Good Value/ Fit?

I'm getting a notebook for college and ordered a dv5t. I don't consider myself a gamer but would like to play games like the Call of Duty series, Rise of Nations, Age of Empires III, and FEAR from time to time.

This is what I got for 900$:

Vista 32 bit Home Premium (I hear 64 has compatibility errors)
T9400 2.53 ghz processor
3 GB RAM (didn't want Vista 64 bit so why go with 4gb?)
250 GB Hard Drive
9200m GS

Is this system a good value and fit?

 

Can anyone assess? I have little experience with computers.

And does anyone know if a Hauppauge 1139 WinTV-HVR-950 Hybrid TV Stick is a good tuner for getting TV on a laptop?

 

Should've gone with a 9600M GT and dropped the processor down a bit, but I guess it should be okay.

 

Optimally he should have gone with the 9600m GT. However, the 9200m GS will handle the older COD games and even COD4 on very low settings. He's on a budget, so don't make him feel as if made a bad decision because he didn't.

That computer is a fairly decent deal for $900. It will handle quite of bit with that T9400. The 9200m GS might hold you back a note, but should be more than fine. I know the benchmarks are way lower. Who cares though. I hope you enjoy the notebook!

 

Just saying that money spent on the 2.53 CPU should've gone towards the 9600M GT instead. You really don't need that fast of a processor speed. 2.0 or 2.26 should've be fine.

 

There's a little noticeable difference between the P and T series of the C2D. The T9400 is better for what he intends to do.

 

All that his post tells me is that he needs the notebook for college. Where would the extra juice from the T9400 be applied to? Maybe you know something that I don't.

 

From experience with those games, I can say Call of Duty 4, Age of Empires 3 and FEAR use a fair amount of CPU. Assuming he'll be running other applications alongside those games, then he would want a little extra power. I've used a 2GHz and a 2.6-8Ghz C2D with games and you can notice a fair difference.

He doesn't consider himself a gamer, but he's also on a budget. That means this computer would need to last him a while. The T9400 will allow for a little longer future proofing.

The 9200m GS also operates at a lower voltage, which could increase battery life for his academic needs.

 

P8XX CPUs use 25W compared to the 35W of the T9400 though.

P8600 is $100 cheaper, 2.4 GHz.


I personally feel that the GPU is more prone to outdatedness, but everyone has different views.

 

He's a moderate gamer. He plays once in a while, but still wants it capable. The P series has more differences that just the amount of power used. The T series is more beneficial, regardless of the 10W difference.