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General discussion

Help, cnet! I don't know what laptop to buy.

by Kingbandaid Jun 1, 2009 6:37AM PDT

Hey there, guys! My name is Brandon and I am having a difficult time deciding what king of laptop I want.

I currently have a Powerbook G4 1.67ghz, with 1g ram, 80gb hd, airport extreme, etc, etc. I am very pleased with it, in most cases, but as far as gaming goes, I am a bit dissapointed with it. I don't really play anything too strenuous(mostly Diablo 2 LOD) but it even seems to lag out when I am just in the town, before I even get to the battles that strain the video card! It gets so laggy and choppy, and I am not even playing online! Don't get me started on Battle net playing.

Basically, what I would like to know is where I can find a decent gaming pc, for cheaper. I want to avoid buying from Apple for now just simply because I cannot afford all of the extras they throw in that I don't want, and won't use. I would LOVE to stay under $500 if possible, seeing as I really only play Diablo 2(and FOR SURE will be playing D3), but I would like the flexibility of playing other games if I decide. Not necessary to have a huge hard drive or anything, but ram is obviously needed.

If anyone has any suggestions, I will gladly accept them! Grin

Thank you.

Discussion is locked

7 Posts
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here's the thing
by JonTitor Jun 1, 2009 10:02AM PDT

When you say gaming pc (specifically a laptop in this case), most people consider that to be a laptop made for gaming, at minimum I'd recommend the ASUS G50Vt for that ($900)
But if you just mean a decent enough laptop that can play games, than maybe check out the Studio 14z (around $700)

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Asus is good....
by Kingbandaid Jun 2, 2009 12:33AM PDT

Well the Asus one looks amazing but I'm not sure about that Dell one. Can it really handle some working? It just doesn't look very tough lol.

Well, like I said I am not looking for anything THAT fancy as the Asus one.


Any more ideas on something like 400-500?

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well
by JonTitor Jun 2, 2009 2:30PM PDT

when you say tough, I'm guessing you mean in terms of performance
in that case for $700 its actually pretty good, in terms of performance they key is to go with a Core 2 Duo CPU and the 9400M GS GPU, its not made for gaming but it can certainly handle them lightly.

When you get down to $500 though you're asking for trouble, Diablo 2 is an old game so that's not an issue but you're out of luck when it comes to Diablo 3 or anything else modern

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Gaming and laptops ...
by Kees Bakker Jun 2, 2009 12:38AM PDT

don't go very well together (heat and power use). What are the minimum requirements for the video card for Diablo 3?

Kees

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No one really knows.....
by Kingbandaid Jun 2, 2009 1:44AM PDT

No one is sure what the specifications will be for Diablo 3. They assume it might be like World of Warcraft, in which case, it would only 64mb of VRAM. But if it released later in the year, they think it will use the "newest technology", which means aloot more power.

I lean towards it being more at WoW's requirements because I've seen the trailers for how the game plays and it doesn't seem to harsh on your hardware.

But if it comes to me not having enough juice by then, I will work on getting another laptop haha.

I just don't want to go with a Netbook or something tiny like that because they run horrible to me, but I don't want to spend ALOT.

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No way that a modern game needs only 64 MB VRAM.
by Chevalr1c Jun 2, 2009 2:06AM PDT

Diablo 3 is a game that still has to be released, and WOW is a few years old. So I think it will be a lot more demanding than WoW for certain. Just compare these two pics and you know why: http://www.gamershell.com/pc/world_of_warcraft/screenshots.html?id=199951 (WoW)and http://www.gamershell.com/pc/diablo_iii/screenshots.html?id=383404 (Diablo 3) And a laptop under 500 bucks will most likely have Intel GMA graphics and have difficulties handling Vista. So I should wait until Windows 7 is out if I were you, and use the momey for a decent desktop. Then you will get better hardware for the same price. If you wish to be able to play D3, I shouldn't get less than a Radeon HD 3650/GeForce 8600.

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Parting is such sweet sorrow....
by Kingbandaid Jun 2, 2009 3:48AM PDT

Well I guess you're right, I have been thinking about the restrictions that laptops have. It's hard for me to have the time to sit at the desk and play a game, I am usually doing other things and out of the house, so the laptop would be ideal....But I guess I will have to give in to either getting my desktop ready for D3, or just save longer for a laptop with a good card and coolant.


Thanks bunches for the advice Grin

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