Your thoughts please.

[purplemonkey]

Hi, a couple of mates and myself are thinking of getting laptops cause we've not LAN'ed for years and think its down to the hassle of carrying pc's around. So on that, we have looked high and low for decent gamer laptops and so far only found a couple of likely candidates, we are UK based and that seems to limit us horribly!

We have pinned it down to ROCK being the best for price and spec. but what I'd like to look at now is, is it worth spending 2000GBP on the best laptop they have (XCTX-PRO-T76) or only spend a 1000GBP on a mid range that sould keep me happy for a year or so (P665-T72).
(laptop specs below)

The thoughts are, I want to play COH, and this is very intense on demand specially memory (>1GB). I also want to play Supreme Commander, and I imagaine thats going to be hard core. The thinking behind the 1k laptop is the DX10 consideration. if I spend 2k now am I buying something that will run everything but be outdated in 6months, and if I buy the 1k laptop will it run everything and be outdated in 6months? do you see what I'm trying to say?

I'd like to hear from someone who has a simular laptop to either of theses on your experiences with current games.

I'd also like to hear of your thoughts on the DX10 issue. I know its a hot potatoe at the moment, but my mate is hesitant because he thinks UT2007 & Crisis will be DX10 and doesn't want to buy into old tech if its going to be out of date in 3months. my thoughts are the DX10 requirement won't be an issue for at least another year maybe even 2.


XCTX-PRO-T76 - £2000
Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 2.33GHz
NVIDIA GeForce 7950 Go GTX 512MB
WSXGA+ X-Glass rock logo
2GB DDR2 667MHz (1GB x2)
100GB 7200rpm SATA


P665-T72 £1000
Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 2.0GHz, 4MB Cache
WXGA (1280 x 800) X-Glass
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 256MB
1GB DDR2 667MHz (512MB x2)
120GB 5400rpm SATA

 

[JasumX]

I recently got a laptop from Killernotebooks very similar to the maxed out one you posted. The only difference is that I went with the t7400 instead of the t7600 since the price/performance really wasn't worth it (worst case scenario, I overclock it.) It will definitely run COH with all the eye candy. As far as DX10 is concerned... I plan on waiting until winter 2007 or spring 2008 until I dive into that since there are bound to be bugs and I dislike RMAing my hardware because of them. Ultimately it comes down to how much you want to spend and how much performance you want for your cash.

 

[purplemonkey]

I recently got a laptop from Killernotebooks very similar to the maxed out one you posted. The only difference is that I went with the t7400 instead of the t7600 since the price/performance really wasn't worth it (worst case scenario, I overclock it.) It will definitely run COH with all the eye candy. As far as DX10 is concerned... I plan on waiting until winter 2007 or spring 2008 until I dive into that since there are bound to be bugs and I dislike RMAing my hardware because of them. Ultimately it comes down to how much you want to spend and how much performance you want for your cash.

How much RAM did you get fitted? I do agree with your DX10 outlook thats for sure.
anyone out there got the lower spec laptop?

 

[HardWareBoss]

Would that be 17" Laptops you are looking at. For 10X I'm waiting before I upgrade my Latop. Unless I find some $$$$$ To buy now. If I could only find that money tree.

 

[purplemonkey]

yes 17" would be best choice. but I'm not sure if I should just get a 15" £1K to tide me over.

I just specced up a desktop of simular spec and its about half price, damn it! why can't they be the same price at least it would be easier to choose.

 

[JasumX]

2GB 667

 

[HardWareBoss]

If you want one for basic stuff buy the buget one now. Tehn you can buy the better one whenever X10 comes out.

 

[killernotebooks]

The thing about notebooks is you want to make sure that you have the ability to upgrade to protect what can be a sizeable investment.

JasumX's Executioner has a PCI Express video slot, (technology just like your desktop, but with a different format and form factor) when new video cards come out, he can easily have the system upgraded and tuned up. Make sure any system you buy is upgrade~able as much as possible, AND that the vendor is willing to work with you to upgrade.

Here is an example, We have several customers that purchased systems with 7900 GTX cards. They contact us that they wanted to upgrade to the 7950 GTX. They were put on a list. When someone wants a system for a little less we can offer them deals on systems these 7900 cards.

This works for everyone because the original customer gets to upgrade for about $100-$125 (depending on what their card sells for), the new customer gets to have MORE system then they originally could have (just had 2 people able to move from systems with 7800 GTX 256 MB cards to 7900 GTX cards with 512 MB RAM.) I personally want people to get the MOST from their system, it takes a little extra effort, but the end result is rewarding. Many companies out there do not feel the same way, you probably want to steer clear of companies that think of you like a CC number.

Going with a T7400 Core 2 Duo, (which is a great processor) is budget smart and as far as bang-for-the-buck goes, makes a lot of sense. The extra expense of a T7600 for a few more clocks really gets washed away when you start over clocking. You can easily take a T7400 to T7600 levels and 2.66 isn't a stretch by any means.

Save your CPU upgrade money and get something like 3 GB's of RAM or RAID0 with 2 hard drives. Either of these upgrades I think are better performance~wise, the RAID0 probably the better of the two.

You will increase overall responsiveness and load times as well as reducing the burden on the Windows swap file because either the extra memory can eliminate it, or because the RAID0 will read/write off of it that much faster. If you are doing large multimedia files, rendering, movies, etc. both upgrades are recommended, but budget restraints may limit your upgrading options when you get your system.

This is why making sure you have future upgrade~ability makes the most sense. Make sure you work with a system builder who is willing to educate you and answer your questions making sure you understand the capabilities of your dream system.

RAID array's are often misunderstood, so I created an entire page to demystify the RAID array.
You will thoroughly understand them no matter what your technological knowledge level after reading, RAID Array's Explained.

 

[HardWareBoss]

You answered one of my ?. When I get some money. I can OC the CPU. Can the Vid card be OCed? Have you tested the X1950s?

 

[Suzy]

re: "RAID array's are often misunderstood, so I created an entire page to demystify the RAID array. "

hi,
would you be so kind as to posting a link to that, please?
thanks
suzy

 

[Xifnab]

Here it is:
http/www.killernotebooks.com/info/raid.aspx

 

[Suzy]

hi,
thanks for the link!!!
suzy