Help, have i bought the wrong laptop?

Hi everyone!

please bear with me, im a complete novice at this, the info i have now is what i only learnt yesterday!!

My main use for a laptop is for internet browsing/emails etc with the occasional world of warcraft gaming. Im definately not a heavy gamer at all, i have periods where i will play for a while, then months without.
With this in mind, my maximum budget for a new laptop was around £400.

What i didnt realise until yesterday is that you need a laptop with a graphocs card in to game, and this ups the price!! I spoke to a few unhelpful and helpful people, most of them trying to get me to part with £500-£800 which i dont have or cannot justify for the amount i will game.

So, i ended up getting a HP g56-106 laptop as the person i spoke to said it will be adequate for my gaming. He said it has an ATI 4050 (?) graphics card with 512mb dedicated memory. Now searching the internet im not sure if this is true as i cannot find anywhere which says this laptop has this!!

Would i have been better of paying slightly more for example for a sony vaio at £439 with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 which doesnt have the dedicated bit?

Here are the comparisons;

the vaio Buy Sony Vaio VPC-EE3J0E/BQ Laptop, AMD Athlon, 500GB, 2.2GHz, 3GB RAM with 15.5 Inch Display online at JohnLewis.com

the hp i have now Buy HP Pavilion G56-106 Laptop, AMD Athlon, 250GB, 2.1GHz, 3GB RAM with 15.6 Inch Display online at JohnLewis.com

I want to make sure i get this right and change this laptop whilst i still can!

thankyou all!!

 

Neither of those are really intended for any gaming.

 

Yes. Basically in terms of ATI, the first digit is series, the second digit is performance class.

Ergo, a 4250 would perform better than a 4050, which is basically low-level integrated. I would take the laptop back while you can, the 4250 is still a poor card, but it'll be better than the entry-most level card. Although even then I'd look around and try and find something better...

Mobile graphics cards are often the weakest part in a laptop, so you really need to try and get the absolute best you can. CPU/HDD/RAM can be upgraded later in many cases, whereas you're stuck with the GPU.

If you're going to game...at all...on any modern games, then this is crucial. Even World of Warcraft can be pretty demanding.

 

The 4250 is an integrated card. It's actually really quite slow, about as fast as newer intel integrated graphics.

There are much better options even on a budget.

 

Yep, I'm aware, its just better than the 4050 which is the entry level integrated...if such a thing can exist.

Something like this would be better than the original choices, but even then this is entry level, and still not that great, however it would be faster than the 4050/4250:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/236688

This sort of hunt is a lot easier in the US, I'll tell you that!
If you can find one you can afford (although it WILL 99% cost at least £500), a machine with an ATI 46/56xx or Nvidia GT33x m series card would be much better.

I'd recommend having a root through Dell Outlet as well, sometimes you find something good there, so you might get a 46/56xx based machine for about £500-550. Given it's nature, the outlet fluctuates heavily.

 

This is the laptop I'd buy if I were you:
Acer Aspire 6930G Laptop A1/LX.AUU0X.273 - Laptops Direct
Be sure to get the 12 month warranty though.

The graphics card in this laptop is a bit better than the 4250, HOWEVER it is upgradeable which is an option you wont find elsewhere.
Forget the upgrade part for a second, but if the graphics card fails in this laptop then you DONT have to replace the motherboard. Therefore it should last you a while.

If you want something faster right away, I'd buy one of these to put in it: HP GRAPHIC CARDS ATI M86M V700 8530P 502337-001 - eBay (item 180499533236 end time Jan-21-11 12:02:39 PST)

Eventually you can get an ATI 4650/4670 for it. The price is a bit high on those right now.

Yea, no the 4050 does not exist.
And the dell outlet UK is pretty much empty right now.
...And I think 500 is a bit high especially for something used.

 

What kind of games do you plan on playing?

 

As the OP mentions, WoW.
Doesn't need anything top end, but given how the system demands have increased as the game has aged, you do want something moderate these days.

 

My wife has the same laptop(the Sony) and as everybody else has said it's not really a gaming laptop by any stretch. I've been able to play some very very light games on it but not on anything above low settings, the GPU isn't very good and the CPU is very slow too. I can think of a lot of other ways that you could be better off spending 500.

 

surely he should get a laptop with sandy bridge cpu, intergrated gpu.
its suppose to be better then a ati 5450

 

Judging by Intels usual support for thier mobile solutions in terms of drivers...probably not. Plus call me sceptical, but last I heard the Sandy Bridge integrated still wasnt that good
If they can get a 46/56xx series card, that'd be a whole lot better.

 

intel are said to be keen to support there intergrated's this time around but wether they actually do is a diffrent story.

no doubt that getin a 46/56xx seris card would be better

 

how about this it's a little over your budget at £570
but it has an ati 5650
Toshiba Satellite Pro L670-14M Laptop - Laptops | Ebuyer.com

 

or this which is better then the metiont one above and cheaper
Toshiba Satellite Pro L670-18E Core i5 Laptop PSK3FE-01K00REN - Laptops Direct £529.97


haha wrong link.^^^^^
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Toshiba_Satellite_Pro_L670-14L_970847.html price includes 100 cashback £439.98

 

FlyingMonkey99 its £529.97 after trade in £629.98 before trade in mine is £570 before trade in making it £429 after trade in

 

Win.
Right on the budget and the 5650 is the best new card out there for anywhere near the price.

 

Well, in the US laptops with 5650 are ~400 pounds amd and ~450 pounds with i3
Newegg.com - Acer Aspire AS7551G-6477 NoteBook AMD Phenom II Triple-Core N850(2.2GHz) 17.3" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650
Newegg.com - TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5111 NoteBook Intel Core i3 370M(2.40GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650

Do you have friends that travel to US? Also you have that VAT in UK.. eeewww

 

Both laptops you linked have the same 4250 GPU.

Consider some of the ACER models listed by my fellow forum goers above.

Even a fairly entry-level system can include a 5450 or something similar. Also, as others have said, even the integrated graphics included in modern Core iX cpus are competitive with the 4250.

You may be interested in buying an AMD fusion laptop, which combines a 6310 GPU with an ultra-low voltage AMD bobcat processor.

Pros of a Fusion system:
-Low price
-Long battery life
-Double the gaming performance of the computers you listed above

Cons of a Fusion system:
-CPU is slow, don't expect great performance using CPU intensive software such as high definition video encoding or photoshop work.
-Laptops using fusion wont be available for a few more weeks.



UPDATE: HP is now selling FUSION laptops.

HERE

Here is a short performance look from AnandTech (well respected tech site).

 

The fusion seems the best low budget choice for gaming.

 

so fusion is about as good as sandy bridge integrated. at least it's cheaper.

still, you want to shoot for a dedicated mid-range part if possible.

 

Just because you game "sometimes" doesn't mean you don't need a card to run it when you want to. For WoW, pretty much any mid level GPU will do like an HD 5650 or GT 330m or better.

 

Have you have thought of something used, maybe with a Nvidia 260m. I know they are not newest tech but the prices on these kinds of laptops are very cheap.

Maybe a used Acer or Asus with an Ati 4650 DDR3 version.

 

Are you not willing to look at refurbs? UK prices are daft, I know because I live there, you won't get anything mildly gaming new for £500 apart from very low end systems that wont run anything. Gaming laptops sub £500 just don't exist unless you are fortunate with upgrades. Get a used system if you want gaming or ideally splash out twice as much but even then it won't be outstanding for games. You can probably find some older alienware systems on ebay with warranty left for around that price.