The proper way to decide on upgrading a laptop

hi guys and girls. men and women.

People in these forums have a tendancy to upgrade their laptops the second a new gpu comes out. I am however wondering if people think before buying a new laptop.

I own a AMD quad core, mobility 5650 laptop. and I am debating on upgrading to the alienware m18x. does anyone else think this way:

what games can't I run, that i would like playing?
what applications will benefit from a faster cpu?
what programs will benefit from faster/more ram?

create a list of games that you can't run and that you wish to play. say the list is crysis 1/2 the witcher 2 metro 2033 dirt 3 and red faction guerilla.

now with those said games i will get roughly 100 hours of gameplay.

if i were to buy say a m18x to run those games, or even something cheaper. it would be rational to think this way.

Is 1500-2500 dollars worth spending for 100 hours of gameplay. and can I live without those games till my laptop dies.

that is how I reason.


now I own a middle range gpu (5650) albeit the fastest 5650. I can play every single game available at medium graphics to high graphics at 1366x768(native resolution).

so why on earth are people upgrading to new laptops when they own (99 percent of NBR) something better than a 5650?

can someone please explain how people are reasoning in buying a new laptop every year?

and if your curious, I have decided witcher 2 is not worth 3100 dollars to me.

 

Because to some people it's worth the money to play the newest games maxed out.

Edit: And I don't know what the big problem everyone is having with the Witcher 2. I'm running it decently on my GT 335m which is a fairly weak gpu.

 

My guide has always been to buy the "mainstream" gaming notebook available at the time of purchase.

Instead of buying a very high end gaming laptop now (you quoted $3100), you can spend about the same amount and get 2 laptops.

Spend $1400 now for a good gaming laptop, and spend $1400 on a gaming laptop 2-3 years down the road. This will be fiscally the same as spending $3000 on a high end laptop now, but can result in the same (if not better) technology. (considering a laptop 2-3 years down the road will have a much better CPU [and maybe GPU] than today's standards).

But, if you have the money, spend what you like. Good luck

 

the differance between medium and maxed graphics wise is minimal at best. most games nowadays are console ports and don't have proper graphics options that make a differance graphically. so how is playing these console ports maxed a justification.

btw your 335m gt is similar to my 5650. how the heck can you run the witcher 2. I get 10 - 20fps all set to low.

you must think 14fps is playable. care to post a picture with fraps?

 

When i buy my notebooks, i want them to last as long as possible.
Sure i could try sell them before Intel releases new CPUs or AMD / Nvidia releases the next collection of performance GPUs, but reselling notebooks aint that easy here in Norway.

Im guessing i can squeeze out 3 to 4 years on my Clevo P170HMx and maybe even upgrade the CPU to a 2920xm + 28nm GPU (If im lucky that is).
60fps at native resolution > eye candy.

 

Can somebody explain to me how you are reasoning in making a thread complaining about how other people spend their money?

 

I dont know, but i too would not consider The Witcher 2 to be worth 3100 dollars.

But people who buy high performance notebook tend to either play allot of games or use the notebook with some professional program that sees a substancial improvement with better tech.

I usually play allot of games, and it feels good to finally retire my HP Compaq nw8440.

 

I'll dl fraps today and give you an accurate reading, but it feels like I get around 20fps most of the time, which is definitely playable for an rpg.

Also, the quality of detail for MMOs, which a large % of online gamers play, scales greatly from medium to max settings. People that stick to consoles ports on the PC arent PC gamers, they're just xbox players who happen to get their hands on a computer.

 

I don't think there's a whole lot of people buying 3100$ PCs on this site, and definitely not every year.

 

I just started playing the witcher 2, so far its very good. just at the beginning of the game still talking to the guy in the cell. I have just about everything set to max and am averaging 20 fps. funny thing is its very playable. its not really lagging. this is awesome never thought my 5650 could play witcher 2 near maxed at 20fps.

hockey mass

its a legit thread, why would you join a thread and post if you thinks its a dumb thread.

the question still remains. why spend so much money on a laptop.

 

godly_skillz,

The problem is the assumption that everyone values money in the same way. (More specifically, that everyone has the same conversion rate between their personal time and dollars).

You have the right type of formulaic assessment. However, consider person A who makes $60,000 per year vs. person B who makes $750,000 per year.

The gameplay hours you'll get out of doing a hardware upgrade have a certain value to you (in dollars), but that number could increase dramatically with income, or other factors, like individual interest.

I'm personally happy with a low powered ultra-portable laptop barely capable of scraping by most games, and then getting a cheap higher powered desktop. If my income were 100x of my current income, I might be tempted to use only notebooks and get a DTR and an ultraportable, even though the DTR would be dramatically more expensive than my home-built desktop.

 

No, it's a ridiculous thread, I don't understand why you are criticizing people for buying computers.

 

So you never actually tried it before making a statement about how our systems would/should run it?

 

lol. i tried it. but for some reson on all low i was getting 10fps not sure why.

btw can you help me out. please

im stuck

I cant get throught this door



I have seen it done on a video tutorial the sword went all blue then he slashed it open. but im a rookie and not sure how to make my sword blue

referance here

The Witcher 2 - Walkthrough 006 - Day of the Assault - Part 5 [PC HD] - YouTube

its near the end maybe 95 percent through.

Im really liking the game but cannot continue until i get past this door

btw do you know where i can find the controls for the game

 

lmfao nevermind. you press number 5 which is a very odd control. dumb game controls if you ask me.

one more question. how good is the witcher 2. does it pick up after the beginning? and how long will it last?

 

Because some people have a great deal of disposable income to burn and $3,100 is chicken scratch to them.

Rather self-explanatory.

 

ok ic.

well I guess it all makes sense but im refering to 99 percent of nbr and not the rich minority. make sense?

edit.

The witcher 2 rocks im loving it so far. challenging game though

 

Perhaps he who only sees value as an expense, shall value less, that which is priceless.

 

2 years ago I spent a little over $3000 on the Sager 9262. I got 2 years of playtime with every game on high/max settings, and then sold it for $800 a month ago, so in total I spent about $2200 on it.

I figure I played at least 20 hours/week on it, which in turn made it cost about $1/hr of use. I figure that's not too bad for high quality entertainment, you can't even rent movies for that cheap (let alone go to a theater).

 

99% of NBR buys $3k laptops every year?

 

Use Aard on that wooden wall in front of you.

 

i was refering to myself in justifying buying a 3k laptop not nbr.

I reasoned myself out of buying a 3k laptop.

but im curious about the reasoning of others, if im missing a point.

ive seen guys with 8800m gtx sli buy the m18x.
ive seen guys with 5870s trade up for the m17x with the 6970m
ive seen guys trade up perfectly good laptops for better ones

and was wondering why, it makes no sense

Im a reasoning kind of guy, and as a reaonable person I dont see the reason why so many people upgrade laptops so early.

take note I own a 5650 and bought the laptop for 629.99 and it plays all games. why would I upgrade to a 6990m or a 580m gtx. only for 2 games crysis and metro 2033

btw i can run metro in dx9 all high at over 30 fps and it looks identical too veryhigh dx11.

btw i can run crysis all enthusiast execpt shadows and objects at mainstream.

i just dont understand why. im assuming these people are smarter than myself. my IQ is below average and I fail to see the reasoning.

 

Well for a reasonable reason (see what I did there?), some people might be professional/competitive gamers. An extra 20-30 fps, or being able to lock in a high fps rate, could mean the difference between a frag or not.

If I'm trying to be the best at something I'm not going to let hardware get in my way.

 

Honestly, it comes down to the amount of money you have. Some people have the money to do that, most don't. You may have seen people upgrade early but did you ask them how much money they have in their bank account? I doubt it. Most people don't upgrade for a slight improvement.

 

Its great that you're asking these questions, but most people (in my experience) do not have a good sense of matching their hardware needs with their software needs for the following reasons:

- they have a low appreciation for the value of money (ie, they have cash to burn) or just poor financial wisdom.
- the computer industry is far better at convincing consumers through marketing that their present hardware is inadequate than providing the market with long-term solutions. Frequent upgrades mean more consumerism. More consumerism = more money.
- computers, like cars and other expensive things, can become a pissing contest. My CPU is faster than yours, that sort of thing.

However, a minority of users (represented disproportionately here on NBR) have shorter product ownership cycles simply because they are computer enthusiasts. A lot of the members here love computers, and they love having the latest tech.

 

Agreed with this post. The reason I kept switching laptops because I was dissatisfied with some of my machines not because of the specifications, but because I had a bad time with them (especially the HP's). Therefore, I ended up selling them (after I personally fix and top them to work properly and well before selling) to get me a system that is good and reliable for the long-run. I got lucky with my M6600 that it was a Dell System Exchange for a M6500 I got on NBR for $1400 (the defects on that machine was not the fault of the previous owner, but in the long-run by the incompetence of Dell's technicians actually in trying to fix originally a very easy problem). Therefore, I lucked out that I got a good system in a price-level that usually won't get you something like this.

I am like Bog that you usually buy a good mid-end to semi-high-end laptop that has good features that will keep it going respectfully well for a couple of years at a reasonable price and if you lucky, you could get an even better system at a great price. However, I doubt many of us on NBR as a majority has the ability to keep switching laptops for the sake of specifications and showing our ego every single year or two.

Unfortunately, there will always be a few minorities that can and will show it in some form on NBR, but at the same time, their keenness on their constant changing investment does give the rest of NBR a good perspective on what to get for a good long-term laptop for the money.

It is inevitable to get jealous on NBR, but rest assured that most of NBR isn't as crazy with the laptop specification wars as you think. It is just the most outspoken on NBR that does and in many senses, their input helps others on this forum to really give a good outlook of what we should get for our long-term laptop investment.

 

excellent posts.

 

It depends on the money you have and how wise are you. Personally I am very practical and since I am not that mobile at all I decided to build a PC because I can have a better performance for half the price of the top laptops.

Why did I got a PC now? Because my previous laptop was threatened to not playing the Witcher 2, and at the same time I went for a nice configuration to make sure it will last for a good amount of time (hopefully 3-4 years).

Just my 2 cents.

 

I kept switching because I was very dissatisfied with the company/laptop.

Repairs taking a month and a half per RMA along with 30-40 calls on my end to find out the status of the machine was the icing on the cake.

I've gone through 4 high-end gaming laptops in 1-year, not because I wanted to upgrade but because I had to (hope that answers your question)

Laptop A: Terrible screen, 5 week RMA <- Very unhappy with screen and CS/Depot
Laptop B: Stolen
Laptop C: 6 week RMA <- Very unhappy with CS/Depot
Laptop D: Current

Some people also switch laptops due to warranty coverage. For example, if I move from CAN/US, I will not be covered by Sager (well, I will, but it would cost a fortune to receive/ship to and from California since that is where my reseller is located; warranty is based on reseller location or Sager HQ; whichever is closer), so I plan on going Dell/Alienware if I decide to move since Dell has the biggest/best warranty coverage in the world for laptops.

 

Answer simple for me.

Buy a new laptop when the old one can no longer do what I want to do, whether it be gaming or just work related.

Also I tend to upgrade when a major OS arrives. Since I was XP and did not have an interest in Vista, kept my XP machine. Played the games in DX9, was fine. Upgraded when Windows 7 arrived.

Playing e-peen with laptops is pretty dumb. It's a tool. You buy according to your needs. It's that simple.