First off, here. While it's just an estimate at this point, people deem the estimate to be reasonably close.
I shared the same goals as you Hemp when I bought a second-hand laptop a couple of weeks ago. Although my unit is a bit more dated, that suits me fine as the PC games I want to play are a bit older than yours (like Jagged Alliance, SimCity, etc etc). Even then, this can handle recent games like X3 pretty well, because it was pretty powered for it's time (which was only about a year ago, hahaha). But while I was looking at the specs, I also took into consideration the unit's size. Keep in mind that you'll probably be bringing this around with you one day, and you don't want to be lugging something really heavy. So get a unit which you'll feel comfy with to carry around with you. I think 14-15" is the biggest one should go.
Anyway, I think the i7 and quad-cores, while great, are a bit too overpowering for even SC2 and D3, not to mention expensive. You should be able to find a decent laptop with a 2.3Ghz and up Core 2 Duo processor that can run these. The real component you'll want to focus on is the video card, which will also probably be the biggest source of heat (as Aruren and Shin have pointed out). Next to that, RAM. Most new laptops go with 3GB these days, which might also be easily upgradeable if you're so inclined to get 4GB.
OS-wise, I don't think there'll be problems running SC2 or D3 on Windows 7, even though they'll most likely be labelled as compatible with Vista.
Of course, Nix presents an intriguing path with the Macs. I eventually want to try them one day, myself. They've got good dual core processors and decent cards these days.
In short:
EDIT: Damn my post came too late.
I shared the same goals as you Hemp when I bought a second-hand laptop a couple of weeks ago. Although my unit is a bit more dated, that suits me fine as the PC games I want to play are a bit older than yours (like Jagged Alliance, SimCity, etc etc). Even then, this can handle recent games like X3 pretty well, because it was pretty powered for it's time (which was only about a year ago, hahaha). But while I was looking at the specs, I also took into consideration the unit's size. Keep in mind that you'll probably be bringing this around with you one day, and you don't want to be lugging something really heavy. So get a unit which you'll feel comfy with to carry around with you. I think 14-15" is the biggest one should go.
Anyway, I think the i7 and quad-cores, while great, are a bit too overpowering for even SC2 and D3, not to mention expensive. You should be able to find a decent laptop with a 2.3Ghz and up Core 2 Duo processor that can run these. The real component you'll want to focus on is the video card, which will also probably be the biggest source of heat (as Aruren and Shin have pointed out). Next to that, RAM. Most new laptops go with 3GB these days, which might also be easily upgradeable if you're so inclined to get 4GB.
OS-wise, I don't think there'll be problems running SC2 or D3 on Windows 7, even though they'll most likely be labelled as compatible with Vista.
Of course, Nix presents an intriguing path with the Macs. I eventually want to try them one day, myself. They've got good dual core processors and decent cards these days.
In short:
(08-24-2009, 09:49 PM)Aruren Wrote: Don't get a gaming-class laptop.(except you should get a gaming-class video card).
EDIT: Damn my post came too late.
"Let's fight... like gentlemen." - Dudley, SF3
