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"Mid-Level" Laptop Questions =)

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 11:44 pm
by Skyve
Thats right,another "What should I get" thread. :P

So I am going to buy a Laptop(Please dont suggest me Desktop,already made my choice) with a budget of 500-700$ CA. I'm looking for a laptop that is going to allow me to do my basic school work and "mid-range gaming".I dont do heavy gaming(only play HoN,GW,WoW,F2P, etc.),so I dont need some killer pro-gaming spec(not like I could with my budget anyways).Right now my desktop with 2.67 GHz,2G Ram & a 2 years old video card can run any game I play on High-Settings.(Just saying that with thoses Spec Im already satisfied)

For 500$-700$ in Canada, I can get something around a 16" Laptop,with a Core2Duo of 2.0 GHz,3G of RAM and some Intel Video Card(exemple: One of the laptops in store had a Intel GMA 4500MHD).So heres a couple questions...

#1. Will I notice a big difference when gaming using a 2.0Ghz Processor(instead of my Desktop's 2.67GHz)
#2. Intel Mobility Card?wtf?Is this video card able to run most MMO's?(heard bad stuff about Intel vid cards.)
#3. Most importantly :P Will I be able to run games like WoW,GuildWars,Aion,HeroesOfNewerth or most F2P on high-setting?
#4. I keep roaming BestBuy & FutureShop site,but cant find a Laptop with an actual Nvidia or ATI video card >.<,are they rare for 500-700$ range Laptops?


Please dont suggest me to buy a Desktop,as I said,already made my choice =)
Hope you guys can help me =)

-Ex

Re: "Mid-Level" Laptop Questions =)

Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 1:03 am
by [SD]Twysta
From reading all that, I personally would suggest upping your budget by a few hundred.

Your wishes are gonna be a tight squeeze. I don't think you'll make it.

WoW isn't so high end, but when you're in a raid or something, you will notice fps lag.
Aion... forget it ;) You won't be able to run that anywhere near high with that setup.
Outside of cities you'll be fine, but considering Aion is about mass PvP, really...

I've got an insane setup and I get lag in Aion pvp. That's basically caused by Shadows and AA on 8x.

Sorry... I don't know too much about laptops but I do know about system requirements.

That one just isn't gonna fulfill your wishes I'm afraid. :)

Re: "Mid-Level" Laptop Questions =)

Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 1:08 am
by Gaigemasta
#1 No not really, for the price u'll probaly get a low-end dualcore and 2.0 ghz wont be so different if u just wanna play mmos and some schoolwork

#2 Yah they're arn't the best but it can handle ur games, but i say get one with a Nvidia on-board, even though all on-boards suk :/ its better than nuthin

#3 yes, i ran SRO on high grpahx at like 30fps on a old xpress200(onboad), with 1 gig ram and a athlon 64

#4 probaly be better if u went online and shopped ^_^

Re: "Mid-Level" Laptop Questions =)

Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 1:20 am
by Deadsolid
[SD]Twysta wrote:From reading all that, I personally would suggest upping your budget by a few hundred.

Your wishes are gonna be a tight squeeze. I don't think you'll make it.


I agree, maybe a little...



Look for a laptop with an dedicated gpu. The Intel graphics suck balls, you really wouldn't even want to play minesweeper on them.

A Nvidia 1** series or ATI 3*** series would do fine with the games you want to play, but they are kind of hard to find since the 2** and 4*** series are becoming the standard. The biggest trade-off at your price range will be at the gpu and screen size areas. You might get a 14 inch screen with a decent gpu or a 16 incher with a GMA. Its your call there. Personally I would wait awhile and save some more money, maybe 150 or 200 more, that would do wonders for your choices. Good luck!

(On a personal note, i regret buying my desktop replacement. I bought it so that I could play the next years worth of games, but 6.5lbs is more than you think. I would def given up games for a decent thin and light that's not running on an Atom.)

Re: "Mid-Level" Laptop Questions =)

Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 1:41 am
by Skyve
Thanks for all replies, I'll keep searching for some Laptops of my price range with a dedicated video card. See if I can get my dad to help me buy it :P
@Twysta: Really :? I mean my current Desktop(which is barely better than the Laptop specs I found) can run Aion on high settings(according to canyourunit.com :P )

EDIT: Found an interesting laptop for its price,only I cant manage to find where they say what Video Card it has :banghead:
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetai ... atid=28239

EDIT2: I have another question ^_^ How does the AMD "ranking" system works?,(ex. Intel has Core2Duo,Core2Quad,i7 etc.) Quite confused with the whole Turion x2,Athlon x2 and Semprion x2 thing(what are the beat in order)

Re: "Mid-Level" Laptop Questions =)

Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 11:01 pm
by [SD]Twysta
Scrap Athlon from that "What are these" list :P

The Athlon series are desktop processors ;)

The phenom too, those are the desktop quad-cores.