Decent Laptop Reccomendations...

Hey guys I'm looking into getting a new laptop. I want it to be able to handle CoX, infact I want it to be able to run minimally 2 accounts at a given time without much if any lag. I'm just a college student so I'll be looking at keeping the price down as well as much as possible. Thanks for any help you can provide.

... and it should be powered by magical pixie dust with the keys carved from unicorn horns.

Throw us a bone, at least a maximum price. And dual sessions, it's tough to find a laptop that plays the game well (which means different things to different people) running one session at a time.

Yeah, what Hyper and Santa said.

To run CoH on a laptop at a level I would (IMHO) consider decent, you are probably looking at $1200 or more.

I have not seen game performance on the new AMD Llano based laptop yet but I am seeing the 3500M models starting to roll out and the prices in the $600-750 range now. Without actually using such a laptop myself in person I can't comment as to how good it is. Its still a little on the pricey side but maybe they will be in the $450-500 range by Christmas.

If your expecting a laptop to dual box, well your looking at $3000 or more and serious laptop cooler to keep the heat down. Probably a good A/C unit for your room too.

Honestly, if you can get away with it. Get yourself a decent laptop for school work (college student), and build yourself a (relatively) inexpensive gaming workstation. It'll be cheaper and easier in the long run than trying to cram all your expectations into a laptop.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

And if you're on campus, make sure you can even play CoH from behind your school's firewall. I know the firewall at my daughter's school blocks necessary ports.

This laptop...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+L...&skuId=2712579

...is the newer version of the laptop I bought a few months ago. Available at Best Buy so it's real easy to buy... no assembly and minimal software installation and a relatively friendly return/replace policy, if that matters to you.

It runs CoX very well at high graphic settings. It has a backlit keyboard and it's a full keyboard, numeric keypad and all, so it's no different then using a desktop keyboard. It's a 17" screen, and it doesn't get hot at all, so you can truely use it on your lap comfortably, even wearing shorts.

One downside (if it matters to you) is that, for a laptop, this thing is HUGE. You will never find a laptop bag for it. In fact this weekend I took it on a trip and it doesn't even fit in the carry-on style bag I use. It doesn't have much battery life either, so this is really more of a desktop PC that you can take with you easy then a remote computer.

For the price I couldn't find anything to beat it. The only thing I sacrificed from my wish list is a blue-ray player... but anything that had one was more then the cost of buying this and a blue-ray player seperately.

Also, I bought a rebuilt one and got it for $999 instead of $1200. I have had no tech issues at all.

You can also look at these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ll-in-One%20PC

All-in-One PC's they have a screen on the side of the case in some it's even a touchscreen.

Full speed video cards not mobility ones in some units. This for a dorm room situation is ideal.

Late to the party but need a new laptop to play CoH. Yes I understand the cost and power advantages of a desktop. No I don't want one.

1. What will you primarily be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
CoH + MS Office (Includes PowerPoint but not Visio). Lots of online junk such as the D&D online character builder, a wordpress blog, and occasional streamed movies via netflix. Far and away City is the most compute-intensive activity. Don't watch movies via DVD, but it's nice to be able to archive things that way. I may pick up Adobe Creative Suite, but usually I don't do much with it.

Ideally a docking station would be available so I can plug into a second monitor and bigger screen, plus I have an external harddrive (usb) etc. but this is a nice-to-have.

2. What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$2,000 USD, and yes Tax and shipping included (I'm in Hawaii so tax is 4.5% flat and shipping is double or triple anywhere else in the US).

3. Where do you live? This is important as it affects what vendors you may buy from and how much shipping costs might be.
Oahu, Hawaii.

4. Are you planning to buy or build?
Buy. Have built 4 or 5 computers, and I pray I will never do so again as long as I live.

5. What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need. If you're unsure what exactly you need, say so.
Doesn't need to run all graphics settings at max, but High or near to it would be ideal. Really, just needs to beat my current crap system (4g ram, 2.8ghz dual core Intel, ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro) and I don't want to give any more money to ATI.

6. If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
N/A

7. Will you be overclocking?
Hope not.

8. What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have? What is the resolution?
Laptop, request you tell me.

9. When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
I'm patient. If there's a reason to wait two or three months, I'll wait. But would prefer immediately.

10. What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
Need? Nothing is a need.

11. Any specific must-have features? Must be able to max out Ultra-Mode? Must have 6+GB of RAM? Must have an SSD? etc.

As close to max ultra mode would be nice, but really, high is good enough.

12. Are there any vendors/brands you'd specifically prefer to use?
Always loved the Sony Vaio's but never known them to be worthwhile gaming rigs. Other than that, I prefer a brand whose name the general public is likely to recognize over some random el-cheapo-here-for-less-than-a-year-but-damn-we're-cheap brand.

13. Are there any vendors/brands you'd specifically prefer to avoid?
Anything with an ATI video card.

14. Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? (Note: If your current OS came with your computer, odds are that it is NOT transferable.)
I have a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate that is legit and reusable. But I'd rather not. =) New license of Windows 7 would be ideal.

I did look at the one Shred Monkey proposed and am seriously considering it. Are there any alternatives that have a docking station option and a little more oomph (stronger processor and/or graphics card)? I did see the same line has a higher model, but it's $1790.00 for I'm not sure how much better. Doesn't look like twice the performance and if I'm paying that much more it really ought to be.

Thanks for any help!

Just checking to see if anyone had any recommendations other than the laptop shred linked.

Thanks!