Gaming-Laptop Update. Worth it?

[Polly]

My sister bought a 15" HP Pavilion Laptop back in 2008, mainly for playing Sims 3 w/ Expansion Packs, the thing is running a bit iffy now, she's about to finish college and the parents thinking about getting her a new one. I'm wondering if the upgrade will make a noticeable difference.

Her Pavilion got a 2,0GHz P7350 C2D, 3GB DDR2 and a 9600M GT.

The folks want to spend around 800?, I think that'll buy something in the lines of a 2,4GHz i5, 4GB DDR3 and a GT 330M.



For the Germans, we are buying mostly at the local Alternate store. If anybody would like to take a look at their offerings and make a suggestion, that would be much appreciated.

 

[Viper007Bond]

"Gaming" and "laptop" are not two words that should go together unless you like spending lots and lots of money.

 

[Blayde]

The Sims can hardly be called gaming, that's more like a job away from job

 

[thevictor390]

The current laptop is perfectly adequate for playing the Sims, a new laptop would be noticeably better but probably not worth the money.

 

[ahpadt]

"Gaming" and "laptop" are not two words that should go together unless you like spending lots and lots of money.

Fixed.

 

[Polly]

Yeah, alright.. gaming-ish laptop then. Light gaming, whatever.

 

[Pjuske2]

"Gaming" and "laptop" are not two words that should go together unless you like spending lots and lots of money.

You'll be surpriced of what cheap'ish notebooks can play today, I just found out that my little Asus UL30VT can play even a massive game like bad Company 2, not with all settings on high or even medium, but still.

 

[nist7]

Hardware-wise, it should run Sims smoothly. I find that alot of people experience "slow" computers due to lots of un-needed programs/software rather than hardware (which does contribute). Especially if its a pre-built system it will have tons of bloatware and over time it will start to feel slow.

There is definitely no need to upgrade to i5/GT300M, your sister will not notice a big difference.

 

[Polly]

The current laptop is perfectly adequate for playing the Sims, a new laptop would be noticeably better but probably not worth the money.

Hardware-wise, it should run Sims smoothly. I find that alot of people experience "slow" computers due to lots of un-needed programs/software rather than hardware (which does contribute). Especially if its a pre-built system it will have tons of bloatware and over time it will start to feel slow.

There is definitely no need to upgrade to i5/GT300M, your sister will not notice a big difference.

Yeah, she's mostly complaining about load times and kinda tends to fill her hard disk to the brim with Sims-related DLC. I guess a faster, bigger HDD, a sweep and perhaps a Windows 7 upgrade should do the trick then?

 

[LP]

Yeah, she's mostly complaining about load times and kinda tends to fill her hard disk to the brim with Sims-related DLC. I guess a faster, bigger HDD, a sweep and perhaps a Windows 7 upgrade should do the trick then?

Should be good, but do consider heat produced by faster HDs. Is the RAM maxed out?

 

[Polly]

I guess RAM is maxed out with 3GB (it's a 32bit Vista). A Scorpio Black shouldn't be a problem, heat wise?

 

[thevictor390]

Lots of downloaded content will slow down load times as well... especially if it's enough to fill a hard drive!

Sounds like you have a good plan of action.

 

[Polly]

Guess I'll propose it to the folks, if they still want to splash out on a new notebook, good for her.



Thanks dawgs.

 

[Blayde]

Why not just slot an SSD into the drive bay and plug a portable external using the old hdd if extra space is needed :/

Less heat, shorter load times for sure...

 

[Polly]

Well, looks like the parents insist on getting her a new toy. Looks like it'll be an Acer TravelMate 5740G with a 2,4Ghz Core i5 and a HD5650.

I kinda object the Acer part, but at least it's not an Aspire. Perhaps I can push her into spending the moniez she'll get for the old one on a SSD.

 

[Dr_Grip]

I know the looks are kinda hard to sell to a girl, but FFS, get her a Lenovo. The built quality is so much better.

 

[_HighVoltage_]

"Gaming" and "laptop" are not two words that should go together unless you like spending lots and lots of money.

Erm...depends. My laptop for $699 does 8500 points in 3DMark2006, I wouldn't say that's too shabby. Would you?

 

[smithersprime]

I just got a hp dv-7 4060us that has an amd tripple core processor(about the same power as the middle i3) 4 gigs ddr3, 500GB hard drive, 1600x900 17 inch display with a radeon 5650. Its surprisingly capable, plays dirt 2 smooth on low(but dx11 low) with the full res. Plays dragon age maxed, oblivion maxed(except aa), bad company 2 with mid settings(dx11).
Got it for about $780. Its not a dedicated gaming laptop but it plays every game Ive tried(not even going to bother trying gta4, that mames computers) and it gets 4.5 hours of batter life due to a radeon 4200 you can switch to for low power.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Viper007Bond]

Erm...depends. My laptop for $699 does 8500 points in 3DMark2006, I wouldn't say that's too shabby. Would you?

My old computer which was 3 years old before I replaced it earlier this year got 11.3k. I replaced it because it was starting to have trouble playing games on medium/high settings.

So yes, I'd say that it was shabby.