Laptop/Desktop/Games Console?? Advice please! =D

Kamran

Hello all, hope you're all well and enjoying the festive period

I was hoping to pick your brains a little about a problem I'm having about what to do with my laptop.

I purchased a Toshiba p100-112 laptop from microanvika 2 years ago this june for roughly £1200. Excellent laptop with great graphics card (nvidia geforce go 7600) and processor, ram etc etc I'm pleased with it. it's a bit bulky with a 17" screen and it gets v v hot (but i have a cooling tray under)

However, i'm a gaming fan and have noticed that the latest latest games are messing up or not working on this laptop. they used to work fine, which leads me to belive that the graphics card is no longer up to its absolute best any more.but otherwise the laptop is doing great and is perfect for my personal use, studies etc etc.

I'm trying to work out a cost effective solution for this problem and have identified a NUMBER of possibilites, but i dont know enough about them to know what route to take.

Do I sell the laptop while it's still in excellent condition? but realistically after 2 years use how much can i get for it? Do i even sell it at all?

Do i replace it with a laptop or a desktop? is it possible for me to have JUST the CPU and connect it to the laptop's screen? (since monitors for desktops are rather expensive too)

Ideally, is it possible to upgrade my graphics card on the laptop?

OR, would it be wise to simply purchase a dedicated gaming console such as an xbox 360 and use the laptop for personal use (but no games). but the problem then arises that i would have to fork out much more for a decent quality tv (i dont need a massive tv, just a small but good quality HD one)..


I'm living in student accomodation so there's no room for one of those MASSIVE TVs, so if i were to purchase one it'd have to be tft flat screen that doesnt take up too much space.

ultimatley it comes down to how much i'm willing to spend right? but i'm really not sure how much each option might cost, hence any advice would be very much appreciated! thanks very much! :T


Kam

Kamran

bump?

Xeorix

I too am a student so I know what its like.

I had a laptop but it got broke and out of date etc. Anyway I bought a desktop and it was definatly the right decision.

Being on an ICT course I need something decent. With a desktop you can upgrade it easier and the components are cheaper.

I got my PC for £750 which included

Nvidia 8800gts 640mb
Intel E6750
2gb Ram
Dvd burner
160gb hard drive
ThermalTake Kandalf Case

I got mine from www.pcoption.co.uk I had to wait quite a while for it but it is worth it. Everywhere else the computer would have cost me £1000+

There warranty is 3yrs repair and another 2 years on top of that for the parts. And your warranty isnt voided if you overclock or open your pc, swap it around etc (if your into that sort of stuff)

Sorry didnt answer your questions.

Do I sell the laptop while it's still in excellent condition? but realistically after 2 years use how much can i get for it? Do i even sell it at all?
You could probably get £500 for it depending on what size harddrive and what CPU and ram you have in it

Do i replace it with a laptop or a desktop? is it possible for me to have JUST the CPU and connect it to the laptop's screen? (since monitors for desktops are rather expensive too)
As i said above, desktop is the way to go. No you cant really do that, it wouldnt work.

Ideally, is it possible to upgrade my graphics card on the laptop?
Not really, they are very expensive and laptop manufacturers make the laptops to fit around 1 particular gfx card

OR, would it be wise to simply purchase a dedicated gaming console such as an xbox 360 and use the laptop for personal use (but no games). but the problem then arises that i would have to fork out much more for a decent quality tv (i dont need a massive tv, just a small but good
quality HD one)..

Defiantly not. PC out performs both 360 and PS3. PC has nearly all the games the PS3 and 360 has, also you could get much better looking gfx and fps out of a pc with a games cataloge that has more games that the PS1-3 and xbox-xbox360 put together .

You can get a HD monitor for a PC for about £120. If it has HDMI in then you could use it for a "next-gen" console in the future if you decide to do that

marleyboy

Hmmmm, the problem with laptops is (although powerful), they soon become redundent to the continuious and more demanding of latest software. before you know it a 2yr old laptop, is out of date. It should be possible to upgrade the graphics\memory of the laptop to improve its performance, but you will be limited to buying hardware for that SPECIFIC laptop, which can be very expensive in the longrun.

Desktops are reletavily cheaper, and the bonus of desktops is the ease and cost of upgrading it, as there are more different makes and models of an array of hardware, there is more competition, reducing the cost level significantly as well as it being far easier to upgrade a pc, than a laptop.

As far as I am aware (at least with some laptops), it is possible to hook up your desktop to run on the laptop monitor, (I guess it depends on the laptop), saving you from having to buy a monitor.

For gamers, I strongly advise a pc, because you can specify the hardware in order to run a game much more smoothly. You are less likely to be playing a computer game outdoors than you would be at home.

My family have 3 laptops, and we have 3 desktops, the laptops are used more for college\work and in my OH case, chatting endlessly on MSN. Whereas the desktops, are mainly used for downloading\uploading files and for playing games.

The kids have consoles (Xbox, 360, DS, PS2, PS3), and as they only could ever use one console at a time, I personally find having them all a waste of money. The games cost far too much, theyre over hyped, over priced, and this time next christmas the next generation of consoles will render them as stale as the PS1, Snes, Amiga. Which were all at one time the HUGE next best thing to sliced bread.

The trusty old PC however, is constantly used for gameplay, the games seem to run better, there is more variety of games available, the console is completely upgradable, the keyboard\mouse feature works far better on some games than a joypad could muster, the software and hardware can both be tweaked and upgraded, overall a pc can do so much MORE than any games console can do, as can a laptop, but in saying this, a pc can do so much more than any laptop could do when it becomes aged. Thats just my opinion

epz_2

marleyboy very few laptops have updateable graphics, they are mainly soildered to the mobo

unless you dont mind spending £2000+ there isnt much out at the moment thats faster in laptop world, the 8600gt isnt much faster and only bespoke crazy stuff based on the clevo c901 can take the nvidia 8800m, ati cards are nowhere.

i would first try a fresh install of the os wipeing out all the junk and updateing to the latest drivers.

after that, well you are looking at £500-700 for a solid gameing rig + monitor, i would look at an xbox 360 and cheap 26" lcd for £240 ish

Kamran

Thanks very much! pcoption.co.uk looks like a very very good site! is it reputable?:T

rainbowtrout

The advantage of consoles is that the life cycle is generally ten years or so, whereas your 750 pound top of the range PC is going to be struggling with the latest games in two or three years.
It really depends on the type of game you play though--even I know consoles make more financial sense I mostly play FPS which are crap on a console controller, hence computer and not console for me. However with RPGs, sport games etc I'd take consoles any day.
Just another point, you can connect xbox 360 to a computer lcd with an extra cable, monitor 100-150 pounds and the cable round the tenner mark.

NastyMatt

I would try changing the settings in the games that are not working first.. normally you can manually change the details.. turn off shading, lower amount of detail and such like.

That graphics card in the laptop is not "that" bad.. I am a pc gamer and have worse than you (but in a pc) and can still play all games. (I am waiting for the next gen dx10 gpu's to come out and then I upgrade).

You may find you need more ram, quite a few laptops can take more. I'd suggest 2gb for a gaming machine.

So don't give up on the laptop yet. Maybe take it to a local components pc shop and get them to spend 30 mins on it to see if they can get the games working.. the price of a few beers is better than a whole new machine.

Idiophreak

Personally, I used to be a PC gamer, but got a 360 last year and wouldn't go back...when I had the PS2 and the PC, I generally played about 50/50, but since I got the 360, I've played on the PC twice.

A decent gaming PC that isn't going to be out of date in 12 months (desktop - wouldn't consider a laptop for games) is going to set you back twice as much as a 360, but each game on the 360 is twice the cost pretty much - so I guess it depends on how many games you play as to whether it would make financial sense. As to graphics, gameplay etc...I'm staggered by what the 360's capable of...I've ever confidence that modern PCs can keep pace, but what the 360 can do will keep me busy for a few more years for sure. I've no interested in grabbing an extra 2frames per second here and there, or fiddling with texture quality etc. There comes a time when you just wanna sit down, have a cup of tea and play some games - and on that score, the 360 wins hands down.

So, if it were me, I'd keep the lappy for email and stuff and grab a 360 for gaming...job done.

(rainbowtrout's advice about connecting to a PC monitor is solid btw)

Kamran

This has turned into an interesting discussion :rolleyes:

I understand both points of view. I do actually like the idea of getting a 360, and a good PC monitor (saves space and is probably cheaper), and connecting the 2 together. but then again the price of the games does put me off a little.

But the other point here is that although yes a top spec gaming laptop would become out of date within a few years if not sooner, what would it take for it to be upgraded? just the graphics card (and perhaps the processor in the distant future) right? surely uprgading JUST the gfx card would bring the laptop up to date, and not set you back too much?

And where would you look for a decently priced yet good PC monitor (maybe that's compatible with this cable that can connect a 360)..?

and another good point that was made was that yes, PCs are much better for First Person Shooter (FPS) games right? I like that..

:T