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Laptop graphics question
I am looking at a couple of laptops and I want to pick the one that will be WoW, Rift and maybe SWTOR friendly as far as graphics go.
Both laptops have the i5 and the same 4 gigs of RAM. One has the Intel 3000 HD graphics card and the other has the 4250 graphics card. Which do you think would be better for MMO's? I know that I am not going to be able to play high end games, but I am only interested playing those on it.
I will buying from here. So...feel free to make suggestions. I want to stay under $900.00
http://www.qvc.com/cgen/render.aspx/Notebooks?qp=class|2126&pampb=Price|1|1|77900-86000|s&cm_sp=LN-_-PAM-_-PRICE
Comments
Neither of those have a video card at all. Intel graphics are garbage, and should be avoided if you intend to play games. Radeon HD 4250 integrated graphics is heavily based on the GPU chip in the Radeon HD 3400 series graphics cards that launched over 3 1/2 years ago, and were low end even then.
For a budget gaming laptop, a Llano APU is by far the best thing to get. Unfortunately, there aren't any sites that I can find that will configure one right. The least bad configuration seems to be here:
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Processor&v1=AMD&series_name=dv6zqe_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/AMD/dv6zqe_series
Change the default configuration to an A8-3510MX processor and a 7200 RPM hard drive. That will bring the price tag to $685. Depending on how adventurous you are with replacing parts yourself, you should either pay an extra $60 to get 8 GB of system memory, or else buy a 4 GB module (1333 MHz or higher, CAS 9 or lower) elsewhere for $30 or so and upgrade it to 8 GB yourself. If so inclined, you could get a larger battery or upgrade the monitor to 1920x1080 and still stay within your stated budget. If you're more adventurous, you could pick the cheapest hard drive from HP and then replace it with an SSD yourself, though that will involve reinstalling Windows, so you'd need a DVD on hand to do that.
If you want higher graphical performance than Radeon HD 6620G integrated graphics will offer, then something like a Radeon HD 6500 or 6600 series GPU or a GeForce GT 540M or 550M will be a little faster, but not by enough to justify all of the drawbacks of a discrete card. The real gaming cards just don't fit your budget.
Something in between that does fit your budget is to go here:
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=High+performance&series_name=dv6t_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/High_performance/dv6t_series
Upgrade the processor to a Core i5-2410M, the video card to a 1 GB Radeon HD 6770M, and the hard drive to any 7200 RPM option. That will come to $775. Do not get the 2 GB video card upgrade, as that will be tangibly worse than the 1 GB option, in addition to being more expensive. I'm not sure if that uses discrete switchable graphics. If it does, then you'll have an awful mess when you need to update the video drivers. If it doesn't, then the battery life will be awful. You'll also get the high power consumption of a discrete video card while playing games.
If you want the same thing with a larger monitor, then that can be had for an extra $50 here:
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=High+performance&series_name=dv7t_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/High_performance/dv7t_series
If you don't like HP, then wait for some other laptop vendor to offer something reasonable for under $900. Or better yet, a configuration that is actually outright good, unlike HP's. But be warned that you could easily end up waiting for a long, long time.
QVC's site is an awful mess. There probably aren't any decent laptops there for what you're seeking. If there are, then it would probably take me half an hour of sifting through the site to find them. I'd say don't buy there unless you have some peculiar reason why you have to buy a laptop from QVC in particular.
As the previous poster mentioned, both thoose 2 graphics cards are garbage and outdated by years, if your american i would highly recommend , http://www.cyberpowerpc.com
im not american my self, but from what ive gone over with their specs on their laptops and desktops, there is something there for your own taste and well below 900$ , even for a gaming laptop.
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Xplorer_X6-9200_Gaming_Notebook/
this one f.x , has a 2gb gfx card, 8gig ddr3 ram and core i7 processor, all for 799$ , free shipping, but go over their website.
List of SOE lies
If they offer a reasonably configured gaming laptop for under $900, then I sure couldn't find it. Note that you have to spend a bunch of money on a memory upgrade if you buy there, or else they'll only use one module, which cuts your memory bandwidth in half and cripples the processor.
I am limited to that site because I am a preferred shopper there and they offer interest free monthly payments. So nothing there will run those games I mentioned?
You really should not go into payments for consumer goods. On QVC.com only one caught my interest on being plausible for gaming. However, it isn't too plausible.
HP AMD A4
For what you get its not worth $569. Its also going to need sacrafices on settings to get a playable framerate. There is another version of this with a 17" display. However, that display may be too large for this chip.
You'd pay less overall if you bought from a reputable site with a decent price, and financed it via a consumer loan from the bank at 15% with a 3-5 year payback, (and possibly even a credit card at upwards of 20% interest, depending on the markup from the site) than paying a huge upfront cost on marked up inferior hardware, even if it's at 0% interest.
The 0% interest is just the bait on the hook to get you to thinking that it's ok to spend more for inferior hardware. If it's already obsolete or underperforming when you buy it, then you aren't getting a good deal no matter what the price is.
What everyone else said about both those graphics options is true - neither are going to play any of those games well, not even at low settings.
Both those are garbage, get a Lano laptop.
Thanks for all of the input folks. I really appreciate the help.
You can get an HP laptop through QVC. Or you can get an HP laptop with better specs directly from HP for about $200 or $300 cheaper. Unless QVC's preferred shopper program is a whole lot better than you're letting on, there's no sense in getting it from QVC.
They also offer some Llano laptops from Toshiba. The problem with getting a Toshiba laptop is that they disable video driver updates. So when you need to update your video drivers, you won't be able to. The laptop might otherwise be perfectly nice, but that's a big enough problem that I'd rule out a Toshiba laptop out of hand for gaming purposes.
Hewlett-Packard will finance your purchase, too. It's no interest if paid in full within six months, but 20% interest if you don't pay within six months. If you need that sort of financing, though, then maybe you should consider getting the Llano laptop I linked above and saving some money off of your $900 budget.
For what it's worth, New Egg has Llano laptops from Lenovo, Gateway, and Acer, too. The Gateway one is actually pretty good if you wanted a gaming laptop on a $500 budget:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834101253
It's not nearly as good as what I linked from HP above, of course. But it will run games, and on a $500 budget, that's pretty impressive.
The Acer laptop from New Egg offers some serious creativity in idiotic configuration choices. It offers discrete switchable graphics between integrated graphics and a discrete card that is actually slower than the integrated graphics. So when you need more performance, it will shut down the integrated graphics and instead use a discrete card that is slower than the integrated graphics.
http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/gateway-gateway-17-3-amd-quad-core-a8-3500m-laptop-nv75s03h-black-nv75s03h/10173018.aspx?path=d166fb3348082774a7ac2d81cbc65265en02
700 $ will buy you this!so watch the web amd ati is the combo to get ,stick with ati 6600 make your the amd you select is quad
a lot of vendor are trying to sell last year or 2 year ago product ,dont buy!deals are there tigerdirect is avail ,and other
futurshop price are expensive it is just to show they are there the good system .you just have to shop since most notebook seller want to sell you their last year left over first!
i have an i5 laptop with a med range vid card...and beware. thing gets hot if on for a while in a relatively hot environment. might be worth looking into a laptop cooler too...
i got one and it works great...just usb plugin with fan underneath. stops overheating.
Which is why Llano is such a great product. Get the performance of a budget gaming card, while using integrated graphics and skipping the discrete card. 45 W for the Llano APU is a fair bit of heat, but it sure beats 35 W for a CPU plus another 40 W or so for a video card. It's also easier to manage airflow when there is only one major heat source to handle.
Look no further:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/323748/ASUS-G-Series-gaming-notebook-sale-on-Newegg-best-deals-I-have-ever-seen.html