Advice on Hardware

[Jackalope]

A regular laptop will do just fine for gaming.

You clearly haven't tried to do anything strenuous. I currently have a "regular" laptop.

Correct. Some games will play fine. With many, there's an enormous difference between the typical integrated Intel graphics and a discrete GPU.

My laptop has both - and many of the games I have are completely unplayable on the integrated graphics chip.

[IATIA]

Alienware. If you want a gaming laptop, Alienware is definitely the way to go.

Build your own

[Dystopia]

Not alienware, it's overpriced...

[popeyespappy]

I won't buy another Acer. Here is a nice Lenovo for a couple of hundred less. No SSD though.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/len...9:00013390:

[Dystopia]

I'm looking to get a new gaming laptop. (Yes, it has to be a laptop because of space purposes, so no I don't want to hear about how I need to build a desktop gaming PC - when I have a larger place with a legit office area, I'll do it.)

I have about $1200 to spend on this endeavor, and for a while I had been looking at the Acer Aspire V Nitro series. One in particular was tempting because of its harddrive space and the SSD - those features are useful to processing my photography as well as feeding my habits - but the reviews are iffy on other Nitros.

So I guess what I'm asking is: does anyone have one of the Acer Aspires or experience with one to let me know if the pros and cons are real? For the following issues, some people have issues and some don't:

-Keyboard
-Trackpad (less worried about this - I use a mouse for just about everything)
-Wi-fi performance (this is hard line for me - if I can't download properly, I won't buy)
-screen issues

This is the one I'm thinking of: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6834314703

The reviews are pretty much all positive for that particular model, but after all the crap in the reviews of similar Aspire models...I'm nervous.

My second question: are there others with objectively better specs for that price point (or lower) that anyone knows of/has experience with?

I can feel your pain... Well, to play Skyrim, a recent mid ranged graphics card (for laptops) like the 820 or 840M geforce will suffice, if you don't want graphical mods, both of those should allow for high settings or ultra if you lower the resolution. Assassins Creed depends on the game, a mid range graphics card will handle just fine from medium to ultra settings all games up to ACIII, but your laptop will suffer since ACIV Black Flag and specially Unity... Shadow of Mordor is another game that is recent and graphically demanding... I haven't played the other series to comment on them. I'd say the option you're taking, GPU wise, is not bad, but it could be better, although I comprehend that due to the price you may not get any better than that... Check out this benchmark:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeFo...794.0.html

Skyrim, for instance, will work on Ultra but since the average FPS is 40 you won't want graphical mods since RPGs like The Elder Scrolls look so much better with 40+ FPS. Shadow of Mordor works too but not on ultra, and Unity will probably be decent only on low.

Are those the only series you play? I'm asking this because if you like AC, you may want the next AC game and while that laptop will handle Unity, it might not be enough for the next instalment - Personally I've lost interest in AC since ACIII, but many people are still into it. Even if you play Skyrim, you might also want to play the next TES instalment and your laptop might not handle it - Altough I'm 100% sure people will still play Skyrim after TESVI comes out.

What are your demands? How many FPS? And maximum resolution? Ultra or medium settings?

Don't fully trust that benchmark, it only serves the purpose of giving you a wide general idea of how well the GPU will perform, but it varies depending on the resolution and CPU, I've played games that I supposedly couldn't run just fine. The 1920x1020 resolution is sweet for 1080p which is great for games and also Films/Tv series, but keep in mind that resolution will give a slight FPS drop when playing videogames... Personally I'm fine with 1280x768 resolution (720p) and I don't demand more, although if I can I'll be happy of course

By the way, what is your current integrated graphics?

[IATIA]

Not alienware, it's overpriced...

You get what you pay for. Otherwise just get a $250 Dell laptop.

Alienware is oriented toward the gaming community.

[Dystopia]

Not alienware, it's overpriced...

You get what you pay for. Otherwise just get a $250 Dell laptop.

Alienware is oriented toward the gaming community.

For the price of an Alienware you can buy a pre-made desktop with good hardware and a budget laptop to compensate for mobility... And maybe you'll still spare some money.

[thesummerqueen]

Too late, guys, I already pulled the trigger on it. I'm currently playing on medium settings for Skyrim on a Dell Inspiron. By the time I want to play whatever is beyond Unity, I'll have saved up for another laptop - I typically don't buy things when they first come out, especially when buying on Steam, because of how buggy they can be, and because of price. It'll be a couple years.

And IATIA, that's an incredibly fanboyish and unnuanced view of other brands.

[Dystopia]

You're lucky because I can't play Skyrim decently even on low settings

Luckily I can play Oblivion fine so I got that going for me

[thesummerqueen]

I went through the S.T.E.P. project to get it going well. Most other games I put on low, because it's not as important to me.