Need a laptop without integrated graphics for ~ $500

[mazeroth]

I'm in need of a laptop to take on a trip to Europe that my company is sending me on for up to two weeks. I'm going to have a lot of down time in my hotel and on planes so I was thinking now would be a good time for me to finally get a laptop. However, I know I won't use it a ton after the trip so I don't want to invest a fortune in it. I will be happy playing games that are 2-3 years old (Half Life 2, San Andreas etc.) so the latest and greatest 8600 or whatever is definitely not necessary.

With that, do you think I'll be able to find a laptop on sale in the next month to month and a half that will have its own graphics chip that will be able to handle the games I'm wanting to play? I read recently that the new 45nm chips are out so if I could get something with that as well I would be happy. I *could* stretch the budget to $600 but I'd rather not.

Thanks for any help you guys can give me. I really appreciate it.

 

[Rottie]

I doubt you will find less than 500.00 for notebook without inergrated graphic built in but you might want to read more GeForce 6150 Go for games

 

[Brainonska511]

The GeForce 6150 Go is about on par with the Intel X3100 (provided you keep using Intel's updated drivers, as with each revision, they are supposedly getting better for games) and the integrated ATI chip.

You could try looking at a used Vostro from the Dell Outlet (since they are pretty cheap to begin with) - you might grab one with an 8400M in it, which is much better than trying to game on integrated graphics.

 

[Oil]

Vostro

Although it is $600, it has a C2D CPU instead of the base Celeron, 8400M GS, and 2GB ram. It also has the option for a DVD burner at no extra charge, and Vista Basic and XP Home are the same price. The extra $100 is well spent IMO

 

[mazeroth]

Originally posted by: OSx86
Vostro

Although it is $600, it has a C2D CPU instead of the base Celeron, 8400M GS, and 2GB ram. It also has the option for a DVD burner at no extra charge, and Vista Basic and XP Home are the same price. The extra $100 is well spent IMO

That does look like a pretty decent deal and the 8400M GS would probably fit the bill for what I want it to do. I do have a question. Do you guys have any idea how much more battery life I would get if I waited to get a newer, 45nm Core2 instead of the ones Dell is currently offering?

Thanks.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: mazeroth
Do you guys have any idea how much more battery life I would get if...

The single best upgrade for that Dell Vostro would be adding $40 more for the higher capacity battery option. That by itself would get you more battery life than anything else. You know what the car guys would say, "there's no replacement for displacement."

 

[mazeroth]

The battery life isn't a huge concern as I'll have access to a wall plug almost all the time. However, if going with a 45nm would yield me a free 1 hour of battery for nothing I would definitely hold out until Dell starting using the newer chips. Although, maybe soon Dell will discount the older chips even more unless the general public doesn't know any better (which they probably don't) and won't hesitate to purchase a laptop based on the nm of the chip.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Originally posted by: mazeroth
The battery life isn't a huge concern as I'll have access to a wall plug almost all the time. However, if going with a 45nm would yield me a free 1 hour of battery for nothing I would definitely hold out until Dell starting using the newer chips. Although, maybe soon Dell will discount the older chips even more unless the general public doesn't know any better (which they probably don't) and won't hesitate to purchase a laptop based on the nm of the chip.

I doubt you'll see that much of an increase in battery life. Even Anandtech was skeptical about their general results in their Mobile Pernyn Benchmark; but a 20~30 min increase is surely fair enough to estimate.

I'd say if you can, wait for the newer CPU's to become an option in the lower end laptops. They might either replace the Merom chips for the same price or force them down more so it's a win-win either way.