Looking at a new laptop, good for gaming?

[kmatthews24]

Found this at best buy for a cool grand. Basically, i just want to know a few things. Is this a half decent laptop for games and surfing the net? If not, what would you tweek on this laptop? or should i just find a whole new rig?


HP Pavilion 17.3" Laptop Specs


Hard Drive Capacity 500 GB
Hard Drive Speed (Revolutions Per Minute 7200 rpm)
LED Backlit Display Yes
Optical Drive 8X Super Multi LightScribe DVD+/-R/RW DL
Processor Cores 2
Processor Speed 2.26 GHz
Processor Type Intel Core i5 430M
RAM 4GB DDR3 (Exp. To 8GB)
Screen Size 17.3"
Graphics Discrete Video Memory No
Expandable Video Memory Yes - Up to 2202 MB
Graphics Chipset ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470
Integrated Video Memory No
Native Screen Resolution 1600 x 900
Upgradable Video System No
Video Memory 512 MB
Audio Audio Chipset Beats Audio
Audio Output Stereo
Digital Input No
Digital Output No
Hardware Volume Control No
Integrated Amplifier HP Triple Bass Reflex Subwoofer
Integrated Microphone Yes
Microphone Input Yes
Speakers Yes


Is this worth a grand to you? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[EXCellR8]

while that computer would probably run most mainstream games fine, it may struggle with the more CPU and GPU intensive titles and i personally wouldn't dish out a grand on an HP. if that's your budget you will be happier with a sony vaio or toshiba satellite desktop replacement. the pavillion seems decent but i don't typically approve of HP's build quality. of course, i will always opt for a mid to high end desktop for gaming anyway, since they are more expandable and robust, but it's up to you.

 

[sllewe]

It looks like a nice notebook. But the main question is what games are you trying to play? Last gen games should run fine but that GPU isn't going to be up to snuff for alot of the high end stuff. You just have to to decide what quality will be ok for you.


The main thing is, unless you have a high budget, gaming and laptops really just dont mix.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Laptops suck.
That one in particular isn't all that adept.
Best Buy is usually a rip-off for anything $20+.

EDIT: You know, I had these two friends (at the time, about 14 years old) who had this conviction that laptops are superb and absolutely the best for gaming.

 

[kmatthews24]

Well the truth is, i got a decent desktop right now, but its been acting funny in the last year. Mainly freezing on startup, so i take it to my computer guy to get it reformatted then it works for another few months and begins to freeze again. Id like to just upgrade my desktop, but if it continues freezing theres no point. I wont have the specs for my desktp until i get it back.

atk Spade > the only game i plan on playing is diablo 3.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Which won't be out for a while.
Just get another desktop, or fix your original and upgrade it.

 

[kmatthews24]

which thread do you suggest i post under for solutions to my desktop problem?

 

[samsarmi]

It's fine for surfing the net of course, but what games did you have in mind? The Grafix Card of that is definitely not a strong one for gaming, although it will play simpler games that aren't grafix intensive. I can tell you right now that that lappy should (as opposed to "will") actually be able to play StarCraft 2 for instance, but it only meets the minimum system requirements of the game...

Note that the NVidia GeForce 310M has just about the same grafix performance as the Radeon Mobility HD5470. Amongst desktop grafix cards, that would place it with as much gaming performance as an NVidia 8500GT or 9400GT... or ATI HD5550. This way, you can check out if it will meet min sys req specific games- since games don't list laptop GPUs under their min sys req or rec sys req thingy...

But isn't a grand equal to USD1,000.00? That is much, much overpriced...

Notes:
1. Upgrading the GPU Memory to the claimed "upgradeable to 2022MB" really will not help gaming performance at all. The GPU itself (not the card, but the grafix processor itself) can efficiently handle just 512MB RAM and it already has that- any higher than that simply will not contribute to gaming performance at all.
2. The Grafix Card really is the weakest link, by far... The rest of the system will actually do for gaming laptops.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Sorry I meant Windows BSOD, Freezing, Restarting Help.

2. The Grafix Card really is the weakest link, by far... The rest of the system will actually do for gaming laptops.

Not really SC2 would stomp that processor, though it does suck. I'd like to reiterate that laptops suck.