I am not exactly sure where to start. I haven’t found one that is exactly what I want yet from the places I have been searching. In my ideal world I would like to spend less than a thousand bucks but it will probably be closer to 1500.
Anyway, I want a laptop so I can start playing MMORPG’s on it and have a mobile workstation for my writing (both stories and music). I want it more as a gaming station though.
With this in mind, I want at least a 64mb video card in it and as much RAM as possible (minimum 512mb with an option to expand). Also, I wouldn’t need more than a 20 gig (really less) hard drive as long as it contains a CDRW/DVD combo.
I don’t really care about the processor speed as much since most of the gig plus processors are faster than almost anything else out there. So far, Dell is the only place I have found that actually offers a decent video card in an otherwise mediocre product.
Anyone out there play MMORPG’s on a laptop have a suggestion? I guess there are a few Everquesters here (what a boring game, no pvp) who plan on going to World’s of Warcraft, Horizons(if it ever gets out of being vaoporware), Asheron’s Call 2, or Shadowbane? I am looking into playing Shadowbane but know it doesn’t have nearly the stress to the system that EQ has and wish to leave my options open for later games.
Is there a place where I can plug in the specs that I want and it will suggest a place to buy such a machine?
I played EQ, Black and White, DAoC and several other games on my laptop. I bought a top of the line Dell 8000 in about May of 2001 - 1 Gig processor, 32 MB graphics card, 512 MB RAM, etc. etc. It was basically the best laptop Dell made at the time. I paid about $3300 for it.
A year later, it could barely limp along on the new games that were coming out, including the expansions to the games that I was hooked on. I bought Morrowind when it came out, and got about 5-6 fps and very jerky motion, even with the graphics turned down to 600x800 and low color density. EQ’s Luclin expansion worked only with the clip plane turned all the way down. In other words, it sucked. In July, I bought a desktop to replace it.
My advice? The laptop was great… for about ten months. Then it failed, miserably. If you have the cash to pay for a top of the line (read: at least $3K) laptop once a year, you can use a laptop as a gaming machine. Or, if you’re OK with not playing the nicest, newest games, you’ll be fine - my laptop still runs games that came out 12-24 months ago just fine. But if you want to go out and buy the neat new games with all the cool graphics, the laptop will not last you very long. Not being able to upgrade the video card is a MAJOR problem for a game machine.
Music programs* typically don’t do very well on systems that have a lot of other stuff on them, especially laptops. But it depends on what you want to do, exactly. I did a quick configure over at Dell for a minimal laptop music system (1.8 gb processor, 512 mb RAM, 40GB HD, XP Home, CDRW/DVD drive) and it came to $2277. It might be OK if you really strip it down. That doesn’t include the audio and/or midi interfaces or the software you’re going to need to get started.
A 700 mhz Apple iBook comes out roughly the same and an entry level powerbook G4 you’re looking at around $2700-$2800.
You should go the website of your music program of choice, visit their message boards and see how they’re configuring laptops.
*I’m talking about big programs like Cubase, Logic, et al. where you have midi, audio, soft synths, lots of effects, low latencies.
The music software I am using (finale) will work fine on even the most basic systems. All the laptops that are currently out far outshine what I will be putting it through.
I believe have seen a 128mb video card in some laptops (again by Dell) maybe that will be what I will have to go with since Athena said that you can’t update the video cards in laptops. (I thought you could but didn’t know if it was easy or not.)
For writing you can really get the cheapest laptop you can get but for gaming I would say you are looking at at least $2000 and that’s just for a mid - low level gamer. Laptops are inhertantly slower then desktops the HD is slower and IIRC the bus speed is reduced.
Do you really need a laptop for gaming? I think it would be better just getting a desktop and maybe a low end laptop for writing if still needed.
I found a athlon 1400 at stples for $599 (still sitting in my cart) depending on how lucky I get with their rebates…so if you find a
computer you want, search the net for rebates. I don’t think that 1400 is fast enough for you.