Hardware Laptop capable of decent minecraft play.

[pwsincd]

Hi chaps , looking for some advice , getting son a laptop for xmas , and want to make sure its cabable of playing games , well not highend fps etc , but say to render minecraft well and have some moderate amount of future proofing , whilst not breaking the bank , any ideas or machines you currently own that can cope with this kind of use ?

 

[Rydian]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834214496
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246492

Something with a midrange dedicated card like that.

 

[Arras]

I have an Intel Core i3 with HD3000 graphics (AKA no dedicated graphics card) and it runs Minecraft fine. It even runs Skyrim at playable speeds if you set all the graphics to Low. It's not that future proof though, so you'll probably want something a bit more powerful than that.

 

[pwsincd]

approx £488 .. hmm price marginally high maybe i could shop around , im just not up on gfx card specs / names to understand if they are sufficient

 

[Lanlan]

I recommend something with an APU, preferably A series. My friend has one with an A6 and it'll play lots of stuff. AMD APU graphics blow anything intel has out of the water, and for a great price. While you get less on the CPU side of things, the integrated GPU is really something.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131323
Something like this'll play pretty much everything, albeit with lowered settings. Just youtube stuff

 

[pwsincd]

The price is obviously nicer , interesting , the ones rydian posted i cant find in the UK at the same price seem to be roughly £100 more expensive.

 

[Lanlan]

By the way, for those not in the know, APUs are a cool little innovation by AMD that combines the CPU and GPU onto a single chip. The GPU portion uses some of the system ram for vram. They really are great for light gaming, and by light gaming I don't mean Farmville. I have an A8-3870k in my desktop and it runs everything, including Battlefield 3 multiplayer. No dedicated GPU, just the one on the APU. While an APU isn't as good as what Intel's offering in strictly the CPU department, the graphics blow Intel away. And even a CPU from 5 years ago is sufficient for gaming today, gaming is for the most part more reliant on the GPU. Also you don't need a blazing-fast CPU for basic computing (by basic computing I mean playing games, internet, Itunes, whatever). Don't be turned off by the low clock speed of the APU in that laptop I posted, GHZ don't mean shit anymore.

 

[pwsincd]

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/samsung-series-3-np355v5c-15-6-laptop-silver-17056502-pdt.html

what do you think to something like this ?

 

[Lanlan]

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/samsung-series-3-np355v5c-15-6-laptop-silver-17056502-pdt.html

what do you think to something like this ?

That one's really sexy. The APU A series go from A4, A6, A8, and A10. I currently have an A8, it was the high-end APU until the second-gen APUs came out like a month ago. So that A8-4500m should do really well considering the price. Do some research, don't just take my word on this stuff. Look up benchmarks or youtube videos of what APUs can do.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

I have an old Dell core 2 duo 2.0 GHz, with 2gb RAM. It is a crap, but cheap, computer and it is enouth to run games like minecraf, retro city rampage, castle crashers, etc. and nothing that requires more power than that games.

on http://www.minecraftwiki.net/ they give the system requirements to play minecraf:

Spoiler

• Minimum requirements:
  • CPU : Intel P4/NetBurst architecture or its AMD equivalent (AMD K7) (Any CPU with MMX/SSE Instructions)
  • RAM : 256MB
  • GPU : GeForce 256 or ATI Rage XL and up. (Any GPU with OpenGL 3D Support)
  • HDD : At least 10MB for game data
    • Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 5 or up is required to be able to run the game.

• Recommended requirements:
  • CPU : Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 (K8)
  • RAM : 1GB
  • GPU : GeForce 6xxx or ATI Radeon 9xxx and up with OpenGL 2.0 support (excluding integrated chipsets)
  • HDD : 100MB for Game Saves + Sounds

• Optimal requirements:
  • CPU : Intel Core Duo or AMD Athlon x2 (K10)
  • RAM : 2GB
  • GPU : GeForce 8600 GT or ATI Radeon HD 3650 and up (excluding integrated chipsets and APUs)
  • HDD : 200MB
    • A SSD can significantly improve world loading speed.

 

[pwsincd]

when i say run minecraft i mean , hes right into the texture packs and all that stuff , wants max settings for it all , the laptop and indeed the pc we have struggles , well the laptop which isnt bad at all for general computing just wont touch it. But its not all about minecraft , thats the current buzz in his world , it has to stand the "future proofing" comment i made also.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

when i say run minecraft i mean , hes right into the texture packs and all that stuff , wants max settings for it all , the laptop and indeed the pc we have struggles , well the laptop which isnt bad at all for general computing just wont touch it. But its not all about minecraft , thats the current buzz in his world , it has to stand the "future proofing" comment i made also.

this should be enouth then:

Optimal requirements:

• CPU : Intel Core Duo or AMD Athlon x2 (K10)
• RAM : 2GB
• GPU : GeForce 8600 GT or ATI Radeon HD 3650 and up (excluding integrated chipsets and APUs)
• HDD : 200MB
  • A SSD can significantly improve world loading speed.

 

[pwsincd]

yeah current lappy has integrated gfx as does pc , i guess pc one has slightly better integrated gfx though it works to a degree lol.

 

[Lanlan]

when i say run minecraft i mean , hes right into the texture packs and all that stuff , wants max settings for it all , the laptop and indeed the pc we have struggles , well the laptop which isnt bad at all for general computing just wont touch it. But its not all about minecraft , thats the current buzz in his world , it has to stand the "future proofing" comment i made also.

Hi-res texture packs I assume? My apu can easily max out vanilla minecraft on full render distance

 

[Lanlan]

here's vanilla minecraft on a less-powerful APU

 

[pwsincd]

Hey man thanks for the advice here , after reading around , every thread / link i found supports your thoughts also , i will be now looking towards the A8-4500m with radeon 7640g , as a base to shop around as in the link i posted. I almost sounded like i know wtf im talking about there lol.. cheers

now need to find a retailer with some kick ass deal on this kinda laptop and a wiiu lol...

 

[Lanlan]

Hey man thanks for the advice here , after reading around , every thread / link i found supports your thoughts also , i will be now looking towards the A8-4500m with radeon 7640g , as a base to shop around as in the link i posted. I almost sounded like i know wtf im talking about there lol.. cheers

now need to find a retailer with some kick ass deal on this kinda laptop and a wiiu lol...

Also, if you didn't know, APUs can be crossfired with certain dedicated graphics cards, some laptops will include a discreet GPU as well as the APU's GPU, and they combine for increased performance. The 7640g is the APU's integrated GPU so the 4500m will always have the 7640g

 

[Originality]

APU is an "AMD innovation"? Funny... Intel did it long before AMD, and the concept has been in the market for a few years before that. Anyway, that's not important.

For gaming on a budget, AMD APUs are the best method. However for future proofing, you'll need a future proof budget. Leaving that aside, a good APU based laptop will last you a good 3 or so years.

As for where to buy it, you can try Currys warehouses (they tend to have a lot of discounted laptops) or online retailers like Amazon. I usually find that the best deals can be found in technology centres like Tottenham Court Road in the middle of London. Going from shop to shop, comparing prices, I can usually haggle a good deal from the sales assistants.

 

[Lanlan]

APU is an "AMD innovation"? Funny... Intel did it long before AMD, and the concept has been in the market for a few years before that.

Elaborate please, I googled it and can't really find any APU history

 

[Daidude]

There's also this higher end A10 APU here for £505 if you want to go all out it's pretty powerful but won't match a 3rd gen intel i5 with a decent graphics card. It will be quite future proof I'm guessing but also a more premium price.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008EJGJHC/ref=cm_cd_asin_lnk