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[userpay]

Okay so the time that my parents are going to be forced to buy me a new computer is drawing near now that I've finally gotten into my Computer Science related college classes, thus I'm hoping I can get some help shopping around a bit. While I'm sure my parents don't want to spend a lot of money they are rather set on the computer being portable. One would think that I would automatically go for a laptop then but I have met someone at school that has build a mobile desktop, that is he took a briefcase (or something similar, the handle looked briefcase like) and made a desktop out of it. He said it cost him about $600 and should run recent games but I'm wary of exactly how durable they would be. Besides I'm willing to bet my parents wouldn't go for that. I'm still curious about the subject though so what is B12's opinion on mobile desktops?

For the purposes of getting the process moving with my parents however, and that I am somewhat hardware illiterate, can I get suggestions on laptops that are around the $1000 range? Like I said I'm not sure how much they're willing to spend but since I'm going into the game development field I'm pretty sure I can convince them up to that range at least. Plus I've got my own money. Better yet the laptop doesn't need to come with an OS, through my school I can get Windows 7 Pro. Primarily what I'm hoping for is that it will run games that are coming out in the next year or so at least, I don't really give a damn about a game's graphics but more about whether it runs well enough to play.

This is going to be my primary computer for the next several years. The desktop I'm on is around 8 years old and most certainly doesn't run most games from 2007 on. Not to mention it has an Intel built in graphics chip.

[LordBucket]

B12's opinion on mobile desktops?

Good personal project, and great at lan parties with friends who like to complete for geekiness. And possibly a good option if you have a couple spare computers laying around that you don't mind cannabalizing for parts. But just ask yourself...if you're going to spend several hundred dollars on this, are you going to be happy with something that looks awful? And are you willing to risk your entire computer budget on something that might?

suggestions on laptops

I'm sure several people will be in here soon to suggest specific models, but here's my input:

 * Be sure that it has external ports for both a mouse and a keyboard. Gaming with a laptop keyboard and J-mouse is miserable. Some laptops only have one port to allow either/or an external keyboard or mouse. Be sure yours has one of each. Note that there is some flexibility here, since pretty much any new laptop will have at least one USB port that can be used for either a keyboard or mouse.
 * While you're at it, be sure it has a 15 pin VGA port to allow use of an external monitor. This is fairly standard. I haven't seen a laptop without one for a while, but you may as well check to make sure.
 * Pay close attention to the graphics chip. In my own experience, this is the number one source of problems: laptop manufacturers seem to heavily favor graphics chips that are incapable of random obscure things, or that show up on lots of hardware incompatibility lists. I don't know why. But it seems to happen often. Off the top of my head, I think I've seen more problems with NVIDIA GeForce chipsets than anything else.
 * Get a display that you're comfortable with. Avoid screens that are hard to see, hurt your eyes, or fade at slight angles or with light on them.
 * Personal preference: Given the choice of sturdy or slender, go sturdy.
 * Leave room in your budget for a nice leather carrying case.

Better yet the laptop doesn't need to come with an OS,
through my school I can get Windows 7 Pro.

 * Good luck buying a new laptop that doesn't already have an operating system on it
 * Steal copies of all OSs you can, keep copies on CD for future use
 * Running the newest operating system your machine can handle isn't always a good option. If your games will run on Vista, there's not much benefit to the additional overhead of running windows 7.

[sambojin]

As long as you realize that laptops tend to lack in power compared to their desktop counterparts, and that anything in a laptop that is actually ok'ish will be paid for at premium price, this is reasonable advice.

I'm assuming US dollars (which are more or less $Aus equivalent) for price comparisons. Stuff may actually be a lot cheaper over there (compared to Australia).

I'd suggest you go for an Intel i5 based system with 1gb of off board graphics. It's a good price/power point currently with just enough grunt to get through current games. To expect a laptop to handle games for the next couple of years is asking a bit. Even top specc'ed laptops today probably won't be able to.

Basic system specs
Intel i5 2.3->2.9 ghz
8 gig of ram
1gig nVidia GT 540 graphics
750gb HDD

That's $729 in Australia (it was in a catalogue I noticed). There's plenty of room to move price-wise for either an i7 processor (faster), a better graphics card (faster) or some gubbins for the computer (more cool crap).

I'd grab that laptop and either a USB TV tuner (yes, portable televisions are very handy at uni, especially when you can pretend you're actually studying in class), a musician's music card (I like making music), a cheap projector (chicks dig flicks on the big screen) or just whatever else you want. A gamepad and a quick download of a bunch of emulators/roms from the net for some retro-console-glory? A laptop is really just a portable entertainment system that can do anything, and pretty much all of them come with a full sized keyboard and 3-4 USB slots these days.

You'll have to crank the resolution and detail down a notch or two on new or upcoming games, but you should have enough to get by with as well as a couple of hundred dollars to spare after the laptop/TV tuner. Stuff may be way cheaper in the US, but this will get-you-by on your budget. The gubbins is just for cool factor. Let's be serious, it's for games and fun. A 10 year old computer is actually fine for assignments. Either USB TV and a spare 1Tb HDD, or a cheap LCD projector, or a cheap muso's card will cost you about $270 give or take, and adds way more fun factor (and cool factor, make friends factor and getting hot chicks factor) than a 20% faster processor. Isn't that what university/college is really about? No one is forcing you to learn stuff, but you'll do it better if you're enjoying your time there.....

The catalogue was an RT Edwards catalogue, which isn't necessarily the cheapest place. An Acer laptop, which may not be your favourite brand. But heaps of ram, a decent HDD and acceptable CPU/graphics for well under your budget. With money to spare for USB gubbins

[PsyberianHusky]

Because laptops age faster, I recommend something midrage if you are going to be doing games.
If you go for a mini-notebook comp be careful and read reviews about the HDD they put in it because many have a tendency to fail and can add up to more then the total price of the laptop.

[userpay]

Thank you for your guys help thus far, you've given me a good starting base to look around as well as send an email to a professor who hopefully is knowledgeable about this. Based on the suggestions made thus far I've narrowed down (as much as I could at least) listings on Dell's and Bestbuy's websites for laptops. The links are the sorted lists. Anything in particular between those two lists (or others if you know of them) that catch the eye?

[bucket]

Sounds like your friend has a Dell XPS M2010.
http://www.dell.com/us/dfh/p/xps-m2010/pd

I doubt he bought it for $600, unless it got it used. Those things were $3000 new.

You can get a laptop that will run games well for about $600-$800 these days.
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0365742
Keep in mind that laptops typically do not do graphics very well (except maybe the outlandishly-priced Alienware ones). You're never going to get the same kind of performance than you do on desktops. If you buy a brand-new laptop, you can expect to play a brand-new game on the LOWEST POSSIBLE settings to get a respectable framerate. Games that are a few years old (like Left 4 Dead or Starcraft 2) will run slightly better. No game made in the past decade will run blazingly fast on a laptop, because speed always matters the most.