Gaming Laptop

[drakerel]

I am planning on getting a laptop for normal use such as surfing the internet and playing games such as MapleStory. I don't really play complicated games. I want it to be able to handle like a few applications at once and not get laggy. The price can be up to $ 3000 as I'm a sec 2 student and do not have much money and I am going to use the my ang pao money. I have thought of customizing a XPS M1330. I want to customize it like
Processor Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T6400 (2GHz/ 800 FSB/ 2MB Cache)

Operating System Genuine Windows Vista(R) Home Basic SP1 32 bit Edition (English)

Software Microsoft(R) Office(TM) Home and Student 2007(English)

Dell Services: Hardware Maintenance 2-year XPS Premier Service with 1-year Complete
Cover Display 13.3'' UltraSharp(TM) WXGA (1280x800) CCFL Display with TrueLife(TM)

Optional Notebook Colour Kits Tuxedo Black LCD display with Integrated 2.0 mega pixel web cam

Memory 4GB ( 2 X 2048MB ) 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM

Hard Drive 500GB SATA Hard Drive

Optical Drive Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Combination Drive with dual layer write capabilities

Video Card NVIDIA(R) GeForce(TM) 8400M GS with 128MB GDDR3 dedicated graphic memory

Audio Solution Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audio Software

Wireless Network Card Intel(R) 4965AGN Wireless-N Mini-Card

Bluetooth Module Dell(TM) Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module

Batteries 6-Cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (1 Year Warranty)

Power Options 90W AC Adapter
I don't really understand it as I copied it from the dell website after editing some parts. Do you all recommend this? or should I get other Laptops. It costs $2,303.64. Please I really need help.I am also thinking of getting an Alien ware Area-51 m15x or m17.

[durain]

wahlau, only sec 2 student and want to blow away S$3000 on a laptop! i dont think you need anyone's help as S$3000 will get you a top spec one.

my everyday laptop is only a thinkpad 570E which is a intel® PII 366mhz with PC100 192mb RAM. works a treat with games like pacman, police quest, leisure suit larry or space invader, and i can surf the net.

[sierra2469alpha]

You must be a rich student to afford an Alienware lappy!!!

[sundaymorningstaple]

Must be a rich student to afford an alienware anything! Hell, you can even blow over 10K on a PC at dell now. (Actually, I believe that Alienware is now owned by Dell isn't it?

http://www.alienware.com/intro_pages/aw ... ement.aspx

http://www.betanews.com/article/Dell_Ac ... 1143070457

[sierra2469alpha]

SMS - Yes I believe you are correct on both matters.

When I spec'd my new Alienware lappy, Ms. C, the official comptroller of currency in our house, literally freaked. Hence, my Dell 9100 will have to last a few more months!!!

[sundaymorningstaple]

I'm still using my rapidly aging Dell 9300 as well. Although I can say she's given me pretty good service. But the tiny 80GB HDD gotta go! I've got a 1TB backup drive now so I'm thinking about getting a 180 or 250GB to replace the 80GB.

[BodyBlitz]

over kill if you ask me.
2 grand to surf the net and play maple story?!

Few applications like? I'm sure for a 14 year old kid your application would be msn/IE or FF/winamp or foobar2000/ etc..

an xps m1330 - T5450 with 2 gig ram and a X3100 graphics acceleration would be suffice.

You're in luck - http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=374856

[sierra2469alpha]

SMS - hint for you. You may have seen a post of mine a couple of months back where both our 9100's died from HDD failure (on the same weekend!). Subsequently, I bought 2 x 250GB hard drives and off we went. However, in the original specs I had 7200RPM drives - I could only get standard 5400RPM for the new ones. Under XP pro, I am really noticing a difference. So if you upgrade, suggest you try to source a 7200RPM.

HTH! Mr. P

[sundaymorningstaple]

MR. P.

Thanks for that. Good to know, but sourcing a IDE drive now might be a little harder as most are SATA drives now. N.O.S. so may have to make a visit to Sim Lim instead of Funan as Sim Lim carries a lot more in the way of "Parts".

[dawgbyte]

I agree with bodyblitz... and for me, gaming laptop is one of those that doesn't really blend well together. But to answer your question, I played maple before and for that game, any computer will do. Its a 2D scrolling game so its not demanding on graphics and power. They don't need high-end computer to render mushrooms with runny nose when whacked.

Anyway, my reason why laptop will never be as good as a gaming platform compared to their desktop counterpart are: (1) bigger screen means better gaming experience, which counters the portability of laptop. (2) higher-end graphics sucks lots of power and emits a lot of heat, which again counters the portability of laptop (or its power supply).

So I think the specs is an overkill for your intention, and you will be wasting money on features you may not need. Also note that notebooks are considered obsolete in about 2 years, specially because new windows is coming and this means doomsday for a lot of hardware.

[sierra2469alpha]

@SMS - of all places I used Challenger - and they were pretty reasonable in terms of pricing and did offer to source 7200RPM drives for me, but Ms. C and I were, errrmm, desperate! Happy to make an enquiry on your behalf and get a price from my local store if that would help.

Continuing on from that, I read an interesting article about the new SSD drives coming out. With that technology, combined with the advent of Windows 7 and new versions of your Unix choice, then I guess if we both wait then do the upgrade then all will be well with our respective Officer of Currency Comptrollers for years to come!

@dawgbyte - fair points about gaming notebooks, however there's another consideration. If you travel regularly, and require a notebook anyway, then a high-end notebook can serve both purposes. Now, I'm now going to shoot that argument down myself - in that high end machines are heavy, and the beloved flight attendants will ALWAYS drop them (Newton's Notebook Law of Aircraft). Your point regarding larger screen is somewhat moot these days with the advent of 15.4 through to 17.5" widescreen and the new nVidia and ATI cards to match, however your point about them sucking power and getting hot - I totally agree with. So I am now stuick with an interesting high end notebook, but looking at a tablet PC (which Ms C. has as part of her work also) just for those shorter trips. Seems we're still stuck in the whole tradeoff, however, the power issue is of interest.

IIRC, desktops/mini towers still suck down a fair bit of wattage, moreso than the bricks of say my Dell 9100 (at 90W), so in theory, from a power consumption perspective, they are more "green". Can anyone jump in and tell me if this is a correct assumption?

Anyway, more of my drivel to throw into the bucket! Cheers, Mr. P

[dawgbyte]

@sierra2469alpha, since we are in the suicide mood, I might as well shoot myself too. As for the screen, I am using 19" widescreen but still feel its too small (doesn't give the feeling of 'being there').. so my imagined solution is for those 30++" LCD tv will become standard that home and hotels will have them. Then even a PSP can hook into that screen (ignoring pixelation of course).

As for the power.. one of my main issue is that notebooks doesn't have enough battery life to play for a 'reasonable' time.. as in playing WOW with your friends and attacking another group and suddenly you have to bail out because for all the weapons and magic in the world, you run out of battery (unless you are plugged in, which beats the purpose of portability). Hmm.. I'm rambling.

And finally, gaming system normally have 4 tiny speakers, a base and center speakers... notebook speaker can't provide that level of sound (or it defeats portability). Okay.. I really have to stop rambling.

[sierra2469alpha]

Dawg - hahaha good to see we can both do the same!!! Sure, my flightsims would run better on a very large screen, well, multiple touchscreens even.

Battery life - yeh I only use battery for aircraft (best not to play flightsims on aircraft these days!), or in business meetings when Project and maybe a VPN connection is running, so not too bad. As for hotels, well I plug in and use their electricity, and I don't really play games when travelling - I was talking more "home use".

Speakers - this Dell 9100 has a subwoofer built into, wait for it, the battery (hence, increased weight!). I got a small lot of 5.1 speakers which, with the Audio card in my 9100, is pretty sufficient.

Compared to the PS3 plugged into the true surround system and playing on the Sony Bravia 42" - well, hmmm. Not much difference - apart from the fact that I haven't tried to plug the 9100 into the new Bravia and the surround sound system.

"Terrain Terrain, Pull Up" sounds the same - in a B737 cockipt, a full motion sim, a notebook try-hard version - it's only 1 dimensionable in the full motion sim and the real a/c!!!

So I'm guessing we're talking different games anyway. SOmething like Crysis or C&C Tib Wars - sure - might try and hook that up to the big Bravia over CNY and see how that feels.

Cheers, P

[BodyBlitz]

yeah after you get the boom boom out from a sub you won't want to use small speakers again.

though i'm still using a pair of headphones though..