THE BORE

General => The Superdeep Borehole => Topic started by: Eel O'Brian on April 17, 2008, 12:48:19 PM

Title: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: Eel O'Brian on April 17, 2008, 12:48:19 PM
you guys seem to be in the know about these things

could any of you tell me if this laptop is any good for doing some light photoshop work and recording through audacity, and what kind of games (if any) I can play on it:

http://explore.toshiba.com/laptops/satellite/A200/A215-S5837

I have it on good authority that this laptop will be on sale for $499 at a major electronics store this weekend

is that a decent price?
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: demi on April 17, 2008, 01:01:42 PM
That's more than enough, dude, go for it
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: Eel O'Brian on April 17, 2008, 01:03:03 PM
will i be able to play any games at all on it?

i know that integrated graphics chips on laptops are pretty awful overall
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: demi on April 17, 2008, 01:05:28 PM
That is usually the case with most laptops, but I am sure you can run some lower-end games.
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance neede
Post by: Tauntaun on April 17, 2008, 01:08:43 PM
I have a 17" Toshiba Satellite. It's wonderful. Plays BioShock maxxed @ 1280x800.

Yeah but what kind of graphics card do you have? 

The "dynamically allocated shared" part makes me wonder with this model Eel.  I'd go for something with at least a Nvidia 8400 or 8600 card.
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: MrAngryFace on April 17, 2008, 01:18:14 PM
I wouldn't think about gaming on a laptop unless its got a dedicated card inside. I have a tx1000 with a 6150 GeForce Go which isn't BAD, but it still can barely play WoW at 20 fps and mostly only runs games from 1999-2002. However, its only 12 inches and is still more powerful than the mac book I bought so it works.

The MacBook is almost exclusively for web browsing, office apps, movies/music
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: Eel O'Brian on April 17, 2008, 01:22:28 PM
yeah, tauntaun and maf, i looked around, and those kinds of laptops are a bit too expensive for me for what little i'll use it for gaming

i know i won't be able to play stuff like cod4 or bioshock or whatever without investing over a grand in a laptop, so i'm trying to keep it realistic, but it would be nice to be able to play some older rts games and fps once in a while, and maybe battlefield heroes when that comes out (i hear that the game has really low system requirements and is pretty scalable) - really light gaming, since it will primarily be used as a hobby/work machine

i checked into it, and there is actually 128 dedicated memory with anything over that shared - do you think i could run older stuff at 800x600 on really low settings with that?

specs:

Processor Type
AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TL-60 (2 ghz)

Front Side Bus
HyperTransport™ Technology @ up to 800MHz

Memory Size
2048MB

Memory Speed
PC5300 DDR2 667MHz SDRAM

Display Size
15.4" widescreen

Display Type
WXGA with TruBrite® Technology

Display Resolution
1280x800, Supports 720p content

Graphics Engine
ATI® Radeon™ X1200

Graphics Memory
128MB-319MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory

Hard Drive Size
160GB

Hard Drive Speed
5400rpm


Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: MrAngryFace on April 17, 2008, 01:23:54 PM
I can barely get HL2 running ok on my laptop :/
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance neede
Post by: Tauntaun on April 17, 2008, 01:26:10 PM
Here ya go buddy, this should answer your questions about games:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Radeon-Xpress-X1200.3775.0.html (http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Radeon-Xpress-X1200.3775.0.html)
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: Eel O'Brian on April 17, 2008, 01:27:55 PM
ha, that's pretty bad

maybe if i stick to stuff pre-2004 i'll be okay

there are lots of classic pc games i never played
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance neede
Post by: Eric P on April 17, 2008, 01:29:31 PM
ha, that's pretty bad

maybe if i stick to stuff pre-2004 i'll be okay
more like precambrian

Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: Eel O'Brian on April 17, 2008, 01:30:49 PM
well, what could i play, realistically?
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance neede
Post by: Eric P on April 17, 2008, 01:33:06 PM
i didn't really have anything to contribute but cannot prevent myself from leaping at the chance to make a pun.

:(
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance neede
Post by: Tauntaun on April 17, 2008, 01:35:35 PM
HP $699:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8654048&productCategoryId=abcat0502004&type=product&tab=2&id=1195600207185#productdetail (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8654048&productCategoryId=abcat0502004&type=product&tab=2&id=1195600207185#productdetail)

Gateway $699:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8771297&productCategoryId=abcat0502001&type=product&tab=2&id=1203815723402#productdetail (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8771297&productCategoryId=abcat0502001&type=product&tab=2&id=1203815723402#productdetail)
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: Eel O'Brian on April 17, 2008, 01:40:41 PM
what about this one:

$629
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-Pavilion-dv6810us-15-4-Widescreen-Entertainment-Laptop-DV6810US/sem/rpsm/oid/207702/catOid/-12963/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance neede
Post by: Tauntaun on April 17, 2008, 01:52:13 PM
what about this one:

$629
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-Pavilion-dv6810us-15-4-Widescreen-Entertainment-Laptop-DV6810US/sem/rpsm/oid/207702/catOid/-12963/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

I'd probably get that over the toshiba you first posted.
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: CajoleJuice on April 17, 2008, 01:55:22 PM
i didn't really have anything to contribute but cannot prevent myself from leaping at the chance to make a pun.

:(

:lol
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: Eel O'Brian on April 17, 2008, 01:55:52 PM
the geforce 7150 looks like the way to go for lower-end IGP laptops in my price range:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4145
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: Eel O'Brian on April 17, 2008, 02:26:34 PM
i don't even know why i'm agonizing over this when i know that in three months i'm going to look over at that barely used laptop and feel like fucking schmuck
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: MrAngryFace on April 17, 2008, 02:28:55 PM
I play a few games on my laptop, but the two I own I mostly use for web browsing or wow. I can play things like Defcon/Chuzzle/Diablo II/Starcraft/GTA2/NOLF1 and 2...Halflife 1/Opp Force, I mean it plays games, but its not a beast like my desktop.
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance neede
Post by: Tauntaun on April 17, 2008, 03:03:38 PM
Yeah but what kind of graphics card do you have? 

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 with 256MB dedicated DDR2 RAM

It ROCKS.

Point in case.  Holy crap man the new Nvidia 9800's..... :drool
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance neede
Post by: Smooth Groove on April 17, 2008, 03:53:36 PM
Yeah but what kind of graphics card do you have? 

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 with 256MB dedicated DDR2 RAM

It ROCKS.

Point in case.  Holy crap man the new Nvidia 9800's..... :drool

The 9800's are actually pretty disappointing.  They are gimped by slower memory controllers so that they can't outperform the 8800s in high resolutions, which is what most high end PC gamers use. 
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: Candyflip on April 17, 2008, 04:37:32 PM
I'm rocking an ATI Radeon Xpress 200. Do I win the poor person's award?
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance neede
Post by: Tauntaun on April 17, 2008, 04:44:19 PM
The 9800's are actually pretty disappointing.  They are gimped by slower memory controllers so that they can't outperform the 8800s in high resolutions, which is what most high end PC gamers use. 

I did not know that.

:bow Smooth Groove layin down the knowledge :bow2
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance neede
Post by: pilonv1 on April 17, 2008, 11:47:01 PM
My Asus G1 has a 512mb GeForce 7600 in it :bow2. Wish it was a 7700 but still good.

Ran Stalker at almost high detail (static lighting) at 1650x1080 at 40fps out doors :bow2
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: pilonv1 on April 18, 2008, 03:40:18 AM
Yeah the G1 is a fucking beast. Just wish I had more time to play PC games :(

My brother has the G1S (256mb 8600 instead of the 7600) and it's even better.
Title: Re: Prole, TVC, MAF, or anyone with PC knowledge enter - laptop assistance needed
Post by: Eel O'Brian on April 18, 2008, 10:33:26 AM
I think I might have found one in my range:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8771279&type=product&id=1203815723334