So my trusty old SWBF laptop died, including the hard drive (i got the click of death when i turned it on), taking my mod's second version with it (i still have a really old WIP backed up on an external drive) Can anyone recommend a good laptop that can play SWBF/2 well on at least medium settings in a 300-500$ price range?

ASUS U50A-RBBML05 - $399.99

ASUS A52F-XT2R - $399.97

I would personally recommend the ASUS U50A-RBBML05; it has a stronger processor, higher hard drive capacity, more RAM, and it looks cooler.

15.6 inches. a little big but it doesn't sound so bad. Win7 Home Premium 64-bit. 4 Gigs Ram. 500 Gig HD. Intel GMA? I had a desktop with an Intel GMA once and it lagged. terribly. This is nice, but i'm not so sure about the intel gma thing.

i'm considering this as a desktop option. it's a cheap (300$) HP 100B XZ812UT All-In-One PC. 32-bit windows 7 pro. has 2 Gigs RAm, 250 Gig HD. but AMD/ATI radeon card. which seemingly worked better with games

Don't get anything with the Graphics Media Accelerator. Just a fair warning.

jdee/barc wrote:15.6 inches. a little big but it doesn't sound so bad. Win7 Home Premium 64-bit. 4 Gigs Ram. 500 Gig HD. Intel GMA? I had a desktop with an Intel GMA once and it lagged. terribly. This is nice, but i'm not so sure about the intel gma thing.

i'm considering this as a desktop option. it's a cheap (300$) HP 100B XZ812UT All-In-One PC. 32-bit windows 7 pro. has 2 Gigs RAm, 250 Gig HD. but AMD/ATI radeon card. which seemingly worked better with games

In my experience desktops are always better for games. Even a normal desktop can, on n, outdo a gaming laptop. If you don't really need to move around, a desktop is the way to go.

I have 3 more years until college and a netbook is what i have for school purposes. so i think either a desktop. or a laptop that worked as well as the dead one (when it was working. it was a rundown old buisness laptop with XP that ran flawlessly on high settings), which then would remove the necessity of the netbook.

And yes I agree. Intel GMA's aren't graphics cards. they're just marketed that way as cheap graphics cards.

Marth8880 wrote:ASUS U50A-RBBML05 - $399.99

ASUS A52F-XT2R - $399.97

I would personally recommend the ASUS U50A-RBBML05; it has a stronger processor, higher hard drive capacity, more RAM, and it looks cooler.

I must agree here. Get an Asus! They are great computers.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus/Asus-D ... 0000050009

I won't argue that ASUS is good, however I prefer Acer.

Here is a Laptop I would do shameful things to get my hands on.

Acer Aspire AS4743Z-4861 ( LX.RFS02.003 ) 469.99 USD

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium - 64-bit version - Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core processor P6200 (2.13GHz, 3MB L3 cache) - 4GB DDR3 SDRAM - 500GB hard drive - Acer® CineCrystal 14" LCD display (1366 x 768) - Intel® HD Graphics - Mobile Intel® HM55 Express chipset - 8x DVD±RW DL - webcam - multi-gesture touchpad - 802.11b/g/n WLAN - gigabit LAN - HDMI® - USB - Multi-in-1 card reader - 6-cell battery - 2-year limited warranty

THEWULFMAN wrote:Intel® HD Graphics

Better than the standard Intel GMA but still pretty low-quality. It is difficult to find a good, cheap laptop that has a dedicated graphics card. To jdee/barc: the distributors you want to stay clear from are HP/Compaq, Gateway, Alienware, and Apple (unless you are willing to drop all PC gaming and modding and you no longer require a soul); Dell is alright, but I'd suggest choosing otherwise; most of the more uncommon brands such as ASUS, Acer, Sony (which comes with a larger price tag), Toshiba, and Samsung (not 100 percent sure about quality or durability), are all spectacular: great durability, quality, performance, visual appetite, etc. Those are my less-than 100,000 cents.

Marth8880 wrote:

THEWULFMAN wrote:the distributors you want to stay clear from are HP/Compaq, Gateway, Alienware, and Apple (unless you are willing to drop all PC gaming and modding and you no longer require a soul)

That's a pretty blatant blanket statement. I have an Alienware and it runs everything just fine. Including our fine Minecraft server. (btw, Alienware is owned by Dell and

Marth8880 wrote:Dell is alright

Although, Alienware is way out of the price range stated by the OP.

My cousin has an HP that runs SWBF2 amazingly. And we all know you are openly biased against Apple computers simply because of the company, so I don't really think you're in a stable position to either recommend or not recommend them.



Personally, I have a Dell Inspiron 15 (though I don't use it for gaming much. Mainly schoolwork). It has that Intel HD graphics card like WULF's Acer, but I've found it runs SWBF2 brilliantly.

I personally like the feel of a mac. but both Apple and Alienware are waaay out of my 300-500$ budget. I have to buy it with my money. So i'm limiting myself in terms of how much i can spend. But right now i think i'm either going with the really good eMachines one i saw at microcenter for 250 (2GB RAM, 32-bit Windows 7 H.P., a fairly large HD, Intel Pentium CPU, ATI Radeon HD graphics) or the HP AIO Desktop i saw on tigerdirect.

Stay away from eMachines, they are crap. The company uses the lowest cost parts for the Motherboard, RAM and other components. It will die and fast.

500$ is not going to get you much either especially for gaming. You will have to settle for a Core 2 Duo or AMD dual core and Intel HD as the highest possible config with 2-4GB of RAM, unless you buy Used/Recertified.

These are two good options in your price range. I do however suggest waiting till you have $1000 saved up for two reasons. By the time you have it, you can afford better tech (core i5 etc.) as new stuff will be out by then. Second, the 700-1000$ range is the sweet spot to get good price to performance for mobile GPUs. At that price range you can get stuff comparable to a nVidia 9800GT desktop card up to some that are equal to a GTX260. Equivalents in AMD are the 4850HD or a 5770HD. ASUS G series laptops have excellent cooling for their GPUs and good build quality.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834157820

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834246030

If you must buy one now though, don't settle for less than a Core 2 Duo if you buy a Intel based system.

Suggested PC Brands (Best to worst, based on my experience)

Mass consumer:
ASUS
Acer
Toshiba
HP
Dell
eMachines

Custom Ordered:
Sager
iBuyPower
MicroVelocity
Origin PC
Alienware


Macs are overpriced, similar PC configs are 30-40% cheaper and tend to have better cooling since the components are not shoved into a Unibody frame with low tolerances for heat dispersion. More so if you have a dedicated GPU. I know of people who bought Mac with dedicated GPUs and had heating issues, to the point where the exterior of the chassis was discolored from excess heat build up. If you want a UNIX based experience, tons of free Linux distrobutions can do the same stuff as a mac for the average user. As for design asthestics, the latest HP laptops still available copy the Mac design. On a side note, HP is removing it self from the Hardware business to focus on software, so don't expect anything new from them.

VF501 wrote:Stay away from eMachines, they are crap. The company uses the lowest cost parts for the Motherboard, RAM and other components. It will die and fast.

Agreed. That is part of why I trust Acer, they can endure a lot. This Netbook has gone through a ton.
I also agree on Dell. I owned a Dell desktop. I have worked with TheDuke on his Dell, it is crap. Bottom line don't get a Dell.
Macs are IMO not that great, I tried out a friends macbook for awhile and I really didn't like it. Never tried Alienware either so I can't say anything about them.
ASUS or Acer are the two I recommend the most, HP is a brand I also trust. eMachines and Dell must be avoided at all costs, unless you have no other choice.

I think i'm going with an HP for the time being, seeing as they've worked well in the past.

jdee/barc wrote:I think i'm going with an HP for the time being, seeing as they've worked well in the past.

Alright, but do not expect it to last you for much more than a couple of years. (They're fine...while they last.)

Thanks for the warning ,but i'm being stubborn here and going for a Dell or an HP reason is below.

My HP has had no problems up until it's death. It worked perfectly to my satisfaction. (3 years with me, and 5 years as my dad's programming/work computer)

From previous expierence, Dell has been satisfying for me. I had a Dell Dimension 3000 for about 6 years before the HP. 3ghz p4 CPU, ATI Graphics (but couldn't play SWRC), 2 gigs RAM, reasonable price (400). I'd still have it to this day, but it got completely zapped in a lightning/thunderstorm (no surge suppressor, which was needed). and they've been always very good when i've used them (problems have been minimal at the most)

jdee/barc wrote:Thanks for the warning ,but i'm pretty dead-set on an HP as my olld HP lasted me about 7 years, with no problems

And this is why I think that ONE OR TWO PERSONAL ISSUES is not enough reason to recommend NOT getting a computer. Seriously.

Your HP has worked just fine, despite horror stories.
ALL FOUR of my Dells have worked just fine, despite horror stories.
I'm sure Nova's, Grev's, guru's, and Eggman's Apple products all work just fine, despite horror stories.
So can we all just stop bashing other hardware and instead make intelligent recommendations from now on, not condemnations? Because honestly, I felt kind of insulted when reading this thread.
And now that that's off my chest, good luck with your new HP!

True, i have an old 1999 Powerbook G3 that i took to compare to my current netbook. it plays Jedi Knight Academy better then my Acer netbook from 2011 , on default settings (it is, from 1999 of course )

Twilight_Warrior wrote:Because honestly, I felt kind of insulted when reading this thread.

I think you're taking things a little too seriously here. No one is attacking anyone here. If someone says "I hate this brand", and you happen to own/like the brand, it doesn't not mean anyone is being insulted here. We were asked our opinion, so we gave it. Hardware can vary person to person. Some people might have a (insert brand) computer and it works fine, and for others it doesn't. What matters is percentage. If more people are having issues with the computer than people that aren't, then there is a problem.

That said, I wish the best of luck to you and your new pc, whatever brand you get.

jdee/barc wrote:True, i have an old 1999 Powerbook G3 that i took to compare to my current netbook. it plays Jedi Knight Academy better then my Acer netbook from 2011 , on default settings (it is, from 1999 of course )

I have a really hard time believing this. What models are you specifically refering to, both the Powerbook model and Acer model please. The 1999 Powerbook didn't meet the minimum requiremnents for JKA, and any Acer made today does. I see no indication that this is possible.

And wait a minute, you have a 2011 Acer?