Jaguar - finished, Szumo declared winner - Page 14

sum1lost · #**131** June 24th, 2007, 09:26 PM

hooray, im back. lemme get me turn in, and we can go and host whenever

Starshine_Monarch · #**132** June 24th, 2007, 09:51 PM

Eh, I can always just copy/paste what I have here onto a flashdrive and just move it. I still haven't gotten it though, probably sometime at the end of the week or early next week. I've got about $600 to spend on it at the moment. Any suggestions before I make up my mind?

Lazy_Perfectionist · #**133** June 24th, 2007, 10:32 PM

Well... what do you hope to do with it?

I could give a whole arseload of advice, but for this particular thread, I'll try to keep it succinct.

Intel Graphics has gotten better, over the years, but its still not a match for a real graphics card.

Beware integrated graphics that share system memory. Some are decent, some are crap, but include the amount of system memory they use in your calculations of whether you've got ram enough for Vista/XP/Linux + games.

Find out how much bloody heat the laptop will pump out, if you can.

General shoutout: When Shinuyama sends in their turn, could you give us a headsup, Zakna?

Starshine_Monarch · #**134** June 24th, 2007, 10:55 PM

Well I was mainly just gonna use it for college, you know, just install some of the basics: MS Office (or I'll learn to use OpenOffice), Adobe Reader and GIMP (so I can work on my Dom 3 sprites properly), and afterwards, I'll put some of my games on: Dom 3, Civ 3, Heroes of Might and Magic 4, and Starcraft. Hopefully it will do well enough so I can install Heroes 5, Civ 4 and (eventually) Starcraft 2 on it without any hassle.

Here's the one I was looking at. I'm not exactly the most computer-savvy, It was mainly the price that caught my eye. I know that it will come with Vista, so I'm likely going to end up installing XP on it. I'm also going to be taking Business Management courses, so are there any programs that would be helpful with that?

Starshine_Monarch · #**135** June 24th, 2007, 11:05 PM

Then again, I'm likely to lose a laptop, so I'm looking at desktops too.

sum1lost · #**136** June 24th, 2007, 11:09 PM

You'll want a laptop if your campus is wireless. They aren't THAT easy to lose. And it'll be really convenient

Lazy_Perfectionist · #**137** June 25th, 2007, 01:03 AM

Business management? Would you have a need for a full-sized keyboard? The one I just bought has a Numpad, but I can't recommend that one for games.

Lets see... 512 MB of RAM is sufficent for Windows XP, not Vista. That parts okay. Integrated graphics uses 128 MB of system memory. I'd recommend a minimum of 256 MB for Windows, despite Microsoft's recommendation of 128. So that would leave 128 MBs free for other programs to use. You could probably manage Heroes IV, Starcraft, Dom3, Civ3, and the Gimp. For sanity's sake, though, I'd recommend settling for no less than a gigabyte RAM. If you let say, compusa handle it, you can get an extra gigabyte of ram for $69. That's not my style, but no need for me to get in a rant about retailers, least not here.

Heroes V will require 512 Megabytes of RAM free. Starcraft 3? I don't know, but I doubt it. Civ 4, to my surprise, asks for 512 MB.

The integrated graphics here will do some work, but I have to say no on that. It's an irrelevant brand(for gamers, at least), with some performance issues. If you were pinching pennies with integrated graphics, I'd look for the name ATI or Nvidia somewhere on the graphics, which are know for designing graphics architectures. A separate graphics card may still be best, but with ATI and Nvidia, you can get good performance and quality for most (read not First Person Shooters or Supreme Commander) games.

The lithium-ion is a good thing to have in a battery. The wireless networking is built in, which is very good, since it's one less thing to break/lose/haul around. Wireless b/g is a pretty common format, so that's good.

I will say this in that systems favor- off the top of my head, looking at the brand names only (VIA), I have to guess that system will have a significantly above average battery life.

Starshine_Monarch · #**138** June 25th, 2007, 08:24 AM

Well, I can definetly get an extra gig of RAM with the $200 left over. I'll shop around a bit to see if I can get a better price on it though. A friend of my mother's is a computer programmer, so I'll probably ask him about it. I suppose I'll hold off on the graphics for a while, though. Honestly, I don't have Heroes 5 or Civ 4 yet, I was just wondering if they would run when I do decide to get them. Thanks a bunch for the tips LP.

Edit: Found a better one in the store that was on clearance, so it was the same price. Pretty much the same with an Intel Celeron processor and 20 more gigs of Hard Drive space. I'm still probably gonna get the 1GB RAM upgrade from CompUSA (found it for $50 instead of $70). If I'm lucky, I'll have enough to buy a Nintendo DS too.

Zanka, when the hell are you gonna get your turn in?

sum1lost · #**139** June 25th, 2007, 01:52 PM

Zakna has staled the last couple turns anyways, so its a safe bet that he won't. In fact, if I hadn't held everything up, he would have staled for half the game now.

Lazy_Perfectionist · #**140** June 25th, 2007, 02:13 PM

Nintendo DS is nice. If you're geeky enough, you can install Linux on it. If you're just interested in using it as game platform (as I am), there's a nice selection of games targeting all- scratch that- most audiences. Castlevania is wonderful - esp. since the DS games continue the proven 2D gameplay.

If you find a place that can customize your laptop, that can be really worth it (esp. if you do the research). Nvidia/ATI integrated graphics don't really add much to the cost of a machine - maybe 5 or 10 dollars compared to the practical minimum of $100 for a discrete graphics _card_.