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600m : to get or not?

post #1 of 19
8/20/04 at 5:52pm
Thread Starter 
ok, got one hand on my visa, the other is set to dial the phone..

should i?

i'd order

600m
725 processor
sxga+ screen
64mb Radeon 9000
60gb hard drive
intell 2200 b/g wireless card
dvd burner
bluetooth card

anyone with a 600m know if this puppy will play doom 3? it looks neat.

any recommendations? or good canadian evalue codes?

db
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post #2 of 19
8/20/04 at 5:57pm
What's the price on that lil' fella?

From personal experience, you will be hard pressed to play Doom 3 on any system w/o at least a 128 MB video card.

Also, how much memory does that laptop have?
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post #3 of 19
8/20/04 at 5:59pm
I wouldn't get 600m if you want to play games. For gamers, get 9100 with MR9800.
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post #4 of 19
8/20/04 at 6:05pm
I have similar machine (minus the dvd burner and the BT, plus the 512MB RAM), and I've been told that it should run Doom 3, although at the lowest settings. So it'll run, but barely.
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post #5 of 19
8/20/04 at 6:31pm
i doubt it'll run very well, the extra video ram, or even system ram, won't help the weak video card very much.
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post #6 of 19
8/20/04 at 6:37pm
It(DOOM III) runs for me at 800x600, high, all effects(except vsync) turned on , yet I still get ~20FPS. Though for higher, just drop to 640x480.

Also the 32mb cards video ram is 64bit, as the 64mb cards ram is 128bit, which is a noticable difference.

But remember, because of the card, it turns the dx9.0 effects off, so it might look slightly better on a dx9 card.
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post #7 of 19
8/20/04 at 6:38pm
There are SOME games you can play however....I have a D600 with a 32 MB Radeon and I can play Warcraft 3 (all effects), FF XI (with partial effects) and BF 1942 (with all effects) on my XGA monitor's native resolution of 1024x768.

So, case in point, a 64 MB video card will have no problem running games that are a year or two old.....for the most part, all of the current generation games (read: Farcry, America's Army, Doom III and so forth) do best with AT LEAST a 128 MB video card.

Also, keep in mind that games or no games, you will want at least 512 MB of physical system memory.
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post #8 of 19
8/20/04 at 6:42pm
Just saying, that anyone with the 32mb 600m, shouldn't comment on gaming, as there is a big difference with the 64mb....the thing is that it's 64bit(32mb) ram vs. 128bit ram(64mb).
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post #9 of 19
8/20/04 at 6:43pm
Thread Starter 
sorry, i should have included ram, im gonna get 512, either from dell or after i get it.. i hope to get the whole thing for 1900$ canadian. which was how much it was two weeks ago (plus came with a free printer and wireless router)

i dont want the xps or 9100 as they sounds like bricks, i think id go sager if i was gonna go that large. i also really like quiet, and the 600m sounds like the quietest computer out there.. on the other hand i dont want it to be quiet unable to do anything..

so i take it, yes i can play doom 3, but not with the highest video expectations.

anything i should know about the screen?
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post #10 of 19
8/20/04 at 7:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sterlin254
Just saying, that anyone with the 32mb 600m, shouldn't comment on gaming, as there is a big difference with the 64mb....the thing is that it's 64bit(32mb) ram vs. 128bit ram(64mb).
And I'm just saying, that regardless of the video card in my current laptop, the points I made were perfectly valid.
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post #11 of 19
8/20/04 at 8:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nodlive2
anything i should know about the screen?
Funny you should ask, because that's my biggest complaint with my wife's 600m (with SXGA+): The screen is too dim, somewhat fuzzy, and extremely directional. It only looks "good" in about a 10 degree range. I always feel like my head's in a vice when using it.
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post #12 of 19
8/20/04 at 10:41pm
The actual allocation of the ram on the chip (64bit vs 128bit) is not a huge factor in performance, especially when the slowest part of the card is the GPU, as is the case with the mr9000.
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post #13 of 19
8/20/04 at 11:39pm
Uhh... 128bit interface means it can send twice as much video data per clock cycle, which is also doubled because of the rising and falling edge effect of DDR. Since Doom 3 is so video card dependent, a 128bit interface should have a huge effect. (Bar the fact that they say it won't work on a 32MB card anyway).

I got a SXGA+ screen with my 600m. I was used to running 1280x1024 on a 19" (18" viewable) CRT, so I was actually worried that 1400x1050 on a 14.1" would be too straining. But it actually turns out that I have no problem with it, even though I can't stand 1600x1200 on my CRT.
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post #14 of 19
8/20/04 at 11:41pm
Quote:
Funny you should ask, because that's my biggest complaint with my wife's 600m (with SXGA+): The screen is too dim, somewhat fuzzy, and extremely directional. It only looks "good" in about a 10 degree range. I always feel like my head's in a vice when using it.
I agree with this 100%. I have the same issues with MY wife's 600m, especially when we use it as a TV-in-bed (she has a USB tv-tuner for it). If you're the only one using it, no sweat.

It DOES play Doom3, BF42, FarCry and so on, fairly well on lower settings. Not like my 9100... but then what is?

Have you looked into an 8600? I have one for the office, and it's not really much larger than the 600m, plus you get more for the $$.
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post #15 of 19
8/21/04 at 6:00am
Actually a game that isn't brand new, such as BF1942, can be played at full settings, with 30+ FPS...Though newer games........a bit lower.

And halo is a horrible port, it looks almost identical to the xbox version, yet I can't run it in all high settings(like I should) .
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post #16 of 19
8/21/04 at 9:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by FearNo1
I wouldn't get 600m if you want to play games. For gamers, get 9100 with MR9800.
What's an MR9800?
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post #17 of 19
8/21/04 at 9:54am
mobility radeon 9800
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post #18 of 19
8/21/04 at 3:23pm
(Currently, top of the line graphics card that you can put into a notebook.)
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post #19 of 19
8/21/04 at 7:15pm
Oh, ok. Dumb question!
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