Laptops and Source

[majormascot]

I am looking to replace my desktop with a decent laptop for gaming. I am the type who goes over friend's houses and plays my matches there, or viceversa. Instead of lugging my 21" CRT and a beast of a computer and a table, I could just take my laptop.

Current Computer Specs:
Intel Dualcore 2.8
ATI x1800XL
1GB @ 667

I am looking to play Counter-Strike:Source on this computer and photoshop and the works. Like 3Dmax and Swift3D. Now I need to know what kind of specs for a laptop would produce viable gaming. I have a budget of $1700.00. I was looking on Ebay, and I saw a few with a Core2Duo 2.0, 7800GTX, and 2GB of ram. I figured something like this would be more than my current computer. I also saw a few laptops on cyberpopwerpc.com/ibuypower.com that had specs like so, Core2Duo 1.8, x1600, 2 GB of ram. I would just like to know if both of these laptops would run source on a decent resolution such as 1024x768 with medium-high settings.

Any feedback is appreciated, thanks.

-Ethan "mascot" Nixon

 

[majormascot]

No one knows if either of these laptops will get me good FPS with source?

 

[imported_Seer]

you should be kickin if you're running at 1920x1200 for the first setup, and 1680x1050 for the second. Try looking for some benchmarks.

 

[HomeyFoos]

You should be fine with source. The engine is rather amazing in that it doesn't require tons of power to get good FPS at medium-high settings.

Do yourself a favor, however, and don't get a 7800GTX. The 7900GS and the 7900GTX are out there and they consume a little less power, generate a little less heat, and offer equal or greater performance (the GS is supposed to fall between the 7800 and the 7900GTX's respectively).

I have a dell e1705 w/ the 7900GS. I added 2 gigs of the 667 ram and clocked my card to stock (dell way underclocks their cards) and I can run BF2 on med-hi settings at 16x12/2x AA with just a smidge of lag. Source would fly. The machine cost like $1650 ($500 off during Dell's 10 days of Deals) but I had to pay tax, so $1830 delivered. It's pretty sweet, actually. Screen is brilliant (1920x1280 - and in this config you may be able to play source at that rez, but you may have to back off to 1680x1050). Battery life is less than impressive but if you are going to replace a desktop, I assume this is no big deal. I would recommend a wireless keyboard as your palms will begin to fade the paint (true on this dell, but I also saw it on my toshiba 15.4). The power went out the other day and I grabbed my laptop, went to a friends, and played BF2 all day at his place. Folds up and goes right in the bag.

If you get a machine w/ the x1600, I don't think you'd see a huge dropoff in performance in Source, but you may not like it for other stuff down the road. It's a nice part for smaller machines but if you want desktop replacement and are willing to spend $1700ish, there's no reason to settle for that card.

Happy hunting,

 

[VooDooAddict]

Check this out if you start thinking about something smaller/more portable.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4167

Otherwise I've heard good things about Dell e1705s w/7900GS as an "afordable" gaming laptop. Keep you eye out for dell coupon deals. Sure beats the prices of the inflated XPS systems.


e1705
- Core 2 Duo 1.83Ghz
- 1Gig
- 7900GS
- 1440 x 900 (7900GS should run just about anythign at 1440x900 damn smooth)
@$1650

EDIT: Curiosity caused me to quicky priceout a e1705. Added what i found to the post.

 

[VooDooAddict]

Originally posted by: majormascot
No one knows if either of these laptops will get me good FPS with source?

Either should run it fine and I'd suspect the one with a 7800GTX would even run it a bit quicker.

That deal looks almost too good to be true though. Core 2 @ 2.0ghz, 2gigs, and a 7800GTX for $1700. Mind PM'n me the link to one of those on ebay?

 

[majormascot]

I have been buying and selling on ebay for over 8 years. I never buy from someone who has under 1000 feedback with 95% or less positive. The guy who is selling this has 800+ feedback with 100% positive. I know he isn't a fraud, but you never know. Just search ebay for 7800/7900 and you should get a slew of items that look like the one I described for the same price.

 

[HomeyFoos]

VooDooAddict,

Is there any speculation on release of that Asus? I SO hope they make that in Barebones. I would trip over myself to get to one.

 

[majormascot]

I pretty much am set on these specs.

-Intel® Core? Duo Proc T2250 (1.73GHz/533MHz/2 X 1MB L2 Cache)
-Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
-17 inch UltraSharp? Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife?
-1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
-80GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
-8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
-256MB NVIDIA® GeForce? Go 7900 GS
-Price: $1,382

This laptop is direct from DELL. I have to wait until christmas to get the laptop, and things can only get cheaper, so I am hoping for the best. From what I understand that processor SHOULD be able to handle Counter-Strike:Source fine correct? If not I can always bump it up.

 

[HomeyFoos]

Ya, but if I can make one or two suggestions? I would recommend stepping up to the T2300. It has the higher FSB and thus is not a binned chip (well, it is, but the 533mhz chip are chips that were produced to be 667mhz FSB but failed QC). Also, you may want to consider customizing it w/ Core 2 Duo. It is a 64-bit chip and will allow you full functionality when Vista comes out later this year or early next. I've heard conflicting things about the 800mhz FSB Santa Rosa chips so it may not be realistic to get one of those before Christmas, but atleast go with a C2Duo. You are futureproofing your $1400 machine for just a little more money. Oh, and go with whatever amount of ram comes with it and upgrade that after-market. I picked up 2 gigs of OCZ DDR2 667 at Fry's for $150 and it literally took 30 seconds to install. Removed a panel, the dimms are in little spring-locked slots, bada boom, bada bing, I have 2 gigs.

Though, when the time comes, you can probably upgrade just the CPU if you cannot do it now. However, I have NEVER regretted spending the extra money for exactly what I wanted. EVER! So I am a firm believer of getting exactly what you want/need even if it means a few extra dollars. Not a long story but this company I used to work for was notorious for cutting corners and they would inevitably spend more money cleaning up after being cheap than they would have had they just got the sufficient equipment in the first place. In a weird way they taught me a very valuable lesson. Don't settle. Especially if you have til Christmas to get your ducks in a row on this.

Provided your machine is free of gremlins, you will absolutely love it and it's much more portable than some give it credit for (I don't wanna argue this, but it does really fold up and go right in a bag - a big bag, but a bag, none-the-less). The performance will please you quite a bit and it will rock Source's world!




Good luck,

 

[majormascot]

I thought that was a Core2Duo lol. My bad, I just NOW saw that. I have a friend who has these spes:

-Intel Core2Duo 1.66
-Nvidia 7800 GO
-1GB Ram

He gets 100FPS steady with the FPS config I made for him and he loves his machine. So I am going to get the same specs but with a 1.7 and 7900.

 

[majormascot]

These are the FINAL specs that I am getting. I won't change them unless a price drop occurs. Which will happen due to christmas sales!

-Intel® Core? 2 Duo processor T5600 (2MB Cache/1.83GHz/667MHz FSB)
-Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
-17 inch Wide Screen XGA+ Display
-1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
-80GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
-8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
-256MB NVIDIA® GeForce? Go 7900 GS

 

[matas]

where are u getting it from?

 

[majormascot]

www.dell.com

What is the difference from XGA and WXGA?

 

[VooDooAddict]

Originally posted by: majormascot
www.dell.com

What is the difference from XGA and WXGA?

You mean WXGA and WUXGA?

I belive the first is 1680x1050 the other is 1900x1200.

If I was doing mainly Dev work I'd want the 1900x1200 to fit more info on the screen... But with gaming I think a 1680x1050 would be a better match for high FPS with the 7900GS

 

[andrewbabcock]

The Asus A8JS is the best thing i've ever seen in notebooks but you'll have to wait a bit. 2ghz C2D, 2gb ram, 100gb hdd, 512mb 7700go, 14.1" screen, for $1500 is basically impossible to beat. Its also revolutionary because 14.1" gaming lappys are extremlely rare for the average consumer.

 

[majormascot]

Well size doesn't matter since I will mostly be using it as my desktop and I will toss it in my backpack when I go to my friends house for a match or something. So there is no difference visually between the two screens?