Laptop Recomendation

Obi-Wan Bologna · 09-30-2012, 10:08 PM

Hey guys, figure you guys could help me out.

Gonna get a new laptop soon and was hoping some of you could give me some recommendations. Gonna probably want 6-8g, Blu ray player, good graphics card (doesn't need to be the latest greatest as I will mostly be playing older games like Kotor but might try TOR out) good fast processor. I'm not up to date on all the processors and graphics cards and such. hehe Budget is around 500 or so. Give or a take a hundred either way.

**acdcfanbill** · 10-01-2012, 01:33 AM

I would say something with an nvidia gpu, i believe modern ati gives kotor fits?

Q · 10-01-2012, 05:05 AM

A few months ago I was testing an HD 6870 for my buddy and it had no trouble running either KotOR game.

That said, since this is for gaming, I would look into a laptop powered by one of the AMD APUs like an A8-3500M. CPU performance will be mediocre (but not bad), but graphics performance will be terrific for an integrated GPU.

Darth Avlectus · 10-01-2012, 06:48 AM

Check out linus on youtube, or his website us.NCIX.com (or just ncix if you're not in the states). He had some crazy custom laptop or two made. I remember one had a nVidia580 card on it. Clunky-as-hell power brick but it was top notch for gaming and watching hi def movies.

Personally I'd say anything that has core i5 processor WITH a decent graphics card (because truth be told you don't need core i7 if your graphics card is good) and 8 gigs of ram will run just about anything smoothly. I don't know of too many games currently that fully utilize that much ram tbh. I do not know much on the AMD side of things, so I'd go with what Q said. He's never lead me wrong when I don't know.

Nothing shouts disappointment like saving up a sizable chunk of cash over the summer meant for a new machine or something, only to have a $1000 car maintenance hit. It's either this now or have it quadruple in the middle of winter.

Alexrd · 10-01-2012, 07:24 AM

Where can you get a laptop under $500 with a Blu-ray drive? Only custom made, I guess...

Pho3nix · 10-01-2012, 08:50 AM

You wont get a decent laptop under 800€...

Alexrd · 10-01-2012, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pho3nix

You wont get a decent laptop under 800€...

I got a good one for 750€.

The Doctor · 10-01-2012, 10:49 AM

In that price range? Hit up Wal-Mart or something for some sales. I've used the Toshiba Satellite series for forever now, and they've never had issues running KotOR. They're far from gaming laptops though, so anything newer or that's currently upcoming will be hit and miss at absolute best.

Obi-Wan Bologna · 10-01-2012, 12:50 PM

I'm well aware that it won't be top-notch on games, I don't play a whole ton of games and if the game is released on 360, that's where my money will lie. Just needs to be decent. It will mostly be for everday use, so the occasional HD video and Blu ray, quick internet, and the occasional game. Budget is really about 600, but obviously the cheaper the better. The Doctor, yes the Toshiba Satellite is one I've been looking at. You say you like them? What do you like the most?

Darth Avlectus · 10-01-2012, 03:51 PM

You ought to expect to spend ~$750USD (or equivalent) at the very least. Probably more like he neighborhood of about twice that.

Seems like if it has an nVidia GeForce GT 620 to 650 graphics card, it should do for what you want. You can make custom orders for something with an i5. Any stronger is unnecessary imo and it adds cost. Plus it's nice to be able to switch from graphics card to onboard processor's graphics--you can't do that with i7. i7 is only really necessary for hyperthreading and programmers on the cutting edge of making stuff where you'd really be better off with a desktop in that regard.

The review of this one has an i7 unfortunately... But it seems okay I guess...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasoneva...ing-powerhouse

Some other article...
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/64...ng-power-house

My dad just got one from costco. HP, Core i5 8GB, though I'm not sure what kind of graphics. Multimedia.

I remember was able to run KOTOR on my Sony Vaio 2003 PCG-FRV5, but it REALLY stressed the thing out since it was the most basic ATI radeon graphics card.

Tommycat · 10-01-2012, 04:40 PM

You guys are a bit out there. Heck you can find a decent laptop for about $5-600 even at Best Buy. HP and even Dell have some low end laptops that will run TOR and happen to be under the $600 range. The only problem is future proofing.

The reason I would not recommend you get only the laptop that will run what you want now is the future. It may run things fine now, but in the future you will have to upgrade to a new laptop. When someone is getting a laptop I generally recommend that they go with the best they can afford. A desktop, you can upgrade a video card, or processor relatively easily. Laptops generally require a whole bunch more disassembly. And for that kind of flexibility, you would want a "Desktop Replacement" or "Portable Workstation" like a Dell M6600 or some such designed for businesses. Which is generally way over what people want to spend. So get the best you can afford.

Rate these things in order.

Speed
Price
Reliability
Features

Acer makes some fairly decent laptops at a low price, but lack on features and reliability(not saying they aren't good, just that build quality is rather iffy at times)

Obi-Wan Bologna · 10-01-2012, 05:39 PM

I do think in a few years I will build myself a nice dual-screen gaming/music station desktop, but I'm a student on a budget right now and also don't have the space like I'd want either, so that will have to wait, hence the laptop now. Also, current laptop needs replacing. hehe

Q · 10-01-2012, 06:40 PM

Check this out. Probably the best deal you're going to see on a decent make with the latest AMD APU like I described. I couldn't find one with a Blu-ray burner, but here's one that you could replace the DVD-RW drive with. Total cost will be ~$615, which is about as cheap as you're going to find for all of the features you want.

Like I said, CPU performance won't be spectacular, but it won't be slow, either, and gaming performance will be way better than anything with Intel graphics.

Obi-Wan Bologna · 10-02-2012, 02:24 PM

Any opinions on this one?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toshiba-Sate...item2570fba8ed

Tommycat · 10-02-2012, 03:24 PM

Looks like a good deal. I've never had a problem with Toshiba laptops, and refurbished systems are 100% tested. So you may have some exterior wear and tear, but all in all have a good system for not a lot of money.

Obi-Wan Bologna · 10-02-2012, 10:17 PM

So what's the hugest difference between an AMD A6, A8, and A10

Q · 10-03-2012, 02:57 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ile_Processors

Tommycat · 10-03-2012, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Q

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ile_Processors

Lot of technical jargon on that page.

Translation for the non EE people: Not a lot of noticeable difference, but on benchmarks they see a mild improvement. For a hardcore gamer, you might see a performance increase, but just playing older games, not a lot. problem is you are limited by HDD speeds for the most part. So the processor won't be a huge thing for you.

Q · 10-03-2012, 11:47 AM

The main difference is in the on-board GPUs. Want the best gaming performance? Get a laptop with an A10-4600M. You won't be giving up much of anything in CPU performance and you're getting the equivalent of a decent discrete graphics card thrown in for free.

Obi-Wan Bologna · 10-05-2012, 07:55 PM

Ended getting this one:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...821&CatId=4935

Any thoughts on it?

Darth Avlectus · 10-05-2012, 09:58 PM

While I don't know much on the AMD (guess it's time I started finding out though my plans for a new machine are on hold for the foreseeable future) but everything else looks like it checks out okay more or less. Can't really comment on something I'm not using unfortunately. Hopefully it holds. Do let us know how well it works for you.

Q · 10-06-2012, 12:38 AM

I would've gotten the Lenovo that I linked to, mostly because I consider USB 3.0 to be a must-have.

Otherwise that Gateway will be fine.

Obi-Wan Bologna · 10-06-2012, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Q

I would've gotten the Lenovo that I linked to, mostly because I consider USB 3.0 to be a must-have.

Otherwise that Gateway will be fine.

Yeah, a few sacrifices were made. Unfortunately, it will be a bit slow putting all of my junk on it because of the USB 2.0, but I rarely use the usb ports, other than for my music and such. How much slower is a 2.0 compared to the 3.0 anyway?

Edit: Crap, just looked it up and it does make a big difference, it's 10 times faster. Oh well. lol

Q · 10-06-2012, 05:55 PM

Has it shipped yet? You could cancel the order if it hasn't. Tigerdirect is very good about that sort of thing.

Yeah, USB 3.0 will allow you to get the full transfer speed from an external drive as long as it's USB 3.0 as well, among other things.

Obi-Wan Bologna · 10-06-2012, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Q

Has it shipped yet? You could cancel the order if it hasn't. Tigerdirect is very good about that sort of thing.

Yeah, USB 3.0 will allow you to get the full transfer speed from an external drive as long as it's USB 3.0 as well, among other things.

No, it hasn't shipped yet, but I think I will stick with the Gateway. I like everything about it except the no 3.0 like you said. I don't think I have any 3.0 devices anyway. lol

Q · 10-06-2012, 07:21 PM

It'll be fine.

It definitely has the GPU you want. You'll even be able to play modern games on it at decent settings, so it's a bargain at $480.

Obi-Wan Bologna · 10-06-2012, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Q

It'll be fine.

It definitely has the GPU you want. You'll even be able to play modern games on it at decent settings, so it's a bargain at $480.

Yeah, exactly what I was thinking and going for. Thanks for all the help guys!