Maven Premium Member join:2002-03-12 Canada |
Maven
Premium Member
2013-Jan-2 10:18 pm
Samsung laptop for light gaming - good deal?Hey everyone,
I'm looking to buy a laptop for general use and some light gaming (mostly Blizzard and Maxis games, nothing too demanding).
Here's the one I'm looking at:
Samsung 15.6" i5 3210M 8GB DDR3 RAM 1TB HDD GeForce GT 630M 2X USB 3.0, 2X USB 2.0 $650 CAN
Sounds like a good deal to me, just wanted to confirm with the experts. Thank you! |
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BlitzenZeusBurnt Out Cynic Premium Member join:2000-01-13 |
I'm not familiar with maxis games, but that should be ok for blizzard stuff with some settings turned down. The 630 isn't exactly a gaming card, but with stuff like AA turned off you'll get 40+ fps most of the time. It's more of their budget card for those who don't want to, or can't use onboard video. |
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Maven Premium Member join:2002-03-12 Canada |
Maven
Premium Member
2013-Jan-2 10:33 pm
Thank you. Yes, that should be fine. Would you say the price is right, or could I do better? |
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El QuintronCancel Culture Ambassador Premium Member join:2008-04-28 Tronna |
said by Maven:Thank you. Yes, that should be fine. Would you say the price is right, or could I do better? If you're getting it from a big box (BB, FS, Staples) I'd say that's as good as you're going to get price wise. If you live in a city, you might do better somewhere like Tiger Direct or Canada Computers, or even an independent... where you might get more for that price. EQ |
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BlitzenZeusBurnt Out Cynic Premium Member join:2000-01-13 |
to Maven
I'm not familiar with canuck conversion rates anymore, and local prices, so I can't help you there.
If you can find a similar laptop with a 650M, or similar amd gpu that would do better as a gaming laptop in the future. Systems with these kinds of video cards almost seem a waste of money honestly, they might as well have just used the intel gpu. |
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Maven Premium Member join:2002-03-12 Canada |
Maven
Premium Member
2013-Jan-2 10:46 pm
Are you saying I may as well aim for the Intel 4000 integrated GPU? |
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BlitzenZeusBurnt Out Cynic Premium Member join:2000-01-13 |
For the estimated price of $60 for a 630 it's maybe 1.5 times more powerful than the intel gpu, and since you're getting new hardware you might want to aim a little higher for gpu performance. It's your money. |
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Maven Premium Member join:2002-03-12 Canada |
Maven
Premium Member
2013-Jan-2 11:04 pm
Well I could certainly aim higher. For instance:
Lenovo 15.6" Intel Core i7-3630QM 6GB RAM 750GB HDD GTX660M 2GB DDR5 $865
Which certainly packs more punch, but at this rate I may as well get a proper desktop PC... I guess I have some thinking to do.
Thanks |
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El QuintronCancel Culture Ambassador Premium Member join:2008-04-28 Tronna |
said by Maven:Which certainly packs more punch, but at this rate I may as well get a proper desktop PC... I guess I have some thinking to do.
Thanks Three questions: -Do you want a laptop or a desktop? -What's your total budget? -Was this going to be an impulse buy, and you're checking to see if it's worth it? |
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Maven Premium Member join:2002-03-12 Canada |
Maven
Premium Member
2013-Jan-3 1:45 am
Well come to think of it, I may as well get a desktop cause it won't be moving much.
My budget is anything under $800. Honestly though, I'd rather spend as little as possible. Most of my gaming will probably remain on dedicated gaming consoles, so having a "future proof" PC isn't such a big concern.
It wasn't an impulse buy, my laptop died over the holidays and right now I'm looking for a system to replace it.
Also, I would prefer sticking with Intel because I like to tinker with Linux, and Intel offers far superior support for Linux than AMD. |
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El QuintronCancel Culture Ambassador Premium Member join:2008-04-28 Tronna |
Good to know, I was reading up on the 630M, and it's a rebranded 540M, (which I have on my N53SV-A2) and might be an Optimus card, which can be a PITA on Linux, so consider yourself warned. |
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