Good laptop for $600? Really? o.o

[Addisonn]

Me and my mother are sort of broke.
We always have the money to buy food for us and the animals, pay the bills, pay for internet/TV, etc. but after paying for all that.. I've got a few bucks left to spend on like maybe $80-$130+ a month.. depending on how much I get to work during the weeks!
I was planning on saving up for an Alienware m14x but that's just not gonna happen until later in the future because I seem to always want this and that and use up more money on stuff I want.

Somewhere here in the forums, someone was wondering what 3D games he could play with his system specs, and then someone else said to save up $600 for a good PC...
What good MMORPGs can you play with a computer for $600?
Guild Wars 2 on low settings?
How about Tera Online and the other newer MMORPGs I'm looking forward to play?
If I can't play these games for the $600 computer I oughta wait till the future for that Alienware laptop.

Could you give me the link to the $600 computer anyways?
Or if it's the thing where you are manually selecting and picking parts of the computer could you give me the links to the part??

Or if there's a $600 laptop give me that link too (I prefer laptops over desktops but whatever)

Thanks!

[wintergreen]

i.....don't know if such a thing exists. The best you could do is AMD's APU laptops which are cheap and run MMOs but not at very generous settings. I suggest increasing that budget..

[Vinzix]

I will only tell here what I've learned so far.

It is possible to buy a somewhat decent gaming PC / Laptop for 600$ or at least around that price. There is absolutely no need for the AlienWare laptop. Especially when it comes to gaming. There is one con about gaming laptops, or any laptop for that matter; you can't have long gaming sessions as that would fry your PC. As what happened with my laptop, which had good specs at the time (3 years ago), but I had seriously long gaming sessions, and wasn't aware of what PC's can handle at the time. Now, if you are seriously on the edge of buying a 600$ laptop on which you can play games regularly, here are some suggestions;


Newegg.com - ASUS A53SV-NH51 Notebook Intel Core i5 2430M(2.40GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory DDR3 640GB HDD 5400rpm DL DVD±RW/CD-RW NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
Newegg.com - Acer Aspire AS7750G-6662 Notebook Intel Core i5 2430M(2.40GHz) 17.3" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 640GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi AMD Radeon HD 6650M
Newegg.com - HP Pavilion DV6-6154NR Notebook Intel Core i5 2410M(2.30GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 640GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi AMD Radeon HD 6490M
Newegg.com - HP ProBook 4430s (XU014UT#ABA) Notebook Intel Core i5 2410M(2.30GHz) 14" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics 3000


Most of these will handle games well or decent, in terms of their capability, but come with the limited game-time, as all do, of course. The heating up during this game-time can be managed with a cooling pad. Here is a thread that goes indepth into that subject;
Laptop Help: Heating Issues

Edit; What you can also do, if you are a tripple A / console-port fan, is play on a service like OnLive. The only thing it requires is true unlimited internet as it will stream games for you and doesn't require an installation and what not. You should look into it more indepth on the side, though, as it is quite something to catch up on.

P.S.: I'm a PC noob, but I'm learning. So I hope I will get confirmation for certain statements.

[Allen]

If you're on a budget and want a computer to game on...don't buy a laptop. With a tower, you can skimp a bit here and there and customize your build to fit your needs, then later if you need a bit of a boost when you save up some more cash, you can add some thing to it and keep on going. With a laptop, you buy it and that's it...you can upgrade the RAM...and that's basically it. You're quite literally stuck with what you buy. And for the 600 you'd spend on a laptop, you'd get a Tower PC that runs quite a bit better in games now and along the line. You can get open box monitors for around 100 bucks, pretty nice ones...22" and 24" ones. Then that leaves you still 500 to spend on some decent components, would likely be an AMD build or a dual core i3 build. Just throwing that out there, will reply more when more information is provided.

[Vinzix]

Yeah, but most people are very specific on wanting a Laptop, though. Especially if people are still in highschool or college. For hardcore gaming, then yes, a desktop would be required. For regular gaming, like I said, you'll do fine with a laptop.

[coldReactive]

Gaming pretty much requires 2.5 GHz dual-core nowadays. Those intel i5s linked have none of that. =/ The one that MIGHT get by is that one:

Newegg.com - Acer Aspire AS7750G-6662 Notebook Intel Core i5 2430M(2.40GHz) 17.3" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 640GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi AMD Radeon HD 6650M

[Allen]

Originally Posted by Vinzix

Yeah, but most people are very specific on wanting a Laptop, though. Especially if people are still in highschool or college. For hardcore gaming, then yes, a desktop would be required. For regular gaming, like I said, you'll do fine with a laptop.

Dont have to be a hardcore gamer to want a desktop. If you're on a budget, desktop is simply the way to go. Sure you can't just tote it around to school with you, but just laying it out for him to make the right decision for himself as sometimes people don't think through all angles before making a purchase.

[coldReactive]

Sometimes desktops can be more expensive though. Usually if you want the best of the best.

[Vinzix]

Yeah, that is a problem with retail desktops. Starting price might be 600$, but if it is a brand on which you can add more to what it gives you, then the price keeps climbing too.

[Allen]

Unless you're willing to spend 800+ on a laptop, not really worth it in the long run IMO. Can't upgrade them, you're stuck with what you get. PC for the same price will last much longer as you can upgrade it piece by piece for fairly cheap over the years as needed. If all you're doing is paper work, school stuff, videos, etc laptops are more than fine but if you're wanting to play the latest games for atleast the next couple years a cheap laptop isn't the way to go. If you just play some older or low graphic games, nothing too fancy then sure go for a laptop.