Good buy for $1000

I just picked up a Gateway MX7527 at BestBuy for $1000 last night.

Athlon 64 4000+ (2.6GHz)
1 GB DDR RAM
Radeon X600 256mb dedicated
120 GB HD

How will it hold up against HL2?

 

There are better notebooks for about the same money although this one isn't bad. What do you need it for?

 

This is why I hate Best Buy. There are WAAAAAY better gaming rigs out there for that price

 

Ok, I have a 14 day return policy. What would you recommend???

 

Honestly, I was just talking gaming rigs (since this is the gaming forum).

It might be fine for you, depending on what exactly you are looking for in a notebook

 

I was just looking for something not too pricey but could handle CS Source.

 

That will run perfectly. But the x600 isn't exactly top of the line. It will run today's games, but not the next gen stuff.

 

I TOLD YOU ...
GOTO HP dv5000 for example (customize)

 

So how is the dv5000 better? From my understanding the 200M is a stripped down X300 which is a stripped down X600?

Slower processor and same type of RAM as well...

 

Or you could get a Nvidia 7400 version of the dv5000.

 

Would it be that much better to justify $500 more?

 

That's a good system for $1,000. The only other machine I can think of that will have better performance than that is the Dell E1505 - should come near $1k with a Radeon X1400, Core Duo, and will run cooler.

However, since you already bought the system, you may have to pay a restocking fee if you return it. If it's going to cost you $100 or more, I say just keep it.

 

There would be no restocking fee at all.

 

It might be worth it if youre really going to game a lot or want some longevity out of the notebook.

First off, you have a desktop cpu in your notebook that will kill battery life but kick ass in games. The Duo Cores are just as powerful for games and are good to have for the future with multi threaded games.

I would get a GPU no lower then a nvidia 7600 or ati x1600. These are the newest mid/high range in GPUs for either company and will be able to handle HL2 with ease. If you could get a 7900GS (probably in a dell only cuz of price) then youll be better off.

Take a look at the Asus Z96J and Compal Hel80. HP has some great notebooks with the 7600 and dell has the e1705 with the powerful 7900.

Hope this helps.

BTW your system now isnt bad at all, but better systems can be had for the same price or just a little bit more.

 

CompUSA has an Acer with a Centrino Duo 1.66Ghz, 2GB DDR RAM, X1400 128mb ded and up to 512.

Would that be better then my current notebook?

 

Since it is dual-core and has a slightly better video card, yes.

 

It would be better but Id still opt for a 7600 or x1600.

 

Yeah but how much are you talking with this?

 

You could probably get a decent Asus S96J for around $1,300.

 

For $1000, you can't really go wrong. I did a review a while back for the MX7515 HERE if you wanna take a peak. Only difference between the MX7515 and the MX7527 is the 120 gig HDD, and the 128 mb dedicated video card (both are extras on the MX7527). The MX7515 easily handled Half-Life 2 and Counter strike source at native res, high settings with about 40-70 fps through the whole game.

 

BestBuy now has this Laptop on clerance for $850...

With a 2.6ghz Mobile Athlon 64, 120GD HD, and 1GB RAM, and the X600, $850 is much more tempting...

Or is it? Thoughts anyone?

 

Not a bad price at all, the Mobile Athlon 64 4000+ is the most powerful single-core CPU you're probably going to get in a notebook. Might want to look up some reviews on that model series and see if it's right for you. It is rather large and bulky, plus the quality isn't top-notch.

 

chaz, what 3dmark05 score do you get with your x700? I know this is the wrong thread but i'd like to know!

 

While the X1400 is somewhat improved over the X600, dual-core doesn't automatically make a notebook better.

I used to have a Gateway 7510GX, which is basically the same as the notebook he bought, except my processor was 2.4GHz instead of 2.6GHz. A single core Athlon 64 running at 2.6GHz IS generally going to be substantially faster than a dual core running at 1.66GHz per core. I know this because I found my 1.83GHz Core Duo to be actually slower than my old Athlon 64 in many instances, including multithreaded apps like Adobe's suite.

The notebook he bought is fine, more than adequate, and great for the price. Yes, the X600 is a bit dated, but the raw horsepower of the processor does an amazing job making up for it. It'll run CS:S at native with most settings maxed save AA/AF.