Gaming 12"-13" Laptops

Hi!

I'm sorry for having posted 2 threads in 2 days, im really annoyed with so little offer of small gaming laptops.

Here is what I am looking for:

- A small laptop (12,1" - 13,3") with a nVidia 8400 (GS if possible) or the ATI 2400.

Here is what I have found:

- Dell XPS M1330 (nVidia 8400GS)
- ...
- ...

Do you know of any other models/makers that fill my needs... thanks!

 

The Sony SZ6 is a 13.3" with the 8400M-GS. The Asus F9s is a 12.1" with the 8400M-G. The Asus W7s is a 13.3" with the 8400M-G.

 

thanks! looking at them right now!

is the 8400g better than the ati x2300? how much better or worse?

 

The 8400M-G has approximately the same amount of power as the x2300, however it supports DX10 which the x2300 does not.

 

You might want to check out the Rizeon S37S and the Z37S, both of which are 13.3" and have a 8400M G.

 

rizeon is not available in spain

are there any benchmarks of the x2300 vs the 8400g?

thanks!

 

Im thinking on buying the following laptop

LG R200 (its getting famous in spain):

- Core 2 duo T7100, 1.8ghz
- 2gigs RAM
- 160GB RAM
- ATI HD2300
- 12,1" screen
Price = 1200€, 1660$

What do you think about it? do you think the price is good?

 

what games you think i can play at max (no AA no AF) at 1024x768 without frame problems (over 30fps)?

any of these games?

-Brothers in Arms
-GTA SAN ANDREAS
-Far Cry
-Driv3r
-RomeTW
-CoH
-MoH:Airborne
-HL2
-...

 

What kind of pricing does the Sony SZ have in Spain? It is your best bet in my opinion. The HD 2300 is not a very fast card. In newer games like FEAR you will need to turn the settings down to low/medium to get playable framerates, but for older games (=>2005) you should be fine with higher settings.

The price for that notebook seems high but it is only a 12" notebook. Overall it's not a bad deal but shop around.

 

sonys are 1500€ up. The SZ is sold for 2100€....

sonys are too expensive in SPAIN. I cant find any other laptops with 12,1" or 13,3" and good graphics card. The only option is the dell m1330, but the delivery is too late.

i just want to play Rome TW and some games like BIA or SAN ANDREAS...

do you think this system is better than the LG posted above?

ASUS F9S

- Core 2 duo T5250
-2gigs of RAM
- nVIDIA 8400g (I think is the GS)
Price 1000€

is better than the LG in your opinion?

thanks

 

As you have stated, the M1330 would be a good option. It is also at a reasonable price.

 

yes but delivery is up to 6 weeks in spain

what you think of the ASUS F9S? (look in post#9)

 

why is dell taking so much time? dont you think i should tke the ASUS f9s?

 

PLEASE! I NEED YOUR HELP A.S.A.P.!!!

You rekon i should get the LG R200?? How will i be able to run Rome TW? and SAN ANDREAS or BATTLEFIELD 2 on that ATI X2300?

What is the most similar DESKTOP GPU for the MOBILITY X2300?

 

The F9s has an 8400M-G, which has about the same amount of power as the HD2300. That's about the most power you'll be able to find in the 12.1" market. You should be able to play all of those games on either the Asus or the LG, but probably not max settings. The closest desktop GPU equivalent you'd be looking at is probably something like the Geforce 7300GT.

I haven't seen or used the LG, but it sounds like a nice computer. I'd go with which ever one of the two you like best.

 

Since both machines have relatively the same amount of power, make a spreadsheet and compare features (number/variety of ports, weight, thickness, battery life, and so on).

As far as I know the Asus F-series notebooks are not the best built machines out there.

 

the LG has a worse GPU (HD2300) than the F9s (8400G)

however, the processor of the LG is a T7100, and the Asus comes with a T5250.

The build design of the LG is just amazing... is something like when the Macbook came... something different

my only concern is gaming:

just want to play Rome TW and SAN ANDREAS and BATTLEF.2... (specially these ones) and want to know if i will run them at high graphics detail...

thanks

 

If you are planning to do any gaming I would probably go for the M1330. The Asus models have 8400M G which are slower than the 8400M GS. The "G" version only has 8 stream processors where the GS and GT have 16. In 3D Mark 06 the "GS" is almost 30 % faster than the "G" and the 8400M GS is not a very fast card to begin with.

Too bad really with Asus since they otherwise in my experience has solid build laptops. The Sony as you say is more expensive, the 8400M GS in sony's computers also only have 64MB of memory whereas the M1330 comes with 128MB dedicated graphics memory.

I don't think you'll have to wait six weeks, order now and cancel if the M1330 takes too long. They said minimum six weeks to me too but it was shipped in five days (still waiting for delivery though). I know BF2 will run fairly good on the M1330 at least.

 

Yea, i would stick with anything with 8400M GS. Another one to look out is the LG R200, i presume it comes with a HD2400 (i think it got a typo from notebook.de)

 

i have seen some benchmarks...

apparently, the x2300 is a rebranded x1450, which scores 1300 points in 3dmark06 (notebookcheck)... the 8400gs scores about 1600-1700.

supposing the x2300 is a rebranded x1450, and that i will OC a little bit, ill bet getting performance similar to the 8400gs found in the DELL M1330....

am i right?

 

It's really not worth it to oc these cards. By longer runs, you ll know. My 9600XT was oced to 9800pro level, but it cut out on me sooner than expected. Mind that laptop gpus are not interchangeable. Stick with the gs, and for now, nvidia drivers are more updated than atis.

 

yes, but only the Dell m1330 and the sony come with the GS.

the sony costs over 2000€ in spain, and the dell is taking 5 weeks delivery

i suppose i can always wait 5 weeks, but.... tell me, is there such difference between the 8400gs and the HD2300??

how much difference are we talking about in % (aprox )

 

HD2300 doesn't play nice with DX10, infact, it doesn't have DX10. At least that is wat i know.

 

Correct, the HD2300 only has up to DX9.0c support. It also lacks the shader power of the 8400M-GS (which is actually a pretty powerful card, limited mainly by it's memory). OC'ing the HD2300 may be able to push out the same level of performance as a stock 8400M-GS (though it may not too, I have no idea how overclockable that card is), however a similar OC in the 8400M-GS would blow the HD2300 away. If you can, I would definitely recommend the 8400M-GS, as it would give you at least a 25% performance increase in gaming.

However, if you can't get the 8400M-GS, than the HD2300 is certainly a fine option over the 8400M-G in the Asus F9s. The LG is almost certainly better constructed than the Asus F9s as well.

 

this is what im gonna do:

Im going to buy the LG and make a review here.... put some benches and that over that graphics card...

If im happy: keep it
If im not happy: return it and wait for the M1330

BTW, i forgot to post this! im buying this laptop for one main purpose: going to university with something small, light, and begin able to edit videos and photos and music... is it a good choice for that?

thanks!

 

OK, went to the shop, and put my pendrivie (with 3dmark05) and installed it on the LG R200.

I run 3dmark05 on it and got 2214 points at default configuration. What you think about it? bear in mind it comes with stock drivers... is there any performance update with newer drivers?

what you think of this score?

 

Sounds good, I'm sure the laptop can handle all of those uses well.

That's pretty much the score I expected for that card. I'm not sure how good newer drivers are for the Mobility Radeon X2xxx series, though you should see a little improvement.

 

how much worse is it compared to the XPS M1330?

 

In terms of benchmarks, it's probably about 1000 pts lower, so about 33% worse (or you could say that the M1330 is 50% better).