Help with selecting Laptop

[TTripp]

Hey everyone,

I have decided I am going to purchase a laptop, primarily for college purposes, but I definitely would like to do a little gaming. I know laptops apparently are not "ideal" for gaming, but I know there are some systems out there that do just fine.

Anyways, I am on a decent budget (500-700). Also, I am fairly uneducated when it comes to software, so purchasing a laptop is foreign to me.

I have found two systems that would seem like good deals for the price when evaluating the specs:

#1 - $650
ASUS G Series G60VX-RBBX05 NoteBook
Intel Core 2 Duo P7450(2.13GHz)
16"
4GB Memory DDR2 800
320GB
HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
1GB DDR3 VRAM

or

#2 - $650
ASUS K72 Series K72DR-X1 NoteBook
AMD Phenom II Triple-Core N830(2.1GHz)
17.3"
4GB Memory DDR3 1066
500GB
HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470
1GB DDR3 VRAM


Both of these systems will do fine with most games that are currently out right now, right?

I am pretty sure #1 beats #2 fairly good, but #1 is "re-certified," which makes #2 fairly appealing.

Anyone know of these are good systems for the money? ASUS is a good brand, right? Both will run games fairly good?

Any and all advice/input/feedback/suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thanks and happy holidays

[vicarious ink]

Two. By far.

DDR3 RAM alone is worth the buy over the first one. Also, the 3 core processor while it won't do you too much amazing stuff for a college computer, it's worth the money for the tasking. The 2 GPUs pretty much are the same over each other. Some preform differently in certain scenarios. I wouldn't worry too much if you are playing WoW.

Also, bigger screen, more HDD space. #1 has a 7200 RPM drive on it compared to the 5400 RPMs of #2, but not too much of a breaking point.

In the end, Go with 2.

EDIT: Also, ASUS is amazing when it comes to product design and quality (95% of the time). The one thing they lack more than anything is their customer service and RMA policy. Most of my parts in my rig are ASUS. If you want to know anything else, please let me know.

[TTripp]

Wow, thanks for the quick and thorough reply!

I have been reading that the video card in #1 alone is worth buying it.

Thanks for filling me in

[vicarious ink]

Wow, thanks for the quick and thorough reply!

I have been reading that the video card in #1 alone is worth buying it.

Thanks for filling me in

I mis-read the video card in 2. #1 does beat #2 out in the graphics section as the 5470 is more a multimedia card than anything. But in the end, I would go with whatever you feel more comfortable with. You could easily Play WoW on either though if that is your main content of games on the PC.

[Kripparrian]

#1 is way better

[Wries]

Disagree with post no 2 about the graphics cards.

GTX 260m, while older, is considered to be a MUCH beefier GPU. ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 is a step over integrated but not enough if you want to play with higher up settings in wow. The CPU is however nicer on laptop no 2. I wouldn't go with either of those laptops.

edit: I'm slow. poster corrected mistake.

[Kripparrian]

i think laptop #1 is a good value

[TTripp]

Cool deal. Again, thanks for the replies .

Kripp, you think #1 is a good value, huh?

[Kripparrian]

just make sure you get at least 1 year warranty with it being "re-certified"

[TTripp]

Thanks for the input.

Lastly, does anyone know of a better deal around the same price? And building my own isn't really an option .

Anyone?

[Cilraaz]

I would say neither. The CPU in #1 is lacking. The GPU in #2 is lacking. If it must be one of the two, then nobody can give you a solid answer without knowing what style of play is going to be done on it. Soloing? 5-man? 10-man? 25-man? If soloing or 5-man, #1 would be fine. For either 10- or 25-man, both would be lacking.

[edit: Also, by "a little gaming", do you mean just WoW or other games also? For non-WoW gaming, #1 would be the better of the two.]

[TTripp]

I see. I am not a huge gamer. When it comes to WoW, I may do an occasional 10 or 25 man pug, but that's not very common. I may also play L4D2? SC2?

I also came across another Laptop that costs about $20 more. The specs for that is:

ASUS G71GX-RX05 NoteBook
Intel Core 2 Duo P8700(2.53GHz)
17.1"
Wide XGA+ 6GB Memory DDR2 800
500GB
HDD 5400rpm Super Multi DVD RW
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
1GB GDDR3 VRAM

Would this be any better? I noticed the processor is a bit different?

[Cilraaz]

For WoW raiding, a mobile Core 2 Duo is probably going to be too weak for anything really playable (depending on your qualification of playable).

[TTripp]

Well, it doesn't have to be absolutely awesome. I play on a really outdated desktop. At this point, anything is an improvement.

Is the last one I mentioned better than the two I mentioned in the OP? If you absolutely had to pick one, which would it be?

[Xuvial]

Considering it's a laptop, I wouldn't be aiming for high settings anyway.

I would pick your most recent one, 260M + 2.53GHz duo.