Buying laptop ~€1000. Recommendations?

hare05

I'm looking for pretty much an all-rounder. It'll mostly be used for project work next year in my computing course (programming, VB, no graphics intensive stuff as far as i know) and some gaming.

I'm looking for something portable, well built, with good battery life good graphics and hopefully a good screen (color/brightness).

I've seen the new Nvidia switchable graphics, and it looks pretty good. How does a GeForce GT 330 fare with games like Battlefield BC2 or S.T.A.L.K.E.R.? Would a high end ULV processor have the performance needed for fluid gaming?

How would the entry level MBP fare with Win7 and games?

seraphimvc

generally the laptops you see on the market,can only comes either portable/well built/with good battery life or gaming/graphic orientated.

portable/good screen/fragile Macbooks often have low level GPU chips in them, in which i barely see people use it for gaming :pac: what i mean is if i wanna gaming i'd rather look else way for hp/dell etc machines which is cheaper and better gpu choices for gaming but obviously then they are gonna bigger in size not as portable as macbook.of course this is a general speaking, you may find some light hp/dell laptops too with solid specs. so ye,macbook can be your all-rounter choice if you want,just so you are fully aware whats the pros and cons.

and i would expect ULV range laptops to run basic gaming ok maybe can go as high as lowest setting for some of the new games.

also,wouldnt it weird too if you use OSX but you are doing computer course?i know there is bootcamp etc but still:P

TheAmateur

hare05 wrote: »

I'm looking for pretty much an all-rounder. It'll mostly be used for project work next year in my computing course (programming, VB, no graphics intensive stuff as far as i know) and some gaming.

I'm looking for something portable, well built, with good battery life good graphics and hopefully a good screen (color/brightness).

I've seen the new Nvidia switchable graphics, and it looks pretty good. How does a GeForce GT 330 fare with games like Battlefield BC2 or S.T.A.L.K.E.R.? Would a high end ULV processor have the performance needed for fluid gaming?

How would the entry level MBP fare with Win7 and games?

Hello again So I see you haven't found the right one yet... me neither!
This page has stats on the 330m's performance in a number of games, including BC2, and this page ranks cards by game on what they can play comfortably.
There's also a handy list at the side which ranks almost every card out there according to performance. Bear in mind that the 330m doesn't support DX11, which is supported in BC2.
If you remember from the other thread, I'm looking for a laptop with nearly the exact same requirements and budget as yourself at the moment (except I also need an ExpressCard slot). Was looking at this: Mycizmo GXi15, and thought it was pretty good value (except no ExpressCard slot...) but if you don't need one it might be worth a look. Those guys are based in Europe too, which means no import tax.
Was also looking at the Sony Vaio E series. I really thought my search had come to an end, I could customize the thing to my heart's content, and I was more than happy with with the Radeon HD5650. Then I realised I was on the UK store! The feckin Irish store doesn't allow customization (doesn't even show prices!), and I can't seem to find a model with the 5650 (just typical eh?).
The Acer 5740G might be worth a look in too (has a 5650 as well), if you don't mind Acer.
Other than that, I'm still searching...

Voodu Child

hare05 wrote: »

How does a GeForce GT 330 fare with games like Battlefield BC2 or S.T.A.L.K.E.R.?

Its a mid-range laptop GPU, and BC2 is a recent game. So it'll play it, once you arent expecting high settings or res. In the <€1000 price bracket i'd be looking for an ATI 5650 or better, it'll outperform a GT330M in most games.

Would a high end ULV processor have the performance needed for fluid gaming?

Obviously different games have different CPU requirements, and the GPU tends to be more important in regular mid-range laptops. I wouldn't say it is a good idea, but check some Alienware M11x reviews for benchmarks and discussion.

How would the entry level MBP fare with Win7 and games?

The 13" MBP has a Nvidia 320M. The gaming performance is below mid-range nowadays.

TheAmateur

Voodu Child wrote: »

In the <€1000 price bracket i'd be looking for an ATI 5650 or better, it'll outperform a GT330M in most games.

The 5650 does seem to be the sweet spot of price/performance at €1000 alright. With that in mind, what sort of laptops should we be looking at?

hare05

All right, what I've been looking at so far is this MSI GX640-098us, but it's not yet available in this particular build in Ireland/UK. We have the eu version, which has an i7 and a much higher price but I'm hoping MSI will bring more options to europe.
I'm also considering the MSI GE600, which is more mainstream performance.

I've taken a look at Kobalt Computers (as referenced in the previous thread) and I quite like their Multimedia offering, but the graphics chip is a bit weak for the price.

I'm looking at the 330m in performance terms as Nvidia's new Optimus switchable graphics system includes it and will give a great boost to battery life of anything that uses it.

I'm looking at the Macbook and ULV laptops as I don't intend gaming to be the main purpose of the laptop, just a bonus for playing low res BC2 on college LAN at lunch times (We don't study much ). The Macbook has a very good screen and I've always wanted to try OSX. If that doesn't work out for me, I can just toss Win7 / Ubuntu on there and still have a very well built pc :rolleyes:

I keep coming back to the HP Envy 15, but I really don't want an i7 as the damn things melt through anything they touch. Waiting for an i5 Irish release on this too.

Anyway, the exams are over, so I don't intend to buy until September. Maybe AMD will have something better than rebranded athlons by the time the next year starts

PS: Had the exact same reaction to the Vaio. Damn you Sony! First rootkits on our CDs, then removing OS support from the PS3, now this?!
Also had a look at the Cizmo notebook. Looks like they're a Clevo reseller just like Kobalt, but the chassis they're using there is very low grade, and very ugly.

TheAmateur

The GX640 can be got here from the looks of things: http://www.webconnexxion.com/raid/product_info.php?products_id=19252
It's over budget by €180 and it'll probably have a 2-pin battery plug, but they're based in the Netherlands so at least there's no import tax. I have to say though, I've read unimpressive things about the GX640.

hare05

TheAmateur wrote: »

I have to say though, I've read unimpressive things about the GX640.

Care to elaborate? I thought it looked a bit cheap for the parts you get, but MSI have never failed me on motherboards, so I thought I'd go on faith.

TheAmateur

hare05 wrote: »

Care to elaborate? I thought it looked a bit cheap for the parts you get, but MSI have never failed me on motherboards, so I thought I'd go on faith.

Heh ok, get ready for some "light" reading:
MSI GX640 Reviews thread
GX640 Owners - Post Your Temps! thread
Another complaint about heat

There's some good and bad in those threads, kind of to be expected with anything, but it's the heat issue that would worry me.

Voodu Child

TheAmateur wrote: »

The 5650 does seem to be the sweet spot of price/performance at €1000 alright. With that in mind, what sort of laptops should we be looking at?

I'd start with Acer. They have several HD5650-based laptops at the moment.

And they have some cool models coming soon, link.

Nvidia can't really compete at the moment, their high-end is still made up of old G92b tech, and their newer architectures are still too big and hot to compete with ATIs 5xxx series right now. They'll likely have new stuff coming in a few months.

TheAmateur

Voodu Child wrote: »

I'd start with Acer. They have several HD5650-based laptops at the moment.

And they have some cool models coming soon, link.

Really liking the look of that Ethos series! And I've read good things about the TimelineX models too. Know of any good places to source Acers?