Curse

jersiy34 · Jul 27, 2005, 05:10 AM // 05:10

I a'm thinking of buying the following notebook (really cheap). Will guildwars work with these 2 notebooks? The specs seem ok but I dont think the Integrated Graphics card will suffice.

IBM R50E
Intel Celeron 1.3 Ghz
Intel 855GM chipset
Intel Extreme Graphics
512 Ram
40 GB hard disk
DVD/Combo Drive

I also saw a notebook From HP (20% more expensive) but with the following specs
HP nx6120
Intel Celeron 1.3 Ghz
Intel 915GM chipset
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900
512 RAM
40GB hard disk
DVD/COmbo drive

Among the 2 I know the HP specs are better, but will I even notice the difference in performance between the 2 when running guildwars?

Please help me on the following:
1. Will guildwars work on both notebooks
2. Which do you think should I get?

Thanks in advance guys.

sledgeunderhill · Jul 27, 2005, 05:25 AM // 05:25

The IBM - it will run just fine - you'll need to run with graphics settings at the minimum.

I am using a T42 with a 1.7G Celeron M processor with the 64MB Radeon card and 1Gb of ram. As I've noted, the processor keeps up with the game quite well. The graphics card must run it at minimum settings - which looks rather ugly.

If you have the money to upgrade to one of the desktop replacement models (with the higher-end video), you'll be pleased.

I originally specified my machine to be good for work and to provide long battery life. GW was not in my considerations at the time.

jersiy34 · Jul 27, 2005, 05:32 AM // 05:32

Thanks Sledge. Do you think it will run better with the HP notebook? The price difference is quite high.. Would I even notice the difference? Thanks

Killion · Jul 27, 2005, 09:53 AM // 09:53

HP has a better video card, but since running your GW Game at full detail using a laptop isn't the best idea, since the cooling is minimum.

If you're planning to use the laptop for graphical applications, I'd pick the HP.

Jeddak · Jul 28, 2005, 08:18 PM // 20:18

My desktop (2.66 ghz) has the Intel Extreme Graphics (82865g) on board and although it looks and runs good it tends to crash every 5 to 30 minutes causing a hard reboot to be needed. Even with the latest drivers and using the lowest settings. Which is a shame since it runs very smooth even on the highest settings. Just food for thought.

sledgeunderhill · Jul 29, 2005, 05:41 PM // 17:41

When I spec'ed my laptop, I didn't want to pay the extra bucks to get the non-standard build that included the 128MB video card. Additionally, since it was a non-standard build, the warranty dropped from 3 year to 1 year.

Additionally, I knew that I was going to do mostly web development work (a little photoshop, some dreamweaver, email, mostly light stuff) and some Diablo, I knew that 64MB was going to be enough.

Then GW comes along and sometimes I wish I had a beefier card.

Oh well - my desktop machine is better anyhow.

You get what you pay for, especially with laptops. The T42 that I got was about $2k. I've seen some of my co-worker's Dells and HPs and I just didn't like the styling, finish, or usability.

The best thing that you can do for a laptop is give it as much ram as you can. It will make the HD access less frequent, giving better battery life.

Sorry about my rambling response.

jersiy34 · Jul 30, 2005, 05:10 AM // 05:10

Thanks for the help guys. I'll probably go for the HP. Hopefully things would turn out ok

aeroclown · Jul 30, 2005, 05:09 PM // 17:09

You can Get a good laptop for fairly cheap. Imo if you are going to do anything except use a word processor and browse the internet STAY AWAY FROM INTEL GRAPHIC CHIPSETS. They are not designed to be high end media gpus, they will not support you in playing almost any current game or performing anything that is taxing from video editing to Animation. Intel Graphic Chipsets are most often used in workstations where media and 3d applications are a non-issue. They most often come in packaged deals not becuase they are good, but becuase they are the cheapest of the cheap that you can get to bundle in a system.

Thats my 2 cents anyway. I'm sure some of you will probably disagree, but there isn't a day that I have used an intel based chipset on a platform someone intended for gaming and media that things have actually worked with out a hitch.

You can also run any game or application just the same on a laptop as you can on a desktop in most cases, just as long as you ensure proper air flow. I run things on my laptop sometimes higher then my desktop, however I use a cooling plate. Its a small usb powered contraption that sits under my laptop with a heat sink and 2 12 inch fans. Fairly inexpensive and would probably help the lot of you out there trying to use your laptop in high end situations and gaming like a desktop.