I read the Ten Points Every Beginner Should Know, so I hope I'm doing this right. On a side note, I wrote this whole topic a few minutes ago, but when I pressed submit I was logged out, and it was all lost. Oops.
Anyways...
I'm currently in Japan until sometime in the middle of next year, and I've found I cant be away from a gaming capable PC for an entire year, as I was hoping. At home I do all my gaming on my desktop, but bringing it here was out of the question since the thing is massive, the tower alone is almost half my height. It's also outdated...I gave up playing the newer generation games after I couldnt get Far Cry to run faster than 10fps. I was considering upgrading it when I got home, but if I can get a good gaming laptop, then I'll just use the laptop for my primary gaming system.
I've stopped by Akihabara, the big electronic shopping area in Tokyo, a few times to look for laptops, but I've run into a couple problems. First, I know just barely enough Japanese to get by, so reading or asking about technical specs is out of the question. Second, since I cant read or understand much Japanese, I cant find out enough about the quality of the brands, since most of the laptop brands here in Japan are different from the states (And I cant even find information on them online in english). Third, everything, laptops especially it seems, is more expensive here.
So my current idea is to buy online, have it shipped home and then have it shipped to me in Japan.
I will be using this for a quality gaming system, good enough to stay my primary system when I go home. As such, I need it to be able to play the current generation games, such as HL2 or Far Cry, and be able to play it at a good res and good speed. Basically, quality gaming. Since I'm also studying dual hardware and software engineering (I'm taking a year off to continue my study of Japanese), I anticipate some heavy graphical simulations (ie, games
) for some class projects in the near future, but I doubt that in the lifetime of this system I'd ever get near the quality of the newer graphics engines.
Ok, enough with the story, here is what I need:
-- Honestly, I'm not really sure what processor I need. The one I almost bought in Akihabara had a Pentium M 2.8Ghz, if that helps you get an idea of where I was looking. But I'm clueless about mobile processors, so which brand and what speed is best is something I'm still trying to figure out.
-- 512megs RAM (1gig preferable, since I've been hearing how much a difference it makes with HL2, which will be my primary game. If not 1gig, then room to add another 512meg stick later on)
-- Radeon 9700 (128meg version highly preferable, since I want this to be a quality gaming system for as long as possible)
-- 40gig HDD, 60 preferable. 5400rpm or higher. Honestly though, even the 120gigs on my desktop is too little, so I'll probably be getting an external drive eventually.
-- 14inch screen or higher. No dead pixels gives bonus points
-- CD-RW and DVD drive. I want to be able to play DVDs here, since there are a lot of movies I want to watch, but no way to play them. As such, it needs to be able to switch to this region.
-- Battery life and weight are not that big a concern since the laptop will probably spend most of its time plugged in in my dorm room. But if it has a battery life of about 3 or 4 hours and weighs little enough to be carried around comfortably, bonus points are awarded. On this note, I need to be absolutly certain that it CAN be plugged in in Japan, since the voltage levels and frequency is slightly different. I HEARD it didnt make much difference, and laptops are built so it doesnt make any difference at all, but still...I need to be sure before I buy.
Now here is the main limiting factor. I need a laptop that fits the following description, all for 1500$ US or less. If its the absolute perfect system, then I'm willing to spend a little more, but thats the last option.
So to sum up, I need a quality gaming laptop that can play the current generation of games (HL2, Far Cry, etc), and look good doing it. I need all this all for a budget of 1500$ US.
I've been looking around for a while, but everything I've found either has a few parts that just wont do, or its out of my price range. Thats why I'm asking the experts, maybe you guys can point me in the right direction
I hope this request is reasonable.
Sorry for the long post, and thanks a lot for any help you guys can give!
JPOnion
Anyways...
I'm currently in Japan until sometime in the middle of next year, and I've found I cant be away from a gaming capable PC for an entire year, as I was hoping. At home I do all my gaming on my desktop, but bringing it here was out of the question since the thing is massive, the tower alone is almost half my height. It's also outdated...I gave up playing the newer generation games after I couldnt get Far Cry to run faster than 10fps. I was considering upgrading it when I got home, but if I can get a good gaming laptop, then I'll just use the laptop for my primary gaming system.
I've stopped by Akihabara, the big electronic shopping area in Tokyo, a few times to look for laptops, but I've run into a couple problems. First, I know just barely enough Japanese to get by, so reading or asking about technical specs is out of the question. Second, since I cant read or understand much Japanese, I cant find out enough about the quality of the brands, since most of the laptop brands here in Japan are different from the states (And I cant even find information on them online in english). Third, everything, laptops especially it seems, is more expensive here.
So my current idea is to buy online, have it shipped home and then have it shipped to me in Japan.
I will be using this for a quality gaming system, good enough to stay my primary system when I go home. As such, I need it to be able to play the current generation games, such as HL2 or Far Cry, and be able to play it at a good res and good speed. Basically, quality gaming. Since I'm also studying dual hardware and software engineering (I'm taking a year off to continue my study of Japanese), I anticipate some heavy graphical simulations (ie, games
) for some class projects in the near future, but I doubt that in the lifetime of this system I'd ever get near the quality of the newer graphics engines.Ok, enough with the story, here is what I need:
-- Honestly, I'm not really sure what processor I need. The one I almost bought in Akihabara had a Pentium M 2.8Ghz, if that helps you get an idea of where I was looking. But I'm clueless about mobile processors, so which brand and what speed is best is something I'm still trying to figure out.
-- 512megs RAM (1gig preferable, since I've been hearing how much a difference it makes with HL2, which will be my primary game. If not 1gig, then room to add another 512meg stick later on)
-- Radeon 9700 (128meg version highly preferable, since I want this to be a quality gaming system for as long as possible)
-- 40gig HDD, 60 preferable. 5400rpm or higher. Honestly though, even the 120gigs on my desktop is too little, so I'll probably be getting an external drive eventually.
-- 14inch screen or higher. No dead pixels gives bonus points
-- CD-RW and DVD drive. I want to be able to play DVDs here, since there are a lot of movies I want to watch, but no way to play them. As such, it needs to be able to switch to this region.
-- Battery life and weight are not that big a concern since the laptop will probably spend most of its time plugged in in my dorm room. But if it has a battery life of about 3 or 4 hours and weighs little enough to be carried around comfortably, bonus points are awarded. On this note, I need to be absolutly certain that it CAN be plugged in in Japan, since the voltage levels and frequency is slightly different. I HEARD it didnt make much difference, and laptops are built so it doesnt make any difference at all, but still...I need to be sure before I buy.
Now here is the main limiting factor. I need a laptop that fits the following description, all for 1500$ US or less. If its the absolute perfect system, then I'm willing to spend a little more, but thats the last option.
So to sum up, I need a quality gaming laptop that can play the current generation of games (HL2, Far Cry, etc), and look good doing it. I need all this all for a budget of 1500$ US.
I've been looking around for a while, but everything I've found either has a few parts that just wont do, or its out of my price range. Thats why I'm asking the experts, maybe you guys can point me in the right direction
I hope this request is reasonable.
Sorry for the long post, and thanks a lot for any help you guys can give!
JPOnion
