Need a better laptop than school issue Dell

GamerWannabe · September 8th, 2009, 10:50 PM

I'm looking for a laptop that is less than $800 (maybe i can slip it up to $1000, if i really need it) but can beat my Dell Latitude D830 which has Intel Core 2 Duo 2.00 GHz, 2gigs of RAM, NVidia Quadro NVS 135M.
I am going to need it for school purposes (taking notes, typing reports, powerpoint presentations) and a little gaming needs (TF2, Men Of War, CSS, and L4D. all on high settings)

the cheaper the better. but it also needs to meet these needs. tell me if this is not possible.

I have found this an HP Pavilion dv7-1245dx and so far this is my choice. but then again i am not a tech expert, so i dont know if that HP is actually better than my Dell...

GamerWannabe · September 9th, 2009, 11:42 AM

bump

Nude_Lewd_Man · September 9th, 2009, 11:49 AM

Hi,

Please bear in mind that people are members of this forum essentially as a group of volunteers (although there are some who are staff), so we don't have any SLAs to adhere to, and as such you shouldn't expect to get a response within an hour of the post.

There are times when you will get an answer within minutes, and times that it takes considerably longer, so please don't bump a non-urgent thread so soon...

I'm more of a troubleshoot/fix type of guy, so I can't advise or recommend anything that strongly - but I'm sure that you'll hear from others (who are pretty sh|t-hot at suggestions) online soon....

Aaron_8015 · September 9th, 2009, 12:54 PM

Well you have this one.

Newegg.com - TOSHIBA Satellite A505-S6969 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T6500(2.10GHz) 16" 4GB Memory DDR2 800 250GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 - Laptops / Notebooks

If you can stretch your budget this one.

Newegg.com - Acer Aspire AS8730G-6681 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T6500(2.10GHz) 18.4" 4GB Memory DDR2 667 250GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT - Laptops / Notebooks

If you get either I would swap out the HDD for a 7200RPM version.

(There may be better ones but that was after a 5min search).

osprey4 · September 9th, 2009, 04:27 PM

In other words, your Latitude D830 is fine for school, but you also want to play games.

Save the money and buy a desktop just for gaming.

cksboy15 · September 9th, 2009, 04:44 PM

Quote:

the cheaper the better. but it also needs to meet these needs. tell me if this is not possible.

Well it is possible to get a laptop that can meet your requirements the problem is that you lose battery life big time with a gaming laptop (average battery life for those I believe is 30-45 mins).

The best option in my opinion is to get a desktop and run your games on that. My son does that except he uses a netbook for his classes.

GamerWannabe · September 9th, 2009, 07:57 PM

SORRY IF I TURN THIS INTO A DESKTOP DISCUSSION IS THE MOBILE SECTION LOL ok. can you recommend a desktop that is perfect for this situation, but still under $1000 dollars? I gotta go back to class now... srry lol. the cheapest you could find would be greatly appreciate
I'll also look after school...

After a quick search I found this Dell XPS 630.

Is Trend Micro Better than Norton? And is the GeForce GTS 240 enough for the games I mentioned in the first post? Is it better to keep the RAM at 2 gigs, upgrade to 4, or 6? Should 500Gb Hardrive with 7200 rpms be enough? Should I purchase the machine with a moniter or not? How many inches should it be? Should i get a gaming keyboard (is razor fine?) with the pc?

Here is what I came up with so far. This all totaled $828. Tell me if I have something unnecessary (besides the BF2 pack...) or if you can find something cheaper but just as effective

Intel® Core™2 E8400 (6MB,3.0 GHz, 1333FSB)

Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit

XPS Standard System Cooling

1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis

Trend Micro Internet Security 15-months

Microsoft Works 9.0

nVidia GeForce GTS 240, 1024MB

2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 DIMMs

500GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache

Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
No Monitor

Killer NIC Xeno Pro

Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio

No speakers

No Keyboard

Battlefield 2: The Complete Collection

Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year

System Color: Black Bezel Chassis

Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0 Multi-Language

Windows Vista™ Premium

Dell Remote Access, free basic service

GamerWannabe · September 9th, 2009, 09:01 PM

I also found this HP e9105z desktop that costs less... check it out This totals at $625. They also include a free printer

Operating system Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)

Processor AMD Phenom(TM) 9650 quad-core processor [2.3GHz, 2MB L2 + 2MB L3 shared, up to 3600MT/s]

Memory 6GB DDR2-800MHz SDRAM [3 DIMMs]

Hard drive 640GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive from 500GB

Graphics card 1GB ATI Radeon HD 4650 [DVI, HDMI, VGA]

Primary optical drive LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive

Networking Integrated 10/100 Ethernet, No wireless LAN

Front Productivity Ports 15-in-1 memory card reader, 1 USB, 1394, audio

TV & entertainment experience No TV Tuner w/remote control

Sound Card Integrated 7.1 channel sound with front audio ports

Speakers No speakers

Keyboard and Mouse HP multimedia keyboard and HP optical mouse

Productivity software Microsoft(R) Works 9.0

Security software Norton Internet Security(TM) 2009 - 15 month

Nude_Lewd_Man · September 10th, 2009, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GamerWannabe

Is Trend Micro Better than Norton? This is almost a personal preference. I would say that I prefer to use Trend rather than Norton - although I know a number of people who like Norton. Personally, I find Norton to be a PITA...
And is the GeForce GTS 240 enough for the games I mentioned in the first post? Pass. Like I said, I'm a troubleshooter...
Is it better to keep the RAM at 2 gigs, upgrade to 4, or 6? If you're getting a 32-bit OS, then you will be limited to 3~4 GB of RAM at the most (as that is the limitation of a 32-bit OS), if you want to have more RAM, then you need to get a 64-bit OS. Generally, you should consider it (an OS) to be 32-bit unless advised/advertised otherwise.
Should 500Gb Hardrive with 7200 rpms be enough? The amount of space you should get is 100% down to you and your data requirements. The 7200 speed should be fast enough for most things.
Should I purchase the machine with a moniter or not? This depends on whether you already have a suitable monitor, or not.
How many inches should it be? TMI..!! Again, this is down to you and your preferences, but I would suggest 19" being the smallest you would prolly want.
Should i get a gaming keyboard (is razor fine?) with the pc? This is something I can't comment on, but only as I'm not a "gamer" - the nearest I get to being a 'gamer' is when I play Freecell...

Aaron_8015 · September 10th, 2009, 02:01 PM

The GTS 240 is a rebadged 9800GT which will be plenty for those games.