R1/R2 Thoughts

The story goes: I was suffering with a first generation MacBook Pro, and was rarely home. That being said, I bought an m11x R1, but found that it was not powerful enough for my full-time gaming. Sold that to a friend, and bought an m17x - powerful enough, but too bulky for lap use (as it's a desktop replacement). Eventually, I built a new desktop, and as a result the m17x was too much. I ended up with a Google CR-48, sold m17x, but CR-48 isn't enough power (like, lags when browsing). Since I can only use the desktop on the weekends, I need something to bridge the gap til I move out and can be buddies with my desktop everyday (sometime between August and September).

I'm looking to get an m11x once again - one of my original gripes was the hinge breakdown, as I was one of the many who had to get replacements. That finally seems to be rectified, so I'm more confident in purchasing one.

I doubt I would be playing anything other than Source engine games (TF2/L4D/Portal 2), Minecraft and infrequently SC2. As long as I'm getting high framerates, settings don't really matter (but obviously, higher settings are better). I remember TF2 didn't particularly fair very well on my R1 SU7300, is that the case with the R2 as well?

Would I be better off with an R2 from the outlet, or a new R1? I'd like to keep it on the cheap, which is why I'm not getting an m14x. Around $800 or lower would be my preference. Real world feedback from R2 owners would be great as well.

 

I owned and used both R1 and R2 and I can tell you, having modded and overclocked both, the R2 is faster and can touch an R3 in performance. All those games you listed run on the R1 but better on the r2.

 

The R2 definitely seems the way to go if I can get it for a reasonable price. Looking at some YouTube videos, the performance is drastically better on the R2.

Time to check the NBR Marketplace!

 

You shouldn't have had any problems at all with TF2 on your R1, sure you weren't using integrated graphics?

Also everything Source related runs extremely well on the R1 including Portal 2.

 

My friend with an R1 can run Portal 1 on the integrated on his M11x well. I expect Portal 2 and the likes to run great on an M11x R2 descrete. As for TF2 not running well, I bet you were on integrated.

 

Absolutely positive that I was not on integrated. I'm talking infrequent sags into the high 20s on fairly high settings, not unplayable framerate lag.

 

Looks like you have wasted some time and money.

We can give you advices and such, but you know best what kind of computer you need and should get. Do a search on computer specs, etc before purchasing whether they would fit your needs or not.

As for light gaming, my R1 is doing sufficiently well, that includes most steam games such as TF2, L4D2, etc. It also runs SC2 quite well.

I hope your next purchase isn't something to buy to sell right away. Do a bit of searching and thinking before purchasing a computer. It really saves money and time.

As for an outlet item, I wouldn't personally suggest using it since I'm all against using a used anything, but if it is OK with you, go right ahead. It's cheaper and there is a coupon 20% off of outlet items flying around in this forum.