Tablet PC

Hi everyone, I'm trying to buy a Tablet PC (which my college prefers over notebook) but i also want to use it for gaming, the thing is i dont think tablets were made for that sort of thing, i'm considering buying the HP TX 1219 which has a Nvidia Go 6150 chip, with from what I gather, 500 megs of dedicated memory? It also has 2 gig ram, 2ghz dual core processor and 160 gig hard drive.
I'm thinking of playing a varied range of games, some of them i think this will definetly run (Age of empires, Age of mythology, Rome:Total war) and some it probably wont (oblivion, age of conan, Battlefield 2)
I just wanted to ask if you guys knew any tablet pcs, with maybe low range- to mid range video cards, that are available on ebay in Australia. The go 6150 is an integrated chip, so I think that would be a bit of a problem for games
Any suggestions would be apprecciated!!
Thanks,

 

That Geforce 6150 isn't any better than those Intel integrated ones. If you really love games, you can do without the tablet PC's features. If being able to use a pen on your laptop really does matter to your work, then go with it. Tablet PCs are usually underspeced and priced higher than laptops with similar specs but without the touchscreen/digitizer.

A laptop with a Geforce 8600M GT will easily do for all your gaming needs, unless you're a person that isn't satisfied with nothing but the best graphics.

BTW, a common misconception among the non-techie populace is that more memory equals better performance. This is not the case though as there are other factors such as the GPU's clock speed, the memory bandwidth, and stuff like that. Just look at the model number of the GPU. The second digit denotes what that GPU's target segment is. A Geforce 8600 and a Radeon HD 2600 target target mainstream users. Then again, that's too simple. The other, not so obvious, thing to look out for is the type of memory the GPU uses. For the recent video cards, GDDR3 and GDDR4 are good. GDDR2 is crap, so don't even bother if a 512 MB GDDR2 is cheap than a 256 MB GDDR3. It's a marketing ploy and the GDDR3, despite only half the capacity of the GDDR2, is much better. Companies don't always state what memory the GPU uses. But if you see that a 512 MB Geforce 8600M GT is cheaper than the 256 MB one, both sold by the same company or store, the 512 MB is most certainly 512 MB. They're not dumb. XD

 

actually you CAN run total war rome, age of mythology, probably battlefield 2!!!

as bad as intergrated graphics card are it has come a long way, + im sure the 6150 is on par with my ati x1270. i play halo2, gta san andreas.

 

Unfortunatley, I ran into the same problem when looking for a Tablet PC... I could not find any manufacturer who actually made a powerful one, which is a bummer. You might get away with playing a few of those games on lower settings, but don't even think about running any new games on it, and if you manage to they will not look/run pretty. In the end I just decided to go for a high-end MBP and save up for an external tablet. IMO tablet PCs aren't powerful enough to warrant a purchase from me yet .

 

WHAT?! **********************

lol. Kidding, kidding Couldn't resist

Actually, I'm not sure if there are tablet PC's that actually have dedicated graphics. As far as I know, all tablets run on integrated graphics.

You may just have to choose a non-tablet lappy with dedicated graphics [as symphony explained, at least with an 8600M GT, preferably of the GDDR3 kind, will run your games smoothly], or if you really want a tablet, maybe some of your games can run on integrated graphics, albeit on low settings and low resolution.

 

There are Toshiba laptops with dedicated GPU... granted, this is quite a while ago, so I'm not sure if the newer ones they produce still have deicated GPU's, but they should.

Buying second hand on eBay is a good plan, as you generally save a LOT of money. My friend got a second hand Tablet PC with a dedicated GPU (albeit an old one) for around $600 CAD.

So I looked around, and sadly the newer Portege's don't seem to come with dedicated graphics card . The best out of the ones I could find was the Portege M700 with a X3100 IGP, which is more "powerful" than the Go 6150, but has crappy driver support so it's virtually worthless for gaming.

 

Thanks for all your replies guys!
Yes I was thinking of getting a proper laptop with an external tablet, but considering everything, I think it will just be better to buy this tablet and maybe get a laptop in half a years time when I get the money.
But I still want the best gaming possible on the tablet. I saw that the Intel 950 was rated a bit below the Go 6150 so I dont know, maybe they are the same?
And lokster, you serious??? on par with an x1270... and to think I was running an X300 in my desktop a few months ago
So the Go 6150 is better than an X300 right? because I played a few hours on Oblivion on that, albeit graphics that look like they're 10 years old
Ok so ill check out the toshiba, dedicated is better than integrated right?

 

The 6150 is in NO way better than the x1270. The 6150 is almost two years old already, and performs at about the same level as the Intel GMA950. If you insist on getting an integrated card, the 7150/x1270 should run most older games half decently. I'd also suggest the x3100, but the driver support is absolute crap, and most games that should be playable aren't.

 

I see, but are there any tablet models that have the 7150/x1270 card?
Of course im not insisting, I want to get a dedicated Graphics card, but I just cant find any tablets that have them
By the way my budget is around $3000 dollars, so cost shouldnt be too much of a prob!

 

I believe that Acer and Toshiba both have models with dedicated graphics, although I don't know their model numbers.

 

well its way better than an intel950 not really on par with my card i guess, but this igp runs oblivion pretty well as my brother has shown me. im not really into rpg, it runs c&c tiberium wars pretty smooth too

going 2 try blazing angels later ^^

 

That is completely untrue.

The ATi X200 already wipes the floor with the GMA 950, and the GF 6150 is a bit more powerful than the ATi X200.

The GF6150 is at least 25% faster than the GMA950 at worst case, and possibly up to 50% to 100% faster in certain instances that requires shaders and hardware t&L.

 

Hehe ok, A few conflicting responses here, but oh well!
Do any of you guys know if the TX1219AU/TX1200 is active or passive digitizers (passive- you actually have to tap the screen for the pointer to move, active- you can hover the stylus over the screen and the pointer moves with it) I know the TX1000z is passive, just dont know if they upgraded it.