Curse

I Will Heal You Ally · May 17, 2009, 06:23 PM // 18:23

Hi. I'm looking to get a new laptop since I'm starting University and I wonder what to choose. My uncle recomended me to buy Dell's laptops and after going to their webpage (Canadian) I came across two laptops with around 200 CAD difference, ofc I want to buy the cheaper one but will it be good for GW/GW2?

P.S. BTW can I post off-site links so you can check them out?

Anyways here's what I've checked
1. Dell XPS M1530 Laptop
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T6400 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
Widescreen 15.4 inch LCD (1280x800) & 2.0 MP Camera
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1
4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
Size: 320GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GS
$1,149

2. Dell Studio XPS 16 Laptop
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8600 (3MB cache/2.40GHz/1066Mhz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-bit
Edge-to-Edge HD Widescreen 16.0 inch WLED LCD (1366x768) W/2.0 MP
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1067MHz (2 Dimms)
250GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
ATI Mobility RADEON® HD 3670 - 512MB
$1,299

And please explain your reason, pick etc...
Thanks

Hamsterstyle GYM · May 17, 2009, 06:43 PM // 18:43

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...S&promoid=1046

This one might be worth looking into, not a Dell but for $1,200+ it's definitely going to play GW (and anything else out right now). GW2 is so far off there's no reason to plan a computer for it today as the computer will be oldhat when the game is finally released.

Bort Man · May 18, 2009, 01:20 AM // 01:20

I got the Dell XPS 1530 like your looking at and have no problem running Guild Wars on the highest settings and I hope that it can run GW2 when it comes out considering these are suppose to be gaming laptops but GW2 is so far away like hamsterstyle said you cant really plan...

johan the destroyer · May 18, 2009, 02:00 AM // 02:00

I'm currently using an XPS M1530 with the 1440x900 LED screen, the T9300 2.5Ghz processor, and the 8600M GT graphics card. I can max out GW at 1440x900 with 16x AA and 16x AF forced through the Control Panel at a pretty constant 60 FPS, so I can only imagine that GW2 would run fine on it (can currently run Crysis at medium pretty well), so I'd recommend that. Even though the Studio XPS 16 you posted there is, as configured, faster than the M1530 because of the DDR3 memory, faster BUS speed, faster HDD, and better graphics card.

moriz · May 18, 2009, 05:13 AM // 05:13

AA 16x? i'm pretty sure that's beyond what a 8600M GT can do. even if it could, it won't deliver playable framerates. you probably mean AA 4x.

johan the destroyer · May 18, 2009, 05:55 AM // 05:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by moriz

AA 16x? i'm pretty sure that's beyond what a 8600M GT can do. even if it could, it won't deliver playable framerates. you probably mean AA 4x.

Well, I force it to 16xQ through the Nvidia Control Panel. I don't know if GW has any built-in limitations that limit it to 4x or anything like that.

Elder III · May 18, 2009, 06:36 PM // 18:36

to the OP, unless you are set in your heart, mind, body, and soul on buying from DELL and wasting money please consider the following options instead.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834147922

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152086

Either one of those will run circles around your two from DELL and they cost far less. Just a couple options to consider, but if it were me, I would save my money.

***

If you really want to save some money and aren't playing the latest games all the time here are two more options:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152108

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834114606

Either one will handle GW at MAX and maintain 60fps with no trouble.. the MSI is actually quite a bit more powerful (for graphics and gaming that is).... good luck with your purchase, whatever it may be. XD

Targren · May 18, 2009, 07:03 PM // 19:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elder III

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152108

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834114606

I second the Toshibas, with one caveat. Make sure you get a USB or Bluetooth keyboard. Toshiba laptops are frickin sweet, but they do use a non-standard keyboard layout that can lead to pushing the wrong RED ENGINEing button at the wrong time.

I have an old Qosmio that absolutely rocks at running GW.

I Will Heal You Ally · May 18, 2009, 09:50 PM // 21:50

Wow now I got even more options... Thanks for all the info, and no I'm not a DELL fanatic I just got suggested those two by my uncle. Mainly I want a nice (with prolly better spec then those two Dell's even those their reviews are good) laptop where I could play GW nicely and that has free Shipping in Canada, Ontario.

Elder III · May 19, 2009, 09:02 AM // 09:02

tigerdirect.ca can handle all of your canadian shipping needs.... sadly Newegg does not ship to Canada (or at least didn't as of last I checked).... with that said here are a couple options. I believe the prices there are in Canadian, so in USD they would be somewhat less.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...451&CatId=3982

Not real fond of Gateway, but the specs are good on this one 500GB hard drive and 4 GB of RAM in a 64bit system is pretty rare in a laptop at that price range... the HD3200 is capable of running GW just fine, but don't expect to run newer, graphically intense games on it.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...344&CatId=3982

MUch higher in cost, but it will handle whatever you throw at it (unless you want to spend $2500+ on a lappy)

Lourens · May 19, 2009, 09:25 AM // 09:25

This is probadly the best you can get for your budget : http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=9694 1239.99 Canadian Dollars (Correct me if I'm wrong)

Elder III · May 19, 2009, 10:25 AM // 10:25

very nice price on that Qosmio, the specs are good, but an 18.4" screen and 10+ pounds weight is rather large to lug around at college. :/

I Will Heal You Ally · May 19, 2009, 02:53 PM // 14:53

Hmmm well tbh we don't use laptops in our college so it's not a big deal. The thing is that my Uncle lives in Canada so I asked him to check some out so his could bring me one back this summer when he comes to Bosnia (In Europe)