Dhruin
SasqWatch
Well, I'm thinking of a new laptop and I'd appreciate some input on a couple of things. My gaming desktop is aging but I spend very little time with it, because I'd rather use my laptop in the living room together with Kayla. My current laptop plays anything older but just copes with NWN2, is borderline for The Witcher and can't really handle 2W...and then Dragon Age is on the horizon and so on.
No need to tell me a desktop is faster/better/cheaper - a laptop fits my current lifestyle and my company can do a salary deal. Good laptops are expensive in Australia, but Dell has a deal that looks attractive.
XPS 1530
2.4Ghz T7700
4Gb DDR2 667Mhz
256Mb 8600M GT
...and other sundry stuff.
Questions: How does a 2.4Ghz dual-core T7700 stack up? I'm running an older 3.2Ghz P4 (Northwood) but I assume the newer architecture will keep up on non-dual-core stuff?
Is Vista just eating up the 4Gb RAM, leaving me with the sort of performance I'd get out of XP and 2Gb, or is 4Gb still getting a little bit out in front? I'm not really keen to go to Vista but it's going to come with most new systems.
Basically, I don't expect cutting edge but I'd like to run most games on medium-ish for the next 2 years.
Lastly, the standard screen is 1200x800 but there are options for 1440x900 and 1680x1050...I'm tempted to leave it as 1200x800 because that res works nicely on a 15.4" screen for the text size I like and I think most 3D games will run nicely at the native resolution - I imagine 1680x1050 might be pushing it going forward.
Most importantly though, I still play a lot of older 2D (from Spiderweb to Fallout) -- this is critical. I can put Avernum V in a window at 1200x800 and it will look OK...would 1680x1050 be better because of the scaling options or worse because I'll end up with a lot of stuff in tiny windows?
Thanks for your thoughts.
No need to tell me a desktop is faster/better/cheaper - a laptop fits my current lifestyle and my company can do a salary deal. Good laptops are expensive in Australia, but Dell has a deal that looks attractive.
XPS 1530
2.4Ghz T7700
4Gb DDR2 667Mhz
256Mb 8600M GT
...and other sundry stuff.
Questions: How does a 2.4Ghz dual-core T7700 stack up? I'm running an older 3.2Ghz P4 (Northwood) but I assume the newer architecture will keep up on non-dual-core stuff?
Is Vista just eating up the 4Gb RAM, leaving me with the sort of performance I'd get out of XP and 2Gb, or is 4Gb still getting a little bit out in front? I'm not really keen to go to Vista but it's going to come with most new systems.
Basically, I don't expect cutting edge but I'd like to run most games on medium-ish for the next 2 years.
Lastly, the standard screen is 1200x800 but there are options for 1440x900 and 1680x1050...I'm tempted to leave it as 1200x800 because that res works nicely on a 15.4" screen for the text size I like and I think most 3D games will run nicely at the native resolution - I imagine 1680x1050 might be pushing it going forward.
Most importantly though, I still play a lot of older 2D (from Spiderweb to Fallout) -- this is critical. I can put Avernum V in a window at 1200x800 and it will look OK...would 1680x1050 be better because of the scaling options or worse because I'll end up with a lot of stuff in tiny windows?
Thanks for your thoughts.