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How useful is a gaming laptop, honestly!? - Page 2

post #21 of 43
1/31/05 at 3:02am
Ur reasoning to get a pc is fine except, most people who get laptops want it so they don't have to have a desktop
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post #22 of 43
1/31/05 at 3:22am
I have a 7405GX, and I'm running HL2, Doom 3, etc. without a hitch. I did switch from the stock drivers to the Omega Drivers (then I learned of a way to get the newest Catylysts to load with the MR9600, so that's my current setup). Not only does the Athlon 64 give a bit of a boost in everyday apps, but with the MR9600 and upgrading the RAM, this system is great for what I want to do, be it web design, photo/video editing, or playing a game on it.
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post #23 of 43
1/31/05 at 3:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by superdood
i thought u guys got laptops every 2-3 weeks
lmfao
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post #24 of 43
1/31/05 at 4:09am
If I was buying a new laptop every 2-3 weeks, I'd have no money left for anything else...
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post #25 of 43
1/31/05 at 3:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bsoft
"That's a nice LT for the nice price, but it would still be pretty slow gaming in 6 months time."

How so? I used to be into buying the latest hardware to play games with all the quality settings maxed out, but soon I just stopped caring. HL2 runs great on my notebook. I don't think that 6 months is going to fundamentally change the face of graphics. Remember, the MR9600 (essentially the same thing as the RM9700) is essentially 18 months old, and it runs all of today's games just fine. 6 months isn't going to change that. Certainly, neither Valve nor ID are going to release a new engine in the next 6 months. The only (major) new engine likely to be released anytime soon is Unreal Engine 3, and that's at least a year off. There will always be niche players like Crytek, but, quite frankly, no developer is stupid enough to code a game that won't run on the MR9600. Heck, most games are coded to run decently on a FX5200. You might not get all the eye candy, but you can still enjoy the game.

I'm going to go play Gary's mod on my notebook. That's what it's there for

The ATI 9700 that we are talking about are not going to be 6 months old, but has been on the desktop for over 24 months, and at least 18 month on LTs. For example, Age of Empires III, when it comes out will have Havoks Physics engine, and even 9800 Pro will have a difficult time keeping up. Sure you can turn down the graphics settings to 800x600x16; but if you are a serious gamer, are you really going to enjoy that? For the current generation of games, the 9700 barely suffices. I had a 5900XT on my desktop, but the frame rate got so low that the quality of many newer games were compromised.

I'm not saying that every one should go for SLI or bust, but if you are a really serious gamer, then you will have to upgrade your graphics hardware every 6-12 months, which would be nearly impossible if your main machine is a laptop. Factor in the extra cost of LT, it's much more economical to just buy a desktop, perhaps in small form factor, and use it at some serious LAN parties.
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post #26 of 43
1/31/05 at 4:55pm
This is not a question that there's a definite answer to. Only yourself can answer whether a gaming laptop is for you or not. I, personally, got it because I travel a lot and it was a hassle to make sure I had a computer at the other end. It has worked marvelously.
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post #27 of 43
1/31/05 at 5:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HardBall
Consider the system I had above, with an SLI mobo (~170-180): if he feels that the graphics performance becomes slow 6 months down the road, he can get another 6600GT (which should cost 130-140) then, and double the graphics performance instantly.
Just a side note, SLI doesn't in fact double the performance, just like dual cpu doesn't double the performance. I believe the gain is about 70%. Still very nice, but not double.
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post #28 of 43
1/31/05 at 5:15pm
Anone got a link for maxi vista or any other program for 2ndary monitor via ethernet? Or even via wireless?

sorry im an idiot. Found it.
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post #29 of 43
1/31/05 at 5:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HardBall
I'm not saying that every one should go for SLI or bust, but if you are a really serious gamer, then you will have to upgrade your graphics hardware every 6-12 months, which would be nearly impossible if your main machine is a laptop. Factor in the extra cost of LT, it's much more economical to just buy a desktop, perhaps in small form factor, and use it at some serious LAN parties.
If you're a laptop gamer, your demands for graphics kind of automatically go down. Why? Because the small screen doesn't require such high resolutions; You no longer need AA, because you can hardly make out the difference anyway. I've been one of those heavy gamers who require at least 4x AA and definitely no less than 1280x1024 in resolution - on a 21" screen. When it comes to the laptop, 1024x768 is perfectly good instead, because the screen is so much smaller. Taken all this into consideration, our graphics cards may not be up to speed with the greatest in desktops, but because the requirements are so much lower, they don't have to be. I still play with high settings in all new games, and a year from now, I'm fairly sure I can still play at medium. I get almost as much fps as on my desktop with a better cpu and a Radeon 9800 Pro @ XT, which has the high resolutions and AA to compensate. And that card is definitely not old yet, just because it's not of the newest generation.
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post #30 of 43
1/31/05 at 5:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sanna
Just a side note, SLI doesn't in fact double the performance, just like dual cpu doesn't double the performance. I believe the gain is about 70%. Still very nice, but not double.

You are right, it doesn't double gain everytime, it depends on the game. On some games at lower settings, the gain is barely noticable. But with a game such as Far Cry on highest setting, with Anti-aliasing on, the rate increase is often >90%, pretty close to being double.
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post #31 of 43
1/31/05 at 5:56pm
Ewok,
what is that program that u use to setup a secondary monitor thru ethernet?
Is it possible to use it to setup a notebook pc's screen as a secondary monitor for a desktop?
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post #32 of 43
1/31/05 at 5:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ewok^
Anone got a link for maxi vista or any other program for 2ndary monitor via ethernet? Or even via wireless?

sorry im an idiot. Found it.
Ewok,
what is that program that u use to setup a secondary monitor thru ethernet?
Is it possible to use it to setup a notebook pc's screen as a secondary monitor for a desktop?
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post #33 of 43
1/31/05 at 9:17pm
Thread Starter 
http://www.maxivista.com/

Thats the site for dual monitors app /w ethernet.

Based on what you guys have said, I might do the following:

Buy a 3790 or CL56, then a desktop when it becomes obsolete in 2-3 years
Im guessing its going to be 2-3 years since all the latest games just came out like HL2
So that comes out to be around 2300-2600 dollars over a 3 year period and I end up with a pretty Lanable notebook even in 3 years, since most people would be Lanning HL2, or CS:Source Anyway

OR

Buy Shuttle XPC now, and a entry level laptop for school in march
The 5 minute setup time for Lans is fine by me
1500-1700 in a 3 month period

Correct me on the 9700 being obsolete in 2-3 years, im not sure what games are coming out :/
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post #34 of 43
1/31/05 at 9:52pm
Thanx Lotsati
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post #35 of 43
2/1/05 at 12:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lotsati
http://www.maxivista.com/

Thats the site for dual monitors app /w ethernet.

Based on what you guys have said, I might do the following:

Buy a 3790 or CL56, then a desktop when it becomes obsolete in 2-3 years
Im guessing its going to be 2-3 years since all the latest games just came out like HL2
So that comes out to be around 2300-2600 dollars over a 3 year period and I end up with a pretty Lanable notebook even in 3 years, since most people would be Lanning HL2, or CS:Source Anyway

OR

Buy Shuttle XPC now, and a entry level laptop for school in march
The 5 minute setup time for Lans is fine by me
1500-1700 in a 3 month period

Correct me on the 9700 being obsolete in 2-3 years, im not sure what games are coming out :/

2300 to 2600? From m-wave, the CL56 starts at ~$1100 for a functional notebook (1.6ghz, 128MB ram). $50 dollars bumps the memory up to half a gig. That's less than a shuttle XPC.

In fact the CL56, top of the line (2.0ghz 1GB ram) only costs $1410. Still cheaper than a Shuttle.
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post #36 of 43
2/1/05 at 12:59am
I say go with shuttlePC....
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post #37 of 43
2/1/05 at 1:10am
Go with a shuttle, those a quality systems, rarely have any problems. A desktop will be more reliable than an LT to begin with. CL56 while a nice Laptop, simply will be obsolete as anyone's main system very soon. It lacks the power and upgradability of any kind of decent desktop.
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post #38 of 43
2/1/05 at 1:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lotsati
http://www.maxivista.com/

Correct me on the 9700 being obsolete in 2-3 years, im not sure what games are coming out :/
Lotsati, believe me, you are not going to have 2-3 years on that 9700, it may well not be able to handle some of the games coming out this fall at ANY resolution with a reasonable frame rate. Geforce 7xxx series and ATI XI000 series will be out before this summer, which means that the 9700 is a mid level card two generations back within a few months. If you plan on buying a lappy, better plan on it being obsolete in 12 months or less. Of course, my advice only applies if gaming is an important reason that you are making this purchase.
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post #39 of 43
2/1/05 at 1:26am
HardBall's advice applies if you want high resolutions with highest settings. Since today you don't have to lower most quality settings on the 9700 at 1024x768, it'll still run games a year from now. 2 years, with very low settings. Lots of people that buy graphics cards buy the mid-level - which a few months ago was the 9600-9800 series - they're not going to stop making games that run on them. It will not be obsolete in 12 months. It will be worse than it is now.
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post #40 of 43
2/1/05 at 2:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sanna
HardBall's advice applies if you want high resolutions with highest settings. Since today you don't have to lower most quality settings on the 9700 at 1024x768, it'll still run games a year from now. 2 years, with very low settings. Lots of people that buy graphics cards buy the mid-level - which a few months ago was the 9600-9800 series - they're not going to stop making games that run on them. It will not be obsolete in 12 months. It will be worse than it is now.
I agree with you, Sanna, that certain games will be OK, but if you try to play doom III on a 9700 today, you wouldn't get very good results, except at the lowest resolutions. There are games that will be out in months time, which will features engines that will need twice the texel/frame as id software's engine or the Source Engine of Counter Strike.

You will not be able to play the some of the newest games at ANY resolution when they come out in the Fall of 05, some will only run on 6800 or better cards at a decent fram rate (40-50fps). If you don't mind watching a semi- slide show, then then that would be different; but a CL56 will be blown away with what comes out as the 7th generation from Nvidia and the ATI equivalent.

Now, I don't mean that all new games won't be playable. I am sure the a sequal of the SimCity will be just fine; but the real high end First Person/Action/RPG this coming fall will be very difficult for the GF 5xxx and MR 9xxx generation to handle.
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