YASMALT: Suggest me a laptop for a pre-teen for general school use + WoW.

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Jan 2, 2001
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www.neftastic.com
Thankfully this isn't for one of my kids, rather my sister's. She's looking for an inexpensive laptop that will be used for general school purposes (homework, browsing, etc) as well as World of Warcraft (oh boy! She would like to be able to play WoW with her daughter - the family that games together... whatever). Probably some other light/moderate gaming to go on as well.

Final criteria, inexpensive. We're looking at something a 10 year old is going to use. I'm thinking something in the 14" or 15" category, 1366x768 will probably be sufficient, 1440x900 would be better. Video-wise, probably in the 9600M category (or equivalent ATI card). Battery life and whatnot is not terribly important - if they game on a battery I'll laugh at them anyway.

Price-wise, I'd venture to keep it as close to $500 as possible.

Thoughts? Suggestions?
 

mpilchfamily

Diamond Member
Jun 11, 2007
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Well adding WoW playabiltiy jumps the price up. You'll need a decent video card in the system for that. Now some onboard generic cards like what come with the HP DV9000 series will play wow. If you call 13 FPS on average playable. But there is no way you'll be able to keep it in the $500 range and still play WoW. Epecially when talking about a descreat video chip like the 9600m.
 

Hacp

Lifer
Jun 8, 2005
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I don't think you really need anything discrete to play wow. I was playing it with a 9700pro :p Sure, you'll be dropping below 24 alot, but its not an fps.
 

IlllI

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2002
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i bet 9700 pro would still be better than integrated intel graphics today
when i started playing wow, i was using 9800 pro, but with each expansion the system requirements increased too.
 

gus6464

Golden Member
Nov 10, 2005
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Try doing wintergrasp or any of the new raids with integrated graphics nowadays... not going to happen.

It sucks that the new Asus 14" that was selling for $649 now has the X4500 instead of the 9400M. Maybe you can find one in clearance.