Help an idiot :)

Hi so after browsing the what laptop should I buy forum I have decided
to buy a Kobalt G870. I have little idea about computers though so when I click customise I am a bit unsure what is value for money so if someone could help me out that would be great!

Firstly processor: Would you stick to with the default processor or upgrade? I do want to do a little bit of gaming and presumably it makes your computer faster and last a little longer (or does it not work like this?)

Graphics Card: They are both 1GB so is the Radeon really that much better?

Operating System: It says the Windows 64-bit is recommended for 4GB+ which is the smallest RAM you can choose but 32-bit is the default is there something I am missing? (Please don't advise me to install linux )

Soundcard: I love music and my laptop is like a juke box on the side is the upgrade in soundcard worth it or is it just for professionals i.e like a 1% increase?

Thankyou!





P.S I decided to ask here rather than on the Kobalt forums for an unbiased view.

 

Your processor choice is basically decent performance + good battery life + lower cost or better performance + higher cost + lower battery life. It depends a lot on what games you want to play. Most games really only peg up to 2 cores currently, with a few just barely starting to do more. So an i5-540 will be about your best price/performance ratio. An i7-840QM is going to be the fastest within reason.

As for the GPU, there's not a huge difference. The 460M and the 5870 are both screaming cards. The 5870 plays better with most current games, but the 460M does much better with DX11. I have personally preferred ATI lately due to how many missteps and how much crap NVidia has put out since the 9xxx series, but it's your call.

As for the OS, get the 64bit. There should be no discussion.

And the soundcard, the internal cards are almost always more than adequate. If it's not after you use it a bit, you can still get the X-Fi Extreme online, probably cheaper. There's no need to buy it with the laptop.

 

get a 740qm+ 4GB RAM+ ATI 5870 Card+ full HD screen... perfect set up!.. u don't need an 840qm...you also don't need external sound cards.. internal ones are quite good.

 

Thanks very much guys!