So how long can it game?

I understand the x1700 is coming out but, will not be much better then the x1600. So the average life of a laptop is 3 years.. So the question is will the laptop I ordered be able to play "future games" .. meh.. so how "future proof" is a x1600 2.16 core duo 2 gig ram hp nc8430. I am aware dx 10 is coming out.. however, thats in a year.. plus the graphics cards to play it will be expensive.. so odds are it will be buggy(so to speak) for a good while. So.. will my laptop be able to play games at a decent rate until its time to get a new one?

 

I'd say the X1600 has headroom for two years...three on low settings.

But keep in mind the quality of your video won't get worse over time, but that the quality of video is just lower on the scale as new tricks and better visuals come along. What today's 'high' settings will do will be tomorrow's 'medium' settings, and the next day's 'low' settings.

 

Thats true. Its easy to think the video quality will get "worse" lol. Anyway that is pretty good.. that will keep me happy.. and even after its "old" it will still be able to play the games I enjoy at the moment.

However, I am beginning to think the market is progressing to swiftly.

 

How long it's able to play games at a "decent rate" depends on what you expect out of your system and the setting you intend to play games at. As night says, as time goes by more and more advanced detail/shadow-type settings will be available and be more taxing on older systems. As time goes by, you may not be able to run at "high/very high settings" as you probably could today on current games.

DX 10 will be a long time coming to notebooks. Game developers won't go DX 10-exclusive with their games for a long time lest they alienate an already large customer base with older GPUs.

 

well I am not trying to play elderscrolls IIX God's blindingly Great Graphics on a system thats coming out right now. I just want to make sure that A really great game won't come out in say 2 months.. and I won't be able to play it because my comp is old.

 

Game companies would be stupid to release a game that wouldn't play on older hardware. Remember, a bunch of people still even want to play games on Intel integrates graphics, not to mention people with older GeForce4/GeForceFX's that haven't upgraded. I just recently put a GeForce 6600GT in my desktop. You'll just have to realize that you may only be able to play at 800x600, or with some details turned down, rather than full glory + full res. I used to play Far Cry perfectly well on my Radeon Mobility 9600, but now I can finally play it as it was meant to be played on my Go 7600.

 

But they still do. I remember buying Activision's X3: The Official Game, for my GMA 900 equipped M140. While it did not list my card as supported, there were some older cards supported so I figured I'd be okay. Wrong.

Activition basically blew me off, and said in an email I should have bought a different notebook and I was stupid to assume that my card would work. They claimed no responsibility, even though my GMA 900 was 100% DX compliant...and the game box says check with manufacturer for 100% DX if the card isn't listed.

My mistake: yes. But the tech was so arrogant about it that they have probably forever lost me as a customer.

 

3 years on low/medium setting... that's what my 9600XT lasted until i blown it 3 months ago.

 

Well, that is partially true, but game companies will be doing more and more games for consoles (xbox360, PS3), and secondarily they'll make them compatible with PCs. So games will keep rising as usual I say, fairly independent of when DX10 is coming.