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View Full Version : Laptop Advice Needed


Horsepower844182
05-14-2006, 08:46 PM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834220070

I'm thinking about this one. Definitely one of the first things it would get would would be a RAM upgrade.

Kinda iffy about the integrated graphics but I don't think it would be that big of a problem :shrug: .

It'll be mostly used for school work and such with the occasional game here and there during breaks.

Any ideas? Any other suggestions about a laptop in the $800-$1000 range?
andrew.brandon
05-14-2006, 08:58 PM
if your really worried about intergrated graphics, alienware sells the 5700 series with a nvidia 6800 vid card starting at $1300. its not going to be much cheeper than that for non intergrated graphics.
Horsepower844182
05-14-2006, 09:01 PM
Yeah...I just wish laptop were as upgradable as desktops...

But I'm not familiar with laptop performance. How would it perform with 1-1.5Gigs of RAM depending on how much I can dedicate to graphics?
andrew.brandon
05-14-2006, 09:14 PM
Yeah...I just wish laptop were as upgradable as desktops...

But I'm not familiar with laptop performance. How would it perform with 1-1.5Gigs of RAM depending on how much I can dedicate to graphics?not that much with intergrated graphics. the drawback with intergrated is the lack of pixel and shader pipelines. on 3dmark03 my intergrated graphics scored something like a 59. but my fx5200 scored a 900 and the 6800 was like 6000.
Horsepower844182
05-14-2006, 09:20 PM
A 59? Ouch.

Say I wanted to run Half Life 2...it's pretty scaleable...wonder how it would run? It doesn't have to have any fancy effects..just the game.
andrew.brandon
05-14-2006, 09:28 PM
unless intel extreme graphics support pixel shader 2.0 it won't run. I can't think of any other intergrated graphics chipset that would support it.
nikon
05-14-2006, 10:21 PM
The best brand laptop I can recommend is a toshiba, and the satelite series is right in your price range, the widescreen qosimos (sp?) are somewhere around 13-1500 I think, but packs alot of power, you might wanna check costco or sams, they usually have great deals on laptops.
Vtolds
05-15-2006, 07:22 AM
What ever you do dont buy a dell. Stick with a Toshiba^ or a HP or Compaq. Get a Alienware if you seriously want to game on it, but I bet you will find it is a pain in the ass. The Alienware Area-51 m5700, I believe should have enough gaming power but is 300 dollars out of your budget.
1LoudCamaro
05-15-2006, 07:36 AM
Kinda iffy about the integrated graphics but I don't think it would be that big of a problem :shrug:

If you dont play games, then dont worry about it... but if you are looking to play games like HF2, forget it.
ellik
05-15-2006, 09:04 AM
I have 1280Mb of Ram in my HP laptop (AMD Turion ML34 processor) and have run some games on it without any problems. Im not a big PC gamer and havent tried Half Life or anything like that, but I was relatively impressed with the capeability of the laptop. 128mb of integrated graphics taken from my 1GB stick and 1 stock 256 stick.

Oh, and I only paid $800 for my laptop and $99 for the memory upgrade.
Horsepower844182
05-15-2006, 09:12 AM
So what games have you run on it?

Like I said...I'm not expecting drop dead gorgeous graphics...I just want the game to run.
Vtolds
05-15-2006, 09:25 AM
^if it can't play Oblivion than it isnt worth it.
Grimm
05-15-2006, 10:23 AM
IMO, "laptop" and "Computer games" do not belong in the same sentence when talking about a sub $1000 laptop. It just isn't going to happen easily, if at all if you're talking about playing the latest and greatest games. If you wanna play games cheaply, buy a desktop. Laptop in that pricerange is good for surfing the web and word processing and maybe watching some DVDs when you get bored. That's about it.
ellik
05-15-2006, 10:46 AM
Old school 'Heroes of Might and Magic III & IV' and some newer rpg that my little brother gave me. I'll have to check the title when I get home.
Horsepower844182
05-15-2006, 12:15 PM
Ok...I think I did a little better this time...

http://www.abs.com/app/g3_specs.asp

On sale for ~$1000. A guy I know in Comp. Maint. has one and it seems like a really nice computer for the price. At least this one has a separate graphics card. This and a 512MB upgrade and I think it would be good.

Anyone knows anything about the company? I've never really heard of them :shrug:
ellik
05-15-2006, 03:14 PM
looks like a good deal.
andrew.brandon
05-15-2006, 07:26 PM
I would jump on it.
Horsepower844182
05-16-2006, 09:36 PM
Ok...so I ordered the Mayhem G3.

Hopefully everything goes well with the order and I have me a shiney new laptop next Friday. :)

Of course as soon as I send off my order I see some reviews saying the company doesn't have the best customer service...I just hope I don't have to deal with them....:(
1LoudCamaro
05-16-2006, 09:47 PM
Ok...so I ordered the Mayhem G3.

Hopefully everything goes well with the order and I have me a shiney new laptop next Friday. :)

Of course as soon as I send off my order I see some reviews saying the company doesn't have the best customer service...I just hope I don't have to deal with them....:(

If you know some people that deal well with computers, and dont have any components fail on you in the warranty period, then you should be alright and wont need their customer service.
Horsepower844182
05-16-2006, 09:50 PM
If you know some people that deal well with computers, and dont have any components fail on you in the warranty period, then you should be alright and wont need their customer service.

Deal with computers? I deal with computers lol.

I'm not worried about the actual work because I can do all that. (Didn't take two years of Computer Maintenence for nothing :) ) But if a part goes out I just might be f-ed.

::prays::