Curse

Lourens · Jul 07, 2010, 10:03 AM // 10:03

Quote:

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.

7200rpm drives are not automaticly faster then 5400rpm drives redo your homework

Eazy Duz It · Jul 07, 2010, 04:52 PM // 16:52

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 · Jul 07, 2010, 07:33 PM // 19:33

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.

Elder III · Jul 07, 2010, 07:35 PM // 19:35

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.

tijo · Jul 08, 2010, 02:36 PM // 14:36

Quote:

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.

Yep, a 330 might do (redesign of the 9600M if i'm not mistaken), but forget the 310M, the 5650 is the better performing GPU. Acer also improved their products over the last few years. I still prefer ASUS, that's what i own at the moment, however they are more expensive.

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 · Jul 14, 2010, 09:40 PM // 21:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lourens

7200rpm drives are not automaticly faster then 5400rpm drives redo your homework

The mediocre 5400 rpm hard drive found in this class of laptop will not be faster than a 7200 rpm model, sorry.

Lord Sojar · Jul 15, 2010, 03:23 AM // 03:23

Quote:

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.

A difference, yes. A significant difference, no. Sacrificing GPU or CPU in favor of a measly 1,800 RPMs on a laptop HDD would be rather silly, in regards to gaming performance.

Found this too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115795

Very viable laptop, and more mobile than the other Acer.

Eazy Duz It · Jul 31, 2010, 03:52 AM // 03:52

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 · Jul 31, 2010, 07:11 AM // 07:11

Quote:

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.

Macbooks are overpriced, big time.

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 · Aug 02, 2010, 01:15 AM // 01:15

I would defiantley check out delluniversity.com. They have great deals on custom made laptops and additional student discounts.

N E D M · Aug 02, 2010, 04:53 AM // 04:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by runway

I would defiantley check out delluniversity.com. They have great deals on custom made laptops and additional student discounts.

dell is satan

Elder III · Aug 02, 2010, 12:57 PM // 12:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by N E D M

dell is satan

I wouldn't give them that much credit..... the Devil at least is powerful.... Dell computers are generally pretty darned wimpy imo.

NinjaNick · Aug 02, 2010, 06:11 PM // 18:11

Quote:

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.

What about Alienware? They're affiliated with Dell now. They're not too wimpy IMO.

tijo · Aug 02, 2010, 08:01 PM // 20:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by NinjaNick

What about Alienware? They're affiliated with Dell now. They're not too wimpy IMO.

Dellienwares are overpriced though. The studio XPS line isn't too wimpy either but the current generation of XPS16 is suffering from overheating issues.

NinjaNick · Aug 03, 2010, 10:12 AM // 10:12

Quote:

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.

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.

Quaker · Aug 03, 2010, 03:03 PM // 15:03

Quote:

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.

There is more to cpu performance than just clock speed. There's also the matter of how much is accomplished per clock cycle, or, conversely, how many clock cycles it takes to do something.
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 · Aug 03, 2010, 11:00 PM // 23:00

Quote:

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.

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.

tijo · Aug 03, 2010, 11:28 PM // 23:28

Quote:

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.

QFT! Building your own is probably the cheapest option. If you aren't sure how and don't have friends who can do it for you, there are always computer stores that can build one for you, think more of small places than places like best buy. It will cost you more than if you were to build your own, but you can choose and purchase the components from the store and then have them build the computer for you.

People here could also give you advice on what to put in your system.

NinjaNick · Aug 04, 2010, 12:12 PM // 12:12

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 · Aug 04, 2010, 08:22 PM // 20:22

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.