Laptop advice

[Mad Wizard]

So I've decided that I want a laptop, for a variety of reasons. Basically, I want something that can handle fairly recent games at a reasonable price, since I'm tired of bringing my desktop over to friends' houses when we're only going to spend a fraction of the time playing video games anyway. I don't care TOO much about graphics quality, just that I can get playable framerates and make the game not look like total crap. In particular, I want it to be able to play Left 4 Dead 2, Warcraft 3, Borderlands, and Sins of a Solar Empire.

I've done some looking around, and found two laptops that look like fairly good deals, both from Sony: the FW series (http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644570896&parentCategoryId=16154) with a 1 gig Raedon gpu, 4 gigs of RAM, a 2.66 gHz dual core processor, a 320 gig hard drive, and a 1920x1080 resolution screen, or the CW series (http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644659494&N=4294954315) with a 512 mb geforce gpu, 4 gigs of RAM, a 2.53 gHz dual core processor, a 320 gig hard drive, a 1366x768 resolution screen, and a blu-ray player (which I don't really care about, but it's a nice extra feature).

I'm left with several questions.
1. What kind of experience have people had with Vaio laptops?
2. Which of these looks like a better deal?
3. Will the second laptop play the games I mentioned? (I assume the first would)
4. Are there better options out there (basically the only thing I'm concerned with is getting a laptop that will run my games and give me the most bang for my buck)?
I can afford either machine, but I'd prefer to spend less, since the more expensive one would use up a significant portion of my available funds. $1200 is about my maximum.

[Mando Knight]

Either one should be fine, just be sure to get an nVidia GPU to ensure that you've got full compatibility with about 90% of the new PC games.

[alchemyprime]

What Mando said, but my vote is for the FW. That 1gb gpu will help a lot over a 512.

[Don Julio Anejo]

FW. Geforce 4650 isn't a half video card and probably the best you can find on a laptop not including dishing out $4500 for an Alienware. nVidia GT 230 is pretty much a piece of crap as far as games go and I would assume the mobile version would be worse than the desktop version since it's much more difficult to dissipate heat so it has to be underclocked. But that's if you want to play recent graphics-intensive games (like Fallout 3 or Crysis or Empire: TW) with decent quality.

But for games you mentioned either one should be just fine. Warcraft III is quite old and just about anything can run it these days while Sins doesn't have high requirements in general - I've seen a guy playing it on an Asus netbook. Left4Dead isn't very graphics intensive too. By the way, you can play it on PC with 2 x-box controllers (I do it with a buddy). Can't comment on Borderlands though - never seen it or heard of it.

1. VAIO... I personally haven't used them, have friends who have (no-one who plays video games though). IMO they're overpriced for what they offer but if you can afford it, go for it. Look nice, are reliable, don't overheat (a big one with cheaper brands like Acer or HP). Have good displays/speakers for a non-Mac laptop.
2. It would help if you told us which specific models you are looking to buy or at least how much they cost. The list of pre-build models doesn't have what you describe them.
3. Yes, I've gone over that above.
4. Look at HP and Acer and see what they offer. The downside is they tend to get quite warm and the screen is probably worse than one on Sony (i.e. bad contrast - colors may look washed out). The upside? Potentially save something like $200ish for similar specs.

[Escef]

I recommend going to someplace like ibuypower, newegg, or tigerdirect. Most laptops purchased from commercial retailers come with a crapton of bloatware that could take days to get rid of.

Of the three I mentioned, I've done business with two. Tigerdirect has served me well the few times I've dealt with them, and the laptop I purchased from ibuypower survived 8 months of my Iraq deployment and still is ready to kick bottom and take names.

[Mad Wizard]

2. It would help if you told us which specific models you are looking to buy or at least how much they cost. The list of pre-build models doesn't have what you describe them.

Wow, did I seriously forget to mention that? >.<
I did the "build your own" option for the specs I listed. The FW, with the specs I listed, would cost $1165 (iirc... I'll check in a minute) and the CW would cost $850.

[Mad Wizard]

Alright, another question. How powerful of a processor do I really need to be able to get good quality out of my games? I have a better idea of how memory and video card quality affect performance, but I've never really been sure when it comes to processors.

[Don Julio Anejo]

Processors actually don't matter too much as far as games go. Any modern dual-core that's not 5000 series will do. That said, I would go for the 8000 series and I believe you have as well so you're fine.

FW is obviously better as far as specs go and I've already made my point on the video card (Radeon 4650 beats GT230 any day of the week) but you're also paying probably at least $100 for a bigger display which won't do too much for you since unless you're playing on a desktop specifically built for gaming, 9/10 games will badly lag on 1920x1080 resolution unless you're playing on minimum settings. Which means you will have to either play in windowed mode or turn the resolution down, which looks really ugly on LCDs.

If you can afford it - doesn't matter which one you get, both will play the games you mentioned just fine. FW will also play new games provided you're not playing at 1920x1080. If you want to save money - look at Acer or HP (and stay away from Toshiba, every single person I know who has one had it break at some point within the first 1-1.5 years).

[tyckspoon]

Of the two Sonys, I would go with the FW series configured as such-

Standard screen
512 MB graphics processor (more than enough for the resolution on the standard screen)
P8700 CPU (2.53 Ghz model)
4GB RAM
320GB hard drive
Win 7 Professional upgrade (Reason: It can use Win XP/32-bit mode emulation, which may make it possible to run older programs. If you don't have any of those around, you can save $50 from them by going with Home Premium.)
No additional software.

That configuration comes in at $965.

Most games are much more reliant on the graphics processor than they are on the CPU. For them, paying more for a faster clock won't give you much performance upgrade (and 2.53 to 2.66 isn't that big a difference. Definitely worth paying extra to move above the 2.13 and 2.2 options, but beyond that you're starting to lose out on the value proposition, IMO.)

Graphics card memory is not a direct determinant of performance- it usually only has a major impact when things have to be moved in and out of memory very often. As long as everything in a particular scene can be held in memory, it's fine, and having more memory than that mark won't help. Things that take up lots of memory are higher resolutions and higher processing details such as anti-aliasing (this is why I paired the standard screen with the 512 version of the GPU. If you went up to the 1920 screen, you would want to match it with the 1GB GPU. Again, I think this starts to lose out on the value-per-dollar you get.)

..incidentally, that's a pretty nice deal Sony is running with the upgrade options right now.

[Escef]

Of the two Sonys, I would go with the FW series configured as such-

Standard screen
512 MB graphics processor (more than enough for the resolution on the standard screen)
P8700 CPU (2.53 Ghz model)
4GB RAM
320GB hard drive
Win 7 Professional upgrade (Reason: It can use Win XP/32-bit mode emulation, which may make it possible to run older programs. If you don't have any of those around, you can save $50 from them by going with Home Premium.)
No additional software.

That configuration comes in at $965.

You can get the same specs on a Holiday CX-6 at ibuypower for $819, plus S&H.

[Don Julio Anejo]

You can get the same specs on a Holiday CX-6 at ibuypower for $819, plus S&H.
Bad idea IMO. I've never, ever heard of the brand. Which means the only thing the laptop you're talking about has over a Vaio is price for the same specs, but having a good computer doesn't end there. It may have a crappy screen, a crappy battery, be unreliable or big, heavy and clunky or any number of things.

[Escef]

Bad idea IMO. I've never, ever heard of the brand. Which means the only thing the laptop you're talking about has over a Vaio is price for the same specs, but having a good computer doesn't end there. It may have a crappy screen, a crappy battery, be unreliable or big, heavy and clunky or any number of things.

It actually uses the same case as my current laptop, by the looks of it. They get their stuff from the same factories that make the big name stuff. You pay an extra hundred or so bucks to have the Viao logo and the name Sony emblazoned on your crap.

[Don Julio Anejo]

However things like component layout are usually different enough between manufacturers to affect things like overheating and reliability. You can use some laptops to pound nails (Acer) while others break if as much as wind blows on them. It's also not very fun having a hot plate on your lap (or even worse, a hotplate touchpad).

I'm not saying Vaio isn't overpriced (it is) but stuff like HP is usually just as cheap as no-name stuff but you actually know it's reliable.

[Escef]

Like I said, my machine survived 8 months in Iraq and still runs fine. The only problem I had with it is that one of the clips holding the shoulder strap to the laptop's carry bag let go. It dumped the laptop into a metal chair, and broke the screen. As I was in Iraq at the time, getting a replacement screen took forever. In the meantime, I used the laptop's external hookups to connect to another monitor.

So, yeah, don't use ibuypower's free laptop bag.

But, if you don't believe me, by all means do some research. If the machine doesn't suit you, don't buy it.

[Zeb The Troll]

(and stay away from Toshiba, every single person I know who has one had it break at some point within the first 1-1.5 years).I agree with every part of this post except this one. We bought Alarra a Toshiba laptop about a year and a half ago (don't remember the model right now) and she's been able to play any game on it that I can on my desktop (WAR, WoW, and Aion being the most recent that might strain a system) and it still works as well as the day we bought it (okay, actually better because we upgraded her from Vista Home to W7 Ultimate) and we paid around $800US for it at BestBuy. It has a 15" screen, 512MB of dedicated graphics memory (Radeon, not sure which version at the moment), 4GB of DDR2, and an Intel dual core of some flavor.