Laptops that can play BF2

[NerdBoyZa]

Hi All.

My laptop will be due for renewal in a couple of months.

I want something that will be able to play BF2 etc for the next 1 - 2 years.

I currently have the Inspiron 5150 - P4 3Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 40Gb HDD, Nvidia Fx5200Go. BF2 plays on low graphics settings, which means I get blazed before I even see the culprit...

My budget is around the R20K mark, or less if possible.

I was thinking the Dell Inspiron 9400. It has the Centrino (NOT Celeron) processor (I think they are Sh*t, but you can't get a decent laptop with a proper P4 in it anymore). 1Gb RAM, 80Gb HDD, 256Mb Nvidia 7800 PCI, 17" TFT.

I will also need to use this thing to do "real" work on it during the day. With the above specs this should not be a problem.

The Left Field option to my dilemma would be to keep my current laptop for work, and to get a wicked "New" machine to play on. I hate carting a PC around when visiting friends to play though.....

AAARRRGGG! Decisions, Decisions, Decisions....

Any suggestions as to the direction I should go in?

[TG]

My laptop doesn't play BF2, but she definitely has other uses! :bdog: :rofl:

[doobiwan]

Banana pr0n?

That Dell sounds awesome, should be fine - take the extended onsite 3 year warranty as awell.

[NerdBoyZa]

My laptop doesn't play BF2, but she definitely has other uses! :bdog: :rofl:

Trust TG to see the twisted side to any wording used.

I like the way you think :)


@Doobi:
Dell does sound good. I have the 3 yr onsite NBD option on my current one. I've had occassion to use it once so far, & they did fix the problem within the allowed day.
I've had Mecer stuff before, & that usually involves driving it to Midrand, dropping it off, waiting 2 days, & then fetching the thing. If you're lucky you don't have to return again with the same problem the next week.

[doobiwan]

I'll never buy HP again. I guy I work with sent his back at least six times. Swapped out:
harddrive
Memory
Aux board
And finally figured, well ,then it must be teh motherboard - a month to get teh part on a mission critical machine. Service was shocking, and the machines just aren't made lie they used to.

[SlappY]

Here is a little tip. Go with something that has a hog of a GPU on it. I guarentee you, is it has a good GPU, everything else will be damm skippy. Also, for the most part, everything else can be upgraded. Also, I found that value for money, you cant beat Fujitsu-Siemans. They will give you all the bells and wistles for half the price of Dell and HP.

[FeralBanana]

Okay... well, as you might have guessed: I have a laptop. I [-]play[/-] use it in class and so on. Etc.

Important bit: Mine can run. However, I cannot advise it. You see, I got the budget good one from the school, which is better than than the reccommended machine which is a budget budget one.

Anyway, the lappie my friend got was a 2.0 Ghz, pent M, radeon x600, 1 gig ram 80 gig HDD.... Weeeel... I was playing (listen to this :P... all on his uncapped connection) BF2 SF on his lappie, while he played Guildwars on his desktop, while his sister played neopets or something on another cheesy budget cpu that they have... IT WAS'NT LAGGING (too much)

His is basically and upgrade of mine, the Dell Latitude D810... He just got more RAM and a faster processor. Fun times. We play @ break :P....

Etc :)

[doobiwan]

Slappy's recommendations a pretty good one. I've also heard good things about FS machines. Acers also got some nice "gamer quality" machines

[sss]

my latop could play bf2 quite nicely... until yesterday!!!!!

[Darnit696]

I dunno Im an old fashioned sort of guy. So If it was me I'd keep the old lapttop and get a cooking games machine. If it a bastard to move heres two things that made my life a breeze. Case with a handle on top. LCD screen. I'm happy. I can open ma machine and fix it meself. I can change out parts for better parts. I can add extra bits (like hard drives :) ) Laptops are great for if you work on the move and need PC power on site quickly. For gaming I dunno...

See if you got a PC what would you get.

CPU AMD Athlon 64 Fx 57 CPU (I'm a die hard Intel fan NEVER thought I'd ever say that then I read PC Format Feb 2006 edition)
Mobo Gigabyte SLi ready
Graphics Gigabyte 7800GTX
Case Antec P180 (Doesn't have a handle, but with a machine like this your mates will be coming to you anyway :))
RAM 2Gb Corsair
Mouse Logitech 518
Keyboard Logitech G15
Display 19" 4ms LCD (Dunno whos making them but I heard that they r out)
HDD 2 x 500 gig Seagate


The rest i.e DVD writer ect is inconsequential

oh did you mention you had a budget?

:D

[sss]

those fx chips are way to costly

[Darnit696]

Yup bang for buck would probably be the Athlon 64 X2 3800+. I wus just dreaming up there. :D

[NerdBoyZa]

@Darnit/sss:

Latest release stuff always has a 100% premium on it for the first 3 months, unitl the next best thing comes out. Then you pay regular prices....

I'd be able to get a better spec'd PC if I didn't go laptop.... Mmm.

@Slappy: From Prev page:

I agree with you. GPU is important. That Dell with the 7800 is about the best I have seen on a laptop. 17" screen is also not common at the mo on a laptop.
Thanks for the pointer on Fugitsu-Seimens. I'll do some research in that direction. Acer as well.

[doobiwan]

I wouldn't bother with an x2 for gaming. If you're on a budget My picks are

Socket 939 Athlon 64bit - 3000+ whatever
Video cards in "budget allowing" order:
Geforce 6800 GS
radeon x1600xt
geforce 6600GT

1+Gb RAM minimum

Whatever harddrive etc to your taste and budget

I wouldn't bother with Sli. By the time you have the money to upgrade, some single card will be out at the same speed as the additional.

[Sabre]

The AMD 5000+ will be released next month so the prices of the other processors will come down soon thereafter, be carefull of the LCD's on laptops though, they are usually high response times which are fine for general business stuff, but terrible for gaming ... also the RAM is usually shared between the processor and Graphics cards

UPgrading also a pain in the butt, I would follow an earlier recommendation, get the best PC you can afford for gaming and use the laptop for the other stuff, only problem is carrying it to LAN parties ;-((

[sss]

the lcd response time on my laptop currenlty does gimme any issues on gaming... and on the more gamer friendly laptops the video ram is dedicated ram!

[NerdBoyZa]

I specifically bought a laptop with dedicated RAM. FxGo5200 with 64Mb RAM. BF2 runs.... like a dog.... & the thing is only 2 years old. It's not like I skimped on the RAM or processor speed either, so looks like a laptop for gaming is not a good idea :(

LCD response time would be an issue, but it's not a well published item of data when researching PC/laptop specs on manufacturers sites.

[doobiwan]

Most LCD's advetise their response times these days. My new Samsung is 8ms :D

[sss]

except on laptops

[SlappY]

My laptop has a Ati 9700 (128vid mem dedicated) on it, with a gig of ram, and to give you an idea, it runs Doom III on high quality very well. What I did notice tough is that for extra visible performance, dont skimp on the HDD speed. Especially now most games are starting to stream level information.

Also, most of the new games coming out have got dual core support and it looks like it is very fast becoming mainstream. Quake 4 saw a 50% performance improvement with the new dual core patch. Call of Duty 2 has also released a duel core patch that cranks the performance up big time.
And I aint just saying this cause my desktop has dual core:

http://www.amdzone.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=printpage&artid=225

That being said, battlefield doesnt support it, and infact doesnt like it. But you can set the affinity to tend to a single core, which sorted out my disconnection problems (thanks SSS)

[sss]

duel core? are they fighting with each other?

DUAL core!

[SosmanSA]

Best advice I'd offer

Go buy el cheapo laptop for R5K...get a Fujitsu 2030 or go to macro/ hifi corp get the wife a cell contract and put the R3K voucher towards laptop purchase (get a R6K HP or something)... then take other 14K of budget and buy the hottest desktop machine for BF2...that way you have a workmobile and a playmobile.
best of both worlds

[Darnit696]

Amen Sosman amen...
@sss He got it right 3/4 times. :rofl:

[Bass]

Yup - I'd agree 100% with Sosman & Darnit ... rather buy something small that can handle what you need it for ito work, and then a nice BEEEG gaming machine .. :)

The 7800 GT has also fallen quite drastically over the last month - is now about R2400 + VAT, so is about the best value for cash card now ...

[SlappY]

I agree with SOS. you cant beat a desktop for raw grunt.

[sss]

or your girlfriend, she's got some excellent raw grunt!

[stoke]

or your girlfriend, she's got some excellent raw grunt!ROFFEL. Truth of the matter is spoken wisely !
/me reminds sss to run like a gale !

[SlappY]

Unfortunately I cant take the piss from sss about his chick. He has had a steamy relationship with his hand now for several years.

[sss]

you're becoming as ignorant as your girlfriend

[stoke]

What ... a GF with RAW GRUNT who is also IGNORANT !!!
erm ... she gots a single sister ?

[Darnit696]

So to translate. Slappy has a Russian weightlifter for a girlfriend. She can't speak much English. Stoke is interested in her (widowed for the seventh time) twin sister. Everywhere I see armpit hair waving gently in the breeze.

[stoke]

Yup ... precise summary ... oops - you left out the forest of leg hair ... YEA BAYBEE !

[doobiwan]

*Sigh*, and that's why geeks prefer toys . . .