Laptop
I want a laptop that is able to play Neverwinter Nights 2 but isn't expensive as hell ( below $800). Thing is, I know nothing of computers and the like when it comes to things like that. Also, I hate Vista. It has to have freakin' XP. And it has to not suck.
You will save the most money by getting it custom built. I would never, ever buy from a chain store because it's a huge ripoff. In New Zealand, a custom built PC which costs $1500 would be $2500-$3000 from a chain.
Parts retailers should be happy to help you out as to what setup you need.
Here's what I'd recommend:
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 6600GT or a lower-end 7-series.
CPU: I have an affinity to AMDs, you'd be best off with anything from the 3000+ range. A 3800+ would be good. If you want an Intel, Pentium 4 2.4GHz or better.
Memory: I'd get 1GB. Should be sufficient for NWN2.
Hard drive: I personally would get a 320GB drive. You might not need that much, so it's at your discretion.
Those are the important specs for gaming. The rest should fall into place or not matter too much - get a motherboard compatible with the other stuff and whatever screen you want, etc.
Ummm... custom builds are actually quite expensive. Buying a pre-fabricated one would be much cheap, but you probably will not get anything high quality for 800$. I've paid 1100 Euro for mine back in September 2006 and it's still only a multimedia notebook.
If you're in for good and cheap hardware, go for Acer. Their casings aren't the best though. If you're in for solid but expensive builds, SONY and Toshiba are a good bet (talking of experience, SONY lives forever and I haven't had any problems with my Toshiba either). I'd be careful with Samsung.
A couple of years ago I bought and built a laptop for $NZ1800 that is almost identical to one that retailed at Harvey Norman for $3000.
Don't buy it at a chain store as the greatest majority (if not the entirety) of new laptops sold today have a pre-installed Vista version. Some chains and shops, though, decided to continue giving XP for a while because of the large number of users who didn't want Vista.
Unless they guarantee that you can have XP, you might want to get a custom built laptop for this sole reason.
Can't he just uninstal Vista and install XP if he has a copy?
He could, but part of the high price of machines from chain stores is the operating system license. It'd be like buying a car, paying extra for a bodykit and spoiler, and then removing them as soon as you got it. Only in this case it's more like paying extra for a massive chunk of lead that sits in the boot, increasing fuel consumption for less productivity.
I use an <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000032&Description=everex&name=Laptops+%2f+Notebooks">Everex XT5000T</a> to which I added 1GB of ram to be comfortable. Works fine for games, and at worst, uninstall Vista and stick XP on it instead.
And then there is Death
You can always make use of Vista later, if you're into gaming. I'm pretty sure they'll dump the DX9 support soon (+/- 1,5 years
Yeah, that's a possibility, but in the present time Vista is not a good choice for gamers, especially not retro gamers. If I just think about my beloved emulators, that are not going to work, my heart sinks.
A solution could be partitioning the hard drive and installing XP on a new partition, choosing which one to boot on computer start, but that's not easy for non-computer nerds and I wouldn't know how to do it myself.
Hmm... I always thought that using partition magic is pretty straight forward. Honestly, if there's a need for it, you can do it no matter how good your knowledge of IT is. Alternatively, ask a friend.
This is actually quite easy when it comes to Vista/XP (surprisingly). If you install Vista after XP it will automatically include XP in the bootloader list. Partitioning is also very easy and if you start with a blank drive, you can't break anything.Originally Posted by KoShiatar
Dito! And take my word at it, you want to remove 90% of the "useful software" that comes preinstalled with it.This is actually quite easy when it comes to Vista/XP (surprisingly). If you install Vista after XP it will automatically include XP in the bootloader list. Partitioning is also very easy and if you start with a blank drive, you can't break anything.
If you like a very cheap price with decent spec. I suggest you should build your own PC. I've built my own PC: AMD 64 bit 4400+ Processor, 4gigs RAM, nVidia 8500GT GeForce, an asus SATA/eSATA2 motherboard and a nice Vista Ulimate 64bit OS. All cost less than 600$.
Built computers/laptops selling in stores are ridiculously high priced, because many people don't rather want to build, they just buy instead, hence the double price.
Building your own PC is actually fun! Building your own laptop is not very easy... unless you are buying a custom laptop BUT the price will be a bit higher.
I think you're forgetting that buy buying a laptop in a store you're also getting a two-year permit to annoy their customer service, technicians, managers, lawyers and so forth. I.e. if it suddenly starts smoking, you won't loose much. And as you've said, building laptops isn't easy (in fact, I don't know anybody who has built one).
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