Notebook Purchase Advice!

[Hawkeye92]

Hello tech support dwellers!

I don't come here often, but when I do I generally find what I'm looking for. In about three weeks time I'll be heading off for my Freshman year of college. I'm in the market for a laptop and I've found two that I think would both be good computers. They have a few differences in performance and price and I'm having some trouble deciding. This weekend in South Carolina is tax free shopping so I plan on making the purchase soon.

My main goals for my potential notebook:
- Run Project Reality Smoothely (Medium settings or greater, 20 fps or greater)
- Run Microsoft FSX (Medium Settings)
- Run ARMA II (For PR:A)
- Be able to handle everything a college student needs in terms of academics

Now my primary concern for which I am posting on these forums would be for the Project Reality advice. I fully understand if I can't get a straight answer about Flight Simulator.

So, the choices.


ASUS K50IJ-BBZ6 (Intel Premium Dual Core T4500 Processor)
-Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
-4GB Memory
-320GB Hard Drive
-15.6" Display
-Built-in Webcam
-5.73 Lbs
-4.4 Hour battery life

Price: $549.99








SAMSUNG NP-R480-JAB1US (Intel Core i3-330M Processor)
-Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
-4GB DDR3 Memory
-500GB Hard Drive
-14" 6:9 Display
-Built-in Webcam
-4.98 Lbs
-4.1 Hour Battery Life

Price: $699.99




As a quick after message, I'd like to make the following clear. My difficulty in choosing comes mostly from the dual vs three-core processor and then of course the price. When looking at aspects such as weight, monitor size, battery life, and more the differences are negligible. 320 GB of Hard Drive space is more than enough for my computer needs. What I basically need to know is if 2-core is sufficient for my needs over 3-core. Is it worth it to fork over an extra $150 for that extra processing or will it be overkill?

[boilerrat]

If you are wanting to play ARMA2 you will need a pretty good processor, as it gets very intensive while AI is around.

Notebooks / netbooks always lack in the graphics department in the lower price range, so unless you spend quite a bit... you may not be able to reach your expectations.

If you plan on gaming on-the-go, games like ARMA2 will drain your battery a ton faster because of the processor use.

But if I had to pick out of these two, I'd go for the second one.

[Hawkeye92]

If you are wanting to play ARMA2 you will need a pretty good processor, as it gets very intensive while AI is around.

Notebooks / netbooks always lack in the graphics department in the lower price range, so unless you spend quite a bit... you may not be able to reach your expectations.

If you plan on gaming on-the-go, games like ARMA2 will drain your battery a ton faster because of the processor use.

But if I had to pick out of these two, I'd go for the second one.

Well as it so happens, I went with the ASUS. It really came down to budget. I should have taken into account other things I'd need to purchase such as anti-virus, a wireless mouse, cooling pad, computer lock, windows office suite, and more. the $549 computer after all these accesories (minus Office) came to $674. Gotta love tax free weekend in South Carolina!

In terms of performance, I think I'll be satisfied. I'm not overly concerned with PR:ARMA2. It's not even released yet and I still don't even own the game. I'm more concerned with PR:BF2 than anything because I'm perfectly fine with settling for that. I don't really plan on gaming on the go. I only plan on running on battery power when in classes to be honest.

In the end I think I'll be happy with my choice. I'll come back and update in the coming days. I bought the computer this morning and have yet to even open the box. I may not do so for some time since I don't move into my dorm for nearly 3 more weeks. Can't wait!!!

[boilerrat]

Open office.

[FuzzySquirrel]

Does that had a dedicated GPU? because you wont be playing any of the games you listed on a Intel GMA GPU..

[boilerrat]

That was my concern.

[Hawkeye92]

Intel GMA 4500 Dynamic Video. Whats wrong with it that it can't handle BF2?

My current desktop that I play PR on has an ATI Radeon 2600XT. Is that better or worse? From what I can tell, in nearly every aspect this notebook is on par or excels beyond the performance of the 3 year old Dell Desktop I use.

[SnipeHunt]

FYI, I have gotten some software from JourneyEd.com - Academic Software Discounts!. Great prices on alot of software, but you gotta prove you are attending higher education.

[Teek]

Intel GMA 4500 Dynamic Video. Whats wrong with it that it can't handle BF2?

My current desktop that I play PR on has an ATI Radeon 2600XT. Is that better or worse? From what I can tell, in nearly every aspect this notebook is on par or excels beyond the performance of the 3 year old Dell Desktop I use.

Intel GMA is onboard graphics, you dont want it for games because any dedicated graphics is better than it.

sauce:
Notebookcheck: Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List

[Hawkeye92]

FYI, I have gotten some software from JourneyEd.com - Academic Software Discounts!. Great prices on alot of software, but you gotta prove you are attending higher education.

Shouldn't be a problem, thanks.

Intel GMA is onboard graphics, you dont want it for games because any dedicated graphics is better than it.

So basically, the games, mainly PR, will not work? Unless I dish out a few hundred more dollars for a graphics card? Kind of frustrating that this thread remained void of replies for about 4 days until after I bought this laptop. I opted to pay $549 for this notebook because of the ram and 2-core processor. But from what I'm hearing thats all useless without a good graphics card and therefore is a waste? I probably could have gotten a 2G RAM (as opposed to 4GB), single core, 200GB Hard drive laptop that could do all my school work for a much cheaper price.