would this be a decent laptop buy?

[JB88]

dell e1505

would i be able to play the game on it?

[Saintaw]

Gaming isn't great on laptops. But it's feasible ... I played some on my laptop (amd 2k / X700 radeon) by lowering most visual details.

make sure you get an external keyboard/mouse... even if it's for playing mahjong only.

[x0847Marine]

Originally posted by JB88
dell e1505

would i be able to play the game on it?

I've been gaming on my Quanta KN1 "barebook" (P-M 2.2 128M 6600go MXM) for about a year with no big problems. I usually run Winamp / WMP in the background as well.

[Nilsen]

The x1300 is no good for gaming, the mobility version on this one is even worse. For general computing its a good machine if you like Dell, but stay away if you want to play any of the newer games.

[tapakeg]

I have that laptop ( i think, or the 1705) and just finished Far Cry just fine.

I also have AH installed with all settings on max.

It does have the PCI-E 256 Mg vid card so it will push a lot of stuff.  I was a fool and did not buy the upgraded monitor, so I can only go to 1024 x 768. but on those resolutions, I had everything on Far Cry maxed out.

I love the laptop, highly recommended.


The only thing I would do is msconfig out all the pre-installed stuff Dell puts on there.

Hope that helps


**EDIT**

I do have the 1705 with a 17" inch monitor, and the X1400 vid card, not the X1300

For the Price, I would recommend spending a bit more.
And they start at 939.  Make sure you get the gig of ram, X1400 vid card and the upgraded screen, you won't be disappointed.



DELL

[LePaul]

Like Tapaekg said, my work machine is a Inspiron 9300 with the 256mb ATI card in it.  So a slight step up from that

Since its a work machine I cant game on it...but two things come to mind..

1)  Not all games like widescreen

2)  Ive heard from people who game on laptops like these that frame rates take a huge hit running on laptop LCDs.  Dont know if thats true or not.

Check what Alienware offers

[Nilsen]

Originally posted by LePaul


2)  Ive heard from people who game on laptops like these that frame rates take a huge hit running on laptop LCDs.  Dont know if thats true or not.

Not true. However, some machines use cheaper panels and can have ghostin issues. Im guessing thats what they mean.

[LePaul]

Im not certain laptop LCDs have the same hi refresh a normal LCD screen has, it what Im saying.

Now if he wants to put an external screen on, that's different

Just saying.  Check out Tomshardware.Com too, they had reviews on the gaming laptops a few weeks ago

[Nilsen]

Originally posted by LePaul
Im not certain laptop LCDs have the same hi refresh a normal LCD screen has, it what Im saying.

Now if he wants to put an external screen on, that's different

Just saying.  Check out Tomshardware.Com too, they had reviews on the gaming laptops a few weeks ago

yup.. slow refresh = ghosting. its the speed of the pixels that are not as good in some laptops (and regular lcds for that matter). As far as i know all lcds on laptops these days are connected to the vid card with an inside variant of the DVI interface.

[LePaul]

Yes, these Inspirons are nice

This 9300 has a jack for another monitor, which I can span into for multi-monitor mode.  Quite nice to drag the email client into a 17 inch LCD I have here in the office and use the widescreen LCD on the laptop for other multiple tasks

[Nilsen]

Yup, i do the same with my laptops. Some are better than others and allow for a different resolution on the internal and external screen.

[LePaul]

My problem is battery life

The laptop I have for my R2-D2 project is a Gateway Solo 1450.  With as many things in lower power as possible, yet operating, I only get 1hr 30 minutes.

I recall some of the IBM Thinkpads had it so you could put an extra battery in place of a DVD/CD drive in their ultra-bay or that sort of thing.

The catch is my motor controller board/AI hardware requires a fairly swift machine (1.3ghz or better).  Going higher increases power demand and as a result, machines that last over an hour are rare.

Any suggestions, Nilsen?  You seem to be a laptop pro  

[Nilsen]

Originally posted by LePaul
My problem is battery life

The laptop I have for my R2-D2 project is a Gateway Solo 1450.  With as many things in lower power as possible, yet operating, I only get 1hr 30 minutes.

I recall some of the IBM Thinkpads had it so you could put an extra battery in place of a DVD/CD drive in their ultra-bay or that sort of thing.

The catch is my motor controller board/AI hardware requires a fairly swift machine (1.3ghz or better).  Going higher increases power demand and as a result, machines that last over an hour are rare.

Any suggestions, Nilsen?  You seem to be a laptop pro  

I know about the battery issues all too well. In my old thinkpad T23 I did as you said have one in the media bay and one standard. Gave me 6 hours +/- I belive.


Back to your problem. There are solutions out there, or altleast there was. It is basicly a battery that you clamp on to the bottom of your pc and adds someting like 8 hours. They are expencive and i have not seen them in a while. Google for "external laptop battery/powerpack" or some such thing. Frankly its prolly cheaper to guy a new laptop in the ultra-portable range with the newer core duo/core2 duo. Dell has some farily cheap models and you can upgrade them at the dell store with a battery with higher cell count.

Im far from an expert, but in my computing life I have never had anything but laptops both at work and home.. Got my first back in 89 or 90. Still have most of them so I have 14 laptops in my collection.

[LePaul]

Do the Thinkpads around the 2ghz processor speed range still have that feature?  For additional batteries inside?

I only have so much room in the robot to power lights, motors, control boards, etc.  Im torn between using a laptop or trying those Car PCs.  The are small, DC powered and fanless...which is nice.  But most lack serious processing muscle.  Like i said the AI software requires 1.5ghz, more is better.  Most of the Car PCs have their own cards that attack to a DC battery, which monitor the battery life and power the system down as power wanes (so you can start your car in the AM, Id assume!)

So far, all I see are Celerons and VIA processors in the mini-itx/nano-itx category.

Its a fun challenge, just hard to find something that can do it all for a decent price with good power endurance

(Sorry this has gone so offtopic, but its a good chat none the less!)

[doobs]

Picked up one of these at the last AH con and the game plays better on this than my home PC