August 14, 200817 yr Hey guys I've been in a great need of a laptop lately and I have around 500-900$ (Canadian) to spend on one. The problem is though, I'm a complete noob at laptops and if there's somebody that's not an idiot like myself I'd like to know a few things and maybe somebody could recommend me a laptop or two. I really don't care about the size or weight and I'd sacrifice that any day for an ability to play games better. Around 100GB of hard drive space is deffinatly enough for me. This will make me sound like a moron but could somebody explain what is GHz, RAM, shared memory and Duo Procesors and a few other pointers for me and what is good. On the laptop I was mainly looking for a lot of internet browsing (so that it's fast) and quite a bit of gaming. I'd like to play the following games (it doesn't matter if I play on the lowest quality as long as it works) * Runescape HD * World of Warcraft * Warcraft III * Guild wars * Civilization IV Those are the main games I was planning to play on, I'm not looking for anything high-resolution, just as long as those games run and maybe some other games like Empire Earth, Battle for middle earth, Diablo II and some of the older games. So please help me, please and thank you.
August 14, 200817 yr I would put 512MB dedicated graphics memory in it, 250-350GB Hard Drive, i would do a 17"+ screen, 2.0GHz+ duo core, 3GB RAM +. I will do a few builds for your and post them back here as soon as i am done.
August 14, 200817 yr Ghz: the amount of calculations the better, usually a higher ghz will be higher but this is not the case in dual core vs single core as the architecture is very different RAM: Random access memory, basically what stuff is stored on before it is processed, information stored on RAM is much faster than being stored on the hard drive thats why lag is encountered if your RAM isnt sufficient. Dual Core: Think of it as 2 processors in 1, the Intel Core 2 Duo's are currently the best lineups of dual cores as they use less power and are much more powerful than older P4's and are generally better than their AMD counterparts. When looking at dual core, clock speed isnt very important as with the architecture of these chips, a low end one will destroy a single core P4. Shared Memory is probably shared graphics memory, when you do graphically intensive task such as play games, all the textures that need to be processed by the GPU (graphic processing usnit) needs to be stored somewhere thats fast that is usually the RAM, a low end computer will use a great chunk of RAM (64-128mb) which is alright if you dont play games. Mid to high range PC's usually have a dedicated graphics card with RAM that is only dedicated to graphics so it won't leech off your system RAM. This solution is MUCH faster than shared memory and alot of the games you mentioned need a dedicated GPU to run at a playable frame rate. A good laptop for your would probably be one with the following parts: 1.8ghz+ Intel Core 2 Duo (Nice Dual Core) 2GB of RAM (essential for Vista which is what most New computers are bundled with) ~100gb HDD Geforce 8600M GT GPU (should be able to play all the games you mentioned flawlessly)
August 14, 200817 yr Here are some builds and some decent deals i found. Newegg.com - Gateway - $899.99(Good Buy!): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834101162 Hp.com - HP - $949.99: http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopp ... id=1368405 Costco.com - HP - $1099.99: http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.as ... opnav=&s=1 Just got this one yesterday. I like it so far i am in the process of ordering another sata bracket to mount another 320 in it. Ghz: the amount of calculations the better, usually a higher ghz will be higher but this is not the case in dual core vs single core as the architecture is very different RAM: Random access memory, basically what stuff is stored on before it is processed, information stored on RAM is much faster than being stored on the hard drive thats why lag is encountered if your RAM isnt sufficient. Dual Core: Think of it as 2 processors in 1, the Intel Core 2 Duo's are currently the best lineups of dual cores as they use less power and are much more powerful than older P4's and are generally better than their AMD counterparts. When looking at dual core, clock speed isnt very important as with the architecture of these chips, a low end one will destroy a single core P4. Shared Memory is probably shared graphics memory, when you do graphically intensive task such as play games, all the textures that need to be processed by the GPU (graphic processing usnit) needs to be stored somewhere thats fast that is usually the RAM, a low end computer will use a great chunk of RAM (64-128mb) which is alright if you dont play games. Mid to high range PC's usually have a dedicated graphics card with RAM that is only dedicated to graphics so it won't leech off your system RAM. This solution is MUCH faster than shared memory and alot of the games you mentioned need a dedicated GPU to run at a playable frame rate. A good laptop for your would probably be one with the following parts: 1.8ghz+ Intel Core 2 Duo (Nice Dual Core) 2GB of RAM (essential for Vista which is what most New computers are bundled with) ~100gb HDD Geforce 8600M GT GPU (should be able to play all the games you mentioned flawlessly) That is lower end now a days. 3GB ram is almost the new standard and 2.0 GHz is becoming a standard with the duo cores.
August 14, 200817 yr Author Ghz: the amount of calculations the better, usually a higher ghz will be higher but this is not the case in dual core vs single core as the architecture is very different RAM: Random access memory, basically what stuff is stored on before it is processed, information stored on RAM is much faster than being stored on the hard drive thats why lag is encountered if your RAM isnt sufficient. Dual Core: Think of it as 2 processors in 1, the Intel Core 2 Duo's are currently the best lineups of dual cores as they use less power and are much more powerful than older P4's and are generally better than their AMD counterparts. When looking at dual core, clock speed isnt very important as with the architecture of these chips, a low end one will destroy a single core P4. Shared Memory is probably shared graphics memory, when you do graphically intensive task such as play games, all the textures that need to be processed by the GPU (graphic processing usnit) needs to be stored somewhere thats fast that is usually the RAM, a low end computer will use a great chunk of RAM (64-128mb) which is alright if you dont play games. Mid to high range PC's usually have a dedicated graphics card with RAM that is only dedicated to graphics so it won't leech off your system RAM. This solution is MUCH faster than shared memory and alot of the games you mentioned need a dedicated GPU to run at a playable frame rate. A good laptop for your would probably be one with the following parts: 1.8ghz+ Intel Core 2 Duo (Nice Dual Core) 2GB of RAM (essential for Vista which is what most New computers are bundled with) ~100gb HDD Geforce 8600M GT GPU (should be able to play all the games you mentioned flawlessly) Thanks so much for explaining what those terms meant, now I have a better understanding of laptops and what I want, great people on tip.it . Here are some builds and some decent deals i found. Newegg.com - Gateway - $899.99(Good Buy!): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834101162 Hp.com - HP - $949.99: http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopp ... id=1368405 Costco.com - HP - $1099.99: http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.as ... opnav=&s=1 Just got this one yesterday. I like it so far i am in the process of ordering another sata bracket to mount another 320 in it. That is lower end now a days. 3GB ram is almost the new standard and 2.0 GHz is becoming a standard with the duo cores. Oh wow, all the work you put into posting that really surprised (and impressed :D ) me, I think I know what I'm looking for now and thanks for the link I'm really feeling the second one, maybe a few weeks more dish washing can get me one of those babies. Thanks again guys, I'm really happy that you helped me this far but more answers are always welcome (and needed).
August 15, 200817 yr The top one is a better deal. Also glad i could help. ;) Well, Skate would need to wait for Newegg.ca to open since it was stated that it's Canadian dollars ;).
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