1st you wont want a intel video card.. Not sure the power your use to using but have an idea (eMachine).
you will want at least 2 gb of ram
dont gove 15.4" (yes wide screens are nice but the 4:3 is better on a lappy IMHO )
Lead Squirrel at Dr. E Spider robotic site #643
Nothing saids its your spot like an ourob. Portal dropped on the ground.
Well, this is a loaded question.
First off, you seem to be looking at the cheaper laptops. That's not a bad thing for a machine for college use. Gaming use? Not so much. However, City of Heroes hasn't upgraded thier graphics engine in over 5 issues, so it will run on lower graphics hardware. Lower Resources to run, But Much More needed to run Well.
The things to stay away from if you can on lower end laptops are AMD CPUs and Celeron CPUs. I love AMD, but they have a long way to go to make their CPUs work well in a mobile platform. They just don't seem to stack up to the Core 2 Duos and Quads in a Laptop.
Also, Widescreen VS Standard screen, Forget about it. Last year all the major COmputer manufacturers (Dell, HP, IBM/Lenovo, Toshiba, etc) switch thier entire lines over to Widescreens. You can't get a new name brand Laptop with a 4:3 screen anymore. They don't make em.
If you want a Computer that has something other than an Intel GPU, you are going to need to spend over $600. CoX will run on these Intel "Media Accelerator" Graphics, but not spectacularly. But, if you can't afford over $600, well i guess you just have to make do.
Here is a decent mahcine that should do you right for lower cost.
Toshiba L505
If You can squeeze together some extra cash for a laptop, this one has a nice NVidia Card.
HP Pavillion HDX16t
Of course neither one of them has an extended warranty, so after the first year, you are flying blind, which as an IT Engineer I never recommend, especially on Laptops. 98% of most end-users (even ones who have tinkered inside of thier desktop machine) can't repair broken laptops. And any laptop you remove from your home instantly becomes 15 Times more likely to be damaged than one that never leaves your desk.
But, again. If you ain't got the cash, you ain't got it and you just have to make sure you are 15 times more careful.
I hope I've helped.
If you got more questions, fire away. I'm glad to answer.
Member - Pingus, & Legendaries
Angry Sysop 50 BRUTE - Angry Woodsman 50 TANK - Angry Florist 21 CONTROLLER
"Did your Phantom Army just take the Elevator? Imaginary People riding Elevators? *facepalm*
Alright, BA. I'm looking at the Toshiba you linked and it seems to be running on a Intel 4500MHD, is this different than the Intel 4500M? Is it better than the ATI Radeon 3100 on the Toshiba that I linked?
Also, on the HP laptop, the memory for the video card is 512mb--is that dedicated memory? The card is integrated, so will it also have shared memory? I don't see it on the site, but will the coupon code expire soon?
In related news, I will soon be getting three hundred and...*checks* seventy-three dollars from my school because they billed me for health insurance that I don't need. That makes my budget a mite more flexible, but I'm a quite thrifty soul, so don't push it. 
Thanks for the help so far!
Also, how does a nVidia GeForce GT 220M compare to the GeForce 9600M?
Edit: Funny thing about that HP, my best friend *just* bought that exact same model without the $250 coupon.
There's no such thing as a cheap laptop when it comes to powering it up for heavy gaming use...
As a student, can you see about getting a discount on purchasing a computer? Any kind of federal grant, or college fund, or some such? After all, having your own box is a necessary device for furthering your education... just tell them you need a high-end graphics card for, um... you're studying to be an architect/engineer/videographer, right? 
MA Author: Look for my eight arcs under @Witty Librarian!
Hero Cleanup Protocol estory now available! Through Smashwords.com and most ebook retailers!
...That's not a bad idea, Witty. It's probably way too late for anything requiring an application, but I'll look around anyways.
G220 is the newer moble so better than the 9600M.
Lead Squirrel at Dr. E Spider robotic site #643
Nothing saids its your spot like an ourob. Portal dropped on the ground.
I know a lot of students can get discounts from whoever their school has a contract with (example, if I wanted a Dell, I could've gotten a 10-15% discount because my recent school bought all their lab computers from them) so you may look into that as well.
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There's no such thing as a cheap laptop when it comes to powering it up for heavy gaming use...
[/ QUOTE ]
Get a cheap laptop for your classwork and carrying around campus. Cheap enough so that you won't mind so much when your freshman roomate spills beer or other fluids on it. Back up your data often. Lug a desktop down if you want to be gaming, and invest in some plastic sheeting.
But really- your first year of college... shouldn't you be studying instead of playing CoH?
LOL, yeah, but someone had to pretend to be a responsible adult.
"Don't unravel them-- your ears were meant to be that way."
-Steve Aylett
[ QUOTE ]
I know a lot of students can get discounts from whoever their school has a contract with (example, if I wanted a Dell, I could've gotten a 10-15% discount because my recent school bought all their lab computers from them) so you may look into that as well.
[/ QUOTE ]
In regards to that, Most University or college have a campus computer store, these store have educational rebates that most company don't offer online. Check with them since you can usually save around 100 to 500$ on some models. Some also have back to school promotion (Apple i'm looking at you) or bundles.
[ QUOTE ]
Alright, BA. I'm looking at the Toshiba you linked and it seems to be running on a Intel 4500MHD, is this different than the Intel 4500M? Is it better than the ATI Radeon 3100 on the Toshiba that I linked?
[/ QUOTE ]
The Radeon would be better, but the CPU on the Toshiba you linked would slow you down. And the only differance between the 4500m and the 4500mhd is that the HD version will output in 1080p to TVs and Monitors when playing video.
[ QUOTE ]
Also, on the HP laptop, the memory for the video card is 512mb--is that dedicated memory? The card is integrated, so will it also have shared memory? I don't see it on the site, but will the coupon code expire soon?
[/ QUOTE ]
No idea when the coupon will expire. It doesn't say. And a Dedicated Memory Video card at 512mb is better than a shared Video Card that do over a Gig. System memory is slower than dedicated video memory.
[ QUOTE ]
In related news, I will soon be getting three hundred and...*checks* seventy-three dollars from my school because they billed me for health insurance that I don't need. That makes my budget a mite more flexible, but I'm a quite thrifty soul, so don't push it.
Thanks for the help so far!
[/ QUOTE ]
You may want to heed the advice of getting a desktop for gaming. You can build a pretty good Desktop for gaming for under $500 if you shop around. I can do a sample build if you'd like.
[ QUOTE ]
Also, how does a nVidia GeForce GT 220M compare to the GeForce 9600M?
[/ QUOTE ]
The GT 220mM is signifigantly better, but both will run CoX decently.
[ QUOTE ]
Edit: Funny thing about that HP, my best friend *just* bought that exact same model without the $250 coupon.
[/ QUOTE ]
Sorry for slapping him in the face with that coupon.
Member - Pingus, & Legendaries
Angry Sysop 50 BRUTE - Angry Woodsman 50 TANK - Angry Florist 21 CONTROLLER
"Did your Phantom Army just take the Elevator? Imaginary People riding Elevators? *facepalm*
Alright, think I've narrowed it down a bit.
I think I can drop the second battery on the HP you showed me, BA, and bring to price down to $700, making it more attractive.
My mother found a manufacturer refurbished HP for $620 here: http://www.pcmall.com/pcmall/shop/detail...20-%204GB%20RAM and it looks to be on par with the one you showed me, BA, except I don't know how the graphics cards compare.
And then there is one that Doomlord PM'd to me that is better than both, but is probably outside my price range at $800.
*sigh* Decisions, decisions.
On the chance that the nVidia GT 9600M is better than the ATI Radeon 3200 HD, is it $80 better? Would I still be able to play CoX on the 3200?
Thanks again.
2 Problems with that HP from PCMall.
#1 - It's an AMD CPU. As I mentioned, I love, love, love AMD CPUs in Desktops and Servers, but they have not gotten the mobile processors to be competitive power consumption-wise or performance-wise to the Mobile Core 2 Duos and Quads. I would not buy a Laptop with an AMD processor if I was going to use it for gaming.
#2 - Refurb units. I wouldn't buy a refurb unit unless you are going to purchase an extended warranty on it. Some electronics you can get away with buying refurb and forget about it. But, Laptops, I wouldn't risk it. I'd buy a 2 or 3 year warranty extension. But, that'll increase the price $150 or more dollars.
And the Nvidia 9600 is $80 better than the ATI 3200. I would hazard that it's even more than $80 better if that 3200 is using shared memory. The 3200 and 3100 ATIs are only nominally better than the Intel 4500mHD due to the shared memory. The GPU is better, but the bottleneck of the slower memory brings the ratings down towards Intel Territory.
Member - Pingus, & Legendaries
Angry Sysop 50 BRUTE - Angry Woodsman 50 TANK - Angry Florist 21 CONTROLLER
"Did your Phantom Army just take the Elevator? Imaginary People riding Elevators? *facepalm*
Personally I have an ATI card ... (well actually two) and while for most things it really rocks, for CoH it sucks. When I turn on CoH, I'm quite confused as to why I have issues. There is a complicated thread on how to make sure your computer doesn't crash when running ATI cards and seriously, do yourself a favor and stick with nVidia if you can.
[ QUOTE ]
Personally I have an ATI card ... (well actually two) and while for most things it really rocks, for CoH it sucks. When I turn on CoH, I'm quite confused as to why I have issues. There is a complicated thread on how to make sure your computer doesn't crash when running ATI cards and seriously, do yourself a favor and stick with nVidia if you can.
[/ QUOTE ]
Looking for ATI logo at the bottom of this page. Hmmm... that's odd, there's a nVidia logo, but not one for ATI....
Perhaps they're trying to tell us something?
(Then again, there's a Pentium logo down there too. O.o )
"Don't unravel them-- your ears were meant to be that way."
-Steve Aylett
There's also a Cryptic Logo down there? Point being?
There's also a Teen Rating. Why don't we mess with the costume creator a bit more, eh?
Ahhh... Refreshing isn't it?
The sarcasm is wonderful this time of year.
Member - Pingus, & Legendaries
Angry Sysop 50 BRUTE - Angry Woodsman 50 TANK - Angry Florist 21 CONTROLLER
"Did your Phantom Army just take the Elevator? Imaginary People riding Elevators? *facepalm*
ATI has some issue with anti-aliasing, bloom, dept of field.. etc with this game ( look at billzbubba thread in the tech section for a detail of all known issue with ATI)
Nvidia also has it's share of problem ( driver error in Vista, weird display with some drivers.. etc) but I found them to be pretty quick at fixing the issue and have solid support of the game.
[ QUOTE ]
ATI has some issue with anti-aliasing, bloom, dept of field.. etc with this game ( look at billzbubba thread in the tech section for a detail of all known issue with ATI)
Nvidia also has it's share of problem ( driver error in Vista, weird display with some drivers.. etc) but I found them to be pretty quick at fixing the issue and have solid support of the game.
[/ QUOTE ]
Eww Vista. You didn't really fall for the hype did you? (continues to pet his XP machine)
as a tech, I had to try it lol and since I got it by the student MSDN while I was in school.... yes I did but I also had a nice dual-boot
I uninstalled Vista when I couldn't play CoH because I'm one of the few that got hit with the driver stopped responding error and I couldn't fix it ( even support couldn't understand the cause). i've been back exclusively on XP for moer than a year now
Here a nice laptop for $500.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834146582
It has the Intel 4500MHD Vid Card, but Lenovo's Component & Build Quality is better than Toshibas. So if you were considering the budget laptop instead of the one with the better video card, I'd recommend this one over the one I linked you previously. Plus it's a $100 cheaper than the Toshiba.
Another plus, is it already has the Vista Business License with the Pre-Installed Windows XP, which I was going to recommend anyway.
Member - Pingus, & Legendaries
Angry Sysop 50 BRUTE - Angry Woodsman 50 TANK - Angry Florist 21 CONTROLLER
"Did your Phantom Army just take the Elevator? Imaginary People riding Elevators? *facepalm*
[ QUOTE ]
Here a nice laptop for $500.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834146582
It has the Intel 4500MHD Vid Card, but Lenovo's Component & Build Quality is better than Toshibas. So if you were considering the budget laptop instead of the one with the better video card, I'd recommend this one over the one I linked you previously. Plus it's a $100 cheaper than the Toshiba.
Another plus, is it already has the Vista Business License with the Pre-Installed Windows XP, which I was going to recommend anyway.
[/ QUOTE ]
So you're on their mailing list too, eh?
I <B newegg
"Don't unravel them-- your ears were meant to be that way."
-Steve Aylett
[ QUOTE ]
So you're on their mailing list too, eh?
I <B newegg
[/ QUOTE ]
Damned right!
On my Personal E-Mail Address and Business E-Mail Address. Gotta have 2 accounts to separate the business from the personal purchases.
Member - Pingus, & Legendaries
Angry Sysop 50 BRUTE - Angry Woodsman 50 TANK - Angry Florist 21 CONTROLLER
"Did your Phantom Army just take the Elevator? Imaginary People riding Elevators? *facepalm*
Another one from Newegg...
Acer 16 Laptop
It's not a real major brand, it's an Acer, but Acer isn't an eMachine level product. I would consider it a single step away from major brand level. The build quality is about the same as consumer grade machines, but their customer service is not as great.
From a simple product standpoint. It is a very nice laptop. Plenty of vents for cooling, good audio, fantastic keyboard (it even has a number pad), has an LED Backlit LCD (few laptops under $600 have this, I've never seen one this cheap with one, but they maybe out there), Strong Video Card, and even had HDMI Out if you want to use it as a Home Theater PC for your Dorm.
Seem like the big complaint with this unit is all the trialware, and useless pre-installed crap that comes with it. DK, I'll send you a Windows XP Pro CD with a License Key Certificate I can rip off one of our dead PCs at work, so you can reformat it to Windows XP and get rid of the bloatware and turn it into a svelt, strong gamer.
I do recommend spending the few extras bucks and getting the "Service Net Laptop Extended Warranty" Since Acer doesn't offer extended warranties, in-house like Dell and HP and Etc. I've delt with Service Net before with Extended Warranties. They aren't as great as Dell with Warranties, but they are OK to deal with. And at least you have some extra coverage.
Member - Pingus, & Legendaries
Angry Sysop 50 BRUTE - Angry Woodsman 50 TANK - Angry Florist 21 CONTROLLER
"Did your Phantom Army just take the Elevator? Imaginary People riding Elevators? *facepalm*
I always feel weird asking questions on the tech forums, so I'm asking the good 'ol Champs to help me out again. As many...okay, maybe one or two of you know, I'm starting college this fall and I'm shopping around for a laptop. Typical of most any college student, I'm strapped for cash. I therefore charge you with the task of finding me a laptop that gives me the most bang for my buck. I'm hoping to find one that will run City of Heroes adequately so I don't have to lug one of my desktops to school. Looking on my own, I have found these two Toshibas that are fairly cheap:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?...d=1218093383615
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...Specifications
I'm thinking that the one on BestBuy is better, but I'm not sure. If anyone could find something better at a comparable price, that'd be great. I'd like to not spend over five hundred if I can help it...
Edit: Also, I'm not "up" on what to expect quality-wise from different companies. Does Toshiba have a reputation for well-build computers, or are they like eMachine?