New WoW Player needing system HELP PLZ!

BrandonD · #1 (**permalink**) 03-13-2007, 11:43 AM

Greetings, all!

I come to you with a question of a very precise nature in hopes that someone might be able to help. I’ve exhausted all of my own meager knowledge and the time has come to call in air support.

Here’s the situation:

I am currently in the market for a laptop. However, my situation is odd in that I want it for one reason and one reason only. To play World of Warcraft. I know this is unusual, but suffice it to say I have both a reason and the means. Thy “why” is not important, I suppose, to you all - only the “how” matters.

Due to space issues, my situation /demands/ a laptop. I simply do not have enough space for a desktop, however preferable that may be. I know…I’m sad too.

So…here’s the deal. My price range is $500-$600, and I know I have a specific set of system requirements set forth by the game’s manufacturer. That was my starting point. For reference, here are those specs directly from the WoW website (credit given where credit is due).

Minimum System Requirements
Windows® System 2000/XP OS:
Intel Pentium® III 800 MHz or AMD Athlon 800 MHz
512 MB or more of RAM
32 MB 3D graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting, such as NVIDIA® GeForce™ 2 class card or above
DirectX® 9.0c (included) and latest video drivers
6.0 GB available HD space
4x CD-ROM drive

Recommended Specifications
Windows® System 2000/XP OS:
Intel Pentium® IV 1.5 GHz or AMD XP 1500+ MHz
1024 MB RAM
64 MB 3D graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting, such as NVIDIA® GeForce™ FX 5700 class card or above
Two-button scroll-wheel mouse

So, I’ve found various notebooks that meet the recommended settings in the $500 - $600 price range, but I know a laptop will be different in some aspects, mainly the demanding graphics arena.

Anyways, here’s a “sample” I’ve made that fits w/in the price range I’m looking for, and I wondered if it would work for exempla gratia.

Intel Dual-Core 1.8Ghz (the Intel dual-core was found to run fastest on WoW, which is my focus here)
1 GB DDRAM
60+ GB Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6 (And up) – This is my main worry…any and all suggestions here are MOST welcome

These are the main specs to focus on, yes?

I know the kicker here must be the graphics card and cooling issues, due to the compact nature of the laptop chassis and battery longevity. A notebook system must work harder in order to run programs AND keep itself going, right? So…is this “imaginary” system good enough to run WoW? Maybe not on highest settings, but decently, with a good FPS rate?? And what could I tinker with to get more for my money (i.e. what could I do with less of, or more of, etc)? Thank you all for your help in advance.

Lvx et Sapientia

Skado · #2 (**permalink**) 03-13-2007, 03:56 PM

where are you buying this from? that way we could check out what they have available. that video card is kind of crappy (i think) but i ran wow with a p4, nvidia geforce 4200 go with 64mb and only 512 ram. of course in raids and battle grounds it lagged like hell, but i think a ram increase would have helped that. i bet that system would run WoW well though (by well i mean high fps with low settings)

BrandonD · #3 (**permalink**) 03-13-2007, 05:07 PM

Thanks for the reply.

I probably will end up going with a Dell or HP. Not sure which series yet, due to the fact that the price range I want means I'm htting Ebay a lot. lol!

Sockbat · #4 (**permalink**) 03-14-2007, 12:01 AM

That imaginary system looks like it should run WoW pretty well. There are a couple things you should consider in this situation however. First off, one of the biggest hits to performance that laptops take is the hard drive. Most lappy drives spin at 5400rpm, much slower than the standard 7200rpm desktop drive. They do this to save power and keep heat down. Hopefully you'd be able to minimize this loss while playing WOW though by making sure you get 1gb ram. Secondly (and probably more importantly), you have to consider the native resolution of your laptop's screen. The greater it is, the better you're going to want your video card to be. While playing, you will not want to play at anything besides your native resolution (turning down the resolution is a common thing to do to improve framerates for CRT monitors... not so viable for LCDs unless you prefer guessing what you are looking at.) Third, I would advise you to stay away from HP. No one I know has had luck with their laptops and my breif experience has also been poor. Two of my friends for example got the same laptop on the same date (twin brothers, nice parents). About a week after the one year warranty ran out, one's hard drive broke. Two weeks later, there goes the other one. Aside from this, they also had major heating issues. The machines had to be coaxed to play Starcraft (1995?) without overheating. Just FYI, if you have the room for a 1 inch platform to go under your laptop, you can keep just about any machine cool for about $50. Of course this isn't too practical for an on the go solution. Mainly if you are often at the same desk or something like that.

BrandonD · #5 (**permalink**) 03-14-2007, 10:08 AM

Thanks a lot, Sockbat! Your help is much appreciated. Where can I get one of these platform thingies you're talking about?

(My gaming will in all likelihood take place in my cubicle, aka room, on my bed.)

Skado · #6 (**permalink**) 03-14-2007, 11:04 AM

a list of cooling pads from newegg. i am not sure about noise but you could read reviews Newegg.com - Search Results for laptop cooling

i used bottle caps from 2 liter bottles. one under each corner did well. i use legos now.

BrandonD · #7 (**permalink**) 03-14-2007, 01:38 PM

Hah! Talk about cheap solutions!

I did a little Googling concerning the racks and whatnot, and I found some neat items. The Antec NB Cooler S looks nice, but is it really necessary? There is also a $15 Wal-Mart special...any thoughts? I know that gaming will make the NB run hot, so I thought maybe those little cooling fans would really help...

EDIT: Just checked out NewEgg...heh. Wal-Mart can't touch 'em. Nothing over $6 is even listed. ROFLMAO! Thx for the tip dude, you pwn...

Sockbat · #8 (**permalink**) 03-15-2007, 02:31 AM

Ooops, looks like I overestimated prices on those (probably have gotten cheaper since I last checked). Better than estimating too low though! I read an article a while back that compared a bunch of these cooling solutions. Surprisingly there was a significant difference in some of them. As long as you can find a decent number of favorable reviews for a certain model I would say you are pretty safe going with it. The "lego solution" (clever :P) helps reduce the build up of heat due to insulating surfaces under the laptop, which is half the battle. Anyone who has ever used a laptop on their lap while gaming knows the feeling.... And so basically the other half is getting that heat out of the area more aggressively, hence the fans.

So yea, just try to read reviews (by consumers or ...professionals) on the product before you buy it and you should be safe

.

BrandonD · #9 (**permalink**) 03-15-2007, 12:07 PM

Good news! Due to my tax refund, my budget just jumped to $1000! Any advice for a better system?

Skado · #10 (**permalink**) 03-15-2007, 03:57 PM

i put this together for 1048, inspiron e1505

My ComponentsIntel® Core™ Duo T2250 (1.73GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
FREE Upgrade to Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with 1GB of memory
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display with TrueLife™(glossy)
1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
FREE! 120GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory™
Integrated Audio