If you want to have your game on your laptop, it usually means paying for it, but it doesn’t have to be that way anymore. There are many notebooks in the market that are game-ready; with high performance processors, dedicated graphics cards and plenty of system memory. Top gaming laptops these days use dual or even quad processors.
Most gamers prefer nVidia and ATI for Graphics Cards, 2 Gigs of RAM, although most high-end laptops come with 4 or more Gigs of RAM.
Be prepared to pay top dollar for high-end gaming laptops, especially when you are interested in the well-known brands.
Alienware Area-51 m17x
Alienware has always been a leader for gaming machines. But then for all that performance and style, you are expected to pay as they don’t come cheap. This 10.5 lbs machine comes with the 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 CPU, 4GB of RAM and 250GB hard drive (at 7200rpm), 512MB nVidia Quadro FX 3600M graphics, 17” dWideUXGA display 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview technology. It comes with Windows Vista Ultimate.
The only issue is with the battery, as you can expect with any gaming laptop. It is a power hungry monster that can use up the power pretty quickly. Although, it is mobile, it serves better as a desktop replacement rather than a portable laptop. But even if you wish to lag it around, it is still one of the coolest laptops – looks wise too.
Alienware m17
Although, “cheap” is certainly not the word that can be used for any Alienware laptops, this one is pretty low compared to their other machines. Price range is about 1,300 and a little more. It packs 1GB of ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 x2 graphics processing power, and comes with 2.26-GHz Core 2 Duo P8400 CPU, 4GB of RAM and 160GB hard drive (at 7200rpm). This results in the ability of this machine to run most modern games at a decent speed. It provides a great gaming experience, delivering speed where it is required. However, where office applications are concerned, the speed may not be all that great.
HP HDX 18
The HDX 18 from HP is an out-and-out multimedia machine, right from its fashionable look to performance. Although, HP HDX 18 is not the fastest machine around, it’s more than enough to play many of the games as well as video. With a T9600 processor, 4GB of RAM and 9600M graphics, it certainly can play some of the big guns without much of a hitch. Games like Fallout 3, which is an action role-playing game and Left 4 Dead can be played smoothly on the screen’s resolution of 1920×1080. If you wish to have a serious gaming machine, you will have to look at something with 9800M graphics card; although, this surely is great for almost all the games, except perhaps the most demanding games like GTA IV.
Eurocom D901C Phantom-X
This machine comes with a 3 GHz Xeon Quad Core X3370 processor, two 80GB solid-state drives with Windows Vista and with 8GB of RAM. Add the nVidia GeForce Go 9800M GTX graphics running in SLI and you have a deadly gaming combination. This speed king dominates many games such as Quake Wars and Unreal Tournament III. With 1900 x 1200 pixels, the 17.1 inch screen is bright and clear and more than perfect for extended gaming sessions. Well, all this power does not come cheap and this is expensive at $5950. But if you’re a game addict that values high-levels of performance, you probably won’t mind the steep price.
Gateway P-7811FX
The Gateway P-7811FX is an inexpensive alternative to the higher priced gaming laptops. This is a perfect deal for people looking for a good gaming machine yet want to stick to their budget. This machine is run by a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo P8400 CPU and a 4GB of DDR3-800 RAM. This has the capacity to handle most of the current games. Although, the 17.1-inch screen is not as bright, the colors are perfect in still images. The only problem if you perceive it as such is the glossy coating on the screen that may be distracting when playing. The 200GB 7200rpm hard drive, the nVidia GeForce 9800M GTS graphics make up for everything else. It comes with Windows Vista Premium (64-bit) and weighs 9 lbs.
This gaming machine offers good value for money and certainly something that should be taken into consideration, especially if you cannot afford the higher-end machines. You get to own a good gaming machine as well as save on some money in this time of recession.
These are just a few of the good gaming laptops available in the market. Many of them are certain to give you a good gaming experience. You may find other gaming laptops that are far cheaper, but you will have to look around a bit. For Mac lovers, there is the Apple MacBook Pro and you can also run Windows to play games. When looking for a gaming laptop, you should go for one that can be easily upgraded when you need to or when you have more money. Since many gamers don’t like Vista and prefer switching back to Windows XP, you should check if the laptop will accept XP before you buy it.