Need sugestions for hardware for laptop
By
Alter666,
Posted on: 2010-08-06 15:02 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
I'd take a 5850 over the 260M any day of the week.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
My suggestion? Invest in a good laptop cooler. I just bought this and it brings my GPU temps down by about 10-12 degrees C when running CoX.
Okay a 5730 will do "okay".
HOWEVER, this is a laptop. A not-very-upgradeable computer. As such, you want to maximize the performance for every dollar you spend.
As such, buying Alienware is NOT the way to go. That's just saying "more money than sense".
For the 2+ Grand you spend on an Alienware laptop, you could buy a equivallent (and in some aspects, superior) machine from HP/Asus/Acer for $1400-1600.
Take a look at HP's ENVY line if you want to buy from a major name. With upgrades to the screen, CPU, memory, etc, you can come in right around $2000 and will make the Alienware machine look sick.
Acer's systems are quite nice too, however the models sporting 5850's have some problems with their Broadcom wireless cards (though it's relatively trivial and inexpensive to replace that).
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
Well the aleinware I have set up is a little under $1600 but I haven't really looked at oher brands. but I'll check into them.
LvL 50s: Jewelious, SharktooghGrinner, Energy Fox Hound, Vibradiumforce
My words: I the bard of ages, Looking to sky for angels. I'll never be that of a the enlightened, I am only the burdened.
Heh I just got an HP Envy 17" from NewEgg. has a ATI mobility 5850 video in it, quad-core cpu 8 Gigs of ram, etc.
Deadsexy gunmetal color Aluminum case, backlit keyboard.. (a bit like something apple would make, but a tiny bit edgier, and $600 less expensive at least)
upgraded it from W7Home to Win7 Ultimate, pretty much no problems till I went to run CoX. That took me from being stoked about this new box to just pure dismal dissapointment (so far)
First there was the download. nothing but pain. tip for the rest of you, don't try to update late on a monday night/early Tuesday AM I figured I was like 5+ hours ahead of the maintenance period, so hey no problem right? And I've got a sick broadband and doublechecked it, and speedtest.net showed me getting 20Mbits download speed. Right, should be set to go..
But Nooooooo. The speed for the update was running at times as low as 100KB/sec With predictions of 4+ hours to update. But wait says I, I have a current version of the game on my desktop (also Win7x64) I'll just copy it from there and let it patch.. So, copy things over, let the patcher do it's thing.. try to launch and coh.exe hangs at the little loading logo. Bah sez I, maybe the architechture (Phenom on desktop, I7 on Envy) is an issue, I guess I'll have to let it pach. SO uninstall, and return to downloading the game client directly.. should be only a few hours right?
but NOOOOOOO now the update is even slower, with speeds as low as 30Kb/s and predictions of 35+ hours to update (arrrrghhh), it's midnight pacific, still 4 hours before patch time, but I suspect most of the update servers were down to update their content or else were turned into newts by an evil witch, because that was just dragging. My pipe should be able to pull around 2,000KB/s this is like 1.5% of my capacity. Go to bed, hope for better news in the AM. Well obviously it 'got bettah' at some point during the night as the update was done this AM. YES!
But when I try to run CityOf, it just hangs with the initial small 'loading' graphic in the middle of the windows screen. rest of system is fine, it's just COH that's hung. arrrgggghhhhh and no time to twiddle, must head to work.
Ach well I figured being brand new it would have fairly up to date drivers.. silly me I guess, I really should have known better than to expect 'out of the box and patched with winupdate' drivers to cut it. So I've downloaded latest (8-13-2010) audio and video drivers from HP's site to a flashdrive, and will try installing them this evening after work to see if it makes any difference.. Hopefully I can report back with good news.. (gods I hope so)
ok... you tell me how that envy work cus right now for only an extra 100 bucks I can get the no need to go into detail about the awesome look alienware 15x with better i7 same graphics chip, bu less hard drive which is no biggy cuz I use my external hard drive which is huge. so if it perfoms well I'll save the hundred bucks and get the envy if you still have the issues I'm getting the alieanware.
LvL 50s: Jewelious, SharktooghGrinner, Energy Fox Hound, Vibradiumforce
My words: I the bard of ages, Looking to sky for angels. I'll never be that of a the enlightened, I am only the burdened.
Yeppers will try to let you know. Driver updates usually fix this kinda stuff, so I'm remaining optimistic so far.
For reference this is the one I got http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834157279 which was $1500 I tried to build the same thing at the HP site and it was several hundred more, so I think personally newegg has a pretty darned good deal going there. (but then, that's probably obvious, I would not have bought it otherwise)
There's also something to be said for the 17" full HD resolution 1920x1080 screen Comparing a 15" to that is a little lopsided if you ask me. but hey, you know what you need better than I do, and if a 15" screen will do, then it does make for a more portable unit..
this is the Envy I'm looking at http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh.../ENVY17_series
This the m15x I built only about 100 bucks more http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...9&kc=9&X=9&Y=6
Partablity is key becasue I'm taking this to school with me so I have somehing to do while I'm there and to help in my info tech classes.
LvL 50s: Jewelious, SharktooghGrinner, Energy Fox Hound, Vibradiumforce
My words: I the bard of ages, Looking to sky for angels. I'll never be that of a the enlightened, I am only the burdened.
As far as I understand it, the 5730 is a big step down from a 5750 that's in the HP.. that might make a difference to what you can do in CoX Bumping that to be comparable raises the price $100
Always difficult to compare across brands like this.
No I have the 5850 chosen the link refreshes it (witch I didn't know)
so really the only up side to getting the Envy at the moment is more hard drive and ram if I were to get the envy the only one that you make it worth it is the base modle. to upgrade something would make it more expencive then the M15x I have built (only hing upgraded is the graphics to the 5850)
LvL 50s: Jewelious, SharktooghGrinner, Energy Fox Hound, Vibradiumforce
My words: I the bard of ages, Looking to sky for angels. I'll never be that of a the enlightened, I am only the burdened.
The Envy line is obviously HP's response to Apple and Dell's Aquisition of Alienware, it's designed to be their 'premier' line, just like Alienware is for Dell.. (sexy cases, backlit keyboards and all that. My personal preference runs to the gunmetal and white lighting, instead of the red.. but that's just a personal thing
So comparing the link you sent, if you upgrade the video you're at $1450, so for $50 more you'd be going up to a 17" display that can do true HD resolution.. so more details and such in game, more room on the screen.. and if you want to watch blu-ray disks or whatever you'd get a larger screen with HD quality.
The Newegg deal at $1500 also includes a second larger battery, so you have both the standard 6 cell, and the 9 cell.. which if you are doing a LOT of stuff portable can be a real lifesaver. (not so much if you'll mostly be using it plugged in)
It's also 8G of ram, not 4 that is stock on the link you sent.
and free shipping.
All in all I think it's a better value than the one from dell, if you don't mind a larger laptop
Portability wise, I'm not sure that the weight difference is that much.. but I'll admit the larger size makes it a little harder to find bags etc to fit. But youa re also talking about something that is effectively a desktop replacement. Get a verticle laptop stand like the 3M 550, and you can open it way up, stand it up and use a usb or bt keyboard for better ergonomics when you are not 'on the road' (also gets the display up to eye level)
but mostly I think you need to ask yourself, is a 17" screen too big, or once you start doing a lot of video and gaming and such are you going to curse the 15" for being too small.
My consern is the finding a bag that isn't crazy priced to fit it. Thats why I didn't put the in house bag in with the dell. I'm not a fan of dells but I am a fan of alienware. I havn't played much with HP so this could be my chance. I do like the features with the newegg (I love newegg) and this is a on the go gamer laptop for me. I have a gaming desktop that is a buget build and plays CoX smoothly at recomended and thats good enough for me.
I'll enjoy the extra to inches but finding a carrying case is going to be a *****. after looking at it he Envy is sexy but not as sexy as the alien where. for HP to be a contender to alienware visual personalization is key, which HP dose not have. I'll have to give it some thought wait a while see what holiday sales come up cause I'm not getting it till my birth day (Dec 23) yeah I have to compete wih Jesus ain't that some ****.
Inform me on your prgress with your Envy.
LvL 50s: Jewelious, SharktooghGrinner, Energy Fox Hound, Vibradiumforce
My words: I the bard of ages, Looking to sky for angels. I'll never be that of a the enlightened, I am only the burdened.
Hello
I'm asking for a alienware laptop for Christmas/ my birthday this year... I was wondering if the 1GB ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5730 would play ultra mode or recommended settings. So all my techy heroes and villains help a fellow out.
All so I chose the i7 but if I the 5730 won't work I'll need to downgrade so if I mus should I get the i3 or i5.
That is the lowest they offer the next is: 1GB ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5850
and the gaming one the offer is this: 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M
LvL 50s: Jewelious, SharktooghGrinner, Energy Fox Hound, Vibradiumforce
My words: I the bard of ages, Looking to sky for angels. I'll never be that of a the enlightened, I am only the burdened.