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Cheap Best Buy Laptop: opinions wanted

post #1 of 8
5/24/04 at 7:00pm
Thread Starter 
Hey all,

I pretty much had the kibosh put on a Compal 56 due to budget constraints. However, I found this today and found it interesting:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....4&type=product

It has $400 in rebates if you get it online ($350 if you get it at the store) to make the total $649.

So, I'd like opinions. What I'm interested in particular are:

How would this perform video-wise? It has an ATI IGP 320M in it. I know it won't be a powerhouse, but would it be sufficient for Age of Empires II and Counterstrike (and the like in "lite" games)?

What do you think battery life would be on it? I haven't found any info and after I heard the BS the BB guy gave another customer, I figured I'd pass in asking.

Lastly, it has an ALI chipset. I know these were generally not that great in the past. Any thoughts here?

I figure I'd keep it for awhile and then get a better Dothan laptop with the Sonoma platform once we got in a little bit better shape. I can then either give it to my wife or eBay it and get a good chunk of the cash back.

TIA,

Super
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post #2 of 8
5/24/04 at 7:10pm
Here is a link to a good guide on the cards:
http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx...var1=98&var2=0

Not very good, in other words.
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post #3 of 8
5/24/04 at 7:17pm
Thread Starter 
Blech, that's worse than I thought it would be.
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post #4 of 8
5/24/04 at 7:35pm
Age of Empires II: Age of Kings ran perfect on my old Thinkpad PIII 500MHz, 16MB ATI. 192MB RAM, Windows 2K. Half-Life ran ok too. I even played som Viper and other car racing games one it, all OK!. So basicly, really old games works fine on it. I bought it 2000, and I think Half-Life had been out atleast a couple of years before that... Just my experience with laptop gaming. I'm waiting for the MXM or ATIs equivalent this time around... if I can manage to hold out that long and don't use my cash for something else
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post #5 of 8
5/24/04 at 7:37pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah, before I sock serious bank in it, I'm going to wait awhile for the same things.

Question to anyone else, any benchies on Intel Extreme Graphics 2 with old games?
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post #6 of 8
5/24/04 at 8:00pm
If you need a sub $1000 notebooknow with OK gaming capabillities for older games you should look at this one. http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.js...&oid=91246&m=0

I come with alot newer and better standars + more features than the other one you looked at.
has 60GB HD, USB 2.0 etc, Athlon XP 3000+ etc

You can even get the same model, with about the same specifications but with an Athlon 64-bit 3000+ CPU, DVD+RW for $1,199.99

It's actually very nice computers with high value wich should be right for those not interesste in new FPS and grapchicaly demanding 3D games. Basicly runs DirectX 8.0 and lower games OK.
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post #7 of 8
5/24/04 at 8:11pm
Someone over on Fatwallet said it ran Counterstrike just fine.
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post #8 of 8
5/25/04 at 12:38pm
I own this laptop except mine has 512 MB Ram.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....product&cmp=++

It has the s3 UniChrom integrated video and I can play Warcraft 3 at 800x600 at about 30fps. I ran 3dMark2001SE and got a score of 1600.

Juat wanted to let you guys know about my experience with Integrated Videocards and older games.
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