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Games Laptop Recommendation (Second Life?)

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Amelia Camelia
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Games Laptop Recommendation (Second Life?)

Post by Amelia Camelia » Mon, 23 Jul 2007 1:52 pm

Hello everyone,

I've been thinking about replacing my DELL Inspiron 630m for a while. It was a bad purchase! I've had it for about a year and it tells me that I need to replace the battery and the screen blanks out every now and then meaning I have to reboot!

I recently discovered Second Life (online graphics game) and would really like to play it but I don't think my laptop is good enough as it crashes every now and then and the graphics are very slow.

Can anyone recommend a good brand (I was thinking Sony Vaio or Toshiba) or even a good model for me? I think I want a laptop rather than a desktop because I just don't want the clutter of a desktop.

Or maybe just point me in the right direction in terms of what I should be looking out for in terms of specifications. I'm not very technical but I do find myself on the internet a lot!

Really appreciate any help!
Amelia :)

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Plavt
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Post by Plavt » Mon, 23 Jul 2007 3:21 pm

Hi A C,
I have recently been having a good deal of grief with and HP laptop and am now in the process of buying another after quite some research and the help of a friend who runs a local computer service/repair store.

The best appear to be Fujitsu-Siemens which are not cheap but at least they come with a three year warranty.

Samsung are very good to but very often for some unknown reason they have screens that are way too small (at least for my liking) 12" for example.

Another small company based here in Britain - Barking to be exact is Hi-Grade who make the Notino brand. Although the company is not as well known as the big players it has received numerous awards and reviews are favourable.

In the UK, all these companies have locally based technical support; I don not know about Singapore though maybe somebody local can fill you in on that.

Avoid Acer too their customer service sucks although that does seem to vary greatly depending on where in the world you live.

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Post by luxiana » Wed, 25 Jul 2007 10:34 am

gamers require the best... msot of the time the laptop have tremendous amount of power, are built like tanks and deliver graphics that are stunning because they have the latest cards.

and this comes at a price!!

one of the most "regarded" brand is europe is Alienware. I think it's a division of Dell but I am not too sure.

otherwise you can jsut take whatever brand you want as long as you get a good graphic card + a decent amount of ram. check how much heat is generated by the computer when set to "optimal performance" as computers have a tendency to reboot without notice when they are too hot...

as for the graphic cards: Ati mobility Radeon and Nvidia GeForce are supposed to be the best for gaming.

As for the Ram, 1 or 2go should do (go for a branded product...)


The best thing to do would be to check the reviews on the latest graphic cards so you can compare their performance.

I have an Acer Aspire. The graphic card is good, I got 2go Ram but you can fry an egg on the keyboard when you start a 3D game... rebooting is really annoying!! ;)
my website: free online game

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Post by muratkorman » Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:21 pm

If you would be spending hours on your laptop playing games, powerful graphics card, RAM and processor are required. Purchasing a well known brand costs more but provides better customer service and warranty. I have been using Acer recently. It was cheaper compared to other big brands having the same or less specs. For quality/price performance, I can suggest it. If you don't care about the budget, go for Sony, Toshiba or Fujitsu Siemens.
With my kind regards

Murat Korman

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prkravi
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Gaming

Post by prkravi » Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:29 pm

Check this out:
http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/product ... &cs=sgdhs1

Its got all that you need for True Gaming.
Core2 Duo 2.4 Ghz
Upto 4GB RAM
NVIDIA® GeForceTM Go 8600M GT with 256MB DDR2 dedicated graphic memory
17" Wide Screen.
And at a price that i feel is affordable for a machine of this sort.

Check out more here:
http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/notebooks/ ... 537,00.htm

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Post by Amelia Camelia » Wed, 25 Jul 2007 2:26 pm

hey!

Thanks for your replies...

The Dell looked really good. I checked it out and basically for around S$3k I can get

Intel Core Duo T7500 (2.2ghz)
4GB RAM
NVIDIA(R) GeForce(TM) 8600M GT with 256MB GDDR2
17" screen
Red colour!

There are 2 downsides...
1. It comes preloaded with Windows Vista which I know the game I want to play doesnt support, but I imagine it's not that difficult to buy Windows XP and install that instead...

2. I'm using a DELL notebook now, and it's pretty flaky. It's just over a year old and the battery is dead/needs replacing even though I hardly used it, the screen sometimes goes completely green and I have to reboot and I just get the overall impression that it's a bit rubbish really. After saying that it is one of the lower end notebooks (630m).

What are peoples' opinions on DELL?

I like that the graphics card is such a good one in the Inspiron 1720.

I've done some research and heard of Alienware which I don't think is available here, but people seem to like ASUS G1 and G2S but it's S$3988 I think. I wanted to stick closer to S$3k but I might be persuaded.

Am going to go to Funan this weekend and have a look at what's available because I don't think I can handle Sim Lim again!

Amelia :)
ps. Thanks for that last Top 5 Directx notebook link - will them out at Funan

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Post by Plavt » Wed, 25 Jul 2007 3:12 pm

Amelia,
Two things; beware of Dell's customer service, it is often the case that like many other companies they are happy to sell something and not so good when something goes amiss.

Secondly don't assume you will be able to run windows vista on the machine mentioned; it may not have the drivers for it.

Dell's antics here are an attempt to capture the market, something they are very good at here in the UK.

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Post by Amelia Camelia » Wed, 25 Jul 2007 3:37 pm

Hi Plavt,

Thanks for the reply.

Yes I am a bit wary about Dell... but I see you're having problems with an HP and I thought they were good!

I think you misread or maybe I wasn't clear enough...

I don't want Windows Vista! I'd rather have XP as the game I want to play doesn't run on Windows Vista I don't think...

Thanks again
A

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Post by Plavt » Wed, 25 Jul 2007 5:10 pm

Amelia Camelia wrote:Hi Plavt,

I think you misread or maybe I wasn't clear enough...

I don't want Windows Vista! I'd rather have XP as the game I want to play doesn't run on Windows Vista I don't think...

Thanks again
A
No, I didn't misread; a machine that comes pre-installed with Windows Vista might not be capable of running Windows XP; the hardware might not support it. Possibly you would have to download drivers from The Internet but that may be best avoided.

Hope this clarifies.

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Not publicity but....

Post by Asdracles » Wed, 25 Jul 2007 5:23 pm

I came from Spain to SG with an old Acer. Customer service there was good, but here sucked.... They "adviced" me to buy new adaptors, saying that was only a problem with adaptor. After breaking the 3rd one, went to another computer shop, and they checked that power supply was damaged, so any adaptor would have a real short-life

I bought an ASUS here, and only can speak good. Already went to Customer Service, and they were quick, helpful, .... Its not the cheaper brand, but I think its in a good position in the ratio price/quality.

So, I didnt buy the laptop for playing, and was 2K, but if you are up to 3K, Asus should have very good laptops, as mine is already near your specifications.

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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Wed, 25 Jul 2007 7:31 pm

If you order a Dell with Vista pre-installed, I was told my by customer service person at Dell that you can get a XP retro package from windows by just filling out some paperwork. I think almost anything that will run on Vista will run on XP but not necessarily the other way around.

I've got 3 Dell's at home, Inspiron 9300 17" & 4000 notebooks and a desktop. I've also got around 20 of them in the office including 2 or 3 notebooks as well (but not a desktop replacements like my big 9300). I've never had any problems with service as I always use a customer service point of contact.
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by Plavt » Wed, 25 Jul 2007 10:56 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote: I always use a customer service point of contact.
I doubt if you would have it as sweet using their telephone support as most home users would - hear plenty of complaints from other users here in the UK. :(

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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:18 pm

The smart man always finds out early on what works the best then sticks with the winner. I've always used a Customer Support/Sales person even before I bought my first office computer. I've learned long ago that when/if possible always deal with a human being with a name and a direct line who stand to profit by your continued business. Works for me! :wink:
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by Plavt » Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:29 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote:The smart man always finds out early on what works the best then sticks with the winner. I've always used a Customer Support/Sales person even before I bought my first office computer. I've learned long ago that when/if possible always deal with a human being with a name and a direct line who stand to profit by your continued business. Works for me! :wink:
That is not possible in the UK as Dell do not have any showrooms or local dealers authorized to carry out repairs on their behalf. Looks like you are not quite as smart as you thought. :P :tongue: :lol:

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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:38 am

We don't have showrooms or dealers here either. I originally just called them up and asked for a customer sales/support person to help me with my queries (this was as penang malaysia number where their factory is). I subsequently ordered through her rather than return to the website and ordering it there. I've been doing business this way with Dell now for close to 8 years now. My original CS girl as moved on to Large Corporate Sales but she intro'd me to one of her colleagues who has handled my purchases and queries ever since. I usually configure what I want online, save it and then email her the saved cart number and tell her to send me a quote without the shipping as I never pay shipping. So far so good. If I need tech support or repairs I call her and tell her to contact tech support or the repair centre and have them call me. Because it's her commissions, she endevours to take good care of me as who knows, one of these days I may be in a position to buy a whole network at one go. (Our new server running 2003 is also a Dell.)

Cultivating contacts is important for CRM types.
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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