Buying a laptop. Need advice.

[DeFessler]

I want to buy a cheap laptop, but I want it for general use and moderate gaming. Nothing like the one in my sig, but one that's just good enough to be able to play a game like FFXI. I have one spec'd out at HP

* – Genuine Windows XP Home Edition
* – Mobile AMD Sempron(TM) 3500+ (1.80GHz/512KB)
* – 14.1" WXGA Widescreen (1280x800)
* – NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 6150
* – Standard Finish
* – 512MB DDR2 SDRAM (2x256MB)
* – 40 GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
* – FREE Upgrade: 8X DVD+/-R/RW w/Double Layer Support
* – 802.11b/g WLAN
* – 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
* – Microsoft(R) Works/Money
* – HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

It's $670 with shipping. There is a $100 mail in rebate, so that would take it down to $570. I don't know how trustworthy mail in rebates are though and is there a way to request no software like, no windows or microsoft works, I already have my own copy of windows and I would never use works or money. Also, how overclockable are laptops?

 

[freakdiablo]

seems like a decent laptop, not that much ram but its good any way. As far as overclocking, I never had to much luck. The voltage is usually set low, and the ram divider is set high, and neither adjustable from the bios. atleast thats how it is with my T40, it has a stock speed of 1.5ghz and locks up whenever i use clockgen.

 

[DeFessler]

Ah ic. I am prolly getting that one but I am still looking in saving money. cause I don't want something special just something portable that can play some games at moderate detail, like games that are 3 years old.

 

[Tebore]

Please change your sig. It's in violation of sig rules, it's way too big. You'll need a better video card if you want to play games. Not to mention that you will need more RAM. You're gonna have to rethink your budget.

 

[DeFessler]

that is my budget. I just want mild gaming very mild. I have a desktop thats perfectly capable for gaming. I want something for on the go.

 

[mrgreenjeans]

Mild? "Bejeweled" mild? Don't hold your breath on that one. Pretty much the same specs as mine, but I've got a ATI chip with onboard graphics. Check your RAM and get at least a gig as the vid shares the Ram with the operating sys.

 

[DeFessler]

That system is about as good as I can get it right now, I was thinking sometime in the future I could buy a stick to replace one of the 256s in it when I had more money. The most I'm worried about playing is counter-strike 1.6 and final fantasy xi. Ok, would getting a video card without shared memory help at all? If so where could I get one like that?

 

[wtrman]

You might want to look at the Gateway MX7118. I had that for work with the ATI x300 GPU and 1.5gb of memory. You can find those floating around for <$700. I played hl2 with low/medium settings and Tiger Woods 2005 on it.

 

[DeFessler]

Can you link me, I can't seem to find it.

 

[Midnight Dream]

Be leery when purchasing a laptop for gaming. There are just some quirks. My brothers Dell, with its onboard intel gfx card (granted, not a nvidia card) could play HL2 fine. But CSS would just show a black screen. We never did figure it out. Other then that, it looks like a good laptop, though I agree with the others statements of more ram. I wouldnt even wait for that, go ahead and upgrade at build, or have the RAM waiting for the laptop to arrive, because with my experiences, 512 is good for WinXP and email checking, but not WinXP and gaming.

 

[DeFessler]

Ya, software wise I will be good. I just don't completely understand a laptops hardware and I'm trying to get games to run decent. Gaming is like my second priority tho. My main priority is getting the best bang for my buck. I mainly want it for Word processing, watching movies, music, and portability.

 

[jcw122]

It should be pretty OK, in my opinion.

512MB is just fine for such a system, and the onboard memory should be sufficient for light/moderate 3D gaming, it's one of the fastest onboard video chipsets out.

For the primary stuff you mentioned, like word processing, movies, music, etc it should do very well.

 

[DeFessler]

Well I decided to order it, I just paid for it. Thx for the input.