"Lite" Gaming Laptop $466 shipped @ Newegg (Athlon X2 1.90Ghz, 2GB RAM Geforce 9100M)

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Capitalizt

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$649.99
-$200.00 Instant
=$449.99 + $16 S&H

Don't forget, if you go through Live Cashback you get $12.38 cashback for the order. Final cost: $453.62 :D

Very high reviews.

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General
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium
CPU Type Mobile AMD Athlon X2 QL-60(1.9GHz)
Screen 14.1" WXGA
Memory Size 2GB DDR2
Hard Disk 160GB
Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 9100M G
Communication Modem, Gigabit LAN and WLAN
Card slot 1 x Express Card
Dimensions 13.3" x 9.6" x 1.1-1.5"
Weight 5.3 lbs.
CPU AMD Mobile Athlon 64 X2
CPU Speed QL-60(1.90GHz)
CPU L2 Cache 1MB
Chipset NVIDIA nForce MCP77MH
Wireless 802.11b/g

Apparently the main criticism is that this comes loaded with bloatware that slows it down, but if you know your way around a computer you should be able to disable/uninstall all the junk programs so the machine can really fly. I recommend the using "tools" section of Ccleaner to disable unwanted startup programs.

As for gaming, the Geforce 9100 is roughly equal in power to a 256MB 8400GS discrete graphics card. Reviewers have reported running Counterstrike Source on high settings at 70FPS and Half Life 2/Quake 4 very smoothly as well. There is a nice review of the laptop here. Some users on the forum say it even runs newer games like Gears of War smoothly on medium settings. This isn't a hardcore $3000 XPS gaming machine but it's no slouch either, especially for the price. ;)

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It would definitely run WoW on high settings. As for today's games, it'll probably work fine on medium.
 
[quote name='Scrubsy']Not bad, but you will really need to update the ram.[/quote]

It has 2GB of DDR2 already, that is more than enough for most games and most people. I don't see why you'd need to update the ram.
 
If you do get this make sure to use the tools section of CCleaner to disable all of the junk programs that start up automatically every time you reboot. I have everything disabled except my antivirus and firewall.

You should be running very fast and furious after you do this. ;)
 
That's not a bad deal. I'm personally rather tempted, but then again, I don't really NEED a new laptop. I may soon, though, but...

Argh.
 
[quote name='GaveUpTomorrow']It has 2GB of DDR2 already, that is more than enough for most games and most people. I don't see why you'd need to update the ram.[/quote]

The problem isnt with the games but a combination of the games and vista, especially if you run vista with all its goodies. Most serious gamers that use Vista have 3-4gb, and they arent doing it because its fun to spend money.
 
Good looking laptop... how easy would it be to knock it down to XP? Does the driver disc you burn when you first get it include XP drivers?
 
Do not expect to run newer video games at any sort of respectable framerates with this graphics card. It's for low-med intensive videogames. Older videogames and WoW should all run fine, but I highly doubt you'll be able to do much with Crysis or FarCry 2.
 
The 9100 really isn't that great... Newegg has multiple laptops with 9600gt for under $1,000. That's the very minimum I'd have for a gaming laptop lol
 
[quote name='xGunCrazyx']The 9100 really isn't that great... Newegg has multiple laptops with 9600gt for under $1,000. That's the very minimum I'd have for a gaming laptop lol[/QUOTE]

Yeah, if you want to game (and if you're on this site, that would be a yes), I'd look at laptops with the 9600GT or it's equivalent. An Asus starts at $900 frequently (BEFORE the cashback thing), which is well worth the price difference-it even has LED backlighting (supposedly) instead of CCFL...for that price!
 
[quote name='FloodsAreUponUS']9100 is terrible graphics card. This will play WoW on medium, and thats about it.[/QUOTE]

That's pathetic if that's all, as my Geforce 4 runs WoW at full settings, except with AA off (which I don't care about anyway).

Integrated graphics suck...though it still has to be better than Intel integrated graphics! I've seen that they not only run terribly (like modern ones are worse than my oldest system with a 6 year old GPU) but they seem to cheat and have lower visual settings-reduce texture quality, etc.
 
The 9100 can run Counterstrike Source 71FPS according to one reviewer. It should be able to play most modern games (except Crysis) at respectable 25-30FPS at 1024x768 and medium-low settings.

I was forced to play Team Fortress 2 on an old 7300LE graphics card a few months ago...and while it wasn't nearly as pretty as my 8800GT, it ran smooth on low settings and was just as fun.
 
Hmmm, that's really not too bad for the price. By the reviews I see, the 9100M scored around 1200 on 3DMark06, which would put it right around the 8400M. My sister's Dell has an 8400M, and I was able to play Company of Heroes and STALKER on low with that. You should be able to play some games on here. For less than $500, that's pretty good.
 
This is why I left PC-gaming... it is too expensive to keep up with the "latest and greatest." I can buy an xbox or ps3 once and play it for 5+ years... or spend the same amount of money on a videocard every 18 months.

That, and all of the PC gaming snooty types who believe that money is no object and you are obviously inept at life if you don't have x videocard with y OC'd RAM.

That is a very solid laptop from a great manufacturer for less than $500. Great deal, OP.
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44']Hmmm, that's really not too bad for the price. By the reviews I see, the 9100M scored around 1200 on 3DMark06, which would put it right around the 8400M. My sister's Dell has an 8400M, and I was able to play Company of Heroes and STALKER on low with that. You should be able to play some games on here. For less than $500, that's pretty good.[/QUOTE]

It really shouldn't be as good as the 8400, as the 9400 integrated thing is about like an 8400.

[quote name='captmurphy']This is why I left PC-gaming... it is too expensive to keep up with the "latest and greatest." I can buy an xbox or ps3 once and play it for 5+ years... or spend the same amount of money on a videocard every 18 months.

That, and all of the PC gaming snooty types who believe that money is no object and you are obviously inept at life if you don't have x videocard with y OC'd RAM.

That is a very solid laptop from a great manufacturer for less than $500. Great deal, OP.[/QUOTE]

You don't have to spend that much. Granted it probably works out to be more than the consoles (sort of....though games are cheaper), but you don't need to buy $400+ components. Heck, right now AMD's most expensive CPU is
 
[quote name='Wolfpup']It really shouldn't be as good as the 8400, as the 9400 integrated thing is about like an 8400.[/quote]

The 9400M would be better than the 8400M. The numbers I have seen so far put the 9100M slightly below or around the 8400M at a 3DMark average score of 1200. I haven't seen any game benchmarks. If anyone has other numbers that contradict that, I wouldn't mind seeing them.
 
[quote name='captmurphy']This is why I left PC-gaming... it is too expensive to keep up with the "latest and greatest." I can buy an xbox or ps3 once and play it for 5+ years... or spend the same amount of money on a videocard every 18 months.

That, and all of the PC gaming snooty types who believe that money is no object and you are obviously inept at life if you don't have x videocard with y OC'd RAM.

That is a very solid laptop from a great manufacturer for less than $500. Great deal, OP.[/quote]

The whole "having to upgrade constantly" is blown way out of proportions by many people. Most newer games today (aside from Crysis) can run pretty well on 2, 3, even some 4-year-old computers given the game is played on the appropriate setting. There is no mistaking though that at its core, modern PCs are always more powerful than consoles. The reason why consoles play so many games well is not that its performance is poor compared to the PC but because many developers optimize their games well to run on consoles.
 
Indeed. The price of PC gaming is not nearly as much as it seems. I have an 8800GTS 320MB that I paid about $250 for like a year and a half years ago. It still plays anything I throw at it. And even with settings turned down on certain titles, PC games still tend to look great and on-par with the current consoles.
 
I'd make sure you can gather drivers for it first, as that may not be easy. I'm not sure what would be wrong with Vista though.
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44']Indeed. The price of PC gaming is not nearly as much as it seems. I have an 8800GTS 320MB that I paid about $250 for like a year and a half years ago. It still plays anything I throw at it. And even with settings turned down on certain titles, PC games still tend to look great and on-par with the current consoles.[/QUOTE]

Hell, I'm on a 7900GS and can run everything I've played on at LEAST medium 1440x900, including Crysis.

That said, I really wouldn't consider this a lite gaming laptop. It will play older games, but don't expect to be able to play anything even remotely taxing. This laptop is really more for the average joe person who just needs to check their email, download music, etc.
 
Yeah, which is why I'd recommend something like that one I linked to. There are even some cheaper options-one $800 model has a similar class GPU and decent CPU. There are cheap options, but this isn't reasonable as a modern gaming system.

Now for a DESKTOP you could get away with spending dirt cheap like this, but....
 
The great thing about a desktop is that you can basically have any run-of-the-mill system (assuming it's not too old), buy a $100 video card, and you can play any game you want.
 
This is actually a really good time to be buying/upgrading a computer. You can build a beast for under 800, or a pretty solid rig for 399.
And a pc is quite a bit more versatile than a gaming system.
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44']The great thing about a desktop is that you can basically have any run-of-the-mill system (assuming it's not too old), buy a $100 video card, and you can play any game you want.[/QUOTE]

True story. I bought a random Compaq a few years ago with some pretty solid manufacturer parts for about $350, threw a 7600gt in it, and used it for about two years before I got my new Macbook Pro. Except that card at the time cost $175. It ran pretty much anything I threw at it at good settings and it still runs games nearly as well as this computer does, but unfortunately it's not nearly as portable :(.
 
[quote name='vherub']This is actually a really good time to be buying/upgrading a computer. You can build a beast for under 800, or a pretty solid rig for 399.
And a pc is quite a bit more versatile than a gaming system.[/quote] Tell me what I need via pm to run SC2, Diablo 3 etc for that cheap please! I havenet built a PC since the Voodoo 5 was my graphics card lol
 
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