Best possible gaming choice

After some time I narrowed my choices accordingly to my budge. There are few possible choices.
My current laptop specs are:
Intel Pentium C2D P7450 2.13ghz, 4GB ddr3,ati hd4650 1gb gddr3, 500gb HDD 7200rpm

Possible choices:
TOSHIBA - L650-14G Satellite
Intel Core i3-330M (2.13 GHz) - HDD 320GB (5400 rpm) SATA - 4GB DDR3 (1066 MHz) - ATI Mobility Radeon HD5650 1GB, 15.6 inch = 650 euro approx 800$

TOSHIBA SATELLITE L650D-10H
AMD Turion II Dual-Core Mobile P520 (2.30 GHz) - RAM 4 GB - Hard disk 320 GB (5.400 rpm) S-ATA - Schermo 15,6" HD LED - Scheda grafica ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 = 600euro approx 730$

HEWLETT PACKARD PAVILION DV6-3033EL
AMD Phenom II Quad-Core P920 - RAM 4GB - Hard Disk 500GB - Schermo 15,6" - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 1 GB DDR3 = 700 euro approx 850$

SONY VAIO VPC-EF2S1E/BI
Phenom II P820 / 1.8 GHz - RAM 4 GB - HDD 500 GB - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM - Mobility Radeon HD 5650 = 700 euro approx 850$


with what of these laptops would I gain biggest upgrade considering my current notebook? How are i3 330M, AMD phenom 2 quad core p920 compared to my intel core 2duo 7450 2x 2.13. by notebookcheck.net quad core is even weaker then p7450. main task would be gaming, wow specifically, and since wow is a processor intense game should i notice a major difference?

 

I'd go with the HP DV6. The Quad should help as just about all the games are now supporting multi-threading.

I would also consider a refurbished, maybe you can find a bonafide intel quad + nvidia GTX 260M for around that price.

 

im just curious how come is phenom 2 quad located lower then p7540 at notebookcheck.net mobile processor list?

 

This is the choice I would go with. The AMD quad in the DV6 is only 1.6GHz, the i3-330 destroys it. Period. The i3 uses way less power, and even beats the P920 in some multi-threaded apps.

That's because it is slower for WoW and pretty much everything else. The hype around multi-core gaming is still just mostly that: hype. Engines can use more than one core, but one fast core will still beat 4 slow ones in pretty much any engine.

 

+1 on the Toshiba L650-14G Satellite. It's cheap, lower power consumption compared to the quad and has similar/better performance.

 

will i notice the difference between p7450 and i3-330M? just wanted to know if its worth the hassle

 

the P7450 will not beat the AMD N920... the AMD will toast the core i3 also... get the hp.

 

+1 for the Toshiba L650-14G Satellite, the new amd triple and quad cores are NO better then the last gen c2d...

 

one say i3m others phenom x4. why would i take n920 when its located so low on benchmark list. just want to know ur reasons sean

 

What are you basing this on? The i3 beats the N920 in single and be very close in multi-threaded apps.

The N920 no L3 cache at all, and is only 1.6GHz. The arrandale core has a higher IPC and is clocked higher.

The OP asked about gaming only, and in gaming there's no comparison.

 

None of the current AMD laptop CPUs are faster than the slowest Intel i3... Kind of sad really... And Intel already has their next generation Sandy Bridge CPUs coming out in a few months.

 

so i should notice difference between i3 and my current p7450? i mean is it worth the hassle to get another comp in which are

hd 5650> hd 4650
i3 330m>p7450

are those newer components that much powerful then older ones? talking about WoW specifically. Ive seen on notebookcheck that 5650 performs 31% faster then in 4650 in WoW so i should notice quite a difference. What do you think?

 

I don't play WoW, but I'm pretty sure the requirements aren't that high. Yes the 5650 is more powerful, but I don't know how much of a difference it will make if WoW is your only concern. The i330 is more powerful than the p7450, but I doubt the CPU is your bottleneck, so once again, I don't think it will make much of a difference for you. Unless you're itching to try something besides WoW, I'd wait another year for the SB CPUs and 6xxx series GPUs to come out before you upgrade your laptop, your current one isn't that old, and the specs of the new one your considering aren't that much better.

 

Toshiba notebooks do not allow the use of AMDs monthly mobile driver updates. For me, that's pretty much enough to keep me away from Toshiba as a gaming platform. The same is true for Sony.

Because you want this machine to be gaming focused, I would thus recommend the HP system.

 

there is a thing about WoWs requirements. My intel 2.4ghz and 9600pro could run WoW at highest settings in 40man raids with absolutely no problem. Same computer could not run current wow with 5 fps.

i know cpu is not bottleneck but it should boost up the performance if its better. there are few zones in wow that desecrate my hd4650. should be better with a bit better specs. and cataclysm is coming with new graphic updates and stuff so im concerned current laptop will not be able to run in smoothly at high settings 1366x768 9shadows off ofc)

 

Well, the laptop you're looking at with the 5650 and i3 isn't that much more powerful than the 4650 and C2D, so if you're having framerates below 10, the new one won't get you to 20. I didn't think WoW was that demanding, but you might have to look at something more powerful if that's the case.

 

im having 60fps almost everywhere. on crowded places 25. and sometimes in raid it gets me below 20. so new specs should push that few fps-es that im missing for fluent gameplay even then.

also this came up

LENOVO IdeaPad Y560 15.6" TN+Film (1366x768) TFT, Core i3 Mobile 330M DDR3 SDRAM 3GB, DVD±RW, ATI Mobility Radeon HD5730 1GB;

is that better then the previous laptops? has more powerful graph but 1GB less

 

Sorry, misunderstood the last post. Yes, if you're looking for a little extra boost then it will help. However, it gives you little headroom for the next time they upgrade WoW.

I had bought that laptop (Y560) before I got the Dell. Stay Away. It has literally the worst screen I've ever used, and I've used a lot of laptops. The dithering is so bad it looks like an old TV with bad reception, and the gradients, contrast, and color are all very poor.

I returned it to get the Dell XPS, which was cheaper when equipped with similar hardware, has better build quality, more options (backlight keyboard, express card, firewire, bluetooth, etc), and much higher quality higher res display.

The ASUS N61Jq is another good multimedia laptop with similar specs. Also, the Asus G-series laptops and the high-end Clevo's are great if gaming is your main concern, though they're big and ugly compared to other laptops out there. The HP Envy is another good choice, but it's a bit more expensive than the others.

 

ty for extensive answers seeker moc. too bad . i was really looking forward to 5730 in there. as none of the notebooks in my range doesnt have anything better then gt330 or 5650

 

What's your range (price, size, needs, etc)? Post it over in the What Notebook Should I Buy? board, there may be other laptops out there that you haven't seen yet that are better.

 

i did. problem is i am from europe. laptops are a bit more expensive then in USA. roughly my budget is 720 euro. about 950$

 

Oh... That's cutting it close for anything better than a 5650, even in the US. I lived in Germany for a few years, so I know how insane European taxes are... If that's the case, either save up a bit and wait it out with your current one, or get the i3/5650 you were looking at, with the understanding that while faster, it's not that much faster. Or you could look at some local sites and see if you can find a good deal on something refurbished.

 

well i was thinking about Amazon.com: ASUS G51VX-RX05 15.6-Inch Laptop (Refurbished): Gateway but if it comes faulty its really a hassle to return etc.

 

I'm putting my vote in for one of the N61 variants. I've been using an N61Jq which has been perfect. (Core i7 720, ATI 5730)

I know there are a couple that instead have Core i5 and an Nvidia 335 I believe.

 

think i7 and ati 5730 might be over my budget

 

Not really Amazon.com: A SUS N61JQ-X1 16-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Dark Brown): Electronics

The only problem (well not really a problem) with it is the 1366x768 screen, but if that doesn't bother you it's quite good.

 

now THAT is worth 900$. i would bought it asap but ill run into a few problems if i do:

1) if i order it from USA there is a 23% tax on it
2) it seems laptop is not available in EU for a reasonable price

I would buy this if someone that i know goes to USA and bring it back to me. that way i avoid unreasonably high taxes.

there is no other way im afraid. but its an awesome laptop

 

And they call us Americans criminals.

23% Tax?!

That's just insane. And I'm someone who lives closer to Montreal than any American city, and do a lot of border travel.

 

is there a particular need for a laptop? if you want a budget gaming system, you could easily build a desktop and buy a netbook.

i built my friend a desktop a month ago for $377 USD and some change and it was an athlon x2 2.9ghz cpu, ati 5670gpu, 250GB 7200RPM HDD. if you have a monitor, then i'd say shoot that route, it's much cheaper and you'd have access to more power for much cheaper. you could then buy a ~$300 USD netbook and save about ~$250 USD.

 

ye i really need laptop. i travel a lot. so desktop would be out of the question. guess im out off luck. there is no way to avoid customs. tried last year when a friend who lives in america sent it as a gift. on top of 800$ i payed for it i ended up with paying another 400$ bucks for it.

the only viable options is if one can come here and bring the laptop.

think there is no other way to prevent dudes at the customs opening the package and making me pay another 23% of the price. damn europe

 

i guess in the end, people really need to get on the ball about telling manufacturers support ONE type of mxm connector so the possibility of piecing together a notebook becomes much more accessible.