World of Warcraft™

Ive been looking for the last several days for laptops. I've come down to these.
I need it for college, to perform exceptional in menial to elevated tasks.
Obviously for WoW(on ultra) and a few other games.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+17.3%22+Laptop+-+8GB+Memory+-+1TB+Hard+Drive+-+Black/4566495.p?skuId=4566495&id=1218492352640

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+G53SX-DH71+15.6%22+LED+Notebook+-+Intel+Core+i7+i7-2670QM+2.20+GHz+-+Black/4070575.p?id=1218454383768&skuId=4070575

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+G74SX-DH73-3D+17.3%22+LED+3D+Notebook+-+Intel+Core+i7+i7-2670QM+2.20+GHz+-+Black/3861995.p?id=1218436906626&skuId=3861995

Ive heard that the G series from Asus are really good gaming laptops. Would I expect them to be towards the 100fps+ range on ultra from one of these?

(buying from bestbuy due to me getting a discount from these guys and I'm good friends with the General Manager at the closest store)

If you MUST buy from BestBuy, I would go with the first choice.

That said, how much discount are you getting for the first laptop? I would like to know this before I know if it's a deal for you or not.

About 200 to 300 dollars off with a discount on the warranty.
I went in and looked at the first one.
I'm torn between that one or

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Apple%26%23174%3B+-+13.3%22+MacBook%26%23174%3B+Pro+-+4GB+Memory+-+750GB+Hard+Drive/3109287.p?id=1218379465149&skuId=3109287&st=mac%20book%20pro&cp=1&lp=3

I know it's a mac but I need the computer to be somewhat portable and will need it for the long haul for school and for everyday use.

Never buy an Apple if you intend to game at all. It comes with HD 3000 graphics, which isn't suitable for gaming.

With that much discount? That's a good deal. Take the first laptop.

Although... for a little more, you could get this:
http://www.xoticpc.com/force-1761-msi-1761-p-3152.html?wconfigure=yes

This laptop comes with:

Full HD 1920x1080 resolution on matte screen
GeForce GTX 570M (much stronger than BestBuy version of 560M on ASUS)

Sorry that this was already addressed, but i just want to make sure that you are getting a good deal.

You said $200-$300 off with a discount on the warranty. Now is the 200-300 the warranty discount, or are you getting both a discount on the warranty AND 200-300 off the price of the laptop. If both, good deal like kalganized said. If that amount is simply the discount on the Warranty, then I say it's better to stick with newegg.com

Either way, I wouldn't recommend the best buy warranty. It's really not worth it, since all laptops come with a 1 year warranty, 2 year if you buy an ASUS. The best buy warranties often overlap with the manufacture warranty too, they don't start once the manufactures' warranty ends.

Once again, if this was already addressed and understood, I apologize. I've just seen so many people throw their money away at best buy, and want to help you get the best computer for your budget.

I'll let you in on a little secret, there's a gimmick on the warranty for best buy. Not going to release a lot of details about it but you can basically get the most recent model of your computer if it were to somehow "break", it's a new laptop for those 200 dollars in the long run.

GeForce GTX 570M (much stronger than BestBuy version of 560M on ASUS)

How much stronger?

I think I'm going to go with http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+17.3%22+Laptop+-+8GB+Memory+-+1TB+Hard+Drive+-+Black/4566495.p?skuId=4566495&id=1218492352640

Theoretically, with all those specs that it brings around what FPS should I expect on ultra?

How much stronger?

About 25~30%ish, because Best Buy's 560M is gimped from standard 560M used by other laptops.

How much stronger?

About 25~30%ish, because Best Buy's 560M is gimped from standard 560M used by other laptops.

Do you have any source or proof of this?

Best Buy's ASUS 560M is known to come with gimped 128-bit memory bit width:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/605132-g73-bbk-best-buy-model.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/646144-question-about-g74-bestbuy-model.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2484880&postcount=12
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/320008-33-best-graphics-card-scam

And many more links, if you'd like.

This is standard 560M, non-gimped with 192-bit memory bus width:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-560M.48313.0.html

This is standard 570M:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-570M.56635.0.html


For quick comparison:
560M @ 1920x1080 Skyrim does 21.3 FPS.
570M @ 1920x1080 Skyrim does 26 FPS.

That is roughly ~20% improvement, but due to 128-bit memory bus width on ASUS Best Buy laptops, it'll be even more behind.

Thank you so much Kal, you saved me some time and money!

Ive looked around and come down to these two.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006740%2050001315&IsNodeId=1&page=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=32|34-230-142^34-230-142-TS%2C34-230-214^34-230-214-TS

If you aren't buying from BestBuy, it's probably better to buy the XoticPC laptop I linked.

02/19/2012 12:25 PMPosted by Kalganized

If you aren't buying from BestBuy, it's probably better to buy the XoticPC laptop I linked.

What's the real difference between
http://www.xoticpc.com/force-1761-msi-1761-p-3152.html

and

http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gt780dxr405us-p-3436.html

and

http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gt780dx406us-p-3433.html

The one I linked is barebone, so it's the cheapest option. Compared to the MSI GT options, the barebones does not come with:

1. SteelSeries keyboard
2. Fancy bling lights


Otherwise, base hardware is the same.

Hmmm I really like the "fancy bling lights and keyboard" If I went with the barebones though I would go with the 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2760QM, 2.4-3.5GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache)
instead of the 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM, 2.2-3.1GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache).

There is very little difference between i7-2630QM, 2670QM, and 2760QM.

I really am digging the http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gt780dx406us-p-3433.html

If money is not an issue and you really love the fancy lighting / SteelSeries keyboard, go for it.

Hmm but if I go with the barebones I think I could squeeze in the 580m... what would you do?