Suggestions for a cheap laptop to play WOW

[fwtong]

Looking for a cheap laptop to play WOW. Playing with all the settings on low is just fine, as long as I can play in a 40 man raid instance decently (I know that that 40 man instances requires better hardware then wandering around outside in Tanaris). I'm not looking for high number of fps or big resolution numbers, just something cheap I can play on the road for a few weeks. The MacBook looks attractive, i'm just not sure if the integrated graphics can handle it. I'm also willing to consider Dells. I'm looking at those two companies in particular since I can get a slightly better deal on those two brands through work.

My other option is an ultra portable monitor I can use with my SFF machine.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Dell E1505 with the Radeon X1400 upgrade might be enough, you can usually find the latest Dell coupons at GottaDeal.com to compare against the deal you get through work.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Hell, people have been playing WoW on GMA950s. As long as you have 2GB of RAM, it apparently works quite well (if not the prettiest.)

X1400-equipped Dell is definitely better bang for the buck though.

- M4H

 

[Hacp]

Get 1+gigs of ram. You can play on integrated if you have 1+ gigs of ram. (1.5-2 gigs is ideal). I think the macs have less performance than the Pcs becuase blizzard didn't made the game to cater to pcs first, then put macs in as kinda a 2nd thought(although they've always had great mac support for their games).

 

[fwtong]

Originally posted by: Hacp
Get 1+gigs of ram. You can play on integrated if you have 1+ gigs of ram. (1.5-2 gigs is ideal). I think the macs have less performance than the Pcs becuase blizzard didn't made the game to cater to pcs first, then put macs in as kinda a 2nd thought(although they've always had great mac support for their games).

Thanks for the suggestions. Performance will be equal no matter which way I go, because I can always boot a MacBook in XP mode and play it that way. I just have to calculate how much it'll cost after selling my old computer and lower gas costs. I'll also save because I can deduct it was a work expense since I'll also be using it to work on the road.

 

[Enig101]

I would not have thought that GMA950 is enough for raiding. There's alot of stuff going on as you know. A Dell with an X1300 or X1400 would be sufficient I imagine. It is hard to find information on what kind of setup you need to run WoW smoothly in high-strain situations such as raids. People have said that integrated runs WoW well enough, but raiding and PvP is a greater strain than the rest of the game, and I don't know if they were taking that into account.

 

[Hacp]

Originally posted by: Enig101
I would not have thought that GMA950 is enough for raiding. There's alot of stuff going on as you know. A Dell with an X1300 or X1400 would be sufficient I imagine. It is hard to find information on what kind of setup you need to run WoW smoothly in high-strain situations such as raids. People have said that integrated runs WoW well enough, but raiding and PvP is a greater strain than the rest of the game, and I don't know if they were taking that into account.

I do fine on Integrated intel during raids. I've downed huhu/anub/insturcter so my raid experience isn't too shabby. All of this on Integrated+512 ram(512 ram not recommended).

 

[andrewbabcock]

GMA 950 is a lot better than people give it credit for. Its basically top of the line integrated which is better than several agp gfx cards back in the day so you'd be surprised at what it can actually do. I have one in my X60s and it does beautifully.

 

[pkrush]

I'd definitely get the graphics upgrade. The GMA 950 isn't even as good as a geforce fx5200, and i know from experience how much that will lag in most games (though that could have just been the rest of the crappy computer, a duron 950 with SDRAM) The ATI and nVidia integrated chipsets are a little better, enough to make many things actually playable (maybe a bit worse than a Radeon 9600), but I'd really suggest getting discrete video over anything else if you have the money for it, it'll vastly improve your experience.

 

[Chadder007]

Macbook + 2 gigs of RAM installed yourself FTW. The GMA950 runs things suprisingly well, but with a few graphical goodies are turned off of course because it has no support for some things.

 

[stevty2889]

How much are you looking to spend? I got an Acer Aspire 5672 for $1050@newegg, core duo 1.6ghz, x1600 graphics, 1gig of ram, and 120gig hard drive, 15.4" widescreen. It's pretty decent for playing games. Way better than intel graphics, or x1300/x1400.

 

[Hacp]

A 500 dollar Dell with 1.5 gigs of ram will do it. No need to overpay if you dun need to.

 

[fwtong]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I'll wait for the expected Apple MacBook Pro refresh before deciding what I'd like to do. Ideally, I'd like to sell both machines that I have and go with a MacBook Pro so I can continue doing the two OS system, but in the same box.

 

[trake1]

Acer Aspire 5672 w. the X1600. I Ordered one from newegg on Tuesday, it arrived Thursday, and I play WoW all day yesterday, 8 hours of perfection and bliss. For $1000, this laptop is perfect, and portable, and a joy.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: trake1
Acer Aspire 5672 w. the X1600. I Ordered one from newegg on Tuesday, it arrived Thursday, and I play WoW all day yesterday, 8 hours of perfection and bliss. For $1000, this laptop is perfect, and portable, and a joy.

I love my 5672 as well..but I think he only gets a discount on Dell or Mac.

 

[alembic5]

My Dell D620 with 2 GB RAM, T2500 and integrated video runs wow quite well, to my suprise. with lowered settings, it still looks pretty darn good and I have no lag issues whatsoever. Very suprising indeed!

 

[alimoalem]

go with a dell e1505 with an x1400. check out the dell outlet (if you don't want something used, check the "previously ordered new" box only). you should be able to find something at around $600 (ok maybe not...the best deal i found was for $800 - Core Duo 1.73GHz, 1gb ram, 80gb hdd, 256mb x1400)

just check the dell outlet frequently and see if the daily deals change