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I have 2000 dollars I need a new laptop (fight it out here for your favorite models!)

Billy

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Oct 20, 2009
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May the best argument win.

Which laptop should I buy? A mac? Alienware? Sony Vaio? etc etc etc...

Here are things I want to do

*I want a good harddrive, I love media
*I want it to be fast and not crash a lot, good performance, snappy processor.
*I want to play starcraft 2 and WoW
*I love to edit media, video, adobe, etc.

I need something thats going to last me for a while...

I had a macbook pro before, it was an awesome machine just over priced.

are there any windows rigs that dont completely blow?

I dont want to spend 2000 dollars on a laptop, but I will in order to get what I want out of it, but if there is a cheaper alternative thats just as good, I want to know about it.

fight!
 

nozflubber

DoubleplusUngoodNonperson
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Mar 30, 2008
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uhm.... you need to run WoW on it eh? you'll prolly be blowing most/all of that 2g's :p and if you don't, you'll be regretting it in 2-3 years because the way MMOs tend to work is they get more graphic and memory intensive as they go along. So i say get the best damn powermachine PC you can get for under 2g's.... what that is, i dont know, try newegg.com and go to local computer shops (NOT best buy or whatever, the real mom and pop shops) and search around, ask questions, maybe do a little haggling with the clerk/manager.... The way the economy is vendors are desperate to get their product off the shelves, so you can get a sweet machine for under 2g's.
 

Billy

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WoW is not 100% essential, I was able to run it on my old macbook core 2 duo with no problems... and they have I5's out now. so I assume that will chew through that game with ease, but really right now I am leaning towards a macbook pro, im just wondering if there is a windows machine that even compares in terms of quality right now.
 

angell_m

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There's nothing but dual processors these days so there's no need for a regular x86 (32-bit) version operative system (I'm using Windows 7 x64 Enterprise). I would suggest getting a processor with at least 2.8 GHz. My favorite is Intel because I've had a lot of annoying fuckups in the past with AMD. And then get around 3+ GB of physical memory, depending on what your laptop is for. This should be a good to average laptop that will last you for a very long time.

Physical memory:
If all you do is use programs like Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop then get at least 2+ GB of physical memory. If all you do is photo editing and minor computer gaming, then I would suggest getting at least 3+ GB of physical memory. If you do a lot of video editing / 3d modeling / computer gaming, then I would suggest getting at least 4+ GB of physical memory. You can always up your virtual memory in your OS settings, although it sometimes may project slower than physical memory, but that's where 10,000 RPM hard drives comes in, and dualed 10,000 RPM hard drives are the best. But they don't live very long, dualed or solo. Mine lasted 1 year. Luxory failed me. But enough about this. You're looking for a laptop, and few laptop's have 7,200+ RPM hard drives, we're talking 5k RPM, so you might as well get around 4+ GB of physical memory and keep the virtual memory at a minimum, just to be safe.

Laptop graphic cards is not my area of expertise. Ask someone else on this board about that. Personally, I wouldn't recommend using a laptop for computer gaming (3D graphics). If you want my opinion on graphic cards for stationary I'll be happy to oblige with some closer details.
 

JocktheMotie

Habitual Fi LineStepper
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
8,491
No Mac if gaming is going to be your thing. But with Steam investing more in Mac compatibility it good be a viable option, depending on the game. I know WoW and SCII do fine on Macs.

If you're looking for a windows laptop, I suppose Toshiba Qosmio, or the HP Envy [similar style to the Macbook] is fine. I dunno. Not a big laptop person.
 

angell_m

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For Starcraft 2 and World of Warcraft I'd say you need around 2.4Ghz CPU, 3 GB RAM, and a somewhat mediocre to good graphic card, whatever that is. I don't play these games so I don't know, but my brother told me World of Warcraft is going to update their engine, which could mean you need a better graphic card.

My graphic card for stationary right now is GeForce 260 GTX Black Edition. Before that it was a GeForce 7950 GX2 (my first PCI), and before that we're talking oldschool GeForce AGP, and before that Voodoo, baby! Haha!
 

Blank

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mmhmm

meinmeinmein!
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i like the macbook pro.
when my old one died.
i just got another one.
 

Fluffywolf

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I got a laptop that costed me 3200 euro and it could run 5 instances of WoW simultaniously without any problems (for multiboxing). 2k usd for a laptop should be fine for WoW.

I would suggest minimal of 2gb ddr3 ram memory and a nvidia GTX (Not a GT or GTS, number isn't that important.) model graphics card.
 

Billy

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Oct 20, 2009
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I did end up getting the Macbook Pro, 15 inch model i5. I had my sister use her college ID and buy it for me and I got 10% off and a free ipod touch :D
 
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