Question:
Did I buy the wrong laptop?
So the guy at Best Buy bested me into buying the wrong laptop.
-Gateway Model: MX3414
-100GB hard drive (4200 rpm)
-14.1" WXGA TFT-LCD widescreen display with Ultrabright technology
Alright, first off, the model is plain looking. Very bland, grey, and boxy. There is nothing special looking about this notebook. But upon purchasing, that didn't bother me because the salesman told me this was the best I could possibly get for the money. He sold me on the fact that this was the only model that could paly Oblivion Medium settings for under $1000. With TWO AMD Turion 64's and the nVidia Go 6100, I would be able to Run Oblivion on Medium setting... *ahem*
-AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-50
Upon buying, I immediately felt swindled when he told me the guys at Geek Squad said I COULD play it, but the game would be a little grainy. But that's okay he said, because no other machine could do me better.
-NVIDIA GeForce Go 6100 graphics with up to 128MB shared video memory
I figured the combination of the graphics card and TWO processors (1.6 GHz, mind you) would do me dandy and I would be fine. So I loaded my newly purchased game, excited and giddy. It loaded fairly fast, so initially I was happy. When everything was finally finished, the game recommended I play at the LOWEST setting. But I figured, Hey, I got TWO 64 bit processors, they can handle this. So I set the game on High and started to play. Anyway, long story short, I may as well have bought a Commodore 64, because even at Lowest setting, the game wouldn't play with good framerate.
Honestly, I wasn't even worried about games when I walked into the store. But I must say, the way the salesman made out how good the system was for the price (800$), I figured I had found the best deal. Before all this, I wanted an HP v5000t, which was simple and didn't play any fancy games, but had good media features like Lightscribe and Quick Play.
Anyway, I know I bought the wrong laptop, but what I'm asking is, is this truly the best deal I could get for under $1000 or should I switch to the v5000t? And I once read the Intel Duo Core's with the nVidia Go 7800 could run Oblivion at Medium setting, is this true? It's not important, but I would buy the combination just for the availibility of playing.
Thank you all, God bless.
Psalm 51:17
Answer:
Re: Did I buy the wrong laptop?
I used to work at Best Buy and the majority of people there don't know WTF they're talking about. Believe that. I hope you didn't buy the PSP :p
How long have you had it? You can return it with a 15% restocking fee, unless the salesperson misled you about a feature. Maybe return it saying you were told so and so would play on it but it wouldn't. Should waive the fee.
The best notebook you can get for such a low price would be something from Dell. The 6100 is really an awful video card. The Gateway may have been the best they had at BB but there are better notebooks elsewhere.
Answer:
Re: Did I buy the wrong laptop?
The Turion x2 64 is not a very good processor. Playing games on that machine is like playing on a slow machine. Switch to a Core Duo.
Answer:
Re: Did I buy the wrong laptop?
The best buy people are salesmen. Knowing what they're talking about isn't a prerequisite for the job. For a budget laptop that'll game, Dell is probably your best bet, if you can snag one of the better coupons. The Geforce 7800 will play Oblivion on medium-high settings smoothly. If you can get a 7600 or an ATI x1600, you'll find lesser but still-decent gameplay. I've heard of people squeezing by with nvidia 7400 chips and ati x1400 chips, but that's shaving it awfully close in my opinion. I wouldn't want to play on one of those ^^
is a good thread on current notebook graphics cards.
As far as processors go, Intel's Core 2 Duo, or the Core Duo chips are king. The Turion x2 is a lesser processor, but not bad.
Relevance: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/06/09
Answer:
Re: Did I buy the wrong laptop?
I think that was the best buy for the sale guy. Just looking at the infomation concerned me on a couple things. The HD is slow for RPM. I beleive most laptops use the 5400 RMP drives, I upgraded mine shortly after buying to the 7200 RMp drive.
The graphics card is older tech. That on top of the fact that it is shared memory, meaning the video card does not have its own dedicated memory it uses the same memory as the rest of the computer, would have steered me away from it.
Answer:
Re: Did I buy the wrong laptop?
Well, your problem here is not your CPU, it is your GPU. The NVIDIA 6100 is an integrated processor and for gaming you really need a dedicated graphics processor. This really does not sound like a bad laptop at all and it would be difficult to find something that can game well for under $1000. If you could cough up a little more money you would do well with one of these:
http://www.powernotebooks.com/product.php?itemId=1561
Good luck and happy computing!
Answer:
Re: Did I buy the wrong laptop?
Does the processor speed matter if I purchased an GeForce 7800? Like, the difference between a Core Duo 2050 and a 2300? And where can I buy a 7400 80g? Hpshopping.com doesn't have the option, which more than likely where I will buy a different laptop after returning the Gateway. Can I just install a different hdd myself, or is that risky for a notebook?
Answer:
Re: Did I buy the wrong laptop?
If your budget is under $1000 then go with a Dell setup and at least a ATIX1400 or the NVIDIA 7400 if you want to play Oblivion at a low-medium setup (low setting is probably the best bet). If you plan to play any future games, then you should try for a X1600 or 7600 or even better the X1800 or 7800. AMD Turion X2 still isn't as good as an Intell Duo Core for laptops anyway. If I were you, I'd bite the bullet on the restocking fee and return the machine and pick up something else.
Answer:
Re: Did I buy the wrong laptop?
Well the question is "for your uses, did you buy the wrong laptop?"
Unfortunately the answer looks to be yes.
The other question is, "for $1000 could you do much better?"
Yes you can, not a lot better, but you certainly can.
Now if you were willing to spend $200 -$400 more, then that would play oblivion at medium. Youre just not going to get that performance out of much else. I would take it back and buy one a little more expensive later if its not in your budget now.
Answer:
Re: Did I buy the wrong laptop?
Does the processor speed matter if I purchased an GeForce 7800? Like, the difference between a Core Duo 2050 and a 2300? And where can I buy a 7400 80g? Hpshopping.com doesn't have the option, which more than likely where I will buy a different laptop after returning the Gateway. Can I just install a different hdd myself, or is that risky for a notebook?
The processor will matter, but not nearly as much as the graphics card.
Installing a new hard drive is easy and safe with laptops these days, provided you use the barest minimum of care.