New laptop questions

[Shuck]

First of all, I'll be the first to admit that I am not very computer savvy. I am planing on getting a new laptop in the near future and want to check the possible specs to see if it'll be good for gaming.

Intel® Core™ i7 740QM Quad Core Processor, 1.73GHz (2.93GHz Turbo Mode, 6M Cache
OPERATING SYSTEM Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
VIDEO CARD 1.5GB GDDR5 65W NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460M
LCD PANEL 15.6-inch WideHD+ 1600x900 (900p) WLED
MEMORY 6GB Memory (1x 2GB, 1x 4GB DDR3)
HARD DRIVE 500GB SATAII 7,200RPM

(1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon™ Mobility HD 5850 is another option. Would this be better?)

This is what the planned specs are as of now. Now again I'm not that good with computers and I just want to make sure that the video card wouldn't be severely limited by the processor or something else of that sort. Thanks for helping.

[borg_7_of_9]

Look's quiet good IMO

[aklawitter]

(1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon™ Mobility HD 5850 is another option. Would this be better?)

5850 gddr5 is an underclocked 5870 which uses less power than the 460m (if you believe the numbers) and fits in between the 480m and 460m


the video card, no matter what you choose, will be the bottleneck

[Shuck]

So the 5850 would be a better choice?

[sooNAHmee]

With that lower resolution screen, either GPU should do you fine. Is there a price difference?

The only reason I could see looking at going to a better GPU is if you also went to a 1920x1080 display.

[Shuck]

Technically, there isn't a price difference. The 5850 is less expensive but right now the seller is offering a discount which covers the price difference so I figured I might as well go with the 460M since it won't cost me extra.

[sooNAHmee]

Yeah, I'd probably go with the 460. It's a close decision, but the 460 is slightly faster than the 5850.

[Shuck]

If I upgraded to a 1080p screen the 460 would still be the way to go, correct?

[borg_7_of_9]

At that rez it would be a lil better..

[aklawitter]

So the 5850 would be a better choice?

480m > 5870 > 460m > 5850 gddr5

480m had heat problems, 460m is new, 5870 and 5850 gddr5 are the same thing except for the core clock


just remember that laptops are designed for the components within

[FadingCeiling]

From personal experience I offer this advice:

Get a laptop that has atleast 2 years warranty. (Preferrably more. If you can buy a warranty extension package - get it).

I bought a laptop with only 1 year warranty and I kid you not, the damn thing broke one month after the warranty expired.

[RAKTHEUNDEAD]

As far as you can use laptops for serious gaming, that specification looks reasonable and acceptable. The GPU in a laptop is never going to be all that impressive, but at 1600x900, it shouldn't matter too much.

[Shuck]

From personal experience I offer this advice:

Get a laptop that has atleast 2 years warranty. (Preferrably more. If you can buy a warranty extension package - get it).

I bought a laptop with only 1 year warranty and I kid you not, the damn thing broke one month after the warranty expired.

Yeah I was going to buy a 3 year or longer warranty. That will last me at least through college.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I really appreciate it.