Hello guys and gals! I'm in the field construction and I'm on a sizable job away from home right now. I'm in a small place and have been thinking about gaming laptops as a way to play games in a small place.

Does anyone here have a good suggestion for under 3000 dollars? I was looking at alienware, but I hear you're more buying the name and not the product.

If you are going to be doing any sort of heavy duty gaming I would suggest you get a desktop. A laptop will just melt on ya.

Definitely go with a desktop. You can put together a decently powerful one for $700-900 and have it last you much, much longer.

I would like to go the desktop rought, but I don't have the space. I'm in a shack basically, and I'm sharing it with a fella. I have enough space for a laptop, and a mouse.

Real solid advice suggesting a desktop when he's asking for a laptop guys...

I'm also looking for a gaming laptop as I'm moving abroad this year. However I'm waiting for the upcoming line of nvidia maxwell gpus which have been speculated to be released at some point later this year. (not the current 870m/880m)

I've heard Clevo is a good supplier, definately go with a 17'' or larger if you're worried about noise. However the ASUS G750 series are praised for its low noise levels.

Nothing's wrong with Alienware, however you don't get much bang for your buck.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ is pretty much your go-to website for everything laptop related

Is it too much to ask for you to read the OP before you chime in.....?

MSI has a good rep among gamers. Check them out.

I had a asus g74 I bought a few years ago, I loved it but it was a monster in size. The newer ones are a bit smaller but still large for a laptop. Unfortunately when they go past their use by date it starts to become more of an issue. Beautiful design though and you can always retire it in front of the tv with an hdmi.

I've heard the Razor blade is pretty decent if not the best in regard to thin and light form factor and I nearly bought one as my last laptop, but since I wasn't flying around for work as much anymore and I built a desktop I went the opposite direction and bought a yoga 2 pro.

If you want to go even more compact, I know Alienware make the smaller laptops if you can deal with the small screen, otherwise I know MSI and a few others have some gaming laptop entries. The larger Alienware laptops are much like the Asus, and you are paying a premium for name.

http://web.eurocom.com/ec/ec_modelspecs(240)x

Reasonable prices as far as gaming laptops are concerned and you can get it made how you want it.

http://www.doghousesystems.com/v/mobius_TL.asp

Thanks guys

Hey guys,

I'm going to buy a IdeaPad Y510p Laptop they have two models for the same price. What's the best one for gaming?

http://shop.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y510p/?cid=uk:sem:neR1rm|g-c#tab-customize

Thanks in advance

Get one with easy access to its cooler, when it starts acting up, you'll be able to save a lot of money. I wish I had done that, when I bought my gaming laptop, back in the days.

I don't know if that is a thing, but that would be a high priority, if I wanted a gaming laptop today.

The ASUS G50 and G70 series laptops are great, they've got excellent cooling so they don't sound like hairdryers. I personally wouldn't go for the absolute high end, you're better off grabbing a $1500/1800 gaming laptop every couple of years than blowing a huge chunk on something and trying to make it last 5. Upgrading isn't an option as far as gaming laptops go, it's a great move to buy at the sweet-spot on price/performance, look after your laptop and sell it once you're ready to buy another.

I have a gaming laptop for when I'm at my university flat and what you said isn't true at all.

It'll probably be my main machine after I move to Japan next August, I might upgrade to another one before then though.

Edit: Gigabyte make great laptops, they only started making them quite recently. Though I'm biased as mine is a Gigabyte, good performance, good cooling, good screen, good keyboard, 4 hours of battery if I need it. You get the idea!

@waterboy:

You can very easily build an sff pc.

Many people are suggesting PC, but if you have room for a laptop and mouse, then maybe you have room for a small PC witha monitor sitting on top of it. But I don't know much about gaming laptops and don't feel good about the value and size. It is just not there for me and wouldn't buy one. Unless I can get something the size of a 13 inch macbook pro. But what would I get?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn9pZqJ_AT8

That looks promising. With the new maxwell GPUs coming out, seems like a good time to buy. Honestly, I would buy a PS4 or Xbox 360 E and a monitor and call it a day.

If you're going for a gaming laptop I would suggest http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

Simply put, for the price you're paying, and the power you're getting, nothing really beats em to be honest you just get all the fancy Alienware FX and LED stuff when you go with an Alienware piece of hardware. Actual performance is about the same as anywhere else really. Just how I see it. On Cyberpower you can buy 2 laptops for the price of a single Alienware really or you can go with an GTX 880M Fangbook which is still well under your $3000 budget with 16GB RAM and an intel i7 and SSD.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/FANGBOOK_Evo_HX7-300_Gaming_Notebook

Hope that helps ya.

Gaming Laptop. The perfect example of a contradiction. Unless you spend almost $4,000 of course. But enough money will get you anything.

Get a PC if you want games to run well.

I just wouldn't do it. A gaming laptop is such a contradiction in terms; like a portable elephant or a sexy hagfish.

The lowest of the low end of what could be considered a gaming laptop will set you back the cost of a kick-ass full gaming PC. And, they weight like 6 lbs. It's like owning a 1999 laptop again, that is 1.7 inches thick and built like a slab of tofu.

Where will this $1,500 laptop be when you are at work...in the shack? If you get a beer after work where will this $1,500 laptop be...your lap? Hell, I woudl not bring my $500 laptop to such a shack,let alone something worth good money, with a room mate you don't know very well.

In the Laptop space take a look at the new MSI GS60 Ghost, if I were in the market that's probably the one I would get.

- OP has $3000, so we can stop fussing about how desktops are cheaper.

- OP is likely playing games on a desk in his lodgings, which means weight and size are irrelevant.

Having worked in the field before - be well aware that this guy is probably to/from his home by air every couple months. A desktop is a total pain to move around in this manner, even a mini-ITX form factor.

Personally, i'd avoid Alienware, as they tend to overcharge for name recognition. As above, MSI has some great machines available.

Check out the Razer Blade its the only gaming 'notebook' I've ever seen thats not an ugly boat anchor.

Exactly... people suggesting just get a desktop don't understand the possible reasons why the OP is specifically looking for a gaming laptop, there could be a dozen reasons why hes not looking for a desktop machine, MSI as you say definitely have some good models out there, MSI/Asus or cyberpower would be the only places or brands I would go for personally.