Question:
"What Should I Buy" to play World of Warcraft on?
Ah yes... yet another "What Should I Buy" thread from a member with less than 10 posts under his belt. I have been trolling these forums for more than a year, benefitting from the great advice and support given by the community.
Now I come forward seeking advice. A year ago I bought a refurbed eMachines M6805 on eBay for 800.00 ... possibly the best electronics purchase I have ever made. It was everything I was looking for in a laptop. This laptop has never failed me and kept me happy for the past year. I've been pretty rough on it, too.
Right now it is en route to eMachines/Gateway to have the mobo replaced to solve a serious video card failure. In it's absence, I am a bit antsy and wondering if I would be happier with a new machine. Well, actually, I'm not sure this one will survive another year with me if I continue dragging it along w me the way I do. Let's further complicate things and add the fact that I am a very indecisive person who suffers from terrible bouts of buyer's remorse, always pining for what could have been. Strangely enough, this wasn't the case with my M6805.
1) What size notebook would you prefer?
Ugh... ummm... if I go big I wanna go BIG... 17" wide with full-size keyboard and numeric pad. If I go small, I wanna get the smallest, lightest widescreen I can that fits my needs.
2) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?
Standard fare... browsing, chatting, downloading, listening to and burning music, watching and burning DVDs, gaming, fighting oppression
3) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?
About 40 hours/week use at home, 20-40 hours/week elsewhere
4) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?
Mostly World of Warcraft. It MUST run this game (WinXP, P3 or Athlon 800mhz, 512mb ram, 6gig hard drive space, 32mb 3d vid with hardware T&L ... will NOT run Geforce 2Go, ATI Radeon Mobility or IGP 300 series).
5) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
I luuurrrvvv my eMachines M6805... Gateway is also good. I wish I could afford an Alienware. Anything "budget". I don't really care for HP and Dell or Toshiba, but would use one if it fit my needs.
6) How many hours of battery life do you need?
Enough to play a full DVD movie (90-120mins) would be nice, although unrealistic. The hour I can squeeze out of my current battery is sufficient.
7) What is your budget?
Trying not to exceed the 800 I spent a year ago... I can't justify spending 1,000 or more on a piece of electronics unless it will bring me a sammich. Let's split the difference and say 900 for one that will show me pictures of sammiches.
8) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?
I bought my last one on eBay sight-unseen.
9) What country are you buying this in?
USA
Screen Specifics
10) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?
d. WXGA = Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array; 1280x768 or 1280x800; This resolution offers the same as XGA except that there is more horizontal real estate; 1280 versus 1024. Popular for movie viewing due to support for widescreen.
e. WXGA+ = Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array+; 1440x900; This resolution is offered on 17” widescreen notebooks and is comparable to WXGA in terms of text and icon size versus available screen real estate. Popular for movie viewing due to support for widescreen.
f. WSXGA+ = Widescreen Super eXtended Graphics Array; 1680x1050; This resolution is comparable to SXGA in that it offers a middle ground between WXGA/WXGA+ and WUXGA. Popular for movie viewing due to support for widescreen.
g. WUXGA = Widescreen Ultra eXtended Graphics Array; 1920x1200; This resolution offers the smallest viewable text and images while offering the greatest amount of screen real estate.
11) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
Matte, I spose?
Build Quality and Design
12) Are the notebook’s looks and stylishness important to you?
Kinda not really but yeah. If it can still look good with some dents and scratches, I'm there. I prefer styles found on Gateways over HP/Dell/Compaq/Etc... I loke those purty white ones I see people with all the time.
13) How long do you want this laptop to last?
A year minimum, 2-3 pref
Notebook Components
14) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 120GB?
My 50gb filled up FAST, but once I got an external that was solved.
15) Do you need a DVD, DVD-CD/RW or DVD-R drive?
DVD CDRW w Lightscribe would be perfect, but I need a DVD/CDRW at the very least. DVD R not so important.
...
I'm wondering if I don't need 2 laptops... a 17" widescreen DTR for media, and a more portable one to tote along with me to play Warcraft in remote locales with wifi access. That would be a nice change after lugging around a DTR for a year ( 7.5 pounds, 1.6" thick, 14" wide... a bear of a lappy). What's the smallest, lightest lappy I can pick-up used that has the bare minimum to run World of Warcraft (see min specs above)?
Should I just "upgrade" to an eMachines M6811 or Gateway 7000 series from eBay? Should I just admit that I'll never be happy and reward my good ol M6805 with some more ram and a faster HD for a year of outstanding service?
Answer:
Re: "What Should I Buy" to play World of Warcraft on?
You won't be able to find a 17" lappy for $800 or even a $1000, so I would think that the cheapest laptop that you could get by with playing WOW would come with a 128MB 200m. You can get that in the Compaq v5000z series and you could also upgrade to a 5400 rpm hard drive for that price. It is a nicely build machine and it's got a 15.4" screen and only weighs about 6.5 pounds. The HP dv5000z series is the same thing but starts out $50 more.
Matt
Answer:
Re: "What Should I Buy" to play World of Warcraft on?
Thanx for the "full-size" suggestion...
What's the smallest lappy with the BARE minimum specs to run Warcraft? And will a Pentium M cut the mustard?
Thanx smore
Answer:
Re: "What Should I Buy" to play World of Warcraft on?
Pentium M is a powerful CPU. You can't judge a CPU by the clock speed anymore. Don't let the GHZ fool you. The Pentium M has more memory on the CPU which greatly increases the performance relative to the clock speed. It is also a much more efficient CPU than the Pentium 4. Judging by the specs, the 200m should be enough. I'd also recommend the 5400RPM hard drive for much better system performance.