Need advice for a new laptop?

Hey I'm planning to buy a new laptop for the purpose of gaming and using it with art and design softwares like photoshop/corel painter and possibly maya, and after searching through my local computer store I found a good one; here's the spec;

Acer 5742 core i5

- Intel Core i5-450M (2.40 ghz to 2.66 ghz with max turbo frequency)
- Ram: 4 GB DDR3
- Graphics Card: Intel HD Graphics (I'm worried about this graphics card if
it will run good games?)
- Hard Drive: 500 GB SATA

So thats the spec and it'll cost me about £450. Now when I say I'm planning to use it for games I mean games like Civilization 5/Starcraft and most 2D and maybe 3D MMORPG games (Eden Eternal for a quick example). So I was wondering will this laptop suffice.

Thanks.

I don't think HD graphics is enough, I would recommend a laptop but I only like AMD processors.

Depends on the game really... i have a intergraded graphic card on this computer im on right now and i have homefront loaded on it and it plays well.. might wanna get a actual gaming laptop or replace the card with something in the 1gb range. you may need to upgrade to more ram later.

the specs of my video car and the min requirements of homefront.


Should you get a standalone GPU.. yes, can you play games on intel hd card.. depends.

I don't think it will suffice, try finding a dedicated graphics card. With that price, you could definitely find one. I suggest looking at ASUS G Series G53SW-XN 1 or similar laptops with that kind of price.

Hey everyone thanks for the advices and I've noticed some of you have mentioned a ASUS G Series laptops and I've look it up and as much as the spec's made me smile the price however did not, I mean a ASUS G Series cost about £1700 and my budget is around £400 to £600, also if I had that kind of budget I would have decided to buy an Alienware instead. Well anyways I've got another suggestion for a possible laptop;

Samsung NP-RC510-S03UK[u]

- Intel core i3-380M (2.53 Ghz) Dual Core
- RAM: 6 Gb DDR3
- Graphics card: Nvidia Geforce 315M (1 Gb DDR3 dedicated memory)
- Hard drive: 640 Gb SATA.

So how about this one. This cost more than my first suggestion, this cost about £599.99. Do you think this specification will do fine with playing games?

Oh and when I say play games I dont mean in ultra settings or something I just mean play games in mid or high settings you know.

That should be good.. http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/ will give you a base line on games to your computer.

Hmm, I guess I messed up because I searched for dollars instead. If you wanted a Samsung one, I suggest you try this one, Samsung NP-R580-JT04UK. The price is £584.40 and it's an intel i5 already. The 6gb RAM is pretty much overkill for average use. I don't know where you're buying but it seems overpriced compared online, as the Samsung NP-RC510-S03UK cost only £549.60

Well I dont really want a samsung one, I just said that because that was the only laptop I could find that isnt above £600, also where do you buy yours then? I'll buy my laptop in my local computer store called "PC World". On that note the next cheapest is a Dell (Oh crap I forgot the product code - but Im pretty sure it starts with an XPS), which cost about £649.

After that most of the other laptops are around the £699 price range.

Hmm well I live on a totally different place so I don't think the prices would be the same... Hmm if you're content with the specs I think it's okay, although a bit weak in terms of power.

I got my laptop, an Aspire 5920G - 250gb HDD, 4gb RAM, Core 2 Duo 2.1ghz, 1gb ATI Turbocache-somethingorother for £430 almost three years ago on Amazon, which could probably still handle what you want it for. I can't help but feel that you could get a slightly better deal than those.

Yea I kind of thought so to but for my first laptop I think this one will do fine, since I also need some money left for uni so I can't go spending it on a expensive laptop. Though once I have enough money I might buy the Asus G laptop.

I just made a list of what things I'll used my laptop on.
- Photoshop CS5 - Autodesk Maya - Pinnacle Studio
- Word - Powerpoint.

And as for games.
- Online games like
- Eden Eternal - DOMO - Second Life - Maybe Guild Wars.
- Mainstream games like
- Civilization 4/5 - Warhammer 40k:Dawn of war 2 - Maybe Crysis (in mid setting)

Yea the Samsung NP-RC510 should be able to handle it. Right?

I think PS would do fine, don't know about Maya though. When it comes to games, well the 315m is an entry level card so don't expect too much... Here's the benchmark tests for your GFX Card, http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-315M.41529.0.html

I suggest also reading these links,
http://forums.adobe.com/message/2884287
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/831/cpsid_83117.html

I think I've figured how to get around playing high end games, rather than troubling myself with trying to find a good laptop that can play the latest games, I could just stick with console when it comes to that cause in most of the games I mentioned like crysis 2, COD, mass effect all are available in the Xbox 360. Most of the games that I'll play on my laptop are civ 4/5, dawn of war 2, and most online games (2d & 3d) which can easily play on my laptop since the spec's which I've looked up are quite small even the graphics card that you need, yea so I think this should be fine.

I'm glad to help :)

hmm from my point of view, doesnt look to good for what you want to actually do with it such as those games and editing. Causing lots of multitasking. I mean the ram is good but the graphics cant make up for it. I suggest getting an HP brand. Better specs arent found in a near by store lol.