Generic Laptop Critique

EDITTEDDDDDDDdddddddddddDDDDDD:
as of right now, i have narrowed everything down to any laptop within the acer aspire timelinex series, because it balances looks with.. semi-solid innards.
i mean i could go for an acer aspire for money's sake but it's probably gonna be living with me for the next 3 years so i want something that will keep me satisfied for that long while.

maybe i'm not looking in the right places but i just want a computer with a graphics card that can run GW1 (maybe GW2?) at max settings. along with assassins creed, etc.
need desperate help. been spending hours every night looking and i always end up with nothing

i gots this in mind:
http://www.amazon.com/A53SV-XE1-15-6.../ref=de_a_smtd

That laptop will handle GW1 fine at high/max settings. It's going to struggle with GW2 however. It's a nice laptop, for 2 years ago.... You ought to be able to play GW2, but I would expect you will be limited to low towards medium settings if you want playable FPS.

For around 800$, you should be able to find something with a sandy bridge i5 and something like a GT425m which should be at least on par with the 8600m. You'll probably be stuck with a 1366x768 screen though. 16:10 ratio screens are hard to find in laptops now, i'm pretty sure you can still get them in business oriented notebooks but those tend to be more expensive.

Here's a few:
Latest Hardware
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152256
A generation old but better than what you listed
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834214190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834230024
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152219

I didn't list anything above 15" since you seem to want some portability. The RPM of the HDD will only affect load times so you can cope with a 5.4K RPM drive if you need to.

At max settings, you may see the framerate dip a bit under 30 sometimes in eotn when it gets busy. It did on my asus N50: C2D P8600 2.4GHz, 4GB DDR2 800MHz, 9650M GT 1GB DDR2 (you'll get a bit more fps if your 8600 is running on GDDR3) 1440x900 res.

EDIT: didn't check the date before posting oops...

sorry, i'm a big stickler on build and aesthetics and i'm not looking towards lugging around a thick rock around campus (no offense, i've been stuck with very ugly hand-me-down pieces of plastic and i want to indulge myself since this is my first personal laptop)


i'm sorta narrowing things down to an ASUS U35JC-A1 (http://www.abesofmaine.com/item.do?i...010&l=FROOGLE#) but the graphics card worries me (concerned for my GW2 playability future)

and i am looking into this (http://www.amazon.com/Acer-TimelineX...55968&sr =8-1) the graphics card is kinda better but iunno.. (the design is kinda a turnoff but if it is perfect everywhere else then i'll go with it)

as for recommendations now, i don't think i'll deviate far from the acer aspire timelinex or ASUS U-series much unless you guys know of a particular sexy laptop (brushed metal, multitouch trackpad, thin profile (like less than an inch), etc) then do let me know

The Acer has a way better GPU, avoid the 310m, the 6550 will at least give you decent playability (at least on low) at 768p. Well pick one that you like of course, but believe me the ones i listed are by no means thick laptops. My G73 is thick: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-021-_-Product. I have a different G73 model but the chassis is the same just to get an idea of what thick is .

One thing you can do is go to best buy, check the models they have there to get an idea of how thick models similar to the ones that interest you are and then buy online. If you want to add insult to injury then buy it on your smartphone while you're in the showroom , just kidding. By the way if you want it to be able to run GW2 you'll need a dedicated GPU on your laptop and this means it will have to be a bit bigger.

well i guess the ASUS one is ruled out..

what about http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220951?

I just linked the G73 for the sake of thickness lols (2.20" at the back makes it rather bulky). Anyways here's a review of the K42J, i find notebookreviews' reviews to be rather accurate: http://www.notebookreview.com/defaul...42jc+k42 jca1. They tested a JC, but aside from GPU differences, the rest should be the same hardware wise.

THe 6470 peformance: http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Rad...M.43075.0.html. Ideally, you'd want a class 1 or 2 GPU, the 6470 is a class 3 but should ensure playability at low settings for GW2.

EDIT: Here's some other budget options: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834215003
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115987

At $800 if you want some gaming capability, you'll to make a compromise somewhere. Anyways look for reviews of the laptop that interest you. What i would look for in your case is battery life, screen quality, noise and overall build quality.

resurrecting my old thread

as of right now, i have narrowed everything down to any laptop within the acer aspire timelinex series, because it balances looks with.. semi-solid innards.
i mean i could go for an acer aspire for money's sake but it's probably gonna be living with me for the next 3 years so i want something that will keep me satisfied for that long while.

maybe i'm not looking in the right places but i just want a computer with a graphics card that can run GW1 (maybe GW2?) at max settings. along with assassins creed, etc.
need desperate help. been spending hours every night looking and i always end up with nothing

i have this in mind:
http://www.amazon.com/A53SV-XE1-15-6.../ref=de_a_smtd

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...a5639dcf1a479e

Bit of a monster but it'll play both GW1 AND GW2

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...bf0055c8c24676

I've got a Lenovo Y570 it runs GW maxed out and should easily run GW2.



2.3 Ghz Intel Core i5 2410m, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, nVidia GeForce GT 555m.