Two Sony Vaios....Help!

I'm in the market of buying a white laptop and I found this really "sweeet" Vaio. Its part of the Vaio N series. On Circuit City, theres a deal on it: $899. Dues to Integrated Graphics, how would The Sims 2 run on it?


Circuit City Link: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Sony...62986/catOid/-12963/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Discover at Sony Style: http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/Notebooks/NSeries/Research1/NFeatures

Then comes this magnificent monster named the Vaio VAIO VGN-SZ240P05. I can customize it to a 1.83 GHz Core Duo processor, and whats really cool about is that it goes from an Intel GMA 950 Graphics card to a Nvidia 7400 graphics card. In other words, when I need battery power, I can use the Intel. When i'm playing games, I can use Nvidia.

Newegg Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834117275

So I'm fighting preformance with style. What do you think?

 

You really also need to consider if you need a 15.4" screen or 13.3" screen, there's a big difference in size and weight of notebook there. If you need a notebook for just around the home then the N is a good solution, if you need a mobile notebook that you can take with you and do some gaming, the SZ is great. The N series will run the Sims just fine btw, it doesn't demand a dedicated graphics processor like say Doom 3 would.

 

Would Sims 2 run a decent framerate on the N series? I prefer not to stretch my budget as far as the second option, but if there will be a hug difference graphics quality and framerate, I wont hesitate to buy the one at Newegg.

 

There won't be a huge difference, here are the system requirements:

http://thesims2.ea.com/help/detail.php?help_id=21

If you have 1GB of RAM and a Core Duo processor you'll be able to run Sims 2 well.

 

Cool then! I might be going with the N Series notebook....

Edit: Ok, so framerate and speed is not an issue. Will the overall picture of playing be sharp and crisp, or blurry and dark?

 

Double Post: Will the Intel 950 preform better than the Nvidia 6800?

 

No. nVidia GeForce 6800 freaking owns the crap out of the Intel GMA 950. First lets just keep this simple, the Intel GMA 950 is an integrated card, while the nVidia GeForce 6800 is a dedicated card. I recommend you look at this thread, its made of win.

 

The GMA 950 you must realize is a VERY VERY VERY poor graphics card, designed not for gaming at all, it is the antithesis of a gaming graphics card. I can safely say that the Vaio SZ will be much better at playing games though the N series will play Sims 2 just fine and will good pretty decent as well. Don't expect to run anything more demanding on it however.

Are you only looking at it because it is colored white? There are other white laptops out there, how about broadening your choices?

 

Well, no. The only reason I like the N is because it is sleek, no matter how bad that sounds. Now looking at the SZ, I might just go with that. I run a site for The Sims 2 custom content, so I need a highpreforming card. If the 7400 beats the 6800, I'm going with that. Also: will a 1.66 GHz processor and 512mb cut it? Will the game be "playabble" with those specs? If not, I'll add in another 512mb.

 

I'd add another 512MB, just because of windows XP alone. Go look at the tech bargain thread, there were 2 GB (2 x 1GB) Kingston DDR2 RAM for like $150 or something.

I don't like how the N series looks like, but I absolutely love how the SZ looks like, go check out the SZ again if you haven't.

Anyhow, back to the other topic...

Mid-High end - 256 mb useful
6800 = 12 PSUs, 5 vertex units, 12 ROPs, 256 bit mem (300/300) SM3

Low end - 128mb useful
7400 = 4 PSUs, 3 vertex units, 4 ROPs, 64 bit mem (450/450) SM3

6800 Go is a much better card, but I'll let someone else with more experience vouch for that.

Meaker's Notebook Graphics Chart

 

Are there any laptops that use the 6800 graphics card? I think its weird, because usuall the higher the number is in Nvidias models, the better they are. I guess I was wrong lol!

 

Not always, the 6800 is the high end of the 6 series, and the 7400 is the mid end of the 7 series. Why not just get something like a 7600 (those are more commonly found, like in the Sony FE series). The 7600 and 6800 are not going to be cheap, just in case you are trying to stay in budget.

 

I can't, or at least I'm tryign not to go beyond $1,100. If theres a 6800-7600 card in there thats a possibility. But if the N series can run the game pretty fast, the SZ should do really well, right?

 

Sony FE690

Thats what I was looking at. Sony also has a bunch of others SZ models on clearance. Maybe you should update your thread on "What Notebook Should I Buy?"

 

Still. $1300 is sot of too much. Would the images on a 7400 be crisp and sharp, or will they look like the low end graphics chip it is? I don't think that I need that much power for The Sims 2 but I dont know.

 

why not a FE 790?
it's much cheaper than SZ, and much better than N
you can config it with a Go7600, a core 2 duo 1.66Ghz and 1GB RAM (comes standard) for a bit more than 1100, or maybe 1200
Go7600 is far better than Go7400, and doesn't steal your RAM

 

Great find! I configured mine for around $1100. I still like the N series...despite the Intel card. But, its for my gaming...so I guess the FE or SZ is right...

I'm goign to look at soem HPs and Apples tomorrow at Circuit City though...

 

White notebook, y not consider the Sony FE series, it got GeForce Go7600 for a 15'4.

 

The price...lol. I'm going to shop around the internet and think about it.