Is the 8400GS a good card?

I purchased the M1330 a few days ago and here are my specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo T8300(2.4GHz, 800Mhz, 3M L2 Cache)
4GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm
128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
250G 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive

i was wondering if this toy would be able to play newer games? I have been reading on various sites about the 8400GS and people arent too fond of that card. Any ideas?

 

It will be able to play most of the recent games (like COD4) on low-med settings, depending on your resolution. But I wouldn't do major gaming on the card with newer games.

 

Which newer games? You'll have to play most games at medium-low settings.

 

it will play new games decently on low-med and will be struggling to run next years games on low.

 

I mean games like lets say crysis. I have a custom built computer right now, it has an older card, ati radeon 9700. The card itself, i mean i can play most games that dont require pixel shader 3.0 cause the card has 2.0 but i'd like to get a decent frame rate out of it.

The only game i play usually on my laptop is WoW, i play on medium settings with like 30-40 fps. What can i expect with this card?

 

It will run WoW easily

here's a good read on the 8400m gs, though the drivers used are a bit dated http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4223

Crysis runs on my laptop on the lowest settings at like 20-30 fps

 

It's a 'good enough' card. I can play UT3 at lowest, FEAR at medium for example. I also play DMC4, another new game.

I played WoW on here a few weeks back, runs perfect on default settings at native resolution. Same applies to my preference, Final Fantasy XI (at highest).

It won't play Crysis, it won't play UT3 with the graphics maxxed at native resolution. If you can get an 8600m, go for it. But assumuing you want a 13", the 8400m is fine for basically any game, even new games if you're willing to drop down the settings. Remember that even lower resolutions like 768x480 (a nice low, widescreen resolution which I use on demanding games) still looks very nice on such a small screen.

 

Hey Jake, just a question, what are you average fps on DMC4 with the 8400gs? And what settings? Thanks.

 

crysis:
8400 all low
8600 medium settings

 

At 768x480 (which I stress looks nice on a 13" screen), mostly a constant 60fps w/ Vsync and Triple buffer enabled. I'm well chuffed. It's playable a higher resolutions (maybe even native) though. But 768x480 looks so good that I'd rather use that and have near-perfect framerate. As I say, the 8400m is nice, if you're prepared to make a few compromises.

@paper_wastage - I'll give Crysis a go then! Not actually tried it tbh.