Laptop help please

[Shmily1]

linnylu, I just got an email from Dell with a 25% off coupon code for Alienware laptops from the Dell Outlet. If you're not signed up with them and see something on there you want, pm me and I will let you know about it.

 

[sbakersub]

One way to get Dell codes, or info on other available good laptop deals is to check out techbargains dot com. It's helped me several times...

 

[linnylu]

It's me again and I'm still looking at laptops on new egg.com that will play the new SWOR when it comes out, as well as Sims 3- which my kids are getting for Christmas.

I was interested in :ASUS A53SV-NH51 Notebook Intel Core i5 2430M(2.40GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory DDR3 640GB HDD 5400rpm DL DVD±RW/CD-RW NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M



but a review from someone said, " if you don't want a desktop computer and you want a good gaming laptop, then don't buy anything that has intel graphics, ATI or Raedon is better".

Is this true, and therefore I shouldn't buy this laptop? Looking to spend around $700.


Can anyone tell if any of the Dells on tech bargains dot com would be good for gaming? They have several on there.

 

[dansamy]

For what you want, the Nvidia GeForce 540m is the minimum graphics you need. Intel GMA or Intel HD won't cut it.

 

[momto2inKC]

You are definitely going to want/need something better than Intel on board graphics. We tend to prefer Nvidia/GeForce graphics cards.

 

[Nayan]

You will definitely need one that has a dedicated graphics card and a good amount of ram. Unfortunately those cost a pretty penny and for the price of one of those you could build an awesome desktop and I am sure that's not what you want to hear. I build my own desktops so I can run games smoothly and the last laptop I bought for gaming cost me well over $1200 with a dedicated card.

 

[thomas998]

Two options... Go to Dell and then look at their alienware laptops for gaming.. You can find the base model for 899 and it will work for what you want. If you want a cheaper solution goto Newegg and they have a refurbed M11x on sale for 639 (slightly older shipset using the older core 2 duo and Nvidia Geforece GT 335M video but it would be a possible cheaper alternative.

In the end you just can't run a high end game on a laptop without paying for it. I have a macbook pro with a dedicated graphics card and it doesn't do half as well as my older slower desktop with a high end graphics card... I know you want to be able to buy him a laptop to do everything, but that really isn't going to be feasible unless you shell out a lot of money... probably more than you want to spend... Even the low end alienware laptops aren't going to give you as good a performance as a desktop designed for gaming.

 

[dansamy]

This one is on sale at newegg for BF.

And Tiger Direct has this one

 

[linnylu]

I have spent quite a bit of time looking at laptops.

Here are 3 choices:

1. ASUS A53SV-TH71 15.6" Black Laptop at newegg for $599.99
Powerful components; 2nd Generation Intel Core i7-2670QM 2.2GHz processor and 4GB of DDR3 1333 Memory give you a truly versatile computing platform
Dedicated graphics; NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M graphics (1GB VRAM)
Widescreen display; 15.6-inch display with 1366 x 768 resolution
Additional features; include 640GB hard drive and DVD Dual Layer Drive

2. Option 2 is Alienware but the customizing is mind boggling to me. I need one that will play the new stars wars old republic and Sims 3 for my ds.
My dh won't be home from duty in Afghanistan until March at the earliest and isn't able to help me with this decision.

3. Option 3 is from the Dell OUtlet and is a XPS 17 for $1100. I'm kind of leaning toward this one unless someone here tells me that it isn't a good choice. I'm worried my girls won't like the alienware. It seems kindof obnoxious
XPS 17 - L702X System Details

Processor: Intel Core i7-2630QM processor (2.00 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, XPS L702X
640 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM), 6 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
16X Blu-ray Disc Combo (DVD+/-RW + BD-ROM), NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M 3GB graphics with Optimus

 

[linnylu]

Well, I bit the bullet and ordered a laptop and pre-ordered star wars old republic for my ds. I hope that it works!

ASUS G74 Series G74SX-XN1 Notebook Intel Core i7 2630QM(2.00GHz) 17.3" 12GB Memory DDR3 1333 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M

I was wondering if anyone has any advice on a gaming mouse to order? Should it be wireless?

 

[dansamy]

I like the Razer products. Wired vs wireless is a personal choice. I personally don't care either way.

Good laptop, btw. Where'd you end up ordering it?

 

[linnylu]

I ordered it from new egg on cyber Monday.

I wonder if I should wait and let my son pick out the mouse. Many of the reviews I've read talk about personal preference.

 

[dansamy]

There are two basic mouse grips. Claw and palm. And different grips prefer different shapes for their mice. My DH hates the hyper-speed of my mouse, but I need it for PvP. He only plays PvE so it's not as big of a deal to him.

 

[taaren]

DH wanted at least quad core to play his games, but I wanted a budget laptop, so we bought him this Toshiba on Newegg for $400, which should last a little longer. I think the special ran out and its up to $429 now, still a great deal.

Edited to add: See that you selected something already. You're a very nice mom! Hope your son enjoys his new toy!

 

[dansamy]

Prior to your edit, I saw the HP that you linked. No, it's not enough graphics power for SW:ToR.

SW:ToR is an MMO. You will need a PC capable of rendering multiple player character models in real time. In certain populous cities and areas, you may be displaying hundreds of player characters in addition to the static environment of the game world.

While the previously linked HP's graphics aren't bottom of the barrel, they aren't hefty enough to handle that at high-res. With everything on low, it will be capable of laggy 20fps play. You try PvP at 20fps.

The Toshiba your husband bought has AMD's new fusion APU (accelerated processing unit, which combines graphics and central processing power onto one die) and it has much better graphics performance than the old integrated graphics. For anyone shopping for a budget laptop, get the A series AMD over an equivalently priced Intel with Intel's GMA integrated graphics. You'll be able to run some games with varying amounts of success, depending on how graphics intensive it is.

For comparison's sake: 6310 vs 6520. I know that's a lot of techy info, but if you scroll all the way down to the bottom, you can see some real game benchmarks.

Oh and WoW is a terrible game to judge a graphics card's performance because Blizzard deliberately went with a low polygon count on the in-game 3d models to reduce the workload on graphics processing.

 

[linnylu]

Shoot- so I could have gotten away with something for $429 vs $1000?! My dh won't be too happy with me when he gets back if that is the case.

 

[Fyrefly]

Prior to your edit, I saw the HP that you linked. No, it's not enough graphics power for SW:ToR.

SW:ToR is an MMO. You will need a PC capable of rendering multiple player character models in real time. In certain populous cities and areas, you may be displaying hundreds of player characters in addition to the static environment of the game world.

While the previously linked HP's graphics aren't bottom of the barrel, they aren't hefty enough to handle that at high-res. With everything on low, it will be capable of laggy 20fps play. You try PvP at 20fps.

The Toshiba your husband bought has AMD's new fusion APU (accelerated processing unit, which combines graphics and central processing power onto one die) and it has much better graphics performance than the old integrated graphics. For anyone shopping for a budget laptop, get the A series AMD over an equivalently priced Intel with Intel's GMA integrated graphics. You'll be able to run some games with varying amounts of success, depending on how graphics intensive it is.

For comparison's sake: 6310 vs 6520. I know that's a lot of techy info, but if you scroll all the way down to the bottom, you can see some real game benchmarks.

Oh and WoW is a terrible game to judge a graphics card's performance because Blizzard deliberately went with a low polygon count on the in-game 3d models to reduce the workload on graphics processing.

I'd skip that and tell anybody who ever wants to play anything better than a Facebook game to just get a discrete graphics card. No matter what. If you expect to game on your PC you need to splurge for one, otherwise go buy an Xbox or something.

I was beta testing ToR and it's actually more intensive than it's minimum specs have led people to believe. They're getting a bit of flak for that from their testers so it's probably for the best to get the nicer machine, it's more likely to run the thing properly in the end and have a longer life in which to play new games.

Incidentally though, part of my issue with ToR is I have a PC with a GeForce 540M which switches on and off to save battery power. Apparently their current client did not switch the graphics so I ran the thing off of my Intel integrated graphics at low resolution for a weekend. Couldn't figure out why running it was so hard. Then some other people with my card figured it out. Discrete graphics cards make ALL the difference.

 

[taaren]

Shoot- so I could have gotten away with something for $429 vs $1000?! My dh won't be too happy with me when he gets back if that is the case.

You could have gotten away with it and he could have played the games for a couple of years ... but the nice laptop you got will play it much better, and last a few years longer. This is a budget board, so I posted a budget option.

Personally I didn't want DH to have a laptop so nice that he stops surfacing to pay attention to DS5 and me! Also, since I just finished my Master's and my pay will be increasing in about a month so I'm anticipating we'll have more cash for luxuries in a three to four years when the $400 will need replacing then maybe I'll be okay with us spending a little more to get the top of the line graphics cards he wants. Atm, I wanted the cheapest computer that would play SWTOR decently. And my friends are currently playing it on laptops that are a few years old with Dual-core AMD processors, 3 GB of RAM, and the NVidia cards that were hot a couple of years back, so I knew this one would be okay. (They're more the COH types than WoW, btw.)

You got a wonderful computer for your son at a price that was right for you, so rest easy and enjoy his expression when he opens it since you'll be looking at the back of his head for awhile after while he's playing games.

 

[dansamy]

Shoot- so I could have gotten away with something for $429 vs $1000?! My dh won't be too happy with me when he gets back if that is the case.

Nooo! Not for SW:ToR. The lower end A series APUs wouldn't be enough. Maybe on the lowest settings, but it wouldn't be much fun. I meant light gaming, older games, etc. ~$700-800 is the lowest you can expect to pay for something that will play today's current crop of MMOs/FPSs/etc. You have to remember not only is WoW a low-poly game, but it's also 6-7 years old now.

I'd skip that and tell anybody who ever wants to play anything better than a Facebook game to just get a discrete graphics card. No matter what. If you expect to game on your PC you need to splurge for one, otherwise go buy an Xbox or something.

I was beta testing ToR and it's actually more intensive than it's minimum specs have led people to believe. They're getting a bit of flak for that from their testers so it's probably for the best to get the nicer machine, it's more likely to run the thing properly in the end and have a longer life in which to play new games.

Incidentally though, part of my issue with ToR is I have a PC with a GeForce 540M which switches on and off to save battery power. Apparently their current client did not switch the graphics so I ran the thing off of my Intel integrated graphics at low resolution for a weekend. Couldn't figure out why running it was so hard. Then some other people with my card figured it out. Discrete graphics cards make ALL the difference.

Coincidentally, a laptop with at least a 540M is what I've been telling linnylu was the least she should buy for her DS. She chose one with a 560, which should give him 2 years or so before needing the next upgrade in hardware.

Linnylu, I think your son will be well pleased.

 

[linnylu]

The laptop arrived from newegg today. That was quick! And luckily it came while the kids were at school. I didn't realize that it was a Republic of Gamers laptop when I ordered it- it says it in large print on the box, so ds will be happy the second he opens it. The downside is that it is pretty heavy- 8 pounds. I failed to realize it said 4 kg and not 4 pounds when I was looking at the specs.

This is our family santa gift, so my younger 3 children will all share it. I think it also has a camera so they'll be able to Skype with my dh on Christmas day if the connection can be made.

Anyway, thanks for all of the help. I greatly appreciate it.