Laptop help

[Evan]

I'd get a laptop with a good i5 or a budget i7 with 8 gb of ram.  Try to get 512mb+ of dedicated graphics memory with a good chip (Like the ones carlos described).  The best thing you can do when buying a new laptop is to buy a solid state drive and immediately install it upon purchase (it's really easy to do, doesn't take a rocket scientist).  Price range for a good laptop is like 800 AUD to 1200 AUD if you want to play modern games on it with passable graphics settings.

 

Since we're doing this, I have a samsung chronos 7 series laptop that has an intel i7-3615QM and 8gb of 1866Hz ddr3 RAM.  It only has an Nvidia GT 630M in it, but with that I'm able to play modded skyrim on max settings, battlefield 4 on high settings, and tomb raider on ultimate.  I use it mostly as my work laptop ( Modeling is a bitch ) so I only have a 250gb solid state drive in it, but I'm getting boot up times of 4-6 seconds from cold and a reset in 3-6 seconds depending on how many programs I have open.  If you want quick feedback on different models you're looking at, shoot them to me in a PM and I can answer questions fairly quickly (within a few hours, if not quicker).

 

TL;DR: Pay shit, you're going to get shit.  Invest a decent amount of money, and you'll get a good computer.

[Deathstar]

I'd get a laptop with a good i5 or a budget i7 with 8 gb of ram.  Try to get 512mb+ of dedicated graphics memory with a good chip (Like the ones carlos described).  The best thing you can do when buying a new laptop is to buy a solid state drive and immediately install it upon purchase (it's really easy to do, doesn't take a rocket scientist).  Price range for a good laptop is like 800 AUD to 1200 AUD if you want to play modern games on it with passable graphics settings.

 

Since we're doing this, I have a samsung chronos 7 series laptop that has an intel i7-3615QM and 8gb of 1866Hz ddr3 RAM.  It only has an Nvidia GT 630M in it, but with that I'm able to play modded skyrim on max settings, battlefield 4 on high settings, and tomb raider on ultimate.  I use it mostly as my work laptop ( Modeling is a bitch ) so I only have a 250gb solid state drive in it, but I'm getting boot up times of 4-6 seconds from cold and a reset in 3-6 seconds depending on how many programs I have open.  If you want quick feedback on different models you're looking at, shoot them to me in a PM and I can answer questions fairly quickly (within a few hours, if not quicker).

 

TL;DR: Pay shit, you're going to get shit.  Invest a decent amount of money, and you'll get a good computer.

I had a GT540M and had to play WoW on low settings. It was sweet because I got like 55-60 fps but going higher settings would get me like 20-25 fps in raids or with animations which is noticeable...

[Angus]

http://www.dicksmith.com.au/laptops-notebooks/toshiba-satellite-15-6-s50t-b008-w8-notebook-dsau-xc9286

 

That sounds more like what you were saying evan, but not sure if I want to spend $999

[Evan]

http://www.dicksmith.com.au/laptops-notebooks/toshiba-satellite-15-6-s50t-b008-w8-notebook-dsau-xc9286

 

That sounds more like what you were saying evan, but not sure if I want to spend $999

The hard drive in that is pretty slow ( not sure why the standard speed in laptops is still 5400, stupid jerks) and that's one of the lower end i7's I think.  Otherwise that looks like a really good deal, personally I'd shell out the extra bacon/cheddar and get a solid state in it (to fix the big hole that the hard drive leaves) and another 50 bucks to put windows 7 or windows 10 on it when it comes out.

[Evan]

If you have the extra money, I'd go with something like this

http://www.mwave.com.au/product/metabox-alpha-wa50sjctg01-gaming-laptop-156-core-i7-8gb-256gb-gtx850m-win-81-ab56044

 

You'd end up getting way more bang for you buck

[Eisa]

I'd get a laptop with a good i5 or a budget i7 with 8 gb of ram.  Try to get 512mb+ of dedicated graphics memory with a good chip (Like the ones carlos described).  The best thing you can do when buying a new laptop is to buy a solid state drive and immediately install it upon purchase (it's really easy to do, doesn't take a rocket scientist).  Price range for a good laptop is like 800 AUD to 1200 AUD if you want to play modern games on it with passable graphics settings.

 

Since we're doing this, I have a samsung chronos 7 series laptop that has an intel i7-3615QM and 8gb of 1866Hz ddr3 RAM.  It only has an Nvidia GT 630M in it, but with that I'm able to play modded skyrim on max settings, battlefield 4 on high settings, and tomb raider on ultimate.  I use it mostly as my work laptop ( Modeling is a bitch ) so I only have a 250gb solid state drive in it, but I'm getting boot up times of 4-6 seconds from cold and a reset in 3-6 seconds depending on how many programs I have open.  If you want quick feedback on different models you're looking at, shoot them to me in a PM and I can answer questions fairly quickly (within a few hours, if not quicker).

 

TL;DR: Pay shit, you're going to get shit.  Invest a decent amount of money, and you'll get a good computer.

Play Battlefield with me.

[Evan]

If you have the extra money, I'd go with something like this

http://www.mwave.com.au/product/metabox-alpha-wa50sjctg01-gaming-laptop-156-core-i7-8gb-256gb-gtx850m-win-81-ab56044

 

You'd end up getting way more bang for you buck

 

 

If you want to stay around 1k, these are also acceptable

 

http://www.mwave.com.au/product/msi-cx61-2pc629au-156-hd-core-i7-8gb-1tb-geforce-gt820m-2gb-win-8-pro-ab55081

 

http://www.mwave.com.au/product/asus-p550ldvxx1024g-notebook-156-core-i5-8gb-1tb-gt820m2gb-win-7-pro81-pro-ab56273

 

Like I said though, when it comes to laptops, upping the pricepoint gives an exponential difference in graphics quality, the gtx 850M is leaps and bounds ahead of the 820M, I wouldnt expect the 820M to play high-end games on anything but low settings

Edited October 8, 2014 by Evan

[Angus]

I'm not looking for 100% graphics, I mainly want something that will just work at a decent pace, and not lagg all over the place

[Evan]

if it's just for runescape, I'd go with the asus or msi one, they'll do really well for pretty much everything other than high-end graphics intensive games

[Deathstar]

If you have the extra money, I'd go with something like this

http://www.mwave.com.au/product/metabox-alpha-wa50sjctg01-gaming-laptop-156-core-i7-8gb-256gb-gtx850m-win-81-ab56044

 

You'd end up getting way more bang for you buck

I would never spend 1500 dollars on something with an 850m in it. that's like a 150 dollar gpu.

[Deathstar]

http://services.runescape.com/m=rswiki/en/Minimum_requirements

[Eisa]

http://services.runescape.com/m=rswiki/en/Minimum_requirements

They basically put all the mobility gpus in one group. wot.

[Deathstar]

http://services.runescape.com/m=rswiki/en/Minimum_requirements

They basically put all the mobility gpus in one group. wot.

Cus they're mostly bad. GTX 750 >>>>> GTX 750m

[Eisa]

http://services.runescape.com/m=rswiki/en/Minimum_requirements

They basically put all the mobility gpus in one group. wot.

Cus they're mostly bad. GTX 750 >>>>> GTX 750m

 

I realise that, but that's basically saying that they're basically all the same and all will perform on the same level. If someone wants "Not bad" graphics, based on Jagex's requirements, ANY mobility gpu will be fine.

[Deathstar]

 

http://services.runescape.com/m=rswiki/en/Minimum_requirements

They basically put all the mobility gpus in one group. wot.

 

Cus they're mostly bad. GTX 750 >>>>> GTX 750m

 

 

I realise that, but that's basically saying that they're basically all the same and all will perform on the same level. If someone wants "Not bad" graphics, based on Jagex's requirements, ANY mobility gpu will be fine.

For reference, the gtx 770m has lower performance than a gtx 750 Ti, the gtx 750 ti is an entry level chip/budget chip. If you were building a $600 computer you would use a gtx 750 ti. and a 770m, the second best mobile chip from the last gen, is below that in performance.

 

gpu's typically scale such that 760 = 850 and 780 = 970, etc... so an 850m =760m which would rate BELOW an entry level card from LAST generation of cards (released over a year ago). and the computer is $1500. no thx.

[Evan]

 

http://services.runescape.com/m=rswiki/en/Minimum_requirements

They basically put all the mobility gpus in one group. wot.

 

Cus they're mostly bad. GTX 750 >>>>> GTX 750m

 

 

I realise that, but that's basically saying that they're basically all the same and all will perform on the same level. If someone wants "Not bad" graphics, based on Jagex's requirements, ANY mobility gpu will be fine.

For reference, the gtx 770m has lower performance than a gtx 750 Ti, the gtx 750 ti is an entry level chip/budget chip. If you were building a $600 computer you would use a gtx 750 ti. and a 770m, the best mobile chip from the last gen, is below that in performance.

 

gpu's typically scale such that 760 = 850 and 780 = 960, etc... so an 850m =760m which would rate BELOW an entry level card from LAST generation of cards (released over a year ago). and the computer is $1500. no thx.

 

This is somewhat right for Nvidia cards, the first number 7xx is mostly related to the year/series in which it is released in, so for desktop cards a gtx 970 is better than a gtx 770/760, but not better than a gtx 780ti.  But mobile graphics processing is quite a bit different than desktop graphics processing.  For the sake of this, the gt 840m is by no means a good graphics processor, and it is not as good as other older cards, but australia has limited options when it comes to their choices because of power consumption laws/regulations.  Laptops are just expensive compared to a desktop, so a 1500 dollar laptop will preform at the level that a 700-900 dollar desktop will preform.  That being said, I still think that 1500 dollar build is worth the money, with a 256gb solid state drive, a decent high efficiency i7 and a *decentish* graphics chip you can't really beat the price unless you get a laptop from last year that is on special.  If you want a laptop with a better graphics chip, you're going to pay 2-4k

 

TL;DR: Laptops are shit and you get what you pay for

[Eisa]

http://services.runescape.com/m=rswiki/en/Minimum_requirements

They basically put all the mobility gpus in one group. wot.

Cus they're mostly bad. GTX 750 >>>>> GTX 750m

I realise that, but that's basically saying that they're basically all the same and all will perform on the same level. If someone wants "Not bad" graphics, based on Jagex's requirements, ANY mobility gpu will be fine.

For reference, the gtx 770m has lower performance than a gtx 750 Ti, the gtx 750 ti is an entry level chip/budget chip. If you were building a $600 computer you would use a gtx 750 ti. and a 770m, the second best mobile chip from the last gen, is below that in performance.

gpu's typically scale such that 760 = 850 and 780 = 970, etc... so an 850m =760m which would rate BELOW an entry level card from LAST generation of cards (released over a year ago). and the computer is $1500. no thx.

I know the scaling goes from gen to gen, just didn't know Mobiles under-perform that badly compared to the normal GTX's. I wouldn't spend 1500$ on a laptop anyways. Don't need a portable piece of junk, when I can build something with a much better desktop.

 

http://services.runescape.com/m=rswiki/en/Minimum_requirements

They basically put all the mobility gpus in one group. wot.

 

Cus they're mostly bad. GTX 750 >>>>> GTX 750m

  

I realise that, but that's basically saying that they're basically all the same and all will perform on the same level. If someone wants "Not bad" graphics, based on Jagex's requirements, ANY mobility gpu will be fine.

For reference, the gtx 770m has lower performance than a gtx 750 Ti, the gtx 750 ti is an entry level chip/budget chip. If you were building a $600 computer you would use a gtx 750 ti. and a 770m, the best mobile chip from the last gen, is below that in performance.

 

gpu's typically scale such that 760 = 850 and 780 = 960, etc... so an 850m =760m which would rate BELOW an entry level card from LAST generation of cards (released over a year ago). and the computer is $1500. no thx.

 

This is somewhat right for Nvidia cards, the first number 7xx is mostly related to the year/series in which it is released in, so for desktop cards a gtx 970 is better than a gtx 770/760, but not better than a gtx 780ti.  But mobile graphics processing is quite a bit different than desktop graphics processing.  For the sake of this, the gt 840m is by no means a good graphics processor, and it is not as good as other older cards, but australia has limited options when it comes to their choices because of power consumption laws/regulations.  Laptops are just expensive compared to a desktop, so a 1500 dollar laptop will preform at the level that a 700-900 dollar desktop will preform.  That being said, I still think that 1500 dollar build is worth the money, with a 256gb solid state drive, a decent high efficiency i7 and a *decentish* graphics chip you can't really beat the price unless you get a laptop from last year that is on special.  If you want a laptop with a better graphics chip, you're going to pay 2-4k

 

TL;DR: Laptops are shit and you get what you pay for

^

Thanks for clearing up the mobile processor crap, really really have no idea how they go from gen to gen or model to model.

Edited October 10, 2014 by Sparkly Pink Star