Laptop recommendations

N

Nizzem

L2: Junior Member
Nov 29, 2007
57
0
I got a position working on a mod for Half-Life and now I need a portable workspace that can run Hammer, 3ds Max and HL2:EP2 smoothly. Problem is I know next to nothing about good laptops. So I was wondering if anyone here could recommend something. I'm willing to spend enough money, but I don't want to pay for a logo. (aka AlienWare & Falcon Northwest). I know these higher end laptops are battery suckers, but I don't plan on using it away from an outlet to often. So if anyone has any experience with laptops please post up some recommendations.

Thanks in advance for any replies.
 
Paria

Paria

L5: Dapper Member
Dec 12, 2007
202
31
i just bought myself a dell m1710 from the resale outlet - i.e cancelled /returned orders , i payed around £700 for a laptop worth over £1000 , in tf2 in runs at 60fps at 1900x1200 resoultion - which isnt too shabby for a laptop, hammer runs perfectly fine , no idea about 3ds max, where about are you based? im sure there are outlets for US/Uk but not sure about other places.
 
MacNetron

MacNetron

L5: Dapper Member
Dec 12, 2007
203
47
With the applications you want to run, make sure it can have 2GB of RAM. If a laptop has 1GB, make sure it has a free slot for another 1GB. If it has 2 banks, but filled with 2x 512MB, you're wasting money when you buy extra ram yourself.
 
ryodoan

ryodoan

Resident Bum
Nov 2, 2007
409
117
If you have yet to order your laptop I would say that unless money is not really an object dont go with Alienware. Their prices are insanely inflated compared to other manufacturers.

I am not really the person to ask about a specific brand of laptop, personally I have had great success with Dell laptops, but I never bought one as a gaming machine.

So here is a quick checklist of things that I would say about laptops:

  • Go with 2 Gigs of memory.
  • Make sure that it has a video card, not onboard graphics.
    • Something to lookout for is with many mobile video cards they use "shared memory" which is it uses your computers RAM to bolster its video card memory. While not nessarily bad, it is not ideal.
  • Hard drive space if I was buying a new laptop now I would go with a 250 gig hard drive, 160 gigs minimum.
  • When it comes to screen size on a laptop, bigger is not really better. A bigger screen ends up both sucking down more power, weighing more, and taking up more space. So if you want to carry it around a lot (say on a college campus) you ahve to start worrying about how your going to carry around books + laptop. I have a 15.4'' laptop and sometimes I wish it was smaller + lighter.
Most things depend on your price range. Generally the smaller you go the more expensive things start to get.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom