Computer Noob Needs Help :)

[Fireflyb 920]

Basically, I'm headed off to college and am curious to be able to keep up with wurm while I'm there. I'm a complete and utter noob at shopping for computers and laptops, which is why I'm making this thread...

Here's what I've been playing on (my desktop):

Win7

Processor AMD Athlon II X4 630 Processor, 2800 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)

Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB

ATI Radeon HD 5670

Adapter RAM 1.00 GB (1,073,741,824 bytes)

I'm able to play wurm relatively well.. on lowest settings i can run like 3 clients at once with little problems (and high FPS), and can easily run one client with medium/high settings and 30-40 FPS (depending on conditions or fog ;D)

Now, here are a few laptops I've taken an interest in, and am basically wondering if any of you computer-savvies can help determine how well one of these will be able to run Wurm, or if it's a good idea at all.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246493

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215404

The prices i'm looking for are anywhere from $700-900, with 900 bucks being "this had better be a damn good system for the price".

Honestly I'm just putting those 2 links there to make it look like I have a clue about what I'm talking about, but the reviews of the Acer seemed pretty favorable, and the lenovo is a similar price with similar but a bit better specs (from what I can tell). Mainly my issue is if the CPU and GPU are the "right" ones to be able to run Wurm.

If you can even just give me a little push in the right direction or a hint from past experience (or anything!), that'd be awesome

Thanks!

[Guest Docterchese]

Both would confidently be able to run Wurm. Not as well as a desktop though as laptop graphics aren't that good, though the processors are up to scratch and they both have plenty of RAM.

[Madt 1,178]

With $900 you could get an absoloutely amazing desktop PC, one that would run wurm far better than your current system.

Is laptop the only option?

[Klaa 4,872]

Either laptop is capable of running Wurm, and of the two of them Id definitely go for the Lenovo. Although, neither are brands Ive had much familarity with.

Aye getting a laptop for college can be a great idea simply for the mobility it allows, and you will most likely be able to bring the or a desktop, depending on your living arrangements. Dont forget to pick up a couple flash thumb drives as well, at least 16GB can be affordable and roomy enough.

[Xallo 2,599]

A major thing to look for while searching for a laptop is a good Dedicated Video Card. Otherwise, you'll end up with some crappy Intel HD Graphics that cause far too many problems for most games you try to play. Another thing you should search for is a decent speed of RAM, DDR3 or higher, as this will help your GPU make up for the lack of a fully powerful desktop version of the card. I'd say for the CPU, anything that's multi-core, 4 or more, and at least 2.5Ghz or so. On a Laptop I wouldn't expect to be able to run 20 programs at once, but you can confidently run a few at once, even a game like Wurm and a few things on Firefox, iTunes/WInAMP, etc.

Here's what I found.

Only downside is the screen isn't the largest I've seen for a Laptop (so no 1080p), but it's not too bad. I'm sure you can run a 720p resolution and do just fine for anything you attempt to play, as well as any university work.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16834246628

$849.99

Intel Core i7-3610QM 2.3GHz CPU

6GB DDR3 RAM

750GB HDD

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M GPU

15.6" @ 1366 x 768 Resolution

Has a few external video ports such as HMDI and VGA for viewing on another monitor, projector, etc.

Personally, I've never had or used a Lenovo before, but they look quite good. I'm an Asus person myself, but they're far too expensive for what you're looking for.

Edited August 16, 2012 by Xallo

[tealc 149]

Any laptop with an NVidia GPU should run wurm pretty well, specially if they also have dual/quad core processor.

I am just not sure on Wurm compatibility with the new Optimus system, hopefully the NVidia drivers will recognise Wurm calling for much power on the OpenGL system and kick in the power.

[Klaa 4,872]

Heh had a laptop, desktop replacement model, with a huge screen once... pain in the ass. Had to use a backpack to carry it around, no computer case could fit it.

Hot as hell on the lap too, thing was a beast. Fortunately the keyboard was detachable and worked wirelessly. Despite Toshiba support (yuck) and cooling issues, overall it was awesome in 2003:

http://www.pcworld.com/product/14451/toshiba_satellite_1955s801.html

EDIT: Aye so far Nvidia has been awesome for OpenGL support, ATI sucks by comparison.

Edited August 16, 2012 by Klaa

[whykillme 1,621]

Hard Drive

HDD 1TB HDD RPM 5400rpm

Why do they even sell stuff at 5400 RPM? Thats just to low.

Edited August 16, 2012 by whykillme

[tealc 149]

Hard Drive

HDD 1TB HDD RPM 5400rpm

Why do they even sell stuff at 5400 RPM? Thats just to low.

Because a 5400rpm drive draws a lot less power than a 7200rpm, always good for a multi cored power munching laptop, now if they could come up with a variable speed harddrive that switched speeds on mains/battery power that would be much better.

[Xallo 2,599]

A 7200RPM drive isn't necessarily needed on a Laptop for a few reasons, so don't let that hinder your buying of a good system. Running at 5400RPM saves the Laptop a bit of power over time, and there is less wear and tear on the drive so it lasts longer. I'd imagine it be a bit more quiet, and run a lot more cooler running 2000PM slower. The difference is hardly noticeable unless you plan on using some sort of music or video editor where it keeps needing to take samples from the drive, or if you plan on saving 4GB files very frequently. As I said before, it's probably not going to be noticeable because most of what you do is going to be more CPU or RAM intensive until you actually get around to saving the work you're doing.

[Hordern 2,177]

Not looked at the above specs, but thought I'd throw in the machine I use: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-RV511-Laptop-2-66GHz-Premium/dp/B004NSUG0E I did however get it with an Nvidia graphics card to replace the standard Intel chip.

I bought it just about 2 years ago and it's still flying along. I limit my clients to 40 FPS, so not sure what it would get unlimited, but I can run about 3 clients and only see it dip below 40 if I'm doing a lot of moving. I have run at most... I think it was 5, perhaps 6 clients at once. Obviously I wasn't really 'playing' them all at the time (some were preaching, so on and so forth) and I have seperate graphics set ups etc for each of my accounts, so the ones I play more are prettier, my GM account has a long draw distance for screengrabs etc. but all very playable.

The link I provided is GBP, that equates to about $950, however, I know you could find it for less with a bit of hunting because I paid less than £599.99 when I bought mine 2 years ago.

[Fireflyb 920]

Thanks a TON for all your input, everyone who posted.

A 7200RPM drive isn't necessarily needed on a Laptop for a few reasons, so don't let that hinder your buying of a good system. Running at 5400RPM saves the Laptop a bit of power over time, and there is less wear and tear on the drive so it lasts longer. I'd imagine it be a bit more quiet, and run a lot more cooler running 2000PM slower. The difference is hardly noticeable unless you plan on using some sort of music or video editor where it keeps needing to take samples from the drive, or if you plan on saving 4GB files very frequently. As I said before, it's probably not going to be noticeable because most of what you do is going to be more CPU or RAM intensive until you actually get around to saving the work you're doing.

The thing with the 5400 rpm was mentioned by someone in the review of the Acer, but didn't seem to be a big issue.

With $900 you could get an absoloutely amazing desktop PC, one that would run wurm far better than your current system.

Is laptop the only option?

The idea is to get a laptop, yeah.

A major thing to look for while searching for a laptop is a good Dedicated Video Card. Otherwise, you'll end up with some crappy Intel HD Graphics that cause far too many problems for most games you try to play. Another thing you should search for is a decent speed of RAM, DDR3 or higher, as this will help your GPU make up for the lack of a fully powerful desktop version of the card. I'd say for the CPU, anything that's multi-core, 4 or more, and at least 2.5Ghz or so. On a Laptop I wouldn't expect to be able to run 20 programs at once, but you can confidently run a few at once, even a game like Wurm and a few things on Firefox, iTunes/WInAMP, etc.

Here's what I found.

Only downside is the screen isn't the largest I've seen for a Laptop (so no 1080p), but it's not too bad. I'm sure you can run a 720p resolution and do just fine for anything you attempt to play, as well as any university work.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16834246628

$849.99

Intel Core i7-3610QM 2.3GHz CPU

6GB DDR3 RAM

750GB HDD

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M GPU

15.6" @ 1366 x 768 Resolution

Has a few external video ports such as HMDI and VGA for viewing on another monitor, projector, etc.

Personally, I've never had or used a Lenovo before, but they look quite good. I'm an Asus person myself, but they're far too expensive for what you're looking for.

Thanks for the link Yeah I had been considering Asus, but my dad figured they'd be more expensive, and his Asus laptop isn't performing at what he'd have preferred (I tested Wurm on it, runs at like max 20 fps at the lowest settings.)

For reference, his laptop runs on Win7, with a GT 540M card, core i7 intel 2670M (or something) with 2.2ghz, and 6gb RAM.

Edited August 17, 2012 by Fireflyb

[ZarmaZarma 192]

I would recommend the laptop Xallo posted. Asus makes very good laptops, especially ones capable of gaming. I have a friend that has a very competent one, capable of running Crisis and other such games big titles on medium to high settings. I'm quite impressed with it.

Intel cores clocked lower than AMD ones will run much better, and the mobile i7's pack a hell of a punch.

Also, the 660m will run a lot better than the 540m, as the 660 isn't in the budget range.

For instance, an Nvidia GTX 420 will perform much worse than a GTX 460, which will perform worse than the GTX 470, 480, and so on.

To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, the Nvidia GT 540 scores a 725 on the passmark test, while the 660m scores a 1528. That means almost twice as much performance. It wouldn't double your frame rate, but the raw strength in the 660 is much greater than that in the 540.

Furthermore, the i7-3610 is a third generation i7, while your fathers is a second. The i7-2640M scores a 4,067, while the i7-3610QM scores more twice that, at 8,382. I'm fairly sure that generation also underwent a die shrink from 28nm to 22nm or something, which essentially translates to better power performance and a more efficient processor.

The 6gb of DDR3 ram is more than enough for any modern video games and most other general-user applications.

With a graphics card stronger than a 9600 GT, and a processor stronger than AMD Flagship 8150 FX, I'd say you're set with that laptop. Just looking at it I can tell it's quite powerful.

For reference, your processor scored 3,247. Your graphics cards scored 1,234. Both the processor and the graphics card in that laptop should be more powerful than the ones you currently own- especially in video games, as intel has a consistently better architecture than AMD.

Edited August 17, 2012 by ZarmaZarma

[Klaa 4,872]

Wow Zarma went all out reviewing the hardware specs

Hopefully it didnt scare you off; however, he did a pretty concise and nuts-n-bolts breakdown of what a techy gamer looks for in gaming laptops. A desktop one can build on their own; though, laptop-wise, typically worth it to just buy a prebuilt.

Building laptops is a whole nother level. Just dismantling one is bad enough.

Edited August 17, 2012 by Klaa

[BrQQQ 2,854]

I think the laptop Xallo posted is a great one.

I don't think you should look much at the brand of the laptop. It doesn't really mean much when people say 'my friend/brother/mother had an Acer but it was awful so don't buy an Acer'. Instead look for professional reviews and some customer reviews of a laptop to see if it has any issues or other things you should know.

[Fireflyb 920]

So glad I posted here... feeling very confident with the laptop Xallo posted and all the helpful comments My dad took special interest in your post, Zarma, lol. It seems that the Lenovo will certainly be able to fit the needs, so while my parents talk about it (they're helping to pay for it so are the final deciders ), I'm feeling reassured that this thing will be fine and maybe better than fine.

And yeah, I know the "my dad didn't like his Asus so I won't buy one" thing isn't exactly logical, but I just figured I'd veer away from them and look at other options first.

Also the price isn't too bad, because there's a cut to the 2-year warranty so that it's almost the same price as the 1-year, which takes like 40-50 bucks off the "subtotal". Also, we still have Windows home office 2007, which can still be used on one more computer, so should be covered for that as well.

Thanks again! Loads of useful information here, makes this so much easier, lol.

Edit: I did go out and punch that Lenovo (and the Acer which has similar specs) into Google for some reviews, and the majority seemed very impressed with its ability to run games and the speed of the system itself. One thing that was mentioned a couple times was that the fans/cooling wasn't great, but most people didn't seem to even mention that.

Also the resolution had a few people concerned, but it's the same as my dad's laptop (the screen size as well) and I'm comfortable with his, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Edited August 17, 2012 by Fireflyb

[Jovan 20]

if cooling is a concern. you can get little platforms with fans that sit on your desk and the laptop sits on it, and powers it by USB. they are not too practical to carry around. but great in the dorm room. should solve the cooling issue by moving the air our from under the machine. works great on my older acer