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Need Help Selecting Laptop

What you have there would run WoW really well, that's a nice computer, and MSI makes good gaming laptops.

Yep, that MSI would do it! Here is a Gateway at BB for a few bucks less that also should be more than sufficient:

»www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp···43606827

Not recommending it "over" the MSI, but not a bad machine for the money!
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Deeds, not words

reply to kingdome74
The one downfall that I can see is that I can't get away with a cheap graphics upgrade by adding another card in Crossfire (I think that's what they call the ATI version of SLI) something I generally do with desktops.
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Looking only at the negative is like looking through a prism in the dark

There is no cheap graphics upgrade to any notebook system...just the nature of the beast!

Unlike desktops, both space considerations and thermal issues are at a premium on laptops. Those notebooks which do offer an upgrade path to their graphics, do so at a high price. Whatever graphics capability you are looking for in a notebook, get it up-front!
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Deeds, not words

Well, I do have to say that the pre-configured units I have looked at don't come the way I want. What I was hoping to find is a unit that is set up for Crossfire or SLI but with only one high end card in it then in a couple of years buy the second indentical card for a much reduced price to catch back up with any new games or apps that needs more power which is something I do with desktops.
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Looking only at the negative is like looking through a prism in the dark

reply to kingdome74
I found a couple of general benchmarking sites in my research that I thought I would share for any other novice laptop buyer. The complete accuracy of these benchmarks is debatable I guess but maybe they can be used as a general rule of thumb:

A list of laptop CPU benchmarks:

»optimitza.cat/news/2008/09/17/la···0-p7350/

A list of graphics:

»www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison···0.0.html

I hope this helps sorts out some of the confusion for some of us new laptop buyers.
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Looking only at the negative is like looking through a prism in the dark

reply to kingdome74

Re: Need Help Selecting Laptop

BD combo drives will read and write CDs and DVD but only read Blu-ray Discs(no burning Blu-ray).

My AR730 has a BD combo drive. Plays BDs great, plays and burns DVDs & CDs like a champ!
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Think outside the Fox... Opera

Cool, thanks

No prob friend!

reply to kingdome74
Just got MSI notebook and it's going through all of it configuring. Kind of surprising when the only booklet that came with it besides the Vista was a diagram of the buttons. I didn't realize you had load windows and as such I wish they'd give us an option to load the 64 bit version. Soon as I get a desktop win7 is going on. Here's why - why sell a computer with 4 gigs of ram on a platform that will only recognize 3.5 downhill on a windy day?
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Looking only at the negative is like looking through a prism in the dark

I just got a HP DV7-1262us a couple of weeks ago and I will get rid of Vista once Windows 7 RC is released. I have a 64 bit version on my laptop, but I'm really impressed with Windows 7 running on my desktop.

Good luck with the new MSI.

Thanks. I'm already running win 7 on three of my desktops and can't wait to get it on my laptop. My god if I ever see Norton again it will be too soon. BTW - for any of you that want to uninstall completely all the crap that comes pre-loaded my suggestion is this little beast:

»www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uni···oad.html

and it's free. It's cleans the registry the whole nine yards and you can chose how much you want to uninstall. Best little free ap I've seen in a long time.

Edit - let me ask something - are you going to use that HP for a network media center for you TV's and whatnot? That's a nice specced rig.
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Looking only at the negative is like looking through a prism in the dark

reply to kingdome74
Check out www.alienware.com for the best notebooks for gamers.
In terms of generic computer get one with a dedicated graphic card and the fastest AMD CPU you can find -

reply to kingdome74

reply to kingdome74
Alright, here's my mini-review of this:

»www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···34152102

General stats:

Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium
CPU Type Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 2.53G
Screen 17" WUXGA
Memory Size 4GB DDR2
Hard Disk 320GB
Optical Drive BD Combo
Graphics Card ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850
Video Memory 512MB DDR3 VRAM
Communication Modem, Gigabit LAN and WLAN
Card slot 1 x Express Card
Dimensions 15.56" x 10.95" x 1.04-1.38"
Weight 7.35 lbs.

It was a tough choice trying to get a balance between what I wanted and what I could get. After intense reading of reviews and specs for about a month this came as close as I could get. Definitely has one major flaw and that's the DDR2 RAM which in this day and age you would think would regulated to the non-gaming machines. I also wonder about the wisdom of using 4 GB RAM on a 32 bit platform. The DDR2 I can't do anything about but the OS I wiped and installed Win7 64 and it's much more streamlined and punchy like a desktop. Took a while gathering all the drivers because the ones provided by MSI were for Vista 32 but after an afternoon of watching Talladega and installing drivers I can report fit and ready for duty.

Before I installed Win7 I did install World of Warcraft Friday night/Saturday (if you play you understand why it takes two days) on the Vista Home and even running around Dalaran I ran straight 60 fps @ 1920X1200 and everything at max settings. Now WoW isn't the most intense graphics in the gaming world but certain parts of it will expose any weakness a system may have. During the course of this week I will run and post my results from 3dMark06. The HDMI hooked up to my 24" monitor looked awesome at 1080p.

For the most part this laptop will become a semi-music studio for recording and go with me on my overnights. I am pleased with the bang for the buck and although it doesn't have a quad Don't need it) or DDR3 I'm confident with the installation of Win7 it can handle whatever I throw at it and I am more than confident you can't find these specs on any notebook at this price point. God knows I tried everything to beat it but I kept coming back. Plus I got it from newegg one of the very few vendor sites I trust.

I'd give it 8 out of 10. Will post the 3d marks when I run it.
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Looking only at the negative is like looking through a prism in the dark

reply to kingdome74
Just for a reference I ran 3dMark06 with everything else running - 9443 3D Marks. Probably could have punched it over 10K pretty easily.
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Looking only at the negative is like looking through a prism in the dark