Need Advise: Gaming laptop: Intel core 2 Duo OR Turion 64 X2 Dual Core TL-50 1.6GHz with nVIDIA

Folks:

I need to replace my gaming desktop computer, and at the same time also
need to get a laptop. So I thought instead of getting two separate
pieces of equipment, why not just get one good performance laptop which
I can use with a docking station for my gaming needs, and use it
without the docking station, like a regular laptop, at other times.

I would appreciate it if someone can advise if the follwoing laptop
would be able to meet my gaming needs (UnrealTournament, Battlefield
2142, Quake 4, Half Life2):

HP Pavilion DV9005CA
17.0" AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual Core TL-50 1.6GHz Media Center Laptop
with NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 W/ 128MB (Shared)
1GiG DDR2 RAM
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodde...gon=&langid=EN

Should I get an Intel Core 2 Duo based laptop instead?

Thanks,
Goadude

Goadude wrote:
Folks:

I need to replace my gaming desktop computer, and at the same time also
need to get a laptop. So I thought instead of getting two separate
pieces of equipment, why not just get one good performance laptop which
I can use with a docking station for my gaming needs, and use it
without the docking station, like a regular laptop, at other times.

I would appreciate it if someone can advise if the follwoing laptop
would be able to meet my gaming needs (UnrealTournament, Battlefield
2142, Quake 4, Half Life2):

HP Pavilion DV9005CA
17.0" AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual Core TL-50 1.6GHz Media Center Laptop
with NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 W/ 128MB (Shared)
1GiG DDR2 RAM
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodde...gon=&langid=EN

Should I get an Intel Core 2 Duo based laptop instead?

Thanks,
Goadude


One thing you miss in a laptop, is the ability to improve the graphics
like you can in a desktop. There will be a generation of DX10 hardware
coming soon, and gaming will likely move to DX10 and Vista for new titles.
To track the gaming industry, you need a hardware platform with some
flexibility in it. (The fact you bought 2142, tells me you aren't
stuck in the past.)

A lot of laptops will use the graphics provided in the Northbridge chip.
These are generally not that powerful. And finding benchmarks for them
may be difficult, to give an exact answer, of what you are getting.
(The 6150 might be similar to an FX5200 or a 6200 desktop video card.)

Laptops do have a kind of standard for upgrading graphics, in the form of MXM.
(But this is not for the faint of heart.) MXM is graphics with a separate
GPU. The GPU also has private memory, just like a real desktop card.
(Think of it as a desktop graphics card, squashed on this small rectangle.)
Your 6150 uses shared memory, pulled across Hypertransport at up to 4GB/sec.
These MXM graphics modules are more powerful than your 6150.

http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/Table.html
http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/Medion_95257.html (not for the faint of heart)

The main advantage of a laptop with an MXM module, would be the possibility
of finding a DX10 hardware assisted replacement, next year some time. You
would want to select a module with a similar power dissipation to the one
already in the laptop. Since future graphics chips will gradually move
to smaller geometry silicon, more graphics power should be available
for the same amount of heat dissipation. And the PCI Express bus standard,
means that at least the interface will remain compatible with newer
MXM modules, for a few years.

I would recommend, buy your laptop as stated above, but don't count on it
for all your gaming. Your desktop, or even a console, is where you'll be
going, for any "serious" gaming. While the MXM option is fun to fool with,
upgrading that way is not nearly as easy as slapping a new card in a
desktop.

Also, a laptop with "serious" graphics in it, will be a battery burner.
If you got a gaming laptop (there are some with SLI MXM modules for
example), those would need to stay plugged in most of the time. While your
sample laptop above has modest graphics, the battery life may actually
make it useful for things besides gaming.

Some of these products, use separate graphics modules.
http://www.alienware.com/product_pag...l_default.aspx

(Marketing comparison of graphics solutions - better to find benchmarks somewhere)
http://www.alienware.com/Configurato...graphics2.aspx

In the above chart, this is the Sentia M3450 - Intel 945GM Northbridge graphics.
Your 6150 would be slightly better than that.
http://www.alienware.com/product_det...EFAULT#pdp-nav

Not everyone likes Alienware - I picked Alienware for the convenient charts...
http://reviews.cnet.com/Alienware_Au...html?tag=uolst

Paul

in the long run it will be cheaper to by the laptop and a desktop
pc as playing games on a pc shortens it's life

On 14 Nov 2006 13:45:18 -0800, "Goadude"
wrote:

Folks:

I need to replace my gaming desktop computer, and at the same time also
need to get a laptop. So I thought instead of getting two separate
pieces of equipment, why not just get one good performance laptop which
I can use with a docking station for my gaming needs, and use it
without the docking station, like a regular laptop, at other times.

There are a few potential issues.

1) Continual use at high power (especially gaming) can put
a lot of wear on a laptop. You may find it has a shorter
life as a result, or "maybe" even that it runs too hot and
ends up throttling back to lower speed.

2) Putting a good performance video card in a laptop
reduces it's runtime on batteries, even when you aren't
gaming. Perhaps that's ok to you, I can only speak for
myself in that I find the typical 2-4 hours of runtime from
a fresh/new battery rather short already, and even shorter
after the battery wears over time.

3) Laptops with good video cards are significantly more
expensive, perhaps double the cost increase of similar video
upgrade on an desktop so already some of the cost of the
separate desktop system is offset by the increased cost of
the laptop.

4) If someone steals your laptop, or some kind of severe
hardware malfunction (like dropping it or whatever)
everything is gone, you're out the use of the system.
"Maybe" you mean you'll keepyour present desktop, we can't
know these things. Maybe your present desktop would game
reasonably well if it has a good video card (or that's
added).



I would appreciate it if someone can advise if the follwoing laptop
would be able to meet my gaming needs (UnrealTournament, Battlefield
2142, Quake 4, Half Life2):

HP Pavilion DV9005CA
17.0" AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual Core TL-50 1.6GHz Media Center Laptop
with NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 W/ 128MB (Shared)
1GiG DDR2 RAM
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodde...gon=&langid=EN

Should I get an Intel Core 2 Duo based laptop instead?

That laptop won't be good at all for gaming. Dual core CPUs
have to be higher-end parts to get good gaming performance,
as most games are still single-threaded. Laptop hard drives
make loading game levels pretty slow too. The video is
"Geforce" which makes it a little better than some Intel
integrated video, but it's still a chipset integrated video
with use of shared memory, far slower than a separate video
card in a laptop can be.

To put it in perspective, An old Athlon XP2400 system with
Geforce4 TI4200 video card would probably be faster at
gaming than that laptop. Something more modern,
substantially faster. If you took your present system,
upgraded the motherboard, CPU, memory, and video card, you
might get away with it costing under $400, (hard to
speculate, we dont' know what it's like nor what games you
want to play) which could be near the same price as the
difference between a laptop with [good gaming CPU and video
card] versus [ lower end CPU and integrated video as you
listed above]. I don't know what gave you the impression
that the above was a "good performance laptop" for gaming
purposes, as the only thing it really has going for it is
the larger screen but that larger screen is an even further
strain on the integrated video, meaning the video has to
push more pixels at the screen's native resolution, OR you'd
have to run at non-native LCD resolution which can look a
bit blurrier.

Thanks for your advise and insights. I will discard the gaming laptop
option, and instead use a separate desktop for gaming, and the laptop
for usual mobile surfing purposes.

Thanks,
Goadude

kony wrote:
On 14 Nov 2006 13:45:18 -0800, "Goadude"
wrote:

Folks:

I need to replace my gaming desktop computer, and at the same time also
need to get a laptop. So I thought instead of getting two separate
pieces of equipment, why not just get one good performance laptop which
I can use with a docking station for my gaming needs, and use it
without the docking station, like a regular laptop, at other times.

There are a few potential issues.

1) Continual use at high power (especially gaming) can put
a lot of wear on a laptop. You may find it has a shorter
life as a result, or "maybe" even that it runs too hot and
ends up throttling back to lower speed.

2) Putting a good performance video card in a laptop
reduces it's runtime on batteries, even when you aren't
gaming. Perhaps that's ok to you, I can only speak for
myself in that I find the typical 2-4 hours of runtime from
a fresh/new battery rather short already, and even shorter
after the battery wears over time.

3) Laptops with good video cards are significantly more
expensive, perhaps double the cost increase of similar video
upgrade on an desktop so already some of the cost of the
separate desktop system is offset by the increased cost of
the laptop.

4) If someone steals your laptop, or some kind of severe
hardware malfunction (like dropping it or whatever)
everything is gone, you're out the use of the system.
"Maybe" you mean you'll keepyour present desktop, we can't
know these things. Maybe your present desktop would game
reasonably well if it has a good video card (or that's
added).



I would appreciate it if someone can advise if the follwoing laptop
would be able to meet my gaming needs (UnrealTournament, Battlefield
2142, Quake 4, Half Life2):

HP Pavilion DV9005CA
17.0" AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual Core TL-50 1.6GHz Media Center Laptop
with NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 W/ 128MB (Shared)
1GiG DDR2 RAM
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodde...gon=&langid=EN

Should I get an Intel Core 2 Duo based laptop instead?

That laptop won't be good at all for gaming. Dual core CPUs
have to be higher-end parts to get good gaming performance,
as most games are still single-threaded. Laptop hard drives
make loading game levels pretty slow too. The video is
"Geforce" which makes it a little better than some Intel
integrated video, but it's still a chipset integrated video
with use of shared memory, far slower than a separate video
card in a laptop can be.

To put it in perspective, An old Athlon XP2400 system with
Geforce4 TI4200 video card would probably be faster at
gaming than that laptop. Something more modern,
substantially faster. If you took your present system,
upgraded the motherboard, CPU, memory, and video card, you
might get away with it costing under $400, (hard to
speculate, we dont' know what it's like nor what games you
want to play) which could be near the same price as the
difference between a laptop with [good gaming CPU and video
card] versus [ lower end CPU and integrated video as you
listed above]. I don't know what gave you the impression
that the above was a "good performance laptop" for gaming
purposes, as the only thing it really has going for it is
the larger screen but that larger screen is an even further
strain on the integrated video, meaning the video has to
push more pixels at the screen's native resolution, OR you'd
have to run at non-native LCD resolution which can look a
bit blurrier.

darklight wrote:

in the long run it will be cheaper to by the laptop and
a desktop pc as playing games on a pc shortens it's life

No it doesnt with a properly configured system.