Need help replacing desktop

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Mart T

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Jun 6, 2009
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Hey there, since I am going off to college I need to buy a laptop to replace my desktop. I am a gamer as well, but I don't play that much. The games I do play however are graphics intensive - Company of Heroes, The Sims 3, Crysis and Fallout 3. I was wondering if you guys can help me pick out a laptop.

1_What is your budget?
2k or less would prefer less than 1,500 actually but I don't know if there are any good laptops like that

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
14 - 15

3_What screen resolution do you want?
Best possible for the games I play

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Desktop replacement laptop

5_How much battery life do you need?
Doesn't matter

6_Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Yes, Company of Heroes, The Sims 3, Crysis and Fallout 3, Starcraft II: Dx10, I would prefer to play them on the highest possible settings, but medium would suffice.

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing, surfing the web, playing music, watching movies, Etc.)
Surfing web, playing music, watching movies, word processing, possibly photo editing - I am replacing my desktop with a laptop.

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
Doesn't matter 500 gb external hard drive
9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them.

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?
I want to keep it for as long as I can

11_If you would like to mention some other things about purchasing your ideal laptop, post them.
I'm pretty new to laptops so any advice would really help also I would really love it if the laptop can be as good or better than my current desktop. If needed I can post the specs.

12_Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.

13_What country do you live in?
USA

 

Mart T

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Jun 6, 2009
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I was looking at some Sager laptops and I saw the NP2096 series, are those series good? Between

Thinkpad t400
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/systemconfig.runtime.workflow:LoadRuntimeTree?sb=:00000025:000019C8:&smid=0A759CA6FAC74C46BC91C724ECD09BA7

and the Sager NP2096
http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=91133

Which one is better?

Oh if it helps my current video card is an
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO 512 MB PCI-Express
I was wondering if there's something that can compare to that?
 

laptopfreak

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No for the Lenovo t400 and No for the Sager NP2096.

Lenovo's GPU is way too weak.
Sager's GPU only handles Crysis at low or medium settings.

Check my list out:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220483
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8662-built-clevo-m860tu-p-2564.html?wconfigure=yes
http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gt627-218-p-2555.html?wconfigure=yes

If you want a better bang for the buck at similar price with the laptops you listed, this one would be a better choice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152108
 

laptopfreak

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The MSI laptop I linked on Newegg uses Ati Radeon 4670 which is better than the older Geforce 9600GT.

The only downside of that laptop is its CPU which can be upgraded to a better one by yourself. But can't complain for the specs that it has at that price. Just upgrade the CPU when you feel like it doesn't offer enough power. I'm not sure whether you could slightly overclock it or not.
 

laptopfreak

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You're looking at laptop GPU so you should say the ATI Mobility Radeon 4670 is better than the nVidia Geforce 9600M GT. Desktop cards are usually not the same as the ones on notebook because they need to reduce their power consumption, reduce size, and increase efficiency. From the benchmarks I have seen, the 4670 scores better than the 9600GT. The 4670 is released this year with 55nm manufacturing process whereas the 9600GT is last year's GPU produced with 65nm technology.

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

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

http://hothardware.com/Articles/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4000-Series-Preview/?page=2

http://game.amd.com/it-it/unlock_4600mob.aspx

http://optimitza.cat/news/2009/01/19/ati-mobility-radeon-hd-3670-gaming-benchmarks-vs-nvidia-geforce-9600m-gt/

And yes, the Gateway is a clear winner because the 9800M GS is better than the 4670 and it has a better CPU. But it is a larger card therefore it is placed in the 17" notebook and consumes more power than the 4670. Maybe you should search around for the battery life of the gateway first because it's quite popular.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9172511&type=product&id=1218043606827
 
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