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Asking the impossible . . . WoW on a budget laptop?

K

kainthelongshot

Member
Any ideas on wether it be possible to buy a 400 dollar laptop (new) and have it play WoW with "decent" framerates. Its asking a lot, but i'd like to know.

decent means i can get buy with the lowest graphical settings and understand that ironforge will always be dubbed laggenforge.
 
Minimum specs to run WoW according to Blizzard:
- Intel Pentium® III 800 MHz or AMD Athlon 800 MHz
- 512 MB or more of RAM
- 32 MB 3D graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting, such as NVIDIA® GeForce? 2 class card or above
- DirectX® 9.0c (included) and latest video drivers
- 6.0 GB available HD space
- 4x CD-ROM drive
- A 56k or better Internet connection

You'll be hard pressed to find ANY laptop for $400 new. Even on those special after rebate deals. The $499 Dell Inspiron 600M deal might be your best bet at the moment. It has a discrete Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics chipset that should be able to handle WoW on lower settings.
There are people who claim they can run WoW on integrated graphics (including the Intel GMAs). I'd have to see it to believe it (esp. since they don't have hardware T&L) but if it's true, then you can get one of the of the Dell B120 laptops for $449, but you'll probably need to add memory to it. Otherwise, you'll need to look used/refurb-ed.

EDIT: Here's a thread elsewhere where it's discussed. BTW, those prices exclude tax and shipping. You might be able to get free shipping, but tax you can only avoid if you live in a select few states.
 
The Intel 900 integrated video will play Wow okay.
It will not be fast but it will play fine at a low res and options turned down. You will want to get as much ram as possible.
 
lol you're joking right? Integrated Graphics for WoW will not cut it. You might get away with it on all low settings in a place where there is nobody. Once you head to places like Ironforge, or instances forget about it. I got one of those Intel Integrated Graphics too and believe me it isn't playable.

 
Originally posted by: Hacp
quickly, sell your copy to me and forget about that game all together.
Click to expand...

why would u want to buy a pre used copy for wow? u get 1 month free when u buy the game, and that itself is a discount from the full price of the game.
 
Originally posted by: Wall7486
lol you're joking right? Integrated Graphics for WoW will not cut it. You might get away with it on all low settings in a place where there is nobody. Once you head to places like Ironforge, or instances forget about it. I got one of those Intel Integrated Graphics too and believe me it isn't playable.
Click to expand...

No, I was using the 900 series integrated video on my HP NX6010. I would certainly rather play it on my desktop but I could play it just fine with everything turned down.

It had a Pm 1.7 and 1gb of Ram
 
with everything turned down, 1gb of ram and a fairly fast system the intel 900 barely plays wow (I know I tried it at the work PC and eventually had to upgrade the video. This is on a P4 3.4ghz, 2gb ram, fast HD, T1 connection) if you're happy with at most with 30fps in zones where you are the only person there. Forget AH or crowded zones. You'll need to get something with ANY dedicated graphics and at least a 1ghz proc and 1gb ram.
 
Maybe an ATI Xpress 200 would fair better than Intel integrated graphics.

I got the Compaq V2555 laptop at Staples during their President's Day sale for $480 AR.

Mobile Sempron 3000+
512MB RAM
40GB HDD
802.11G Wireless
DVD-ROM/CD-RW

The ATI Xpress 200 graphics are definitely better than the Geforce 2 listed as the minimum that was posted (and I would guess slightly better than Intel integrated graphics).

You aren't going to find anything close to this for $80 less.
 
I play on a 2.5year old Dell Inspiron 8600 with a Radeon 9000 32MB. I can play at 1280x800, with all the lowest settings and get around 20-30 fps average. However, it is not recommended for raids (drops to 5-15fps).

ATI Xpress200 isn't that much better than an Intel 900GMA series integrated video and they are BOTH superior to my radeon 9000 32MB or any GeForce2. They key is to get 1GB memory.
 
Even if you set everything on low, you will not be able to do much. Once you get into Ironforge forget about it. It will only work if you're let say in a place like Goldshire where there is very little action taking place. You have to realize when a company put out their minimum requirement it doesn't neccessary mean it will be playable. Especially, in a MMORPG where there are lots of action and movements it really stresses the entire system. I'm not trying to burst you bubbles or anything OP, but i'm just telling you from my experience. I tried playing WoW on my 1.6ghz Pentium M, 768RAM, Intel 900 Integrated Graphics and it wasn't that great. I went into Ironforge and I was basically skipping all over the place.
 
Originally posted by: Wall7486
Even if you set everything on low, you will not be able to do much. Once you get into Ironforge forget about it. It will only work if you're let say in a place like Goldshire where there is very little action taking place. You have to realize when a company put out their minimum requirement it doesn't neccessary mean it will be playable. Especially, in a MMORPG where there are lots of action and movements it really stresses the entire system. I'm not trying to burst you bubbles or anything OP, but i'm just telling you from my experience. I tried playing WoW on my 1.6ghz Pentium M, 768RAM, Intel 900 Integrated Graphics and it wasn't that great. I went into Ironforge and I was basically skipping all over the place.
Click to expand...

Probably due to your 768MB memory. And yes, it does make that big of a difference going to 1GB. Either that or your computer had a lot of unnecessary junk running in the background (or another issue is that you have to turn Terrain Distance to minimum). Or another option is that you don't have the 900GMA series (which is relatively new).

My laptop was as follows:

1.3Ghz/1MB Pentium-M
1GB PC2700 SoDIMM
Radeon 9000 32MB
40GB 4200 rpm HDD

The setup ran WoW fine for solo/partying and Alterac Valley/Arathi Basin/Warsong Gulch. The only problem I ran into was in Molten Core and Blackwing Lair when it was dipping to the 5fps mark.

---

However, with all that said, I switched to a Desktop and cranked everything to high, and WoW was a much better game. In Warsong Gulch... I was like... WOW with terrain distance maxed, I can see the other side!
 
ok, so price not being that big of a issue, (it is but there is a price you have to pay) are there and decently priced laptops that can play wow.. (mc raids and such) that i dont have to sell one of my kids for..(not that they arent hard workers mind you!)

😀 thanks in advance!!

/bow
 
Originally posted by: morkman100
Maybe an ATI Xpress 200 would fair better than Intel integrated graphics.

I got the Compaq V2555 laptop at Staples during their President's Day sale for $480 AR.

Mobile Sempron 3000+
512MB RAM
40GB HDD
802.11G Wireless
DVD-ROM/CD-RW

The ATI Xpress 200 graphics are definitely better than the Geforce 2 listed as the minimum that was posted (and I would guess slightly better than Intel integrated graphics).

You aren't going to find anything close to this for $80 less.
Click to expand...

Thats not a MAYBE, it's a definate YES. ATI makes video cards, intel doesn't, the integrated ATI solution is worlds better than intel's...
 
Thats not a MAYBE, it's a definate YES. ATI makes video cards, intel doesn't, the integrated ATI solution is worlds better than intel's...
Click to expand...

I figured, but I didn't want to have to search for benchmarks/proof if someone disputed that! 😀

The ATI Xpress 200 integrated graphics are suprisingly good. I'm playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 on medium settings at 800x600 and it looks great. No shabby at all on a sub $500 laptop with 512MB RAM (and I even have the video memory set to 64MB). Just waiting on a good deal on 1GB PC3200 so-dimms to really see how good this thing really is.

morkman
 
I just got my laptop specifically for WoW, and i went through the budget laptops and finally passed on them because i didn't want to spend $500 bucks and then be disappointed and feel like i wasted my money. I saved up for about an extra couple months, and got an Asus Z71v laptop. It's a barebones laptop, which means you get the laptop minus the memory, processor and ram. Took me about 2 hours to install everything and then install windows and then i installed WoW and let the updates run overnight. Altogether i think i spent $1000, but i got what i wanted, which is a WoW laptop that plays great, lag free and looks almost as good as my desktop! Not sure if this is your cup of tea, but if you are technically inclined, a barebones laptop might be a good place to go. =)

Just a quick fyi - there are two versions of the Asus laptop - the Z71V and the Z71VP. One has a 128 meg video card and a max resolution screen of 1680x1050, and the other has a 64 meg video card w/ a screen that supports a max resolution of 1280x800, i got the lower model which saved a bit of money for me. WoW still plays great and looks great w/ the 64 meg video card and 1280x800 resolution. No lag in IF. In addition to the barebones laptop, i got a 60 gig hard drive, 1 gig of ram, a 1.5 celeron (I think memory and video is more important than processor for WoW) and a cd/dvd combo drive. Overall, i'm really happy w/ my investment! although...i did see a deal on a dell somewhere for around 800 that had really good specs...you might wanna check out that too....lol, there's always a better deal around the corner!!!
 
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