[ROOTPetraeus]

I have successfully sold my cursed macbook! Hurrah!
But now I need a decent laptop to stream on :]
Suggestions/advice is welcome but I only want to spend roughly around the $1000 NZD mark =/

+ [Prize] +

Absolutely nothing.

[ToRSpartaz]

Lol my mate I remember found a good one that looked like completely like shit, but it was a beast of a machine was like a brick though =/. Lenovo? I think it was I dont remember, Uhm.... you really need sales brohan ^_^ the decent ones are like 1200$ NZ so usually during sales they drop to 999 ish. Dun go HP or Dell, from personal experience >.< ive always found Toshiba a decent and reliable brand my old one lasted like 6 years and it still ran fine.

[breadfan]

I had this big post ready to go about how hard it will be to find one around that price range.

Basically, you need to find a gaming laptop - most laptops have low powered components that won't allow for streaming, because the target market is non-gamers. Then I checked out FragLabs and see they have the Vector1 F15 for about AUD $1399. Includes a 3 year warranty which is pretty amazing. You might want to check it out, but just looking at the specs it seems like it'll do the trick.

Of course, FragLabs sponsor the ACL so you'd be supporting eSports

[SPGDoG]

you could go on ebay and bid there, some awesome stuff there that some people dont need and best of all you get it dirt cheap, one of the offers had 2tb hard drive,1 gb dedicated graphics, 4gb ram (of course that offer has past) but most DECENT computers are under 1,000 on ebay.
gl and most of all hf ^_^

[breadfan]

Originally Posted by TheRealLosdog

you could go on ebay and bid there, some awesome stuff there that some people dont need and best of all you get it dirt cheap, one of the offers had 2tb hard drive,1 gb dedicated graphics, 4gb ram (of course that offer has past) but most DECENT computers are under 1,000 on ebay.
gl and most of all hf ^_^

He's from NZ, they don't have eBay there (eBay too slow!)

[ROOTPetraeus]

Originally Posted by breadfan

I had this big post ready to go about how hard it will be to find one around that price range.

Basically, you need to find a gaming laptop - most laptops have low powered components that won't allow for streaming, because the target market is non-gamers. Then I checked out FragLabs and see they have the Vector1 F15 for about AUD $1399. Includes a 3 year warranty which is pretty amazing. You might want to check it out, but just looking at the specs it seems like it'll do the trick.

Of course, FragLabs sponsor the ACL so you'd be supporting eSports

That does sound good but very expensive T_T
I really want to stream so if I can't find a cheaper one that can handle it I guess I'll have to pay more.

[breadfan]

Originally Posted by Petraeus

That does sound good but very expensive T_T
I really want to stream so if I can't find a cheaper one that can handle it I guess I'll have to pay more.

Yeah to be honest I think your best value for money would be to buy a desktop. But if it has to be a laptop, for your purposes price will be higher

But yeah I would seriously make sure that if you decide to try a cheaper option, you make sure you can get a refund on it if needed - there's a strong chance you'll try to stream while playing and it will just not cope.

[AsylumofSouls]

I actually play sc2 on a laptop I bought from Dell Online mid 2010. Chose a sale option as the base then upgraded most of the components to the level I wanted. Added about $600 to the sale price but still ended up being fairly cheap overall

[iMSystem]

Why a laptop? Do you need the mobility? Because if you don't it will work out better (Price wise, and longevity wise) to get a desktop.

[ToRSpartaz]

Originally Posted by System

Why a laptop? Do you need the mobility? .

Was my thinking in my Laptop Good for uni

[ROOTPetraeus]

Originally Posted by System

Why a laptop? Do you need the mobility? Because if you don't it will work out better (Price wise, and longevity wise) to get a desktop.

Yeah, have to travel between Mums and Dads house each week so definitely need a laptop ><

[inFeZa]

Get one of those fraglabs one from ACL. They were hella solid.

[FS.Kezz]

You can get some quite decent Toshiba laptops for around the $1000 mark (although I'm not up to scratch on AUD/NZD exchange rates :P). The one I'm using (Toshiba Satellite Pro U500) has the hardware capability to stream at an okay level (Intel Core i3 Processor, 4GB RAM, 1GB Graphics) and it wasn't too expensive.

[PulseSPR]

Mine is 2100 NZD pet

[Trusty]

Originally Posted by Petraeus

That does sound good but very expensive T_T
I really want to stream so if I can't find a cheaper one that can handle it I guess I'll have to pay more.

If you get a desktop, you can easily get a good gaming rig for 1000$.
You're not going to find a laptop that game play decent settings on games, and stream. You'd be looking at least 1.5k +

[sheepy]

If your Looking for a laptop for sc2 , or even other games and streaming, and a budget like that, there are several things to consider I can help you make an informed decision but you need tell me a little more about what you want.

1) Do you plan to play games other than SC2?
2) Will you be hooking the laptop to a Monitor? If so, what resolution is the monitor?
3) What settings do you play SC2 at? This is important because you are not going to be able to get full HD (1080p) + high unless you have at least a nvidia 560m (Its not the same as the desktop card at all) or an ATI 6970m ( This is a desktop 6850 with the clocks dropped way down).
4) What is an acceptable Level of FPS for you? What kinda frames per second do you consider acceptable? some people are fine playing with 30fps, while others won't accept anything below 60.

However, with a budget of 1K NZD. its unlikely that you will be able to purchase a laptop with a gaming grade gpu. However, there are still many models that offer great bang for buck (i.e high settings and smooth framerates at the laptop monitor's native resolution)

Rule of thumb with laptop components, especially the GPU. its not about how much ram there is on it. Its about the actual model of GPU which determines performance. (Memory bandwidth and shader core units)

Your going to be looking for the following :

- At least a Core I5 if your intend to stream, preferably a core I7-2630 for streaming as it does help.
- Non HD resolutions you want at least a Geforce 555m Or a Radeon Mobility 6770 These are the very minimium cards if you buy a laptop with the intention of gaming and streaming simultaneously to be honest, Unless your fine with playing on Low mid settings.
- Full HD resolutions you want at least a Geforce 560m or a Radeon Mobility 6970

There is a huge price difference between laptops containing a 555m/6770 Radeon and the latter 560m and 6970m But the performance difference is sometimes more than 2x at Full HD resolutions.

Let me know a bit more about your preferences , and even the size of the laptop you want, and i'll be able to help. At the end of the day, a laptop is a 2-3 year investment typically, and you want to go for whatever it is will deliver you the best for buck. As usual with technology, The ultra high end is always incredibly price inefficient and the low end can't execute the tasks you want. Pick a model that can do what you need.

Quick Comments

cruxBsK:

awesome

[Criven]

http://www.dell.com/nz/p/xps-l502x/pd

Solid. High Powered. Very Portable and plays all day without any problems.

300 above your price point.. but sniff around and you may find it cheaper.. I can get these in AUS for 880 landed..

[ROOTPetraeus]

Originally Posted by sheepy

If your Looking for a laptop for sc2 , or even other games and streaming, and a budget like that, there are several things to consider I can help you make an informed decision but you need tell me a little more about what you want.

1) Do you plan to play games other than SC2?
2) Will you be hooking the laptop to a Monitor? If so, what resolution is the monitor?
3) What settings do you play SC2 at? This is important because you are not going to be able to get full HD (1080p) + high unless you have at least a nvidia 560m (Its not the same as the desktop card at all) or an ATI 6970m ( This is a desktop 6850 with the clocks dropped way down).
4) What is an acceptable Level of FPS for you? What kinda frames per second do you consider acceptable? some people are fine playing with 30fps, while others won't accept anything below 60.

However, with a budget of 1K NZD. its unlikely that you will be able to purchase a laptop with a gaming grade gpu. However, there are still many models that offer great bang for buck (i.e high settings and smooth framerates at the laptop monitor's native resolution)

Rule of thumb with laptop components, especially the GPU. its not about how much ram there is on it. Its about the actual model of GPU which determines performance. (Memory bandwidth and shader core units)

Your going to be looking for the following :

- At least a Core I5 if your intend to stream, preferably a core I7-2630 for streaming as it does help.
- Non HD resolutions you want at least a Geforce 555m Or a Radeon Mobility 6770 These are the very minimium cards if you buy a laptop with the intention of gaming and streaming simultaneously to be honest, Unless your fine with playing on Low mid settings.
- Full HD resolutions you want at least a Geforce 560m or a Radeon Mobility 6970

There is a huge price difference between laptops containing a 555m/6770 Radeon and the latter 560m and 6970m But the performance difference is sometimes more than 2x at Full HD resolutions.

Let me know a bit more about your preferences , and even the size of the laptop you want, and i'll be able to help. At the end of the day, a laptop is a 2-3 year investment typically, and you want to go for whatever it is will deliver you the best for buck. As usual with technology, The ultra high end is always incredibly price inefficient and the low end can't execute the tasks you want. Pick a model that can do what you need.

Thank you soooo much for taking the time to help Ok now to answer the questions.
1. No. I only play Starcraft 2.
2. No, can't afford monitor so just the laptop
3. I play lowest possible settings on SC2. Will continue to use this even with a better computer as I find it easier.
4. I don't really know much about FPS but I drop a LOT on my current computer to like below 10 and then back up to 80 O.O Not sure how to answer this but I'm not that fussed about the FPS.
In terms of preferences... I don't really mind what laptop. In terms of size, I play on a 13" at the moment and most are bigger than that xD
Thanks for all the tips with specs etc ^_^ Will have a look around but not very good with techy stuff.
Is something like Criven suggested good?

Originally Posted by Criven

http://www.dell.com/nz/p/xps-l502x/pd

Solid. High Powered. Very Portable and plays all day without any problems.

300 above your price point.. but sniff around and you may find it cheaper.. I can get these in AUS for 880 landed..

[EXCL]

You could try this (Asus republic of gamers G73 series):

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ASUS-G73J...item53eb9fb168

Myself and two of my mates bought ourselves G73s from this store and we would vouch for them.

[Trusty]

Originally Posted by FaDeEXCL

You could try this (Asus republic of gamers G73 series):

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ASUS-G73J...item53eb9fb168

Myself and two of my mates bought ourselves G73s from this store and we would vouch for them.

that's over $1000 NZD, like 1.3k