Curse

eidolona · Nov 17, 2009, 04:14 AM // 04:14

I'm going to be buying a new laptop soon, and at the moment I'm considering one of the following two. I'm not really sure which would work better, so I was hoping some of you could shed some light for me. (If there's going to be any difference, that is.) Also as to how well they'll play GW, and games in general. They're close enough in price that that's not really a deciding factor, just fyi.

Laptop 1 ; Laptop 2

Really the only two differences are the size of the HD and the processor types. I was told by one person the i7 will be faster since it's quad-core, but another person pointed out that if GW can only utilize one core it actually probably wouldn't be faster. Anyway, any advice is appreciated!

Thanks.

Wrath Of Dragons · Nov 17, 2009, 04:56 AM // 04:56

Price doesnt matter at all? Get the i7 one then. Pretty similar other then that. You lose some ghz compared to the dual core, but i am fond of the i7s and the quad cores. I dont think you will gain 250$ worth of performance, but the i7 is definitely a better processor imo.

And your friend is right: GW will only use 1 core. But most modern software will be better at scaling for multiple cores.

moriz · Nov 17, 2009, 01:40 PM // 13:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by vonwn115

in my opinion,neither of them.the first one ,the processor is very slow for games,yes the hdd is very nice,but if it works very slowly,what do the large hdd use for ?the second one ,the processor is nery nice,2.53gb,hdd is general,but the video card is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M ,not so worthy for that price,and why don't you take this HP Pavilion dv4t ?cpu is 2.26gb,500gb hdd,6GB DDR3 ,Webcam + Fingerprint Reader ,it is for $949,i think this one would be better than yours.just a reference.hope it helps.

ignore this guy, he has no idea what he's talking about. both of your choices will demolish his recommendation in gaming. seriously, compare a G 105M to a GTX 260M? you might as well compare a Pinto to a Ferrari.

i personally like the core i7 system, even with its lower clock speed. core i7 is faster clock for clock compared to core 2, so you'll likely not miss out on any single threaded performance while gaining the additional cores. it also features hyper threading, which allows each core to handle two threads. this will theoretically give that processor 8 threads total.

one thing to keep in mind is that the battery life is likely going to suck, especially for the core i7 computer. if mobility is a concern to you, then go with the core 2 duo laptop. the actual gaming ability between the two will likely be very small.

Quaker · Nov 17, 2009, 04:16 PM // 16:16

Best idea would be to Google for reviews on the laptops to get an idea of their relative performance.
Without that, I would tend to go with the Core 2 unit. The i7 one has such a low clock speed, I get the impression it is mainly just so they can say it's an i7.

edit after Google..... I'd say go with the i7.

eidolona · Nov 17, 2009, 05:42 PM // 17:42

Alright, thanks for the input everyone. Since I plan on getting a smaller laptop for mobility, this one will mostly be for gaming and whatnot, so I'll be going with the i7. It'll be nice to finally be able to play GW again. lol

moriz · Nov 17, 2009, 06:44 PM // 18:44

if you're gonna do that, you might as well buy a desktop and get a netbook/ultraportable. you'll save more money that way, and you'll have a more powerful gaming system to boot.

eidolona · Nov 17, 2009, 07:30 PM // 19:30

If I had the room for a desktop, I would buy one. I however do not have the room for a desktop, so that's out of the question. (And as hard to believe as that may be, I really do NOT have the room for a desktop.)

Elder III · Nov 19, 2009, 01:09 AM // 01:09

if you have room to set a laptop on a desk then you ahve room for a desktop.... or do you game lying on the floor?

Quaker · Nov 19, 2009, 05:19 PM // 17:19

Lol Elder - give it a rest. The person wants a laptop.

Edit - PC'd it.

eidolona · Nov 22, 2009, 05:10 AM // 05:10

Actually I generally game with the computer on my lap. Or I did, when my old Toshiba could actually play games. If not that, I'm sitting at the kitchen table.

(BTW, I'm a girl. :P)

rb.widow · Nov 22, 2009, 12:59 PM // 12:59

Read the reviews on the site itself,

Laptop 1, cons, speakers arent that great.

Laptop 2, cons, battery sucks, BSoD, keyboard issues, runs hot as hell.

Just because its got better hardware does not make it a better Laptop,

Quaker · Nov 22, 2009, 04:20 PM // 16:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by rb.widow

Read the reviews on the site itself,

Laptop 1, cons, speakers arent that great.

Laptop 2, cons, battery sucks, BSoD, keyboard issues, runs hot as hell.

Just because its got better hardware does not make it a better Laptop,

Basically, the two laptops are the same other than some trim and the processors. I would think that if the speakers aren't good in one, they're not good in the other either.
As far as Laptop2 goes, I dunno about the BSoDs, but with that hardware, I would expect the battery life to be short and for it to run hot as hell.

I don't put a whole lot faith in customer reviews. They are good sometimes for pointing out small niggly things, but when someone says that a laptop runs hot (for example), what are they comparing it to? Is it hotter than other similarly equipped units, for example.
It's best to look for reviews in places like Tom's Hardware, etc., where they can do proper comparisons.

Burst Cancel · Nov 22, 2009, 05:07 PM // 17:07

If you don't need a laptop immediately, I'd wait for Core i3/i5 Arrandale laptops supposedly coming in Q1 2010. A low TDP hyper-threaded dual core with hardware AES acceleration is a far better choice for a laptop processor than anything currently on the market.

Lord Sojar · Nov 22, 2009, 05:16 PM // 17:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burst Cancel

If you don't need a laptop immediately, I'd wait for Core i3/i5 Arrandale laptops supposedly coming in Q1 2010. A low TDP hyper-threaded dual core with hardware AES acceleration is a far better choice for a laptop processor than anything currently on the market.

^ Heed said advice, for it will be echoed by many. Heeeeed ittt... heeed....

eidolona · Nov 23, 2009, 04:56 AM // 04:56

Getting a laptop capable of playing games isn't really an immediate "need," per se, though I do quite miss being able to play games. The Toshiba Satellite A75-S231 I have is basically incapable of even browsing the web anymore without getting too hot and shutting off. (So while a new laptop is probably going to run rather hot, as long as I don't have the constantly-shutting-off-from-heat issue, I don't mind too much about the temperature of the machine.)

I have (and continue to) read reviews, but I don't know enough to know which of those two would run GW (and other various games) better (as an example question, thus why I asked). I was leaning more towards the dual-core laptop until someone pointed out the i7, and well - then the indecision set it. Hah. Considering that by the time I could get one of these computers those new processors might be out anyway, I should probably just wait, as has been suggested. Either way, thanks for the opinions and advice, it really does help a lot.