Help buying a new notebook

Well even though I love games, I am a casual gamer beacuse I don't need the best graphics, or the highest res.

This laptop is also good at multi-tasking, so it should last me a good couple of years.

I have decided to buy the ASUS M51Sn, with the specs you told me, as long as I can get a price estimate beforehand, I'm still looking.

What is the advantage of the 1680x1050 (WSXGA+) screen???
I;m not sure

Thanks

 

Significantly better image quality, if you saw the two side by side you'd instantly notice the difference.

Good call on the M51SN. I wouldn't exactly call you a casual gamer for not giving a damn about the image quality. Loving detail settings makes you an image quality pundit more than anything else.

 

Thanks Sammorris For helping me out.

And answering all my qeustions.
Now all I have to do is wait for my exams to finsh, then I can check to see if the laptop is availible in Saudi Arabia or not.

PS - I will probablly get this with 3GB of ram. Will this be enough to game on vista beacuse I have heard that Vista is a real resource hog??

Thanks once again, hopefully one day I'll have enough expertise as you, and build a rig as crazy as yours.

EDIT: {FINALLY FOUND THE BUTTON LOL }

PSS- Could you give me a link to where I can find the PCmark benchmark program you are talking about, as I want to test my current rig and see how mant marks it gets.

 

http://www.futuremark.com/products/pcmark05/
3GB should be sufficient in Vista for all except STALKER, and even that will be fine if Aero is disabled beforehand. Just be advised that, realistically, XP will be the better performing OS.

 

Okay thanks for the link and the info

I am going with Vista, because it is what comes as the default, and I don't really mind beacuse the games should be okay, and I can install XP myself if i want to.

Thanks a lot man

I won't be replying for around two months, because I need to get serious and start studying, however I will give an update, on whether or not I can find it here and when I Buy it

Peace EVERyONE!!!!

 

Sure thing. Let us know how it works out...

 

SITUATION UPDATE!!

I've got my results and am definitely going with a notebook. I thought about building a rig, but is hopeless because shops here don't even have 9 series cards yet, and the prices are absurd (eg. 8800gt alpha dog edition ((xfx)) is $450 here -)

As mentioned above I was going to go with the M51 however the ones available here have ATI graphics and are not specced the way I want. The same goes for the XPS M1530, even though specs are better, it is waaaaaaaay to pricey.

I have decided to choose the ASUS G1Sn as it can be customized and has some nifty accessories (Bag and Logitech mouse)
These are the specs: http://ae.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=2110&l1=5&l2=74&l3=464&l4=0
What would be the best configuration without being too pricey, could you please specify, eg. cpu, screen type, etc. I will probably get 3gb ram, and 160/200 gb hd

Thanks again
Could someone please give me a speedy reply, thanks

 

Which country are you in again?

 

I'm in Saudi Arabia
I know the asus link is for Arab Emirates, but my uncle is there and he can get it for me
OR someone I know here who is in the business of supplying pcs in large quantitys

 

Hmm yeah, I can see how that could be a problem, buying a prebuilt system is probably wise in that case. The Dell XPSes are excellent if you can afford one.

 

The only XPS here is the M1530, and it a litle above my budget. I may get it if I have no choice but I'm really leaning towards the ASUS G1sn

Could you check the link I gave two post above and give me a decent configuration thats not likely to be too pricey

Thanks

 

It's alright, the GPU is a bit weak though I have to say.
Get the highest resolution screen you can, and go for one of the T9000 series CPUs.

 

Would the GPU run games any good??

The other option I have here is the M1530 with the GeForce 8600M GT

I'm not too sure which cards are better but if you give me a (cheap ) example I'll try and find it here

PS - Mosy popular brands here -toshiba/acer/dell/hp/fujitsu

 

I'd still vote the 9500M GS to be honest, but there's probably not much in it, both are very slow cards (around the same spec as gaming PCs in 2004)

 

MAAAAN!!
UR depressing me now ;(

Lets say I get a T9300 cpu / 3gig ram / 9500m gs / 7200rpm hd / 1440 x 900 screen

Would I be able to play games like UT3 / CoD4 / Dirt on full even at lower res like (1024 x 720 -not too picky) as this is what I'm looking for

PS - will it be better than a 3.4 ghz P4/ 1 gig RAM / 7600 gs (my curretn rig)

 

UT3 and COD4 easy, DiRT, not so sure, my X1900XT could just about pull that off, and the 9500M GS isn't as powerful as the X1900, so you may have to drop it to 1024x768 and/or use medium detail.
It'll be better than your existing PC, but a gaming desktop would be so much better, even if it does only have a 9600GT in it (which is a good 2-3x as fast as the 9500M GS at least)

 

How about this, I called my local store and this is what they have that I think will make a decent rig.
I'll list the prices in riyals (local currency) to change to dollars divide by 3.75

CPU - Quad Core Q6600 (2.6ghz / 8 MB cache) - 830SR (riyals
Ram - 3GB (1x2gb/1x1GB) Kingmax 667mhz - 275SR
hd - WD 250GB 7200RPM - 220SR
Mobo - Not too sure the guy in store told me it was a gigabyte "35R" but he was new so I doubt him --Said it had 6 RAM slots and supported SLI --630SR
VGA - Point Of View 8800 GTX 512MB DDR3-970SR
DVD DRive -LG Super Multi Burner-110SR
Chassis - Gigabyte Poseidon - 380SR (Again Not too Sure)
PSU - Cheap chinese company -60SR

Still need heatsink cuz I want to overclock

Total - 3475 SR = 926 US Dollars

Also thinking of getting a Samsung 20/21" monitor

PS - I planned this all over the phone from one store, tomorrow I am going to the computer market in Riyadh where there are many shops selling parts, so I will look for parts and better deals.
Open to suggestions, my max budget is probably 5000SR including monitor. So........help


Thanks

 

That's much better, that's a pretty good value system, except for two things:
VERY BAD psu, you need to get a quality unit in there OR ELSE.
The other problem is the SLI motherboard, SLI motherboards are bad news, get an Intel chipset board instead.

 

Right, which mobo, power supply, and heatsink would you suggest as I'm going a hunting 2morow (And most good brand parts are availible here if a little pricey)
Also which cards are better than the 8800GTX so I can keep an eye on them (budget of course)

What about the chassis is it good for cooling??

 

IIRC the Gigabyte Poseidon is fine, but the NZXT Tempest, Lexa or Antec 900 would probably do better.

Better cards than the 8800GTX, in ascending order of awesome:
9800GTX
HD4850
GTX260
9800GX2
HD4870
GTX280
HD4870X2