Seeking Suggestions on Laptop

[Aenarion]

See, this is much better

I never researched heavily into laptops for gaming. Know why? I'm a desktop enthusiast. My opinion is biased. It always will be.

Then perhaps you shouldn't have tried to pass judgement and offer advice on something that you yourself admit you have little knowledge of. Also, you're not the only desktop enthusiast here, being one certainly hasn't precluded me from keeping up with developments in other fields.

But trust me, I'm not embarrassed. That post you quoted wasn't meant to be a jab. It was a silly response to a silly statement. My opinion is obviously different from yours, but no amount of jeering is going to change my mind. I won't admit I'm wrong because I truly believe laptops aren't ready for reliable gaming yet.

Let's just say one silly statement deserves another and leave it at that. It's your right to believe whatever you want, but know that reality contradicts your belief.

I don't see it feasible to break the bank every few years to play new games when my desktop can handle games to come for the next ten for half the price. There are many, many factors in why I think the way I do.

Again with the exaggeration.... show me a desktop from 10 years ago that can handle today's game. FYI, that will be a Athlon xp/P4 system with a geforce 3. What games are you gonna run on that today? solitaire? Likewise, any system you built today is likely to be just as inadequate for gaming 10 years down the road.

PC gaming is an inherently expensive venture. The degree to which will vary greatly depending on what type of game one plays, but even then there are practical limits, and 10 years is way over the limit for most. Notebooks in general suffers from increased cost, nobody is claiming that's not true, but for some people the cost and other drawbacks is worth it for their particular usage.

Know what I really want? A tablet. Why don't I have one? They're over a grand and can't do enough to justify that price. Sure, they're neat, but too damn expensive. A laptop with a fairly recent card that won't burn through my desk and floor? Give me some prices. Tell me what performance rating it will have next year. Two years from now? Three? Four?

time to do more homework again. I don't know where you're shopping for your tablets, but even Apple doesn't overprice their tablets THAT much. The Kindle Fire is a whopping $200, while the Transformer Prime, which will be the most power tablet when it hits the street here in a couple weeks, is still only $499.

As for prices and models, check the following sites:

www.xoticpc.com
www.malibal.com

both are fairly popular vendors with good range of selections. Also, none will "burn a hole through your desk and floor". Will some run hot? yea, but unless you're playing in a scorching summer heat to begin with, it's really a non-issue.

also, i think the term you're looking for here is "benchmark" (which doesn't change on a year by year basis btw) in which case:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-...M.48313.0.html

is one example. the 560m is comparable to a desktop gtx 450, so it'll remain adequate for as long as that does.

What kind of maintenance are we talking about to make sure it doesn't die from overheating? Air duster to the fan? Taking it apart very carefully (As replacement parts can be a bitch to find sometimes) to make sure I get all the dust out? Re-applying a better thermal paste to the CPU and GPU? I'll be honest with you, I hate working on laptops. I usually charge more to do it.

that's pretty much it, though re-application of thermal paste doesn't have to be done very often, maybe once every couple years, though some never bothered to change it.

And maybe I should also carry around a cooling stand with a couple fans that might drop the temps 3-6C. I've seen them used, I've seen how effective they were. Are they worth the bag space for a few degrees?

I use a cooling stand not so much for the fans, but rather to elevate the laptop away from the desk surface, as most doesn't leave enough room underneath for proper airflow IMO

I'm very stingy about GPU temps. I had 2 cards(470's) on SLI in my desktop with stock cooling fans. Running FFXIV jacked them past 85. I really didn't like that so I got water cooling blocks for them. Now? They don't pass 60, and I like it that way. I bite my nails when I see mobile GPUs pass 90C. I don't like it. Even 70C is too high for my comfort, and I've seen gaming laptops IDLE there.

Unfortunately fermi isn't the coolest card in the world, and the physical proximity that comes with sli configs means even more restriction in airflow, especially for the upper card. I was spiking into the low 80s when I used to run 2x oc'd 5850s, so I understand where you're coming from. That being said, those cards are designed to operate at over 100C, and frankly my own reservation with the temp. has more to do with system stability rather than hardware longevity. Higher voltage is potentially far more detrimental than elevated operating temp.

But please, go ahead and pick apart everything I've said to boost your personal confidence as you've done over and over. I'm your target of the week, I'll take the burden. I hope it makes you feel well. And no, I'm not being sarcastic. If you enjoy it, please, be my guest.

done and done, though I certainly don't need, nor will I get, any "personal confidence" boost from this thread. I know fully well to what extent my knowledge in these fields go, which is simply something that's gained over the years by working with these stuff. Frankly you yourself sounds like you have as well, which makes this all the more baffling. There's nothing wrong with having a bias, but one shouldn't let that get in the way of being informed themselves - I greatly dislike Apple products in general, but that doesn't mean I don't know or acknowledge what they did get right.

[Aenarion]

My "laptop" for example. It uses a hex core desktop CPU and dual mobile GPUs.

*yoinks the x7200*

[ispano]

*yoinks the x7200*

Don't make me beat you with my desktop, I can barely lift it anyways.

[Searious]

Desktops: Gaming
Laptops: Utility

I never researched heavily into laptops for gaming. Know why? I'm a desktop enthusiast. My opinion is biased. It always will be..

What's the point of commenting on a subject you don't know anything about then? Why not just sit back at let people who have experience with gaming laptops offer advice? You lost your credibility the moment you said a laptop would require liquide nitrogen for cooling.

[Andrien]

To the experts, am I pushing my 130M laptop to far? its a high performance hp hdx 16.
NVIDIA GeForce GT 130M with up to 2815MB total available graphics memory with 1024MB dedicated

this is how i play currently to keep temps down within 85-90C but at the sametime maintaining decent graphic quality. I can play on standard but I feel like it'll burn up my machine.
Am I lowing its lifespan?


general drawing quality 5/10
background drawing quality low
shadow lowest
texture low
filtering low
30FPS

[ispano]

Any time you push a device, the hotter it gets, will lower it's life. The issue is that it's less of an effect compared to overvolting during overclocking. And if said temps are under the maximums for the device, it should still last plenty long, unless you decide to go play on the carpet or something.

Also I personally wouldn't associate the term "high performance" with a laptop such as that one.

[Andrien]

Also I personally wouldn't associate the term "high performance" with a laptop such as that one.

its year and a half old, and thats what it said at the time of purchased.

[Atoli]

to keep temps down within 85-90C

..how do I even find out how hot the temperature in my Laptop is?
I think mine is becoming pretty warm when I play FFXIV for a long time..

[ispano]

..how do I even find out how hot the temperature in my Laptop is?
I think mine is becoming pretty warm when I play FFXIV for a long time..

You can use CoreTemp for CPU temps, and if you have a non integrated GPU, MSI Afterburner can help with those temps. It might even work with Integrated GPUs too, haven't tested personally.

[Andrien]

..how do I even find out how hot the temperature in my Laptop is?
I think mine is becoming pretty warm when I play FFXIV for a long time..

I downloaded an app called PC Wizard 2010. its free.

edit: there is a newer version out btw