Help buying laptop. Kinda rushed on time.

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Ozboblogolgoro

Ozboblogolgoro

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Dec 26, 2009
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Hey guys, I'm going on a trip in a few days (unexpectedly). I don't have much time to shop but I am looking for a laptop that will run WoW well. My budget is around $500. I am looking at Walmart and Best Buy but I have no idea what is good and what isn't. I wouldn't mind having a laptop I can upgrade later with more memory or whatever. I know I'm not going to get the greatest thing out there but if it'll run WoW and some Steam games pretty well for a year or so I'll be happy. If it's something I order online I need to do so probably Saturday 8/11 so I really need suggestions quickly.

Any help with this is much appreciated! :D

There are a few I was looking at below. I don't know if they'd be what I need though.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2359670&pagenumber=3&RSort=1&csid=ITD&recordsPerPage=5&body=REVIEWS#CustomerReviewsBlock

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i15RN-3647BK-15-Inch-Diamond/dp/B006LX2K44/ref=zg_bs_565108_9

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-Mesh-Gray-15.6-Aspire-AS5733-6410-Laptop-PC-with-Intel-Core-i5-Processor-w-6GB-of-Memory-and-500GB-HDD-and-Windows-7-Home-Premium-with-Windows/19714380
 
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lakedude

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Mar 14, 2009
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The trouble with laptops is that they are generally not upgradable. You better get more or less exactly what you want the first time (RAM and HD/SSD excepted).
 
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lakedude

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Mar 14, 2009
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The Dell appears to be one generation newer than the Wal-Mart Acer and the Dell has 3000 graphics which is much better than the "HD" graphics on the Wal-Mart Acer.

In other words the WM-Acer is out.
 
Sunburn74

Sunburn74

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Oct 5, 2009
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None of those laptops look particularly promising for gaming machines. Maybe turn to the refurbished market looking at higher end stuff.
 
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lakedude

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I like that HP @ tiger direct. The chassis is most likely better than the Acer I linked to, but the HP has an A4 and my Acer has an A8 which is much better than the A4.

Also the A8's 6620 graphics are better than Intel's 3000 graphics.

Graphics are the most important thing for games so I stand by my choice (for now, unless I find something better).
 
Sunburn74

Sunburn74

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I'd go with the cheaper acer aspire AS5560* mostly because you are almost guaranteed to end up selling either laptop in less than 1 years time and buying something a little more quality and a little more satisfying. You might as well minimize your investment. And no I wouldn't buy an extended warranty either.

You are more or less doing the PC equivalent of grocery shopping whilst hungry.

*The cheaper acer actually looks like the slightly better machine because it has a better gpu. The other machine charges excessively for extra hard drive space and memory, which I don't think are all that beneficial once you get to a certain threshold (around 250gb on laptop and past 4gb of RAM).
 
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Sunburn74

Sunburn74

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The cheaper acer has the better gpu and is probably the better gaming machine. The other laptop has a slightly better CPU (trinity vs llano) but I doubt in practice you'd actually be able to tell a difference.

Like I said, I think you have about a 90 percent chance of selling either laptop in the next 12 months, so might as well minimize the investment since this is a rushed decision.
 
gorcorps

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
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Ozboblogolgoro said:
The Acer would run games okay? WoW? Which one would run games better? or is a tie?

Thanks! :)
Click to expand...

No, it won't run games very well. It might "run" WoW but that's because WoW is old, and I'm not sure how much graphical detail you're expecting. You're scraping the bottom of the barrel in price here and are expecting gaming performance... that's not how it works. Get the Acer and save up for a better laptop for next year.
 
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lakedude

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Mar 14, 2009
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Ozboblogolgoro said:
...which one is upgradable later?
Click to expand...
Yeah, you can't really upgrade laptops which makes it important to get it right the first time. You might be able to swap out memory or hard drives but the all important video card and CPU are not really user replaceable.
 
Sunburn74

Sunburn74

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Actually kinda depends. I've only ever taken apart one laptop (an HP envy) and it was a total pain (about 2 hours just to get it safely disassembled. If I ever had to do it again, I think I can get it down to maybe an hour. However, I did get to the cpu heatsink and took it off and the cpu sits in the same standardized socket as every desktop in the world. You technically if you wanted can replace the CPU of any laptop that you can safely disassemble as long as you can get the socket information and a cpu to match it and that the bios would be compatible. However its really not worth it.
 
Ozboblogolgoro

Ozboblogolgoro

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gorcorps said:
No, it won't run games very well. It might "run" WoW but that's because WoW is old, and I'm not sure how much graphical detail you're expecting. You're scraping the bottom of the barrel in price here and are expecting gaming performance... that's not how it works. Get the Acer and save up for a better laptop for next year.
Click to expand...

Well dang, why would I buy the Acer if it won't run WoW even?

Please someone, I'm just looking for something that'll run WoW decently (not expecting ultra settings) for around $500 or less. I'm running outta time. I don't expect some great gaming PC just something that'll run WoW well. If I can't get that for this price then I just won't buy one.

Thank you all for the help so far! -Dave

Here's the requirements for Mists of Pandaria
JUHc0.jpg
 
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Sunburn74

Sunburn74

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Both laptops wil run it just fine. The cheaper acer will probably do the best as it has a radeon 7670m card.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-7670M.69483.0.html

Look at the reviews for this card and the ingame benchmarks and then keep in mind that WOW can be run on an etch and sketch (ie integrated graphics alone). Starcraft at 1360x768 pulled 48 FPS at medium settings and 31.3 fps at higher settings. If this gpu can run starcraft, it can definitely run WOW at very very playable settings.

Buy the cheaper acer and you'll be able to play WOW without problems. You may also want to try craigslist and seeing if you can scrounge up a real POS laptop that also has a decent gpu in it for cheaper.

Then when you get back from your trip revisit the laptop issue and buy a real one.

Edit: actually accoridng to this website this gpu actually meets the recommended requirements for WOW, and not just the minimum.
http://community.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu/AMD+Radeon+HD+7670M/games#
 
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lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
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Ozboblogolgoro said:
Well dang, why would I buy the Acer if it won't run WoW even?

Please someone, I'm just looking for something that'll run WoW decently (not expecting ultra settings) for around $500 or less. I'm running outta time. I don't expect some great gaming PC just something that'll run WoW well. If I can't get that for this price then I just won't buy one.

Thank you all for the help so far! -Dave

Here's the requirements for Mists of Pandaria
JUHc0.jpg
Click to expand...
That cheap Acer from Tiger Direct is an excellent deal and you should jump on it. You are not going to get a much better video card than that unless you spend like double that.

It will play WoW on low settings just fine.

Notice where that video card ranks in the list compared to the min sys req for your game:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

The x1800pro came in around 3000 3dmark 06, while that 7670M in that laptop comes in at 7700 3dmark 06 or more than double the system requirements...

It will be fine. I don't think for $400-$500 you are expecting the same performance as a $1500-$2000 true gaming system.
 
gorcorps

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,741
456
126
Ozboblogolgoro said:
Well dang, why would I buy the Acer if it won't run WoW even?

Please someone, I'm just looking for something that'll run WoW decently (not expecting ultra settings) for around $500 or less. I'm running outta time. I don't expect some great gaming PC just something that'll run WoW well. If I can't get that for this price then I just won't buy one.

Thank you all for the help so far! -Dave

Here's the requirements for Mists of Pandaria
JUHc0.jpg
Click to expand...

I didn't say it won't run at all, I just said it might not run WELL. If you just mean WoW level games then you should be fine.
 
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