Hey fellow RBers....I'm getting ready to buy myself a new computer to finally replace this 2004 Dell Dimension desktop I've been running on for like forever....
Plan is to replace it with a laptop (since my impending job layoff will require me turning in my work laptop).
I'm expecting to spend anywhere in the $1200-$1700 or so range, since I need/want it to be suitable for minor gaming in addition to all the other normal stuff I'd use it for. So those of you who are good at finding/choosing good sturdy gaming laptops, please chime in.
First question, is how many of you actually have Win8 and is it really as bad as I've been hearing? My wife is convinced I should make sure to only buy one with Win7 Professional. The other determining factor will be if my existing Civ IV BTS games can't even run on Win8...that would make the decision right there. Looking forward to finally trying out Civ V (and Gods&Kings expansion) that my wife bought me for Xmas last year...haven't been able to play it since it won't run on my current desktop (oops!).
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Here are some things I'm looking to find in a prospective laptop:
1. Decent size screen, but not so huge that the machine weighs a ton.
2. SSD for the OS, since I travel often enough and I know that helps protect things
3. General sturdy design....need a laptop that can survive a good amount of movement in and out of laptop bags/backbacks for travel, etc.
4. Min 16GB RAM
5. Quad-core processor, probably i7.
That's really about it for my requirements, I think. I really don't know enough about graphics cards to know what to look for in one. Right now the only game I play on the computer is Civ4, and soon to be Civ5. Whether I find any other games I might want to play remains to be seen, but I don't really expect to be playing any FPS games or high-impact graphical games...I have a PS3 for that.
Plan is to replace it with a laptop (since my impending job layoff will require me turning in my work laptop).
I'm expecting to spend anywhere in the $1200-$1700 or so range, since I need/want it to be suitable for minor gaming in addition to all the other normal stuff I'd use it for. So those of you who are good at finding/choosing good sturdy gaming laptops, please chime in.
First question, is how many of you actually have Win8 and is it really as bad as I've been hearing? My wife is convinced I should make sure to only buy one with Win7 Professional. The other determining factor will be if my existing Civ IV BTS games can't even run on Win8...that would make the decision right there. Looking forward to finally trying out Civ V (and Gods&Kings expansion) that my wife bought me for Xmas last year...haven't been able to play it since it won't run on my current desktop (oops!).
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Here are some things I'm looking to find in a prospective laptop:
1. Decent size screen, but not so huge that the machine weighs a ton.
2. SSD for the OS, since I travel often enough and I know that helps protect things
3. General sturdy design....need a laptop that can survive a good amount of movement in and out of laptop bags/backbacks for travel, etc.
4. Min 16GB RAM
5. Quad-core processor, probably i7.
That's really about it for my requirements, I think. I really don't know enough about graphics cards to know what to look for in one. Right now the only game I play on the computer is Civ4, and soon to be Civ5. Whether I find any other games I might want to play remains to be seen, but I don't really expect to be playing any FPS games or high-impact graphical games...I have a PS3 for that.
