Laptop decision

[elrasho]

Im getting closer to deciding which laptop to go for. My main needs are for web designing and gaming so here they are:

http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_4920_Gemstone_Laptop_LX.AKW0X.114/version.asp

and

http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5920G-302G25Hi_Laptop_LX.AN60X.041/version.asp

Now the 5920 has bigger screen for gaming but then doesnt make it as portable, it also has better graphcis thanks to the nVidia 8600 GS BUT the downer its only got DVD-ROM

What should I go for? Any advice would be grreatly appreciated.

 

[elrasho]

Please move to Hardware this is in the wrong group ;-)

 

[AiM]

Can't recommend any laptops for gaming really. But if you must, choose the one with the most powerful graphics card you can find and hope it'll last you 2-3 years.

 

[elrasho]

which is better Radeon 2400 XT ot Geforce 8600 GS

 

[Laivasse]

When you say you want it for gaming, how fluid do you want that gaming experience to be? If you want to be able to game really well on it and you have some extra money to spare, maybe look into getting one from Sager - I believed Sager is also resold in the UK by Kobalt or Novatech, but since it's the UK it'll be even more expensive.

Regardless of whether you want to shell out that much or not, the graphics card is the bottom line for a gaming laptop. In that respect you can't really afford to take the Radeon HD2400 over the 8600m GS if you want to game and your choice is limited to only those two, since it performs only about half as well as the 8600m GT (not sure how it compares to the GS) from what I understand. The 8600 should cope much more respectably, although you will need to shy away from High settings in a fair few games.

Edit - since you were asking for more details about the respective performance of the Radeon Mobility HD 2400XT vs. the 8600m GS, here are a few links going into some more detail about them:
8600m GS
Mobility Radeon HD 2400XT
Graphics card comparison across all notebooks.

Reviews of the two laptops you linked:
Aspire 4920 (with HD 2400 XT)
Aspire 5920G (The reviewed version here had an 8600m GT, better than the GS but I'm not sure by how much)

I'd recommend reading the review of the 5920 carefully and paying particular attention to the performance section, bearing in mind that the model being reviewed had a more powerful card than the one in your link, to see if it's enough for your needs. I wouldn't worry about the DVD ROM; it is a pain but you could always get an external burner if you want, while there's nothing you can do about the graphics card in your lappy once you have it. Also, the 5920 quite impressively has an HDMI out so you could easily hook it up to an HDTV and watch DVDs without having to burn them, although I'm not too sure how much of a burden that would place on the 8600m GS.

 

[elrasho]

is there any concrete evidence supporting this? Is the 2400 XT really that crap?

 

[Laivasse]

is there any concrete evidence supporting this? Is the 2400 XT really that crap?

Take a look at some of the links I posted in my late edit. The 2400 XT consistently performs only about half as well as the 8600m GS. Also to quote:

This (the Mobility Radeon HD 2400 XT) is a DirectX 10 graphic card from ATI and direct competitor to the NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT graphic card for laptops. This would mean that the card is able to represent all modern games in medium resolutions and without Antialiasing without motion interruptions.

So the mHD2400 XT is not even meant to compete with the 8600m GS, but rather the in card bracket below it.

To illustrate this point further, in the card performance comparison I linked, that site considers the 8600m GS to be a 'Class 1' (out of 6, where 6 is an ancient useless POS) card, while the 2400XT is merely a class 3. And to clarify still further, the 8600m GS, despite apearing to be so much better than the 2400XT, will still struggle with some games:

Current demanding games like Crysis are only playable with the lowest settings.

So that will give you an idea of how the 2400XT, only half as powerful as that, would perform.

 

[Tagaziel]

Acer's aren't recommended, since they are faulty. When buying my Toshiba A110 I had seen the list of maintenance/repair requests for Acers. Toshiba FTW.

 

[Bakurei]

If any of your friends tell you anything about laptop performance remember to cut like 500% of the fps they say off. If they say 80fps on Bioshock with everything high, they mean 5-20fps on low in windowed mode. Not true if you're going with Alienware

 

[AiM]

If any of your friends tell you anything about laptop performance remember to cut like 500% of the fps they say off. If they say 80fps on Bioshock with everything high, they mean 5-20fps on low in windowed mode. Not true if you're going with Alienware

**** Alienware. Overpriced pieces of shit really.

Last time I bought I laptop I went with a Dell since they offered virtually identical spec's to companies like Alienware but at 1/2th the price. That and their warranty is absolutely solid. One thing about laptops is, no matter how well you take care of it, it's wise to get at least 2-3 years worth of warranty.

 

[elrasho]

Decided to go for the 5920.. its got HDMI so I can use it as a media centre