okay just need some advice

I recently came into the position of needing a new computer.

I've been looking around for a quickie. I don't really have time to build one between school and work.


Right now I'm using a 5 year old laptop that BARELY runs CoH on minimum (safe mode)

I was looking at a couple computers and just wanted to see if they are worth the money.

the first one is a laptop
http://cgi.ebay.com/ASUS-UX50V-RX05-...item3358b71ebd

it's kind of on the really far end of what I wanna spend since my budget is small, but just wondering if you guys think it's worth the extra cash.

this is the other

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/sys/1543078938.html

this is more my budget, but again just wanted to see if you guys think it's worth it.

Neither of those machines will run CoH well at all.

The laptop appears to be on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of its specifications. The Core 2 Solo's aren't that great at all. Don't let the name fool you. The Core 2 Solo has one processor core.

The other machine is an older machine. Without knowing the specs of your current machine, it's hard to compare. That second machine has an older processor as well as uses the older DDR RAM.

Those stats aside, they both have horrible graphic cards. If your intention is to play this game rather frequently, I wouldn't even bother with either of those machines as you'll end up having to put the money into upgrade and in both cases, probably more than they're worth. Save the cash and look for something else.

We'll see....

yeah thats what I figured.

what exactly should I be looking for in a laptop. I pretty much know what to look for hardware wise in a desktop, but not sure abot lapttops.

I actually don't have a compurter that really runs coh, so I'm just looking for a replacemnt.

To be honest, if you're looking for a laptop that will run this game at even decent settings you're going to fork over quite a bit of cash.

I would definitely recommend going with a desktop machine over a laptop if you're planning to game at all regardless if it's City Of Heroes or not. Laptops designed for gaming aren't cheap at all.

On the other hand, for the price of that laptop ($599) you can put together a desktop that will at least get you into a position to game simply by adding a decent graphics card to the mix. I strongly recommend making the time to build a machine. You'll get much more for your money and will get specific components, in some cases a lot higher quality than a pre-built machine.

We'll see....

I agree that in general you can get more for your money with a desktop than a laptop, especially for gaming.

That said, if the OP's budget is around $600, I recently bought this laptop from Newegg for my son:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-636-_-Product

It has a decent graphics card that will run CoH, and is a good choice for the money.

Just noticed that you said the $600 is at the top of your range...

Another option you should consider is going to a "build your own" maker like cyberpowerpc.com. You can pick what components you want and they'll assemble it for not too much more than you could do yourself. (Which is, of course, the cheapest option.)

You could probably assemble a CoH capable computer there for $500-600, but that's without a monitor. I notice that the craiglist computer had no monitor, do you have one on hand? The big advantage of a desktop is that you can upgrade components as you need and can afford them. With a laptop you're pretty much stuck with the processor and graphics card that came with it.

I direct you to Father Xmas' prospective $600 CoX computer build. Note that this build does not include keyboard, mouse, or monitor. This won't run CoX spectacularly, but will run it very solidly.

I beg your pardon.

While yes the 2.8GHz E6300 does suffer from a lower performing memory subsystem due the 2MB of L2 cache and a "slow" 1066MHz FSB it's not bad for an $80 CPU. A future $600 rig may include a AM3 based CPU but the price of DDR3 is a problem.

And the GTS 250 isn't a slouch either. Yes it's essentially been around since Dec 2007 as the 512MB 8800GTS, but with a 14% OC. But at only $130 it's tough to beat. The HD 5750 is a little better, it generally cost a little more.