computer help pleaseFollow

Hello, I am thinking about buying a new laptop and getting this game. My budget is around 2k. Right now I am thinking about buying the HP Pavilion zd8000. This with the Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 630 w/HT Technology, 3.0GHz, 2 gigs of ram, and a 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) X600 graphics card.

Will this be able to run eq2 very well or is there something better you guys would suggest? Thanks for any help!

It should run EQ2 just fine.

I agree with the previous poster. I spent about $1200 (OS, monitor, and speakers seperate) building a really good gaming PC with higher performance than the laptop specs you posted. It's not hard to do, check [link]Newegg[/link] for prices and you'll see for yourself. Building is easy too, I've had no formal training, did all my research on the internet, and have yet to have any problems with my PC. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, have a techy friend do it, or some small PC businesses will build it for you for about $50, depending on location and various other factors.

Bottom line: Laptops are great for business people or people who are highly mobile and don't have the luxury of being home to play a game, but for Value and Performance a desktop PC still can't be beat (all other factors being relatively equal).

If after all of that, you still want to go with a laptop, please do your research. I've met too many people who were disappointed with what they got and with limited upgradability and the typically high price of the laptop, they were stuck with it. One of the big things is the screen. A lot of cheaper screens won't show the picture properly if looked at from an angle. I don't know the technical term for this, but if I recall correctly, make sure it says Active Matrix TFT. There may be newer an better technology, so like I said, do your research.

Good Luck.

1 more question..

Does .2 Ghz on a processor change much?
Would a 3.6 Ghz be noticeable faster then a 3.4 or 3.2?

thanks

.2GHZ will not make a noticable differance. You can save money on a slightly lower speed.

Please check the other computer threads in this forum, I made several posts including one where I compared the prices of an equivalent Alienware computer to one I built myself a few months ago. There was a $1000 difference in savings by building it myself. Granted, I don't have tech support or a warranty, but how much are those worth to you?

I think the best tech support is the internet. There are many forums across many websites that have knowledgable people willing to assist you in working out any kinks or problems with your computer.

.2GHz difference will not be "noticeable" unless you were using an application that pushed the performace of your CPU to maximum and then had the opportunity to compare two machines side by side or wrote down the benchmark numbers and compared them.

I upgraded my RAM from 1GB to 2GB a month ago and I have yet to "notice" a difference. The main reason is, I rarely did anything that pushed the limits of the 1GB I currently had installed. That's not to say it doesn't make difference or I won't ever use it, it's just a nice luxury to have.

I would highly recommend going with the new AMD Athlon64 chips, instead of a Pentium. There are a lot of die hard Pentium fans out there (I used to be one of them), but the recent benchmarks speak for themselves. Combine that with a cheaper price and it's hard to beat in my mind. It is also a commonly held belief by reputable sources (including Tomshardware and Maximum PC) that the AMD Athlon64 chips are better for gaming, though I have not myself seen any technical data to support this proffesional opinion.

Also, don't be fooled by just pure "clock speed." Intel has always had a penchant for pushing their clock speeds up as high as they can for marketability. The average person sees a higher number and instantly thinks better. It's a brilliant strategy, because Intel's sales speak for themselves, but there is a lot more to a CPU than just clock speed. An AMD64 Athlon 3500+ may spin at only 2.2ghz, but it WILL out perform an Intel Pentium 4 3.2Ghz and some 3.4Ghz (but not the EE series). Again, the benchmarks speak for themselves. One benchmark comparison, for example and here. Notice that in some benchmarks (Quake III Arena) the Intels will tend to at the top of the charts and others (DirectX9)the Athlons are on top. This is because the architecture of the two chips are different and have different strengths and weaknesses.

There are a few good online parts stores, but Newegg is my favorite. They have excellent customer service, shipping, reliablity, and low prices. I have never seen an negative comment about Newegg.

If you have any more questions, feel free to post.

Edited, Mon Apr 18 16:01:00 2005 by Kallirye