Considering buying a relatively cheap laptop.

[Unfocused]

If all goes as planned, I will be moving away from my current place of residence for a few months. I will require a PC and since I only have a desktop PC, which I can't take with me, I'm now considering buying a laptop.

I don't want to spend too much on it (BTW laptops here are about twice as expensive as they are in the US for example), but I don't want it to be completely shit either. I'll use it for writing stuff, browsing the net, watching movies, listening to music. In terms of gaming I'd like it to at least run what I'm able to play (often cursing performance) on my outdated desktop PC - for exapmle CS:S, Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142, Left 4 Dead. And if it ran them even better, that would be nice.

Desktop specs:

Pentium IV 2,8 Ghz
1,5GB RAM
GeForce 6800GS 128MB

After spending some time browsing for something rather cheap with a somewhat decent dedicated GPU I found this:

Lenovo IdeaPad Y530
Intel Pentium Dual Core T3400 (2,16Ghz) - I realise it's a series below Core 2 Duo, but it should be noticeably better than my single core CPU anyway, right?
NVIDIA Geforce 9500M GS, 512MB - 6669 3DMarks05, 3678 3DMarks06 on some comparison chart
2GB RAM - I think it'll be fine for what I want to do with the laptop
250GB HDD
15,4 inch display (1280x800) - would prefer something bigger, but I can live with it
Windows Vista Home included - maybe I'd uninstall it and install XP instead.
etc.


Does that look like a decent laptop for what I need it for (price aside, since it's not comparable)?

 

[Krynn72]

I cant speak for the video card, but everything else about it beats the shit out of your desktop.

 

[Top Secret]

That laptop should be able to run source engine games pretty well. Especially at that resolution.

 

[VirusType2]

Acer makes cheap ass laptops. I like mine. The keyboard is the only thing I don't like about it, but it does the job. If you plan to do a lot of writing, you should look into that.

Anyway, pay attention to the ports so you can upgrade to the latest shit later down the road. For example, ESATA ports are extremely fast for use with external drives. You'll want the latest expansion slot type for cards. And the onboard audio quality is a factor in a laptop. Get one with a nice high res screen.

 

[Unfocused]

I cant speak for the video card, but everything else about it beats the shit out of your desktop.

EVERYTHING else ie. the CPU and an additional 512MB of RAM?

Acer makes cheap ass laptops. I like mine. The keyboard is the only thing I don't like about it, but it does the job. If you plan to do a lot of writing, you should look into that.

Anyway, pay attention to the ports so you can upgrade to the latest shit later down the road. For example, ESATA ports are extremely fast for use with external drives. You'll want the latest expansion slot type for cards. And the onboard audio quality is a factor in a laptop. Get one with a nice high res screen.

While I was browsing for laptops I didn't filter out any brands, so Acer was in there as well but looks like no model in my price range was comparable to this Lenovo.

Generally laptops in my price range had integrated GPUs such as some crappy GeForce 4500MHD, but they had faster CPUs (I guess to format your text in Word faster, cause you won't be playing or rendering 3D graphics with that card).

Not sure about the ESATA and expansion slot. I would ship the laptop, so can't really verify the audio quality, but it's got a Dolby 4.1 Home Theater™ system built in, so I guess that's nice. The native (or however it's called) screen resolution is 1280x800, but hey, I'm running 1024x768 right now, cause my CRT won't support 85Hz at anything higher and I don't like the screen flickering in my face at 60Hz, so I'm fine with that.

 

[lame-o]

This is the best laptop you can get for $1299 (actually around $1000 if you buy online):
http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668231.php

 

[Unfocused]

This is the best laptop you can get for $1299 (actually around $1000 if you buy online):
http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668231.php

Nice laptop, nice price, but as I said, this laptop would cost about twice as much here. And US online stores don't ship to Europe.

 

[Unfocused]

Actually I'm now thinking of going with a slightly better version of that laptop:

9600M GS, 512MB (8570 3DMarks 05, 4383 3DMarks 06)
3GB RAM
320GB HDD

There's also the option of getting a T4200 instead of the T3400, but the difference between them seems to be only slight (and in favour of either, according to two benchmark charts), so I think the T3400 will do.

BTW, will Vista cripple performance much, compared to XP? I know everyone bitched about this some time ago, but maybe a few updates later it's better?

 

[Asus]

Cripple? nah. Just a tad slower in some stuff. But if you ever upgrade to Win7 that has comparable performance to XP.

I know the 9600 graphics card desktop version is TONS better than the 9500. Not sure about 9600M vs 9500M.

 

[Top Secret]

Cripple? nah. Just a tad slower in some stuff. But if you ever upgrade to Win7 that has comparable performance to XP.

I know the 9600 graphics card desktop version is TONS better than the 9500. Not sure about 9600M vs 9500M.

Agreed, Vista shouldn't really be much of a problem with that much memory.