Most bang for the buck!

I currently have a Dell Inspiron 5100 and is has served me well for every task I have thrown at it...with an added notebook fan platform to help.

Anyway, I am a gamer and my Dell's 32mb of video memory just doesn't cut it for the latest games. I was wondering if any of you could recommend good gaming notebooks for a gamer on a budget. Dream machines would be ok too.

Thank you.

 

I'm not understanding, are you on a budget, or can you afford a dream maching (from what I can understand, a dream machine probably is very expensive). But a good gaming notebook on a budjet, hmm... I see the Dell Inspiron 8600 as your best choice. And if you want one, you should get it within the next 3 days before the nice coupon expires. 128 mb Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo standard, 1.8 ghz Pentium M with wsxga screen, 2 yr warranty, 1gb ram, cdrw/dvd combo, 60 gb 7200 rpm hard drive, intel 2200 wireless + bluetooth, MS Office Basic and a antivirus $1370, with current 20 % off (I think), and $600 off coupon.

 

Yeah, I'm looking for a cheap loptop system that will allow me to play games like Half-Life 2 in comfort.

 

Yes, the i8600 with the MR8600 PT 128mb will play HL2 and others just fine. At these prices, it's a bargain. It's a heavy bugger, but it will afford you just about everything, which you will need.

Dell Inspiron 8600:
* 1.6 Ghz Pentium M * 1024 MB DDR SDRAM * 100 Gb Seagate Momentus 5400 Rpm HD * 15.4" WSXGA+ * Internal Bluetooth * Intel Pro/Wireless 2200 * 4x CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) * ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo 128 MB * Win XP Pro SP2 *

* Apple 17" PowerBook G4 * 14" Toshiba Tecra 8000 * Apple 14" iBook G4 *

 

Is the 1.6 Pentium M the same as a P4 2.6?

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Orz

 

Yes, someone mentioned this in a post a while back, but to get the Pentium 4 equivelant of a Pentium M, multiply the Pentium M's speed by 1.6. In that case, a 1.6 Pentium M x 1.6 is 2.56, nearly identical.

 

So are you guys saying that multiplying by 1.6 will show you the equivalent if i owned a P4? I have a P-M 2.1ghz, so that means it equals a P4 3.36ghz in processor power? Is that correct?

*Dell Inspiron 9200, P-M 2.1ghz 400mhz FSB, 1 GB Ram 333mhz, 60gb 7200rpm HD, 128 ATI M Radeon 9700, XP Pro SP2, Wifi + Bluetooth*

 

Yeah, thats correct. But then you have to throw in things like multitasking features, which is not one of Pentium M's strengths, but that can be fixed by adding more ram. Pentium M also offers 2mb L2 cache compared to 512 k or 1 mb l2 cache most of the time for P4, so the Pentium M is almost equal in performance, if not better in some cases.

 

I'd say try looking at emachines/ gateways. Nobody can beat their value. The emachines have pretty hefty power and its much cheaper than other notebooks in its range. Plus, it runs HL2 like a charm.

Emachines M6809 - 3200 AMD 64 - 512 DDR - 80gig - ATI 9600 O/C'd @ 457/223