Buying a Laptop, StarCraft II questions and general help

discomute

Hi everyone! I have read penny arcade ever since the "my hand smells like poop" comic but I have never posted... actually I have drifted away from games now I am a busy professional (read: I have lost my soul) but I still read PA.

So I am buying a new laptop, which I hate. I don't really want it for anything other than wiritng, spreadsheets, multimedia stuff. But I don't want to have to buy another laptop again for, like, 20 years. (Current computer is a pent700 with 128sd ram so you can see how long I hold them for). So I don't want to missout on anything, e.g. I want to be able to use the net easily, and make calls on my laptop - maybe not now but in the future.

But I digress. I doubt I will do any gaming except for STARCRAFT 2 which I am totally pumped about. The problem is that:
a) The specs have not been released
b) I do not know crap about videocards.

So I am a bit stuck.

I have posted this on laptop review boards but they haven't helped me, and I thought I would reach out here since PA is a community. (need to do more begging?)

Okay so I am thinking about a Dell because I can get 20% off, they are a good brand and I like to say 'dell'. But there are so many options. A nice cheap one is something like

Inspiron:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5800
3GB Dual-channel44 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD

However that word "integrated" makes me think it isn't a proper video card and perhaps I should avoid it.

Is that true? Anything else to add about those specs?

I mean I could double the cost of the laptop to get a mean machine, but I remind myself that all I need is a glorified typewriter and spending an extra $700 to play a single game is stupid. If that wont run SCII I might just get a cheap Dell.. but again, I don't want to be looking at getting a new computer in 5 years because there is something I need to do that I can't.

I could get something like a T3200 with 2gigram and X3100 and it would cost me around us800. Cheapo...

...but. All the gaming laptops look stupid to me - I don't want 17 inches I want 15 and I'll get an LCD. So the only other computer I am considering is:

Intel® Core™2 Duo processor P8600
4GB2 Dual-channel44 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM
256 MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 Graphics Card

That is about double the cheap one.

Anyway, any advice on what could run SCII and what couldn't.

Also any advice about laptops in general would be great... sorry if this should be in the help forum I wasn't sure.

discomute,
PS. wtf is with hard drives these days? Okay, so my current 20 gig is a tad annoying, but 500? jeebus!
PPS. anyone looking to get a dell online and want 20% off, lemme know!

Snork

My one word of advice is avoid integrated cards at all costs. Starcraft II will probably run on a cardboard box filled with old ham, but for other games, integrated will screw you, mega-huge RAM notwithstanding. It hath screwed me.

Viscountalpha

I would honestly say, wait for starcraft 2 if you can. If you can't- you might be able to find an inexpensive laptop for the time being and then get a better one, a gaming one for starcraft 2.

ronya

Both will probably work. This gives a pretty good rundown of what we know about SCII's system requirements.

(for example: SCII requires just the relatively old Pixel Shader 2.0 (older than, uh, 2002. I'm not sure precisely when.) The Intel Integrated GMA 4500MHD supports PS 4.0.)

That said, Warcraft III had pretty darned low reqs, but to play lag-free in large multiplayer battles or current third-party maps (DotA, etc.) you need to meet higher requirements than the minimum. All that spellspamming eats into memory very quickly...

Uh I digress. If it can run Vista, it'll run SCII in all probability; if it has an independent graphics card it will too. Whether it'll run with all the sparkles and glitter is another matter; 3GB of RAM and a card supporting DX10 should ensure that it will (judging from Warcraft III, Blizzard is more likely to aim at machines that already exist on the market rather than SupCom-style futureproofing).

ben0207

Sort of unrelated, but has Bliz confirmed a Mac version yet? I have the current (metal) Macbook.

Dangerisk

If you want a more official statement on the SC2 requirements (not very detailed answer though):

Blizzard wrote:

What are the system requirements?

We are still optimizing the game and do not have minimum system requirements yet. Nonetheless, StarCraft II will require pixel shader 2.0 and at least 128mb of dedicated video RAM.

From QA 13
http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=10697501059&sid=3000

Slicer

Blizzard is pretty good at making games that can run on low end computers.

That said, you should avoid anything that has an integrated video card like the plague.

discomute

Thanks guys! One last question - say I decided never to play video games on it, should I still avoid integrated video cards "like the plague"? Would they affect other things, i.e. multimedia programs and stuff like that?

FyreWulff

Yes, because they use your system memory.

discomute

FyreWulff wrote: »

Yes, because they use your system memory.

hmmm. Sorry to harp on about this, but there is something I just don't get. Using a computer that has a pentium 700, with 256 SD RAM on win2k I can do nearly anything I need to. It isn't perfect, e.g. It struggles a bit with streaming video. Some other stuff too, but problems are rare.

So for me to look at a core 2 duo and 2gig of DDR ram and then be told that the integrated video card will negatively affect my performance I think - wow. Is Vista that much of a resource hog? Or are you, no disrespect intended, measuring it on a different scale than what I intend?

If I get a cheapass nasty dell, that is

Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor T3200
2GB Dual-channel DDR-2 SDRAM Memory
Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100

I understand that I wont be playing any new games on it, but if I use it for:

- office use (including vb)
- internet browsing
- video streaming, i.e. youtube, internet phone calls
- watching dvds and .avi files
- using it for java heavy applications
- other generic stuff like itunes and mp3 based things

Are you saying that the performance of the computer will suffer because of the integrated graphics card?

Viscountalpha

discomute wrote: »

FyreWulff wrote: »

Yes, because they use your system memory.

hmmm. Sorry to harp on about this, but there is something I just don't get. Using a computer that has a pentium 700, with 256 SD RAM on win2k I can do nearly anything I need to. It isn't perfect, e.g. It struggles a bit with streaming video. Some other stuff too, but problems are rare.

So for me to look at a core 2 duo and 2gig of DDR ram and then be told that the integrated video card will negatively affect my performance I think - wow. Is Vista that much of a resource hog? Or are you, no disrespect intended, measuring it on a different scale than what I intend?

If I get a cheapass nasty dell, that is

Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor T3200
2GB Dual-channel DDR-2 SDRAM Memory
Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100

I understand that I wont be playing any new games on it, but if I use it for:

- office use (including vb)
- internet browsing
- video streaming, i.e. youtube, internet phone calls
- watching dvds and .avi files
- using it for java heavy applications
- other generic stuff like itunes and mp3 based things

Are you saying that the performance of the computer will suffer because of the integrated graphics card?

it does. Integrated graphics is really slow and for the most part, annoying.

If you want starcraft 2 on your laptop, you need a 8800gts mobile graphics chip.

If you don't? Figure out how much you want to spend. For basic things, 600-800(very rough estimate) is about the lowest for a lower midrange laptop that will be superior to your aging P3-700 mhz laptop.

something like this might suit you.

http://explore.toshiba.com/laptops/satellite/L300

Its integrated but your not going to escape that unless you want to pay much more and have a much lower battery life.

Besides suggesting something, Go out and find these in the stores places. Touch them look at them- find out what you want and what features you have to have.

Frem

discomute wrote: »

Thanks guys! One last question - say I decided never to play video games on it, should I still avoid integrated video cards "like the plague"? Would they affect other things, i.e. multimedia programs and stuff like that?

Define "multimedia programs." Are we watching videos, or editing them? Photoshop? Blender?

The trade off on a laptop for graphics cards is not necessarily price vs. performance. From the specs I've seen, using a discrete video card can cut your batter life almost in half.

I've got a Dell Vostro 1510 w/ 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 gigs RAM, and an Intel X3100.

Full disclose: I have noticed graphical unresponsiveness and hicups occasionally, but as far as I can tell, they seem to occur due to the way Vista handles multitasking. Other stuff gets higher priority then graphics if the computer is crunching something big. By contrast, Ubuntu is smooth as butter for the most part. ;-)

I will note that I have two friends with discrete cards (Not the Nvidia ones), and they had lots of issues with overheating. One was Gateway (lol gateway), one was AlienWare. Completely nonscientific survey and they were both gamers, so take that as you will.