World of Warcraft

Hi, I need to buy a gaming laptop ( I know a pc is better, but I need a laptop)
can anyone suggest a brand/spec.
I cannot build a laptop here, it has to be a known model.
I had a toshiba sattelite A660-11z but after only 1 year it is overheating like hell.
Bought a fan support, still heating up.

Try looking into the Asus G73. I got one of those and it serves me perfect.

Depends on how much money you have to spend, and what your needs are.
- What's your budget?
- What are you going to use it for outside of gaming?
- Can you get away with a 13" screen, or do you need 15"?
- Any specific requirements (Battery should last at least X hours, etc.)

~Vaeil

Depends on how much money you have to spend, and what your needs are.
- What's your budget?
- What are you going to use it for outside of gaming?
- Can you get away with a 13" screen, or do you need 15"?
- Any specific requirements (Battery should last at least X hours, etc.)

budget : anything less than $2000
use: mainly gaming, any other uses a gaming laptop works perfectly
screen: 17" preffered
battery, Usually i use it plugged in
Important specific: DOES NOT OVERHEAT EASILY.... Toshiba is a great laptop, but in 1 year it is starting to overheat

Budget means you have room for damned near anything.

I advise against choosing a 17" - I don't know what you 'need' a laptop for. But if you actually need to carry it around to classes or to work or whatnot: 17" is way too big.
17" laptops are meant for an extremely select audience. People that simply NEED the screen and the portability. Think about people who do graphic design work and so.

For most people, 17" is far too big. They're massive, heavy, and hard to carry around. You should always go for a 13"-15" if you can. If you want a bigger screen for gaming, get a separate monitor at home and plug it in; 17" is not what you want on a laptop.

Same with the battery: If you're going to use it plugged in all the time; I doubt that a laptop is actually what you need... But if you say you really need it...

But on to the actual reccomendation:
Firstly, ignore anything that says "Gaming". "Gaming" means they put a few desktop components and flashy LED's in a box, and called it a laptop. Gaming means it'll overheat like crazy, and the battery will last shorter than the time it takes you to blink.

I'd get any higher-end laptop with decent hardware: Processor should be an Intel Core i5 or i7: Don't go for anything lower, don't go for AMD. Graphic card doesn't matter, as long as it's a proper, dedicated one. Everything comes with enough RAM nowadays. If you can afford an SSD, it's awesome.

Sony's Vaio range is pretty good; Very decent batteries, good design, and at least they put a bit of work in the keyboard: So you won't instantly hate it. Decently expensive, but well within your budget. Always remember that you can get cheaper laptops that have the same hardware when it comes to proccesor/GPU/etc. - The price difference is in build quality, battery, screen, that sort of stuff. You will pay more for a good laptop like a high-end Vaio, but it's worth it.

Dell has some decent computers as well. Avoid Alienware, half your battery (and money) will be spent powering LED's - After which it'll overheat.. XPS are generally a bit pricier, but the XPS 15z is a great little thing (And actually nice and light to carry around). XPS also has a non-slim 15" that's pretty decent.

~Vaeil

thanks vaeil, that was a long, but well detailed recommendation..I really appreciate it.
As for the screen, I enjoy games on a 17 inch... just me, and would rather not have to get a separate monitor.
nice input on extra led lighting for overheating, will definitely take that into consideration.
do you know any brands that are known to be durable?

The overheating isn't due to the LED's (LED's produce next to no heat); It's due to the fact that 'gaming' laptops often use desktop components with a bad case design. They pay more attention to making it look 'cool' rather than actually making it a good laptop. Alienware is the best example of absolutely terrible laptops.
I can promise you that a 17" is a massive laptop, and you will -not- enjoy lugging it around. It's your choice; But I would stress that a 13-15" is a much nicer laptop for the purpose of being an actual laptop.

When it comes to brands: The two I named (Dell and Sony) are very good. The higher end laptops are very well built, perhaps only second to Apple.

~Vaeil