Light-Moderate Gaming, Budget end (~$700)

For those of you who are afraid to buy integrated graphics, because you'll miss games you've grown to love this year, or the past years....but don't want to shell out more than 1000...or more than 800...I found a solid build for 703.99. Dedicated graphics, nice size hard drive, only 1 gig of ram, but its cheaper to upgrade later though NewEgg (duh). Definitly a solid buy, no matter what you're doing...for the light to moderate gamer. I'm planning on getting one. I've read good reviews, and found that this config is the cheapest (and easiest to upgrade later) for the price. Its the cheapest you can get with dual core, and dedicated graphics.



HP Pavilion dv6000t customizable Notebook PC
RX942AV
– Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic (32-bit)
– Intel(R) Pentium(R) dual core processor T2130 (1.86 GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
– 15.4" WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
– FREE Upgrade from 512MB DDR2 System Memory (1 Dimm) to 1GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
– 256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7400
– HP Imprint Finish + Microphone
– Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
– FREE Upgrade from 80GB 5400RPM to 120GB 5400RPM!!
– FREE Upgrade from DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive to SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support!!
– No TV Tuner w/remote control
– 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
– Microsoft(R) Works 8.0
– HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

 

you can't upgrade the graphics on this one I think

 

he doesn't say anything about upgrading the graphics.

for $700 it looks alright. kind of old tech, but should run alright.

 

I like the idea of nabbing a Vostro 1500 with XP and going real light on the RAM more. Or the route I went - accept that you're just not going to get newer stuff to run and grab an AMD notebook with an Nvidia IGP. That way you can run older stuff pretty well (and the GeForce 6150 is surprisingly potent.

 

You end up spending another 80 for the ram, you need 2gb for vista, and you have 2x512mb. :O

 

he could just buy a memory stick and use ready boost. yeha its not the same as dedicated ram, but its a quick and cheap solution. and yes it does help performance. maybe not in games but how fast the overall system will run other apps.

 

actually for less this price, the Vostros from Dell were better(price increased recently)

 

LoL, I can Ready Boost with my External HD!!! Im running 301 gigs of RAM right now baby!!!! (but a hell of a lot slower than my one that is in there now)

 

-The maximum amount of memory you can currently dedicate to readyboost is 4GB.

-Readyboosting with a hard drive is essentially pointless, as the point of readyboost is to use a flash drive in addition to your hard drive for virtual memory when your RAM is overworked, because though flash drives have slower read and write speeds, their response times are so much faster that they can handle tiny I/Os much faster than a hard drive (although the hard drive still handles the larger ones), thus significantly increasing performance in situations where you have to use virtual memory. Odds are the response time on your external hard drive is similar to or lower than your internal hard drive, meaning it won't improve performance at all.

 

I was wondering, does that make a difference, the 301 gb of ram? Better than 2 gb?

 

not a noticeable one

 

Yea, I was looking at dell configurations, and I was planning on getting one (Using the coupon for the e1505, or w/e)..but then when i went to finalize my order last night, it told me the coupon had already been redeemed (Some thousand times, i'm guessing...) So, i can wait for a new coupon and try that.....or just go with this one. And from what i've read.....Dell is back-ordered to death. Idk. Do you guys see anythign wrong with this config?

I mean, the free upgrades really help alot. Nice sized hard drive. And i can sell the two sticks of 512 when i plan to order gigs for appx 80-100, and that will help deflate the price (as opposed to spending an extra 150 to have them put two sticks in...and then not getting the other ones to sell) Its a win win.

But i'm looking to run UT2004, CS:S, maybe some Far Cry...and w/e else i can dig up for free online (wolfenstien). Oh, and don't forget Project 64 (Zelda could never look better).

I am kinda mad though....cause on the dell, i had the WXUGA+ with true color...so the resoultion was alot better. Grr.