Doubt about Graphic Cards, Brands and Stores !!

Hi guys,

i'm new about laptop stuff. I'd never bought a laptop, my first time, so i have a lot of question. And i think u guys can help me alot. And i dont want to spend more than $1500.

First of all ... Graphic Cards.
I've been seeing all the graphics card for this money and i find these ones:
- Intel X3100
- GeForce 8400M G
- GeForce 8400M GS
and another ones ...
I would like to know .. X3100 is too bad for gaming like Counter Strike 1.6 and Source, Warcraft 3, WoW ?!
What graphic card u guys recommend for me ?! I don't wanna the TOP .. i just wanna one graphic card good enought to play this 3 games at least.

Second ... Brands.
I really don't know which brand is good for laptops.. what u guys recommends ?!

Thrid ... Stores.
I'm going to Destin, Florida and i wanna know where i could buy a laptop. Store or Online Store.
I see this websites (NewEgg and Tigerdirect) do u guys recommends another one ?! or another website cheaper haha ?!

Thanks for your time!!

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For 1500 you could buy yourself a good Dell Inspiron or Vostro, both of which are recommended. You could also pick up a decent HP Pavilion.

The Intel X3100 is an integrated card and integrated card have a tough time with games. It could probably handle those games, but not with very good settings or resloutions. You would be better off getting a dedicated card like the 8400's you listed above. With the Dell's I mentioned you could probably get an 8600 and still be within budget.

As far as brands (probably be my top 4):
Dell
HP
Asus
Sager (see xoticpc.com)

If you want to buy a pre-configured laptop, then sites like newegg and tigerdirect are good. If you want to make it truly yours, go on Dell's, HP's or Xotic's websites and configure a system to your liking.

Message quoted 1 times

Top mobile card is the 8800M...since you don't want the top, here is my list...

Go 7950
FX 3500M
8700M
Go 7900
HD 3800
FX 2500
Go 7800
8600M
HD 2600
X1900
X1800
Go 7700
Go 6800

Not necessarily in that order, but close, give or take a few, and not taking extensions (GT, GTX, etc.) into account.

These are all either class1 or high class2 cards.

The 8400 is a mid-line class3 card which is not suitable for gaming IMO.

Avoid integrated cards at all costs if you want to GAME.

Reply to ibleet

I tried to see dell, hp and xoticpc websites ... yes.. i can customize...
but the customization is not so deep !! some laptopts has some kind of processor that the other doesn't have, and the other has the video card. Or can i pick all the pieces ?! If so, i didn't find this option.

Another doubt ... Intel Core 2 Duo T7xxx ... is the best isn't it?! There is another processor cheaper that is good enought ?! AMD or Intel Core 2 Duo T5xxx ?!

lostandwandering wrote :

For 1500 you could buy yourself a good Dell Inspiron or Vostro, both of which are recommended. You could also pick up a decent HP Pavilion.

The Intel X3100 is an integrated card and integrated card have a tough time with games. It could probably handle those games, but not with very good settings or resloutions. You would be better off getting a dedicated card like the 8400's you listed above. With the Dell's I mentioned you could probably get an 8600 and still be within budget.

As far as brands (probably be my top 4):
Dell
HP
Asus
Sager (see xoticpc.com)

If you want to buy a pre-configured laptop, then sites like newegg and tigerdirect are good. If you want to make it truly yours, go on Dell's, HP's or Xotic's websites and configure a system to your liking.

Reply to nesso

The T7*** from Intel are THE current best for laptops (except the couple of laptops that use the desktop E series). With the older games that you want to play, you could probably get away with a lower end T5*** or a Turion X2 TL-56 (or higher). My guess from what you have said so far is that you are trying to find the best balance in price/performance. You want something that will perform what you want without killing your budget, correct?

This is a pretty good balance: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6834220163
Same but AMD/ATI camp: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6834220202
From the Xotic site: http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np209 [...] figure=yes

Let me know if I am on track with any of those systems. If not, I'll see what else I can come up with. BTW, do you have a screen size you prefer?

Message quoted 1 times

Yes.. u are right ... i wanna the best price/performance balance.

So i looked up for a lot of brands (Dell, HP, Asus, Sager, etc ..)
I cut my money for $1000-$1100 .. so i was looking up and i find these config on Dell ...

Dell Vostro 1500

Intel Core 2 Duo T5270 1.4 800 Mhz 2 MB Cache
2 GB DDR2 667 Dual Channel
GeForce 8600M GT 256 MB
15.4'
WebCam 2.0 Mp
HD 160 GB
WiFi a/g/n
Sound Integrated

Without Bluetooth -> $883
With Bluetooth -> $903

I've seen that T5270 is enought for me .. i really wanted one CPU with 667 MHz and 4 MB Cache, or 800 MHz and 4 MB Cache, but i just found this one, and i think this enought.
And this graphic card i think it's enought !! its quite simmilar too 8700M.

I have more questions ..
- There is an AMD CPU cheaper and with similar/same/best performance of T5270 ?!
- There is an ATI Graphic card chepar and with similar/same/best performance of 8600M GT ?!

The 15.4' is enought, of course 17' would be better. But this is not my priority !
So .. what's your opinnion about this ?!

lostandwandering wrote :

The T7*** from Intel are THE current best for laptops (except the couple of laptops that use the desktop E series). With the older games that you want to play, you could probably get away with a lower end T5*** or a Turion X2 TL-56 (or higher). My guess from what you have said so far is that you are trying to find the best balance in price/performance. You want something that will perform what you want without killing your budget, correct?

This is a pretty good balance: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6834220163
Same but AMD/ATI camp: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6834220202
From the Xotic site: http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np209 [...] figure=yes

Let me know if I am on track with any of those systems. If not, I'll see what else I can come up with. BTW, do you have a screen size you prefer?

Reply to nesso

I'm just now reading this at 1:30 in the morning. Don't really have the will power to answer it right now, but I will when I get up in the morning. Expect an answer around noon.

Message quoted 1 times

haha .. ok !
Waiting so ..

lostandwandering wrote :

I'm just now reading this at 1:30 in the morning. Don't really have the will power to answer it right now, but I will when I get up in the morning. Expect an answer around noon.

Reply to nesso

That laptop you specified should be good for WoW and CS:Source and other older games. The CPU's a little slow in my opinion, but it fits the budget.

There are AMD cpus, but they're less powerful than their Intel C2D counterparts. In terms of laptop graphics, right now, I think you should go with the Nvidia Geforce cards, they have better performance from what I've seen.

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http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t62/theworminator/NBRSignature.png

Reply to theworminator

As promised.

The Vostro you provided specs on will do everything you want it to at a very reasonable price.

Yes, the AMD Turions in general are cheaper than the Core2's, but they are also slower.

ATI's equivalent to the 8600mGT is the HD2600. Not sure if it will be any cheaper than the 8600 though.

Price to performance wise, I think you will have a hard time beating that Vostro.

I think that this vostro is enought... and i think i will not find another cheaper.

Thanks for help dudes !!
Help me a lot ...

Reply to nesso

Sure, no problem.

If you get that 1.4ghz C2D you WILL regret it. Make sure it's at least a 2.0ghz T7***

Reply to quantumsheep

Hello all, I am also getting a laptop and am not very familiar with laptops.

I'm looking at very similir laptops to the ones mentioned above:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6834220163
Same but AMD/ATI camp: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6834220202
From the Xotic site: http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np209 [...] figure=yes

The one other one I was thinking about was:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6834220237

it was a 512 MB ATI HD2600 and is priced at $800. The processor is AMD 64X2 T-58 though...

My questions are: How does the 64X2 T-58(1.9Ghz) compare to Core2Duo of 2Ghz? How much better is the C2D, and about to what Core 2 Duo is the T-58 equal/comparable to? The 800 bucks seems very attractive....

Reply to johaness9

Johaness9, your first three links don't seem to work, try reposting them or something. The last link seems slightly underpowered...only 1 gig of RAM, a slower hard drive...let's see the other 3 first.

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Reply to theworminator

ah, sorry, here are the links:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6834220163
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6834220202
http://www.xoticpc.com/shopping_ca [...] figure=yes

and I also found a similarly priced Vostro at $1028 with:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7250 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
Windows Vista
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
160GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT

As of right now, I think I'm trying to decide more between the Vostro and the Sager-np209 from Xotic pc which doesnt come with an OS, but I already have Vista Business and XP.

I am new to laptops so any help would be appreciated!

Reply to johaness9

I think either the Vostro or the Sager would be good choices. If you want to game that is. The first one, the Intel F3, would be a very solid multimedia machine only because of the weaker 8600GS. The second one would be good except for the Turion, though it ain't exactly bad the Core2's are just better. Even if you don't game they are good choices, but maybe a little overkill.

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