Need quick advice :)

Hello everyone, first post here. I was hoping someone could review a laptop im planning on purchasing for gaming use. The games which I will be playing will mostly be RPG's, MMORPGS and strategy games (World of Warcraft, Warcraft 3, Sims 2, NVN 2).

Will this laptop be able to run these types of games (well) for now and several years to come?

Compaq Presario AMD Athlon 64 2.2GHz Laptop (R4225CA)
Processor Type AMD Athlon 64 Processor
Screen Size 15.4"
RAM (Preloaded / Maximum) 1024MB (1GB) DDR/ 2048MB (2GB)
Hard Drive 100GB 4200RPM
Optical Drives See The Features Section
Graphics ATI Radeon Xpress 200M IGP, 128MB DDR
Average Battery Life Info Not Available
Product Weight 3.56 kg
Audio Type Altec Lansing
Battery Type 8-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
Cache Info Not Available
Fax/Modem 56K V.90
I/O Ports See The Features Section
Included In Box Instructions, AC Adapter
Network Card See The Features Section
Other Software See The Features Section
PC Card Slots 1 x Expresscard/54, 1 x Type II Card Bus
Pointing Device Touchpad
Preloaded Operating System Windows XP Home Edition + Service Pack 2
Processor Speed 2.2GHz
Product Dimensions 36.20(W) x 4.57(H) x 28.40(D) cm
Removable Storage 6-In-1 Memory Card Reader, USB
Screen Type See The Features Section
Speakers Altec Lansing
System Bus Up To 2000MHz

Im a bit worried about the video card (ATI Radeon Xpress 200m 128mb DDR) as ive never heard of it and the fact that im getting this seemingly powerful laptop for a very cheap price.

Thanks in advance

EDIT: Im also a bit of a laptop newbie, so a simple answer would be best

 

You will want to upgrade the video card and the hard drive. The 4200 will bog down the speed of your lappy on big games.

 

Thanks for the advice mate. Il probably upgrade the graphics card then. I read a post about the 200m here before and I was hoping that the ATI Radeon Xpress 200M IGP 128MB DDR might be better because of the "DDR" and the "128mb". Is it?

 

The dedicated memory version of the X200M will definitely be a better performer than the shared one, but it is still not a gaming card, it's more for multimedia.

I'd take a look at the Compaq V4000T, it has a 128MB X700 graphics card, which is four times as fast as the X200M according to ATI.

With an X700, you'll be able to play most games at high settings, it is very powerful.

 

I second the V4000t. It's got much more GPU power than the X200M does (around 4X faster) and costs about the same.