Author Topic: Buying a laptop, a couple of questions (Read 1065 times)

duckman2000 · « **on:** December 20, 2009, 04:02:46 PM »

Getting rid of the barnacle I own in favor of something new, but I'm a bit lost here. Are the Radeon mobile cards any good? I can get a laptop with a Core i7 with a Radeon 4650 for the same price as a laptop with a Core 2 Duo something and a geforce 260m. The former also has a BD drive and larger HDD which would be nice, but I have no idea if the 4650 is a decent enough card.

Human Snorenado · « **Reply #1 on:** December 20, 2009, 04:03:32 PM »

Obligatory REPUBLIC OF GAMERS suggestion.

Tieno · « **Reply #2 on:** December 20, 2009, 04:03:57 PM »

Get a macbook, duckman. You're one of the most smug people on the internet.

MyNameIsMethodis · « **Reply #3 on:** December 20, 2009, 04:04:33 PM »

http://www.notebookreview.com/

Use the discussion forum there if you want people who are actually knowledgable.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16

I reccomend making a post there.

duckman2000 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 20, 2009, 04:07:02 PM »

Quote from: Tieno on December 20, 2009, 04:03:57 PM

Get a macbook, duckman. You're one of the most smug people on the internet.

I used to be a mac dude, but there's no way I can justify the price for one of those things.

As for the republic of gamers thing, that's one of the two options, the one with the 260m. I'm a bit turned off by the battery life, and going by manufacturer specs, you seem to get 1-2 hours more out of the one with the Radeon 4650.

Oh yeah, and the Geforce 240m, that's garbage isn't it? I have an 8600 in my current laptop, and I'm less than impressed.

Stoney Mason · « **Reply #5 on:** December 20, 2009, 04:10:09 PM »

We bought our nephew a laptop this xmas with the ATI Mobilty Radon HD 4650. It seems to be okay. It runs Dragon Age at somewhere between medium and low depending on what is acceptable for you on frame rate.

It runs Torchlight absolutely great.

It can run Borderlands at high settings except for the shadows.

It even could run Crysis albeit with some occasional stuttering.

We got it from this place.

http://www.pro-star.com/index.cfm?mainpage=product&filter=6

duckman2000 · « **Reply #6 on:** December 20, 2009, 04:13:37 PM »

Thanks. Other than video card, is the Core i7 worth the price? This is going to be a combination gaming and video compositing machine.

duckman2000 · « **Reply #7 on:** December 21, 2009, 12:33:59 PM »

Ended up ditching the "high end" dreams and going for portability and sensible price of a 14.1" Asus. Hopefully the 4650 (or 4670, it seems) likes Bad Company 2 and Conviction.

Van Cruncheon · « **Reply #8 on:** December 21, 2009, 01:30:18 PM »

for video, yes, get the core i7 rig. radeon mobility cards suck; stick with the 260M or better. the 8600m was a gimpy (and busted) card.

duckman2000 · « **Reply #9 on:** December 21, 2009, 01:37:15 PM »

I checked, and the one I had in the old laptop was a 9600m, which I assume is just a rebranded 8600. Which is another reason I'm giving nvidia the finger for now, their damned rebranding scheme is getting real old.

Van Cruncheon · « **Reply #10 on:** December 21, 2009, 08:33:58 PM »

9600 uses a smaller die and the mobile R82, and actually isn't that bad -- my wife's laptop has one and it runs titan quest like a champ.

you may not like 'em, but nvidia still makes the best mobile gpus bar none, 8000M-series heat snafu aside. there's nothing comparable to the 260M and 280M GTXes from ATi. the mobility 4650 doesn't even pull the numbers of a 9600, much less a 9800 or better.

duckman2000 · « **Reply #11 on:** December 21, 2009, 09:42:11 PM »

Quote from: Professor Prole on December 21, 2009, 08:33:58 PM

9600 uses a smaller die and the mobile R82, and actually isn't that bad -- my wife's laptop has one and it runs titan quest like a champ.

you may not like 'em, but nvidia still makes the best mobile gpus bar none, 8000M-series heat snafu aside. there's nothing comparable to the 260M and 280M GTXes from ATi. the mobility 4650 doesn't even pull the numbers of a 9600, much less a 9800 or better.

Hmm, every benchmark and test I've come across has shown the 4670 come out on top of the 9600 GSO, not least when AA has been applied (a necessity at the shit low resolution this monitor displays at). But then that's the 4670, not the 50. I definitely don't expect it to put up a fight against the higher end cards, but it seems to more than match most 9600 models, and I assume it demolishes the 9600 GS in my "old" laptop.

Incidentally, I think the above illustrate the problem nvidia has (well, the problem its potential customers have, at least) quite well. Another problem is that they seem unable to fit higher end cards into laptops with screen sizes smaller than 15.4" and with battery life beyond one and a half hour. Sort of defeats the purpose for a laptop in my opinion. I may just build a new desktop monster when I get settled in on the other side of the world next year.

Van Cruncheon · « **Reply #12 on:** December 21, 2009, 09:54:50 PM »

oh, you're right about the 4650. i was thinking of the 4350/4370 in the hp envy, which i looked at picking up.

duckman2000 · « **Reply #13 on:** December 21, 2009, 10:11:25 PM »

I'm telling you, the whole GPU market is a mess right now. The 9600 in my laptop is a direct parallel to the crummy desktop 8600s, but then I read up on the 9600 GSO which is apparently a rebranded 8800 GT. And now you have the 105, 210, 220, 240, 260, 280 and whatever combination of G, T, S and/or X that separates one numbered model from the next.

God damn it, I remember when you were hot shit if you simply had a 3d card.

edit: this was a true rant, hence the edits

duckman2000 · « **Reply #14 on:** December 25, 2009, 10:52:51 AM »

This ATi card is doing a lot better than expected. I'm not even going to bother with Crysis, but it runs Far Cry 2 like a champ on high/very high at this resolution (1280x800).

ASUS

Radeon 4670

Reb · « **Reply #15 on:** December 29, 2009, 06:03:15 AM »

Guys, how about these specs, is there something I need to upgrade?

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 Mobile Processor 720QM (1,6 GHz, Turbo Mode tot 2,8 GHz, 6 MB L3-cache) - Upgrade?
BESTURINGSSYSTEEM Legitieme Windows® 7 Home Premium 64 BIT - This or 32 BIT, other version of WIN7?
LCD-SCHERM 17.3” High Definition+ (1600x900) LED with TL
GEHEUGEN 4.096 MB 1333 MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2 x 2.048] - Upgrade?
HARDE SCHIJF 500GB (5400RPM) Serial ATA Hard Drive
GRAFISCHE KAART 1 GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 - Upgrade?
OPTISCH(E) STATION(S) Fixed Internal DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive including Software
HOOFDBATTERIJ 9-cel lithium-ion hoofdbatterij (85 Wh)
DRAADLOZE CONNECTIVITEIT Dell Wireless 1397 Mini Card (802.11 b/g)

Cormacaroni · « **Reply #16 on:** December 29, 2009, 07:31:46 AM »

You need to upgrade to the ENGLISH LANGUAGE motherfucker

Reb · « **Reply #17 on:** December 29, 2009, 08:28:35 AM »

I was contemplating the english version, I don't really care in the end.

Van Cruncheon · « **Reply #18 on:** December 29, 2009, 11:11:15 AM »

why would you get the 32-bit win7

Reb · « **Reply #19 on:** December 29, 2009, 11:42:22 AM »

I dunno, what's the difference?

Maybe some games don't work with it?

duckman2000 · « **Reply #20 on:** December 29, 2009, 12:11:53 PM »

I don't know what you're looking to run with it, but the Radeon 4650/70 has run everything I've thrown at it, and done so well. I haven't tried Crysis yet because I enjoy the new computer high, but I'm impressed so far. The screen is only 14" so resolution is low by default (1280x800), but that seems proper for a laptop, and leaves enough power to add some AA without much of a performance hit.

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Author Topic: Buying a laptop, a couple of questions (Read 1065 times)