help buying laptop

jack999

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Apr 2, 2006
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hi guys



can i play games like doom,battelfield,generals and other new games??


HP Pavilion dv1598EA

Intel Centrino Mobile technology including Intel Pentium M 760
processor speed 2.00 GHz
L2 cache size 2 MB
1 GB DDR2 RAM
hard drive capacity 100 GB
LightScribe DVD Dual Double Layer
Screen 14.0 in Crystal View TFT LCD WXGA color
video memory shared 128 MB DDR RAM
video/graphic chip Intel 915GM Express
 

uber_g

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Mar 25, 2006
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not with that laptop , it has onboard video and it cant render anything besides 2D desktop work not games

i would go witha dell xps or an alienware with a dedicated videocard , bare min is a nvidia 6800 series video cards or a mobile ATI radeon X800

battlefield 2 is a resource monger soo u need a lot of video and system memory

=]
 

jap0nes

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Mar 8, 2006
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hmmmm i dont think so... as uber_g said, go for a dedicated graphics chip... i guess there are even 7900go, but that would be more than enough
 

Marauder

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Dec 15, 2005
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Well maybe I can help since I can speak from experience.

I currently have the Dell Inspirion 9300 with the 6800 GO 256mb graphics, and intel 1.83ghz centrino, 1gig 433mhz fsb, 60gb hdd. This computer is a little over 1 year old and I can still play all of the top games. It performs just as well as my desktop with a AMD 64 3000, 6800 GT 256mb, 1gig pc4000.

Like I said I can play all of the modern games, BUT not real high resolutions with the eye candy turned on. I am talking mainly about BF2. CS:S is a piece of cake for it with 1024 res and everything set to as high as it will go though.

If i were you, i would do what the others have suggested and go with a dedicated graphics in your laptop. Personally I would get the 7900 GO series and 2gb of ram in the Dell XPS. I recommend 2GB of ram since my 1 GB in BF2 is barely cutting it and with laptops you want them to go the distance since you're limited on upgrades. Yes, this will cost you extra money, but its worth it. And besides, when you're talking about a gaming laptop, they're expensive in nature. Far more expensive than buyin a desktop computer with the same capabilities... (mine was $2300 when i first got it, but was still cheaper than the first gen of XPS and had better parts)

Hope this helps.
 

rodney_ws

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Dec 29, 2005
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No way in hell will that integrated Intel video system push those games... I have a laptop with an ATI X1400 and it barely plays the Sims 2 at an acceptable pace... does fine for strategy games though. Bless you Paradox for Hearts of Iron 2.
 
hi guys
can i play games like doom,battelfield,generals and other new games??

...

video/graphic chip Intel 915GM Express

That laptop WILL play the games, you listed, but in other games like Oblivion it will not.

The GMA900 is weak, it will play them, but damn slow! It uses software+cpu for all the vertex heavy lifting so it's very slow and you'll be stuck at low res. But if it's just for gaming while waiting to board a plane or such it'll do in a pinch, but it's not a gaming laptop by any stretch of the immagination.

With Oblivion it just won't play them at all, you need Oldblivion, and that's pretty much a view of games to come.

You'd be better off with either an X200 or GF6100 series integrated or better yet for starting to get a little bit more serious about gaming something discrete (minimum Mobility Radeon X1300 or GFGO7300 , IMO). For true gaming experience then an MRX1600 or GFGO7600 is a minimum entry with the MRX1900 or GFGO7900GS being their better parts and the MRX1900XT and GFGO7900GTX being the two top dogs (which you can also SLi if you're nuts, err. I mean like roasting nuts :twisted: ).
 
I'm selling my laptop if you are interested. It's a good deal, reliable, and good for gaming.

That laptop is no longer 'good for gaming'. It's 'ok, or passable.

Heck my MRX700 is old in the tooth and would be the minimum starting point IMO, and not preferable compared to a GGOF6800.

For $1,000 he can get a GFGO6800 or GFGO7600 or MRX1600 equipped laptop.
 
Actually that's kinda poor for a laptop.

First it's a Desktop CPU so battery life is halved. Second you got slow memory with not ability to move it to the DDR2 of either the current top Centrinos, nor the next gen processors MErom & Turion AM2.

Second the hard drive is slow even for a laptop.

Also the X600 is now weak as a gaming laptop option for a new buy.

And for that price you could get a 17" laptop with beatter features.

Heck from Gateway itself, here's a better gaming option for the same price;
http://www.gateway.com/products/GConfig/proddetails.asp?system_id=nx860x&seg=hm

Faster (but smaller) HD, slightly slower but much more efficient cpu, memory useable in the Merom and next gen Turion, and much MUCH better graphics chip (GF7600 will clobber not only the X600, but even the X700 in my rig heck add their performance together and you might equalt the GF7600).

Rule of thumb, avoid buying from BestBuy if you live in the USA, there are far better option out, there.
 

MrCommunistGen

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Jun 7, 2005
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this laptop kicks ass for its price i think, im gonna be ordering 1 for skool, i hate notebooks :twisted:


http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7742927&type=product&id=1140393564933
Umm... thats not really that good. As others have mentioned, the graphics chip is weak sauce. I have a GeForce6600go in my laptop and it really doesn't cut it for most games (BF2, Oblivion) even at lowest settings and its faster than an X600. I'd look into getting at least an X1600. You can pick up a well equiped Core Duo with an X1600 for about $1300. Its an Asus S96J on ibuypower.com. My friend has one and it runs Oblivion pretty well (all those shaders I guess). But if you want to future-proof the laptop I'd put down a bit more money and try to find an even better graphics card.

-mcg