Whats the most important thing to look for when buying a gaming laptop?

In terms of CPUs, I still dont really get them. How can a 1.73 GHz CPU play games with a requirement of >2.5GHz? Is it because, hypothetically, the 1.73 GHz CPU is, for example, quadcore meaning its actually like a 6.92 GHz CPU?

Correct, each will be 1.73 ghz.

As to above, if not NVIDIA as it is overpriced look for a radeon 6xxx series or 5xxx series.
Do not get integrated no name cards
 
for example, quadcore meaning its actually like a 6.92 GHz CPU?
yes and no
Each core in a quad will run at 1.73Ghz

But you cant add them together and say your CPU is equivalent to a 6.92Ghz.




If that was the case mine would be equal to a 13Ghz CPU lol.
 
Replying to the subject of this topic
"Re: Whats the most important thing to look for when buying a gaming laptop? "[/B]

Video card and CPU.

RAM is crucial but cheaper to add than the above components on our own later.

Cheers!
Bill
 
Alright so I started doing some research with the guidelines you guys gave me and I found a couple of alright ones I think. What about "ASUS?" Is that a reputable brand? They seem to have some good computers, like this one (ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Notebooks- ASUS G73SW), although there is no price given nor is there a link to buy it. Does that mean you have to buy it from like a retailer?

Also, there is this (http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=807380&CatId=4938) which seems to fit all of the above criteria. I also definatelly like the larger screen.

Out of curiosity, what website/retailer do most people here get their computers and/or parts from?
 
Asus, Acer, and HP are the current top reliable brand name laptops on the market. I recommend the first two over the latter.
 
In terms of CPUs, I still dont really get them. How can a 1.73 GHz CPU play games with a requirement of >2.5GHz? Is it because, hypothetically, the 1.73 GHz CPU is, for example, quadcore meaning its actually like a 6.92 GHz CPU?

As was already touched on, no, 1.73GHz quad core is not like having a 6.92 GHz CPU at all. Not even close.

A quad core processor (or any processor with more than 1 core) is only going to be fast in tasks that take advantage of the threading horsepower. That is to say, if the game or program you use only uses one or two cores out of four, you lose efficiency and speed on your quad. Fortunately Intel and AMD engineered their chips to throttle themselves up accordingly in those situations (say you have a program that only uses one core, the maker throttles the other cores down and overclocks the single core to the thermal design limit of all of the cores combined, to give you high performance in that single threaded app). but if you have a program that uses all of the cores, they run at their stock speeds (sometimes slightly faster) to achieve the maximum performance based on heat and other factors. I'm going off on another tangent entirely, but I thought it might be helpful for you to know about this aspect.

Don't read too much into the whole "CPU speed requirement" because in all honesty, game companies have to subscribe to the greatest common denominator when it comes to speccing their software out. Another way to read into it is to see if they said "2.5 GHz required (or even just recommended)" and then they'll say "quad core" or "dual core". If it's dual core, then you're fine with a quad. If it says quad core, then be aware of it.

In all honesty, if you're that concerned about it, tell us the games/software that you're seeing this on, and what they say, and we can tell you for sure how it will do on a given architecture.
 
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