Friend interested in a Compaq notebook at BestBuy - any good?

[Andvari]

First of all, wow, I haven't posted here in quite a while and I see the forum layout's changed. =p

Anyway, my friend wants a laptop to "save space" and cuz he hates all the cords of his dinosaur-aged desktop. I told him just to get a desktop since he has no need/desire to take his PC around with him and bite the bullet on space. I mean big deal heh.

I know my fair share about desktops but laptops are foreign to me, so any advice on this laptop?

Compaq - Presario Notebook with AMD Turion? 64 X2 V6305NR
AMD Turion? 64 X2 mobile technology TL-50
1GB DDR2 SDRAM
DL DVD±RW/CD-RW drive
15.4" widescreen
100GB hard drive
Windows Vista Home Premium

$599


He's trying to stay in the $5-700 range, and he uses his computer primarily for browsing the internet and typing up a paper or two or other minor college things. He would also like to play StarCraft 2 when it comes out, but who knows when that will be or what the system requirements are. Could this computer run DX10? SC2 might need that by those days...

 

[TheStu]

Since they don't specifically mention a graphics card, and I don't think that AMD has released a DX10 mobile graphics chip yet, hten that is probably not DX10 compatible, but it might, might might, run SC2. For everything else, it will be fine, maybe get another GB of RAM (2GB kit on the egg for about $90 shipped) and he will have a solid machine for quite some time.

 

[postmortemIA]

laptop for $600 running dx10 games..yeah right.

 

[Andvari]

^ Heh, yeah, it was just a consideration. Blizzard currently says they plan to make SC2 *not* DX10 exclusive, as they want it to be compatible with a ride range of setups. Of course, DX11 might be out before SC2. =p

 

[gus6464]

Are you going to be putting XP on it? If you are I wouldnt recommend getting that laptop because you might run into problems getting windows xp drivers for it. But you are definitely going to want to reformat the thing as HP/Compaq's come preloaded with so much garbage apps its crazy. Even more than Dells. As far as graphics go the chipset is the nvidia 6150, which is not dx10 compatible and honestly not any more powerful than intel graphics.

 

[Ichigo]

Originally posted by: gus6464
Are you going to be putting XP on it? If you are I wouldnt recommend getting that laptop because you might run into problems getting windows xp drivers for it. But you are definitely going to want to reformat the thing as HP/Compaq's come preloaded with so much garbage apps its crazy. Even more than Dells. As far as graphics go the chipset is the nvidia 6150, which is not dx10 compatible and honestly not any more powerful than intel graphics.

You have a link to support that? I don't remember any Intel GPU to be better than any Nvidia or AMD one, even intergated ones.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Ichigo

Originally posted by: gus6464
Are you going to be putting XP on it? If you are I wouldnt recommend getting that laptop because you might run into problems getting windows xp drivers for it. But you are definitely going to want to reformat the thing as HP/Compaq's come preloaded with so much garbage apps its crazy. Even more than Dells. As far as graphics go the chipset is the nvidia 6150, which is not dx10 compatible and honestly not any more powerful than intel graphics.

You have a link to support that? I don't remember any Intel GPU to be better than any Nvidia or AMD one, even intergated ones.

I think what he is saying is that there are 2 kinds of graphics card (or is graphics cards, graphic cards??) integrated and discrete. Sure, the 6150 beats the intel integrated anything. But an x1400 beats both of them so the point is moot. They are both still integrated, and therefore great for watching movies, playing old games, and doing the occasional heavy graphical thing, but complete sh!te when it comes to newer games.

 

[Andvari]

Not hot for newer games eh? Comes with lots of garbage apps and needs to reformat eh? Not good for XP eh? Hmm...

In that case, are there any other laptops in the -700 range that would be better alternatives? Stronger graphics card, better for XP, etc? And considering he'd have to buy XP separately, he'd probably want to just stick with Vista to further save $. Is Vista that craptacular?


And also, is it not possible to put together an equally or more powerful desktop for less? I was under the impression that I could build a better desktop for him, but pricing some things on newegg I quickly rose past $599 picking similar hardware. I was going with name brand stuff though...

 

[gus6464]

Originally posted by: Ichigo

Originally posted by: gus6464
Are you going to be putting XP on it? If you are I wouldnt recommend getting that laptop because you might run into problems getting windows xp drivers for it. But you are definitely going to want to reformat the thing as HP/Compaq's come preloaded with so much garbage apps its crazy. Even more than Dells. As far as graphics go the chipset is the nvidia 6150, which is not dx10 compatible and honestly not any more powerful than intel graphics.

You have a link to support that? I don't remember any Intel GPU to be better than any Nvidia or AMD one, even intergated ones.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/M...chmark-List.844.0.html

Has benchmarks on all mobile gpus released. Look towards the end of the page and you will see the following:
GPU 3DMark06 score
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100 479
Radeon Xpress 1150 212
GeForce Go 6100 / 6150 225
Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 170
Radeon Xpress 200M 140
Radeon Xpress 1100 123

These are all integrated chipsets. Notice how the nvidia and ati integrated gpus are either the same or slower than gma950. The new Intel X3100 is a big step up from the gma950 and performs more than twice as fast as the rest. Nvidia, ATI, and Intel integrated graphics are all at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to performance. And I would take the intel part just for the increase in battery life alone.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Andvari
Not hot for newer games eh? Comes with lots of garbage apps and needs to reformat eh? Not good for XP eh? Hmm...

In that case, are there any other laptops in the -700 range that would be better alternatives? Stronger graphics card, better for XP, etc? And considering he'd have to buy XP separately, he'd probably want to just stick with Vista to further save $. Is Vista that craptacular?


And also, is it not possible to put together an equally or more powerful desktop for less? I was under the impression that I could build a better desktop for him, but pricing some things on newegg I quickly rose past $599 picking similar hardware. I was going with name brand stuff though...

Look in the laptop section of Newegg... though I might not buy from there (I probably will only voluntarily buy Apple unless they really screw the pooch) it is a good place for price comparisons and whatnot. Since you can search based on a wide variety of features, you really can drill the list down to a group that meets all of his needs.

 

[Sarvatt]

I just purchased one of these and I'm very happy with it. Overclocks easy to 2ghz/DDR800 with ntune I can play LOTRO at medium settings just fine on the integrated graphics and the battery lasts approximately 3 hours. I also purchased one of the 399 (299) acer 3680's and another 512 SODIMM for my wife and the compaq blows it away for gaming. Don't forget to "sign up" for high speed internet for an extra $100 off, if you sign up with an apartment number on your normal address and dont follow through with the ISP nothing gets charged but you still get the 100 off Best deal I could find around at $499.