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Can this Laptop Play MMO's well?
StevieHmself
Member Posts: 134
Im Looking at the HP Envy 15'. I don't have too much knowledge about computers specs so i hope to get some good advice. I want a small laptop, the envy is perfect size, because i will be needing to take it to class and travel with it.
-Stevie
"But this beauty is also a beast. ENVY15 offers a choice of the Intel® Core™ i7 processor or the Intel® Core™ i5 processor2 for smart mobile performance for the most demanding tasks from video editing to intense games. A 15.6" diagonal Brightview widescreen display, with the choice of an ATI Mobility Radeon™ 5830 or ATI Mobility™ 5730 discrete graphics processor, produces brilliantly clear and bright visuals for viewing Blu-Ray5 and 1080p content."
Playing EVE
Played Darkfall, Played Wow,
Comments
I don't think it makes much sense to buy a gaming laptop right now, as whatever processor you get, it will struggle with some games. If you wait for Sandy Bridge to launch in about three weeks, that will be considerably better. There's not a significant jump in mobile video card performance per watt coming for quite some time, though.
Sandy Bridge? is that like a new processor or something? and will i still be able to get the Envy with sandy bridge in it or would i need to wait for a new laptop to launch?
Playing EVE
Played Darkfall, Played Wow,
It's a new processor architecture, and a lot better than what's on the market now. After Sandy Bridge launches, the question of whether you'll be able to get it in a HP Envy laptop is really a question of whether HP wants to continue to sell HP Envy laptops, other than to suckers who have no clue what they should get (which is admittedly a large fraction of the market).
I agree that a laptop is in general poor choice for games. Enen if they will run smooth you have a very small screen and not a comfortable keybord.
If you absolutely must get a laptop to play games, you will want to go somewhere like notebookreview.com and check out reviews from pros nd compare the behcmark results.
So at the moment i have a Mac book Pro 15 from 3 years ago, and its breaking down slowly. I was comfortable with how my MBP could play SC2, WoW and EVE (outside of fleets) plus i dont want mac so i can play more than these 3 games lol.. I like the 15' size. and its not to be my main platform for gaming, and gaming is just a side note i would like to be able to do on the laptop.
After Sandy Bridge would i need to wait a few more months to get it in my comp tho right? so if im trying to get something by the end of jan...?
Playing EVE
Played Darkfall, Played Wow,
Sandy Bridge is a processor architecture, not just a single processor. The quad core processors will probably the first to launch, and sometime around January 5, or maybe a few days later. There will also be a dual core version of it, possibly launching at the same time, or possibly as late as March. Six or eight core versions will launch some months later, but won't really be appropriate for laptops.
On the day that Sandy Bridge launches, there will be millions of desktop processors for sale, and enough motherboards for sale to use essentially all of them. There will probably be dozens of different models of motherboards for sale. You'll be able to buy them from many different companies. Some will start selling them around midnight on launch day. Some will take a couple of days or so to get around to it. Some companies that don't try to push the cutting edge on hardware will take several months to catch up.
I'm not sure how fast notebooks will be released, though Intel will presumably give the go-ahead to start selling laptops based on the processors at the same time as desktops. The laptop versions of the processors will be the same die, but clocked and volted lower to reduce power consumption. I'd expect a lot of companies to try to have laptops available for sale on launch day, since they know that after Sandy Bridge launches (and AMD's Bobcat launches at about the same time), they're basically not going to sell any laptops based on older processors except to people who don't know what they're looking for. Well, that and Apple selling laptops to their fanboys who don't care that Apple tends to be rather behind the curve on new hardware. Sandy Bridge will have the high end to itself, and Bobcat the low end, with clearance prices on older models the only meaningful competition for either.
Laptops run about 2.5-3.0 times the price of a desktop with the same setup. You pay for being portable.
A $1000 laptop = $400 Desktop
A $800 Desktop = $2200 Laptop.
Strange just got a HP Dv6 High Preformance laptop for 600$, and its AMD dual-core processor is quite great.. its run Any game ive tried at max setting... with remarkable quality, no lag and it holds a remarkable amount of porn...
Either your laptop performance is simply not in the same league as your desktop, you bought the desktop years earlier than the laptop, you massively overpaid for the desktop, or a combination of a lesser degree of more than one of those options.
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As for Lentech, if you've never used a genuinely fast computer, you're more likely to be impressed by things that really aren't very fast. It's not possible to get a fast AMD processor in a laptop, and it won't be for quite some time. Bulldozer will probably make its way to laptops eventually, but Zambezi wno't really be appropriate. I'd expect them to make a four core version of it, and that would be nicer for laptops, but that's quite a ways off.
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If you've got both a gaming desktop and a gaming laptop, then you're likely familiar with the huge intrinsic disadvantages to laptops. At best, the first genuinely nice gaming laptops (as opposed to nice for a laptop, which is to say, actually rather bad) could come to market around 2013. We could easily end up waiting a lot longer than that, though. Sandy Bridge isn't going to be super awesome for gaming laptops; it's just going to be a lot less bad than what's available right now.
Yes it is cool and will be portable in journey but take proper handling precaution because it is sensitive device.
courier services
The problem is that a $1500 laptop from a year ago WOULD NOT perform the same as proper $900 desktop. In those respective ranges, the desktop could easily have a Radeon HD 5870, or perhaps two 5770s ($100 cheaper), while the laptop would have a mobile 5870. At first, that sounds like a pretty even matchup, except that unlike the Mobility Radeon 4870, the Mobility Radeon 5870 is not related to its desktop card. Instead, it's just a renamed desktop 5770, with lower clocks. As a result, a properly constructed desktop in the $1000 range from a year ago would have twice the power of a $1500 laptop from a year ago.
That means that a desktop from a year ago is three times the value of a laptop from a year ago.
Desktop builds are also vastly more reliable (though Asus is good as far laptops go, since they're their own ODM), completely upgradeable and refittable, whereas laptops are stuck with the hardware obtained at purchase, and desktops can be canabalized for future builds (for instance, I typically re-use PSUs and monitors for at least one build, and cases/optical drives for several).
Now, I'm not anti-laptop at all. In fact, I own an Asus N61jq for gaming at college. The mobility Radeon HD 5730 isn't mind-boggling, by any means, but it's a good GPU that works, especially for the 1366x768 panel resolution. That said, I only use it as an off-gaming machine, and only because I have three hour waits between classes and a 45 minute commute (not worth a 1.5 hour round trip commute to go home for a three hour beak). I like my laptop, and laptops can be used for acceptably good gaming, if at a premium, but the tradeoffs need be made clear. You'll have a much slower machine that's much less reliable, in exchange for portability. If portability isn't the absolute foremost concern, then a laptop isn't suitable.
I have had both because I travel a bunch. The desktop way outproforms the laptop. I do get by with the laptop. I have had it replaced becauase gameing cooks it. Cooling pads help with this. Another consideration is the construction of the laptop. Alumnium bodys help defuse heat better than the plastic ones do.
If you have to go with a laptop be ready to fry it and get the bulletproof replacement plan.
There are some parts for which paying more gets you better quality and hence better reliability, but not better raw performance. But the amount to pay usually isn't that big. Maybe you pay an extra $40 for a power supply, $30 for a motherboard, and $30 for a case to get something nice rather than the minimum that might plausibly function. But there isn't such a price/quality tradeoff with processors, storage, optical drives, memory, or an OS license. Such a trade-off is barely there for video cards, and only if you get a premium cooler or pay extra for a brand with better warranty service. I guess you could end up paying quite a bit for a UPS or get a super high end power supply, but apart from that, there isn't an enormous price premium for better quality without getting better performance.
Some people don't realize that to get the same performance in a laptop as in a desktop, you have to pay about twice as much, and still end up with a machine that isn't nearly as nice. Those people need to be told that there's a big price for the portability. There are some people for whom a gaming laptop does make sense, but not really that many. And it's not yet possible to get that nice of a gaming laptop, as they simply don't exist, at any price.
So unless a better version of the Envy will be out by Jan 31 i might as well get the one that is out now. Is there a new version coming soon?
Playing EVE
Played Darkfall, Played Wow,
Honestly, I wouldn't buy the HP Envy. It's not that it's a terrible machine, spec wise, buy you can do better for the money, and what's more, HP laptops are not good buys in general.
HP does not manufacture their laptop hardware. Instead, they outsource to Compal, and the machines themselves are terrible, likely as a result. I keep up with various consumer product review organizations a lot when it comes to computers, and HP laptops have always rated somewhere between mediocre and terrible with them for reliability. I've also personally had three of their laptops fry on me in the last six years, regardless of how well they've been cared for. Having dissassembled and done a lot of work inside laptops from every brand, I'm also not impressed with their internal design in general. It's convoluted and inefficient, which is usually why it takes me three hours to get one taken apart, as opposed to about thirty minutes for any other make.
I couldn't even find the envy 15 for sale, only the 14 and 17, but you're going to be out $1000 dollars minimum either way for the series, and more likely $1200+ for what you initially described as the setup you're looking for. Instead of the ENVY, I'd recommend the Asus N61JQ (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220827&cm_re=Asus_N61Jq-_-34-220-827-_-Product), or perhaps the MSI GX640 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152207&Tpk=MSI GX640). Those are both from good, reputable manufacturers, instead of lowest-bidder ODMs like HP machines, and they'll be more powerful than what you get from HP anyways. Asus laptops in particular generally have stellar reliability. The Asus machine has a quad core I7 and a Mobile Radeon HD 5730, while the MSI machine has a dual-core I5 and a mobile Radeon HD 5850. Between them, I'd go for the MSI model, as it has the added perk of a 1680x1050 screen, instead of the mroe typical 1366x768 panel resolution.
I do most of my gaming on laptops, and follow the prices often. Most people are just wrong about laptops and gaming. Yes you can easily and happily game on a laptop. And no you do not have to pay 3 times the price. I would say you pay about 1.3 times as much for a gaming laptop if you shop smart. But you loose upgrading. Still though I have been able to upgrade my CPU, plus Asus does give a little room for upgrading harddrives (even have an empty slot i do not use)
Upgrading GPU is close to impossible. I have seen people boast they have done it, but it normally requires their laptop sitting on a cooling fan (which kind of ruins the purpose of having a laptop for gaming)
Also for gaming laptops i would go with Asus.
I am set on the HP envy being my laptop at this point. it has gotten great reviews for example computer shopper (which i have no idea how respected of a source it is, i just typed "HP Envy 15 review" into google) gave it 9.3 and editors choice. The only thing holding me back is this Sandy Bridge business.
http://computershopper.com/laptops/reviews/hp-envy-15
Playing EVE
Played Darkfall, Played Wow,
Well, since it takes two Mobility Radeon HD 5870s to match the power of a single desktop Radeon HD 5870 or a pair of 5770s, both of which can be had in a machine comfortably at the $1000-$1100 price point, as of a year ago (and probably the $800 price point today), that means that you're claiming that a year ago, it was possible to buy a laptop with two Radeon HD 5870s for $1300-$1450.
To match a single desktop Radeon HD 5770, which would have run about $600-$700 for an entire system a year ago, you would have had to been able to get a Mobility Radeon HD 5870 (which IS a slightly slower desktop 5770) in a laptop for $800 to $900 a year ago, and today, since I can build that same desktop for about $500-$600, you'd have to be able to get that same laptop for $650 to $750.
Somehow, I seriously doubt you could get laptops with those kind of GPU setups for those prices. Right now, the cheapest laptop available on Newegg with a Mobility Radeon HD 5870 is $1099, so twice as much as an equivalent desktop.
Since that site is not a dedicated review organization of any kind, their staff, time, and therefore, the accuracy and scope of their reviews, is really nothing to base any kind of purchase decision on.
Furthermore, even if you can FIND an HP Envy 15, which HP's shopping website didn't even have listed (nor did Newegg), you'd be looking at $1800 for the configuration that that review is based on. At that price point, you could do ENORMOUSLY better (or just spend enormously less and get something almost as good).
At $1099, The MSI GX640 is equal to that $1800 Envy in every concievable way, except that its screen resolution is 1680x1050 instead of 1920x1080. It also probably comes with a better warranty than the HP model does, and is manufactured by a more reputable company.
If you really are hell-bend on spending almost two grand on a notebook, you can get a nicely configured MSI GX660 that's better than the Envy 15 that was reviewed there, by a long shot. It has the same 1080P screen, but comes with a much more powerful quad core i7 740QM, comes with a more powerful Mobiltiy Radeon HD 5870, has 640GB of hard drive space to the HP's 500, and comes with a blu-ray drive!
That's as configured, here (http://www.xoticpc.com/gx660r060us-gaming-laptop-p-2864.html?wconfigure=yes). For $35 more, you can get them to use IC Diamond as the thermal grease for better cooling. That's still under $1600. If you want to spend almost two grand, then you can get a pair of 90GB OCZ SSDs in that from Xotic PC (unlike normal hard drives, SSDs SCREAM in raid 0), and then, for the same price, you'll have something vastly, vastly, vastly better, in every way, than the HP Envy 15.
Plus, you'll actually get a num pad on an MSI keyboard!
It's your decision. I'm certainly not going to tell you that you don't have the freedom, as a consumer, to buy vastly inferior machines that cost more money, but as somehow who keeps a very close eye on the laptop market and has bought a lot of laptops, I'm telling you, the Envy is not the way to go, and I'm backing it with clear facts that show that you can do better. You don't know me, so forget the fact that this is my opinion; the opinion of a stranger should be irrelevant to you. What you should pay attention to is that I'm linking you vastly better machines for the money.
If you need the laptop by January 31, then there will be a lot of Sandy Bridge laptops out by then. If a bunch of other companies have launched them but one particular company hasn't, then just don't buy from the company that hasn't. Problem solved.
Don't get too caught up in editor's choice awards from sites you've never heard of. There are random tech media sites out there that give an editor's choice award to a majority of the products they see. And they don't see more than a tiny fraction of the products out there, so they can't make that great of a comparison.
Hey thanks a ton for all your input. i will defiantly consider some other laptops as i defiantly want to get the best for my money. this MSI GX660 sounds cool.
Playing EVE
Played Darkfall, Played Wow,
I really do hope that you get what you're looking for. That laptop I suggested there is pretty nice, if you're willing to put down the cash for it.
That said, getting something after Sandy Bridge launches (a nice Asus or MSI notebook) would really be even better. Who knows, maybe they'll even have a Mobility Radeon HD 6970 by then
Unfortunately, I doubt it, since I haven't heard anything as yet about such cards.
Edit: Notebookcheck actually may have an early benchmark for the mobile 6970, if only one, here: http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6970M.43077.0.html
If that 3dmark06 score is accurate, it suggests that this card might actually be considerably faster than the 5870, or even the mobile GTX480. Still, who can say when it'll launch.
Contrary to the what the tech heads will tell you.
I own the 17" Envy
I7 720
4GB ram
Ati 5850 (clocked by 50mhz to the same as the 5870)
Theres not a game I own that it can't max and for hrs at a time and never pip over 70 C
Dragon Age
Bad Company 2
Arkham Asylum
AOC
Any other MMO you would like to throw at it.
It converts full movies in 20 mins or less
By all means wait on the new architecture but you know as well as I do the first batch of these will be scandalously priced.
Some have mentioned the Asus G series I'm unsure of these TBH either i have been unlucky 3 times or they are the pile of marketed crap I believe them to be had 2 before this envy both returned within a month due to heat problems, had a work one middle of year and same problem 90C+ within 5 minutes of BC2.
The Envy IMO is the best affordable gaming laptop on the market and more than shifts the heat and handles the games you want to throw at it and many others of the same spec that are running dx11 cards will cost you considerably more.
The MSI GX660 is also some sound advice this was the laptop I was initially looking at but getting one in the UK was nigh impossible.
You poor guys in the UK always seem to get the shaft on hardware. You only every have half the market available to you, and stuff always costs twice as much.
At least you've managed to get something competent at gaming.
As far as the Sandy Bridge pricing, there is no indication, at all, that these will be exorbitantly priced. Suggested prices thus far are no higher than typical Nehalem chips, these just peform better. This is how it usually is anyways. My first Intel chip after several years of using AMD's K8 line was one of their Penryn CPUs, when they were brand spanking new. My little Wolfdale E8400 hardly cost me anything, really, and of course it's still chugging along in a friend's gaming machine just fine (with some significant overclocking to at least help compensate for age).
Ha we certainly do.
The E8400 was truly a awesome chip IMO the 2nd best ever produced had mine at pushing 4.5ghz and no problems until the day it got ebayed.
In case your wondering the winner of best chip ever goes to the amd T-bird 900mhz won this and a Riva TNT2 at a Kingpin competition a good 4-6 month before launch and it was a monster clocked to 1350mhz or thereabouts in a liquid cooled rig just as the 1ghz coppermines had been introduced that where terrible overclockers. It a few months later got replaced by a t-bird 1300 but it will always hold a place in my heart as I was one of very few people in the world who had their hands on one and its overclocking abilities.