I need some opinion on laptops

[nyyankees588]

Ok so I am probably going to get a laptop and there are about 3 that we are looking at getting. Now I am going to be using this for school, internet browsing, and playing games. I would like to know which one would be the best. The main question is can it handle a game like Counter Strike which requires high specs.

 

 

 

One is a Toshiba Sattelite Notebook with 1gig ram, ATI raidon graphics card, and AMD Turian 64x2 TL51 (those are the specs that really matter for gaming).

 

 

 

The second is a Hp Pavilian Edit- the link doesn't work but the difference between this and the hp below is that this one has a AMD turian 64x2 with 2.0GHz, only 1gig of ram, and the same graphics card.

 

 

 

The third is an Hp Pavilian with 2gig ram, AMD Turian 64x2 TI56, and Nvidia GeForce Go 6150. Now my biggest question here is how much of a difference is there between the AMD proccesor with 1.8GHz versus one with 2.0GHz. Thanks for the help and if you have any questions just post

 

them.

 

Now keep in mind these are relatively in-expensive. I am not looking for a gaming laptop that is gonna cost over $800 and these were on sale for good prices (the most being $700).

[Smokie]

I would say get a Mac :P

 

 

 

Can you be more specific about your specs? Specifically, what model is the Radeon card? And, do you know if you can upgrade the cards on these laptops later? You mentioned that one laptop has a GeForce Go 6150, which is a good card but if you're talking great then you may want to upgrade later to a Go 7800 GTX (or, when you decide to upgrade, whatever the latest and greatest is).

 

 

 

Graphics card is really important if your primary use is going to be gaming (but you sound like you know that already, so I won't bother preaching).

 

 

 

Next question, what kind of RAM is on these machines? The RAM you're going to want is DDR2 SDRAM.

 

 

 

As for RAM amount, if you're willing to spend the little extra, I would throw the Toshiba and the lower end HP out of the picture because 1 gig of RAM is too low for gaming, unless you're willing to upgrade it when you customize.

 

 

 

Next question, are these harddrives 7200 RPM? If they're not, nothing to worry about, but if one of them is and the others aren't, that's a point in that laptop's favor. This isn't quite as important as graphics and processor speed (which we'll get to in a second), but it's still a very noteworthy point to consider.

 

 

 

It's good that all of these laptops have AMD Turion processors - it's a solid choice for gaming. So how much difference is there between 1.8GHz and 2.0GHz? Well... it depends on a lot of factors within the machine, but it's not a huge loss if you get the 1.8 instead of the 2.0.

 

 

 

Many gamers would probably balk that I said that, but as of now, if all of these laptops are under $700 I would definitely go for the HP with 2 Gigs of RAM.

 

 

 

Just my two cents :)

[nyyankees588]

Ok, thanks and the hp with 2gigs is 5400rpm hard drive. I figure that that would be the best one to go with. The Hp that you mentioned not getting would be $670 as customized and to add 1more gig of ram (to make it as fast as the other one) would cost about 70 more dollars so it wouldn't really be worth it. Also the one that you recommended is on sale (normally $850) and comes with all the little gadgets such as a remote, built in webcam, much better disk drive, etc, which actually adds up to be alot compared to the customized one which would have none of these things.

[Smokie]

Good deal then. Happy gaming :)

[blade995]

Well from the sounds of it they all have integrated graphics which is a no no for gaming. Although if the most demanding game you plan to play is Counterstrike you should be fine.

 

 

 

The guy above I have to disagree with on some points. The ram should not matter if it's DDR1 or 2. It will not make a huge difference and it's likely DDR2 anyway. It only matters how much there is, 2gbs would be a wise choice for gaming.

 

 

 

The hard drive rpms should not matter. If you have enough ram then you shouldn't need to use swap from the page file while gaming. The 5400rpm drives are slower and will increase loading times over 7200rpm drive but not by that much. The 5400rpm drive also gives the laptop more battery life.

 

 

 

My suggestion is to go with the laptop with 2gbs of ram. Especially if your running Vista Home Premium. Oh and spell Turion right :wink:

[nyyankees588]

Well from the sounds of it they all have integrated graphics which is a no no for gaming. Although if the most demanding game you plan to play is Counterstrike you should be fine.

 

 

 

The guy above I have to disagree with on some points. The ram should not matter if it's DDR1 or 2. It will not make a huge difference and it's likely DDR2 anyway. It only matters how much there is, 2gbs would be a wise choice for gaming.

 

 

 

The hard drive rpms should not matter. If you have enough ram then you shouldn't need to use swap from the page file while gaming. The 5400rpm drives are slower and will increase loading times over 7200rpm drive but not by that much. The 5400rpm drive also gives the laptop more battery life.

 

 

 

My suggestion is to go with the laptop with 2gbs of ram. Especially if your running Vista Home Premium. Oh and spell Turion right :wink:

 

ok lol, and these are DDR2, I'm pretty sure most laptops are now :-k . And although they are intergrated they aren't just intel/amd graphics cards they are Nvidia and ATI which can normally be bought as after market parts. And yeah I've heard that vista premium really does need 2 gig of ram.