280m out - what should I do

[Jjoshua2]

Ok, so I bought a refurbished gateway P-7811FX 1920x1200 gaming laptop with a 9800m GTS and its coming thursday. So its not even here yet and Anandtech announces the 280m and 260m. I got mine on eBay 1050 but I used 25% cashback so it was really $850 free shipping no tax. Its going to be a couple months probably before any new laptops come out.

What do you think I should do? I could probably pay for return shipping, but I think I would be better of selling it still new probably for around 950-1000$. What I could do is use it for a few months and sell it for maybe 50-100 less 850-950$.

I'm not going to get a steal on a 280m laptop anytime soon I suppose. They won't be even 1500$ for a while right? Do you think I should list my laptop this weekend and I could sell it for like 950, and then wait a month or two and the price will have gone down 100?

 

[garritynet]

Re-word your question to:

"Should I buy a gaming laptop with a 9800m now for $850 or should I wait for the new 280m/260m to come out and try to get a good deal on one of those? "

Then tell us what games you hope to play.

I bet you will get more responses that way.

 

[thilanliyan]

If the 9800m is like a 9800 card, then you're fine because the 280m is like a 8800/9800.

 

[ashishmishra]

Yeah depends, because the 9800m GTS is more like the desktop 9600GT and the 9800m GTX is more like the desktop 9800GT/8800GT. I am going to say if you have the GTX then don't worry about it.

 

[Jjoshua2]

So its a 9800m gts. I already bought it for $850, but I think I could turn around and sell it for a profit. I want to play far cry 2, left 4 dead, team fortress 2, eternal silence, and fallout 3 at native 1920x1200. How long would I have to wait until a better performing graphics card for around $1000 in a laptop? Would I be waiting for 280m or would 260m work too? Or maybe ATI is better?

 

[angry hampster]

Do you really need a laptop? I'd be asking myself that.

 

[nosfe]

they're all pushing the limits at 19x12, you'd need a 4870/gtx260 for that resolution but there's nothing on the (notebook) market that can touch those. That 9800m gts shouldn't be enough for fallout3/far cry2 at that resolution as it is a weaker version of a 9600gt while the gtx 280m is somewhere between a 8800gt and a 9800gtx(vanilla, not +) so even that wouldn't be quite enough

 

[taltamir]

gaming on a laptop? WHY!
If you have to ask how much it costs (to be a laptop gamer) you can't afford it

 

[Jjoshua2]

I have a desktop 1920x1200 and a 8800gt and I play left4dead and other hl2 mods and tf2 and stuff and it all seems to run fine. I was thinking of getting the laptop for traveling long distance and for when I'm not at home for an afternoon. I was hoping that the laptop won't cost to much to own until the fall when i can hopefully sell it for most of the purchase price.

 

[nosfe]

well, when people talk about gaming at 19x12 they talk about all settings maxed and 4xAA. For that stuff the gtx280m won't be enough. I don't know about the 9800m gts but i'd say it would have trouble keeping up with source engine games at 19x12 at max.

I was thinking of getting the laptop for traveling long distance and for when I'm not at home for an afternoon.

There's no such thing as a gaming laptop with the battery capacity necessary for something like that

 

[taltamir]

wait wait... you want to play games on a laptop on a BATTERY!?
No can do, doesn't exist...

Laptops can only do gaming while plugged in.

Look for a PSP or whatever the gameboy is getting called today

 

[TidusZ]

Originally posted by: nosfe
they're all pushing the limits at 19x12, you'd need a 4870/gtx260 for that resolution but there's nothing on the (notebook) market that can touch those. That 9800m gts shouldn't be enough for fallout3/far cry2 at that resolution as it is a weaker version of a 9600gt while the gtx 280m is somewhere between a 8800gt and a 9800gtx(vanilla, not +) so even that wouldn't be quite enough

Saying you need a GTX 260/4870 for l4d/farcry2/fallout3/tf2 @1920x1200 is plain ignorant. I've played all of those games on a 3ghz dual core and 8800gt and they run flawlessly at 1920x1200 with high settings and no aa. My second pc is still intact and it runs everything minus crysis at 1920x1200 beautifully. My brother and I have been playing Mass Effect recently side by side and it runs no smoother on my machine than my old pc.

The 280m, if it's comparable to an 8800gt, will run all those games just swell. Put them in sli and it would play crysis quite reasonably too.

http://www.firingsquad.com/har..._performance/page3.asp
1920x1200x32, fallout3, 4xaa 8xaf, avg 58 fps

http://www.extremetech.com/art.../0,2845,2209201,00.asp
1920x1200x32, TF2, 4xaa 8xaf, avg 57 fps

I've played the other two and they ran great. Actually farcry 2 only ran well for about 10 minutes and then it never ran again. That's cus I deleted it. L4d probably runs well on my mother's computer, no need for argument there.

 

[nosfe]

well i'm sure that he'll buy a laptop with a QX9650 in it to get those frames..... you do realize that we're talking about laptops, right? put them in sli? how do you propose to do that?

 

[TidusZ]

Originally posted by: nosfe
well i'm sure that he'll buy a laptop with a QX9650 in it to get those frames..... you do realize that we're talking about laptops, right? put them in sli? how do you propose to do that?

Most high end laptops support SLI, the old sagers for instance, and the newer 280m equipped laptops also have SLI as an option. They can also use desktop processors rather than typical laptop ones, but that's beside the point.

http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=578

 

[angry hampster]

How do you plan to find fast enough internet connections to game on while you're traveling? Get an entry-level notebook for older games and net surfing while you're traveling, then dumpthe rest into your desktop for more enjoyable framerates at high res.

 

[SunnyD]

The 260m/280m mobile chips are NOT... I repeat they are NOT GT200 class chips!!! They are the same as a 9800 mobile chip... yes sir... another case of rebranding to confuse the consumers.

On the other hand, ATI's new RV740 chips, particularly the 4860 IS a mobile-class high performance chip that will be easy on battery life while packing a hell of a punch for performance.

 

[nosfe]

too bad that it's not available yet and still doesn't change the fact that serious gaming on battery power is a no go

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: nosfe
too bad that it's not available yet and still doesn't change the fact that serious gaming on battery power is a no go

+1

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
The 260m/280m mobile chips are NOT... I repeat they are NOT GT200 class chips!!! They are the same as a 9800 mobile chip... yes sir... another case of rebranding to confuse the consumers.

On the other hand, ATI's new RV740 chips, particularly the 4860 IS a mobile-class high performance chip that will be easy on battery life while packing a hell of a punch for performance.

That's vaporware right now....although I do agree that the re-branding is very misleading.

 

[Jjoshua2]

So I actually wasn't planning on gaming on battery power, but more like at a hotel. I think I will try out the laptop I bought and see how I like it and just be on the lookout for another cheap one and hopefully I will be able to sell before the price of mine drops too much. I don't need to run at MAX settings, but I like to run with max settings and 2x AA 4x AS and maybe drop the AA.
Could I even notice 2xAA vs 4xAA on a 17 inch 1920x1200 screen?