Ok, so with school starting up, I was going to fill my senior year with programming and computing classes as much as possible(Would like to major in computer science) I figured that I should get a laptop or netbook even to do schoolwork, and some light-medium gaming.
I almost immediately fell in love with the Asus N10J, but I want to know if there are any other cheaper/better netbooks with the same discreet graphics power as this one, or will(should?) I have to wait for NVIDA to release the 9400m to netbooks?
Also, could I get an even better deal on the better components on a laptop for the same price?
*note* My parents are not going to help with buying this, so sub $750 would be another parameter
Full Version: A Question of Netbooks
The problem with that choice is screen size and resolution. That is far too low to meet what I consider useful. Try finding one with larger screen/res imo.
If by "Light/moderate" gaming you mean Solitare and pinball, maybe alittle minesweeper on the side - you'll do fine.
Netbooks have 1 purpose, and that is to go on the internet. I have no idea why they put a dedicated gfx card into a computer with an intel atom proc - other then to make the Vista OS run smoother.
Realisticially you might be able to get away with some older games - the 9300 isn't exactly a 'gaming' video card, and the Atom processor is utterly destroyed by even a P4 in bench marks. The simplist way to describe an atom is to call it a P3 with some extra bells and whistles.
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/03/08/i...ficial-release/
Sorry - but I do not understand buying a $600+ netbook. At this point it seems like your paying extra to have a gfx card fit into a computer that small. Go search around for a normal notebook and you'll do much better.
Netbooks have 1 purpose, and that is to go on the internet. I have no idea why they put a dedicated gfx card into a computer with an intel atom proc - other then to make the Vista OS run smoother.
Realisticially you might be able to get away with some older games - the 9300 isn't exactly a 'gaming' video card, and the Atom processor is utterly destroyed by even a P4 in bench marks. The simplist way to describe an atom is to call it a P3 with some extra bells and whistles.
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/03/08/i...ficial-release/
Sorry - but I do not understand buying a $600+ netbook. At this point it seems like your paying extra to have a gfx card fit into a computer that small. Go search around for a normal notebook and you'll do much better.
offtopic: what prgramming courses you doing?
@Matt
O.K. so netbooks suck 100% of the time instead of 99% of the time (I only took this option seriously because I used to use a kick*ss rig that used an 8800). But which laptops would be able to play oh, Left 4 Dead, Guild Wars, and Oblivion at ~30 fps and reasonable resolution. So far, the ones that I know could do that are $1000+
@RSK
I've taken both Basic Cobol and Visual Basic Programming courses(94% and 100% grades respectively). I'm self teaching C# right now, and I'm thinking about taking some Java, SQL, Perl, and Lua courses. I don't know if I should learn different languages instead, or just try and expand on my Cobol and C#. Advice on this is more than welcome too!
O.K. so netbooks suck 100% of the time instead of 99% of the time (I only took this option seriously because I used to use a kick*ss rig that used an 8800). But which laptops would be able to play oh, Left 4 Dead, Guild Wars, and Oblivion at ~30 fps and reasonable resolution. So far, the ones that I know could do that are $1000+
@RSK
I've taken both Basic Cobol and Visual Basic Programming courses(94% and 100% grades respectively). I'm self teaching C# right now, and I'm thinking about taking some Java, SQL, Perl, and Lua courses. I don't know if I should learn different languages instead, or just try and expand on my Cobol and C#. Advice on this is more than welcome too!
Laptops are for internet and homework/research, not gaming. A desktop is for gaming.
You could always try Ebay...
L4D would be rather difficult for any 700ish dollar laptop that I've come across.
GW is easy.
Oblivion is possible assuming you play in a lowish res and download a mod that adjusts the textures to make it look better - yet is easier for a laptop to render.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...d=1218093379440
Is the best deal I could find that would be capable of playing games. I do not honestly think that it would handle L4D, but it would be able to tackle oblivion and GW.
Honestly - You tend to find much better deals at retail online stores/locations imo - there does tend to be less of a selection vs the well known online stores (IE Newegg) however sometimes you can find a much better deal.
L4D would be rather difficult for any 700ish dollar laptop that I've come across.
GW is easy.
Oblivion is possible assuming you play in a lowish res and download a mod that adjusts the textures to make it look better - yet is easier for a laptop to render.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...d=1218093379440
Is the best deal I could find that would be capable of playing games. I do not honestly think that it would handle L4D, but it would be able to tackle oblivion and GW.
Honestly - You tend to find much better deals at retail online stores/locations imo - there does tend to be less of a selection vs the well known online stores (IE Newegg) however sometimes you can find a much better deal.
GW is easy.
Oblivion is possible assuming you play in a lowish res and download a mod that adjusts the textures to make it look better - yet is easier for a laptop to render.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...d=1218093379440
Is the best deal I could find that would be capable of playing games. I do not honestly think that it would handle L4D, but it would be able to tackle oblivion and GW.
Honestly - You tend to find much better deals at retail online stores/locations imo - there does tend to be less of a selection vs the well known online stores (IE Newegg) however sometimes you can find a much better deal.
L4D would be rather difficult for any 700ish dollar laptop that I've come across.
GW is easy.
Oblivion is possible assuming you play in a lowish res and download a mod that adjusts the textures to make it look better - yet is easier for a laptop to render.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...d=1218093379440
Is the best deal I could find that would be capable of playing games. I do not honestly think that it would handle L4D, but it would be able to tackle oblivion and GW.
Honestly - You tend to find much better deals at retail online stores/locations imo - there does tend to be less of a selection vs the well known online stores (IE Newegg) however sometimes you can find a much better deal.
Spoiler - Off Topic:
QUOTE(Saebjorn @ Aug 23 2009, 10:37 AM) 
Spoiler - Off Topic:
If you seriously think that alienware crap is any good, you have way too much money. No one is going to pay 2000 bucks for a crappy looking laptop which probably runs way too hot and has a battery that lasts about 45 minutes without needing to recharge it. 1333 RAM means 1333mhz. Small screen is a pro, because the bigger the screen the more power it needs. Resolution is what it's all about.
If you're thinking about buying a laptop to game on, you're thinking wrong. Unless you're looking to spend double your budget, you wont get anything good enough. Guild wars would be easy to run on any pc, but left 4 dead is something different. But if you really insist, I'd look at some of the MSI models. They tend to be really cheap, at least they are in Europe.
O.K. so after 2 paychecks, I've bumped my budget up, and I think I've found one that will suit my needs. However I have no idea on mobile graphics power(so far I'm looking at NVIDA based because the ATI cards are unfamiliar to me)
If anyone can help with a what cards I should look for in a laptop(ATI or NVIDA), that would be a deal decider at this point.
If anyone can help with a what cards I should look for in a laptop(ATI or NVIDA), that would be a deal decider at this point.
Generally speaking, Nvidia pwns ATI. I myself have an ATI, but it's designed for HD movies, not 3D gaming.
You don't have to have money to think something is good. Just because you think it is good doesn't mean you would ever actually buy it.
But yeah, pretty much everything you said there is true, aside from the fact that I'm not thinking about buying a laptop. As for the RAM...that is like the most deceptive piece of shi* in the market I've come across in a long time. As for the RAM - it doesn't state how many GB's anyway, but expects you to believe its support high-end gaming and quad-core's (especially as Core 2 Duo's are better at gaming than Quad-core). 
And its 1.3GHz fast for RAM? I have no idea in hz.
QUOTE(Maarten @ Aug 23 2009, 08:09 PM)
If you seriously think that alienware crap is any good, you have way too much money. No one is going to pay 2000 bucks for a crappy looking laptop which probably runs way too hot and has a battery that lasts about 45 minutes without needing to recharge it. 1333 RAM means 1333mhz. Small screen is a pro, because the bigger the screen the more power it needs. Resolution is what it's all about.
If you're thinking about buying a laptop to game on, you're thinking wrong. Unless you're looking to spend double your budget, you wont get anything good enough. Guild wars would be easy to run on any pc, but left 4 dead is something different. But if you really insist, I'd look at some of the MSI models. They tend to be really cheap, at least they are in Europe.
If you're thinking about buying a laptop to game on, you're thinking wrong. Unless you're looking to spend double your budget, you wont get anything good enough. Guild wars would be easy to run on any pc, but left 4 dead is something different. But if you really insist, I'd look at some of the MSI models. They tend to be really cheap, at least they are in Europe.
You don't have to have money to think something is good. Just because you think it is good doesn't mean you would ever actually buy it.
But yeah, pretty much everything you said there is true, aside from the fact that I'm not thinking about buying a laptop. As for the RAM...that is like the most deceptive piece of shi* in the market I've come across in a long time. As for the RAM - it doesn't state how many GB's anyway, but expects you to believe its support high-end gaming and quad-core's (especially as Core 2 Duo's are better at gaming than Quad-core). And its 1.3GHz fast for RAM? I have no idea in hz.
At the moment, yeah that's pretty damn fast. If you buy a new pc now it's likely to have PC6400 which is DDR2 ram, runs at about 800mhz in dual channel mode. (Which is pretty much standard, when you're buying a new pc)
Oh right. Thanks for jogging my Mhz memory. I think I have 667, because 800 was above my budget.
Yeah, but instead, get Windows 7 or Windows 7 starter 
QUOTE(Saebjorn @ Aug 23 2009, 01:37 AM)
Spoiler - Off Topic:
For that kind of money you can buy a some what decent desktop... desktop gamers > Laptop gamers... unless they have an old crappy desktop they might be about equal with a laptop.
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