Best laptop around $700 US for playing all versions of Doom

[Fonze]

Hey y'all, I saw a similar post about microprocessors and it got me thinking (I didn't realize just how diverse these forums are). I'm looking to buy a laptop for my birthday coming up in about a month. I've been doing my own research, and most look like they would suit my purposes. Some even say they can run somewhat newer games like StarCraft 2 on medium settings with more than 30 fps.

So I suppose my question comes down to: for that price, what should I be looking for in terms of processors, graphics cards, and brands. I think I have RAM under control, I have at least a basic knowledge of what everything is and does. I just get lost with all the different options for the stuff that's constantly changing.

[Linguica]

By "all versions of Doom" do you mean "GZDoom 2.0 with the renderer people love to complain about" ?

[Bucket]

We don't know what the Doom4 requirements will be, but I imagine it'll run on any multi-core machine with a DX11 video chip. The question is whether you're a graphics elitist who doesn't see the point in playing anything that isn't set to Ultra Quality running at 120fps.

[Fonze]

No, to be honest, I was referring to the original Doom and all its derivatives, including Doom 2/Final Doom, all of which I'm sure ANY comp can run, but also stuff like the more modern ports, zandronum, gzdoom, and newer wads and mods that are graphics and processor intensive, like brutal doom, for example.

Originally I wasn't even thinking about Doom 4, as it's still so far off and nobody truly knows the specs yet, but if someone knows a good laptop around $700 US that will likely be able to play Doom 4 with a decent fps, that would be sweet.

I'm not a stickler for good graphics, that's why I always come back to Doom :)

Also, linguica, idk what you're talking about, I rarely use gzdoom, preferring the more classic look of zDoom, what was the problem with that? And is that the most recent version of gzDoom?

To bucket:
That's what it looked like to me, but of course the req's may go up. I got out of newer pc gaming years ago for financial reasons. So my knowledge on what's actually good in comparison to others is minimal. But once again, I'm not a graphics elitist.

Thank you both for the punctual replies :)

[Maes]

Fonze said:

No, to be honest, I was referring to the original Doom and all its derivatives, including Doom 2/Final Doom, all of which I'm sure ANY comp can run, but also stuff like the more modern ports, zandronum, gzdoom, and newer wads and mods that are graphics and processor intensive, like brutal doom, for example.

Stick to anything above a Pentium 3 and you should be fine. If you want GZDoom or any other hardware accelerated port however, DON'T buy a laptop with an Intel graphics card ;-)

[Doom_user]

Performance in classic Doom games is almost entirely determined by your processor's single thread performance.

Get something with a processor that gets at least a score of 900 on this list.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

If you do, you'll get a perfect framerate in classic Doom games at 1080p 99% of the time.

[fraggle]

Anything. It even runs on a $30 Raspberry Pi.

[Maes]

The real challenge would be to find a $700 laptop that does not run all (or any) versions of Doom.

[Kontra Kommando]

Maes said:

The real challenge would be to find a $700 laptop that does not run all (or any) versions of Doom.

heh, I think I just found one.

[Fonze]

Lol Maes, right.

My current comp, not old, but a low end model for sure, though it says the processor is 3.0 ghz, lags a bit when running really graphics intensive Doom stuff like a map with tons of lines being run with brutal doom. I want it to last a few years and be able to keep up with current Doom stuff.

I figured single-thread performance for the cpu would be the way to go. What about graphics cards?

And I know that the lag I experience could be due to graphics card or dam, or virus haha.

*Edit*
Rofl kobra! That's the laptop in Satan's wet dreams.

[40oz]

In my experience with laptops, most basic programs hog enough memory already giving you the illusion that it runs fast when your first get it, and it quickly starts to chug as you install games on it. Not to mention battery life shrinks and you gotta plug in the ac cord pretty much all the time to get decent performance. More often than not you'll find yourself sitting at a desk or on the couch in the living room to play doom. So if you want a machine optimized to play doom, you'd get much more bang for your buck getting a desktop.

[Aliotroph?]

40oz said:

In my experience with laptops, most basic programs hog enough memory already giving you the illusion that it runs fast when your first get it, and it quickly starts to chug as you install games on it. Not to mention battery life shrinks and you gotta plug in the ac cord pretty much all the time to get decent performance. More often than not you'll find yourself sitting at a desk or on the couch in the living room to play doom. So if you want a machine optimized to play doom, you'd get much more bang for your buck getting a desktop.

You're not supposed to run all your games at the same time. :p

[Fonze]

Yeah 40oz, I'm ready for that (I think). I have a desktop that's ok at best. But the main reason I want a laptop is so I can work on my Doom stuff (a hobby I love) while I'm either not at home, or anywhere else that isnt my bedroom. I've just grown tired of being locked up in a room in solitude, I find I work better now just about anywhere else. That does bring up another facet to my question that still unanswered:
best brand?

I've heard good things about Asus and Acer, but have also heard that if they do screw you, they screw you hard, due to poor customer service. However, most customer service is poor nowadays, so I really don't expect any brands to excel above the rest, but if any of y'all have more first-hand experience, I'd love to hear it.

[Sharessa]

Kontra Kommando said:

heh, I think I just found one.

I dunno, I'm pretty sure someone has ported Doom to fire at this point.

[Aliotroph?]

Fonze said:

Yeah 40oz, I'm ready for that (I think). I have a desktop that's ok at best. But the main reason I want a laptop is so I can work on my Doom stuff (a hobby I love) while I'm either not at home, or anywhere else that isnt my bedroom. I've just grown tired of being locked up in a room in solitude, I find I work better now just about anywhere else. That does bring up another facet to my question that still unanswered:
best brand?

I've heard good things about Asus and Acer, but have also heard that if they do screw you, they screw you hard, due to poor customer service. However, most customer service is poor nowadays, so I really don't expect any brands to excel above the rest, but if any of y'all have more first-hand experience, I'd love to hear it.

I've had lots of good stuff from Asus and Acer. I've also had some awful stuff from Asus. Mostly motherboards. Their mobile stuff seems to have better reliablity. Check reviews when you find one you like, and see if you can buy from a store with sweet warranty service. I buy the extended warranties from my favourite computer store here because even in the first year their service is better than any computer company. They also let me return anything within a week of purchase if I don't like it.

Laptops are a funny thing. If you can it's often a good idea to go play with the ones in a store and get a feel for what things you like. It defeats the purpose if you don't like the keyboard or the display. If you really want to be mobile then a very light one is nicer than a larger, heavier one too.

[Fonze]

Yeah man, I'm all about them reviews, but they're usually the same for most laptops :/

I guess most people spend upwards of a half a grand to use Microsoft office and check their email and the remainder just got totally screwed. Aside from the 1/1,000 that is a gamer who just so happened to buy that exact model. Their reviews are good.

So, from what you've said, and from what I've heard from people I've talked to irl, the company may not matter as long as long as I spring for the extended warrenty from a place with a good one. That's good to know. You saying that Acer and Asus have made great machines in the past for you reassures me about those two brands as well, which have otherwise been reported to have bad CS.

As for the last one, I've never owned a laptop, so I prolly won't know if I really like the layout until at least a month into it, I'm sure it will take some getting used to. Weight is no issue to me, as I may want it to have a fan.

One more thing I'm concerned with: overheating. My phone is really bad about it. Long story, but I'm on my second phone and about to need another replacement barely into my 2nd year of my contract. Due to overheating, or the overheating could be a symptom of the gpu starting to shit the bed, I'm almost certain that the area it overheats in is where the microprocessor is.

Having said that bs, do your laptops have any problems with overheating?

Is a fan recommended?

[kmc]

Fonze said:

Having said that bs, do your laptops have any problems with overheating?

Is a fan recommended?

The overheating issue is the second biggest downside to buying a laptop (after price) imo. I bought an asus g73jh before I went into college (4 years ago), and it has always had overheating problems. Even after repasting the cpu it idled above 80 degrees C. I had the main fan crap out on me recently, so I've been using this shitty dell latitude (no heating probs though) my dad got from work. I don't really do any travelling with my computers anymore, so I removed the battery entirely (decent cooling measure) and just play plugged in all the time. Also fwiw both my girlfriend and my brother have had acer aspire notebooks for 3+ years and haven't had any overheating problems.

Since you plan to use your laptop to do a bit more than just casual email/facebook, a fan is highly recommended.

[Aliotroph?]

I have one of these. The review says it gets hot while gaming. Maybe they play newer games than me. The only time I recall the fans screaming at me was when I was playing a demo that made heavy use of Unreal 4 features.

I'm not a fan of having the USBs in the back. That drives me crazy. Also not a fan of having an optical drive, but I bought the thing secondhand, so meh. Mine has only an SSD in it.

[Fonze]

Awesome thanks man!

One last question about graphics cards, there's so many, and the stats seem so similar, even among the same brands (like the amd Radeon r6[or other number] and the amd a10-[numbers]). I know nvidia and amd are the main manufacturers of graphics cards, but with so many choices even just between these two, it leaves me confused.

Thanks again to all who helped answer my questions :D

[VGA]

Do those new integrated Intel chipsets work fine with gzdoom 2? I mean the new generation that's embedded in i5,i7 etc. They seem to run some games properly.

[SavageCorona]

Linguica said:

By "all versions of Doom" do you mean "GZDoom 2.0 with the renderer people love to complain about" ?

Hey OpenGL is a fantastic renderer that brings Doom into the modern age with true 3D graphics, fantastic trilinear and anisotropic filtering, 8x anti-aliasing, brilliant dynamic lights and a huge array of HD texture packs which ONLY INCREASE THE FUN OF THE EXPERIENCE

[Nuxius]

In your price range, the best you can get is something with a i5 5200U or i7 5500U processor and a GeForce GT 840 or GT 940. I'd personally avoid anything with integrated graphics or anything with an AMD processor or graphics card (as AMD's mobile offerings just aren't competitive at all with Intel/nVidia.)

[Fonze]

Thanks nexius, that's what I need to hear. I wasn't sure how the stuff stacked up against each other. Right now I'm leaning i5, I suppose, because people say the i7 overheats, and I want desperately to avoid that. But I'm glad to hear that because before I was looking at ones with amd 2.whatever ghz quad-core processors wondering why it was such a great bang for the buck.