xps m1730 for over a year now and its great. Only downside is that its heavy and the ac cord is huge, so its not that portable. I still recommend it though
the courage to be a lazy bum
Zoler
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Sweden6339 Posts
June 09 2009 14:05 GMT
#4
SC2 and Diablo2? Buy a desktop comp
Lim Yo Hwan forever!
StarN
Profile Blog Joined November 2004
United States2587 Posts
June 09 2009 14:10 GMT
#5
I always wanted a Dell XPS M1730. But I'm a poor college student
Retired BW Noob
NeoIllusions
Profile Blog Joined December 2002
United States37500 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-06-09 14:16:50
June 09 2009 14:15 GMT
#6
lol, get a desktop and a netbook.

Playing SC on a laptop sux. But if you're adamant about a laptop, I'd also go with the Dell XPS M1730.

Decent review: http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/dell-xps-m1730-laptop/4505-3121_7-32687269.html
ModeratorFor the Glory that is TeamLiquid (-9 | 155) | Discord: NeoIllusions#1984
Frits
Profile Joined March 2003
11782 Posts
June 09 2009 14:39 GMT
#7
I'd get one like Acer Aspire 8930G-644G32MN for about 700 euros if you want gaming, has a geforce 9600 which is probably what you're looking for? Anyway I suggest looking that one up.

ghermination
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
United States2851 Posts
June 09 2009 14:50 GMT
#8
The XPS M1720 is rather outdated, if cost isn't a problem and you want something with huge gaming capability that will continue to be incredibly powerful for the next 5-6 year i reccomend thehttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220527 Asus W90Vp-X2
18.4" Screen
6GB RAM
Core 2 Quad Q9000 @ 2.0ghz
Radeon 4870M X2 (!!)
320GB 7200RPM HDD
2,249 USD.
Seriously this thing is a monster, faster than most desktops nowadays (unless they're beastly)
U Gotta Skate.
demonix
Profile Joined June 2009
United States35 Posts
June 09 2009 14:51 GMT
#9
Just a word of advice, if you don't have to don't get anything above a geforce 8800 GTS or the ATI equivalent ... the "newer" GPUs really are the same, just rebranded for marketing purposes. The technology is identical and the 8800 GTS has served me well for gaming even with the newer games. If you want to be on the safe side you can go with the 9800.

If you're going to be gaming a few years down the road I really suggest not getting a laptop though.
ghermination
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
United States2851 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-06-09 15:58:03
June 09 2009 14:56 GMT
#10
On June 09 2009 23:51 demonix wrote:
Just a word of advice, if you don't have to don't get anything above a geforce 8800 GTS or the ATI equivalent ... the "newer" GPUs really are the same, just rebranded for marketing purposes. The technology is identical and the 8800 GTS has served me well for gaming even with the newer games. If you want to be on the safe side you can go with the 9800.

If you're going to be gaming a few years down the road I really suggest not getting a laptop though.


Wat?
Good job spewing the same mentality over and over. Yes, because having both a much faster memory core and shader clock, more stream processors, and 4x the video memory means that the radeon X2 and gtx 285 are exactly the same right? Pls lrn2 understand GPU's and the intricacies of their technology. Seriously i hate when random kiddies who barely understand how hard manufacturers work on these cards start saying things like this. There is at least a 3x power increase between the newest Nvidia card (GTX 285) and the 8800GTS. I could just as easily say that Starcraft 2 is exactly the same as SC1, just rebranded, so why should we buy it?

GTX 285 Core, Memory, and Shader Clocks:
648 MHz
2484 MHz
1476 MHz
Memory: 1 or 2GB GDDR3
8800 GTS Core, Memory and Shader Clocks:
500MHz
1480MHz
400 MHz
Memory: 512MB DDR2 or DDR3
Seriously the only resemblance is in the core clock. Please do your research before you say things like this.
U Gotta Skate.
georgir
Profile Joined May 2009
Bulgaria253 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-06-09 15:19:21
June 09 2009 15:11 GMT
#11
If you want a laptop for the use that they were intended for, mobility, don't even look at the 17 inch monsters that people are linking - those are called "desktop replacements" for a reason, you wouldn't want to lift them off the desk.

I think the best choice for mobility would actually be some of the tablet convertibles around 11-13 inches, like Dell XT2 if money really isn't an issue, Fujitsu T5010 or T2020 to save some, or for slightly better GPUs the AMD based HP tablets that seem to be changing names with combinations of tx, tz, 2, 25, 2500 a lot since they were around :p right now they seem to be TouchSmart tx2z.

EDIT: Also there were some Gateway models a couple years back, maybe you should look at them too? by now they are probably also updated to have multitouch and whatnot... I just disregarded them because they aren't an option for me (outside of America)

Bear in mind that some of the mentioned models (namely the Fujitsus, but perhaps also some HP variants) could be configured with non-multitouch screens last time I looked at them, and you wouldn't want that.
Why I recommend multitouch tablet convertibles at all? Well, Windows 7 will launch by the end of the year and then you will see why.

A problem with buying those tablets that I listed however, is that their platform is getting quite dated already. By one year I expect the next gen to have made them all obsolete. They are also gonna see some stiff competition from cheaper netbook tablet variants, like the eventual replacements of my gigabyte M912X, but it will take more than a couple of years until this happens.

If you want some more GPU power, you'll have to give up some battery life, the tablet and touchscreen functions, go up to a 14-15 inch model and the increased weight that comes with that. Or you may just stick to your desktop too.

Figure out what you want from this laptop. Are you ever really going to use it on the go? If so, just give up playing the latest and greatest on it before you even bought it. But if you want mobility and are ready to lower details in your games, perhaps the tablets that I recommend will run even SC2 and Diablo 3 - Blizzard is known for having their games work on mainstream and more humble systems.

If you aren't sure yet and don't need it right now, the best course is always to wait until you do need it, so you can take advantages of the new developments that will happen until then.
Jibba
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States22883 Posts
June 09 2009 15:26 GMT
#12
Asus has been putting out great laptops lately, but like georgir said, you should probably wait until you do need it.
ModeratorNow I'm distant, dark in this anthrobeat
Cali
Profile Joined May 2009
139 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-06-12 19:09:25
June 09 2009 16:07 GMT
#13
--- Nuked ---
decafchicken
Profile Blog Joined January 2005
United States20169 Posts
June 09 2009 17:32 GMT
#14
http://www.xoticpc.com/custom-gaming-laptops-notebooks-gaming-laptops-ct-118_96_98.html
how reasonable is it to eat off wood instead of your tummy?
h3r1n6
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
Iceland2039 Posts
June 09 2009 17:45 GMT
#15
What are further requirements? Do you really need the mobility? If I wouldn't travel between home and my apartment at university I would probably use a desktop pc and a nice netbook. I need a laptop that I can afford, which I can take to university and on which I can work and play. All these goals contradict each other of course .

Make up your mind on what you really need. If you don't need the mobility, you don't need the notebook. 17'' sucks for mobility, but on smaller notebooks you don't get as good hardware.

I am currently in the process of buying this one:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-MSI-Megabook-GT627-Gaming-Notebook.14601.0.html
naventus
Profile Blog Joined February 2004
United States1339 Posts
June 09 2009 18:34 GMT
#16
If at all possible go for split laptop/desktop.

Laptop hardware lags behind quickly and with D3 so far off, you're better off getting a mobile laptop and a powerhouse desktop.

You also won't be able to run SC2/D3 at high settings and resolution (read: 1600-1900) without 8800+. Don't even bother with "gaming" laptops.
hmm.
Kentor *
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
United States5784 Posts
June 09 2009 18:38 GMT
#17
"gaming" laptops are :\
Hippopotamus
Profile Blog Joined October 2004
1914 Posts
June 09 2009 19:25 GMT
#18
17'' sucks for mobility


Lies!
infinity21 *
Profile Blog Joined October 2006
Canada6683 Posts
June 09 2009 19:48 GMT
#19
On June 10 2009 03:34 naventus wrote:
If at all possible go for split laptop/desktop.

I 2nd this if you care about having nice resolutions for gaming / don't want to buy a new computer for at least 3 years.

Laptops that are powerful enough to play games have 0 mobility -- battery life of 1 hr, heats up very quickly, weighs like a few bricks. If you're not looking for mobility, then you might as well get a desktop.

What I did was compromise on both ends.. got a medium range gpu (9600gt) that lasts 4 hours with 15.4 inch screen. If you're looking for true mobility, I suggest at most 14 inch screens + desktop at home. 15.4 inch laptops are ok but are still a pain to carry around everywhere all day (to lectures in my case).
Official Entusman #21
Cali
Profile Joined May 2009
139 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-06-12 19:10:12
June 09 2009 20:10 GMT
#20
--- Nuked ---
1 2 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Replay Cast
08:00
QMC Community Tournament 1
CranKy Ducklings39
Liquipedia
OSC
07:15
Masters Cup #151 Group C
davetesta22
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Nina 175
ProTech134
ViBE124
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 14115
Artosis 572
PianO 24
Sacsri 8
Dota 2
monkeys_forever551
NeuroSwarm139
canceldota129
League of Legends
Doublelift3570
Counter-Strike
Fnx 1515
minikerr11
Super Smash Bros
AZ_Axe101
Other Games
summit1g6568
shahzam523
C9.Mang0341
Day[9].tv331
Maynarde57
Trikslyr17
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 44
• RyuSc2 30
• CranKy Ducklings SOOP17
• Response 1
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• HerbMon 32
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Other Games
• imaqtpie801
• Shiphtur555
• Day9tv331
Upcoming Events
OSC
23h 38m
Big Brain Bouts
1d 10h
Rex vs INexorable
GgMaChine vs HeRoMaRinE
Reynor vs herO
AI Arena Tournament
1d 17h
BSL: Ladder Tournament
1d 19h
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
Patches Events
2 days
BSL Open Qualifier
2 days
BSL Open Qualifier
2 days
WardiTV Weekly
4 days
PiGosaur Cup
5 days
[ Show More ]
The PondCast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL 2026 AUTUMN (S22)
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Copium Cup

Ongoing

ASL Season 22
Super Anchor Qualifying S3
Acropolis #5
Acropolis #5 - GSB
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual

Upcoming

Acropolis #5 - GSC
BSL Season 23
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
HCC Season 3
eXTREMESLAND 2026
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.