What is necessary for great performance?

Ok, in looking at the possible specs of the new laptop (All Powerful? M17x2?), I'm realizing I have no idea how to manage the upgrades. I was looking at the M17 for a while, configuring a 3k+ laptop for the sake of doing so, hoping there was some way I could convince my grandfather to get me 'that one' for graduation. lol But now that this new thing is out, as is only natural, I want it. I'm trying to figure out to what extent I should upgrade it so as to achieve great, above average, won't notice much of a difference beyond ____ this, performance, if you catch my drift. I don't wanna shoot for the starts with quad this and mega that or whatever cause I don't want my family to disown me for asking lol but I want to get a feel for what's truly important and what exactly is 'worth' it.

As for my use, I play games like UT3 and TFC2, as well as some strategy games and other 1st person shooters. This laptop will be my college computer and a desktop replacement for me.

Right now I'm playing those games on a 6-7 year old, crappy dell, with 2.5G of ram, a 3.06 single core HD, a once or twice (since purchased) upgraded graphics card, I think it's a Radeon p.o.s. thing, I don't even remember. The games load slow, run at a pace where half the time I don't even know what killed me, etc etc. I wanna be rid of these problems permanently, regardless of what game I decide to play, etc.

I'm not going to ask specific questions, because when I ask for just a general summary in addition to the questions, people only ever answer the questions.

I want to know at least one (maybe two or three) options that are 'worth' upgrading to in each of the following categories:

Processor:

Memory:

Hard Drive:

Graphics Card(s):

Give me sort of a 'doable' 'above average' and 'somewhat unnecessary' option for those categories. I'm not super crazy extreme gamer, and since it's coming down to $$$, I'm not going to pretend I am lol but I do play games.

 

processor: obviously, more cores at a faster speed are better. if you're on a budget, a fast dualcore is the smarter choice than a slow quadcore.

memory: anything above 4GB is overkill. if you're buying from AW, get 1GB stock and upgrade yourself, you'll save at least 100-200$.

hard drive: mechanical discs are the way to go here. while 7200rpm is a must, the capacity itself depends on your needs.

graphics card(s): all you can get. this is where you max out your budget. it may sound cliché, but bigger really is better.

 

whizzo hit the nail on the head.

I'll just stress getting as much as you can in the GPU department, if possible, the dual 280M GTX's in SLI.

Good luck convincing your grandfather to get you this!

 

why mechanical over SSD?

 

Cause he said this:

"I don't wanna shoot for the starts with quad this and mega that or whatever cause I don't want my family to disown me for asking lol but I want to get a feel for what's truly important and what exactly is 'worth' it."

 

lol believe me, I've contemplated an SSD for over a month now... but I think it's just too expensive to be worth it atm.. especially because it's going to be a gift...

 

Yeah, they are pricey still.

When you do have enough money on your own they are very nice.

They don't do anything for gaming anyway accept loading cut-scenes faster etc.

Once you go SSD you never.......well, you get the idea.

 

lol - you know how many times i had to read this from you and his post before i understood...ugh...lol

makes sense now.

and yes, once you go SSD, you never...well you know...

 

I'll ask him lol maybe I can get him on the 'cooler, wastes less battery' thing... haha... "Please!!! I'll get 15 minutes more battery life with this $500 upgrade!!!!"

 

This has been fun! :laugh: