46 replies to this topic

[Neil the Scorpion]

Hey guys, I am a student, and picking up a lappy for the new term. Looking at getting one that can also run mechwarrior online.

I realize the final specs haven't yet been released, but wanted to get your thoughts on a spec like this:
Acer Aspire V3-571G-6641 Notebook Intel Core i3 2370M(2.40GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M

That's got a pricetag of about 600 bucks.

Does anyone think that's not enough machine to at least run the game halfway decent? If not, what else could you recommend instead?

Thanks in advance.

[Aoi Esq]

I'll allow others with more technical know-how to chime in on details, but they have indeed released current minimum and recommended specs here:

http://mwomercs.com/...veloper-update/

(Couldn't tell from your post if you'd seen these or not.)

[NobunagaReborn]

We have similar specs. I have a pavilion G6 by hp. Not a high tech bruiser but should do you fine so long as you have Cooler you should be good

[Garth Erlam]

I highly recommend going for (mobile) core i5's or higher. Dual-cores are on the way out. Wait for sales as much as you can - I got a friend of mine a Lenovo that, after taxes and shipping was 950. It has 8 GIGS of Ram, 3rd genCore i7, Geforce 660m 2gb, Blu-ray player, 1TB HDD, etc.

You can go under 950 easily and get a pretty beastly machine.

[Neil the Scorpion]

Garth Erlam, on 17 July 2012 - 01:18 PM, said:

I highly recommend going for (mobile) core i5's or higher. Dual-cores are on the way out. Wait for sales as much as you can - I got a friend of mine a Lenovo that, after taxes and shipping was 950. It has 8 GIGS of Ram, 3rd genCore i7, Geforce 660m 2gb, Blu-ray player, 1TB HDD, etc.

You can go under 950 easily and get a pretty beastly machine.

Unfortunately, 950 is way beyond my budget.

I realize I could spend that much and get a machine that can definately play the game. That's not really what I asked. :-)

Aoi Esq, on 17 July 2012 - 01:09 PM, said:

I'll allow others with more technical know-how to chime in on details, but they have indeed released current minimum and recommended specs here:

http://mwomercs.com/...veloper-update/

(Couldn't tell from your post if you'd seen these or not.)

I hadn't seen that yet. Thanks.

[Barbaric Soul]

Garth Erlam, on 17 July 2012 - 01:18 PM, said:

I highly recommend going for (mobile) core i5's or higher. Dual-cores are on the way out. Wait for sales as much as you can - I got a friend of mine a Lenovo that, after taxes and shipping was 950. It has 8 GIGS of Ram, 3rd genCore i7, Geforce 660m 2gb, Blu-ray player, 1TB HDD, etc.

You can go under 950 easily and get a pretty beastly machine.

I'd listen to that guy, especailly considering he's the Dev in charge of hardware performance for MW:O. Granted, the laptop he mentioned may be out of your price range, but that doesn't take away from the hardware he mentioned.

[Vulpesveritas]

$600 your limit?
This is your best bet there;
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16834214868


With this at $700;
http://shopping.hp.c...ent-Notebook-PC
Upgrade to A8/10
with dual graphics 1GB Radeon HD 7670

[Jake Stark]

The only thing about laptops are that for your budget you have to have a bigger budget to get anything decent in gaming. Can you do with a desktop, and use the library computers to type papers? You will enjoy all games during your off time much better for the money.

[Nuclear Xmas]

It might run it...

Given the settings probably won't be too high

[Dheekray Muze Amal]

Will a laptop with a QuadCore i7 2630 QM, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 1GB Radeon HD 6770M cut it for graphics at high settings? Just curious.

Edited by Dheekray Muze Amal, 17 July 2012 - 11:25 PM.

[Vulpesveritas]

Dheekray Muze Amal, on 17 July 2012 - 11:24 PM, said:

Will a laptop with a QuadCore i7 2630 QM, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 1GB Radeon HD 6770M cut it for graphics at high settings? Just curious.

720p probably
1080p no, possibly not at all.

Problem with CryENGINE 3 is it is GPU heavy, and that 6770m is only equivalent to a desktop Radeon HD 6670, which is just at or under minimum requirements.

Edited by Vulpesveritas, 17 July 2012 - 11:34 PM.

[Dheekray Muze Amal]

Vulpesveritas, on 17 July 2012 - 11:33 PM, said:

720p probably 1080p no, possibly not at all. Problem with CryENGINE 3 is it is GPU heavy, and that 6770m is only equivalent to a desktop Radeon HD 6670, which is just at or under minimum requirements.

Thanks for the advice. Does the fact that I could run Crysis 2 under high settings with virtually no lag raise any hopes of a lag-free experience? Thanks.

[Vulpesveritas]

Dheekray Muze Amal, on 18 July 2012 - 12:09 AM, said:

Thanks for the advice. Does the fact that I could run Crysis 2 under high settings with virtually no lag raise any hopes of a lag-free experience? Thanks.

Quite possibly, though is that under basic DX 9 or DX11 with high res images?

[Dheekray Muze Amal]

DX9 with no high-res images :/ Will download the packs and try them out. Do you mind if I PM you Vulpeveritas? I'd rather not get in the way of the OP if it's a hassle.

[o0Marduk0o]

A statement with a comparison to Crysis 2 (DX9 and DX11) would be nice.

Something like "to run MWO smoothly you need at least xx fps at Crysis 2 on certain settings".

So we can test on our machines at home whether the game will run.

Edited by o0Marduk0o, 18 July 2012 - 12:34 AM.

[Neil the Scorpion]

yes, my budget is around 600.

Vulpesveritas, on 17 July 2012 - 08:03 PM, said:

$600 your limit?
This is your best bet there;
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16834214868


With this at $700;
http://shopping.hp.c...ent-Notebook-PC
Upgrade to A8/10
with dual graphics 1GB Radeon HD 7670

I took a look at the first one you suggested. The specs for the one I posted about in my OP were the same price, and the comparable Intel + nvidia spec. Are you saying you're certain that AMD + Radeon spec is higher performing? Are there any charts to support this? This laptop doesn't even have dedicated graphics. I'm reasonably certain that is a required feature, no?

The second one you linked is an HP? I'm not touching one of those regardless of what anyone says. lol I'll have a look at the spec though. Brands I currently feel comfortable with include acer, toshiba, dell, sony. I do not think I will purchase a laptop from a different brand.

Thank you very much for the suggestions.

Jake Stark, on 17 July 2012 - 08:19 PM, said:

The only thing about laptops are that for your budget you have to have a bigger budget to get anything decent in gaming. Can you do with a desktop, and use the library computers to type papers? You will enjoy all games during your off time much better for the money.

I am well aware. And there's no chance a desktop will work instead. I need a laptop and I'm buying a new laptop regardless. I'm trying to find one that will also allow me to run mechwarrior online at a minimum of cost beyond what I need. Thanks for the suggestion.

Barbaric Soul, on 17 July 2012 - 06:08 PM, said:

I'd listen to that guy, especailly considering he's the Dev in charge of hardware performance for MW:O. Granted, the laptop he mentioned may be out of your price range, but that doesn't take away from the hardware he mentioned.

Yes, I understand that. Unfortunately, I think the quads i've seen are way beyond my budget. I might be able to justify an extra 100 or 150 past what I need for school (which takes me to 600ish dollars) but beyond that and it's just not worth it.


One page I found that I was using to help decide was this one:

http://www.notebookc...ds.13849.0.html

It seems to indicate that the GT 630M performs better at Crysis 2 than the Radeon suggested above (as well as other comparably priced Radeon cards). Looks like I may be stuck close to minimum settings, I can certainly live with that, so long as the game is playable.

Edited by Neil the Scorpion, 18 July 2012 - 06:41 AM.

[Vulpesveritas]

Neil the Scorpion, on 18 July 2012 - 06:19 AM, said:

yes, my budget is around 600.

I took a look at the first one you suggested. The specs for the one I posted about in my OP were the same price, and the comparable Intel + nvidia spec. Are you saying you're certain that AMD + Radeon spec is higher performing? Are there any charts to support this? This laptop doesn't even have dedicated graphics. I'm reasonably certain that is a required feature, no?

The second one you linked is an HP? I'm not touching one of those regardless of what anyone says. lol I'll have a look at the spec though. Brands I currently feel comfortable with include acer, toshiba, dell, sony. I do not think I will purchase a laptop from a different brand.

One page I found that I was using to help decide was this one:

http://www.notebookc...ds.13849.0.html

It seems to indicate that the GT 630M performs better at Crysis 2 than the Radeon suggested above (as well as other comparably priced Radeon cards). Looks like I may be stuck close to minimum settings, I can certainly live with that, so long as the game is playable.

With the HP I suggested, you're getting dual graphics, and I don't know of any other company which can get you that level of graphics performance at $700.
To be quite honest, I find it odd (at least personally) that you aren't willing to touch an HP, when they have such high value, customer service, and as of the second half of 2011, one of the best cooling systems in a laptop. (pre 2011 their cooling was one of the worst, if not the worst. Complete reversal starting with the laptops they came out with for AMD llano chips, oddly enough)

Other than that brand wise, I usually recommend Asus, HP, Toshiba, and Samsung, as most other brands (based on my experience and what I have heard from input by others) either have a combination of;
1. Subpar parts (Acer, Dell)
2. Overpriced for what you get (Sony, Dell)
3. Tons o bloatware (Acer)
4. Horrible warranty (Acer, Dell)
5. No customer service whatsoever (Sony, Acer)

(Acer also owns Gateway)

MSI makes okay machines, but other brands tend to be better, and if you were looking at a higher end computer, Sager is the way to go, hands down.

Performance wise, I thought it said 620, not 630. Oops. Yeah, for $600 a Geforce GTX 630 will be your fastest bet, but a dual graphics trinity solution at $700 will be faster.

Edited by Vulpesveritas, 18 July 2012 - 06:57 AM.

[Neil the Scorpion]

Vulpesveritas, on 18 July 2012 - 06:55 AM, said:

With the HP I suggested, you're getting dual graphics, and I don't know of any other company which can get you that level of graphics performance at $700.
To be quite honest, I find it odd (at least personally) that you aren't willing to touch an HP, when they have such high value, customer service, and as of the second half of 2011, one of the best cooling systems in a laptop. (pre 2011 their cooling was one of the worst, if not the worst. Complete reversal starting with the laptops they came out with for AMD llano chips, oddly enough)

Other than that brand wise, I usually recommend Asus, HP, Toshiba, and Samsung, as most other brands (based on my experience and what I have heard from input by others) either have a combination of;
1. Subpar parts (Acer, Dell)
2. Overpriced for what you get (Sony, Dell)
3. Tons o bloatware (Acer)
4. Horrible warranty (Acer, Dell)
5. No customer service whatsoever (Sony, Acer)

(Acer also owns Gateway)

MSI makes okay machines, but other brands tend to be better, and if you were looking at a higher end computer, Sager is the way to go, hands down.

Performance wise, I thought it said 620, not 630. Oops. Yeah, for $600 a Geforce GTX 630 will be your fastest bet, but a dual graphics trinity solution at $700 will be faster.

Well, I may take another look if HP has corrected its issues. My Bro-in-law who playes absolutely no games, bought a 500ish dollar HP a few years back and the damn thing overheated and seperated chips from the board. This, plus all my past experience with the HP desktops, has turned me off of them for anything but servers.

[Dheekray Muze Amal]

Thanks for the link Neil, helpful stuff.

[Vulpesveritas]

Neil the Scorpion, on 18 July 2012 - 07:03 AM, said:

Well, I may take another look if HP has corrected its issues. My Bro-in-law who playes absolutely no games, bought a 500ish dollar HP a few years back and the damn thing overheated and seperated chips from the board. This, plus all my past experience with the HP desktops, has turned me off of them for anything but servers.

I have a old early 2010 model DV6 with a Phenom II X4 on board. Without playing games on a flat surface it heats up to around 85-95* C. lifting up the vent by one inch brings the tempratures down to 55-65*C.
In comparison to a late model 2011 DV6 with an A8 a friend has which on a flat surface gets 40-50*C. Which is quite decent for a laptop. Given there were people overclocking their Llano chips by up to 50% or more, while keeping temps under 60*C without a cooling pad, HP really stepped up their game.