Hello, a friend of mine was going to drop about 3000 on a new desktop but he decided he wants something he can take with him instead. and he is short on cash at the moment so he wants a laptop for about 1000. I picked out this one: http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=10140ST4237&vpn=LX.AKS0X.114&manufacture=ACER mainly because it has a decent gpu and cpu. he doesn't want to play games like crysis, but he does like RTS games like age of empires. I figure that this one will work fine for that, but because laptops aren't something that I look at a lot, I was wondering if someone could take a look at this one for me, and see if there is anything that it doesn't have that it should. Mainly the laptop will be used for e-mail, internet and stuff like that. but there will also be some games being played on it. but again the games aren't going to be top of the line ones. and he understands that a laptop isn't the best thing for gaming anyway. there is a decent spec sheet here: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/mobile-computing/4496-acer-5920-6574-a.html if anyone wants more info on it. thanks for any advice that you may have to offer.
Here's a review of the 8600M as used by that laptop you linked to. I'd say so long as the laptop has a CPU based on Core, a GPU made by ATi or nVidia and at least 1GB of RAM (but preferably 2GB) then it should be good enough for him. So long as he realises it will always be very lacking compared to a much cheaper desktop. I take it he needs more portability than a SFF/Shuttle type PC?
The one you've picked out there is a newer, more powerful version... but I bought my youngest son a 15.4" Acer Aspire 5920 Gemstone (with a T7300 @ 2GHz, 2GB DDR II, and a Intel X3100 GMA) last year, and he's chuffed with it It would be fair to say that anybody getting a new laptop for nothing would be chuffed of course But he's chuffed with it for other reasons too - namely it's specs... which are actually slightly better than his (old) desktop PC!
so, chuffed means happy? I checked out the review that Austin posted, I was a little dissapointed with the performance of the gpu but then it is a laptop. Still, for RTS games i'm sure that it will work fine for what he wants to use it for.
Yup. Check the first result here As for the GPU: I've got a 17" HP Pavilion ZD8228EA laptop here, with an old P4 @ 3GHz, and a lowly 256MB ATI X600 in it. Yet I can still play (non-intensive) FPS games So... even though it's an on-board solution... the Intel X3100 in the Acer 5920 Gemstone should be more than adequate for RTS games
I'm not so sure about that, in my experience Intel integrated gfx are usually intended for desktop usage only, not 3D games. Most of the time games won't run at all or will have severe issues ... and that's if perf is any where near good enough in the first place (which is rare). It just isn't worth Intel's time optimising drivers for speed and compatibility, unlike ATi & nVidia. If you want to play any 3D games I'd definitely suggest gfx based on either ATi or nVidia but be prepared for the battery life to diminish more rapidly.
Bit's sister site - Trusted Reviews reviewed it back in May last year too I'm not saying it's the best laptop at that price, by any means. I've simply offered it as a viable option at the OP's price point. He'll have to wait for other suggestions... or do some hunting around for reviews of $1,000 alternatives himself [edit] I've just noticed Trusted Reviews review among those listed in your link! Sorry [/edit]
