im looking for a new PC i really want a laptop but if need be that i need a desk to to play games on (most importantly play BZ2).
it has to be really good at playing games and have a Intel processor of some time and the graphic card has to have dedicated memory and it has to be under $1000.00 Canadian money
So does any 1 know any good desktops or laptops
Dont buy a laptop computer,cuz it can overheat your computer like the one i use it to play bz2 game since 2001.If your video card is bad or damage from heat,you would to have to buy whole intergrated video card and pricey.I usally use big fan right beside vent to cool off.Heat sink and video card is most common problem with overheat.My computer is high end and crap video card ati mobilty rageon still,flash flash u know what is the problem yep.
I recommend building your own. That way you know your computer better, and know exactly what you're getting :).
Yes building your own is way better. And obviously if you want something better, get a desktop.
but i want to be able to bring it around and i dont know how to make my own but the over heat thing isnt a big problem i live in a cold COLD place and the damage thing, if i get it from future shop they will fix it for free :) cause i hav a family member there. all im looking for really is a laptop with good speed and graphics card and stuff like that. i brought BZ2 on a flash drive to future shop and tried it on the laptops there on display and it worked soooo gooood like i was in a dream :)
Quote from: Dataanti on November 04, 2008, 09:37:56 PM
im looking for a new PC i really want a laptop but if need be that i need a desk to to play games on (most importantly play BZ2).
it has to be really good at playing games and have a Intel processor of some time and the graphic card has to have dedicated memory and it has to be under $1000.00 Canadian money
So does any 1 know any good desktops or laptops
Any mid-range laptop will run BZ2 like a dream, but for other games you want one with a decent graphics card as well as decent memory (>=2GB for an XP Laptop, >=3GB for a Vista Laptop). You're basically going to be balancing the following things: Portability, Gaming Power, Battery Life. Things which are good for gaming are typically bad for taking on the road because the battery life won't last more than 2 hours without needing to be plugged in.
My research process is lengthy, but this is what I do:
Pick a store nearby which offers laptops and distributes flyers or has an online catalogue (Future Shop is pretty decent).
Circle/highlight all of the laptops which are within your price range. Now, find a few with the specs you want -- if you want to use it for gaming, go with one that has discrete graphics memory (like a GeForce instead of fully integrated like the Intel IGP series) as these graphics cards typically are faster than an integrated graphics card and designed for gaming. Go with a fast processor, you generally can't go wrong as long as you don't get anything with a celeron or intel Atom processor.
Once you have a good feel for the specs -- shortlist the laptops you previously circled, keep 2 or 3, from different manufacturers. Don't pick a single laptop and go to the store and just buy it. When it comes to laptops, specs are only half of what you want to look at -- theres the feel of the laptop itself.
Go to the store and look at the laptops: -- There are a few things you'll want to scrutinize:
1) How does the keyboard feel? Can you type comfortably on it? -- Some laptops have really cramped or convoluted keyboards, and if you do a lot of typing it can become really annoying.
2) How does the screen look? Can you tilt it up and down a little bit without the brightness changing too much? Is the picture quality (contrast, brightness, saturation, etc) good?
3) Whats the general build quality of the material like? Does it feel like cheap plastic, or does the material seem really solid?
Other than that, I'd suggest you get a good mouse and carrying bag for it somewhere down the line. One Mouse I really like is the Logitech VX Nano (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104080), its got pretty good battery life (I use rechargable batteries, and swap them out for charging every week or so, though I've never ran the batteries quite dead) and the mouse receiver is very very very tiny so you can keep it attached to the laptop while its in its carrying bag.
By the way, get a series 8 gefoce grahpics card or higher, if you want real power.
Quote from: cheesepuffly on November 05, 2008, 04:10:26 AM
By the way, get a series 8 gefoce grahpics card or higher, if you want real power.
Heh, only if you get a later model, if you get a GT, be ready to lose your Sky Detail.
check on BZ2MD.com. i found a damn good gaming laptop
k il look at flyers and stuff and sky detail i dont care about its anoying anyways i found this pavolion or something but its $200 to much :'(
I bought a $1300 Pavilion which has good specs and a good soundcard (for headphones) the plastic on it scratches kind of easily, and the screen darkens or the brights on the image start to invert if its not perfectly tilted (not very good for me since I do digital photography and graphics design as a hobby) -- aaaand its got a multilingual keyboard which acts really weird in BZ2. I suggest you stay away from the ones with multilingual keyboards because their a pain in the @$$ in windows and especially BZ2.
I didnt think it would be nice, but ones with number pads are kind of cool. I miss having the ability to use the 'need scavs', 'need pods', 'multiple incoming dirtbags', and all my taunt hotkeys which are bound to the number pad.
thats why i went for the toshiba, its a portable desktop in a sense (or desktop replacement as they call it). it stays VERY cool continuosly, and i have had it on for many hours at a time running full-beam.
its also 17" and has a full keyboard, with Num pad. the keys work well, and you get Harmon/Kardon speakers as an added bonus. six USB ports, external VGA, printer, 6 in 1 card reader etc, DVD lightscribe compatible optical drive, mouse is okay, but use an external one always, good hard drive space, 3gb ram, vista ultimate (possible downside :P), a Radeon card with absoultely ZERO problems in BZ2 at full settings, and a 2.4ghz centrino duo processor. cant beat that for £849 RRP
Oooh. I was speaking to my friend Brain (old BZ2 player, and computer tech extroardanaire) and he said that Toshiba's are now built with plastic casing which cracks very easily.
i dnno, it does feel plasticy but i havent scratched it yet. i do try and take care of it though so who knows lol.
but for reliability, in my experience you cant beat them. no doubt vista will destroy that...
Quote from: Zero Angel on November 05, 2008, 04:42:40 PM
the screen darkens or the brights on the image start to invert if its not perfectly tilted (not very good for me since I do digital photography and graphics design as a hobby)
I hope you have a PC to do that on, too. Chances are your laptop uses 6 bit + 2x2 dithering (more than likely a TN monitor). The difference between my Acer x243w and Samsung SyncMaster 305t+ is like night and day with photos.
I posted a topic (http://www.bzuniverse.com/forum/index.php/topic,8519.0.html) for testing if a monitor is really 8 bit truecolor or not.
Nope the laptop's monitor passes the test with flying colors even when viewed from the the middle angle (though my PC's CRT fails unless I crank the brightness up to a slightly uncomfortable level). The brightness is just inconsistent so it's hard to tell if the image i'm working with will be too bright or too dark on an 'average' monitor.
how about you and your pa build one together?
Laptops are very hard to do.
PCs not as much. And its cheaper to do it that way.
Agreed. A PC might work out well for you as well. You can build a really nice rig for 1000 clams. If you put in at least $350 of that for a good monitor (look it up on newegg) then you'll be able to have a PC that you're really satisifed with. Dont be tempted to get a sub $200 monitor. They're not really worth it, since the monitor's what you're gonna be looking at all day.
Meh my old crappy computer was $1500, completly overpriced. But the monitor was awesome, still using it.
My dad, 12 years ago, bought a monitor, an expensive one, He still uses it today to run vista and spore. (yeah he likes spore)
Get a good monitor and you will not have to change.
Get a widescreen, too. I know, laptops have widescreen now, but they're not as big and as good as a stand-alone.
Another nice thing about home-built PC's is that you can add and upgrade components easily. If you do get a widescreen, get a Samsung. The contrast ratio on mine is 8000:1 (real bright and sharp). Other manufacturers are about 800:1 (dull).
Bah, I hate widescreens, less viewable surface area for the dimensions stated (not to mention I hate wide, I like tall, perhaps a widescreen I can rotate sideways would work, but most lcd's suck when rotated as they are not a uniform brightness, I did just get a new widescreen at work though, but it can rotate up... guess how I keep it... and yes it does strain the eyes a bit because each eye is seeing a different brightness)...
(http://www.overminddl1.com/image_scripts/image_sig.php?type=ODL1signitures&image/sig.gif)
Generated by OvermindDL1's Signature Auto-Add Script (http://overminddl1.com) that OvermindDL1 did manually since Greasemonkey does not work in Firefox 3.1 yet...
Sammy's are great for WS/tilt. Love it.
Did I say I FREAKING LOVE IT??? :-)
lol Overmind, youre eyes must be like, one on top of the other or something. or very close :D
Why would you say that? Eyes are normal, but when the screen is rotated 90 degrees so it is tall instead of wide, and it is a cheap LCD that has varying intensity across its normally height, think about it...
(http://www.overminddl1.com/image_scripts/image_sig.php?type=ODL1signitures&image/sig.gif)
Generated by OvermindDL1's Signature Auto-Add Script (http://overminddl1.com) that OvermindDL1 did manually since Greasemonkey does not work in Firefox 3.1 yet...
um... still thinking :S...