Cheap gaming laptop

get a centrino like the powerpro from powernotebooks with radeon 9000. It will play anything you want for the next couple years, then when you get to school you can have it to take notes on (as it actually has a battery life heh) and get a top of the line desktop to game on, or a sager if your school requires a fast lappy, but the powerpro should still be fine for you then unless you are in something like some of the engineering and comsci programs that require rediculous laptops.

I would go for a dell centrino laptop or any laptop with a 4200go thats a centrino

good fps plus good battery life

If you can afford the extra cost (and wait time), go for the D800.

Pentium-M Processor, 4200Go, sounds good to me.... and that black/gray looks a whole lot better than the ugly bright blue. I have seen the 8500 in person and it doesn't look all that pretty...quite cheap looking actually.

How about the eMachines M5305? 15.4" 1280x800, 512MB, 40GB, DVD/CD-RW -- for under $1300. Its no Sager 4760 to be sure, but that is a lot of bang for a buck.

Graphics may be lacking for FPS, but surely could handle Strategy games.

Best wishes on finishing high school and getting into the university you want!

-Kaleva

Get the Sager 4060. For around 1500 you get:

2.4 ghz P4
radeon 9000 64 meg
40 gig hdd
512 ddr ram
SXGA screen

you can customize it they way you like. I'm sure it will meet your needs for the next few years.

I'd say Dell, Sony and VPR Matrix might be a bit too expensive.

I checked out HP, Compaq, and Toshiba and all their lower end laptops have shared memory video cards.

Your best bet is to get a 4060.

You can try www.pcclub they have some cheap laptops but decent and they dont look cheap!They even have some with amd processors and most of them are with ati radeon 9000 64mb,so give it a try!

There is a thing called a search button located in the upper right side of the screen.

check this link out

It also has an option for a second battery.

their is no secondary battery with the 4060, you would have to buy an extra primary, currently the only system with two batteries is the 5670

opps, the 4060 only supports one battery, i stand corrected. Also you might want to check out the compaq x1000, it has the radeon 9200 chip. Though i didnt bother to look for the price.

Technical information on the Compaq Presario X1000 includes:

Intel Pentium® M processors running at 1.3 GHz, 1.4 GHz, 1.5 GHz or 1.6 GHz combined with the Intel 855PM chipset
Intel PRO wireless 2100 802.11b mini-PCI card. Optional integrated Bluetooth module
15.4-inch wide aspect ratio displays with WUXGA, (1,920 x 1,200 resolution), 15.4-inch WSXGA+ (1,680 x 1,050) and WXGA (1,280 x 800)
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 with 64 MB or 32 MB of DDR dedicated memory or ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 with 32 MB of DDR dedicated memory
Hard drives of 40 GB, 60 GB or 80 GB and a high-performance (5,400 rpm) 60 GB
Choice of optical drives, including 24x CD-ROM, 8x DVD, 24x CD-RW/DVD or DVD+RW(1)
Up to 2 GB DDR (266-MHz) system memory
Three USB 2.0 ports, one IEEE 1394 port, one S-Video out port
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet, 56 Kbps V.92 modem
Eight-cell Lithium-ion battery

I wouldnt consider compaq, just because of issues with their quality of computers. Stick with your other options. My cousin wen through 5 of them fortunately his work picked up the tab (he is computer friendly).

HP/Compaq X1000

Looks like a cool laptop to me,... in Laptop magazine (July 2003) you'll find it at page 110.

On the HP website: X1000 and other ...

Like I said, it looks like a cool laptop to me.
This summer a DVD+RW drive is expected ... cool.

My best friend has a dell. And he hasnt had any problems with it, I cant compare it with a sager, just yet. But this kids treats stuff like sht so the fact that it is still running after a year is surprising.

No such thing as a cheap gaming laptop. Laptop technology is more expensive and less powerful because you're paying for portability. Even the huge "desktop replacements" don't have th power of a desktop, despite much higher pricetags. If you want You can get cheap gaming from a desktop, and you can get a cheap laptop that won't game, but you can't have your cake and eat it too.

I'd advise you to wait. No laptop is future-proof enough to last 6 years. My advice is to wait to buy a laptop until you know where you will go to school. Many schools require specific hardware or software for network compatibility.

In many graduate programs and law schools, laptops are now used for typing exams. If your laptop is incompatible with the software they're using 2 years from now, it will be all but useless to you.

Many universities now sell computers at a reduced rate through a group-buying arrangement, and they will sell you a computer configured for compatibility with the school's networks, and supported by the school's techies. There are definite advantages to these options, and you should certainly wait to see what you will need before you buy a laptop.

Second, a Sager isn't a great campus computer. I looked at the things, and they're great for gaming, graphics and presentations, but they don't meet student needs. Your laptop is something you will have to carry everyday, and it's something you'll want to use in settings where AC power may not be an option.

Regardless of what people here will say, weight is important. I didn't feel like 9 pounds was a lot to carry, but when I saw a 9 pound laptop, I quickly realized that it wasn't something I wanted to lug around.

I've just finished shopping around for a laptop for law school. I bought a Dell Inspiron 600m. With a 64 MB Radeon 9000, it's powerful enough to run games. At 5.3 pounds is light enough to carry around. And with nearly 4 hours of battery time, it should make it through my classes on a charge. It was also cheap enough that I don't have to cling to it after it becomes hopelessly obsolete. I liked the Latitude D800 as well, but this was much smaller and much cheaper.

I haven't pushed this thing with any high-end FPS games yet, but Warcraft 3 and Rise of Nations run at high resolutions with all the options turned to the maximum and maintain a high framerate, even in chaotic multiplayer battles. I'm quite pleased with it.