Which of these games...

would not run in a pleasant way on a 8400gs laptop?

Is it correct to presume they would all run beautifully on a 8600gt laptop?

far cry
prey
company of heroes
fear
stalker
halflife 2
doom 3

soldier of fortune 3
crysis
bioshock
halo 3

oblivion
age of empires 3

gta3
driver: parallel lines
gta4

 

crysis, bioshock, and gta4 will almost certainly be a big push for the 8400m gs. but at low resolution / settings it should do ok. halo 3 doesn't have a planned existence on the PC yet.

as far as the games already released, you will have to run most of those games at lower resolutions and mediumish settings, while the 8600m gt will be able to play most of those games at the highest settings 1440x900 or higher. some might run better in approximately 720p (1280x720, or 1280x800)

 

I gotta say all these new games look pretty, but I personally am so used to the old HL1 Mods, CSS/HL2, WoW, D3/Q4 that these new games just don't really appear to bring anything new to the table in respect of fun other than graphics.... they're only used mainly for benchmarking, and therefore thats why I'm gonna get a Vostro as soon as I get paid cos I know I can play my fave games

 

You should be good as long as you don't purchase a high resolution screen. 1280x800 is what I'm going with. Others are getting good rates on 1440x900. That however is high as you should go. No WSXGA+ in other words.

Go with the 8600M GT if you want a little more future proof system.

-Taylor

 

definitely don't go above 1440x900. agreed.

the 8600m gt will start struggling with some of the more intensive games you listed at 1440x900, which can be remedied with tweaking and OC. but 1280x800 looks great (its slightly better than 720p hd) and you won't struggle as much with performance at that res.

 

The 8400gs would be combined with an 13,3" WXGA
The 8600gt with an 14,1" WXGA+ or 15,4" WXGA+

 

When will a T7300, 8600gt 512mb, WXGA+ system become substandard for gaming? In other words; how long will such a system be able to run the newest games at high settings? 2years?

 

umm. at what resolution? you won't even be able to play upcoming games at native resolution at high settings. 8600m gt is a midrange card. expect to play upcoming intensive games at medium to medium high settings.

 

I am kinda new at pc gaming...
Is it still pleasant to play games at low resolution en mediumish settings?

 

I played the new crop of games from 03-04 at 640x480 and 800x600. I still had fun.

 

yeah. expect crysis to look great at medium high settings at 1280x800 or so.

same with ut3.

even at "medium" they should both look considerably better than games around today.

 

And Crysis will be possible at medium high settings at 1280*800 with a 8400gs laptop?