Hello all,
Im looking to potentially purchase a new laptop, which is capable of playing games at the level of Guild Wars and above as efficiently as possible. The only thing is I have a budget of 750$. So anywhere from 500-750$ is the price range Im looking in. Im not the most computer literate person when it comes to all the different parts of computer besides the basic RAM and Graphics card, but as far as what models are better and all that I have no clue. So, Im just looking for some recommendations. All input is appreciated!
Thanks!
Buying On A Budget
Eazy Duz It
Lord Sojar
This is the best I could find at the $750 range, as far as CPU vs GPU balance is concerned.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115796
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115796
Elder III
The laptop Lord Sojar linked to will blow through GW1 and GW2 ( I suspect) with ease, and will handle a great deal of other games well too. I'm not crazy about the 5400rpm hard drive, but it's still a good buy at that price. 
tijo
I agree, this is probably the best you can get in your budget. Most gaming laptops are rather expensive, >1000$ in some cases and >1500$ for most of them.
If you don't mind refurbished and last gen hardware, you could always look at this one. I'd be careful since some people experienced issues with it, it's the Best Buy version of the ASUS G72 and those are not exactly on par with the asus version. You can also ask at www.notebookreview.com, they have a forum dedicated to buying advice on notebooks.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220733
I still prefer the one suggested by Sojar for the most recent hardware, probably better battery life. You can easily change your HDD when the time comes when you need a faster one. 5400 RPM is enough for GW but you'll certainly appreciate a 7200RPM if you intend to play recent games.
If you don't mind refurbished and last gen hardware, you could always look at this one. I'd be careful since some people experienced issues with it, it's the Best Buy version of the ASUS G72 and those are not exactly on par with the asus version. You can also ask at www.notebookreview.com, they have a forum dedicated to buying advice on notebooks.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220733
I still prefer the one suggested by Sojar for the most recent hardware, probably better battery life. You can easily change your HDD when the time comes when you need a faster one. 5400 RPM is enough for GW but you'll certainly appreciate a 7200RPM if you intend to play recent games.
Lourens
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Originally Posted by Elder III
The laptop Lord Sojar linked to will blow through GW1 and GW2 ( I suspect) with ease, and will handle a great deal of other games well too. I'm not crazy about the 5400rpm hard drive, but it's still a good buy at that price.
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Lord Sojar
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Originally Posted by Lourens
I doubt it will blow through GW2 considering the slow processor
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The i3 is far from slow... it will eat GW2 like a fat man eating a doughnut.
Eazy Duz It
Cool thankyou guys, any other computers closer to 500-600 price range that you would recommend? Remember Im not needing a computer thatll be amazing for gaming. I just need one thatll work at a decent graphic level. Thanks again for all the input so far.
Lord Sojar
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Originally Posted by Eazy Duz It
Cool thankyou guys, any other computers closer to 500-600 price range that you would recommend? Remember Im not needing a computer thatll be amazing for gaming. I just need one thatll work at a decent graphic level. Thanks again for all the input so far.
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Anything lower than what I posted, and you are setting yourself up for disappointment. It doesn't get much better for $750 bucks my friend.
Blackhearted
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Originally Posted by Lord Sojar
The i3 is far from slow... it will eat GW2 like a fat man eating a doughnut.
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Personally, i'm inclined to agree with Lourens. A 2.2GHz dualcore of any flavor is not very speedy. Especially with an ever increasing number of games favoring quads these days.
Elder III
the i3 is worlds ahead of any other dual core my friend - it will handle GW2 just fine I'm sure - it's not like we are talking about a major FPS release like Crysis 2 etc. here. 
Eazy Duz It
Okay thankyou all for the input. I think my question has been answered then. Thanks for everything!
Showtime
If you didn't buy your gaming laptop yet, check fatwallet.com or slickdeals.net. They are pretty keen on gaming laptop deals and can help you get the most bang for the buck. Also many computer deals happen around september if you can wait. That's cuz back to school.
Dusk_
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Originally Posted by Blackhearted
That's quite an assumption to make for a game that we know nothing of the requirements of due to it being nowhere near even hitting beta yet.
Personally, i'm inclined to agree with Lourens. A 2.2GHz dualcore of any flavor is not very speedy. Especially with an ever increasing number of games favoring quads these days. |
A lot of games aren't even designed with multiprocessing in mind, and you could count the high-requirement games that properly utilize Quad cores on a single hand.
At this current time, anything that will cause a 2.2 dual core any issues is a very poorly programmed game (like Crysis, which is pathetically inefficient).
Lourens
Gta4 uses quad cores and is from april 2008... since gw2 is gonna be a mmo it will make good use of quad cores
Elder III
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Originally Posted by Lourens
Gta4 uses quad cores and is from april 2008... since gw2 is gonna be a mmo it will make good use of quad cores
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A better example would be Bad Company II - but I promise that GW2 won't take anywheres near the graphix muscle to max out on a 22" LCD that it does for this game. XD
Lord Sojar
I think the vast majority of you are failing to understand a key element in programming. Multi core support isn't defined... it's a load balancing feature. Games can support 2, 4, 8, 16 cores. How parallel they are depends heavily on the engine. Considering GW2 is using a modified version of the GW1 engine, it stands (heavily I might add) to reason that it will utilize a single or dual core CPU best, and will be GPU bound.
The other fact is, you don't throw current quad core CPUs into a laptop and expect good battery life. And, before any of you try it, HyperThreading a quad core does not make, so don't even go there.
The other fact is, you don't throw current quad core CPUs into a laptop and expect good battery life. And, before any of you try it, HyperThreading a quad core does not make, so don't even go there.
Snograt
Hyperthreading a quadcore does not make ...what?
Sense?
It faster?
Breakfast?
Sense?
It faster?
Breakfast?
Lord Sojar
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Originally Posted by Snograt
Hyperthreading a quadcore does not make ...what?
Sense? It faster? Breakfast? |
Hyperthreading doesn't make a dual core CPU into a true quad core.
Eazy Duz It
I think I may have found an option that I can buy at my local best buy. It seems to compare to the Acer Sojar mentioned above. Ive learned alot looking at PCs lately, and it seems to be very comparable actually. It has the i3 which everyone is saying I should get if not higher which the acer also has. Its a little more travel friendly, (3.5lbs lighter t han the acer) however with that 3.5 lbs or so comes 3 inches off the screen (not a big deal). With this Asus I see that I am also stepping up the size of the hard drive to 500gbs instead of 320. Plus it also comes with a dedicated graphics card which I think is probably good for handling GW and other similar mmo's at max settings or close. I dont need anything spectacular that can handle crysis at max settings or anything along those lines. Anyways heres the link tell me what you guys think
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+L...&skuId=9964891
It looks very comparable and its more convenient as far as not having to pay for shipping and being able to deal with my local store. not to mention its far more travel friendly, but seems to have nearly as much power and everything it needs to handle the games Im looking at.
Lets get some opinions on this though.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+L...&skuId=9964891
It looks very comparable and its more convenient as far as not having to pay for shipping and being able to deal with my local store. not to mention its far more travel friendly, but seems to have nearly as much power and everything it needs to handle the games Im looking at.
Lets get some opinions on this though.
cebalrai
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Originally Posted by Eazy Duz It
I think I may have found an option that I can buy at my local best buy. It seems to compare to the Acer Sojar mentioned above. Ive learned alot looking at PCs lately, and it seems to be very comparable actually. It has the i3 which everyone is saying I should get if not higher which the acer also has. Its a little more travel friendly, (3.5lbs lighter t han the acer) however with that 3.5 lbs or so comes 3 inches off the screen (not a big deal). With this Asus I see that I am also stepping up the size of the hard drive to 500gbs instead of 320. Plus it also comes with a dedicated graphics card which I think is probably good for handling GW and other similar mmo's at max settings or close. I dont need anything spectacular that can handle crysis at max settings or anything along those lines. Anyways heres the link tell me what you guys think
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+L...&skuId=9964891 It looks very comparable and its more convenient as far as not having to pay for shipping and being able to deal with my local store. not to mention its far more travel friendly, but seems to have nearly as much power and everything it needs to handle the games Im looking at. Lets get some opinions on this though. |
I'd never buy either of these laptops because they have 5400 rpm hard drives which are old and slow. Why spend a lot of money for a bunch of fast parts just to have your system waiting on a sluggish hard drive? Starting any program, transferring data, loading Windows, and loading Guild Wars maps will all be slower than they should be because of those hard drives.
7200 rpm laptop hard drives aren't much more expensive than 5400's. But manufacturers are looking to cut corners wherever they can.
Lourens
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Originally Posted by cebalrai
I'd never buy either of these laptops because they have 5400 rpm hard drives which are old and slow. Why spend a lot of money for a bunch of fast parts just to have your system waiting on a sluggish hard drive? Starting any program, transferring data, loading Windows, and loading Guild Wars maps will all be slower than they should be because of those hard drives.
7200 rpm laptop hard drives aren't much more expensive than 5400's. But manufacturers are looking to cut corners wherever they can. |
Eazy Duz It
I dont need the best laptop in the world that can handle every game... Max settings blah blah blah. I want one that can handle most mmos and maybe an fps at maybe mid settings or something like that. A 5400rpm seems to be the standard for most laptops in the price range Im looking in. And based on what Ive heard everything about the Acer will be able to handle GW, GW2 etc and still shine. Ty for the info though. Im afraid I just dont have that extra money I want to spend trying to save money to be honest =P.
Elder III
THe one Lord Sojar linked to is lots better for gaming... and worth the extra money too
- remember that at Besty Buy you will pay tax, at Newegg.com you won't so the cost of shipping is negated, at most you are spending an extra $20-25 and the bigger and better screen (gaming on a 14" totally sux btw) a better CPU and a much much better GPU - alos Asus is a better brand imo.
Get the one he linked too, for the minimal price difference it's worth it.
- remember that at Besty Buy you will pay tax, at Newegg.com you won't so the cost of shipping is negated, at most you are spending an extra $20-25 and the bigger and better screen (gaming on a 14" totally sux btw) a better CPU and a much much better GPU - alos Asus is a better brand imo.
Get the one he linked too, for the minimal price difference it's worth it.
Elder III
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-...M.22439.0.html
check that out - the 5650 is near the top of Class 2 mobile graphics cards/chips - the 310 is down in the Class 3 bracket.... Of course it's good enough for GW1, but I wouldn't count on it doing nearly as well in GW2, let alone other newer games.
check that out - the 5650 is near the top of Class 2 mobile graphics cards/chips - the 310 is down in the Class 3 bracket.... Of course it's good enough for GW1, but I wouldn't count on it doing nearly as well in GW2, let alone other newer games.
tijo
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Originally Posted by Elder III
check that out - the 5650 is near the top of Class 2 mobile graphics cards/chips - the 310 is down in the Class 3 bracket.... Of course it's good enough for GW1, but I wouldn't count on it doing nearly as well in GW2, let alone other newer games.
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Notebookcheck isn't entirely accurate but usually they have it right and they're the best reference for mobile GPUs that i know of. It's hard to compare laptop GPUs since the rest of the hardware is also different.
cebalrai
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Originally Posted by Lourens
7200rpm drives are not automaticly faster then 5400rpm drives redo your homework
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Lord Sojar
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Originally Posted by cebalrai
The mediocre 5400 rpm hard drive found in this class of laptop will not be faster than a 7200 rpm model, sorry.
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Found this too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115795
Very viable laptop, and more mobile than the other Acer.
Eazy Duz It
New question - Ive saved up quite a bit and am considering purchasing this laptop for college in a year. The Macbook Pro has really caught my eye, but Im not so sure. If Ive understood correctly you can play Windows games on a Macbook Pro if you get a certain program? VMware or bootcamp I beleive? How does the Macbook handle a game like crysis on mid-low settings. And honestly What is the bare minimum you want your PC's FPS for it not to be choppy? Around 30 FPS? My price range is now around 800-1000$. Yes I know the Macbook is more expensive but saving up for it is a possibility if its worth doing so.
Lord Sojar
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Originally Posted by Eazy Duz It
New question - Ive saved up quite a bit and am considering purchasing this laptop for college in a year. The Macbook Pro has really caught my eye, but Im not so sure. If Ive understood correctly you can play Windows games on a Macbook Pro if you get a certain program? VMware or bootcamp I beleive? How does the Macbook handle a game like crysis on mid-low settings. And honestly What is the bare minimum you want your PC's FPS for it not to be choppy? Around 30 FPS? My price range is now around 800-1000$. Yes I know the Macbook is more expensive but saving up for it is a possibility if its worth doing so.
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If your budget is 800-1000 now, I'd recommend a nice ASUS notebook. It will easily go head to head with a Macbook pro, and beat it in power hands down.
This ASUS will play Crysis on mid settings, and should chew through GW2 at high to max settings.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220696
Pushing your budget into the Macbook Pro range, you can get something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152196
^ That will play Crysis on high (not max obviously) and GW2 on all max settings. Also, the price is very reasonable. MSI, from what I've seen, makes pretty good notebooks as well, similar in quality to Acer, and sometimes just as good as ASUS.
runway
I would defiantley check out delluniversity.com. They have great deals on custom made laptops and additional student discounts.
N E D M
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Originally Posted by runway
I would defiantley check out delluniversity.com. They have great deals on custom made laptops and additional student discounts.
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Elder III
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Originally Posted by N E D M
dell is satan
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NinjaNick
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Originally Posted by Elder III
I wouldn't give them that much credit..... the Devil at least is powerful.... Dell computers are generally pretty darned wimpy imo.
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tijo
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Originally Posted by NinjaNick
What about Alienware? They're affiliated with Dell now. They're not too wimpy IMO.
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NinjaNick
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Originally Posted by tijo
Dellienwares are overpriced though. The studio XPS line isn't too wimpy either but the current generation of XPS16 is suffering from overheating issues.
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What's the skinny for some good gaming desktops other than Alienware? I'd like to buy a new computer within the next year and I'm curious what some of my options are.
Quaker
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Originally Posted by Blackhearted
Personally, i'm inclined to agree with Lourens. A 2.2GHz dualcore of any flavor is not very speedy. Especially with an ever increasing number of games favoring quads these days.
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It's like - which can get more stuff to the destination faster - a Corvette travelling at 200kph or an 18-wheeler at 100kph. The Corvette will get there faster but would have to make umpteen trips to carry the same load as the 18-wheeler.
Or, it's like saying a car with an engine that runs at 10,000 rpm must be more powerful than one who's engine only turns at 8,000rpm.
Elder III
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Originally Posted by NinjaNick
You got that right! They are rediculously expensive. I custom built a desktop before that was over $13,000! Insane! I didn't buy it, I was just playing around. That's a new car almost! ha-ha.
What's the skinny for some good gaming desktops other than Alienware? I'd like to buy a new computer within the next year and I'm curious what some of my options are. |
tijo
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Originally Posted by Elder III
Build your own, by far the best value for your buck... or seriously if you live in the central part of the state pm me what you want and I'll build it for you.
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People here could also give you advice on what to put in your system.
NinjaNick
Thanks guys! Yeah, I'm sure I could probably build one. I'll look into it this tax return.
Elder III - Dayton here.
Elder III - Dayton here.
Elder III
Yeah, when the time comes and you're ready to make a purchase, just make a thread here about it and put down your budget and the games you want to play and you will have lots of good suggestions to choose from.