Need help comparing laptops.

[Haxxors]

Hey there, I'm leaving for college in a few weeks and it is time for me to get a laptop. I've been looking around, and I know a bit about computers, but there are still a few things I am uncertain of. I have found a few laptops that look promising, and I will link them, and ask that you guys tell me which one is the best for what I would like to do.

Basically, I need a laptop for just general web browsing, word documents, etc. and some casual gaming (WoW, WC3, Older RTS games. Running things with high graphics is not important to me, as long as the FPS is near 20)

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Fa...lack/1063139.p?id=1218215931868&skuId=1063139

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba...lack/1084741.p?id=1218217783969&skuId=1084741

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba...lack/9992957.p?id=1218206200932&skuId=9992957

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba...lack/1084741.p?id=1218217783969&skuId=1084741

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+La...otti/9989299.p?id=1218205765827&skuId=9989299


Which of these would be best in terms of for how many years it will last me, casual gaming (again, WoW, WC3, older RTS games), and for general web surfing and paper writing?


I understand that none of these laptops are probably ideal, and that buying one from best buy rather than somewhere like newegg is probably not ideal either, but as an employee at Best Buy I get a discount from buying from there, and, as I have to spend all of my summer work money on college things, money is tight.

Thanks.

 

[Ghan]

Of those, probably the best one will be this one:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+La...otti/9989299.p?id=1218205765827&skuId=9989299

The main reason for that being the CPU - it has a Core i3 which is going to be much faster than the others. Unfortunately it only has a 5400 rpm hard drive which will limit you. As for gaming, I would not expect any of them to perform well. None of them have discrete graphics, which is going to degrade performance considerably. WoW will probably be unplayable from what I've seen (I have not played the game myself). Warcraft 3 should be ok, along with most things that are older than that, but settings will have to be set lower.

 

[Winterherz]

Let me make this clear for everyone else:

HP - Factory-Refurbished Laptop / AMD Sempron™ Processor / 15.6" Display / 3GB Memory / 250GB Hard Drive - Black
- AMD Sempron™2.1GHz
- ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 Up to 1534MB total available
- High-definition widescreen with BrightView technology (1366 x 768)
- 3GB DDR2 RAM
- 250GB SATA (7200 rpm)

Toshiba - Satellite Laptop / Intel® Pentium® Processor / 15.6" Display / 4GB Memory / 320GB Hard Drive - Black
- Intel® Pentium® 2.3GHz
- Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M 128MB - 1341MB dynamically allocated shared
- Widescreen TFT-LCD with TruBrite technology (1366 x 768)
- 4GB DDR3 RAM
- 320GB SATA (5400 rpm)

Toshiba - Satellite Laptop / AMD Athlon™ II Processor / 15.6" Display / 3GB Memory / 320GB Hard Drive - Helios Black
- AMD Athlon™ II 2.1GHz
- ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 Up to 1405MB dynamically allocated shared
- High-definition widescreen TFT-LED with TruBrite technology (1366 x 768)
- 3GB DDR3 RAM
- 320GB SATA (5400 rpm)

Toshiba - Satellite Laptop / Intel® Pentium® Processor / 15.6" Display / 4GB Memory / 320GB Hard Drive - Black
- Intel® Pentium® 2.3GHz
- Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M 128MB - 1341MB dynamically allocated shared
- Widescreen TFT-LCD with TruBrite technology (1366 x 768)
- 4GB DDR3 RAM
- 320GB SATA (5400 rpm)

HP - Laptop / Intel® Core™ i3 Processor / 15.6" Display / 4GB Memory / 250GB Hard Drive - Biscotti
- Intel® Core™ i3 2.26GHz
- Intel® HD Up to 1696MB total available
- LED high-definition widescreen with BrightView technology (1366 x 768)
- 4GB DDR3
- 250GB SATA (5400 rpm)




For me, HP - Laptop / Intel® Core™ i3 Processor / 15.6" Display / 4GB Memory / 250GB Hard Drive - Biscotti hands down because of newer CPU

 

[Haxxors]

Ghan, are you sure WoW will be unplayable? Right now I can play WoW at about 15 FPS (granted, all graphics settings on are low, but that does not bother me) on a machine with only 512MB of RAM, and a 1.3GHZ processor, on an Nvidia Geforce 4 mx 440 graphics card. All of those laptops look immensly better than what I am using now for running WoW.

Winterherz, thanks for making it clearer for everyone. Do you think the one you recommended will be able to handle some games?

 

[Ghan]

> Nvidia Geforce 4 mx 440 graphics card

Here is what is making the most difference. I'm not going to pretend to make any guarantees, but from what I've seen, WoW is pretty graphics intensive. Here is Blizzard's official requirement for WoW:

- 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting with 32 MB VRAM, such as an ATI Radeon 7200 or NVIDIA GeForce 2 class card or better

So it may play, but I would not expect it to play well, even on lower settings.

 

[Haxxors]

Of the five listed above, which do you imagine will be the most able to handle things like WoW?

 

[Ghan]

They will probably all perform similarly in terms of graphics. That is why I picked the one with the more powerful CPU.

 

[Haxxors]

What do you think about what this website says?

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Graphic-Cards.130.0.html

It ranks (although I do not know how accurately) graphics cards of Laptops, and the ATI Radeons seem to be up much higher than the Intel Graphics Accelerators.

Sorry to be a pain, but i'd rather have the one that is most adept at playing WoW or WC3 or something.

Do you have any other suggestions of laptops within the price range of $400-550 that might be suitable for games like WoW and older RTS?

 

[Ghan]

I generally categorize all integrated cards together. I'm sure that there will be a difference between those and you should be fine by following that link that you posted. However, I highly doubt you will be able to get "good" performance within that price range. Discrete graphics cards are more expensive, and you also need to keep in mind that laptop cards are always slower than their similarly-named desktop counterparts.

 

[Darthfett]

I'm currently running Windows 7 Ultimate (32-bit) on my laptop with these specs:

Toshiba Satellite L305-S5896
2.00 GHz Dual-Core (Pentium)
2GB RAM (DDR2)
160GB Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (4500m)

Because of the graphics chip I use, I have Aero disabled.

I can RUN WoW, at lowest settings. In Dalaran, I used to get around 5 FPS, but elsewhere I had around a stead 15-20 FPS.

I can also run TF2 with an FPS of 5-15, depending on what's on-screen.

My laptop is entirely limited by the graphics capabilities. Everything runs fast, except games. Therefore, if you need a laptop that can run games, go for any card higher than the Intel GMA 4500m. Generally, if the graphics card isn't listed on the laptop, and the processor isn't a Core i3 or i5, the card is the horrible Intel GMA 4500m.

You do not need a hard drive faster than 5400RPM, unless you're really concerned about boot speed and loading screen times.

You do not need to get DDR3 RAM.

You should absolutely get a multi-core processor. 2.00 GHz is plenty for the older (Intel Pentium or AMD Athlon) chipsets, and you don't even need that with the Intel i3/i5/i7 series.

I have a 6-cell lithium battery for my laptop, and it lasts on average about 3 hours (more or less depending on screen brightness, and what I'm doing). Keep in mind that the more power (i.e. better graphics card, faster hard drive) you use, the less time your battery will last. Consider how long you'll have to be in consecutive classes, some of which will not have access to an outlet.

So far, I've used this laptop for about 1 3/4 years, I've never had a problem with it, and I expect a couple more years to come.

As far as the laptops you've listed, I'd go with 1, 3, or 5. 1 may have some battery-life issues, so I tend to recommend 3 or 5. I personally prefer Toshiba (since I've had zero problems with my own), but I have no experience with either company's customer support.

 

[Haxxors]

I decided to go with the third one, and I couldn't be happier.

So far all I have tried out is WoW, but I am able to play it with all graphics settings at their medium level with about 20 FPS.

Thanks for your help guys.

 

[codemonkey]

Good choice. When it comes to integrated graphics the difference between an ATI Radeon HD 4250 and Intel GMA is huge.

 

[Karawasa]

Honestly a combination of what Ghan_04 recommended and what this guy picked would have been best. Ghan's has much better specs all around except the graphics. But, looks like the guy is happy so case closed.