G72GX or similar

[Robscure]

I have been searching around for laptops and trying to find the best quality-price-performance ratio...

I came across G72GX and read that someone got it on sale for $1000 at Best Buy (USA)

I have been searching google for any place in the UK that sells it but can't find it

I'm wondering if there are any similar laptops with good performance for gaming for a good price.

I want it to be able to run games such as Lord of the Rings Online, no larger than 16" screen, and the resolution shouldn't be too high (then it requires more power and costs more)

So something that's not on the enthusiast level but perhaps will still perform smoothly, it doesn't have to be ULTRA setting Crysis quality @ 1680+ resolution

So... any ideas?

Thanks

[Robscure]

What do you think about this one

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_...29/version.asp

It has a NVIDIA GeForce GT 240M
Which got this review:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-...M.17654.0.html

It seems to be a decent GPU for the price...

I'm not sure if I can get a 280M laptop for a similar price

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would say the best GPU in your price range would be the HD4650 DDR3 or the faster HD4650 GDDR3.

Check this thread out:

http://forums.hexus.net/small-form-f...aming-etc.html

These are the best deals I can find currently for under £650:

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...56957&source=3

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...47175&source=3

This notebook for around £750 seems to have the fastest GDDR3 version of the HD4650:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Samsu...UK/version.asp

IIRC,this Dell for around £800 has the GDDR3 version of the HD4650 and also has the latest mobile Core i7 processor:

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dells...65207ffac70a80

[Robscure]

I would say the best GPU in your price range would be the HD4650 DDR3 or the faster HD4650 GDDR3.

Check this thread out:

http://forums.hexus.net/small-form-f...aming-etc.html

These are the best deals I can find currently for under £650:

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...56957&source=3

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...47175&source=3

This notebook for around £750 seems to have the fastest GDDR3 version of the HD4650:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Samsu...UK/version.asp

IIRC,this Dell for around £800 has the GDDR3 version of the HD4650 and also has the latest mobile Core i7 processor:

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dells...65207ffac70a80

Thanks, but that 4650 is only 512mb... I thought I saw a few laptops with 1gb cards for around the same price...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks, but that 4650 is only 512mb... I thought I saw a few laptops with 1gb cards for around the same price...

1GB makes no difference as the GPUs in any card under a 9800GT,HD4830 or HD4770 are just too weak to be able to effectively use the memory. This is compounded by the fact that many of the 1GB cards have slow DDR2 or GDDR2 RAM. Remember that 512MB of faster RAM like DDR3 or GDDR3 will improve framerates more than 1GB of slower RAM like DDR2 or GDDR2. You will have to check this carefully otherwise the graphics cards will be crippled due to lack of memory bandwidth.

The last two laptops have 1GB HD4650 cards and more important have GDDR3 RAM which is faster than DDR3.

The HD4650 DDR3 and GDDR3 are the fastest cards you can get in reasonably priced notebooks.

I would check this website which has current notebook graphics cards listed in order of increasing performance form the bottom:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI...0.13883.0.html

Look at the game benchmarks at the bottom of each page. The GT240 is absolutely destroyed by the HD4650 DDR3 and GDDR3 in a demanding game like Crysis. The card which is used is an HD4650 DDR3 since it has an 800MHZ memory clock.

[Robscure]

What do you think about this one?

http://www.simplyacer.com/Product/id/449063

I've been searching for hours, I think this looks like the best deal yet...

It seems that this 9600m GS scored about 50 fps on Crysis benchmark

I have since been trying to find the ACER Aspire 6930G which has 9600GT (1gb) in it, but am having no luck...

[EDIT]

I can't find much info on this GPU but this is about £100 cheaper and seems similar in specs... http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169124 but the GPU... ◦NVIDIA GeForce G102M - 512MB

[EDIT 2]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168610 this has the GT 120m http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-...M.14953.0.html which scored quite high... but they said CoD5 was "barely playable"? Yet Crysis with a weaker 9600m GS scored well... unless 9600m is meant to be better than the GT 120m but I don't think so...

?? Thanks

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The HD4650 DDR3 is signifcantly faster than either the 9600m GS or G102M!!

The 9600M GS scores under 15FPS at 800x600 on high settings:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-...GS.9450.0.html

This has 32 stream processors. The card is slower than a desktop 9500GT due to lower clocks.

The G102M scores 6FPS at similar settings:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-...M.16313.0.html

This has 16 stream processors. This is slower than a 9600M GS.

The Mobility HD4650 DDR3 scores 23FPS at the same settings:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI...0.13883.0.html

This has 320 stream processors which is roughly equivalent to 64 Nvidia stream processors.

[Robscure]

The HD4650 DDR3 is signifcantly faster than either the 9600m GS or G102M!!

The 9600M GS scores under 15FPS at 800x600 on high settings:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-...GS.9450.0.html

This has 32 stream processors.

The G102M scores 6FPS at similar settings:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-...M.16313.0.html

This has 16 stream processors

The Mobility HD4650 DDR3 scores 23FPS at the same settings:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI...0.13883.0.html

This has 320 stream processors which is roughly equivalent to 64 Nvidia stream processors.

Can you please help me by linking me to a laptop which has the HD4650 DDR3 for under £500?

I've been searching for hours and I'm at the end of my wits, I'd appreciate it

Thank you

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Now you say £500!!

The notebook you linked to is around £590 so I assumed you had a £600 budget. Also you said 1000USD which is around £600! Moose get easily confused by such things!!

This is the best I can do for £550:

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...47175&source=3

[Robscure]

Now you say £500!!

The notebook you linked to is around £590 so I assumed you had a £600 budget. Also you said 1000USD which is around £600! Moose get easily confused by such things!!

This is the best I can do for £550:

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...47175&source=3

Thanks... That's the one I found, are you sure it is the GDDR3 version? All it says is: "512MB ATi Mobility Radeon HD4650 Graphics"

Is there any place that I could possibly one one of these GDDR3's for cheaper? Thanks a lot for your help Moose

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It is the DDR3 version not the GDDR3 version!! Why do companies need to do such things!!
Even with the desktop HD4670 you get DDR3 and faster GDDR3 versions.

If you go onto this page it seems to list the HD4650 as a DDR3 version:

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...gle&KEY=506279

The GDDR3 version seems to be on the more expensive notebooks I listed but the website I linked to tested the DDR3 version so this is roughly the performance you should hopefully get!

[Robscure]

It is the DDR3 version not the GDDR3 version!! Why do companies need to do such things!!
Even with the desktop HD4670 you get DDR3 and faster GDDR3 versions.

If you go onto this page it seems to list the HD4650 as a DDR3 version:

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...gle&KEY=506279

The GDDR3 version seems to be on the more expensive notebooks I listed but the website I linked to tested the DDR3 version so this is roughly the performance you should hopefully get!

Thanks again,

Well my wife would like to play Lord of the Rings Online with me until we can move out of this flat and have room for a second desktop, but she doesn't want to spend so much... She thinks that the £400 price-tag is more reasonable on this one http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169124

In your opinion, do you think that will run the video game? It doesn't matter how pretty it looks, as long as the gameplay is smooth... Say 1024x768 medium-high settings...

It has the 102m, which you said was like half the power as the GDDR3 4650. I think the GDDR3 4650 will be in laptops over £600, like you said... And an extra £150 to upgrade to the DDR3 4650 doesn't seem worth it, you're paying £150 for a slightly better card, that's how much a GTX2x costs (I think)

Also, while we're on this subject... Is it worth investing in one of the laptop coolers that sit under the laptop? If we're playing for a few hours, I don't want the laptop to get loud and hot.

Any other suggestions?

[edit]

I forgot about this one http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169125

It's slightly cheaper than the one with the 102m and it has a ◦ATI Radeon HD4570

What do you think? lol

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

IMHO,the graphics chip either tends to be soldiered into the motherboard and even if it is a removable module they are darn hard to get hold off. Hence I always try to get the best graphics chip I can afford if I intend to get a notebook for any sort of relatively modern gaming. Things like the CPU,RAM and hard disk on the other hand can be upgraded usually.

Looking at the specs of a G102M it looks very similar to the 16 shader version of the desktop 8400GS:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-...M.16313.0.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_8_Series

A PCI 8400GS does not seem to run the The Lord of the Rings Online very well:

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?p=3979063

The HD4570 would be a better chip if it was the DDR3 version but the Acer seems to have DDR2 RAM.

If you intend to keep the notebook a few years then I would go for a better graphics chip.

[Robscure]

IMHO,the graphics chip either tends to be soldiered into the motherboard and even if it is a removable module they are darn hard to get hold off. Hence I always try to get the best graphics chip I can afford if I intend to get a notebook for any sort of relatively modern gaming. Things like the CPU,RAM and hard disk on the other hand can be upgraded usually.

Looking at the specs of a G102M it looks very similar to the 16 shader version of the desktop 8400GS:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-...M.16313.0.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_8_Series

A PCI 8400GS does not seem to run the The Lord of the Rings Online very well:

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?p=3979063

The HD4570 would be a better chip if it was the DDR3 version but the Acer seems to have DDR2 RAM.

If you intend to keep the notebook a few years then I would go for a better graphics chip.

Thanks for all of your help one last time

We decided to get this one http://go.hexus.net/?id=372X102514&u...oduct%2F169125

We got a mousepad, mouse, keyboard (for my desktop), and a laptop cooler all for £433... I'm happy with the price and I just hope this performs to our standards. I'll write a review after we receive it (sometime this week hopefully)