Curse

Stephen John · Jul 14, 2009, 07:45 PM // 19:45

So i finally saved up enough money to buy my self a laptop. I am looking to spend a maximum of $1000. I am mostly going to use it to play Guild Wars as one of the only games. I would like it to be able to run Guild Wars smoothly, give me a pretty nice FPS (at the moment i play with usually 15-20, bad isnt it?), and hopefully run GW2. I really have no idea what to look for in a graphics card or ram or processor or anything else.

With all that said, can someone point me into the right direction for a nice laptop. Any opinions or suggestions are welcomed. I'll check by every now and then to answer any questions and to look at suggestions.

So far these are what I have come up with:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834147918

Thanks in advance,
Stephen John

thanks to all who have helped I've purchased
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115540

Elder III · Jul 14, 2009, 08:55 PM // 20:55

That HP laptop features an HD3200 graphics chip - which is ok for GW, but if you are looking for something that will handle GW2 when it comes out (whenever that is hehe) a more powerful graphics option would be what I would aim for, esp if you can go up to $1000. Also, my personal experience with HP is BAD - so I'll admit that I am biased and then I will tell you to stay away from them. :P

This one packs a nice gaming punch (might be the best video card you will find in a laptop for under $1000) for a pretty low end price..... even although it's a beast in size and it's not so protable on a daily basis - it's still worth considering:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115594

Stephen John · Jul 14, 2009, 09:12 PM // 21:12

Alright thanks for the suggestion, Elder, size doesn't bother me to much. I'll def. consider it because of the price. Along with other laptops, can I get opinions on the one Elder III suggested and the one listed below. I bring this up because to me it is almost an identical laptop but only a little more after the $400 savings. Which of the two would be the better buy?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ica-_-34115548

Malician · Jul 15, 2009, 01:40 AM // 01:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen John

Alright thanks for the suggestion, Elder, size doesn't bother me to much. I'll def. consider it because of the price. Along with other laptops, can I get opinions on the one Elder III suggested and the one listed below. I bring this up because to me it is almost an identical laptop but only a little more after the $400 savings. Which of the two would be the better buy?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ica-_-34115548

CPU on the second is a little faster.. little more HD space. Don't see anything else skimming specs. Shouldn't matter.

Stephen John · Jul 16, 2009, 10:34 AM // 10:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malician

CPU on the second is a little faster.. little more HD space. Don't see anything else skimming specs. Shouldn't matter.

Alright Thanks. last question is the price difference worth that little extra stuff?

Quaker · Jul 16, 2009, 06:35 PM // 18:35

When I go to the second link it says "deactivated item"., so the price difference may be moot now.
Overall, as a general rule, I'd say you should look for a laptop with the best combination of cpu and gpu at the price you want. For best performance, you want a separate GPU chip (such as in those Acers) with it's own "dedicated" video RAM, like in the 6951 (the 6681 doesn't mention Video RAM).
Also, you may be able to find the best value in a laptop with an AMD cpu, but you'd really want to check sites such as Tom's Hardware, to get an idea of the relative performance of laptop cpus and gpus.

http://www.tomshardware.com

Stephen John · Jul 16, 2009, 09:02 PM // 21:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quaker

When I go to the second link it says "deactivated item"., so the price difference may be moot now.
Overall, as a general rule, I'd say you should look for a laptop with the best combination of cpu and gpu at the price you want. For best performance, you want a separate GPU chip (such as in those Acers) with it's own "dedicated" video RAM, like in the 6951 (the 6681 doesn't mention Video RAM).
Also, you may be able to find the best value in a laptop with an AMD cpu, but you'd really want to check sites such as Tom's Hardware, to get an idea of the relative performance of laptop cpus and gpus.

http://www.tomshardware.com

Alright Thanks, its just my luck its a "deactivated item" now lol... go figure.. is there anything wrong that might prevent me from running GW smoothly on the link Elder posted?
And maybe compare Elder's to
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115540

Quaker · Jul 17, 2009, 04:37 PM // 16:37

The one in your link is faster than Elder's (and has a larger hard drive), but Elder's has a bigger screen. They both have the same GPU (& video RAM) but they both have oddball screen resolutions. I haven't had much to do with Acer laptops. Acer is one of those companies that sometimes makes good stuff and sometimes makes crap, so you might want to look for reviews on them.

Here's an interesting one. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152087
It has a nice standard 1680x1050 display. I don't know how well the Turion compares to the Core 2 Duos in the Acers - I assume it would be slower.
(MSI is like Acer - check the reviews)

At any rate, there are so many variables - and I don't know your preferences - so without spending a bunch of time looking up laptops (which change constantly), I'll just repeat what I said (plus a bit).....

Take a look on various tech sites for charts about relative cpu and gpu performance and use them as a guide while looking at various models. You should aim for a discrete graphics gpu (definitely not ANY form of Intel graphics) with discrete video RAM. http://www.notebookcheck.net/Compari...rds.130.0.html
For a cpu, anything around the performance mark of a Core 2 Duo (mobile). http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-...st.2436.0.html
RAM - 3-4gigs
Hard drive - whatever - bigger and faster is better, but there is such a thing as big and fast enough.
OS - you might want to consider getting WinXP instead of Vista, but in any case, you may want to check and see (if you can), what sort of method is the OS delivered on. Some laptops only come with a copy of the OS on a partition of the hard drive, which you need/want to make a set of CD/DVDs from. Some come with actual CDs. Some have only a "restore" disk (or restore partition) which will only restore the laptop to it's original configuration (wiping the hard drive in the process).
Once you've found one that you like, google for reviews on it.

Stephen John · Jul 17, 2009, 08:28 PM // 20:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quaker

The one in your link is faster than Elder's (and has a larger hard drive), but Elder's has a bigger screen. They both have the same GPU (& video RAM) but they both have oddball screen resolutions. I haven't had much to do with Acer laptops. Acer is one of those companies that sometimes makes good stuff and sometimes makes crap, so you might want to look for reviews on them.

Here's an interesting one. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152087
It has a nice standard 1680x1050 display. I don't know how well the Turion compares to the Core 2 Duos in the Acers - I assume it would be slower.
(MSI is like Acer - check the reviews)

At any rate, there are so many variables - and I don't know your preferences - so without spending a bunch of time looking up laptops (which change constantly), I'll just repeat what I said (plus a bit).....

Take a look on various tech sites for charts about relative cpu and gpu performance and use them as a guide while looking at various models. You should aim for a discrete graphics gpu (definitely not ANY form of Intel graphics) with discrete video RAM. http://www.notebookcheck.net/Compari...rds.130.0.html
For a cpu, anything around the performance mark of a Core 2 Duo (mobile). http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-...st.2436.0.html
RAM - 3-4gigs
Hard drive - whatever - bigger and faster is better, but there is such a thing as big and fast enough.
OS - you might want to consider getting WinXP instead of Vista, but in any case, you may want to check and see (if you can), what sort of method is the OS delivered on. Some laptops only come with a copy of the OS on a partition of the hard drive, which you need/want to make a set of CD/DVDs from. Some come with actual CDs. Some have only a "restore" disk (or restore partition) which will only restore the laptop to it's original configuration (wiping the hard drive in the process).
Once you've found one that you like, google for reviews on it.

Alright Thanks again the added stuff helped A LOT ill go have a look around now.

dusanyu · Jul 17, 2009, 09:55 PM // 21:55

Panasonic Toughbook

http://www.panasonic.com/business/To...ughbook-30.asp

built like a tank and survives being ran over by a Semi will last you forever but be prepared to pay for it

/thread

Stephen John · Jul 19, 2009, 10:46 AM // 10:46

So i am planning to buy the laptop today, and so far it looks like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115540 .

Thanks to all who have helped. i purchased the above laptop.

Espadon · Jul 19, 2009, 03:36 PM // 15:36

^Above link doesn't work for me.

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np2098-...wconfigure=yes

Uglier than the HP book but I believe it has less heating issues. ATi card makes it snappier than 9600M based machines. Only tradeoff is wide 16:9 screen, but that's fine with a lot of people.

Elder III · Jul 20, 2009, 01:16 AM // 01:16

YOur purchase should serve you well... have fun!