Home Forums General Discussion Laptops

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    • #5202
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Morning,

      I need a new machine, and its easier for me to use a laptop than a desktop as i have space issues (i don’t have enough of it basically, just in case anyone thought i meant psychologically!).

      My contract in work should be getting renewed meaning i’ll have a few grand to splash out with, so i was wondering if anyone could recommened a good laptop that would let me play some of the higher spec games too – i know that with integrated hardware, graphics cards cannot be upgraded in laptops.

      my primary use for the laptop would be development of code, but i’d like to be able to run Quake IV etc on it too.

      how do people feel about iMacs etc btw? they have are really high spec in comparison to what the likes of Dell are offering!

      cheers!

    • #30514
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Hi Anthony,

      I’m definitley going to invest in a Tablet PC for my next laptop.

      I’ve seen a few reviews of them recently online, regarding their being used for 3D game development, so some of them now come with fairly powerful 3D graphics cards.

      If cost isn’t an issue and you can afford the extra bit of dosh for the Tablet PC, this might be a good option for you.

      Mal

    • #30519
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Mal,

      i was looking at a few Tablet PCs – Fujitsu – Siemens to be precise – earlier, i like the idea of them i just have a feeling i’d break one, we actually got a few blast / bomb proof tablet pcs in work before xmas (i work for a mining company) but they are out of the hands of an ordinary joe (or anto) like me.

      would you have any recommendations?

      i have a Dell Inspiron that is kinda of getting on to it’s last legs really, 2 HD replacements in 3 years (the 2nd replacement being exceptionall painful as i lost a lot of game code and several gigs of hand picked mp3s!) and the wrist pads went all bendy so that the pointer goes mental on the screen if you put _any_ weight on laptop, i have to use a wireless keyboard and mouse now.

      maybe a laptop surrounded in rubber like those “builder’s phones” would do the trick!

      :lol:

    • #30520
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I have a Dell Inspiron 9100.

      It runs Maya, HL2 and UT2004 etc…with no trouble.

    • #30536
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Well if money is no object (within reason of course) then I’d go for either an Alienware or Dell XPS if you’re serious about getting the best from your games. The higher end Inspiron series might also suit your needs but be VERY careful with whatever graphics card you select as many of them are vastly under powered when it comes to playing the latest games, esp the Doom3 engine. In Dells case the best gfx card they offer is the 6800 Ultra GO whereas Alienware offer the 7800 mobile card, expect to pay a premium for them though.

    • #30546
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I wonder will Alienwares support be shifted off to Dell’s….shudder at the thought.

    • #30560
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Very doubtful I’d say, afaik the standards of Alienware would be too high for that of the Dell staff, in terms of training anyway. Also if it was it would mean that the Athlone center would close which would be terrible. :(

    • #30577
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Possibly should take a gander at an article posted on overclockers.com. Doesnt really paint a nice picture for Alienwares future.

    • #30585
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Last I heard, the inspiron range is now serving integrated graphics cards as default, though one presumes you can still upgrade. My laptop is also an Inspiron 9100, though with the older processor, not one of the new battery friendly ones. A 256mb card and 1gb or RAM would be a minimum now for games though. For a laptop, Dell dont do any 2.26+ Mhz processors last time I looked, again due to the centrino chip (dont know if this is just plain slower and more battery efficient, or if it has something else going for it).

      Dave

    • #30594
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I would stay Awaaaay from Dell laptops, desktops are fine since you’re not moving them around (and Factory Outlet is brilliant), but Dell have seriously bad build QA. The source for this is a Dell line manager from the Limerick plant, so I trust it, but its borne out by experience also.

      A laptop without high build sturdiness is like a social services kid, just gonna keep going wrong no matter how often you fix it.

    • #30614
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      The largest HD I could get was 80GB, I wanted a larger HD but I guess it ensures I dont keep too many ‘art movies’ on my machine.

      So far my Dell has been a good boy (Tocca Ferro).

    • #30618
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Of course it depends on your average rate of renewal – if you can afford another few grand in 3 years, Dell will do; if you need the thing to last ten years, its IBM or nothing.
      Then again, that means you’ll be playing ten year old games…

    • #30627
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      First handy hint – Forget tablet PCs if you’re wanting to play FPS on the move.

      Unlike desktop/laptop PCs, tablet PCs require you first click (‘tap’) then move a stylus on the screen, then release stylus from the screen and click again (‘tap’) for effecting a mouseclick. In FPS parlance, that means a shot fired first for every mouselook action/movement. Not good.

      This is frome experience, as recently I bought an old (veeery old) Fujitsu Tablet PC (Point 1600, Google it) as a toy/project – and the above has turned out to be an oversight where gaming is concerned, confining me to strategy/card/chess titles only (it will run HL, just about, but see above problem).

      Second handy hint – I’ve had numerous DELL laptops (C600, C610, X300, D600), amongst numerous other branded laptops (Tosh, IBM – usual suspects). I’ve never had any issues with any of them where build quality/reliability is concerned. And each one of these has been bought second-hand on eBay. So, say what you will of Dell etc. – in my (thick because experience-based) book, Dell make pretty good laptops and are very good value for money.

      Moreover, gaming performance has always been surprisingly good for the spec. I could run CS1.6 with 20 bots in the C600 (PIII 750, 256 RAM, ATi M1 8MB gfx) at 25 FPS+, I’m currently running BF2 fully patched, with 20 bots in SP, on the D600 (Pentium M 1.6, 512 RAM, ATi M9 32MB gfx) in 800×600 at 27-30 FPS. That’s stock, no o’cing of any kind.

      Thid handy hint – If you want a dedicated gaming laptop (a bit odd considering the closed-nature of lappies, even recent gfx-upgradeable ones, but hey, it’s your money ;)), make sure it’s Pentium M -based, and make sure the gfx solution is not embedded/integrated/shared but a miniPCI-type card which you can upgrade at some point (some Dells do offer that, I’m reasonably certain that the XPS range can be gfx-upgraded).

    • #30628
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      make sure it’s Pentium M -based, and make sure the gfx solution is not embedded/integrated/shared but a miniPCI-type card which you can upgrade at some point (some Dells do offer that, I’m reasonably certain that the XPS range can be gfx-upgraded).[/quote:f010ecd2be]

      Steph, i’ll definitely keep that in mind when i’m looking for a new laptop, i’m not actually after a purely gaming laptop, i’m after one i can develop on but also play the odd high spec game on too.

      Thanks for all the advice everyone, i really appreciate it!

    • #30629
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      TBH, if you’re wanting to splash some of your windfall on techy gear and you’re a PC gamer, you’d be better off grabbing a mid-range lappie (or a fairly high-range , second hand but with good pedigree) and go for a small-form-factor desktop (e.g. Shuttle-type), which will have a longer useful life because easier to upgrade.

      I’ve used laptops for years, as a genuine need (re. the mobile aspect of the thing first and foremost, so battery life has always been the utmost consideration for me, not gfx ooomph – I’m a long-time addict of DELL with their ‘second modular batteries’, here ;) with about 5 hours for the D600 currently, which only takes 30-45 mins to fully recharge). Thinking back about it, I’ve actually had more lappies than I’ve had desktops which I’ve upgraded.

      I’m a more recent ‘PC gamer’, however, having now left consoles behind for good. But one thing’s clear since then, which is that I’d rather spend not much on a good solid lappie that will last me a few years for my uses (word processing in tandem with speech-to-text app, so need decent CPU and bags of RAM, in addition to WiFi comms), and more on my gaming desktop, re. the gaming experience.

      At the end of the day, FPS on a lappie with the touchpad/trackpoint really sucks compared to bona fide keyb/mouse :lol:

    • #30634
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      having now left consoles behind for good….[/quote:82c86a2f7f]

      Thats like saying ‘I love to eat food, but from now on I will only eat potatoes and nothing else’

      :shock:

    • #30637
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Or that he has good taste in games…

      *hides*

    • #30638
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Note the innumerable recipes available for potatoes :twisted:

      Moreover, reverting to your analogy but placing it somewhat in a more appropriate context: “I enjoy food but from now on, I will not eat potatoes anymore” Don’t forget where it all started and keeps coming from, for previous and current-gen consoles (and where it will come from for future-gen consoles still), in terms of game genres (FPS, MMORPG, etc), technology (shaders, physics, per-pixel-fabulationism and whatnot), etc.

      I have been very disappointed with consoles, of late. Not only due to the paucity of decent titles, but also due to the now-rampant (obligatory?) sequilitis and, generally, witnessing the business model which is increasingly but oh-so-surely choking genres and innovation in them, never mind ‘outside’ of them, bit by bit.

      Put simply – I’m fed up of being ‘told’ by console publishers what I can play (on a particular hardware, let’s not forget exclusives either!), when can I play it and in what guise (e.g. ‘unmodded’) etc.

      I’d much rather the freedom of PC where I can be playing BF2 one minute, a freeware Lunar Lander or Mame the next, the odd demo here and there… and actually enjoy other uses for my hardware investment, actually maybe even earn some money from it for the odd consulting job. Try doing voice-to-text dictation on an XBOX (360 or otherwise) :P

      Call me grown up or disillusioned or whatever… I just don’t have the time to enjoy PS3, XB360, PC, DS, PSP etc. anymore – I chose the most versatile, is all :wink: (and, with regard to the current business model for console publishers, I voted with my wallet: no XB360 or PSP at lauch or second-hand, all my consoles gone save for the GC which my baby daughter loves, and paid the LFS developers direct -a pittance actually- for a superlative, superior driving sim that is light years ahead of anything on consoles)

    • #30639
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Anthony, Im not sure how much your willing to spend, but if money is no object, I suggest you check out a few of these (Im not a big fan of Dell ;) )

      I bought a laptop a couple of years back of this site, (which I still have and use)
      http://www.nusystems.co.uk
      They specialise in Laptops for audio production, but afaik they all feature dothan technology, and now come with some form of ATi PCI Express card.

      I think these are little more expensive, but they have a few Laptops that feature Dual nVidia (SLi-based) cards
      http://www.rockdirect.com

      You could also have a look at this site, its a list of certified SLi Partners (scroll down to the bottom for a list of Laptop retailers)
      http://uk.slizone.com/object/slizone_buyprebuilt_uk.html#nb

      If any others come to mind, Ill let you know.

    • #30640
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      While I agree fully with you there is of course one main downside to being a proper PC gamer…cost. My one and only example – My graphics card alone cost more than a Premium bundle XBox 360. Crazy yes but its definitly worth it! 8)

    • #30641
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      As did mine… Hell I could of bought an XBox 360 and a top range 32″ HDTV ans still have some change for a few games :shock:

    • #30642
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Ah thank god I’m not the only crazy person around here… :D

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