Laptops - the questioning

Nightslyr

I'm going to be getting a laptop this X-Mas, and I'm trying to give my family members technical info so I can get the most bang for their bucks. The problem is that I'm out of the loop myself when it comes to laptops. The biggest question I have is whether or not laptops tend to have integrated graphics rather than a dedicated graphics card. Virtually all of the computers I've seen in my family's price range ($1000 - $1200) have integrated graphics. Is this normal for most non-gaming laptops, and would it be able to run Adobe CS4 software, including the heavy hitters like Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Flash?

What about games? I'm not gonna play Crysis on it, but would modern integrated graphics be able to handle WoW without framerate issues?

Thanks.

Gar king

I found this for a little over $1000, it looks good all around.

SirToasty

I got an HP with a GT 130M for $1300 with some extra fancy features so you could probably cut the price down by 1 or 2 grand. It runs CoD4 at the highest settings with 30-40 average fps. I don't know how that compares to WoW though.

Nightslyr

Thanks, guys!

Daedalus

As someone who's been in a similar position before: get a gaming desktop and a tiny, light laptop; a gaming laptop will "weigh 42 pounds and have a battery life of one-half of ten minutes" as the saying goes. Worse, you can't upgrade the graphics card when the thing goes obsolete in a year. A gaming desktop and a netbook will, combined, cost as much or less than a gaming laptop.

edit: on the other hand, if your main focus is Photoshop, a laptop with a big screen and relatively strong processor makes sense, although having a ton of RAM is more important to Photoshop than having a beefy 3D card, for obvious reasons.

gneGne

Kinda hard to pick a laptop now when you're getting one this christmas. The newest laptop of today might be outdated a few months later. One thing for sure is that you want to wait for Windows 7 (October 22nd) or Snow Leopard.
Anyway, the integrated graphics have become a bit better with the nvidia 9400m series, but you might want to have something beefier if you're doing some heavy stuff on CS4. I think Adobe is working on supporting dedicated gfx in the future or perhaps even now? Anyway the 9400m integrated gfx handles WoW and CS4 pretty well.

Daedalus makes a good point, think about how much portability you want out of your laptop. Beefy laptops are not suited for long trips due to their bigger size, heavier weight and short battery lives.

PS. a good site to check as well is www.notebookreview.com, especially the forums section "what laptop should I buy?"

Nightslyr

Ooh, nice link.

We're not planning on actually purchasing the laptop until sometime near Thanksgiving, for a couple reasons. First, like everyone has said, Windows 7 will be out by then. Second, my mom is a QVC freak...she wants to see what the new laptops they'll have will be. I'm not too excited by that prospect, but it's her money.

How are Dell laptops viewed in general? I've heard wildly different opinions on them by different people - they seem to be a very love/hate company. Is there a consensus with those in the know regarding whether or not that brand represents decent quality?

Improvolone

You get great deals on QVC, but you wind up wasting money by getting great deals on shit you don't need that is automatically included.
"Like this software package valued at over $500!"

travathian

The business line laptops are typically better than the consumer lines.

I agree with the above though, in that we need more info about what all you want to do with a laptop. Why do you want one instead of a desktop? Is this for school? How much will you be lugging it around? $1200 buys a crapload of desktop and a pair of good sized monitors.

Avoid QVC like the plague or you'll end up with a shitload of bloatware, a mediocre all-in-one printer with gold plated cables, a ream of crappy photo paper, and other over priced stuff.

Nightslyr

It'd be primarily for work - web development and Adobe stuff. I have CS4 Master Suite, and I'd like to get a laptop that could handle it. While I have a decent desktop, and both a 360 and PS3 for gaming, I'd still like my laptop to handle some games here and there (WoW, and ToR when it comes out).

So long as it can handle the heavy hitters of Adobe's lineup (Premiere Pro, After Effects, Flash), I'll be happy.