Hey i'm a senior in highschool very interested in game developing. I have recently been buying books and watching tutorials on it so i can get influenced. I was just wondering if anyone knew of a good laptop that would be a good source for game developing as my hobby in college will be dealing with this. I have been looking at an Alienware Laptop but I don't know if they are only good for gaming? If anyone knows or has an idea of another kind please let me know. Thanks, l jsym l

First of all, decide what you want for a budget. An Alienware machine might be a bit expensive, as a lot of gaming machines seem to be more expensive just because they are called 'gaming' machines. That, and how portable do you need it to be? I think anyone who has lugged around a large 17+" laptop can say that after a while, it will definitely get heavy.

There isn't really an ideal setup for just game development in general. It really depends on what area you are interested in. My focus has been on graphics research & development, so DirectX10 was very important to me (although it probably isn't for a beginner). Additionally, I needed one that had the capability to play good looking games, but not necessarily flawlessly (as it was really for building them). I got an ASUS M50VM and was very happy with it. It has a 9600GS (same as a GT but clocked a bit slower) and a Core 2 Duo E8400. It doesn't look like you can buy them anymore, but you can buy its successor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220395

I highly recommend this one, as it is relatively inexpensive and packs a punch performance-wise. For a beginning developer it is probably overkill, but it will be useful if you move on to 3D game development. Also, it comes with a 1-year accident warranty! As for alienware... I continue to feel like everything they sell is grossly overpriced, and the only reason I would buy a laptop from them is if I was getting something that was insanely powerful (SLI & Quad core in a notebook). I also had a friend who bought a notebook from them a few years ago. It died recently (out of warranty), and when he tore it apart to see what was up, he found that they had literally put MORE THAN ONE tube of thermal paste on the CPU heatsink. It is supposed to help transfer heat between the heat sink and the CPU... but it ended up being a blanket that ultimately cooked the CPU.

And then ask yourself... "do I actually need a stoopidly good [expensive] laptop when im just starting out?" Im still using a sony vaio i bought 3 years ago, quick memory upgrade form 512 to 2 gig, and never had a problem.... now compare this next to my friends silly expensive laptop... (if you read this you know who you are:p)

alright, thanks.
also i'm going to college for computer science so maybe that would put in a word for what i need?
thanks for all the inputs :D

I had a single-core, 1.6GHz dell that I had been using up until only a couple of weeks ago when I finally upgraded. I bought a relatively low-end laptop, just made sure it had plenty of memory (4GB) because Visual Studio is a bit of a hog :-)

Remember, 90% of your users are not going to have super-computers so you want to make sure your game runs on them at least acceptably. For example, I'm keeping my old Dell for testing, just so I can be sure my game will continue to work on it (it's going to be my "low-end" target).

Alright, thanks for the hint. I'm really looking forward go laptop shopping!

Quote:Original post by l jsym l
alright, thanks.
also i'm going to college for computer science so maybe that would put in a word for what i need?
thanks for all the inputs :D

I basically went without a laptop in college. Well, I had one, but because it was so big and heavy I always left it at home and instead used lab computers while at school.