Not necessarily home built but I was building a Laptop at Dell.com "build your own" XPS M1530 and I'm basically trying to buy a nice laptop (some what cheap) that can run WOW perfectly. And this is what I have so far and am wondering if this is good enough
My Components
Tuxedo Black
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T8100 (2.1GHz/800Mhz FSB, 3MB Cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1
Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch LCD (1280x800) & 2.0 MP Camera
4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
Size: 250GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
Verizon Wireless built-in cellular mobile broadband (EVDO Rev A)
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition
Finger Print Reader XPS M1530
My Software & Accessories
McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 24-months
No Microsoft Office
My Service
2Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
1Yr LoJack for Laptops Theft Protection
Dell Online Backup 50GB for 1 year
No ISP requested
Also Includes
Windows Vista™ Premium
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Black Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch LCD (1280x800) & 2.0 MP Camera
That one has a Core 2 Duo @ 2.26 Ghz, 4GB of ram, and a GeForce 9800M GTS (Which is a HELL of a lot better than a 8600M GT). All for $1250, which I think is a pretty darn good deal, especially for a laptop.
Or this one for $1300 with a C2D 2.2Ghz, 4GB of memory, and 8800M GTS:
Gateway P-173X FX Edition Notebook PC - Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2GHz, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g Wireless, 4GB DDR2, 200GB HDD, DL DVDRW, 17" WXGA+, Integrated Webcam, Windows Vista Ultimate
I just noticed that decent laptop gaming is starting to become affordable... isn't it?
EDIT: Now that I looked over the dell website and saw how much it costs to make your configuration, I think it's obvious you should go for either gateway laptop.
Message edited by emp on 09-29-2008 at 06:16:32 AM
I would not touch one of those Gateway Laptops with a 10ft pole.
If you read the reviews, they have serious overheating issues.
Most likely, it will be toast in 6 months.
Mail your PC in for repair, maybe it will be back to you in 6months and it may work for a few more.
(I did seriously look at the Gateways and nearly bought one, but then I read a number of reviews as well as physically examined them. It even felt cheap.)
Yes, The Dell is XPS M1530 Laptops are seriously over-priced.
The Studio Laptops are more reasonably priced and could easily handle WoW.
I'm sure you could configure an HP Laptop as well that would do a reasonable job on WoW.
------------------------------If its good in theory but not in practice,
its not good theory.
Reply to zenmaster
Thing is that is rather difficult to find a good ATI mobile GPU, if you can, then be my guest and I'll back your suggestions instead of mine, because just like you said, I'd rather have an ATI GPU at this point.
I made this Dell Studio 17 how will it do for WOW?
Jet Black
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8100 (2.1GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1
Hi Resolution, glossy widescreen 17.0 inch display (1920x1200)
4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2
Size: 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
256MB ATI MOBILITY RADEON HD 3650
8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Dell 1397 Wireless-G Card
Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
56 Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)
High Definition Audio 2.0
Standard Keyboard (included in the price)
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