Looking for a laptop that can run Mass Effect

[sirderpalot]

Hey, guys.

I'm looking for a new laptop, and although I'm not normally into PC gaming, I want to get one that can run Mass Effect (the first one). I don't want to buy a 360 or a gaming computer just for one game.

How would an XPS 15 do? I customized it as follows:
- 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5-2410M processor 2.30 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
- NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 525M 1GB graphics with Optimus
- 4 - 6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory

How about an HP dm4x? I customized it as such:
- 2nd generation Intel(R) Dual Core(TM) i5-2410M (2.3 GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz
- 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
- 1GB Radeon(TM) HD 6470M DDR3 Graphics [HDMI, VGA]

Which one sounds better? I know that there are probably laptops that are better suited to gaming out there, but again, I'm not looking for one of those. I'm just looking for a regular laptop that happens to be able to run Mass Effect.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

The HP would be better as the GPU is better. Both are capable of running it but Dell has better customer service and build quality. I would go for the Dell.

 

[Red Hawk]

If you're looking for an inexpensive laptop with some game capability, I would recommend this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834101254

-- AMD A8-3500m quad core processor 1.5 GHz with Turbocore up to 2.4 GHz (reduces core frequency of some cores to increase others)
-- AMD Radeon HD 6620G (integrated onto the CPU die, but better than the 6470m. A bit worse than the 525 GT but much more power-efficient)
-- 4 GB DDR3 RAM
-- 640 GB
-- $609.99

And if you want some extra goodies you could get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834157877

Same processor and graphics chip as above, but it has 6 GB DDR3 memory, high-quality Beats audio and a blu-ray player. $724.99, $674.99 after rebate.

Both should be capable of playing Mass Effect on full settings at the laptop's native resolution (1366*768).

 

[Arkaign]

Both of those would do horribly. The 525m is slower than desktop 520, and the 6470 mobile is slower than desktop 6450. Both of those desktop cards can't do mass effect very well.

Honestly a used Xbox 360 is your best bet, and it doubles as a media center / netflix / etc as a bonus.

For the price of a gaming laptop that WILL play Mass Effect decently, you could buy an Xbox360 AND a decent laptop for non-gaming use AND still have lots of $$ left over.

Even the GT540M in the $1299 XPS 'Premium' model is too weak. The starting point would be the $1500 Alienware 17" model. Or you could look at refurbs/old stock.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toshiba-Qos...53818671?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item3cbc19652f

This has the 460M (drastically faster than 525), and would play ME decently at the native 1600x945 resolution.

 

[Arkaign]

If you're looking for an inexpensive laptop with some game capability, I would recommend this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834101254

-- AMD A8-3500m quad core processor 1.5 GHz with Turbocore up to 2.4 GHz (reduces core frequency of some cores to increase others)
-- AMD Radeon HD 6620G (integrated onto the CPU die, but better than the 6470m. A bit worse than the 525 GT but much more power-efficient)
-- 4 GB DDR3 RAM
-- 640 GB
-- $609.99

And if you want some extra goodies you could get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834157877

Same processor and graphics chip as above, but it has 6 GB DDR3 memory, high-quality Beats audio and a blu-ray player. $724.99, $674.99 after rebate.

Both should be capable of playing Mass Effect on full settings at the laptop's native resolution (1366*768).

Sadly, no.

The desktop Llano with much better memory, and full A8-3850 config, barely pulls 40fps in Mass Effect 2 (no real difference in the engine/performance vs. ME1) and that's at 1280x1024 with minimum settings, which is gonna look like crap.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4476/amd-a83850-review/5

At 1366x768 and with slower memory/GPU performance in the notebook, minimum settings are going to drop into the high 20s, higher settings will drop into the teens and below rather quickly. It's just gonna look ugly and be a huge waste of $$.

 

[Raduque]

I ran Mass Effect 1 at high settings at 1440x900 on my laptop. No AA.

Pentium Dual-Core 2ghz
3gb DDR2-800
Radeon HD3650

 

[sirderpalot]

I should mention that I don't really care about details. I'm willing to play the game on the lowest settings. As long as the frame rate is decent, I'll be happy. Really, I just want to play the game for the story.

 

[Arkaign]

I should mention that I don't really care about details. I'm willing to play the game on the lowest settings. As long as the frame rate is decent, I'll be happy. Really, I just want to play the game for the story.

In that case, go for one of the Llano A8-based laptops above. It won't be the best option, but it will do fairly decently at low settings

I still recommend the combo of :

Cheaper laptop + Xbox360

It will look and play much better on 360 vs. cheap laptop/desktop. Obviously a decent PC will be even better than that.

 

[toyota]

I ran Mass Effect 1 at high settings at 1440x900 on my laptop. No AA.

Pentium Dual-Core 2ghz
3gb DDR2-800
Radeon HD3650

at 20 fps maybe


EDIT: here the 3850, which is at least 2.5x faster than 3650 gets 43 fps at 1280x1024.


hosting images

 

[trelin]

sirderpalot: you wouldn't happen to be a student, would you?

"Students: Buy select Windows 7 PC's and get a free Xbox360"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000676291

 

[Red Hawk]

Sadly, no.

The desktop Llano with much better memory, and full A8-3850 config, barely pulls 40fps in Mass Effect 2 (no real difference in the engine/performance vs. ME1) and that's at 1280x1024 with minimum settings, which is gonna look like crap.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4476/amd-a83850-review/5

At 1366x768 and with slower memory/GPU performance in the notebook, minimum settings are going to drop into the high 20s, higher settings will drop into the teens and below rather quickly. It's just gonna look ugly and be a huge waste of $$.

Actually, Mass Effect 2 is generally more stable and efficient than Mass Effect 1 on PC. Probably because the PC and 360 versions of Mass Effect 2 were developed simultaneously by BioWare, rather than being developed for the 360 first and then ported over to the PC months after release by another developer.

Anyways, I recommended the HP A8 laptop to a friend who wanted to play games and have a laptop with a blu-ray player and high quality audio. He can play Mass Effect 2 just fine on it with all the settings bumped up (certainly better than my laptop's Radeon HD 5470 can). Mass Effect 2's in-game settings don't amount to much anyways, just some lighting effects and anisotropic filtering. No anti-aliasing or texture settings. Nothing too memory intensive, which is Fusion's weak point. I would consider getting that single laptop a less expensive choice than a decent laptop plus a game console. (unless, indeed, sirderpalot is a student and qualifies for that deal.)

 

[Arkaign]

Yeah that free X360 deal is stellar. Even if he wanted to just buy a more expensive/capable notebook and then sell the unopened 360 to cut down on the cost Or on the flip side, use the 360 for games, and get a more convenient laptop. I have a gaming laptop with an HD5850, the big 17.3" HP with the Dre Sub/BD/etc, and I almost never use it for gaming. It's big. It's heavy. It' gets fairly warm if I do something that switches the GPU over to the 5850 from the Intel HD. It sucks the battery if I'm doing something like HD Netflix. All in all I'd kind of prefer a thin/light model in the 13"-15" range, as I game on my much more well rounded desktop or 360 anyway.

 

[Arkaign]

I would consider getting that single laptop a less expensive choice than a decent laptop plus a game console. (unless, indeed, sirderpalot is a student and qualifies for that deal.)

You bring up some good points, I do think that even if he's not a student though, that a combo of a cheap laptop and 360 would offer a better gaming experience than a Llano setup. The decent Llano notebooks are up to and around $700ish, or at the minimum $600 for something usable.

Xbox360 250GB Models are available used w/warranty for $200 at Amazon. $400 will buy plenty of a decent notebook, particularly if you look at sales. If you pay a few bucks more you can get something that's fairly ideal for anything other than gaming :

http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/269276

i3 Sandy Bridge, 6-cell battery, 14" setup, a good recipe for running cool and having very good batter life, while also remaining fairly light and convenient. Even has bluetooth, which can be moderately useful if you do the whole skype thing with your phone's earpiece.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

What's your price range. For around 800 bucks you can get an HP DV6T with a 6770m that is capable of running most modern games at acceptable framerates.

I opted for the quad core and the upgraded screen on my dv6t and it came out to around 1000. Pleasantly suprised by the build quality of this laptop. The 1080p screen upgrade is definately nice as well.

I am regretting not getting the 17" envy with the 6850m, but I wanted something a little more portable.

 

[Nik]

This forum is for GAMING, not for hardware builds. Please post in the correct forum.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

This forum is for gaming not forum police brutality.