Do you ever think about this?

Hey guys, does this ever happen to you?

You're deciding on a new laptop, narrow down your choices but one has a better GFX card than the other.

You like to play games, but at the same time you know they are kind of a "waste of time".

Do you buy the one with the sweet GFX card... or do you go for the slowpoke and hope it forces you to play less?



I'll make this a poll!



PS: My particular choice is between a GeForce GT335m (low battery life, heavier laptop) and a GeForce 310m (higher battery life, better looking laptop)

 

Lol I want performance. However, because I have a pretty high performance desktop (two actually), my only requirement was the ability to max out BF2 at a decent resolution, which my Vaio CW does easily. If a laptop can do that, there are numerous options for gaming at one's disposal.

 

I ask for performance as the highest priority. Probably will be different in the future. It's just that my past 2 laptops (Toshiba and an Acer) have been relatively low performance since I didn't understand the ins and outs of a laptop when I bought them, so I wanted to buy a laptop that was thin and could game very well. Battery life isn't that much of a concern for me, anything over 2 hours is good. Looks come last, as long as it doesn't look bad and isn't massive.

I think the next time I get a computer I'll get a 14.1" laptop that's thin and relatively low graphics performance. Basically throwing games out of the equation altogether, and I might get a desktop later on for that.

 

I'm going to get my game on one way or the other, so I'd rather kill two birds with one stone and get a gaming notebook and try to learn some self control.

 

Buy the laptop you need to play the games you want. Nothing is more irritating than thinking you won't play then try to play and its a slide show. I've gone through many laptop with a similar thought. But in the end if I'm gonna game, I get the performance.

 

I don't know about you guys, but I learn a lot playing video games. Statistical analysis, strategy, planning, tactics and history from the vast multitude of strategy games I play. So I can do at least two at one time... (I really recommend Hearts of Iron II).

But the entire thing of getting a worse graphics card will just cripple you later on, so you might as well purchase a decent card.

 

Lemme get this straight. You come to a gaming forum, presumably where gamers hang out, and ask us if we would prefer to intentionally gimp our gaming.

Do I have that right? 'Cuz that's kinda a foregone conclusion.

If gaming gets in the way of my, er, "professional" life (ha!), then chucking out the gaming computer isn't likely to be a good long-term solution. I'll find other things to waste time on.

 

I'd like a balance of both. So I just have a desktop.

 

I was actually considering between my G73 and the Asus N61JQ a couple of months ago, of which one to buy - I had an epiphany that I wanted the very best for that price range, and that I did not want the same to happen to my new laptop as it did with my Toshiba (got outdated very quickly). So game on for me. I nearly cried bullets when I saw Crysis maxed out, and smooth at the same time.

I also was considering building a desktop, but a laptop is so much better for the situation I am in (Limited space, the Corsair 800D is a MASSIVE case, and I could get a laptop that performed similarly to a desktop priced the same. It would have cost me well over $1500 AUD for an i7-920/930, 6GB's DDR3, and a 5770. And that's without the keyboard, mouse and monitor.

 

think of it like this, you need a certain amount of play everyday to stay happy, it's natural and healthy, it also relieves stress and allows your brain to recover after being stressed from study/work. a happy brain = better at studying/working

you want to be able to fill up that "play meter" as fast as possible so that you can be ready to study/work

so no, all that a less powerful gpu will do is
1. cause you more stress if it slows your game down, which will just leave you unsatisfied and end up making you game longer
2. not as good quality in textures/effects, which makes your overall gaming experience worse, so you don't get as much enjoyment out of the time that you actually do spend gaming, which means you aren't as satisfied after gaming, which could cause you to want to spend more time gaming,

these things can lead to a decrease in the quality of your study/work

 

I wouldn't vote for either of those options, both of them are too weak.

 

I like to game and also get work done, I'm trying to learn how to make CG atm and you need a powerhouse Video Card to be able to make good CG, game + learning can be attained too

 

I love playing games to much, so i personally use an Intel GMA so i can avoid spending time on things i enjoy and browse facebook more, instead.

 

Game on for me

 

Games are NOT a waste of time. They are a HOBBY, which in turn, are a waste of time.

 

my gaming laptop is broken so now am stuck with a GMA 3100 so i cant game, but it gives me more time to do stuff like sleep and work out so its ok. I do however get sligthly depressed with no games, movies or any multimeia for a long time :S

 

I tried last time to be productive and all that....... didn't work. Ended up choosing a MSI 740gx over a MSI GE600.

 

Yes you can game. Try: Rainbow Six Raven Shield, No One Lives Forever 1 & 2, Alien vs Predator 1 & 2, Age of Empires 2, Civilization 2, Independence War 1 & 2, Freelancer, or just take a trip to gog.com for some classic gaming where 90% of the games there will run fine on a GMA 3100.

 

Good replies!

I kind of meant this thread to be light-hearted, I know most here would say they prefer to game... but the laptop I'm thinking of getting instead just looks beautiful, probably suits all my needs, has way more battery life (for being productive of course )..... plus I have an xbox

Ah well, I think I'll go against the grain on this one

 

My preferences went from gaming to working over these past months
Before I had my eyes on ASUS G series & Envy 15 for their high-end graphics card. In the end portability issue come in because I won't like carrying those over 3kg laptops to work. Next, I had my eyes go for GX640. It has nice graphics card and quite portable for its class, but 1680x1050 resolution doesn't quite satisfy me.
In the end I ordered Sager NP5125, which hopefully will satisfy me.

I can fine-tune the dpi if screen resolution too high.
I can overclock GPU if I play more demanding games.
I can't trim the size and weight, however.
I can get more bang for bucks if I opt to play the demanding games in PC instead of laptop.

Those are the principles/consideration I have before purchasing my laptop.

 

There are much more rewarding hobbies than gaming out there that are better for your health.
Get a low-end gpu laptop, and join a bowling team to substitute your gaming. I hope I dont have to spell out the benefits of social interaction over playing a video game.

 

*sigh* I see you are one of those people.

Can't exactly say that your laptop is particularly low end anyway. Actually, it's pretty decent.

 

i sense an intruder among us..

 

why bother throwing a bowling ball using your whole arm when u can throw it with a click of a mouse button?

Why bother going to the bowling when u can bowl at ur pc at home and eat pizza at the same time?

the day somone can answer me these 2 questions il start bowling

 

Those are not really true. Your gaming experience won't be worse just because you have to lower your textures/effects quality in order for the game to run smoothly. Take for example, SC: Convictions. In order to get it to run with good fps, I had to set everything to low, and play it at 1280x720. I still had lots of fun and didn't really care much about it, I forgot about the settings after one hour and the story became much more important. I think my gaming experience was just as good as someone who played it on a gaming rig at 60 fps, 1920x1080p with everything maxed out.

 

^ of course, i'm just exaggerating a bit