Laptops?

I am looking to buy a good designing/gaming laptop. I am learning to program VB.NET, but i also play games such as battlefield 1942, and starwars galaxies. SWG requires a fast computer, but i want to play it on a laptop. I cant afford that much either though, so are there any ideas on what i should get? I was thinking AlienWare (alienware.com) but i just dont have that much money.

 

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Give up on laptop gaming unless you're willing to pay out your ass. And you'll also have to accept that your laptop will be obsolete in a year and you can't do much to upgrade it. Stick with a PC for games.

 

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if you can afford it (notice that you can costumize to suit your needs):
http://www.alienware.com/

if not, then I recommend Toshiba P-10, here's the link for more info (its on Croatian,but you'll find specs you need)
http://www.mikronis.hr/shop/item.asp?itemid=185&catid=28

 

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Just study up a bit and you can get a state of the art system together that can be upgraded at least with peripherals for far longer than a laptop. I just built myself a system pretty cheap, about $500. Just figure out the components you want and then keep an eye on the promos advertised in your main local newspaper, most likely. That's how I got my current video card, main board, CPU and hard drive.

I went for the laptop idea about a year ago. I now plan to sell the 1 gigaHertz machine soon at quite a loss, more so than for any component system I've built.

I guess you can compare some of the alienware systems with those at http://www.gamepc.com but be aware that once you've learned what you want, you can do much better for the prices than at those companies.

 

Alienware is really good but you stated that you can't afford it.

THis might sound a little weird, but you can get a Mac. If you are a student, there are large discounts, identify yourself as a student on the site then browse laptops.

I play Star Trek Elite Force II on my laptop which is most similar tho this one: http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...name=R3000Td_series&series_index=1&catLevel=2

I agree with Nexus, don't bother with gaming laptops unless you have cash. I game mostly on my desktop which had 256Mb DDR Video card (I just upgraded, sorry, I am excited). You can get a cheap laptop (less that $500) that has 800 MHz just for mobility and it will run programs at a decent pace and then get a gaming computer which is half the price of a gaming laptop.

If you want to run games at mid graphics on a laptop, look for at least 64MB DDR dedicated memory or you are screwed.

 

Well.. ok i have decided that i want a cheap laptop for design only.... but for NOW i want a new desktop. I have a :

Pentium 4 1500MHZ
384 MB RAM
RADEON 9800 PRO - 128MB
Windows XP Home
19 Inch Monitor, FRIKKEN HUGE (not the screen, im saying the back is huge)
A normal keyboard and mouse

What should i do to upgrade these or should i just get a new computer?

 

Did you build your computer or buy it? If you bought it, there's a good chance you can't upgrade the box you have. Depends on the manufacturer I think. Most big companies use proprietary hardware, so you can't upgrade it.

A new box will cost under 50 bucks. You can shop around for motherboards and processors. You can most likely get a good deal. The key is to shop around. Search user groups and the like to find out if people are having trouble with a certain motherboard you're looking at. I'd recommend staying away from Via. I've had lot's of trouble with Via Chipsets in the past. I have an Asus and it's worked great for me.

The hard drive you can swap over. CD drives often have curved facades on proprietary systems. They'll still work, but they look funny. I think you can get new facades here and there. Not sure where though. Sometimes you can buy old crappy drives and just switch the faces. Not always though.

The ram would most likely be a problem. If you don't want to buy new ram, you'll want to look for a motherboard that uses the same ram you have now. That might limit your options depending on what kind of ram you have.

The XP installation might be a problem if you have a restore disk from your manufacturer. It won't install on any system but the one it's designed for. If you have a regular XP installation disk, you're cool.

I really can't give any links to good sites for research. It's been awhile since I built mine, and I didn't research that well. I most likely could have gotten a better deal online. I learned through trial and error that Via sucks. Tried the Asus and have stuck with it.

As an aside, PCI Express is the wave of the future. You have a good video card right now, but the new ones will most likely be PCI Express. I don't know much about it, but it's supposed to be a lot better than AGP. The odds are good that newer boards with the technology would be more expensive. And it's likely that your Ram wouldn't work.

As to the question of new computer. You can save a lot of money building your own. You can upgrade a custom built computer in the future. And it's not that difficult to do. Screw Dell. The only thing they have going for them is their payment policy.

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When Upgrading a PC you should note that the Foundation your PC is built on is your Motherboard.

This means when you look to upgrading your system, the first thing you should research is your Motherboard, to see what it can handle. (Afterall their would be no point getting a x4 or x8 AGP card, if your Motherboard can only handle x2. Or buying 2Gb's of RAM just to find that your Motherboard can only handle 1Gb)

The things I would find out from the internet and Motherboard BIOS/Manual is:
What is the Highest Processor that can be installed?
[Can it be clocked? *Only do this if you know what you are prepared to fry*]
What is the highest amount of RAM the board can take?
What TYPE is the RAM?
What AGP slot do you have?
Do you have onboard SATA/RAID?
What is your PSU Wattage output? (If you add new fans, peripherals and lights etc, your going to need the juice)
What is FLASHable? (BIOS, CDROM, Modem)
What OS's are your Peripherals going to be compatible with? (Useful to know if you intend to run something else other than Windows)

With those things in mind you can start to MAX-OUT your system, Upgrading to as high as your system can handle. If you can afford the top of the range (that fits your specs) then you can always save up for it, or perhaps buy something thats a bit better than what you already have for cheap and replace it.

 

Pentium 4 1500MHZ

amd athlon 3k+ (64bit),

384 MB RAM

try at least 512MB DDR

RADEON 9800 PRO - 128MB

I guess you don't need to change this

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Windows XP Home

nor this

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19 Inch Monitor, FRIKKEN HUGE (not the screen, im saying the back is huge)

leave it, I don't think its a priority to change 19' monitor

A normal keyboard and mouse

try those fancy logitech keyboards, you get wireless keyboard and mouse too

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It depend son the money you have, but I'll give you what I think.

Get a new motherboard that supports Athlon 64

Get an Athlon 64 processor, they are all super fast, so go for the best deal

For gaming, I'd go with 1GB DDR

Download Windows XP Pro or if you want fast, go with Linux and do patch work (you would have to be willing to learn a lot fo stuff though, but Linux is the best)

A 19' monitor sounds good even if it is huge, if you are in finincial difficulty, don't bother changing the monitor, if you win the lottery, I suggest going with a CRT that has a small back to it and good recolution because flat screens aren't precise enough for gaming and it leaves lines when things move across the screen really fast.

You video card sounds great, unlesss you want to have an All-In-Wonder 256 DDR video card, but I don't think you can count on that with a shortage of money.

Get the Razer mouse if you like hardcore gaming, it is insane, it improved my FPS accuracy: http://www.razerzone.com/

Unless yo uhave a REALLY GOOD COMPUTER STORE that will gove you large discounts, I suggest you buy online. You can snipe off of eBay or go to my favourite computer parts site: http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=M&Category_Code=PCParts

You may have some issues if your comouter is basically all welded together, in that case, you can get a new comp from the same site.

One thing that I learned about computers is don't settle for less, but don't go big. If you spend a fortune and go big, you will be disappointed in six months when everything is worth half price or less. Don't go cheap either, then when you lag up in a game, you will be upset and in a few months, your computer will be absolete and you will probably spend more money on parts in the long run. Save your money, go high end, but not the absolute best you can buy. Remeber, save, son't go cheap.

Another thing is learn how to install your own compunents if you already don't know how. It saves so much money on installation and buying computer parts seperately is much less money.

 

get a Sony or IBM centrino,they are both Cool...!! with great price offer.
Also you could go for a Second hand? like a used one for example? is that okay? if so you could get great deals at eBay...

bye!

 

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Sony doesn't have very good computers. I can say this from my experience and the experience of my friends. THey look good, are decently priced, but they aren't reliable.

Second hand would be cool for just a laptop for notes and word processing for school. Just install XP and go for it, make sure it has over 600 MhZ though, you need to have at least a decent laptop. It shouls cost less than $250 if you price hunt.

 

I said in reference to Price,since it was an important factor.Dell is also okay.Then you have Assembled stuff.Gateways,Compaq Pressario(which i own) etc.
Check CNET out for reviews...
bye!

 

Is there such a thing as a "gaming laptop"? You'd need to buy your own mouse, get a huge monitor, put a good video card in . . . is it worth it? I'd just get a desktop if you're looking to game.

 

That's the conclusion we came to.

There is suck thing as a gaming laptop. They are huge and cost bundles. alienware.com has gaming laptops.