Need help

[silent_creationist]

So I'm thinking of getting a laptop. I have 2 different ones in mind.

 

Both are HP's, but one is a bit cheaper then the other.

 

The cheaper one:

 

AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK57

2 048 MB RAM

120 GB

NVIDIA GF 7150

 

And the more expensive one:

 

AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 (2,0 GHz)

160 GB SATA harddisk

2 GB RAM

Nvidia GeForce Go 8400M GS

 

I realize of course that the expensive one is better. But I'm not sure if it's worth the extra cash. It's about 100$ more expensive. The cheap one is already pretty expensive for me. I'm not a big gamer, but I would like for it to be able to play simple games, at atleast medium settings. I also have The Orange Box, so if it could play that, it would be awesome.

 

So what do you think, should I pay the extra 100$ for the better PC? Also if you could maybe give me kind of an idea of what games the two computers could play, it would really help me out too.

Edited April 14, 2008 by silent_creationist

[Crokey]

From my experience with Laptops, which is a lot, I would seriously consider buying the one with the Best Graphics Card, why?

 

Well nearly all the other components can be fairly easily upgradeable, like CD/DVD. RAM, HDD and you can add PCMCIA Sound Cards (if your laptop has a PCMCIA Slot), bar the Processor to a degree, but the Graphics cards can be nigh on impossible to upgrade, except for the odd few out there and I mean few out of thousands of laptops available which cost a fair few notes anyway, so by getting the one with the most up-to-date Graphics Card, you'll extend the life of it by a good couple/few years.

 

Although you're not a big gamer, you might be surprised how much you might be tempted to play more games with a better system (depending on what your Desktop machine is) so 'future-proofing' your system will be a better bet in the long run.

 

With that Setup (with the basics you've given) should be able to play The Orange Box easily and plenty of other games, best thing to do is search whatever game it is and the PC Specs in google and see what it requires.

[jaymig53]

Yea, I would say get the more expensive one. I once got the cheaper one, and i'm kicking myself now for not paying, just a little bit more, for a much better computer. Plus It'll be worth it in the long run, 100$ may sound like a lot now, but in a couple of years you'll have made that money back easy. Plus you'll be too busy playing Half-life 2.

[Phil112]

Here are the specs for The Orange Box

 

Minimum:

1.7 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, DirectX 8 level graphics card, Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Internet connection

Recommended:

Pentium 4 processor (3.0GHz, or better), 1 GB RAM, DirectX 9 level graphics card, Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Internet connection

In other words, yes you'll probably be able to play it on medium settings even with the cheaper one, but go for the more expensive one if you can, it will be better in the long run. Especially for an extra £50.

[silent_creationist]

Thanks for the advice guys, but I'm still not completely sure. I think I'll take the expensive one, but can't you say something about the graphics card on the, cheap one. It's really hard to find any information, about it. So what sort of games do you think it can play, and how does it perform?

[ILovePolarBears]

I believe the 7150 is an integrated graphics card, but I am not positive. Neither setup is going to give you mind blowing performance, but if you have any interest in gaming, forking out the extra cash is a very good idea. I can't give you any better indication, as I am really not very knowledgeable about mobile GPUs. I do know that the desktop version of the 8400GS is quite inadequate; outperformed by some cards from the 7x generation and even a high-end card from the 6x generation.

 

Personally, I tend to shy away from gaming on notebooks (I haven't even tried anything other than Minesweeper on my current notebook). If/when modular notebooks materialize, and consumers can upgrade components as desired, it'll be a better idea. For now, you're pretty much stuck making lump-sum investments on totally new notebooks each time you want to upgrade. This is no good given the pace of the industry and the cost of keeping up with it (even the cost of lagging behind it can be a lot!). This cost is further compounded by having to buy notebooks pre-built from a manufacturer; you pay a premium you wouldn't if you could build them on your own.

 

A couple of questions:

 

Do you need the notebook for school, work or frequent travel?

 

Do you have a desktop PC for gaming already?

[Otter]

Odd perspective - I just bought a used laptop, strictly for work purposes. $200 for a a dell D600, 2gig Centrino, 1 GB Ram, 80 GB harddrive. I couldn't be happier - healthy wifi, runs XP and Office, and I can catch up on a lot of older games that I never got a chance to play. (KOTOR... really fun) It's got a 4 hour battery, too.

 

Not a gaming machine, but I can do a lot of stuff on it, including editing (although it's less than stellar) and photoshopping, watching DIV-x, and SD resolution H.264 stuff. HD Div-X plays back just fine, but HD h.264 chokes up.

 

So yeah, like Polar Bear has said, you've got to decide based on what you really need it for.

[Tornado Rex]

Where did you get that Otter? I've been looking for a cheap-o laptop for school/work as my old one is pretty much dead (and from 2002). I really don't want to drop $1000 on something that's going to be using the net and Word. I would like to avoid ebay/craigslist though :-/

[Otter]

Ah, see therein lies the rub. I got it off craigslist.

 

However, I know there are plenty of places around that specialize in used laptops. You never know, maybe something in your neighborhood. The added benefit in that case is that some of them offer short term warranties.

Edited April 17, 2008 by Otter