Am I still able to play MMORPGs?

Eunim

I recently bought the ASUS S400 Ultrabook which came with WIN8's alongside with WIN7. As the title states, would I still be able to play MMORPGs? Would it affect the way it functions? Since I probably won't get a new laptop in about 4 years so I want to keep it in good condition. 

Thanks! 

 

Quizzical

Is it too late to return it?  Unless you care about thinness above all else--meaning, you don't care much about price, performance, reliability, features, or anything else except for how thin the laptop is--buying an Ultrabook is a huge mistake.

Don't count on an Ultrabook lasting you four years, either.  Making it thin enough to meet the Ultrabook specification means soldering a lot of things directly to the motherboard.  In normal laptops, if the hard drive, memory, or battery has problems, you can replace the defective part while keeping everything else.  In your Ultrabook, if any of those has problems, the laptop is dead and you'll have to replace the whole thing.

As for whether MMORPGs will run, that will be hit and miss.  Ultrabooks are low end performance, so expect performance about on par with a budget system from 2007.  Asus offers several different CPUs in the S400, so if you've got Intel HD Graphics 4000, the graphics should be more or less all right apart from the low performance.  If you've got Intel HD Graphics 3000 or Intel HD Graphics without a number, then your graphics date to before Intel cared if their graphics actually worked, so on top of low end performance, you'll be saddled with spotty video driver support.

Older games or games that run on basically anything might well run well enough to be playable, though if it isn't Intel HD Graphics 4000, even that could be hit and miss due to driver support.  Trying to play more demanding games on it is pretty much a non-starter.

centkin

You would be better off with an A-10 AMD setup if you are buying a laptop in that range.  If you can go just a little bit higher then get a system with a dedicated graphics card.   The fastest processor means nothing for running an MMO if you have intel graphics.

Eunim

Do you have any laptops you would recommend within the $800-900 category? I'm not looking for gaming laptops in general but just laptops that perform well in all categories and would able to last for 3-4 years. 

Also would the ASUS S400 be a better choice than http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/sony-sony-vaio-15-5-laptop-white-intel-core-i5-3337u-750gb-hdd-8gb-ram-windows-8-svf15213cdw/10253405.aspx or http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/sony-sony-vaio-14-laptop-white-blue-intel-core-i5-3210m-750gb-hdd-8gb-ram-windows-8-sve14a25cdw/10227401.aspx?path=6a006c2a5744fb9bb26ef96b66fe6ac6en02&SearchPageIndex=1? 

Quizzical

If it's an Intel processor, then you want it to say Core i5 or Core i7 and not have a U on the end.  For Intel, QM on the end means quad core; without that, it's a dual core.  If it's an AMD processor, then you want it to say A8 or A10 and have the digit immediately before the M on the end be a 0.

If you want it to last a long time and aren't especially concerned with gaming in particular, then I'd skip the discrete video card, as that brings more things that can go wrong.  A couple of 15" options:

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/samsung-samsung-series-3-15-6-laptop-silver-amd-a10-4600m-750gb-hdd-8gb-ram-windows-8-np355v5c-a03ca/10225727.aspx?path=e6477f47cbda9906feaee0c379e90893en02&SearchPageIndex=1

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/asus-asus-r-series-r500a-15-6-laptop-mocha-intel-core-i7-3630qm-750gb-hdd-8gb-ram-windows-8-r500a-bh71-cb/10227302.aspx?path=c7a35163867642a3450bd69ca2964ca7en02&SearchPageIndex=1

AMD gets you better graphics, while Intel gets you a better (and more expensive!) processor.  Otherwise, the laptops are similar.