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Buying a laptop w/MMORPG's in mind

calurdurancalurduran Member Posts: 3
in The Pub at MMORPG.COM

Not sure if this counts as MMORPG or off-topic. My apologies if it's the latter. I'm about to buy my first laptop, and I'm fairly certain that the most demanding thing I will ask of it is that it smoothly run some upcoming MMORPG's. I'm thoroughly lost by the various mobile processors out there (Pentium M, P4, AMD) and the various video cards. Any suggestions for what kind of processor, video card, and/or amount of memory (512 vs. 1024) I should look for? Thanks for helping out a techno-incompetent.

Danny

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Comments

  • punchlinepunchline Member Posts: 544

    im going to try to be polite when i say this but dont use a laptop if your going to game

  • athildurathildur Member Posts: 50


    even tough I more of a desctop fan, the prospect of having a laptop seems promising. as for the setup I would recommend the following ( sorry if something can't be done or if anything else than the things I siad is beter, as I told you I'm more for desctops):

    - amd as proccessor: it's better for gaming purpose than intel.
    -1 gigabyte ram ( if you can take 2times 512)
    -radeon x800 pro/xt as videocard

    hope this helps you. again I'm sorry af anything I said can't be done or if there is something that should be replaced

  • calurdurancalurduran Member Posts: 3
    Yes, yes, a fair point. But I'm relatively cash strapped, and my occupation demands that if I'm going to buy one new computer this year, it's going to be a laptop.
  • sidebustersidebuster Member UncommonPosts: 1,712

    I was writing a nice post for this thread a while ago, but alas as dumb as i am i close the window. I was gonna mension if you get your laptop online, www.voodoopc.com or www.alienware.com are some places to look. They are usually build around gamming.

  • starman999starman999 Member Posts: 1,232

    Actually.....

    Laptop is a great way to game provided you make wise choices. It will be quite a bit more expensive of course to get a laptop with similar specs to a high end desktop. I would suggest either biting the bullet and getting an Alienware laptop (3500 bucks give or take) OR  go to one of the regular maufacturers (Dell, gateway, HP) website and design your own.

    Make sure it has at least a GIG of ram if not more. Also the most important part is finding a high end graphics card that will handle and is compatible with ttodays MMO's. If you cam manage to get those 2 elements within your budget then I would also suggest a wireless network card and a wireless trackball/ mouse.

    I have played on one before  (AO) and it ran beautifully . I loved tha portable gaming as I was able to find places like Barnes and Noble that broadcast a high speed internet signal wireless that I could tap into and play on. 

     

    Critical thinking is a desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and hatred for every kind of imposture.

  • magik_fxmagik_fx Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 278


    Get a decent laptop from pctorque.com. I just bought the 7620, comes with a radeon x800 and a 3.0ghz p4.I added a gig of ram and it was just under 2k. They sell some great computers there. Be sure to read some reviews and benchmarks etc. on www.notebookforums.com. Everyone there is generally helpful, especially with their own reviews and benchmarks. Give it a go, laptops are getting extremely flexible these days and can run games just fine.

  • NaosNaos Member Posts: 379

    Dont do it man!

  • garrison13garrison13 Member Posts: 97

    I use a laptop with Athlon 3000+ proc, 1024 Mb DDR RAM , ATI Radeon 9600 Mobility proc and can play EQ2 at fairly high settings with no probs at all. Also got a wireless network set up so can play anywhere in my flat, which is handy ::::01::
    I've got so used to using the track pad I now find it hard to use a mouse. Got all my macros set up on the left hand side of the keyboard because the right hand controlling the trackpad tends to get a bit in the way of the right hand side of the keyboard

  • Kaos_nyrbKaos_nyrb Member Posts: 244

    Just get a portable generator and stick your computer in a rucksack ::::20::

  • OaksteadOakstead Member Posts: 455

    First go to http://www.resellerratings.com/ to read reviews of laptops and their sellers.

    You will find the name brands are not highly rated. So buy a Sager laptop from either PCTorque or PowerNotebooks.com (reviews here: http://www.resellerratings.com/seller_info.pl?seller_id=1980)

    I just bought a Sager from PowerNotebooks.com and it runs games great. It cost $1700 with a 128 MB mobility Radeon 9700, 1 Gig RAM, 3.2 GHz Pentium 4, 80 Gig hard drive, 15" screen, and built in wireless. You can always spend more for a bigger screen size and the latest graphics but this set-up seems like this month's sweet spot.

  • Unknown


    Originally posted by calurduran

    Not sure if this counts as MMORPG or off-topic. My apologies if it's the latter. I'm about to buy my first laptop, and I'm fairly certain that the most demanding thing I will ask of it is that it smoothly run some upcoming MMORPG's. I'm thoroughly lost by the various mobile processors out there (Pentium M, P4, AMD) and the various video cards. Any suggestions for what kind of processor, video card, and/or amount of memory (512 vs. 1024) I should look for? Thanks for helping out a techno-incompetent.

    Danny


     Modern laptops ARE able to play games just as nicely as PCs. But there's a saying "Buy cheap, pay twice." aka "You get what you pay for". A laptop with the same high end specs as a PC, will cost more than the PC. If you really do have the money.... (between $1,500.oo to $3,500.oo )

    Get a Dell, with TONS of memory! 1.5 GIGs minimum. More memory if you can afford it. (3.0 GIGs would be more than enough.) Dell ranks as the best laptop because they have the best customer service out of all laptop companies. Customer service is mandatory if you value spending your $1,000.oo or more money! But you can always upgrade to more memory later.

     After Dell, a Sony Vaio is next best for gamers.

     As for video card, a GeForce 5 minimum or equivilant. If you can afford it, get GeForce 6.0 or 6.8 or equivilant. But you can always upgrade later.

      I base all of this on watching my friends play EvE, SWG, EQ, and EQ2 on their laptops. 

     If you already have a MMORPG, or know ahead of time which MMORPG you're going to play (buy it first) and test it out on the laptop before you buy the laptop. You can also download Anarchy Online for free, save/burn it to CD (you might have to zip it. Or use 2 CDs, or 1 DVD if the laptop can play DVDs). Then test Anarchy Online on the laptop you're looking at, with all settings turned to maximum.

     Do not buy a laptop from "hole in the wall" stores! Make sure its a major store. Because as soon as you walk out that door, you don't want to deal with them forgetting who you are. Major stores will remember you if you come back wanting a refund, exchange, etc...(Best Buy... though they tend to be over priced). Or from a major internet site, like Dell.com , pricewatch.com , Newegg.com , and the Sony laptop internet site.

     And... buy a laptop security cord! Get the best one, even if you have to go a few days without eating LOL! It connects, and locks to the laptop, the other end you can wrap around your arm, or chair armrest, or table leg, etc...   Laptop theft rings are a rising crime! There's no way to profile a potiential laptop thief. They can be clean shaven, well dressed, white guy(s), wearing a suit and tie. Or snatch and run thieves who are experienced at running away soo quick and fast, you'll think your laptop instantly vanished like magic. Many times they work in a group, 1 guy searching for marks, but not the snatcher. Another guy will be the snatcher. Sometimes a 3rd guy will be the blocker (he looks like an ordinary person, and will pretend to get in your way by accident when/if you try catching the snatcher.)


     

    image image image image image image image image

    -Personal Website (A Work still in progress):
    http://www.geocities.com/xplororor/index.html

    -AC, AC2, AO, EQ, Freelancer, SWG:
    http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor

    -More SWG:
    http://community.webshots.com/user/captain_sica_xol

    -More EQ, Dungeon Siege, *UXO*, Diablo II:Lords of Destruction:
    http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor_archives01

    -EverQuest II, Horizons:
    http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor_eq2archives01

    -EVE Online !!!
    http://community.webshots.com/user/sica_xol_archives01

    -DAoC
    http://community.webshots.com/user/sica_xol_archives02

    -Coming sooner or later... CoH, WoW, MXO, UO, GW, As3, RS

  • magik_fxmagik_fx Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 278

    I'm sorry but Sony Vaio's are the biggest pieces in the entire laptop industry. They charge you double for crap specs, and sell solely based on style. They rarely ever come with anything more then onboard video - something no one should game on. A few examples:

    Sony Notebook

    Sony Notebook 2

    Sony Notebook 3

    Sony Notebook 4

    That last one is one of the most expensive ones they have as far as standard notebooks at $2700.00. It features the Intel 855E chipset, with 64mb of video memory - horrible for anything other then minesweeper. If you want games, stay as far away from sony as you can. Sager is still the best manufacturers of notebooks IMO. They really do have some of the nicest components at reasonable prices.

  • garrison13garrison13 Member Posts: 97


    Dell ranks as the best laptop because they have the best customer service out of all laptop companies. Customer service is mandatory if you value spending your $1,000.oo or more money!
    Dell were a complete nightmare for me. CD/DVD drive broke within a week, took 2 months of calls to their Indian call centre to get it sorted. Then the new one broke shortly after. Got that fixed then the speakers went.
    Tiny/Time computers tend to be much cheaper than Dell but also look cheaper but have had no problems with their customer service. When the motherboard went they picked it up and replaced it in a week.
  • zoey121zoey121 Member Posts: 926

    I got a great deal from tigerdirect on a compaq laptop. Found this for under a grand

    512 ram 64 meg nivida card nice size harddrive..

    It plays swg wonderfuly well as well as daoc including catacombs. I couldn't be happier with this machine. If you look on the site for video cards, memory you should be ok, you can fudge a bit on processer but do not go lower then 1.4 other then that you should be just fine.

    Oh this thing even did fine with eq2..........

  • BilasBilas Member Posts: 78


    Originally posted by punchline

    im going to try to be polite when i say this but dont use a laptop if your going to game

    Sorry to say this to you but I play all my games on my laptop!  It also kicks mostly everything I throw at it but it is also top of the line too.  So it is very possible too game and use a laptop.

    'She just left. She didn't even care enough to cut off my head or set me on fire. I mean, is that too much to ask? You know? Some little sign that she cared?"

  • kmimmorpgkmimmorpg Member Posts: 624


    Originally posted by zoey121

    512 ram 64 meg nivida card nice size harddrive..
    Oh this thing even did fine with eq2..........

    I find this so hard to believe!
  • zoey121zoey121 Member Posts: 926

    Kim,

     It sputtered a bit on the griffen, (screen turned black) and hated zoning and a bit of lag in the cities but other then that it did just fine in other areas, I love being albe to sit on back patio with this thing and game....... My current subs are swg and daoc and it handles them great...

    image loves my wireless connection too!

  • OrkhanOrkhan Member Posts: 13

    My god here comes the problem! image

    Well I personnaly own both! a PC and a Laptop... My laptop is a IBM R40 Nothing too fancy but it did cost me an arm and a leg... image

    Now I can play most of the game at a fairly good resolution / speed... but for exemple I can't play EQII since it need a 4 map texture gfx card.. So I'm busted on this one.. image Personnaly I don't even want to shop for this kind of card for a laptop... it would be totally insane.. image

    But hey if you got the money you could have something nice.. but it will NEVER be as good!! image

    And for the love of god... if you intend to buy a Dell Laptop.. You'll better hang yourself right now! image In the world of hardware industry most of the time the price is an excellent indicator.. now .. in the laptop world.. just multiply this factor (and price) by 2.5 at least (if its for gamming)!

    Well you have been warned!

    Orkhan

  • dsorrentdsorrent Member CommonPosts: 1,627

    Originally posted by xplororor

    After Dell, a Sony Vaio is next best for gamers.

    Are you sure about this? The ONLY positive thing I have ever heard about the Sony Vaio line is how thin and light they are. I've never ever read any good performance statistics on the Sony Vaio line..

    Originally posted by xplororor

    And... buy a laptop security cord! Get the best one, even if you have to go a few days without eating LOL! It connects, and locks to the laptop, the other end you can wrap around your arm, or chair armrest, or table leg, etc... Laptop theft rings are a rising crime! There's no way to profile a potiential laptop thief. They can be clean shaven, well dressed, white guy(s), wearing a suit and tie. Or snatch and run thieves who are experienced at running away soo quick and fast, you'll think your laptop instantly vanished like magic. Many times they work in a group, 1 guy searching for marks, but not the snatcher. Another guy will be the snatcher. Sometimes a 3rd guy will be the blocker (he looks like an ordinary person, and will pretend to get in your way by accident when/if you try catching the snatcher.)

    Where do you live? I just can't imagine a place where you would be working on your laptop and someone would come and take it away from you and run away with it right in front of you. I need to make a note never to visit that part of the world. :)


    Fact: In the United States, 4% of all children are born with a heart defect.
    Fact: Only 1% of those has Ebstein's Anomaly.
    Fact: My daughter is in that 1%.
  • calurdurancalurduran Member Posts: 3

    I was just wondering how important people thought having a graphics card with 256 MB is? It seems that there is much more selection, on lower priced models especially, for systems with 128 MB graphics cards.

    Danny

  • spiritwolfspiritwolf Member Posts: 46

    I didn't start this thread, but I'm stopping by to say Thanks, anyway. I also have to get a new laptop, as I'm on the road a lot & need it for my work.

    I can't fathom not gaming in my offtime; & your suggestions on laptops have been very helpful.

    Thank You ~ image ~ Spiritwolf

  • Unknown


    Originally posted by dsorrent




    Originally posted by xplororor

    After Dell, a Sony Vaio is next best for gamers.


    Are you sure about this? The ONLY positive thing I have ever heard about the Sony Vaio line is how thin and light they are. I've never ever read any good performance statistics on the Sony Vaio line..

       Another guy claimed Dell is bad because he had problems with Dell customer service in... INDIA.  Well, that's India for you LOL! In America, Dell customer service works nice.

     I also recommended for him to test out whatever laptop he's looking at first. And buy from a major store so he can always return it, exchange it, etc... no matter what brand name laptop he buys.

     Generally, it's what's in the laptop + cutomer service, that's important. Any laptop with 3 GIG memory, GeForce 6 or equivilant graphic card, 1.5 GHZ speed or more, will perform very well playing a MMORPG. No matter what brand name laptop. BUT do not buy one with Celeron or Durion chips! They are no-frills. Get AMD or Pentium chips. (AMD is suppose to be slightly better than Pentium.)




    Originally posted by xplororor

    And... buy a laptop security cord! Get the best one, even if you have to go a few days without eating LOL! It connects, and locks to the laptop, the other end you can wrap around your arm, or chair armrest, or table leg, etc... Laptop theft rings are a rising crime! There's no way to profile a potiential laptop thief. They can be clean shaven, well dressed, white guy(s), wearing a suit and tie. Or snatch and run thieves who are experienced at running away soo quick and fast, you'll think your laptop instantly vanished like magic. Many times they work in a group, 1 guy searching for marks, but not the snatcher. Another guy will be the snatcher. Sometimes a 3rd guy will be the blocker (he looks like an ordinary person, and will pretend to get in your way by accident when/if you try catching the snatcher.)


    Where do you live? I just can't imagine a place where you would be working on your laptop and someone would come and take it away from you and run away with it right in front of you. I need to make a note never to visit that part of the world. :)



     I live in New Jersey. But I've been to New York, LA, Boston. And CT, Mass, VT, and PA. Laptop theft is rarely reported in newspapers, or even by victims of laptop theft. It's not a crime that increases sales of newspapers, or gets bigger ratings for TV news. I also have police friends, and family. Laptop theft also happens on every major college campus.

     You can be in a coffee shop (Starbucks for example), bookstore, in the park, anywhere. As the saying goes "Criminals look for oppertunity."  People have tons of info saved on their laptops. It's the loss of the info that either is as painful or MORE painful than having to pay thousands to replace it. Laptop security cords are easy to store, lightweight, easy to lock to the laptop, and take up almost no space.

  • magik_fxmagik_fx Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 278

    Originally posted by xplororor
    Originally posted by dsorrent Originally posted by xplorororAfter Dell, a Sony Vaio is next best for gamers.Are you sure about this? The ONLY positive thing I have ever heard about the Sony Vaio line is how thin and light they are. I've never ever read any good performance statistics on the Sony Vaio line..
    Another guy claimed Dell is bad because he had problems with Dell customer service in... INDIA. Well, that's India for you LOL! In America, Dell customer service works nice.
    I also recommended for him to test out whatever laptop he's looking at first. And buy from a major store so he can always return it, exchange it, etc... no matter what brand name laptop he buys.
    Generally, it's what's in the laptop + cutomer service, that's important. Any laptop with 3 GIG memory, GeForce 6 or equivilant graphic card, 1.5 GHZ speed or more, will perform very well playing a MMORPG. No matter what brand name laptop. BUT do not buy one with Celeron or Durion chips! They are no-frills. Get AMD or Pentium chips. (AMD is suppose to be slightly better than Pentium.)Originally posted by xplorororAnd... buy a laptop security cord! Get the best one, even if you have to go a few days without eating LOL! It connects, and locks to the laptop, the other end you can wrap around your arm, or chair armrest, or table leg, etc... Laptop theft rings are a rising crime! There's no way to profile a potiential laptop thief. They can be clean shaven, well dressed, white guy(s), wearing a suit and tie. Or snatch and run thieves who are experienced at running away soo quick and fast, you'll think your laptop instantly vanished like magic. Many times they work in a group, 1 guy searching for marks, but not the snatcher. Another guy will be the snatcher. Sometimes a 3rd guy will be the blocker (he looks like an ordinary person, and will pretend to get in your way by accident when/if you try catching the snatcher.)Where do you live? I just can't imagine a place where you would be working on your laptop and someone would come and take it away from you and run away with it right in front of you. I need to make a note never to visit that part of the world. :)
    I live in New Jersey. But I've been to New York, LA, Boston. And CT, Mass, VT, and PA. Laptop theft is rarely reported in newspapers, or even by victims of laptop theft. It's not a crime that increases sales of newspapers, or gets bigger ratings for TV news. I also have police friends, and family. Laptop theft also happens on every major college campus.
    You can be in a coffee shop (Starbucks for example), bookstore, in the park, anywhere. As the saying goes "Criminals look for oppertunity." People have tons of info saved on their laptops. It's the loss of the info that either is as painful or MORE painful than having to pay thousands to replace it. Laptop security cords are easy to store, lightweight, easy to lock to the laptop, and take up almost no space.

    Sony is terrible for performance, and charge you through the nose to boot. The only thing they sell on is their propaganda.. err... marketing to the stylish crowd. You can look awesome doing whatever it is you do on your laptop, but you will do it slowly or for 1000 more then the guy who went with another brand.

    The person referring to Dell's customer service wasn't actually in India. They were saying that the customer service they called, most likely in the states, was outsourced to India. Has nothing to do with where they were at, Dell has people working for them in India. I've had a couple nightmares with Dell customer service myself, they aren't that great. In fact, I'll never recommend a Dell to anyone I know after the stuff they pulled.

    Also, 3 gigs of RAM is extreme overkill. Not only because it's near impossible to find a laptop that would support that much ram, but it could easilly double the cost of your new laptop to get that much memory in it. Getting 2 gigs of ram slapped in a new Dell XPS gen 2 adds 750 bucks to your total. 3 gigs, if supported and its not, would easilly add over a grand. Not necessary at all. I have a desktop with 2 gigs and when I'm playing MMO's I can alt tab out and cacheman still displays 800+ megs free, 3 gigs would be a bit exorbitant.

    If you want to get real info from people who actually own most of the laptops out there, visit this page for a lot of detailed specs, benchmarks, deals and even pictures of the newest laptops on the market. It was a boon for myself when I was buying a new notebook for school, and helped me decide on Sager after sifting through hundreds of posts and reviews.

  • magik_fxmagik_fx Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 278

    Originally posted by calurduran
    I was just wondering how important people thought having a graphics card with 256 MB is? It seems that there is much more selection, on lower priced models especially, for systems with 128 MB graphics cards.Danny

    Get the newest chipset you can afford, with as much memory as possible. A 256 mb ati radeon 9000 will not perform as well as a 128 mb on a 9700 pro chipset. If it was between some much closer makes, like a 256 mb 9600 pro and a 128 9700 pro you'd have to do some research. But again, notebook forums could help a bunch, especially if you have specific notebooks in mind - see if anyone has done some benchmarking on the notebook you had in mind and with which setups.

  • dsorrentdsorrent Member CommonPosts: 1,627

    Originally posted by xplororor

    I live in New Jersey. But I've been to New York, LA, Boston. And CT, Mass, VT, and PA. Laptop theft is rarely reported in newspapers, or even by victims of laptop theft. It's not a crime that increases sales of newspapers, or gets bigger ratings for TV news. I also have police friends, and family. Laptop theft also happens on every major college campus.

    Ahh, I'm from Belleville (next to Newark), NJ... Cars are the big theft item there, especially with Newark's "no chase" laws...

    Anyway, I can see how it can definitely be an issue on college campuses... Didn't consider that..


    Fact: In the United States, 4% of all children are born with a heart defect.
    Fact: Only 1% of those has Ebstein's Anomaly.
    Fact: My daughter is in that 1%.
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