Budget College Laptop

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I'm a college student and it's about time I finally got myself a laptop. I was planning on waiting a while longer, but my desktop is busted (It seems my power supply has gone south... again). I don't have a terribly large budget, but I'm not expecting all that much. The ability to surf, watch h264 video, and play older games (I have no qualms with just loading up Starcraft or Baldur's gate 2 and playing them rather than whatever new hotness is out there). At the same time I want something from a company with good support and reliability, since I'm perfectly willing to mess with the insides of a desktop, but a Laptop is an unknown beast to me. I was looking to spend about $700-800, but I saw Sager offering it's NP7660 for $869, which has

45nm Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8400 / 3MB L2 Cache, 2.26GHz, 1066MHz FSB
15.4 inch screen
1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 1 X 1024MB (but could bump it up to 2 for $35 more)
160 GB hd (5400 rpm)
6 cell battery pack(Smart Li-ION)

Is this a good deal for my money? Or are there any other good options out there for the same price range?


Message edited by zeboim on 07-17-2008 at 12:51:47 AM
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That certainly isn't a bad choice. For that price, I'd go for it, though you don't have a graphics card listed, so don't expect to even play older games on the highest setting.

Reply to cjl
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Whoops, forgot to add that.

Intel GMA X4500HD Integrated Graphics with Share Memory Architecture up to 256MB

I've never really been a fan of integrated graphics, but what I can find about this one seems to portray it in a fairly positive light. I've never really followed laptop graphics card specs, though, so I'm unsure.

It also has an integrated 2.0M camera, but I couldn't care any less about that.

Reply to zeboim
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X4500?

 

It should be all right - certainly better than Intel's older stuff. It'll play some games, though don't expect a miracle. If you want slightly better graphics, Dell has the Studio 15, which can be had at about that price with an ATI Mobility Radeon HD3450. Not an amazing card, but a decent step up from integrated.


Message edited by cjl on 07-17-2008 at 04:42:18 AM
Reply to cjl
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Agreed^^ HD 3450 would perform better than X4500 but as mentioned dont expect to run games very well

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