New Laptop

RustySpoon

<div class="IPBDescription">Tablet or Performance?</div>I bought a new laptopt last week. It's decent I suppose; dual cores, 4gis of ram and a ATI MobilityTM Radeon X2600HD 512mb. Problem is; it's average. Why pay big money for something that can only be used for surfing and watching movies, when I can buy an old computer from the XP era that does the exact same?

Now I'm a gamer. Haven't played anything for a the past year or so because I didn't have the hardware, and I thought since I'm gonna be needing a laptop, might as well buy one I can play on. The problem is, that for the price I'm paying for a laptop, I could get a 2x more powerful desktop, so that's a little frustrating. Also, I tried Bioshock, and honestly, it's not the second coming. Maybe it's the fact that I haven't gamed in so long, or maybe it's just not a fun game, but it made me reconsider anyway. So I returened my new laptop, and after consideration, I've boiled down my options (It's in finnish, but specs are universal, right?):

- <a href="http://www.gigantti.fi/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/store-gigantti-Site/fi_FI/-/EUR/El_DisplayProductInformation-Start;pgid=D6ez6oZKCVlSR0EjF5FBwx1q0000sXA_TpMi?ProductID=917D4QFHyw4AAAEa72JtzLUh&CatalogCategoryID=eWjD4QFH5rsAAAEO0lg03xil&Selected=Specifications#tProductTabcontent" target="_blank">A 17", powerful "gaming" laptop</a>

- <a href="http://www.gigantti.fi/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/store-gigantti-Site/fi_FI/-/EUR/El_DisplayProductInformation-Start;pgid=D6ez6oZKCVlSR0EjF5FBwx1q0000sXA_TpMi?ProductID=0z_D4QFHYcUAAAEaWYhtzLUh&CatalogCategoryID=" target="_blank">A 12" touchscreen "entertainment" laptop</a>

So what I need from you guys; is your experiences in gaming with a laptop, VS your experiences with touchscreens.

My main concerns are:

- Would a 12" laptop be to small to watch movies with (I can watch movies on my ZEN:V alone, but most times I watch with someone else, so there's that.)

- They both cost exactly the same, so I'm a little frustrated with how much more powerful the 17" is for the same price.

- I really don't play all that much, but I would like to give all the hyped games from 07 and 08 a go. Will the fujitsu perform with Crysis? What about CoD4? Regularly I play (or used to play) DoW and WoW. I suppose both machines will perform well with these?

- How useful really is a touch screen? How much wear can it take?

I won't be using them for commuting. The main reason I need a laptop is because I live in three different places, so weight and battery life isn't an issue. Also, I won't be taking suggestions for alternatives, unless of course you find them on the same site, for under 1000€. I don't really have the possibility to shop elsewhere.

Thanks a bunch in advance.

locallyunscene

Go for the one with the bigger screen. If you don't need the mobility, then you might as well get the biggest screen for movies/ web browsing. The touch screen seems like a gimmick with the usage scenarios you're talking about.

I don't think you'll enjoy gaming on either laptop, but at least you'll have the option with the one with the larger screen.

remi

Tablets are not very good for watching movies on, the screen gets all smudged up... They are super portable though...
I think gaming on a laptop is a complete utter waste of money though...

Those two said, I barely ever use my laptop that has a 17" screen because it is too big and my desktop is more powerful. My tablet has a 12" screen and is super light. I bring it everywhere and love it dearly. The tablet features don't get much use but it is nice every once in a while when i'm lazy and just want to poke the screen instead of use the mouse. (My tablet has both passive and active touch capabilities... so it has a wacom pen but also picks up my finger)

Yup. So if you want something fun in a laptop, go for super-portable. If you want to play games, get a desktop.

Kouji_San

Been doing the same kind of research (only between tabletpc and cintiq12")

Here's my 2 ct..

Some TabletPc's (Gateway C142XL and HP tx2500) can run games like CoD3, WoW, Tf2/source, farcry etc... But the screen is quite glary in the sun, due to the digitiser in there (which is an active/pressure sensitive one from Wacom). Wacom, you know the guys who are the standard of drawing tablets (and cintiqs).

If you get a tablet PC wacom-pen from wacom you get more pressure levels at 256levels (vs intuos3/cintiq of 1024). however I've tried a tablet PC wacom-pen for the HPTX2500 and I can't seem to notice a difference in pressure levels between a Cintiq. Cintiq does have a higher res (dpi) for the pen though, which is slightly noticable. Cintiq screen is very nice though compared to a tablet PC with its 24bits.

Anyway I'm rambling, the gest of that Wacom stuff I said is that a tablet pc vs Wacom Cintiq is that you only see the difference in pressure/res if you zoom in on VERY large artwork. And is only interesting if you actually want to draw stuff <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />


<b>PS.</b>
Next thing is Mobility vs performance. Big screen laptops may have awesome screenage and performance *drool* but you need a forklift to move it <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />

Also gaming on a laptop (even with the power) is overated. RTS or MRPG might work out, but FPS or Racing... I dunno...

<b>PPS.</b>
4Gb of ram is only usefull if you have a 64bits os, also going for 2Gb instead of 3Gb seems more logical... I mean doesn't one lose the dual channel feature if you have 3Gb (1+2) instead of 2Gb(1+1)?



-----
I am torn between the tabletPC and Cintiq for a few reasons:
TPC:
+++ mobile, can play games/movies (is a laptop), pretty nice wacom active digitiser
--- Windows vista, glary screen (does not really matter for indoor use)
Cintiq:
+++ high quality drawing system and pen tilt (not sure if I need all that), goooooood screen, CINTIQ!
--- Not as mobile as advertised (needs pc/mac and a wirethingy to connect to that pc/mac)




You might want to make a similar list and as a result not being able to make up your mind like me <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />

RustySpoon

Thanks for the replies, opinions duly noted.

Since gaming is a lost cause on a laptop, I think I'm gonna go for the tablet. I'll use the S-Video out to watch movies then.

remi

<!--quoteo(post=1686616:date=Aug 25 2008, 02:54 PM:name=Kouji_San)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Kouji_San @ Aug 25 2008, 02:54 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1686616"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><b>PPS.</b>
4Gb of ram is only usefull if you have a 64bits os, also going for 2Gb instead of 3Gb seems more logical... I mean doesn't one lose the dual channel feature if you have 3Gb (1+2) instead of 2Gb(1+1)?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I know windows 32bit can't use all of the 4 gigs, but it can use more than 3 gigs. My computer has 4 gigs installed and is using 3.25 GB. It all depends on what other hardware you have I think. 4 gigs is definitely the limit for a 32 bit in terms of number, but the limit between 3 and 4 is a lot fuzzier. Just depends on your setup.

I also got 4gigs because I figure eventually I will go to 64 bit, and I wanted to be able to have that upgrade option... plus RAM is cheap and is sold in 2GBx2 packs.

Drfuzzy

Tablets are generally slower, and the touch screens are really blurry and have very poor contrast. I'd only suggest getting one if you like to freehand a lot, and even then its bad for showing vivid colors.