Originally posted by: harpoon84
Originally posted by: Viditor
Originally posted by: harpoon84
Well said Idontcare.
It's impossible to get a 'well rounded' system on a sub $200 platform - you're gonna have to cut corners somewhere.
I think this is where we really disagree...
My feeling is that the system I listed is an extremely well rounded system for sub $200.
There are certainly areas where you can improve things based on your needs, but for a well rounded system,
that 780G plays all games (albeit at only 1280/1024 and medium res without AA).
It connects to everything you need, has HDMI if you want to watch that movie you made on the plasma, runs everything you can think of for the SOHO quite well, etc...
If you had no idea why you want a computer, but knew you needed one (which is what I hear from most consumers these days)...this would be the very best choice possible IMHO.
I agree with your post, except the bolded part. Don't get me wrong, 780G is a
great IGP, the best currently available, but one thing it does *not* do well is gaming. Yes, it does
better than other IGPs, but that doesn't mean its suitable for gaming, at least at 1280 x 1024.
Here are some performance numbers at 1280 x 1024 low/minimum details, courtesy of
Firingsquad
FEAR: 17fps (unplayable)
Company of Heroes: 41fps (playable)
HL2 Ep2: 26fps (borderline, very choppy)
Lost Planet : 9fps (unplayable)
Crysis: 7fps (unplayable)
780G simply can not play the majority of games at 1280 x 1024, even at
minimum detail settings, let alone medium details as you claim.
To further my point,
Neoseeker has an article looking at the gaming performance of the HD3450 in todays shader intensive games. Most of the games are unplayable at 1024 x 768, let alone 1280 x 1024. Now compare the performance to the 8600GT, which is comparable to a HD 3650.
Considering the 780G IGP is
even slower than a HD3450 by some 20%, you may being to understand why I'm not blindly endorsing the 780G as an ideal gaming platform, even for casual gamers.