A few questions about "gaming" laptop's.

[digitalemperor]

Some beginner questions.

As far as dedicated graphics go, does gaming capable graphics card = hot laptop? Every time I read about a laptop that has a gaming capable card it seems everyone complains about heat.

Does a gaming laptop always have to be a "luggable" instead of a "portable"? Is there such thing as a lightweight (under 6lbs) gaming laptop?

As far as performance goes, how does the x1600 and 7900GS compare to desktop gpus? How about the x1400? What's the minimum to play Half-life2 engine games?

And finally, is there anything at the 1000-1200$ price point that would be able to handle gaming relatively well?

 

[alimoalem]

i'm really interested in these questions too

 

[fbrdphreak]

To get started, here are some laptop gaming benchmarks:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/resources/detail.php?id=37

As far as heat, it depends what card you get. The MR X1600 & Go 7900GS are relatively low power GPU's, but the MR X1800XT (vaporware) and Go 7900GTX are going to dissipate a lot of power. Most desktop replacement notebooks use higher power components and larger LCD's, so they will produce more heat. As far as how hot, it depends on the specific notebook.

Under 6lbs gaming laptop? The closest thing is an Asus W3J with a 256MB ATI MR X1600:
http://www.proportable.com/detail.aspx?ID=107
Pretty much every 15.4" notebook is above 6lbs, but you get more options in the 15.4" range. The new Acer Ferrari 5000 will have a 256MB X1600 for around $2000:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/news/detail.php?id=1235
The Toshiba P105 is a 15.4" multimedia gaming notebook with NVIDIA Go 7900GS, looks very slick:
http://laptoplogic.com/news/detail.php?id=691

I believe the MR X1600 compares directly to the X1600 desktop, with lower clocks. The 7900GS is a lot like a 7800GT, except it is 90nm whereas the 7800GT is 110nm. Unfortunately, I haven't benched the 7900GS yet, but I'm looking into reviewing the Toshiba P105 now.
Go 7900GS specs:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/news/detail.php?id=693

I also covered laptop graphics cards very generally in my buyer's guide that just posted:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/resources/detail.php?id=47
Take that with a grain of salt, as it is very condensed and non-specific.

Hope this helps

EDIT Update: I just found out from Toshiba that the P105-S921 with the Go7900GS is no longer available! That looked like a nice machine, trying to find out why.

 

[imported_kenyee]

I've been looking for the same thing...almost exactly an HP dv2000z w/ better graphics as a $100 upgrade, but I've had no luck finding it...

The Asus Z92T looks like a possibility, but it's going to be around $1500 and I can't find it anywhere in the US :-(

 

[imported_jon1003]

I play hl2 on my 15.4" asus laptop with a radeon 9700 at medium to high settings(no aa etc). This was about top of the line when hl2 first came out. hehe, i've never even played hl2 on a desktop It looks pretty darn good, and no stuttering. I think most laptop gpu's today will fare pretty well unless you want everything maxed out and 4xAA etc on.

 

[fbrdphreak]

What resolution? 1280x800?

 

[ninjazed]

I've been playing HL2:Ep1 and F.E.A.R. on my new Asus W2JB and they both run great. That's right, even F.E.A.R. is configured to run at the native resolution of 1440x900 and I get really good frame rates with most options set on max. The x1600 card with 256 dedicated and 512 hypermemory seems like a super laptop card 'cause the battery life is still respectable and it's just really fast. 2GB's of RAM prolly help too but I am very impressed with the whole rig. The Nvidia 79/7800's are nice too but the laptops I've seen those in have been fat monsters in really heavy rigs.

 

[cheesehead]

How about the W8J? It's got a respectable 7600 graphics card with a whopping 512mb of RAM, and it's 5 1/4 lbs.
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=1&model=1095&l1=5&l2=61&l3=0

Asus FTW!

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: Cheesehead
How about the W8J? It's got a respectable 7600 graphics card with a whopping 512mb of RAM, and it's 5 1/4 lbs.
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=1&model=1095&l1=5&l2=61&l3=0

Asus FTW!

That isn't the W8J. There is no W8J as far as I know. The link you gave is the A8Jm. It has a respectable 7600, but the A series isn't as nice as the W or V series notebooks. Also, from the benchmarks I've seen, the MR X1600 (256MB Dedicated memory) is a little better than the 7600 Go.

 

[ninjazed]

I agree with Brainonska511 on all points. I'm no expert but I've read that the x1600 is a little more powerful (not much but it has more pixel pipelines) and also uses less power. The A8JM is a nice unit but it only has a 6-cell battery (as opposed to 8-cell on other Asus models) so that would cut down on battery life as well.

 

[cheesehead]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: Cheesehead
How about the W8J? It's got a respectable 7600 graphics card with a whopping 512mb of RAM, and it's 5 1/4 lbs.
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=1&model=1095&l1=5&l2=61&l3=0

Asus FTW!

That isn't the W8J. There is no W8J as far as I know. The link you gave is the A8Jm. It has a respectable 7600, but the A series isn't as nice as the W or V series notebooks. Also, from the benchmarks I've seen, the MR X1600 (256MB Dedicated memory) is a little better than the 7600 Go.

D'oh!

It's been a long day.

The 7600 and the x1600 are both pretty similar performers, AFAIK.
http://www.kettya.com/notebook2/gpu_ranking.htm

Regardless, a sweet option is the Compal HGL30. For 1,100$, you get a 7600 Go, a 1.66ghz Pentium-M, 1gb of RAM, and a 14" widescreen.

http://store.agearnotebooks.com/hgl30price.html

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Cheesehead

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: Cheesehead
How about the W8J? It's got a respectable 7600 graphics card with a whopping 512mb of RAM, and it's 5 1/4 lbs.
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=1&model=1095&l1=5&l2=61&l3=0

Asus FTW!

That isn't the W8J. There is no W8J as far as I know. The link you gave is the A8Jm. It has a respectable 7600, but the A series isn't as nice as the W or V series notebooks. Also, from the benchmarks I've seen, the MR X1600 (256MB Dedicated memory) is a little better than the 7600 Go.

D'oh!

It's been a long day.

The 7600 and the x1600 are both pretty similar performers, AFAIK.
http://www.kettya.com/notebook2/gpu_ranking.htm

Regardless, a sweet option is the Compal HGL30. For 1,100$, you get a 7600 Go, a 1.66ghz Pentium-M, 1gb of RAM, and a 14" widescreen.

http://store.agearnotebooks.com/hgl30price.html

Why people keep including that galdarned random ranking of GPU's? I'd put no more faith in that than I would that we're going to get Duke Nukem Forever by the end of the year.

The Go 7600 and MR X1600 are pretty evenly matched, but I expect the upper hand to go to ATI. I will be testing the new Toshiba Qosmio AV650 with Go7600 & HD-DVD drive and once I'm done that, I will get a Core Duo MR X1600 notebook to do a "mainstream GPU" article comparing the two. Until then, I'd lean towards ATI.

And $1100 with the words "Pentium M" isn't a deal. If you're buying today, buy dual core one way or another. There is no point in buying old technology when you can get the new stuff for the same price.

 

[lazybum131]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
And $1100 with the words "Pentium M" isn't a deal. If you're buying today, buy dual core one way or another. There is no point in buying old technology when you can get the new stuff for the same price.

Cheesehead made a typo, the HGL30 is Core Duo, not P-M so it is a pretty decent deal. The go7600 on it seems a bit underclocked though, but still destroys the go7400 and X1400.

Link to Compal HGL30 review: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3098&review=Compal+HGL30