Laptop buyer's guide

ChopperMan

ChopperMan

[01] Neophyte
Been having problems with mine and I've wanted a new one for a while for gaming anyways

but I have no idea what's shit and what's quality in the world of computers

Not looking for anything high end personally, just something to manage my shit for college and that I can play games like L4D and TF2 on. and something that I could get good use out of for the next 5 years or so.

So if anyone's knowledgeable about the subject post here to help out those who don't(about good comps, bad comps, overrated comps(alienware) etc)
 
For laptops, I feel like people should go with one of the major manufacturers simply because of their more reliable support/warranties, plus they're making some good machines anyways. Dell, Acer, HP, Vaio... should have something to fit your needs. Asus is coming up in the notebook market though, and while I've been a big fan of their desktop components, I have no experience with their laptops so I can't recommend it in good faith.

As far as gaming goes... since laptop screens usually don't have insane resolutions (like around 1440x900 or something), you should be able to play Valve's current games on high with just about any computer shipping with a dual core processor and at least 1 gig of RAM so long as you have a solid GPU, like a 9600M GT.

EDIT: Since GPUs are rather confusingly named, here's a post listing them in terms of performance:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=302231

Anything in the Performance category should be able to max out or decently run TF2/L4D comfortably on laptop resolutions.
 
have a Sony Vaio myself and its working very well... the screen is wonderful. but they mark up the price for brand name (you get what you pay for)

heard good things about DELL laptops from a friend who use to own a few...
heard bad things about HP (screen issues). however their notebooks come PACKED with features...

my Vaio only has about 1.6ghz of core duo, and only 1 gig of ram, and the GPU really really sucks. which is why im also looking for a more powerful notebook.
if you want to play games SMOOTHLY on there you'll need as least 2 gigs of Ram and a decent-good video card.
 
ExMachina said:
For laptops, I feel like people should go with one of the major manufacturers simply because of their more reliable support/warranties, plus they're making some good machines anyways. Dell, Acer, HP, Vaio... should have something to fit your needs. Asus is coming up in the notebook market though, and while I've been a big fan of their desktop components, I have no experience with their laptops so I can't recommend it in good faith.

As far as gaming goes... since laptop screens usually don't have insane resolutions (like around 1440x900 or something), you should be able to play Valve's current games on high with just about any computer shipping with a dual core processor and at least 1 gig of RAM so long as you have a solid GPU, like a 9600M GT.

EDIT: Since GPUs are rather confusingly named, here's a post listing them in terms of performance:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=302231

Anything in the Performance category should be able to max out or decently run TF2/L4D comfortably on laptop resolutions.
Click to expand...

Any specific computers you'd recommend?

I have a vaio and it meets every requirement except for the videocard

and I heard you can't really replace video cards in laptops so....fuck
 
While you can't replace videocards or overclock the CPU, lots of times you can overclock the video card. If you really want something for gaming, get a minimum 9600GT and overclock it.

Whatever you do, use your display driver settings and this site to properly adjust the colors/brightness. Despite my laptop having a matte and not a glossy high contrast screen, I've gotten a fair share of oohs and aahs about the color fidelity.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top