gaming on a thinkpad?

hey, I'm looking into getting a new notebook. I like the build quality and feel of thinkpads, but I am concerned about their abilities since the features seem to be lower for a given price point compared to others.

Do any of you game on your thinkpads? How is it? I would like to run games like Doom 3, HL2, and BF2. The best video card I could find on a thinkpad website was a mobility radeon x300 on the T43. I am also concerned that the highest res available is 1280x768 on the new Z series. If I bought a T or Z series, could the vid card be upgraded?

 

The best card offered on ThinkPads is the 9600 on the T42. The larger 15.4" Z is supposed to come with the option of WSXGA(1680x1050) and the x600 card. ThinkPads are great notebooks, but there are better choices for gaming. Something like the Asus Z70va or Acer Ferrari both with the x700 card are a better fit. Good Luck.

 

Isn't the FireGL available on "p" models better than the 9600?

 

Actually, there are WSXGA+ resolutions available on the new Z series, but they're more expensie than a comparable Latitude D810, or even HP/Compaq nc8230...forget consumer lines like Inspiron and Presario. Thinkpads's were always the Acuras of notebooks...highly priced, not always the fastest, but solid and would last you forever. However, now Lenovo is making them, not IBM.

A T43 could probably handle gaming no problem on the XGA screen....the Radeon x300 is a good video chip. It's just not super-gamer territory, so if you're big into hi-res high-detail FPS gaming, then I recommend buying a Sager or maybe an Inspiron 9300 or XPS. Thinkpads were NEVER tops in gaming, and nor are most "buisness" line laptops.

 

Yes it is. Completely slipped my mind. The FireGL machines are expensie.

 

Yeah, plus the FireGL's aren't really optimized for gaming. For what you'd have to spend to get a T42p or T43p (around $2500), you can get a Dell or Acer or whatever that's going to be much better for gaming.

 

Your best bet would be a Sony BX540 if you want something light that can still play games well. It's built in a similar fashion to a Thinkpad with its magnesium alloy casing, but more importantly, it's equipped with an ATI MR X700 (128 MB, 256 MB with HyperMemory) which is the same card appearing in the Ferrari and other 15.4" notebooks. The best thing is that the BX is only a 14" model, making it the most compact model on the market to have that graphics card. It's two steps up the ladder on the GPU chain.

X300->X600-> X700->X800->X800 XT

 

I definitely wouldn't get a ThinkPad for gaming, even if they are great notebooks.

The FireGL notebooks are really expensive, and those cards aren't supposed to be used for games....more for modeling. You may have some issues when trying to game with that card.

I'd recommend a Z70VA for gaming (as already posted). It will be cheaper and more optimised for games.

 

Thanks for the advice guys

The BX540 looks really nice. I am waiting for the z series with the x700s to come out, cuz I want portability with a good card. I was also looking at the z70Va, which is also nice on performance but is a little bigger