Gaming Good Bang for Buck?

[Originality]

But laptops don't have quite so much luxury in getting low-end discreet graphics since that always takes up more battery power. Remember, this is a laptop we're talking about, not a desktop. Whilst a CPU may be upgradable in some laptops, the GPU is almost always fixed.

 

[Arnold Schwarzen]

But laptops don't have quite so much luxury in getting low-end discreet graphics since that always takes up more battery power. Remember, this is a laptop we're talking about, not a desktop. Whilst a CPU may be upgradable in some laptops, the GPU is almost always fixed.

Lettuce be reality this will eventually no longer be the case in the near future, it's just starting to get more common.

 

[playallday]

.

 

[FireGrey]

I don't really care about battery power...

 

[playallday]

,

 

[FireGrey]

I did, but i don't see a laptop, all i see is some stuff about a chip.

 

[Originality]

Rather than a workaround solution for getting a new graphics card to work in any laptop (which, I might add, is limited by the PCI-e single lane port that is the ExpressCard port), why not answer the OP's actual question?

He wants a good laptop with a budget of around $500 australian.

As for me, I haven't suggested anything because I have no knowledge of the prices in the australian computer market.

 

[FireGrey]

Compaq Presario Notebook
Can people plz tell me anything wrong with this.
BTW theres a shop selling it for $488 so ignore the price.

 

[exangel]

Compaq Presario Notebook
Can people plz tell me anything wrong with this.
BTW theres a shop selling it for $488 so ignore the price.

the processor is a very low-end dual core, only 2gb RAM, and intel graphics.

you should really be more willing to educate yourself on what the valuable components of a laptop really are, and you've gotten a lot of replies in your thread. not all of them were helpful, maybe not even all of the replies i made were helpful, but i think any person who genuinely wants to get a good laptop and has a hard time spending 500 bucks should be willing to read a lot about it on their own.

I really don't get why you're looking specifically at a bottom of the line Compaq when you expect something decent for the amount you can spend, but it is not my job to beat you over the head for wanting it. If you really want a good reason not to buy it, google the components. Or research Compaq customer satisfaction (especially laptop screen failure).
Or look at the product lines for more often recommended laptop manufacturers like ASUS, Acer, Toshiba, Lenovo, or Dell. They probably have Australia-specific websites as well.

 

[FireGrey]

Ok will do

 

[FireGrey]

I've reached a decision, i'll tell you why:
Compaq Presario Notebook
It has a good price.
It's graphics card:
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M
Is fine for me, the only powerful game i'm going to play is Sims 3, aswell as little games like runescape.
Sims 3 runs fine on Low.
It's Processor:
Intel Celeron T3500
It's got a Dual-Core, so that's fine for me.
It's got a 6-Cell battery which is great considering i'm pretty much gonna have it connected to a power source all the time anyway.
And it's great DVD burner, i'm gonna be doing alot of DVD burning.

Oh and fergot to mention, i've been using a crappy 796MHz and 224MB RAM PC for years

 

[FireGrey]

There's an auction at a Grand Opening at a new Good Guys store.
They're auctioning a $2000 3D Laptop for minimum $300
But i doubt that i could win by a bid of $500...

 

[Originality]

You never know if you don't try

 

[FireGrey]

It's a long drive away though.
Anyway the compaq i decided on is perfect for me.
I like the name, good price, good DVD burner, not gonna need something really powerful.
What i'm mostly gonna be doing is burning DVDs and normal web browsing, video chatting and occasionally playing games.

 

[Arnold Schwarzen]

That card is absolute SHITE, even for Sims 3. I'm sure game will stutter like hell, even on low.

 

[FireGrey]

I'm not really gonna be doing gaming but when i do i'll set it on low graphics.

 

[FireGrey]

Is it good though other then the bad Graphics Card?

 

[Deleted User]

Let me put this into perspective. This laptop doesn't technically have an actual graphics card. It has onboard graphics on the motherboard, it doesn't have a dedicated piece of metal thats job is to work on producing graphics for all your needs. This is why everyone is upset with you. Just because it can run something, doesn't mean it will run it well.

 

[FireGrey]

Oh ok thanks.
But past all that graphics stuff, is it a good laptop anyway?

 

[Originality]

Pointless comments on the IGP aside, let's just get back to the question that's been repeatedly asked.

Is it a good laptop for you?

To answer this, I'll just use a quote:

I've reached a decision, i'll tell you why:
Compaq Presario Notebook
It has a good price.
It's graphics card:
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M
Is fine for me, the only powerful game i'm going to play is Sims 3, aswell as little games like runescape.
Sims 3 runs fine on Low.
It's Processor:
Intel Celeron T3500
It's got a Dual-Core, so that's fine for me.
It's got a 6-Cell battery which is great considering i'm pretty much gonna have it connected to a power source all the time anyway.
And it's great DVD burner, i'm gonna be doing alot of DVD burning.

Oh and fergot to mention, i've been using a crappy 796MHz and 224MB RAM PC for years

Based on the above evidence, I'd have to say it is a good laptop for you. Evidently Raven's_Sage and Arnold wouldn't be caught dead using that laptop, and even I would only consider such a laptop for "office tasks" like word processing, web browsing, and emails, and would not try and run any game more intensive than Age of Empires II on it. But you're not asking if it's a good laptop for us, you're asking if it's a good laptop for you. So to that end, I say enjoy the laptop you picked for yourself!

EDIT: One last comment I'll make. Do NOT use the laptop DVD burner for burning media-sensitive.... media (i.e. console game DVDs). I've yet to see a laptop DVD burner that can correctly bitset/booktype (making it look like a DVD-ROM instead of a DVD-R or DVD-RW) and that generally means that most DVDs burnt in this way will only end up as coasters (the console won't read them). If it's just for normal data, like your porno collection or your downloaded movies or your music collection for your walkman, then it should work fine.