Laptops for LotRO?? suggestions of laptops and video cards for laptops?

[tylertravels]

I am looking into a new laptop and ive found a couple:
1. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+I...&skuId=1063184
2. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+S...=1218215932284

if i did buy one of these laptops and i definitely want to upgrade the video of the first laptop from 512mb to 1gb or more .. does anyone have any good video card laptop suggestions for this laptop?

[Hoppa_Joel]

If you are going for New, go over to Dell.com and check out some alienware products for laptops.
Both those you have listed are higher than directly from Dell.

If you don't mind saving a penny and having a refurbished, that is still under the same warranty, then I'd check out Dell Outlet, look for 17 monitors, or you might regret it

The Outlet only has a limited supplies and the deals can change within minutes so be ready to jump at a good offer

Looking on it right now for me, I see 6 laptops, all +250 gig hd, all with 4+ gigs ram, all i3 to i7 processors, all with over a gig of ram on the video card. all 17" monitors too

Looks pretty good selection for laptops, ranging from 1088 to 1235 for this batch.

the prices to vary a lot on the outlet so if you see a good one, jump at it!


Anyways thats my thoughts, saves you needing to go our and spend another 50 to 200 bucks on a video card, and prices seem better than the best buy listed ones you got there.

In my epxerience with brand laptops, Dells run real well, Alien Ware excellent, but Avoid Gateway like the plague :P


just my opinions.

[tylertravels]

If you are going for New, go over to Dell.com and check out some alienware products for laptops.
Both those you have listed are higher than directly from Dell.

If you don't mind saving a penny and having a refurbished, that is still under the same warranty, then I'd check out Dell Outlet, look for 17 monitors, or you might regret it

The Outlet only has a limited supplies and the deals can change within minutes so be ready to jump at a good offer

Looking on it right now for me, I see 6 laptops, all +250 gig hd, all with 4+ gigs ram, all i3 to i7 processors, all with over a gig of ram on the video card. all 17" monitors too

Looks pretty good selection for laptops, ranging from 1088 to 1235 for this batch.

the prices to vary a lot on the outlet so if you see a good one, jump at it!


Anyways thats my thoughts, saves you needing to go our and spend another 50 to 200 bucks on a video card, and prices seem better than the best buy listed ones you got there.

In my epxerience with brand laptops, Dells run real well, Alien Ware excellent, but Avoid Gateway like the plague :P


just my opinions.

yeah i dont want to go over like $1500 cuz alienware is so expensive. i was looking at the m1730 but its a little steep

[Hoppa_Joel]

yeah i dont want to go over like $1500 cuz alienware is so expensive. i was looking at the m1730 but its a little steep

If you check now there is one, XPS M1730 at t1069$ hopefully it is still there,
http://www.dell.com/outlet/

XPS M1730

* XPS M1730 Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.5GHz/800Mhz FSB/6MB cache)
* Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
* 320 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
* 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)
* 8X DVD +/- RW Optical Drive
* NVIDIA SLI GeForce 8800M GTX with 1GB GDDR3 Memory


Looks like a nice set up

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineS...838&l=en&s=dfh

[Raath]

As someone who works at a shop that's a Dell Registered Partner and fixes Dell's daily, I wouldn't buy either one of those machines.

IMHO, the best, reasonable, gaming laptop's are the Toshiba Qosmio's: http://us.toshiba.com/computers/laptops/qosmio

[Sardonyx]

Ironically, the most important facet of a gaming laptop is one of the hardest things to find out.

It's not the CPU, or the RAM, or the GPU, or the VRAM...

It's all about the cooling.

[Ascus2]

The second should work well, but the first video card is a little weak, while it would run, you would have to tweak settings.

One thing to remember, LOTRO will "RUN" on about anything made today, run well however is up to your tolerance.

Nvidia's 260M, 360M, and 460M are good performers but still short of playing at Ultra High settings. While the desktop 260, 460 will run LOTRO at max settings fine.

IMHO, unless you really NEED a gaming laptop, don't get one. For the price of a gaming laptop, you can buy a VERY GOOD desktop and an inexpensive Laptop for portable use with a good battery life. Everything about a laptop is poor for gaming, lousy keyboards, lousy mouse, awkward and small screen. And they still are expensive for the performance you get.

Also upgrading a video card ina laptop is a major undertaking, nothing like swapping a GPU in an a Desktop.

[Raath]

It's all about the cooling.

^^^^ This.

And I'll give you a fair warning, those XPS systems are notorious for overheating and having bad motherboards.

[tylertravels]

how about the dell xps 15 i5 with 4gb ram and 500 gb hard drive. is 4 gb ram good enough? because i customized it to be $954. I think this is a fairly good laptop. any input?

[RJFerret]

As someone who has run video graphic intensive things solely on laptops for years, I agree with the cooling sentiments, look for reviews from actual purchasers or complaints covering this for any specific model.

Then never use your laptop without a "cooling pad" underneath it (unless you aren't running a video application). It both lowers the overall temperature and reduces the amount of fluctuations. Get a carry case that includes room for it.



"Sometimes survival comes down to not being hit. Actually, most times." -the chicken skill, Bob and Weave

[Killien]

If you check now there is one, XPS M1730 at t1069$ hopefully it is still there,
http://www.dell.com/outlet/

XPS M1730

* XPS M1730 Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.5GHz/800Mhz FSB/6MB cache)
* Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
* 320 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
* 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)
* 8X DVD +/- RW Optical Drive
* NVIDIA SLI GeForce 8800M GTX with 1GB GDDR3 Memory

This is my exact laptop and have had it for 18 months. I replaced one of the HDD's with a SSD that just holds the LoTRO game files. Load times are excellent and I run most things Very High-Ultra high. Ditch Vista for Win7 asap tho personally...

I play sitting on the couch in the living room with a Lian Li NC-09 cooler between me and the laptop. Have had zero problems with that setup in 18 months.

The previous model M1710 had awful problems with gfx cards, infact I had to have mine replaced twice. The guy I sold it on to has also had to have his replaced (thank goodness for waranties, get one with whatever you buy!).

The problems with the M1730 were related to the hotter 9800GTX cards. Stick to the 8800GTX's in that model and you should be fine.

My 2c.

[Arbalister]

Check some of these out, too: http://sagernotebook.com/index.php?p...elected_cat=10

[Magusrex]

ASUS K50ID-X1 NoteBook Intel Pentium dual-core T4400(2.20GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 320GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 320M

I play on that at max setting, game looks beautiful, paid under $700 for it a year ago. Runs smooth, not as good as my 6850 on my desktop but too close to care.

[Ascus2]

ASUS K50ID-X1 NoteBook Intel Pentium dual-core T4400(2.20GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 320GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 320M

I play on that at max setting, game looks beautiful, paid under $700 for it a year ago. Runs smooth, not as good as my 6850 on my desktop but too close to care.

320M - Max settings, seems a stretch. What resolution?
The slow drive RPD would make area changes slow.

[Arbalister]

I am looking into a new laptop and ive found a couple:
1. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+I...&skuId=1063184
2. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+S...=1218215932284

if i did buy one of these laptops and i definitely want to upgrade the video of the first laptop from 512mb to 1gb or more .. does anyone have any good video card laptop suggestions for this laptop?

Just so you know - HD+ video resolutions means 1600x900. Not what I'd settle for on a 17.3 screen. The sagers I linked in my other post are all at least 1920x1080.

[Magusrex]

320M - Max settings, seems a stretch. What resolution?
The slow drive RPD would make area changes slow.

13xx X 7XX .....Game plays great, looks great too. I am sure you can do better. If you had a larger screen and wanted to play at higher res, maybe you need more. I cap my frame rate at 60 and mess with the thing that take into account when many players are in the area... Every single thing is not max but the stuff that really matters is. The game plays and looks great, take it for what it is. I am 42, a professional, father and husband. I am long past needing to exaggerate the performance of my electronics. My advice is to the OP is to not over-pay for a laptop to run LOTRO unless you need the "stats" of your electronics to compensate for other deficiencies you have.

[Gweniviere]

I personally use an HP dv7-4060US when I play LOTRO away from my desktop.

http://www.hp.com/united-states/pers...ets/dv7_ds.pdf

I've had it nearly 7 months and still love it. Also, the 7200 rpm HDD makes a lot of difference when loading.

[Sardonyx]

Talking about resolutions reminded me - if you play on both a laptop and a desktop, it helps a lot to make sure that they both use the same resolution (or play in windowed mode). Your UI settings are saved by the server and so it'll get scrunched if your laptop has lower resolution...

[CJofATL]

I am quite happy with how LOTRO runs on my machine.

System Model: HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook PC
Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II N930 Quad-Core Processor (4 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Card name: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650
Dedicated Memory: 1014 MB

[Ascus]

13xx X 7XX .....Game plays great, looks great too. I am sure you can do better.

I am suprised that the x20M can do much, but you are playing at 720p, that may allow it to enough to make a good show of it.

[tylertravels]

I personally use an HP dv7-4060US when I play LOTRO away from my desktop.

http://www.hp.com/united-states/pers...ets/dv7_ds.pdf

I've had it nearly 7 months and still love it. Also, the 7200 rpm HDD makes a lot of difference when loading.

i like this laptop but most people i know say hp is **** and doesnt work ..

[Strygwyr]

Acer 5635g is good value for money and performance.

[Raath]

i like this laptop but most people i know say hp is **** and doesnt work ..

For a while there....let's say 2-3 years ago, the pavilions (the "dv's" mentioned here) had a bad reputation for overheating and killing the hard drives.

But I also know people who have had pavilions for 8+ years, without an issue. /shrug

HP, just like everyone else (except for Apple...sorry folks, but it's true) is a hit or miss. You may get a great machine....but you also may get a lemon. It's true for all of them....HP, Dell, Asus, Acer, ect.

It's interesting that no one mentioned the Toshiba's I linked earlier. Of all the computers I have fixed, I've seen the least of these. I wonder how much market share plays into this.

If I was to buy a gaming laptop, it would be a Toshiba. Straight up.

If I was to buy a laptop for general purposes....it would be the new Macbook that's yet to be announced.

[Sapience]

This is my laptop. It's a 15.6" screen but 1920x1080. Obviously I use it to play LOTRO>

Not endorsing anything, but it seems to hit your requirements and price points.

[Arbalister]

This is my laptop. It's a 15.6" screen but 1920x1080. Obviously I use it to play LOTRO>

Not endorsing anything, but it seems to hit your requirements and price points.

Wait...you play LOTRO??? :-)

My daughter has the Asus G71G, similar machine...smoking fast.