Hello all,
I know this is another "what notebook should I buy thread", but maybe someone can look past my n00b-ness and help me out.
Okay, you guys are all geniuses and I am clearly, well, not, so I need your help. My current PC is a Dell C640 2.2 GHZ. It is a GREAT machine and it's in immaculate shape. However, recently, my friends have turned me on to WoW. Now, this thing is not built for gaming. It's got the Mobile Radeon 7500 and 768 RAM and just BARELY runs the game. I don't care about high frame rates or every setting being maxed out, but even with all the needles buried to the left it really chugs in the cities.
So I think I need an at least slightly better laptop. My budget is ~550 bucks. I realize that for "a few hundred" more I could get a much better laptop, but 550 is really a pretty hard ceiling unless there's some EXTREMELY good reason to go 50 or so higher. This is including whatever I can sell my C640 for.
Right now I'm looking at 2 computers. The Gateway MX6424 and the Gateway MX7118. They seem to be pretty much the same except the 6 has a Turion processor and the 7 has a Athlon 64 3400+. I don't know the difference between these two chips but if I'm right in assuming that the Turion is the true "mobile" version of the Athlon 64, then I can expect better battery life but slightly less performance. Yes, no, maybe so?
Anyways, those are the two I'm looking at. If anyone has a suggestion as to which of the 2 would be better, I'd love to hear. And if someone can think of a better option in my price range, then by all means, display my ignorance. I'm fairly technical but finding reviews on these things is a complete exercise in frustration, and good luck typing in "550 dollar laptop for WoW" and getting anything useful.
I know this is another "what notebook should I buy thread", but maybe someone can look past my n00b-ness and help me out.
Okay, you guys are all geniuses and I am clearly, well, not, so I need your help. My current PC is a Dell C640 2.2 GHZ. It is a GREAT machine and it's in immaculate shape. However, recently, my friends have turned me on to WoW. Now, this thing is not built for gaming. It's got the Mobile Radeon 7500 and 768 RAM and just BARELY runs the game. I don't care about high frame rates or every setting being maxed out, but even with all the needles buried to the left it really chugs in the cities.
So I think I need an at least slightly better laptop. My budget is ~550 bucks. I realize that for "a few hundred" more I could get a much better laptop, but 550 is really a pretty hard ceiling unless there's some EXTREMELY good reason to go 50 or so higher. This is including whatever I can sell my C640 for.
Right now I'm looking at 2 computers. The Gateway MX6424 and the Gateway MX7118. They seem to be pretty much the same except the 6 has a Turion processor and the 7 has a Athlon 64 3400+. I don't know the difference between these two chips but if I'm right in assuming that the Turion is the true "mobile" version of the Athlon 64, then I can expect better battery life but slightly less performance. Yes, no, maybe so?
Anyways, those are the two I'm looking at. If anyone has a suggestion as to which of the 2 would be better, I'd love to hear. And if someone can think of a better option in my price range, then by all means, display my ignorance. I'm fairly technical but finding reviews on these things is a complete exercise in frustration, and good luck typing in "550 dollar laptop for WoW" and getting anything useful.
Go7800GTX, I'll trade you a laptop with a 
GMA950 for it.
