New laptop advice

GarIT

The GFs family have recently found out a know a bit about laptops so now all of a sudden they all want to but new laptops and want my recommendations. The first one is for my girlfriends Granddad. He is really only going to be using it for the internet, emails etc. As far as I know he's in his 80's and has fairly bad eyesight so he needs a big clear screen. I was thinking this should easily be enough for what he needs Toshiba L670-10N.

The next is her little brother he is 12 and he likes to play some older games, he loves the Sims 2 and he might get the Sims 3 (weather it can play it on max or lowest settings it doesn't matter once it plays), other than that he will just be playing flash games on-line, probably facebook, youtube and the things kids his age usually do. I was thinking of the Toshiba C660. They are old country people and refuse to buy anything on-line as they don't trust it so it will need to be kept to Argos, PC World or similar. Any opinions or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

MASTER...of the bra

First one should be fine, just check that the ram is upgradeable or get this one. Bigger screen is limiting you here.

For the second one even though it's only the Sims your gonna need a graphics card. Sims 2 Requirements, Sims 3 Requirements or it's gonna be sloooow.

Something like this. Cheaper than your one and comes with more ports, HDMI, better cam. Has this card, nVIDIA GeForce 310M (scroll down) which will play Sims3 at 33fps (frames per second) on medium, anything over 30 should be jutter free.

GarIT

From what I've read the first one can take up to 2x4GB DDR3 so it should be fine. The fps of the other one is really a big issue, he would probably rarely play it. He said he wouldn't be playing games on it at all but most of us think he will when he gets it. Maybe I'm wrong but I thought I read that all Iseries processors have built in graphics processors. I know it obviously wont be as good as a dedicated GPU but its better then the built in graphics. Its good enough to play HD anyway. The only problem is that Samsung is sold out with no option to order, with the sale ending this week Its unlikely you'd get it before that.

MASTER...of the bra

GarIT wrote: »

From what I've read the first one can take up to 2x4GB DDR3 so it should be fine. The fps of the other one is really a big issue, he would probably rarely play it. He said he wouldn't be playing games on it at all but most of us think he will when he gets it. Maybe I'm wrong but I thought I read that all Iseries processors have built in graphics processors. I know it obviously wont be as good as a dedicated GPU but its better then the built in graphics. Its good enough to play HD anyway. The only problem is that Samsung is sold out with no option to order, with the sale ending this week Its unlikely you'd get it before that.

They will play HD but they get pretty hot. I've read reviews where some laptops hit 90 degrees playing Full HD.

[FONT=trebuchet ms,geneva]Supported Video Cards: Nvidia GeForce series: FX5900 or greater, G100, GT 120, GT 130, GTS 150, GTS 250, GTX 260, GTX 275, GTX 280, GTX 285, GTX 295; ATI Radeon™ series: ATI Radeon 9500 series of greater, X300, X600, X700, X800, X850, X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950, 2400, 2600, 2900, 3450, 3650, 3850, 3870, 4850, 4870, 4890 series or greater; Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA): GMA 3-Series, GMA 4-Series.[/FONT]
[FONT=trebuchet ms,geneva]Please note that the GeForce 6100 and 7100 cards are not supported.[/FONT]

This is the list of cards for Sims 3, the i series have built in (integrated) graphics, if your gonna go down this road so make sure it's GMA series 3 or 4 as above...I think they all come with GMA 4500HD now. There's no set spec though.

Argos let you see it before you buy if you ask so check it out.

There is still 1 samsung left not that far from you. I'll PM you.

GarIT

Thanks for the help, but as far as I know they reserved the other ones last night and there picking them up soon so its a bit late now. Hopefully it works out for them, its a decent brand and should be able to do what they want, fingers crossed.