Gaming laptop

[Cthul]

So I have been looking to get a new computer for gaming. I play lol and I'm thinking about giving gw2 a try but don't really want to be limited on what I can play. I know a desktop will give me more for my money, but I do go out of town a good bit to play and can't really throw down a tower where we play at. If I do decide to get a laptop what would be some good options. The $1500 area would be where I'm looking. I have been looking at these.

http://computers.toptenreviews.com/gaming-laptops/alienware-corporation/alienware-m17x-review.html
I know a lot of people dislike them, but it seems to get good reviews. Is the dislike based on performance or it just the normal not wanting to jump on the band wagon.

http://computers.toptenreviews.com/gaming-laptops/msi-computer-corporation/msi-gt683r-289us-review.html
I have seen a few places where people have talked about bad build quality.


http://computers.toptenreviews.com/gaming-laptops/asustek-computer-inc/asus-g74sx-review.html
Looks okay but I don't really know much about it. The 300 it would save is nice but not if it will give me a sub par computer.

Any other computers would be great. To be honest I'm not real tech savvy so putting two computers side by side and knowing how their specs stack up is a little over my head. Just want smooth play and something that will last a while. Thanks for the help.

 

[voiidwulf]

My friend has an Asus G75-VW. I can't comment on the others as I've never even seen them in real life, but the G75-VW is a very nice laptop. It feels very sturdy and he is able to run most of his games on max settings at 1080P. He drops down to 1600 x 900 for more demanding games such as BF3 to maintain 60FPS.

Based on the specs, the Alienware and MSI are better. The GTX 670M is slightly weaker than the 7970M and GTX 680M. Any of them would max out LoL and GW2 though.

Alienware mostly gets a bad rep as they throw in a bunch of "features" that are essentially useless. Do you really care about the lighting on the keyboard and stuff? It doesn't boost performance and just drains the battery slightly faster, and you are probably paying like $100 extra for it.

 

[Cthul]

Thanks I just want to make sure that I won't end up with something that won't play smooth or can't keep up with new games for a bit.

 

[Cthul]

That's odd the link for the msi shows the review for a different model then is priced at the top the $1700 one has a Gtx675m not the gtx680m like the review. How much of a differance would is see between the 675 and the 7970?

 

[voiidwulf]

Ehh, not a huge difference. It is obviously weaker, but still decent. I'd get the Asus over the MSI in that case though. The main thing going for the MSI was the more powerful video card than the Asus, and now they are basically the same.

EDIT: Basically, the Alienware is the best, but I going by the prices/setups on Alienware's website, costs $1700. The Asus costs $1400 and is not much worse. It actually is better in a lot of ways. It has a lot more RAM for instance. If you were to get the $1500 M17X it would be much worse than the G75-VW.