Best gaming laptop under $650

[tom1499]

My dell XPS15 cost me £800, reduced from 1200. It has an issue with graphics so I can only play on integrated, but this I7 chip hasn't got much of a problem with KSP, I can play arma 2 on minimum settings, skyrim on minimum and it runs the medium graphics games like TF2 and Garry's mod like a charm.

And to all you saying get a desktop: WHO CAN PLAY ARMA2 ON THE PLANE NOW EH?

[Mercy]

Define "gaming" laptop.

My Toshiba here cost 400 quid, that's with 8 gigs ram, and nVidia 630M I think, and a 2.40 Ghz i7 Quad Core. It's not a monster machine, but it can run Crysis 2 at 30+ FPS with high settings which is good enough for me.

If you want one with flashy lights, that's marketed as a "Gaming Laptop" you are gonna have a BAD time.

[Epthelyn]

Some people, like students for example, need a portable device to work on. Having a separate device for gaming can be quite expensive and wasteful, which is where the gaming laptop comes in. So please don't tell people off for wanting gaming laptops, it's rather inconsiderate.

Oh good, someone who understands why not everyone can have a desktop

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I purchased by current laptop a few weeks ago for a little under £600 (about $900). I could've got a much better desktop PC which would've lasted me for years and never have overheating issues but what use is that when I'm going to university in September? I could take one with me, but it's much more practical to have a portable device which you can carry around anywhere.

There is, as others have pointed out, no such thing as a "Gaming Laptop". Even the best laptops aren't really designed for gaming beyond anything more than a casual level; even then after a couple of years they just start to die. I found out that the hard way with my previous laptop which ended up running games I had played a year before at a barely playable level. Admittedly it only cost me $500 and wasn't originally purchased for gaming but it's still a lesson learned.

As for under $650, you're not going to get anything good enough to play games. Ok, you could play things at lower settings but after playing KSP for a year on a 2.1GHz CPU with Intel Chipset Family 4 I'd seriously recommend that, if you must have a laptop instead of a desktop, you fork out a little extra cash.

Also, do a little research into what people think of 'Gaming laptops' before buying one. If you have a choice between buying a high-spec machine with moderate reviews or a slightly lower spec machine with high reviews it's best to take the one people have had a good experience with. Youtube demonstrations, customer reviews and the like aren't perfect by any means (they depend entirely on individual expectations), but it's worth checking things out before buying anyway.

[engraverwilliam]

if you are looking for a KSP machine, put KSP on a flash drive and go to your local Staples, Office Max, or Best Buy..laptop shop wherever they sell dicount laptops. Plug that USB in and fire up kasp on its highest settings and see for yourself. No other way to do it. If the store frowns on running your own program to test the laptop F-them you go elseware.

[Mars90000000]

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2397071,00.asp?tab=Specs

[air805ronin]

I can't really speak for the low range options, but I got an XoticPC laptop last year and its been a godsend. I have to travel pretty often and enjoy bringing all my gaming with me. Nothing like running KSP at full on a plane and having people ooh and ahh over it.

I would at least check out their low range. They can be expensive but they always have a sale going on that can net you some good savings. I know my PC dropped from 1300 to 1100 thanks to a promotion and a discount for being ex-military, and I picked every part that went into the shell.

Darn thing ejects heat like a madman and cools down a couple minutes after running a game. I upgraded the heatsinks.

[IllicitMedic]

There is 1 rule to building/buying computers and laptops and it holds more true then any other product you could buy...

You get what you pay for...

[Marknate24]

How about under 800 usd.

[Tiron]

There is 1 rule to building/buying computers and laptops and it holds more true then any other product you could buy...

You get what you pay for...

Sometimes. I have an ASUS A53SV-XE2, which really wasn't all that expensive. So far as I have been able to tell, it's pretty much just a K53SV with a different model number... only it cost a LOT less. Even the sticker on the bottom says the motherboard is a K53SV. None of the ASUS sites even listed the A53, except the Malaysian one (in English!) despite more than a few of the online retailers having it. No idea what the deal is there, but it looks for all the world like they just gave it a slightly different model number and sold it at a steep discount online, without really advertising it.

[littlebattler]

Sometimes. I have an ASUS A53SV-XE2, which really wasn't all that expensive. So far as I have been able to tell, it's pretty much just a K53SV with a different model number... only it cost a LOT less. Even the sticker on the bottom says the motherboard is a K53SV. None of the ASUS sites even listed the A53, except the Malaysian one (in English!) despite more than a few of the online retailers having it. No idea what the deal is there, but it looks for all the world like they just gave it a slightly different model number and sold it at a steep discount online, without really advertising it.

It is probable that it was meant for the south east asian market, which have somewhat less buying power compared to american consumers. I do know that microsoft office is sold for less in that region.

[Javster]

You could go for an all-in-one. Almost as compact as a laptop but not very portable. All-in-ones use desktop parts, so they are better for gaming.

[Tiron]

It is probable that it was meant for the south east asian market, which have somewhat less buying power compared to american consumers. I do know that microsoft office is sold for less in that region.

Could be, but Amazon and Newegg at least both were selling them in the US, and it didn't show any obvious evidence of not having been intended to be. Except being cheaper, of course.

[espm400]

I find that the biggest problem modern laptops have is being OEM'd with Windows 8. I'm seriously considering holding off on upgrading until either W9 or W8SE, because finding a decent laptop with W7 in stores is getting harder and harder as time goes on.

I've been pretty faithful to ASUS for my last three laptops (an A-series in '07, a G73 in '09, and a G74sw in '11), and as far as I've been able to tell, they offer most models with the option of an OEM Win 7 install.

And I've had several friends who had Asus laptops fail just after the warranty expired (in fact several stores here no longer carry them because of the high number of complaints about them)...

You're right about Acer though, they're cheap for a reason.

Dell often has nice discounts, giving you a pretty potent machine for a nice price.

As I said above, I've had three generations of ASUS, and my only complaint I've ever had was with my G73. It had the thermal paste issue that a bunch of the first models had (thermal paste on only a portion of the GPU and CPU, leading to overheats). Although it could have been addressed by the warranty, I decided to take some time and do it myself (wasn't too hard, plus I would have had to send my computer away for a couple weeks, which was not an option for me).

Aside from that, all of them still run well to this day. I still use my G73 for helping me diagnose issues with my friends computers when I don't want to use my current computer, and although the A-series is pretty much useless, I decided to dig it out of my 'random electronics' drawer and fire it up just for the purposes of this post. Despite it being over six years old, it still booted up fine and ran the games that were still on the hard drive.

I don't know if I'll get a G76, as they are pretty damn expensive and I'm currently in the process of deciding on components for a desktop, but I would nonetheless recommend one to someone if they had the money, and it suited their lifestyle. I just don't think you can beat the performance for the same price (in a laptop).

Yes, it's unarguably true that you can a much better desktop computer for a cheaper price, but for some people (myself included), a laptop is a necessary evil. Although 'gaming laptop' isn't really an oxymoron, it is definitely a misnomer. You'd never catch me using my current G-74 on my lap (mine is currently on the other side of the room, plugged into my TV), and you can't expect their batteries to last for even most short flights (I can get ~35-40 minutes out of mine at 100%). True, you can't upgrade most of the components, but for people like me who are, for example away from their homes for months at a time (I'm a tradesman who spends a lot of time in work camps), if you want a gaming rig, you need a laptop.

[Gobbles Gusto]

How about under 800 usd.

ASUS-$700.

[boxman]

Do you really need a laptop?? A desktop would give you so much more performance for that money and would also not die from overheating after a few years.

Also a desktop can much more easily be upgraded.

[HockeyToad28]

Ladies, do you like my gaming rig?

Chromebook for the win! I love mine!

[Karriz]

I've got an Asus K56CB which certainly runs KSP just fine. Costs 650 in euros, but it shouldn't be much more in dollars.

[Marknate24]

Do you really need a laptop?? A desktop would give you so much more performance for that money and would also not die from overheating after a few years.

Also a desktop can much more easily be upgraded.

Yes I need a laptop so I can bring it to friends houses and school