The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Looking for new laptop

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by srose, Sep 13, 2010.

  1. srose

    srose Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    15
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hi
    I am looking for a new laptop for around £1000. I will be using it for watching movies, playing some games (GTAIV, Starcraft2, Bad Company 2) and just general things like web browsing.

    At first I was looking at MSIs GT740 but it doesn't seem to be full 1080 or have a bluray drive.

    I customised a Sony Vaio F:
    VPCF12V5E
    Processor: Intel® CoreTM i5-520M, 2.40GHz
    Operating system: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
    Finishes: Black
    Hard drive: 320 GB Serial ATA (7200 rpm)
    Memory: 6 GB 1066MHz DDR3-SDRAM
    Optical Drive: Blu-ray Disc(TM) writer
    Display: 41.6 cm LCD, 1920x1080+ webcam
    Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M 1GB

    which will cost £959. Will this be ok at playing the games I mentioned? I saw a Vaio F playing Bad Company 2 on pretty good settings on YouTube but that had a i7 720QM. Do you think it would be worth a few hundred more pounds to get the i7 CPU instead?

    Thanks
     
    srose, Sep 13, 2010
    #1
  2. Crus-T

    Crus-T Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    16
    Messages:
    220
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    30
    The bottleneck here is not the CPU but the GPU, but if you're not concerned in battery life, quad core may increase gaming performances (but not so much).

    I think you will anyway be able to play these games, but probably at medium/high settings.
    Didn't you found games review in the F owner thread ?
     
    Crus-T, Sep 13, 2010
    #2
  3. tinboy

    tinboy Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    23
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I also see vaio z with the very same spec playing GTA4.

    So yes it can play but not at high setting and not in full HD.

    If you get this one for gaming i7 would better but still 330m can not do much.( and someone like acer got 4xxm with full HD or BD now.)

    I know this is sony forum but I have to say you may have to look for other manufacturers to have better GPU for gaming but still F got all your requirements.
     
    tinboy, Sep 13, 2010
    #3
  4. srose

    srose Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    15
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Ok, Would you be able to recommend any other manufactuers that have the same features like FullHD, BluRay but with a better GPU?
     
    srose, Sep 13, 2010
    #4
  5. Crus-T

    Crus-T Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    16
    Messages:
    220
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    30
    from a quick search :

    Asus N71JQ
    Asus X77JQ
    Acer Aspire 7745G

    1600x900 screens, but better GPU

    There are others, price might be limiting here.
     
    Crus-T, Sep 13, 2010
    #5