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Lehesu
04-08-2006, 23:23
That time of the century folks! Yes, I am purchasing a new computer! Has to be a laptop, but I want it to be a desktop replacement, especially in the games department. Specifically, I want to be able to play games like FEAR and Oblivion at a reasonable level of detail at around 800x600 to 1024x768. I have around 2,000 U.S. to play around with. Any specific laptops that I should seriously consider? Seeing as this will be my last purchase for another century (maybe longer) I want the purchase to be a good one.
BDC
04-09-2006, 19:43
Be cheaper to buy a gaming desktop and some lightweight laptop...
Lehesu
04-09-2006, 20:11
I understand that, but it must be a laptop. Desktop won't cut it.
Quietus
04-09-2006, 22:34
That time of the century folks! Yes, I am purchasing a new computer! Has to be a laptop, but I want it to be a desktop replacement, especially in the games department. Specifically, I want to be able to play games like FEAR and Oblivion at a reasonable level of detail at around 800x600 to 1024x768. I have around 2,000 U.S. to play around with. Any specific laptops that I should seriously consider? Seeing as this will be my last purchase for another century (maybe longer) I want the purchase to be a good one. I read recently in a newspaper about specialized gaming laptops. Here's one on the article:

Toshiba Gaming Laptop
(http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1943298,00.asp)
orangat
04-09-2006, 23:20
The Dell M170 with the 7800gtx is around $1700 and will play Oblivion/FEAR with quite abit of eye-candy.
Lehesu
04-10-2006, 01:35
I have been looking at the M170 myself, actually. The only thing that concerns me is that the processor is only around, I think, 2.24 Ghz or thereabouts. I don't know much about computers, but that really doesn't sound like a lot to me.

On a related note: Can anyone tell me how to "grade" new dual-core processors versus single processors? I know that a dual-core 1.5 Ghz does not equal 3.0 Ghz total power (it's less) but I don't really know how dual-core stacks up against a single core.

For example, the Toshiba in the link will have a dual-core 1.83 Ghz processor. I would think that it would be better than the single core 2.24 Ghz, but I really don't know.
orangat
04-10-2006, 02:45
I have been looking at the M170 myself, actually. The only thing that concerns me is that the processor is only around, I think, 2.24 Ghz or thereabouts. I don't know much about computers, but that really doesn't sound like a lot to me.


The M170 starts at 2Ghz. Its a pentium M which is a totally different animal from the pentium 4. 2Ghz for the P-M is fast and should be aound the 3500-3800+ range for gaming.
Lehesu
04-10-2006, 14:12
Orangat: How do you get the XPS for 1,700? I was checking online, and lowest cost (for a gaming rig) was around 2,500.
orangat
04-10-2006, 15:12
Orangat: How do you get the XPS for 1,700? I was checking online, and lowest cost (for a gaming rig) was around 2,500.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=iMX170G3&s=dhs
The basic version of the M170 with the 2Ghz cpu and 7800gtx is $1700.
The early version of windows media center was very buggy, if its still a problem I'd advise choosing the normal XP version.

And regarding your earlier question, the dua core pentium M looks very good from benchmarks using pre-release samples. Its within 5-10% of AMD X2 of similar clock speed in games and about the same in normal apps.