How is this gaming laptop?

My dad is looking for a new laptop and called me for advice but I have never had a laptop and know next to nothing about them. This is the one we are looking at, but could use some extra help.

Although he won't admit it, he is looking for something that plays games reasonably well, especially age of conan. It seems like the Asus should run the game ok; 4GB RAM, 250GB Hard Drive, and 2.4GHz C2D all met the recommended specs but what is the desktop equivalent to the 9500M GT? Is there any others you would recommend, $1200 is the absolute maximum budget.

The desktop equivalent to a 9500M GT is taking a dump in your computer case; that's not a gaming laptop.

EDIT: Bleh, I was thinking of the 8500GT there. Being that there's only one set of benchmarks (from a chinese site, no less) we don't really know all that much about that GPU (the 9500). That said, it's not going to be playing a game like Crysis very well with that laptop's native resolution. My recommendations below still stand.

For the time being, this is the best gaming laptop near your price range. However, you probably can't swing an extra $150. In that case, I'd go with this Acer notebook. The screen resolution is low enough that the 8600M GT should still be capable for a while longer.

The desktop equivalent to a 9500M GT is taking a dump in your computer case; that's not a gaming laptop.

EDIT: Bleh, I was thinking of the 8500GT there. Being that there's only one set of benchmarks (from a chinese site, no less) we don't really know all that much about that GPU (the 9500). That said, it's not going to be playing a game like Crysis very well with that laptop's native resolution. My recommendations below still stand.

For the time being, this is the best gaming laptop near your price range. However, you probably can't swing an extra $150. In that case, I'd go with this Acer notebook. The screen resolution is low enough that the 8600M GT should still be capable for a while longer.

kodex1717

I spent the better part of two hours trying to find benchmarks on the 9500m gs and about the only thing I found out was that it is a replacement for the 8600m gt but performs anywhere from 10% - 30% better. The Asus one I linked has a better CPU, more RAM, and better GPU so might as well get the best he can afford.

Just to be clear I don't think he is looking to max any of the newer games, his current PC has a Radeon 9800Pro and an old Athlon 64 3200+, so basically anything is an improvement.

I'll admit that I pre-judged the 9500M GT, as anything below x600 almost always blows. However, it does look like a somewhat respectable card. My only concern is that the laptop you're looking at has a pretty high native resolution. The 9500M GT will probably begin to struggle as newer games come out.

If your father can stand waiting, I strongly suggest that he save up for the Gateway in the first link. It is the no-contest best gaming laptop under $2000. Yes, the processor is substantially slower at 1.83 GHz, but the 8800GTS 512MB more than makes up for it and it should be playing games with higer settings quite a bit longer than the ASUS. That said, if your dad just can't swing it, the ASUS is about the next best thing.

I'll see if he likes the gateway, it does look pretty nice. Its not a matter of saving more money, its a matter of convincing my mom to let him spend that much. He has a habit of going all out and spending way too much. He has a $4000 home theater system and doesn't even own a DVD. I remember my graduation present went from an off the shelve $700 HP to a $2000 custom built gaming PC.

I also think he wants to order it this week since I guess he is letting my brother borrow it for the summer. (He is studying abroad and leaves early June.) I'm pretty sure this is how he talked his way into buying a new laptop in the first place and I guarantee that's why he's looking for something to run Age of Conan

Yeah, I know how it is. :)

If you need the laptop soon, you can get the Gateway at almost any Best Buy. Also, assuming you still want to stay under your budget, there's also this laptop. It's the same basic one as the previous Gateway, but with 3GB of RAM (instead of 4 GB) and a somewhat slower processor (1.66GHz vs 1.83GHz). It seems like a pretty big downgrade, but you'd only notice a difference in a game like Crysis or Supreme Commander, neither of which it sounds like your dad wants to play.