OK first of all, no prices above ?800! That's my limit! (lol it was ?700 this afternoon, oh how things have changed)
Basically, I just got shot of my P3/750 w/448mb ram which was fine for my needs, seeing as the only thing I really used it for was loitering on this forum, email, etc. I gave up on desktops last year when I sold my P4 2.8 to a mate, once I'd managed to yank myself out of the graphics card rat race I'd been caught up in.
Now I want a new laptop, with either a Radeon Mobility 9600 Pro (a.k.a M10) or a 9700 Pro (M11) dedicated graphics card (64 or 128mb ram). In terms of PC games, really only want to play Counter Strike (the old one) and Evil Genius and stuff, but seeing as I'm putting aside that much for the machine, I wouldn't mind getting something half decent.
I've been reading up on the graphics side of things, and the radeons seem fine. The problem is, I'm getting a bit confused about the current generation of processors that are available. I'll be going the Intel route, so my choices are:
Pentium 4/Celeron desktop chip (around 2.5GHz - 3GHz)
Pentium 4-M
Pentium-M
Celeron-M
Centrino (only joking, I know what Centrino implies! Just don't want any replies saying 'Centrino is really good!')
Now, with the desktop chips, I know what to expect in terms of power. Thing is, what with the lower clock speeds of the Pentium-M and Celeron-M, how much slower are they in terms of gaming ability?
I see a lot of laptops around now that have both a Celeron-M 1.3/1.4GHz AND a Radeon 9700 Pro, and from reviews, they've been getting decent 3DMark03 scores, but then 3DMark03 is pretty much all about the graphics card isn't it?
Say I wanted to play Half Life 2 (not fussed about settings, just want it as smooth as possible), what processor could handle it?
Seeing as the whole point of the Pentium-M is the large (1-2mb) cache and stuff, thus requiring less MHz to do it's thing, I've always assumed that the instructions held in the cache would be more appropriate for 2D/business software, not really for 3D games which need more grunt. This also lead me to think that the Celeron-M wouldn't be much use as it's only got 128kb cache so I'm ssuming it's only use is for low-power, low-cost laptops
So, does anyone here own a laptop with a Celeron-M or Pentium-M with a decent graphics card (ideally a radeon 9600/9700)? If so, what sort of games have you tried on it? Could you list your laptop specs?
tbh I'm trying to lean away from the 'desktop replacement' realm as I need a laptop that is, above all, cool (but not necessarily quiet, although that would help too) as I'll be typing alot! Which also means I want one with a good keyboard, too.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Basically, I just got shot of my P3/750 w/448mb ram which was fine for my needs, seeing as the only thing I really used it for was loitering on this forum, email, etc. I gave up on desktops last year when I sold my P4 2.8 to a mate, once I'd managed to yank myself out of the graphics card rat race I'd been caught up in.
Now I want a new laptop, with either a Radeon Mobility 9600 Pro (a.k.a M10) or a 9700 Pro (M11) dedicated graphics card (64 or 128mb ram). In terms of PC games, really only want to play Counter Strike (the old one) and Evil Genius and stuff, but seeing as I'm putting aside that much for the machine, I wouldn't mind getting something half decent.
I've been reading up on the graphics side of things, and the radeons seem fine. The problem is, I'm getting a bit confused about the current generation of processors that are available. I'll be going the Intel route, so my choices are:
Pentium 4/Celeron desktop chip (around 2.5GHz - 3GHz)
Pentium 4-M
Pentium-M
Celeron-M
Centrino (only joking, I know what Centrino implies! Just don't want any replies saying 'Centrino is really good!')
Now, with the desktop chips, I know what to expect in terms of power. Thing is, what with the lower clock speeds of the Pentium-M and Celeron-M, how much slower are they in terms of gaming ability?
I see a lot of laptops around now that have both a Celeron-M 1.3/1.4GHz AND a Radeon 9700 Pro, and from reviews, they've been getting decent 3DMark03 scores, but then 3DMark03 is pretty much all about the graphics card isn't it?
Say I wanted to play Half Life 2 (not fussed about settings, just want it as smooth as possible), what processor could handle it?
Seeing as the whole point of the Pentium-M is the large (1-2mb) cache and stuff, thus requiring less MHz to do it's thing, I've always assumed that the instructions held in the cache would be more appropriate for 2D/business software, not really for 3D games which need more grunt. This also lead me to think that the Celeron-M wouldn't be much use as it's only got 128kb cache so I'm ssuming it's only use is for low-power, low-cost laptops
So, does anyone here own a laptop with a Celeron-M or Pentium-M with a decent graphics card (ideally a radeon 9600/9700)? If so, what sort of games have you tried on it? Could you list your laptop specs?
tbh I'm trying to lean away from the 'desktop replacement' realm as I need a laptop that is, above all, cool (but not necessarily quiet, although that would help too) as I'll be typing alot! Which also means I want one with a good keyboard, too.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
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